Day 66: Thumen to Hochst

July 4, 2014

The place to stay that we found last night was a true homestay situation. Although there was some other family in some part of the houses, we really were being taken care of by Oma (Grandma), a lady who we estimate to be in her late seventies. Even though we are not exactly spring chickens, it still felt pretty good to be at Oma's house. Breakfast was not very elaborate, but we still felt well cared for, and parted with a hug.

The run to Lindau, on the Bodensee was mainly downhill. Lindau is a city on an island, connected to the shore by two short causeways. One carries cars and bikes and plugs in at one end of the island, and the other carries the train and bikes, and plugs in at the other end. The two are about 1/2 km apart. So we had a quarrel about which one to cross on. Go figure.

Lindau, like every town, has a list of things to see. There seems to always be about 18. Maybe that is the official assessment of how much a tourist can absorb. Lindau lists 18, but depending on your interests, some have greater drawing power than others. We like rathauses, market squares, pedestrian streets, and baroque churches best, but we still did the rounds and so had a look also at some towers and walls and lanes. We gave a miss, though, to the Bavarian Casino. In the U.S. however we will sometimes stop in at a casino, but only if they have free soft drinks or cheap burgers.

Lindau's rathaus is quite an attraction, with its painted facade. The building was built between 1422 and 1436, but the facade was refurbished in the 1970's. The pedestrian street was fun, as always, but not really special among pedestrian streets we have walked. On the street, though, we noticed several groups of people in military uniforms. We could not quite figure out which army they were from, since various country names seemed to pop up on their insignia. Finally, when we had taken a set at an eis cafe (to share a diet chocolate ice cream sundae) we looked across the narrow street at about a dozen of these folks seated at the adjacent cafe. I brashly went over and waded in among them, to ask what they were all about. It turned out that they were in fact from a variety of countries, mainly Switzerland and Germany but with even Sri Lankans or Malaysians included. They were here on a training course with the U.N. for peacekeepers. The fellow closest to me was in fact from Switzerland, and I asked him a pile of questions. Some of what Iearned was that:

He really was a lawyer, but was doing his compulsory Swiss military service There were few if any Canadians in the group That Americans have a lot of trouble as peace keepers, since that is not their image

The peacekeepers collected some of our Grampies blog address cards. We are tickled to think some may follow along with us on the rest of our travel.

The Lieben Frau Munster (St Mary Monastery) offered that great baroque interior, with the bright ceiling frescoes, and a good number of cherubs. This is our favourite church style. On the other hand, the St Peter church was very unique. 1000 years old, the church really looks it. Inside there are faded wall frescoes, at least three of which are totally gone. At one end of the building are plaques listing the names of fallen soldiers. A more recent addition is a plaque listing victims of the Nazi regime. A sign also discusses the city's ambivalence about memorializing those soldiers who were part of the SS. They left them in there, noting that they have no way to judge the individual culpability of any one individual.

We had another crack at phoning our friend Bernie, in Bregenz. We had met Bernie two years ago when he found us looking lost at an intersection in the town, and had taken us home to his place in the next town, Hochst. Bernie had invited us to come back, but our attempts to call him had failed. Finally we succeeded, by guessing that I had written down one "1" too many at the end of the number. Bernie is a mechanical engineering teacher, and luckily today turned out to be the last day of school. So he cycled from school to meet us at a restaurant by the Bregenz boat harbour.

Bregenz, by the way, is in Austria, while Lindau is in Germany. And just beyond Hochst is Switzerland!

Before heading for Hochst, Bernie took us for a spin around the sights of Bregenz. Bregenz too has a fun pedestrian street, but Bernie also took us up to the Oberstadt - the older part of the city, up the hill. This was an area with old walls and gates, and a church that also featured very old and faded frescoes.

