Am Bodensee (on Lake Constance)

In our tasting flight of a trip (Jon's description of our sampling of middle Europe), Jon had requested that we go to Switzerland. The default train route from St Anton to Stuttgart passes through a corner of Switzerland, but what if we took a different route and stopped for lunch there? After changing trains twice and my second visit to Liechtenstein, we reached the Romanshafen Harbor ferry terminal.

Clouds hid the alps from us, but we were dazzled by the glacial blue-green of the lake. It was almost tropical, but for the lack of salt, though the stone quay probably dates from about the same period as the colonial harbors in the Carribean. The sun was warm, and the lake was spattered with sailboats. White spots indicated windward progress, and splashes of colour those boats sailing with the wind behind them.

In the landlocked countries that surround the Bodensee, it may as well be the Gulf. (Germany isn't technically landlocked, but the southerners are as far away from the ocean as you can get in western Europe!). The entire lake is rimmed with vacation towns. The bright little crystal harbors with their forests of bare masts are strung together by weaving train tracks and bike paths, both full of leisurely vacationers. For all of the precision industry in area around the Bodensee (including my company's German partner in Lindau), this is about as relaxed as you will see Swiss watchmakers and German metrologists.

The wake behind the car deck,
a familiar view to those of us who grew up in the San Juans. 

Looking around the harbor for a spot to take lunch, we realized that Switzerland was as expensive as we were led to believe... last time I was here, it was on Oma and Opa's dime! We did a quick timetable check and decided to take the boat ride first, then find a Biergarten on the German side of the lake. So we said "Tschußi" to Switzerland, and "hallo" one more time to Germany and the last stage of our travels.