May 14, 2012
Happy
Mother’s Day! I just got off skype with my Mom, who I’m so glad I got to talk
to for just a little bit today! Being able to talk to her and Kim really made
my day! I’m realizing just how valuable Skype really is! I feel like this
experience would be a great advertisement!
This
weekend I went to Constance Germany! It’s this gorgeous semi-large town right
at the very bottom of Germany, bordering Switzerland. It sits on the Bodensee
that stretches for quite a ways into Switzerland and sets the background as the
alps. Right near the outskirts of the town is another town called Singen, where
the largest castle ruins in Germany are. We started off our trip in the ruins!
It took about 20 minutes to walk to the base of the hill, from which it jutted
seemingly straight up into the clouds. Well the fog. It was raining when we
went unfortunately and I was smart enough only to wear shorts and a light
jacket (not the waterproof kind either), so I was nice and soaked by the time
we got to the admission place. I was contemplating staying there for fear I’d
catch pneumonia when the guy at the booth let us borrow some umbrellas! The
umbrella definitely warmed up my spirits and we continued our upward climb
(dodging snails along the way… a few times we weren’t so good at dodging and
you’d hear a loud crunch). Looking out over the overcast, rainy, cloudy day
made the castle seem like it sat high up in the clouds, looking over a
mysterious sea of white mists and smoke. It was pretty cool. The ruins on top
of the hill themselves were massive. Different levels, periods, and keeps all
constituted the entire place. There were secret halls, deep mysterious and
creepy cellars, and a few wells here and there. The central keep was very cool,
and it almost seemed like a villa at the top, what with its bedrooms, center open
area, and great bay windows along all sides. Clearly meant for a king!
After
the castle ruins we headed to Constance. You ride the train into the heart of
the city, crossing over the Rhine and following the coast of the Bodensee until
you get to the Hauptbahnhof. There, you’re thrown back hundreds of years with
gorgeous old buildings. The difference between the architecture is very
noticeable. Clean lines and a uniform gray stone made up the buildings, but the
accents truly made the architecture seem very modern. There were many older
buildings too that had survived many wars that had passed through the times.
There’s also a statue of a prostitute rotating out in the harbor, who’s name is
Imperia. She apparently was so beautiful that she even swayed kings and popes
to her will. That was interesting to say the least! So we toured a bit, jumped
over to Switzerland, had some dinner, then went back home and played some good
old Monopoly, while enjoying a few drinks. Needless to say it became very fun
and by the time 3 rolled around we were all ready for bed! Brent, who we stayed
with, was awesome… he offered and tried to sleep on the floor so we all would
have a bed. We didn’t let him do it… but still what a great guy!
Today
we left at around nine thirty and took a train to take a bus to take 3 more
trains to get home. The adventure in totaled about 4 hours of travel and
involved going from Germany to Switzerland to Germany to Switzerland to Germany
to Switzerland to Germany to Switzerland and back to Germany! It sounds long,
but the ride was breathtakingly beautiful. The fields of wheat were unnervingly
picturesque… the rolling hills in the back too well placed to be an accident. I
kept flashing to these day dreams of myself walking through the wheat bare foot,
feeling a summers breeze catch my hair…
I drifted off to sleep a few times thinking about running off with that dream.
Tonight
I went out with the Italians and Sonia for dinner at a Pfannkuchen Restaurant!
It was very good and the company better! I love those guys man! All in all I
had a great weekend with some awesome people and definitely made memories I’m
not going to forget!
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