Lake Constance - It's a big deal okay?

Last week, the Kompakt course stowed us on all a bus and drove us to the Bodensee, aka Lake Constance.

Bam. A map. (Behold! The wonders of the internet!)

Anyway, the Bodensee is shared by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and the majority of Southern Germany's drinking water comes from it.  Yum.  (But actually Germans hardly ever drink tap water, but that's another story...)

We began our trip at the ungodly hour of 8am.  We slept the 2 hours from Tubingen to the Bodensee, where we were informed that this was going to be sight seeing expedition.  We first stopped to visit a gorgeous rococo church.

Pink. That's my kind of church.

Actually, it is my kind of church.  It's Catholic!

I managed to snap a pic of the lavish inside before noticing the "Do NOT Photograph" sign.
Ooops.

Next stop was a historically rebuilt stilt houses (Pfahlbauhaeuser).  The original houses date back to the stone age, when ancient people apparently decided that living on raised houses on the lake would be better than living in the forest. We got a tour of the houses and it was super cool.  It was really fascinating to learn how the people in the stone age lived.  For example, using a stick and crushed stone powder to bore through another stone.  Yeah, it took from about a week to a month to do that, but someone had to do it!  Or who figured out that carving a slit in a rock big enough to stick a wedge of wood in there would make the rock crack when they put it in water? WHO FIGURED THIS OUT?!

I never could have survived back them.  I don't think I'm clever enough.  Also, I'm bascially blind. I would be eaten first.

Enough talk - Pictures!

After seeing the stilt houses we picnicked on the grass in front of a castle and then we got another tour of an amazing medieval castle.  They did up some of the rooms in particular styles from different eras.  One room was bronze age, another medieval... you get the gist.  My favorite part of the castle were the rooms used the by famous German poet, Annette von Droste Huelshoff, who is kind of a big deal here. They put her on the 20 Deutsche Mark bill, you know back in the day.  She spent her most creative days living in that castle and she eventually died there.  Even though I had never heard of her until then (German major fail), I was really interested and snapped up a copy of her love poems at the gift shop. (Once I get some free time, I'll actually get around to reading them!!)

Anyway...pictures!

Giant stone walls?  Check.
Moat? Check.
Drawbridge? Check.
Dragon? 

Medieval wall hanging.
Huzzah for chivalry! 

Germany's Next Top Model - 1300s edition.

Anyone care for a joust?

These swords were bigger than I am!

Literally: "Deathroom of the authoress Annette von D.H."

Her little bed.

Hey Annette!

After we noodled around the castle, we took a ferry to Constance and hung out there in the late afternoon and evening.

Goodbye Germany!
Hello Switzerland!

Inside the Marienkirche.
The light was streaming in and I had to take a picture.

More amazing stained glass.

A very Harry Potter-esque courtyard behind the church

Jake tries to break in a door.

Jake tries to break out of a door.

Just a typical day, really.

One of the cool relics in the church's crypt.

Although I didn't go, some the kids in the course crossed the border into Switzerland and were able to say for the rest of the night that "they went to another country".  We wrapped up the evening with a fantastic and completely filling dinner at this great Turkish restaurant and then drove home, exhausted and cameras quite dead.