Germany Is the North End of the Platform

Sunday - 19 April 2009 - Constance (Konstanz) and Mainau Island, Germany


A very early start this morning to take the narrow gauge Appenzell train system to connect to two different mainline trains took us to the German city of Constance (Konstanz). The journeyl didn't take very long as the Swiss train connection times can be as short as 2 or 3 minutes. (You just have to read the CRT track numbers very quickly and be prepared to move even more quickly). The border formalities between Switzerland and Germany consisted of walking by a very bored looking German guy in a uniform, essentially by going in one door and out the next of the train station as the station straddles the border. The north end of the platform in Germany, and the south end is in Switzerland.

A one hour boat ride on the huge lake Konstanz--it's really a wide place in the Rhine River--took us to nearby Mainau Island, a botanic garden, castle, petting zoo, and someone said a miniature railway sort of place. There were a very large number of tulips, a really huge number of tulips. I spent the day on the train and at lunch and while walking with either a theater professor and dance teacher spouse, Ed and Helene, from Rhode Island and another guest, Barbara, who is originally from Connecticut but now lives in Tennessee. A good time was had by all. A large number of show tunes and other theater issues were discussed going and coming on the trains, three more on the way back via a different route.

Before returning on the trains from Konstanz, an hour or so was spent exploring this pretty city in Germany. A rotating stone lady and a strange looking lighthouse grace the entrance of the harbor, and everyone speaks German without a Swiss accent. The difference between the two countries was large as Germany looked like Germany. The holocaust memorial on a side street was a good reminder of the return train's departure time. The town has lots of medieval streets and a statues, including one of a 5 legged horse. This topped the advertisement on a train station on the Swiss side that seemed to have a terrorist group eating fondue.


Tomorrow we transfer via three trains and a 6 minute bus to Chur, the rail junction town for a number of trips into the main part of the Alps. Most of us will journal up to the mountain town of Arosa via what is said to be one of the most spectacular rail lines in Switzerland, and some of us will attempt to walk across the Rhine to Liechtenstein. Country #127 is possible, but who's counting.