One building had been a prison. Bernie recounted that his grandfather near the end of WWII had been arrested for opposing the Nazis, and detained in this prison. He was then deported to Italy, and the family then had no information about what had happened to him. When the war was ending, he reappeared - in rough shape, for he had walked all theway back, over the Alps.

There were happier images up there as well. I snapped a bride, for example, who was really doing the official photo session for her wedding. We passed as well an old hotel - the Deuring Schlossle - where we noted that you could get a ravioli type dish, for example, for 36 euros. A room was 300-400 euros. Not that much, really - we have seen higher. Bernie said that this is where David Bowie had stayed when he had a gig in Bregenz.

Bernie is married to Delia, who is originally from the Phillipines. He said he had sought her out at a gathering, because he admired the beauty of the people. When we finally met Delia, we could see what he meant. Delia and Bernie have a daughter Kathrin, and a son, Michael. Kathrin is working right now in Schladming, for the sporting goods company BlueTomato. She worked on and appeared in their catalog. Have a look, in the photo from the catalog.

Bernie has been to Canada several times, and brought the family to Vancouver, in 1986. They made one of those mock vintage photos there. Have a look at it - these guys from Austria and Phillipines look like real authentic Canadians of 1886!

Bernie also took us to the nunnery where Delia works. The building is a former mansion and is very impressive. When we were there another wedding was going on, and I got to snap yet another bride.

We cycled finally back to Hochst, following Bernie through a variety of short cuts. We passed the Bregenzer Ach, a river that flows over a constantly eroding sandstone base. This has some great swimming spots, and Bernie will stop here on hot Summer days to cool off.

Delia had some suppere ready for us, and after we settled down to watch Germany defeat France in the World Cup. Then it was time to start writing this blog. I was doing it, when Bernie suddenly said "Hey, we could drive to Switzerland for an overview of the Lake". "What, at 8:45?" I said. "Sure!".

So we jumped in the car and soon crossed the Swiss border, which is formed by a branch of the Rhine. Two border officers, mostly redundant after the Shengen agreement, just waved us on. We climbed then, up to the Appenzell-Ausserrhoden canton. There we could look at not only the unique building style, but also look down on the lake. In the distance was Lindau, and over to the right, Bregenz, with the mountains behind it. From Lindau, moving left, Bernie named all the towns along the lake. Without him, we would never have go up here, nor have been able to appreciate what we were looking at.

We have asked Bernie to take us tomorrow to see some of the "real", or maybe stereotypical Switzerland. There are many places one could go for this. We will gladly leave it to him.

Lindau and the Bodensee as viewed from the shore.

The island city of Lindau in the Bodensee

This is quite a warm area and foliage or flowers are often lush. A lot of fruit is grown around the Bodensee as well

These very od pews are listed as a main interest point of the church. We found them rather uncomfortable - maybe that is the idea

The frauern church is satisfyingly baroque

Dodie says anyone preaching to her from this would have a lot of credibility

The church was full of amazing marble. Here is a close up of some of the colour

You could get a Jacobsweg stamp here. This is what it looks like.

Interesting building-scape, with paradoxical Star of David.

Look, Lin, ice cream (with lots of fruit)

Steve with his "diet" sundae. It's diet because he shared!

We talked to the UN people for quite a while

Inside the 1000 year old St Peters church

You can see here where at least of the paintings are completely faded away

Look Sheldon, a meeting of Nobel Laureates

The mountains of Switzerland are visible as we head toward Bregenz

These swans were really successful raising a large family

A gate in the schloss area above Bregenz

Bernie by the prison where his grandfather was held

Another bride, at the nunneery where Delia works

Bernie buys his gas at this very minimal self service outlet. The proximity chip allows his account with the gas company to be debited.

The style of these Swiss houses is subtley different from in other places.

Delia came from Phillipines but has been here 40 years.

Kathrin is working in Schladming but we didn't know and passed through without looking her up.

A (not so real) pioneer family - but don't they look great!

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 3,435 km (2,133 miles)

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