Bodensee

I'm back with a travel post this time!! We had taken holidays last week in view of Eid ul Fitr. This time, we were invited to our friends' house in the north of Germany. After prayers on Tuesday, we set out to their house and had a good time there. We returned home next day evening. The rest of the week was still there and it was almost like summer was slowly waving a goodbye. We wanted to go out somewhere and it was a spontaneous plan and we're glad we did it.

Constance (Konstanz in German) is a small city located on the banks of Bodensee. So, what is Bodensee? It is the third largest fresh water lake in Europe, known just as The Lake Constance in English. Not to be confused with the ones by the same name in the USA and Canada. The lake forms a natural boundary between the three countries - Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It is to the south of Germany bordering the states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg and is fed by the River Rhine flowing from the Alps into the south of the lake. The lake is a beauty by itself, a favourite spot in Summer for sailors, sport lovers and tourists.

We started on Saturday morning by car. It was a longer drive than expected due to weekend traffic. Around 3 in the afternoon, we reached Constance and checked into our hotel. Our initial stop was to the Mainau Island. It is a small island in the lake on the German side. The entire island is maintained as a garden and is fondly called the Blumen Insel Mainau (The flower island Mainau). As the name suggests, the island is studded with numerous beautiful flowers. We reached the island by a ferry running from Constance. Right from the entrance, it is all fragrant and colourful everywhere you turn around. Different flowers bloom in different seasons. This time, Dahlias were in full bloom.

My husband was busy trying to capture all those nature's beauties into his lenses. Even I was making my own round with my mobile clicking around with excitement. There are good round trip suggestions for everyone around the island. One can easily cover the entire island by walk in a couple of hours. It was a very memorable walk through the gardens. There is a little area called Schmetterlinghaus (Butterfly house). Could you imagine how much I was amused? It housed many lovely colourful butterflies - big and small, flying all around. We were glad we got some nice clicks of these winged beauties too. The trip back to Constance on the ferry with the decorative lightings in the evening was again wonderful and memorable.

The next day was expected to be raining. We rightly chose to stay indoors and made a visit to the Sea Life. Sea Life is a chain of aquariums in Europe and the USA. It was in my wish list for a long time to visit the aquarium. The life under water is always a fascination to me. Do you know the octopuses are highly intelligent and have a good memory and problem solving skills? Do you know the sharks must always keep swimming so as to avoid sinking?

We got to see lot of flora and fauna in the aquarium including star fish, jelly fish, clown fish (the Nemo fish), rays, sharks, turtles, sea horses, octopuses and of course, penguins and lots of other small and large fishes. I also got to touch a star fish and it was an extra-ordinary experience. The aquarium is surely a great experience for children and adults alike!!

After lunch, we started our drive back to home. It was mostly raining during the travel, but the traffic was quite ok. Thus, our holidays came to an end and from Monday, back to work and the routine continues. Yet, it was a memorable little picnic during the weekend and I'm eager to make another little trip. Hopefully soon!! :)

Information:
Insel Mainau
Sea Life at Constance
Lake Constance Wiki
Mainau Wiki

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Muffins over the window!!

Wondering what the title of the post means?? Just read through...

It was in the Spring of 2009 that we shifted to this apartment. Thank God, till this day, we are quite content with our apartment. Our little flat is cozy, bright and just enough for the two of us. Above evreything, I love it for the serenity of the locality and the green sorroundings.

In front of the building, the carparking space is studded with trees and they are the ones which add beauty to the apartment, keep the air fresh and in summer lend the much needed coolness. Living on the second floor, we used to enjoy the greenery through our windows. In autumn, the bright colours would be vibrant. In winter, though the trees had shed their leaves long ago, some fruits would still be hanging on to the branches. On snow fall, a little shot of snow would be deposited above each of these fruits which gives it a muffin(with frosting) like appearance. Yeah... do you get the meaning of the title now?? I used to observe this on every snow fall and my heart rejoices at the sight of it. Unfortunately, not all good things last forever, I guess.

Last week, suddenly they put on a notice that they have planned to fell the trees. I have no idea, what the house administration tries to achieve by felling these harmless trees. There is no information about that. On talking to one of our neighbours, we got to know the following: we cannot do antything about this now. But, in Germany, there is a rule that, for every tree that is cut, must a tree be planted. Sounds good, eh? Yes. Here, you can plant any tree as you wish. But, if you plan to cut it down, you must first get permission from the state, promising that you would plant another tree somewhere sometime. So, our neighbour added that, the admin has planned to get some thinner trees sometime during autumn this year.

Two days back, they started work when I was leaving for work. It took the workers hardly ten minutes for cutting one tree into pieces. Their main work is to collect the woods in a wagon and clear the place. When I returned home, it appeared as if nothing has happened and there is a vast emptiness now.

This brings back a childhood memory to me. Once when we were living as tenants in a small town, the houseowners had a cow. She was called Laxmi and I used to play with her, feed her grass and straw. She was also fond of me. One day, they had sold her away and I cried the whole night. I could relate it to this situation. Though I've grown up now and I don't cry, I somehow feel sad for those trees.The smell of raw wood is still lingering... I hope and pray that they really plant some trees as soon as possible and bring back the greenery to our apartment. Just wanted to write in their memory :-)

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Chiemgau

This is my first blog about my travel experiences. Though I dont travel a lot, I love travelling absolutely. It is a way of getting out of the routine normal daily life. Everyone of us, in one way or other, is victim to the set norms and unwritten rules of daily life. We get hardly time to relax ourselves, both in body and soul. Once we get time off our work, some would like to be at home and just idle away; but some would tend to grab the backpacks and get away. Given an option, I would like to fall into the second category.

This year has not been very eventful. Almost every holiday this year was on a weekend. Due to this and for other reasons, we didn't travel much this year. But, finally got a chance in October. We had a company-wide Workshop arranged in a little town in south-eastern Bavaria (Chiemgau region) and I just coupled it with a small 2-days outing in the weekend that followed.

One of the fountains in front of the Herrenchiemsee

Bavaria is a state in the south of Germany, called 'Bayern' in German. It has a culture of its own and stands quite apart from the rest of Germany. We had our workshop arranged in a small Bavarian town called Bernau, situated in a picturesque landscape, sorrouded by the Bavarian Alps. We started our day relaxed. A short tread from our hotel took us to the moors. Later that afternoon, we went to visit the Chiemsee. It is the largest lake in Bavaria and consists of two main islands Herreninsel (translates to Male island), Fraueninsel (Female island) and another small Krautinsel. A boat trip of about 20 mins took us to the Herreninsel. After a small walk around the island, we visited a palace Herrenchiemsee, built by a Bavarian King Ludwig II, inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France. The tour around the palace took no more than half an hour, but every room inside was elaborately decorated and worth admiring. The island also has an age-old monastery, which we didn't have time to visit.

Kampanwand

The next day, we went off to a nearby hill called Kampenwand, which was highly recommended by some of my colleagues. We went by cable car up the hill. The day was refreshingly sunny and the view from above was fantastic. On one side of the hill, we could see the entire Chiemsee with all the three islands, another lake Simsee at a distance and the little towns and fields in the neighbourhood. On the other side, lay the beautiful valley with the snow covered Alpen peaks at a distance. We trekked around the hill a little, though many were involved in light and serious mountain climbings on the stony rocks over the hill. We just enjoyed seeing them climb. We then had baked potatoes for lunch in one of the Bavarian restaurants there. Late in the afternoon, we got down and it was time to return back home. On the whole, it was a wonderful small relaxed picnic to be remembered for ever. :-)

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