Lake Konstanz

Sorry loyal readers for the delayed updating of this blog. A new job and very busy weekends, have kept me away from my pride and joy and from (I hope) entertaining you. I hope that I will successfully update it weekly from now.

On to Lake Konstanz... this magnificent lake lies on the borders of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, which means if you cross it you would be in another country. This is also, where the water from the Rhine flows. It is truly beautiful and the city of Konstanz is lovely.

Take a ferry across to one of the islands. We headed to Meersburg, a charming medieval city that is basically just pedestrianized, with only a few roads for cars. Instead of driving, one finds oneself climbing stairways and walking up/down rather steep hills. It is famous for both its old and new castle, which are both stunning, and the city is composed of mostly beautiful wooden houses.

Konstanz, a university city, is a beautiful city with the most gorgeous cathedral. One can also see a section of the former city wall, and the Marktstӓtte provides the perfect location for some curio shopping.

I would go back in a heartbeat and truly loved this beautiful place.

Helpful tip #7

Rather spend your money and enjoy your trip, than end up leaving with lots left over. Travelling can be expensive and when you start converting every time you buy something you may start to become rather frugal with your money. This is usually when your currency is weaker than wherever it is you are visiting.

When I first arrived in London I was so afraid to spend my money that I hardly bought anything. While I have never regretted this as I used the money later in my trip I also realised that I had set aside a certain amount of money to spend on my trip and thus I should spend it. Not end up at the airport with all my money and nothing to show of my travels or worse with wishes that I had gone on that tour or gone into that museum which I really would have liked to see but didn’t because it “cost too much”.

This does not mean you should spend for the sake of spending, but does mean you should allow yourself to enjoy what you can. Just budget carefully.

Happy spending.

Munich and Dachau

I was lucky enough to spend a day in the Bavarian capital, Munich. One Saturday, we bought a group travel pass and set off from Stuttgart to explore amazing München. Munich, like all German cities is clean and extremely efficient/organised.  It is also beautiful.

While some stayed in Munich itself to visit museums and such, the rest of us ventured out of Munich to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. This was quite an experience and took one on an emotional rollercoaster of sorts. While I have been told that the other concentration camp sites are more traumatizing, it was still tough to see. It is hard to imagine that a camp built for 5000 prisoners held 30,000 at the time of its liberation. It was even scarier to see how “normal” the gas chambers looked although Dachau's were never used. It is horrifying to think of the medical experiments done on those who volunteered in hope of release. It was physically painful for me to imagine what Dachau’s prisoners went through and I struggle to understand how guards (Dachau also had the first female guards) could do what they did and then go to church on a Sunday. Dachau was truly on eye-opener. Whilst I understand the pressures of peers, government, and the expectations placed on people. I understand the psyche involved and that it became a norm, I will never, however, truly be able to comprehend how people were able to treat others so inhumanely. That applies to all countries, past, present and future... including my own.

On to less morbid topics. After a morning spent in Dachau, we ventured back into Munich to find ourselves in the middle of gay pride day. This meant that the center of Munich was effectively closed off to cars and other traffic. Stages with performances, stalls and people dressed up gave Munich a wonderful atmosphere and it was incredible to see how everybody embraced everyone, regardless of race, religion or sexuality. I could not help but notice the contrast between now and the 1930’s/1940’s.

It was great to see the infamous Glockenspiel and the beautiful Alter Peter (Saint Peters Church). A good part of the afternoon, before heading back to Stuttgart, was spent at the stunning Englischer Garten near the university.Unfortunately as we only had limited time in the birthplace of Oktoberfest, we were unable to get to Olympia Park or the BMW museum, but I have been told that these are certainly worth a visit. 

A day well spent with wonderful friends, learning about the past and present and a definite recommendation in terms of a place to visit.