Week 14: Lake Konstanz

Every-so-often, Jason gets a goal day. A goal day is a day off for the base when there have been no DUIs in the previous allotted time (I believe a month). Luckily, we had a little notice and after some consideration, decided to go to the Lake Konstanz area. Lonely Planet touts this as a vacation destination for many Europeans, and since many Europeans are on vacation in August, the hotels were packed. We did, though, luck into a very nice place in downtown Friedrichshaven, that had a great breakfast and clean rooms.

One of the reasons we chose this destination, was for the great biking trails that surround the lake. On Saturday we had perfect biking weather--a little overcast and warm, but not hot and we road through three countries, covering around 35-40 miles, with a nice stop for lunch. Note that is about 20% of the way around the lake. On our next trip to that area, we'll have to plan for more than one day of riding so we can make it further.


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Now, the best part of the ride was that we could take either the ferry or the train back to our starting point. Knowing that we didn't have to ride back, helped us ride that much further. When we arrived in Rorschach, Switzerland, the ferry was soon to arrive, so we hopped on and headed back to Friedrichshafen. On the ferry, we had some particularly nice views of the Swiss side of the lake.

Me and Switzerland

Friedrichshafen is a nice tourist town. It was completely leveled during the war, as it was the location of the Zeppelin works. It still works that angle quite heavily. There is a museum--no, Karl, we didn't go in--and airships can be found in various motifs throughout the city. Oh, you can also book a flight in an airship. We saw at least two of them while we were out biking.

Nothing Like Public Drinking from Real Glasses

There was a Kultur festival going on in Friedrichshafen the weekend we were there. There was a wide variety of performances and folks selling their wares. On our first night there, we had some street food and beer. Yay European public drinking! They had a great system, so you could eat on real plates, with real silverware and drink beer from real glasses, where you paid a deposit on each (I think it was a Euro or two for the plate and the glass) which you got back when you were done eating. We've seen similar systems at other festivals, but only for the glasses. 

And then there was this...table dancer...don't worry, it is safe for work.

And as we rode around the lake, we had a chance to see the differences between three countries--Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The biggest difference was the color of the biking signs. All three of the countries in this area speak German, so other than the changes to the signs we were following we wouldn't have noticed a difference. 

We also got to see the only wood carving of Alf that probably exists. If you ever wondered just what happened to Alf, he is currently living happily in Austria under the name Gordon Shumway. The neighborhood was suspiciously devoid of any stray cats...

Alf says "Hi!"