Sunday, June 10, 2012

Germany...


We took a trip to Germany along the Bodensee, aka Lake Constance....

Our trip was concentrated along the coast where the Zeppelin in pictured.
If you figure the lake looks a fish, we hung out in his belly.

To get there we literally rode in a car, a plane, a train, and then a boat all in the same day.

We went to visit one of my expat friends and her son who left Nice and returned to her hometown for a short stay before heading to a new job in the USA.  From Nice to upper Minnesota!!  Poor girl.  All I can say is Brrrrrrrr!

We invite you to take the trip with us through the pictures and fall in love with Germany along the Bodensee....

The travel day:
Plane...
Train...
Ferry...
Off we go...
Landing in Friedrichshafen.
Home of the Zeppelin.  You can actually ride in it, the real one, for about 250-300 euros. :)

Driving to Fischbach where we stayed...
Wine making Monks.  Love that!
Our hotel, the Traube-am-See, was super relaxing, a short walk to the lake, and had a great yard for the kids to play:



               


Right down the road from our hotel is the lake and a lovely beer garden:




During our stay we took a drive to a beautiful church in Birnau:   Basilika Birnau

                 

A ferry to the island of flowers:   Insel Mainau


                   




They even had an awesome play park for the kids...


Drove over to Austria and rode a cable-car to the top of the mountain to see a bird show:  Pfander

                


The views up here are pretty awesome!

 

Ready to see some big birds of prey...
A friendly vulture???

This owl flew so close to my head his wing tousled my hair!!

A slightly rainy and tired ride back down...

Visited the old town of Meersburg:

Meersburg...






 Had a pre-show dinner on the lake and saw the Ballet in Friedrichshafen:




 Took a drive to Monkey Mountain:


If the monkey is on the fence you can feed him some popcorn...
The kids loved it... ok, me too!
and another day a "feeding zoo":








Our hotel was so lovely.  The owner, who has since retired from running it (now his son and daughter run the show) will occassionaly give horse and carriage rides through the counrtyside.  It happened to be our lucky day...we got one all to ourselves:



Our horse and carriage ride through the countryside in Fischbach...
These buildings on our Right and Left are the hotel.

 



For our last night, we headed back for a quick peak at Zurich:

From the ferry to the train once again...

The Old Town of Zurich... 

The tram from the city can take you all the
way to the airport.  Super fun!
Zurich airport and home to Nice.

We had a great time visiting our friends and seeing their part of the world.  The German people are lovely, the environment is lovely, the beer is tasty, and the food delicious.  We'll definitely return!!


Until next time....thanks for coming along!!

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