Germany - April 2001 - Mainau Island

After my meetings at Touratech were over I headed south to the Bodensee region and the famous Lake Constance. It appeared that there were many routes for me to make my way to the southern cities of Bavaria, and I was looking for the way with the least traffic. My travel books (Lonely Planet) told me that sometimes the northern shore of Lake Constance were often backed up due to lack of sufficient carrying capacity so I decided to try a short ferry route to cross Lake Constance.

I overnighted in Konstanz a university town on the edge of the Bodensee. Hotel and dinner were reasonable and I wandered around a bit taking in a bit of nightlife and the lakeside before deciding to be a good (i.e. well rested) tourist and get an early morning start.

Photo - The Bodensee Region


Konstanz is a cute town nestled right in the 'nook' of the Bodensee.
If you sneeze or make a wrong turn in town, whoops - you're in
Switzerland (well, with border formalities)

Tourist stop #1 was Mainau Island. Lonely Planet said that this was a private island owned by a Swiss Family that has turned it into a botanical garden. The morning was cold and foggy as I approached the immense parking lot. Thankfully, it was early in the season and the middle of the week. No major tour buses!

I paid my fee which wasn't that much, bought a guidebook, and armed with the free map started to wander around. This was the first time in my trip that I really got to stretch my legs and do some thinking. London (visiting my sister) was a blur as was my meetings with BMW and Touratech. Now I was making the transition into my own time and space.

Where I went and what I did was up to me! I sat by the waterside and just communed with the ducks and swans.

Photo - Mainau Island


This is a spectacular place not to be missed if you're ever in the area.

Photo - A Tree


Too numerous to list here, the scenery and types of trees
cared for at Mainau Island are a naturalists delight.

There were wonderful displays of gardening such as this representation of the Bodensee region and all over the grounds there were teams of gardeners working hard laying in new flowers and plants. I wasn't intent on walking each display with the guidebook to learn all I could as many of the flowers were not yet in bloom (early spring and frost had not broken 100%) - so I just took some time to walk around and randomly pick up some sights.

Photo - The Bodensee Region in flowers

There is strong pride and association in the Bodensee region.

Some displays such as this staircase are very well known not only for the quality of the flowers but for the design and arrangement as well. Down the center of the stairs is a running water channel which serves all of the flowerbeds.

Photo - Flower Staircase

Even in early bloom the displays were impressive.

At one end of the Island there was a ferry dock for passengers only (no cars) and a whole greenhouse facility. After I took a fairly complete stroll around the grounds and was refreshed I decided to get back on the road and find the ferry crossing.


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