We stopped the car in Vaduz and walked aimlessly along the main road, looked at a church and tried to convince ourselves it was interesting, and then the new Parliament building that was being constructed and then we left. We crossed back into Switzerland and progressed towards Austria, which we entered through a busy border control crossing but were not asked to produce our passports this time.
Posted in Austria, Europe, Germany, History, Natural Environment, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Austria, Friedrichshafen, Germany, Lake Constance, Liechtenstein, Vaduz
There was a fine start for our final day and we took an early breakfast at a table with a grandstand view of the valley and the river with the mountains as a dramatic operatic backdrop. The breakfast was as enjoyable as the previous night’s evening meal and it would have been nice to stay a while longer and enjoy this magnificent view but the car was due back in Friedrichshafen by ten-thirty and we wanted to make the most of the drive. First of all before setting back to Germany we planned to drive to the very top of the mountain above our hotel to the winter sports resort of Malbun.
“Switzerland is a small, steep country, much more up and down than sideways, and is all stuck over with large brown hotels built on the cuckoo clock style of architecture.” Ernest Hemingway
After a second generous Teutonic breakfast we booked out of the hotel and took a taxi to a car rental office a couple of kilometres out of town. Our plan was to take the ferry across to Romanshorn again and then drive through Switzerland to Liechtenstein. At this stage we didn’t have a road map because I tend to consider these to be an unnecessary expense and I was fairly confident that the place would be signposted and not too difficult to find, as it is, after all, an independent European sovereign state.
Posted in Europe, Germany, History, Hotels, Natural Environment, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Foreign Currency, Friedrichshafen, Germany, Lake Constance, Le Corbusier, Romanshorn, St Gallen, Switzerland, Tregen
“The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle openers. ‘Come on, buddy, let’s go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he’s got a spoon. Back off. I’ve got the toe clippers right here.’” Jerry Seinfeld
Switzerland is an fascinating country, which due to its geographical location, the ethnic composition of its population, part German, part French and part Italian, and its relatively small territory, has had to obtain neutral status in order to maintain internal cohesion.
Posted in Austria, Germany, History, Hotels, Natural Environment, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Bodensee, Friedrichshafen, Germany, Lake Constance, Romanshorn, Switzerland
At the ferry booking office a helpful and patient lady assisted us with our enquiries on how to make the trip across to Switzerland. She advised us not to book today in advance in case the weather took a turn for the worse and was bad tomorrow and we worried that she knew something that we didn’t, but we took her advice and noted the times of the crossings for later in the day because we had a mind to make a foot crossing later if we ran out of things to do in Friedrichshafen, the prospect of which seemed most likely.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, Germany, History, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Bodensee, Friedrichshafen, Lake Constance, Romanshorn
The hotel served a substantial breakfast and after making sure that we had filled ourselves sufficiently to last the whole day we set off to explore the town. It was surprisingly warm and I had failed to pack appropriately and lacking a short sleeved shirt had to purchase one from the cheap shop next to the hotel, only 4€ so a real bargain, but I was too mean to buy more than one so this would have to last for three days, so what I’d saved on clothing I would probably need to spend on deodorant.
“My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years.” Mark Twain, ‘A Tramp Abroad –That Awful German Language’
There was a long sweeping and exceedingly sociable waterfront where we walked for a while and before very long selected a table at a bar with an expansive view of the water and in the full glare of the midday sun. A glance at the menu confirmed my excellent judgement in earlier purchasing a German phrase book at the airport because the menu interpretation looked especially tricky with very few words that meant anything to me.
Posted in Beaches, Europe, Germany, History, Hotels, Natural Environment, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Bodensee, Friedrichshafen, German Language, Germany, Lake Constance, Victor Comic
“Germany? You’re going on holiday to Germany? But why?” I am willing to bet that this question/response never arises if you tell people you are travelling to Italy or France. Probably not Japan or Russia for that matter. No, there’s something about travelling to Germany that requires an explanation. Or should that be, there’s something about British people that requires an explanation if you are travelling to Germany and although I encountered this reaction before going to Friedrichshafen I didn’t really feel that I really needed to explain myself.
The time was right to visit Germany at last or maybe it was just simple opportunism.
Posted in Austria, Cathedrals, Europe, Germany, History, Hotels, Switzerland, Travel
Tagged Austria, Bodensee, Friedrichshafen, Germany, Lake Constance, Liechtenstein, Switzerland
Despite the detour Kim navigated us back to the main road and suddenly there was a complete change in the weather, the clouds parted and let the sun through and there was a late afternoon blue sky. We were glad of this because this meant that we could return to Gengenbach to try and get the pictures that we wanted.
Posted in Europe, Germany, Hotels, Travel
Tagged Black Forest, Cuckoo Clocks, Friedrichshafen, Gengenbach, Germany, Rammersweier Hoff Hotel
