The glowing review that we gave the Bodensee area continued today, beginning with breakfast in our old hotel in the centre of Lindau. It was a basic 10 jammer, and had a couple of items/flavours that were new for us. One was lax (cold smoked salmon) with a delightful subtle smoking, and a squeeze tube of sort of horseradish/cream sauce. Another small item was containers of packaged quark. And then there were piles of quality strawberries!
Loading the bikes at the back door of our hotel in Lindau.
The Lindau walking guide lists 18 spots to look at. You might be pleased to learn that we didn't go to, = you don't have to read about, all of them. But bad news, we noticed stuff not on the list! Let's take a spin around. I'll use the captions to describe what we are seeing:
The 13th century Mangturm, was part of the original city fortifications.
Despite the amazing bicycle culture here, with bikes having critical mass and usually dominating any cars, this poster urges greater cooperation/consideration in support of cycling.
This hundreds of years old (and presumably broken) bell was sitting outside the church. What struck me was the amount of decoration invested in an item that is meant to spend its life hidden in a tower.
This is my last day with the useless camera, but here you can at least see how Lindau houses do not use fachwerk for beauty, but rather pastel colour and interesting window treatments.
The final church in town for us was the Peter's Church. As usual, I went in first while Dodie waited with the bikes. The church was so dark, it was spooky, and the only decoration was very ancient looking frescoes. At 1,000 years old, it is genuinely ancient. I only barely noticed the tomb figure lying there in the dark, but the camera features did allow a photo.
I came out and told Dodie that she would like this church, because she is a big fan of ancient things, but she would have to wait for her eyes to adjust to the low light. She came out, and she had liked it, but she wondered why I had not turned on the lights! I tried to go back in and look at it in the light, but a huge tour group had just arrived, and there was no way!
We easily found our way onto the causeway and off the island. Now something we already were experiencing on the island became a central experience. That is, the literally thousands upon thousands of cyclists out enjoying the lake shore. The bicycle is the ideal way to experience the place, and it seems everyone knows it. We felt good to be part of what here is such a dominant group.
A constant stream of cyclists. We estimated 10,000 riders are out all around the lake today.
As we passed by Bregenz and approached the area and the towns where the Rhine enters the Lake, having descended from the Alps, our thoughts turned increasingly to Bernie, who was born in Lustenau and lived with his wife Delia in Hochst. We counted Bernie as one of our best friends, after he initially rescued us from being lost in Bregenz. Delia, Bernie, and daughter Kathi also came to us in Canada. Bernie loved this land, and transferred some of that to us, before he died in 2019. Being in this area makes us think of him, and to remember all he taught us. You can read more about Bernie in our Travels with Bernie.
Although Bernie took us into the hills behind Bregenz, and up into Switzerland, which occupies the west side of the valley, we had never followed the river far toward its source, near Andermatt, which is in Switzerland. We would have liked to go all the way there, but settled on a lesser objective. It goes like this:
My image of Switzerland is the postcard one, which includes high mountains, doe eyed brown cows with bells, and especially the "alm", which is the high meadows in the mountains. After exeriencing the Switzerland of chemical companies, and crabby people near Basel, I asked the internet "Where is the 'real' Switzerland?". The answer was "Heidiland" which seemed to be a tourism industry construct, but which anyway referred to the area we are about to enter. "Heidi" refers to the children's story about a young girl who is brought from Frankfurt to here, to near Maienfeld, where she bonds with her grandfather, who lives up in the alm. Heidi manages to bring her crippled friend Clara out of Frankfurt, to the alm, and Clara grows well on goat's milk and fresh air.
This is the image, maybe the myth, that brings hoards of tourists - like us - to seek out Heidi-land. It's similar to tourists looking for Canada's Anne of Green Gables, in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
So we began to head up the Rhine. At first it was not like we expected, with quite bit of light industry and residential housing. But soon, it was what we were looking for, though we have not yet reached Maienfeld.
We watched a two horse drama for a fair bit. The white horse absolutely refused to enter the stream, though thirsty. Finally the rider went in herself, showing that it was safe, and with a lot of pulling the white horse came in. The brown horse was having none of it, but eventually sort of slipped and ended in the stream too. The little bit in front of the brown horse in the photo is actually quite steep.
Before continuing to Heidi land, we had an immense pleasure to take care of. In 2019 a couple from Germany were cycling from Alaska to South America, and they happened to need a Warmshowers stop in our neighborhood. They initially contacted the Paxman's, but something came up and they got handed off to us. The couple were Manni and Kristin, and we were glad to steal them from the Paxman's. We quickly learned that Kristin was not feeling well, and this was putting the trip in jeopardy. It turned out Kristin had a good reason, for she was pregnant!
We hung on to Manni and Kristin for quite a long time, as we all waited for Kristin to feel better, and as Canada embarrassed us by somehow refusing or failing to provide Kristin with proper medical care. After some weeks it was decided that a return to Germany was the only way.
Though Manni and Kristin were from the north of Germany, upon their return Manni got a job, ta da, not so far from Maienfeld. And they both got Matti, who is now a totally delightful two year old. They all live in Feldkirch, on the bank of the river Ill.
The Ill, is a tributary of the Rhine, that runs right in front of Manni and Kristin's house.
We are planning a day at Manni and Kristin's, to refurbish and wash up a bit, before heading up to look for Heidi.
A replacement battery for my camera has arrived here, and we may have the big computer working again. The bikes will surely enjoy a cleaning and swap out of brake pads, etc. etc. Already Manni and Kristin are building up our strength, with schnitzel, fries, and salad.
What gave Meaning to Life today? Remembering Bernie, and passing through his beloved land. Reconnecting with Manni and Kristin, and meeting Matti!
Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles) Total: 2,016 km (1,252 miles)
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Tricia GrahamIt is such a wonderful ride up the Rhine to Andermatt and then on over the St Gottard Pass to Italy and Lake Como Reply to this comment 2 years ago
