Another Gem on the Lake

After a fricking cold weekend (52 F) the sun tried very hard to get through the clouds and we went on another little trip- but with a brollie! The traffic around the lake is heavy most of the time and today was no different. So instead of going to Bregenz in Austria we stopped in Langenargen; a gem we had overlooked so far. It's located between Friedrichshafen and Lindau, two major bustling towns  which we had visited on a previous trip.

It has the typical picturesque old part of town, a museum, plus a little yacht harbor and  a castle of course.
The first mention of Langenargen in a document was in 970. In Roman times there were two watch towers on a little island in the lake just off the mainland. Overall, it is typical for many towns around Lake Constance but not as busy and smaller. Or it had to do with the fact that in most parts of Germany the summer holidays are over now and there are less tourists around.

A perfect Day on Mainau

We picked the only day of the week where it was not supposed to rain to go to Mainau, the so-called "Island of Flowers" in Lake Constance.The main picture here at the top of the page gives you an aerial view and now I'll give you more impressions of this beautiful piece of the world.You walk over to it from the mainland via  a bridge.

 

An endless sea of flowers, rare trees like Sequoias, a real farm where children can pet goats etc, a conservatory with rare plants like orchids, an Italian style formal garden, over 100 varieties of roses, a castle with a restaurant and church where a wedding had just taken place, cacti, modern sculptures among woodlands and lots of entertainment for children.

                                                         

The Bodensee reminds me of some of the Italian lakes like Maggiore or Como which we love as well.

You can buy tickets online and after 5 p.m. they are half price: EUR 9 only instead of EUR 18 which leaves you enough money for refreshments.

Interesting topiary to catch everyone's eye!

The island is owned by the family Bernadotte who are avid environmentalists. Their endeavors even go beyond  government regulations. Yes and sheep mow the lawns here.

Overall, Mainau is right at the top of public gardens for me.I prefer it to Kew Gardens; even Butchert Gardens in Canada doesn't come close.
And I even got my ice-cream! A Tiramisu- Cup!

For more pictures of Konstanz, the city that is connected to Mainau via a bridge, go to  https://www.facebook.com/SiggyBuckley. 

Built on Pillars like Venice- but 6,000 years ago

An impressive construction site right on the lake: pile dwellings in Uhldingen.  The first go  back to almost almost 4,000BC. What you see here now is a collection and reconstruction of numerous pile dwellings that were found around the lake in several places at the turn of the last century.

In 2011 , the UNESCO declared it a World Heritage site and it is truly humbling and impressing.
It's museum explains how they were built and actually demonstrate the process.

When we returned to the entrance, a Zeppelin went overhead. The contrast was surreal. The Zeppelin Museum is only 20 ml away, but what are the chances to take a picture of both?

Built from wood and reeds, the houses then were clad with clay to give them shelter from the elements. Some houses were equipped with what the archaeologists think people had in those days:  a weavers cottage, a tinker's, a fisherman's. All had the same fireplace in common. It was marvelous to see how clear the lake was. In places it was so shallow you could see the ground among he reeds, elsewhere they were put into deeper water.

You'll find more information here in this video.

Our new "Home"

After Heidelberg, we headed straight to the Bodensee, Lake Constance, the place this year's second home swap.  Here's a rough map where you can see how it is nestled between Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

And this gives you an impression of the elevations around it.

 

For a glimpse of its real beauty just scroll up to the masthead.. That's the island of Mainau in the lake. More about our trip there later.

Lake Constance is one of the most frequented places as far as tourism in Germany goes and in the summer you walk should to shoulder at times. We were here before, stayed in a converted, refurnished castle and were rightly ripped off although the flat didn't even have curtains;neither in the bedroom nor the bathroom. Highway robbery! This experience gave me the idea of looking into home swapping and we haven't regretted it.

In fact, we are on our 8th swap now and this could easily one of the nicest we have had. The home is very cosy, practical, close to the sites we want to see and has a gorgeous garden. Alas, the weather gods are not with us. While our home swappers are sweating it out bravely in Florida, we light the open fire in the evenings. And this village has several stork nests.When did you last see storks? I was a child when...they all but disappeared.

Tomorrow, we're going to meet our exchange partners of last year. We're all very excited.

Yes, it's the time of the year again. The Intrepid Home Swappers are at it again: we now have a schedule and two partners for about 7 weeks in Europe. How else could you afford it if not by exchanging homes and cars?
I have to admit this planning season was painstakingly slow. Nothing happening for weeks: I wrote to dozens of members on our website, well a site that we use and who gave us a two year membership for free because of the disaster on the houseboat last July. (Scroll down and you can read up on it if you haven't yet!)

The first positive answer came in and made us very happy: my favorite location in the south of Germany, der Bodensee.

To give you an idea if you're not that familiar with German geography:The lake and north of it is in Germany, to the east is Austria and to the south is Switzerland. We'll be near Ueberlingen...if you squint enough , you can just make it out above the word Germany in red. So in Austria and Switzerland, you'll have the famous Alps around it.

You can't tell much from a map, therefore your for enjoyment and interest a real photo of what to expect:

That's more like it, isn't it?
Our exchange partner just wrote me that they are flying to the British Virgin islands today for some sailing. I can't say if it is a home swap, but home exchangers do get around; most of them have the traveling bug!

So we had one exchange and I waited for more for several weeks.Nothing doing. I even signed up with another site to have more places to choose from. They, I have to say, were not very responsive and if there was an answer, it was a NO.
My preference would have been to go to Italy or France for a change. In my experience, however, these folks don't often reply. Neither are they interested in coming to Florida. We were about to give up hope when, out of the blue, an offer came in from Amsterdam.  So we gladly grabbed that, a very nice family btw. We skyped immediately. No dillydallying with them. One more email and they booked their flights and signed the agreement

I often compare home swapping to internet dating. Either there is some connection and interest or there isn't. Sometimes you have to wait, but you must give it a try. Just sitting at home will get you nowhere. So more about Amsterdam at a later stage.
I never finished last year's report. Just back from a trip to Maui and of course I had to write about that: http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/i-ve-fallen-in-love-with-maui
Hawaii has 46 members on our home swap site as well.I wrote to about two dozens suggesting a trip from one paradise to the next.But no takers so far.