The Germany I Never Knew I Needed to See

From Zurich to Ravensburg, Germany it's about a 2 hour drive - it wasn’t a bad ride though in my friend's Porsche. We took the ferry from Konstanz to Meersburg and drank a cappuccino and ate a croissant on the short ride over the water. I love riding ferries in other countries and this one was fast and efficient. Right as we began pulling into Meersburg I started seeing all the vineyards growing on the hills...and as we got off the ferry you could see apples growing everywhere. Besides, apples and wine they grow a lot of hops and corn.

The small town of Ravensburg is still intact after WWII - from what I'm told it was because there was a bigger focus on nearby towns that were manufacturing airplane parts. It was a huge trading area and has a sophisticated, yet relaxed feel to it. Ravensburg is called “the city of towers and gates” and Mehlsack is one of those landmarks and is located in the highest point of the old town. 

After dinner we hit up a local bar, Gasthaus Rauberhohle, and had a beer and finished the night sipping whiskey, eating Swiss chocolate, and deciding whether I liked vanilla gelato with weird nut oils poured on it. 

On Thursday we walked around Ravensburg some more and then headed to Weingarten to the Basilika St. Martin because of the famous organ there that was built by Joseph Gabler and took 14 years to complete. After completion they refused to pay him what was owed but he had secretly taken out a piece of the organ so it wouldn’t play (maybe this is where the “pay to play” phrase comes from?). He eventually was paid and the organ became playable. Unfortunately, when we got there it was behind a wall as they will be shutting the church down for two years to do updates.

Fun fact: Gabler only built 3 organs during his entire career. 

After Weingarten we made a quick visit to the town of Lindau on Lake Constance. It’s a huge lake that the Rhine River pours into. On the Bodensee side of Lake Constance you are standing in Germany and looking across the lake at Austria and Switzerland. During the summer, on the opposite side of the lake you can buy tickets to the Bregenz Festival - an open air opera on the lake (added to bucket list).

I’m very thankful for my German friends for their hospitality and who helped me find the right train to take to Munich and then explained how to read the digital train schedule on the boards at the platform so that you get on the correct train in the correct compartment (I should’ve taken a picture but there will be other teaching opps on this topic). There are multiple companies running trains and some are local so they go very slow and stop everywhere, some require transfers, and some are direct with a few stops. I took the ECE train from Lindau-Reutin and chose to pay about $26 more for a reserved, first class seat (68 Euros total). 

I’ll stop here, and leave you on the train platform headed to Munich…waiting for my very late train.