Thursday, May 22, 2008

Feiertag! Warum? Einfach so :D

Yesterday was a holiday. No one knows why, but it makes sense, because we hadn't had one yet this week ;) So I had the day off, and decided to go hiking. But what was going to be a few hour stroll quickly turned into a full-blown, day-long adventure!


I made a map of the area (above) to give you a better idea of the area. I started out wandering thru the natural lands between Sonnenbühl Ost and the university, and then ended up going to Egg, to Mainau, and then finally to Litzelstetten, a little town about two hours by foot north of my dorm.


My trek took me along beautiful Lake Constance…


thru fields,


and the Black Forest…


to little Litzelstetten.
Of course, once I got to Litzelstetten, nothing was open, because it was a holiday. While in town, however, I did hear this amazing quote from a little girl (about 2 years old): She was pointing out people to her mom and telling her whether they were men or women. She pointed to me and said "Da ist ein junger Mann" - one point for her! Then a group of four people walked by. Her mom asked her, "And what about them?" And her response: "Da kommen zwei Männer und zwei Mauer!" apparently conflating the words for men (Männer) and women (Fraue) to produce the word for wall (Mauer) - ie, "Here come two men and two wall!" I got a bang out of that, and the mom had a hand over her face, cracking up, too!



I sat on a bench here and ate my lunch.


In the background of this one, you can see Insel Mainau.

So that was my adventure - very quiet, very pretty. I felt like I needed something like that after Egypt.

7 comments:

Catherine said...

It was fun to see a new blog this morning!
It looks so pretty there, so lush, green and peaceful.
Sounds like a wonderful "holiday," even if you didn't know what it was for!
Thanks for including the map - it was helpful to get a better feeling of where you are.
What are you doing this weekend?
love you!

Paul Halverson said...

Sounds like the perfect way to "chill" out after the heat and excitement of Egypt!
As to the holiday, it looks like it is Corpus Christi - the celebration of the Last Supper.

Unknown said...

Ditto on the map!

What a contrast with Egypt! I still am especially intrigued with Insel Mainau. That's the island with magnolias and palms, right? Amazing! Right next door to the alps....

Karl said...

Well, the two year old speaks more German than me...

Looks like a lovely hike. I bet I could spend a whole day just walking the shoreline of Lake Constance...

If you get a chance, you ought to go see St Gallen, and the castle that is supposed to have ties to the Egenberger's there. I made it to St Gallen's, but not to the castle- couldn't find which mountain road to go up... and couldn't understand the directions I got in town.

Keep posting, Colin. It's a treat for us!

Pat M said...

Colin, you chose the wise thing to do on your Holiday...get away by yourself and have lovely sights and sounds, peace and quiet. (And AFTER Eqypt, as you wrote). Just perfect, and thanks for the map.
We are chilly in San Diego today! Since I griped about us being too hot a few days ago, near 100 deg, I must balance this out, today it is 61 deg high with wind and gray skies. My card playing group meets today, first Shanghai Rum, then after lunch, Canasta. It's once per month, with some nice gals.
(When you are over 80 you call all of them "gals")
Did the classes seem difficult, after so much moving around on your tours? Prob not, since you are ahead of yourself anyway on most of your studying. I'm so proud of you for all this trekking and sight seeing, Colin, and pleased you are taking advantage when you can. Much love, Gr Pat

Catherine said...

Hello Colin, thought I would let you know I ran into Cody's mom in HyVee today. We are both so excited that you and Cody will be able to travel together in late July!
You are providing lots of cheap (free!) entertainment for people. Diane especially liked the photo of you on the camel!
Thank you for providing some vicarious excitement for those of us whose lives are not as interesting as yours is right now! (this definitely includes me)
love you

Cody said...

Nice pics. Glad you were able to have a relaxing day and chill out.