Day 70: Uhldingen to Hodingen (and back)

July 8, 2014

Suzanne and Jurgen are so sweet. They have done absolutely everything to make us comfortable here, and they put forward a number of reasons why we should stay on today. Their number one argument was the weather forecast, which did call for rain all day. This was made quite realistic by thunder and rain all night.

The second argument was that they could phone the Lake Dwellers' museum and determine if really and truly they could not do an English language tour for us. This second one was surprising for us for a strange reason. Stay with me for the explanation: After just two and half months on bikes, the idea of travelling in a car seems so strange, and the idea of going today to someplace 400 km away seems crazy. Similarly, the idea of phoning someone to discuss a plan or service seems strange, because first of all it involves using a telephone and second it involves speaking at length (in a strange language). But, Suzanne did phone them, and after trying to require that we bring a party of 15 English speakers, they both agreed to throw some English in, and admitted that many of their materials are there in English too.

Finally, Suzanne and Jurgen pointed out that proceeding north from here, to Ludwigshafen, would leave us with a hilly descent on the other side of the lake, to arrive at Konstanz. So they thought we should hop from here directly across the lake by ferry to Konstanz.

So with these things in mind we hatched the plan to cycle to Ludwigshafen anyway, then turn around and come back to the Lake Dwellers' museum. Even with the rain, we would know we had a warm dry place to return to. Then tomorrow, we can hop to Konstanz, without feeling that we had short circuited our route, or taken a day off (which seems to be against our cycling religion).

We set off after a fine traditional breakfast, and headed up the lake. The first major thing along our way was the pilgrimage church-basilica of Birnau, which was built in 1746. This is a full blown rococo production, with frescoes everywhere, and innumerable angels and cherubs around. In a way this is the "usual" over the top thing, although there are pages and pages of description possible of the exact paintings and sculptures and marble, etc. that are inside. Slightly unusual, though, was the presence of a church giftshop inside the main door (but not inside the church itself. This is unlike Canterbury Cathedral in England, where sales are done right in the church.) There was also a sign prohibiting photos in the church.The gift shop, however, carried lots of photo postcards of the interior, so I assume the prohibition was to encourage you to buy their versions. pshaaw!

One other thing, which I assume was tongue in cheek, was the image of one of the angels holding a tablet that says "Silence Please". Also, it is a bit debatable, but I think she is also giving you the finger!

Even though we may have scoffed at the photo ban and the gift shop, we still spent 15 euros on souvenirs there. Of these may favourite is a Pope Francis candle burner. However, going down the hill from the church, along a muddy track my bike flew out from under me and landed on the pack containing the souvenir treasures. We have not yet checked how well they survived. We might have to go back, but I am unlikely to receive warranty service, since the fall was my fault, mostly.

The part of the east shore of Bodensee where we spent most of the day cycling around

Inside the church at Birnau - stealth photo!

Now we proceeded through quiet suburban type streets, and arrived at Uberlingen. This is a really nice town, with a pedestrian area, and a large cathedral. While "over the top" in its own way, this one did not have frescoes. Rather it was heavy on gold and statues.

We were eager to get back to the museum before it was too late, so we did not go all the way to the end of the lake. We stopped a few km short and ate our sandwiches in a bus shelter, before declaring victory and retreating!

The rain was fairly heavy, and we were intrigued by cyclists who were using ponchos, rather than rain suits. These looked like maybe a good idea, especially if the poncho might also protect your hands. On the other hand, the ones on approaching cyclists seemed to be blowing up, which would sure be bad in a wind driven rain.

We met Suzanne as arranged at the museum. The actual name of the thing is the Pfaulbauten, which means built on poles. What it is about is the fact that in pre-history, early peoples built villages out in the lake on stilts. This allowed for defence and trade, and protection from flooding while allowing a lakeside location. The pole foundations and artifacts like pottery and tools have been discovered not only here at Unteruhlingen, but at other sites around the lake and at other lakes around the Alps.

