Bodensee (Lake Constance)

The weekend of July 31 - August 2 I went down south to Lake Constance (called Bodensee in German), which is bordered by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. I stayed in the northern corner, on the German side. Konstanz is one of the biggest cities on the lake. I was going to stay there, but it was cheaper to stay in Meersburg, across the water, so I did that. I think it worked out better that way. Meersburg is smaller and quieter, but still has a lot to offer (and a ferry to Konstanz pretty frequently).

This is going to be a long entry, I took a million pictures, I apologize in advance.


 This is the view from the window in my room. How did I get so lucky you ask? I have no idea.

I explored Meersburg in the morning. It started to rain.

A mill near the castle

Meersburg Castle. The first one.

Part of the New Palace, built in the 1700s to be the new residence of the rulers (Prince-Bishops) of the town.

New Palace Garden

Old Castle

New Palace

The inside of the Old Castle

Castle chapel or alter

An exhibition on the crazy helmets people wore in tournaments and ceremonies. It reminded me of Game of Thrones.

 I also went inside the New Palace. My hotel gave me a tourist card that gives discounts on things in the area. You had to pay for permission to take pictures, so since I already got a discount I figured I might as well. It may or may not have been worth it, I'm not sure, but since I had to pay for it you know I am going to post every darn picture.

so here is a cool ceiling. Hard to get a good picture of it though.

Staircase

hunting horn

Chandelier

The Elder Wand?!

Wall painting

ceiling art

There is a tiny church in the palace, it is really pretty.

The Harbor

Statue at the harbor

 In the afternoon I went over to Unteruhldingen, where there is an open air museum with a recreation of stone-age and bronze-age pile dwellings. There are several near the alps and they are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Or part of one site. Something like that.

Kiln

Goats!

Because the boat has to stop at Mainau in between Unteruhldingen and Meersburg, I decided to stop there and check it out. Mainau is an island connected to Konstanz by a thin stretch of land. It has a large botanical garden on it. They call it the Flower Island (Bloomeninsel). It was really cool. There is something for almost everyone. There is a castle, which I didn't go in since I had already seen two that morning, a rose garden, terraces, an arboretum, a butterfly house, children's play areas (which I obviously didn't see), and restaurants. 

Cool trees!

Giant fir

bamboo

redwoods!

Swedish Tower

They even have a vinyard

This is the entrance to the butterfly house, haha. Get ready for a bunch of butterfly pictures.

Snazzy flowers

Turtles!

This is the exit of the butterfly house. In case you forgot where you were.

 Yin-yang garden

 There were fireworks all over the Swiss side of the lake that night, but I couldn't get a good picture.

It got sunny the next day, so I got some good pictures from the boat to Konstanz

Meersburg

Swiss side

Approaching Konstanz

Famous statue called Imperia

It features a 9m tall courtesan holding a pope and a king in her hands

Harbor

 I mostly walked around Old Town. It was pretty cool. I didn't really have time to go to any of the museums or anything, but I did go to the Muenster, a beautiful church, and go up into the tower.

St. Paul's, not the Muenster

Where the Rhine becomes the lake

Muenster

Views from the tower

The staircase I had to climb

Memorial for the Jewish people taken from Konstanz during WWII

Train station in the distance

 On my way home, the train went through the Black Forest. The scenery there was beautiful. Pictures from moving vehicles rarely turn out well, but I did try.