Planes, Trains, Automobiles (and busses and bikes)

Sunday morning we arrived in Zurich and found the airport train station.  That was easy, but finding the actual tracks to get on the train proved to be harder than it should have been.  I blame sleep deprivation.  Finally we embarked on our final stretch of travel - an hour train ride to Konstanz.  We were excited to be done traveling, so it felt like forever, but the view from the train was lovely.  I tried to take a picture, but I always seem a second too late for the really interesting bits.

We took a taxi to the hotel in Konstanz and checked in.  They kindly offered us breakfast, even though we didn't pay for it, while waiting for our room.  We checked in very early and then headed to the place to get our bikes.  We took the city bus, so it was really a day of travel!  I am not sure the last time Bob rode the city bus.

At the bike place we got the bikes, but the mechanic wasn't there so we couldn't attach our pedals.  I "laughed" because I verified this two separate times...  We made plans to go back later and the office person made suggestions about how to ride into the city center to visit the town to kill time. 

We rode around, had lunch, and I decided we should at least ride by Mainau and see if it was open.  Mainau is apparently an island with lots of flowers and not to be missed.   It didn't seem far on the map, but of course we took a million wrong turns and had to climb out of Konstanz to get there.  FINALLY found it and it was jammed.  I should have guessed that Easter would not mean "closed" but rather "everyone let's hit the island of flowers as a family!".  We decided not to go in, knowing we'd be back to Konstanz in 8 days and could go then on a less crowded day.  We did have a pretzel and drinks and took a picture of the very pretty landscaping outside of the entrance.  The other photo is from the bike path leading to the attraction.  This place was hopping with a huge parking lot, tour busses, etc.  Fortunately we had our own way in and out.

The ride back to thecity, downhill and knowing where we were going, took no time at all - at least as far as the city center.  We finally found the bike place (after a zillion wrong turns again...) and had them install our pedals.  What a difference that made!  Finally back to the hotel with an impressive zero wrong turns.  Too bad we're leaving Konstanz the next day.

We had a well deserved shower each, put on normal clothes and walked to dinner.  The food was good, the view was beautiful, and we even had a waiter who spoke English pretty well.  Unlike my last trip to Germany, in Frankfurt, we are not running into much English and I don't think we've run into a single other American yet. 

So very tired, we headed back to the hotel and fell asleep almost immediately.  This was the first time I slept since Friday night at home.  Heaven.