um den Bodensee wandern, oder letzer Tag mit dem Eurailpass

Yesterday was my last day with the Eurail Pass. Technically I could still use it today, but I'm too tired from my adventure yesterday! So I took the train from Constance to Radolfzell, another small town on Lake Constance (der Bodensee in German). The trip took about a half and hour, and marked the beginning of another massive hike.


I started off mucking thru the forest along the Bodensee and wound up on the outskirts of Radolfzell when I finally managed to get out. I decided to just continue in that direction, having no clue where I was going, but I had the entire day free until 8 pm, so…


There's Radolfzell in the distance.


Following Lake Constance brought me to the even smaller town of Moos, which is really quaint - a close second to Egg for prettiest tiny German town.

Next I wandered thru Iznang, another small town, and continued along the way towards Horn.


Somewhere before Horn I got this photo. This plant is a so-called "living fossil" (I learned way more about plants in my Organismic Biology class than I did about animals). It's called a horsetail (Equisetum sp.), and split off from other plants before the evolution of seeds. In the Carboniferous period the Constance region was home to horsetails that grew as tall as trees (nearly 100 feet tall!), though now only one genus of horsetails survives.


Then I walked along a nature reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) on my way back to Radolfzell, where I bought waffles and whip cream - brunch today! - and took the train back to Constance.

Before I close, I want to ask a question: Yesterday I read about a book called The Third Policeman, and I was wondering whether any of you readers had heard of (or better yet, read) it? Anyone?

um Deutschland reisen

Hello dear blog-readers of mine!
So I've been traveling around Germany for my Spring Break. I thought I'd have more internet access than I've had, but I'm surviving anyway!
Here's my plan for the next several blogs. Each single blog I'm going to discuss one leg of the trip. Assuming (hoping) that some of you readers will visit Germany and want to do some of the things I have done, I'm also going to rank the activities (out of 5 asterisks, *****) and give the approximate price.

And we're off:
Our first stop was Stuttgart, but first we had to get to Singen, a town near Constance, in order to transfer to a different train. However, the railroad in Constance was under construction, so we had to go to a different station near by (we took a bus) and then board the train. Our connecting train in Singen was delayed an hour, so we grabbed coffee.


I'm an idiot. Whatever.
(in Singen)

Then we got to Stuttgart. Oh, and we're using the Eurrail Pass, which so far has been very easy. It cost me about $440, but it's unlimited travel for any 11 days in two months, so not a bad deal at all. We had to get it stamped before we got on our first train, and then we have to fill out the date in these little boxes each day before we travel. I give the Eurrail Pass ****, just because 5 stars is way too much for the first time I rate anything.

Anyway, Stuttgart was surprisingly gorgeous! (Quite possibly largely because the weather was spectacular.) We just wandered around and sat on the lawn near Schlossplatz (right near the two castles). People in Stuttgart were all very well dressed and very attractive. They were also predominantly Mediterraneans-looking, which surprised me.


inside the Evangelical church
very modern, very chic


street musicians, Louis Vuitton, 17th century church


Schlossplatz


Stuttgart=second love of my life, after Constance

In Stuttgart we stayed at Alex 30. It was clean, the staff spoke English (even tho we didn't need it), and decently priced (€22/bed/night, I'm pretty sure). No breakfast, tho, and it's a decent distance from the train station. You can, however, take the street car (€1/trip) directly from the train station to the block where the hostel is located. I give it ***.

So that's all for this post. Expect another tomorrow with photos from Frankfurt and Bacharach!

Ende des Sprachkurses

So yesterday (Friday) we had our last day of class. Now I'm on vacation until April 14, when my semester at the university finally begins.

For our last day of class, we took another tour of Constance. This time we only hit up historical sites, including the Bismarck Tower and old French military housing from the days when Constance was part of the French Zone.


another historical site, The Bus


This is where we eat lunch.


And here I am with my wonderful (ex-)professor, Hilde.

Last night four of us (two Americans, a Turk and a Russian) took the bus to Switzerland. We got coupon books with our residency permits and wanted to use one to get into the planetarium in Kreuzlingen. But here's the deal: We finally get there, and so far everyone's been really nice (especially the bus driver, who even pointed out exactly how to get to the planetarium). Then we arrive at the actual planetarium, and the guy working the counter there is … hmm, what's a nice word for it… it starts with an "as" and ends in a "shole." Anyway, unhelpful Herr Ihateyouall tells us that we have two choices. Either we don't use the coupon, and we pay the student price (€5,00) or we use the coupon and take off €2 off of the adult price (€8,50 - therefore we'd pay €6,50). So our "coupon" would actually cost us an extra €1,50! Unbelievable.
Obviously we didn't go. Instead we wandered around Kreuzlingen and walked back across the border into Germany, where we bought gelato and then shared a bottle of wine in one of our dorms.

Then today I had a massive hassle with reserving the train back from Paris to Constance. My teller was from Korea, didn't speak especially good Germany, and was truthfully one of the least helpful people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I spent an hour with him. It ended with his drawing a picture of a train full of people. This was supposed to explain to me what I would have understood with the word "ausverkauft" (sold out). He also smiled condescendingly the entire time - as if my German wasn't better than his. Anyway, then I spent an hour on the internet in McDonald's (remember how I don't have internet in my room), and then went back. I got a different teller who said he spoke English, but didn't really. We spoke German again. He was very confused by the whole mess, but in the end was very helpful and nice. The trip back won't be ideal (four transfers and a total of about 12 hrs of transit), but it'll take place, and that's all that matters at this point.

And tomorrow I'm off!