13 November, 2008

Three Days in Überlingen

A German breakfast of muesli and yogurt, bread and cheese, and tea, started my first weekend in Überlingen. I used this solitary free time to explore the town and cram on my German studies. I discovered a few places to take my out of town guests too.




The first day, I walked through town and discovered a hostel that promoted bed and bike. (Hey! that was my idea!) This was the day that I set up a bank account and purchased a bike of my own.




My bike on the Bodensee on teh waterfront in Übelingen. In town you have to walk your bike because there are so many people. But outside of town you can ride it too.



The second day I went out to explore a bit further then Überlingen. I had planned to take the ferry over to Konstance but it only runs from Überlingen during the week (in the winter). Luckily I discovered that there are great bike trails along the Bodensee that are very well sign posted and it was the perfect day to explore them. You can see that while the lake was fogged in there was blue sky above!






My traveling companion



A Grün roof! (This picture is for Jason and the rest of the Greenworks crew)

I rode to Meersburg and then found that the ferry there ran every 15 minutes 24 hours a day to the city of Konstance. So, though it was a bit late in the day, I took the ferry across the lake, just so I could see the other side. I didn’t have time to explore Konstance so I just took the ferry back, determined to make such a trip again on another weekend.






The ride back to Überlingen was just as lovely. I am determined to attend a mass in the big pink Church on the hill. I have heard that the acoustics are amazing and that there are also many concerts held there throughout the year.

Meersburg


The Big Pink Church on the hill:


Another restroom.

On the third day, Sunday, I started to go a little crazy. I mean three days with only not so friendly restaurant servers to talk to! Luckily I was able to speak with Philipp and Christina on this day. It was so good to have an English conversation where I could actually express the complexity of the thoughts in my head instead of being limited to pointing at a roll in the bakery and saying “ja, ein mas bitte”. In case you don’t speak Spanish or German, this is “yes one more please”. Except that “mas”, which means “more” in Spanish means “two pint glass of beer” in German. Or so I have been told.

Sunday there was also a festival of some sort in town with many carts and booths set up. All of the stores were open as well with special sale items available. I tried a Quark ball at one stand that was very tasty. A Quark ball is a thick yogurt dough that is deep fried and rolled in sugar. Yum!



Oh, and I forgot to mention. Sunday the mountains were out.





Sunday was also the day before I started work. So there was of course that apprehension which precedes one's first day at anything new and significant. But, after three days of solitude, I was desperate for human interaction that it was absolutely wonderful to start work again!





4 comments:

Jason King said...

love the residential green roof! I expect many pictures for inspiration while you are there... JK

Anonymous said...

Oh it looks so beautiful there Jaime, Im glad you got a chance to go exploring!!

Anonymous said...

I love that you wrote "The mountains are out". That's sooooo a P-town thing to say! :)

Anonymous said...

Meersburg!! Konstanz! I've been there, and swam in the Bodensee. :-) Your pics are great and I'm jealous of the snow. I hope you are having a blast! And maybe one of these days, you'll find die Goethe Strasse too!
Happy thanksgiving and happy advent!