Konstanz, Germany

July 9-12, 2009
Konstanz, Germany
After I spent 3 days in Innsbruck while Joe spent 3 days in Skopje, he and I met again in at the Innsbruck airport and drove across Austria and Switzerland to Konstanz, Germany (Constance), which sits on the Swiss/German border at the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Our purpose was to visit our friends Katrin Lazar and Bjőrn Graf. Katrin is the daughter of Munich friends of ours and she lived with us for one semester of high school when she was 16, the result of which is that she has tucked been tucked under the Brada wing ever since!
Neither of us had ever visited Konstanz and, with Katrin, we had a tour of not only Konstanz itself but also Meersburg just across the lake, reached from Konstanz by ferry and the main jumping-off point for those traveling from Konstanz to the rest of Germany. Bodensee is a deep lake, similar to Lake Tahoe, that is quite long – reaching from Bregenz (Austria) to Konstanz and beyond – and is a tourist destination in the warm months. Konstanz dates back to the 1400s and was location of the Council of Konstanz (Constance).
We ate and drank our way from one end of the area to the other during our 3 days there, after which, on Sunday, we returned to Pedraces, Italy - via Switzerland and Austria - for another 3 days. I was reminded of the smallness of Europe because our return trip to Pedraces only took 4 hour, during which we started out in southwest Germany, crossed much of Switzerland and Austria and landed in Italy!
One of the best parts of being first in Innsbruck and then in Konstanz was the delight in speaking German. After living in Munich for the better part of two years, the German language is comfortable, but it will mean that the return to French-speaking areas will be traumatic!