Scenic Constance

Up in the morning and off to the train station after the coffee and a bit of time wasting until the 1st train pulled out of the station at 08h15. Sitting pretty in 2nd class non smoking with about 2 other people. 

On our arrival at the parking lot to catch the train we thought we would just pop into the local supermarket which is situated next to the station. No can do man. This supermaket was closed, but the sign said open from 7am... It is what it is. The trip was uneventful and we soon had to transfer to another train to arrive in destination Constance (Konstanz in German). Down the stairs, around the corner and straight into train B. The conductor in train A checked our ticket (we have a pass to travel on all public transport in the region for free). She then asked for an ID and as per most things it takes a second or 2 for the information to travel to the ear, up to the brain and then for the brain to try to make sense of this foreign language. I can not say that German is like Dutch, but one generally can fathom out what they are asking or trying to tell one, but the gap between the spoken word and a coherent answer is too long for either party as German person is probably thinking, did they not hear me? are they dof? (South African for not so quick mentally).  Ingird is usually the one who deciphers the sentence first and she does quite a good job of speaking back in this foreign language. When said German realises that we are foreigners, they also switch a gear, but it is sometimes speaking with 'hands and feet' (A dutch saying) , but we get to the finish line.

Train 2 set us off nicely at Constance Central Station which is next to the harbour and we walked about the harbour part of town which is also very pretty, as is the rest of the Lake Constance district that we have visited. We stuck to the old part of town and stopped off at a little coffee shop for a coffee and toilet stop. It was very quaint this place. Still not much movement on the streets and we sat and watched as it seemed that the town slowly awoke and people were starting to begin their day.

After 10am all of the shops were still closed. Strange/Odd. It is Thursday and the signs in the wondow say open from 10am. Ingrid spoke to Mr Google and we found out that it was a religious public holiday and that is why all stores (including the supermarkets) were closed. On our meanderings about the old town we heard some kind of singing and smelt the Incence. Some kind of religious ceremony this turned out to be with some people holding flags and walking and preists and people dressed in olden day clothes with some kind of fancy gold like headgear and the later boys and girls in costume. Boy that Incence was intense. I would not have liked to have been the person swinging that vase type of thing around. We guessed that there were probably 50 persons in the whole "play".

Moving on it was lookey, lookey and as all of the shops were closed we strolled around just looking at buildings and shop windows and people. Soon we were in the vicinity of the border between Switzerland and Germany. There was a border control post, but I am guessing due to the public holiday that the Swiss thought, if them Germans aren't going to man their posts today, we shall have our own stay home from work day. 

Bing, "You have crossed the border"! This is what my car does whenever we cross a border into another country. I still love that sound.... We were about 50 steps into Switzerland and were told by a lady who snuck over with us that everything is open in Switzerland as they do not have that public holiday. I guess that we would have had to walk quite a bit to get to the high steet, so after about 1km we decided to turn back and Ping, You have crossed the border went of in my head. I do not think that I will get tired of that.

Time for lunch and because not everything was open it was less easy to make an choice that we were both happy with. Back to the coffee shop from earlier on and we had a lovely bagel with avocado and spinach and chick peas. What a feast. By now we were into the afternoon and about 13h00 we took our 1st train towards home. Then the Kabouters played their card. Fokkes!!! The train that we were to take in 2 minutes had been cancelled. We are to wait another hour for the next train! 

Much like everything else nowdays the is no physical office/palce to ask for help. The train ticket office was non existant so it was guess if the next train would arrive and hope for the best. Experienced travellers us, we looked at the option of a bus to get us back to our car. No luck on that, all the bus routes were local to the city. Our only other option was to take a train to another city and catch a bus from there. Whilst waiting on the platform for that train another train rolled in on the platform that we originally were on to get back home (card 2 by the Kabouters), so we high tailed it down the stairs, around the corner and up to platform 1. People got out of the train and the signboard said that this was the right train. Next thing we are being shouted at along with about 10 other people to step away from the train!

Bye bye train. Off he goes and we are left running back to platform 3 to catch that second train to the other city. Thankfully that train was delayed eventually by 17 minutes. Card 3 by the Kabouters once we got to the destiantion of the other city. Yip. There is a bus going to home for us. We just needed to wait about a half an hour for it. We are patient. Play card 3! About 2 minutes before the bus is due to arrive there is a message saying that the bus has been cancelled. We now have no option to get back home from here. Fokkes! 

Some guy in a minibus pulls up at the bus stop and a lady goes to him and asks if he is going to our town and he replies that Indeed he is. Sign me up we are going too. No Sir, that is not possible for you. We have to book the bus at least an hour before hand and then we are eligable to travel with him to 'home". He has place for 8 persons in his bus and even if the dispatch would make an exception, only 1 of us would then be allowed to travel as he already had 7 persons booked. The only way to get to home would be to phone dispatch and reserve our seat on his bus, but he can not guarantee that the places are not already booked. We would still have to wait at least 1 hour if we were lucky to get on the next bus! Fokkes! This public holiday is wreaking havoc on our simple plan. 

Okay we have not got a time constraint, but this is ridiculous!     What to do?    Kak and betaal (Afrikaans for throw money at the problem). TAXI....€60 bucks later after a lovely air conditioned ride we were back at Jord (Our car) and off to home! So much for our free public transport and not having to spend money on transportation this week.

The weather here has been just gorgeous. 28-30 degrees C and wind still. It makes anywhere in the world feel like the ideal place to be! We have been very fortunate with this weather. The closing of the supermaket put us at a disadvantage today and instead of going out to eat tomorrow night we thought to go and have a meal at the nearby village of Ludwigshafen. Preferably on the waters edge and with this weather it was going to be a Stunner!. 17h30 the restaurant opened at the hotel Adler and we were fortunate to get a table as the hotel guests had reserved tables and the lady made a few changes to get us in. Our poor waiter was already run off his feet and these tourists who do not speak German fluently were slowing him down. Let us mention that Ingrid asked for a glass of Red Wine and he looked totally confused. Red Wine on an evening like this. Yes red wine please. Sorry he said, that was totally unexpected. I will be back he said and probably went to gather himself or download a bit of English to better understand us.

Shame Fritz was working hard. We had the time, but it is odd how ones own state of mind can and probably will percieve a situation. We felt like Fritz was neglecting us, but as we had time and were in no hurry we worked out that the poor man had more tables than he could handle (just too much of a work load). I like to think that we gave him a break by giving him the space that he needed. Finally (it took quite some time) he came and took our order and Ingrid went with the Rose instead of the red wine. Fritz brought us bread about 5 minutes later and before we had had 1 slice the main course was delivered to the table. Fish takes no time to cook and Ingrids meal was Lentil dahl so that was probably in a pot on the stove just simmering.

After dinner Fritz came to ask if we wanted to pay and was surprised by Ingrid ordering another glass of the Rose. Poor man had to apologise once more and it brought a lage grin to his face. We were just sitting so nicely and enjoying the view and scene. People were sitting on the low stone wall and kids and others were swimming in the Lake. Dogs were fetching stick and the young, old, hip and not so chique ambled by all enjoying the perfect evening. Fritz did push me for a 2nd beer, but I said that I was driving later, so I decline. 'This is Germany he said. It is okay!" I thought about it but still declined. He would not be the one paying a fine.

After dinner we slowly walked up and down the promenade and then Jord took us the 10 minutes back to home in the hills. This is one of those evening that one does not want to end, but the clock ticks on...Tomorrow we have a plan for both the morning and afternoon. Speak to you later.