At this site, 23 houses have been reconstructed, and they contain either displays of reconstructed artifacts or diaramas of life in the village. This is styled an archaeological open air museum, and it reflects serious research (and funding). The reconstructions reflect two different time periods - Stone Age, and Bronze Age (about 4000-850 BC).

Clearly in a bid to spice up the experience, the tour begins with a presentation in a circular theatre. The show portrays,in part the underwater scene of original rotted piles, and divers descending to look for artifacts.

Our presentation only included discussion of certain aspects and artifacts, while concurrent groups were hearing other information. Still, the man spoke for about 45 minutes. He had given us some words in English, and then launched his German account. Yikes, 45 minutes of talk that it sounds like you should be able to understand, but can't. Still, it was true that a lot of the printed information around the displays had English, and I think we got the idea fairly well, overall. To boot, we were able to buy the guidebook in an English version, so when we finally read it at home, we will be really educated about Lake Dwellers of the Bodensee!

We cycled home with Suzanne - great to have a guide - and our wet gear got hung up to dry.

This time Suzanne prepared kasespaetzle, the same local specialty that Dodie had ordered in the Roteshaus in Dornbirn. Dodie says this one was better. The key, according to Suzanne is the cheese - she uses not local cheese but Swiss Gruyere.

As I write this, we are waiting the final 15 minutes for the Germany-Brazil soccer game to begin. We have somehow become fans, probably because of the infectious interest of the whole rest of the population. The chance to watch the game here was the final reason we stayed over!

While we are waiting - a word about two things that Suzanne mentioned in passing. The first was that the bakery in Friedrichshafen that I put in the blog as a great example of how there are bakeries everywhere was actually a pretty low quality chain. Their bread may be trucked in from Poland and only put in the oven on site. It's the difference in assessment between a local who knows and a typical tourist, who doesn't. The other thing, there is a photo in our 2012 blog of what we considered a stealth camp, along the Rhine. Not that Suzanne noticed us there at the time, but our secret spot, she says, is clearly right in front of where she works. Duh!

The typical on road appearance of the route just after Birnau

For English speakers, the nameof this hotel is quite humourous.

This, on the other hand, is a "good" hotel - so cute, and four star!

Here are some examples of cyclists using ponchos.

Some of the reconstructed buildings of the Lake Dwellers

Artists's conception of what the Lake Dwellers looked like

Suzanne prepares to be our guide for the short ride home

Heavy rain makes us glad we are inside this evening

Bonus 1: the Crosswalk Story

This is just something humourous that happened in Jurgen and Suzanne's family. Valentin and some friends were heading off to university, and wanted to leave a memorial to their presence here at home. So one night they installed a crosswalk on the dead end street. A neighbour saw this, freaked, and called the police. The police showed up, together with representation from the town government. It was a big municipal crisis! In the end the kids had to remove the crosswalk with a pressure washer. Jurgen says they had used really high quality house paint that he had, and so the removal was not easy.

A couple of days later there was a pot luck street party. The kids brought a gingerbread model of the street - and now, the crosswalk was back!

Julius, Sophie, and Valentin- two neighbours and Jurgen and Suzanne's son, test out the midnight crosswalk

Gingerbread houses brought to a street party a few days later - note the crosswalk.

Removing the crosswalk after a neighbour, the police, and the town government freaked out.

Bonus 2: The Bike Trip Book

While it is great to have the record of a trip on something like Crazyguy, sometimes you just can not beat a paper book. Jurgen used the picture book creation service of a local electronics company (Media Markt) and came up with a real permanent keepsake.

This book is still just Jurgen's daily blog entries plus uncaptioned photos. Another step would be to write up a trip as more of a "story" book rather than a daily blog, but that would take a complete redrafting effort. Seeing a trip in hard cover form, as a blog, is also great, though.

The photo book Jurgen made of his cross Canada trip

Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 3,546 km (2,202 miles)

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