9 August - Bodensee, Switzerland

We got up at the crack of dawn and made our way to catch a train to Stuttgart and from there to Ulm and then on to Schaffhausen, Switzerland where we would begin our journey around the Lake of Constance, otherwise known as the Bodensee. Upon arrival in Shauffhausen, we would ride to the Rhine Falls and then catch a ferry to Am Reine. We would then ride our bikes to Kreuzinglen to stay overnight. That was the plan, now this is how it went:

When we first got off the train, I was a bit confused about which direction the bike path was in and thought it would be more clearly posted. So I looked at my map and the maps at the station and finally decided to play einie meinie minie moe. I stopped again after a km or so and consulted another map. Not sure if Skylar picked up on my anxiety or what, but he was quiet while I had my panic attack and was nearly in tears about which way to go. It was a wonderful way to get started. I collected myself and set back in moe's direction. After another km or two, we came along a bus stop and I stopped an looked at the map there which showed Rhine Falls completely in the opposite direction we were going of course! So we turned around and finally found some signage as to where we were supposed to go and finally came along the lake which meant we were headed the right way.

It was about a 5 km ride to the Falls. It began on city streets and then along the lake and into a forest area. Once we came to the top of the Falls, we locked our bikes up and hiked in. We viewed the Falls from above and hiked down to the bottom to get a better view. It was amazing! It wasn't as tall as I expected and not nearly as wide as the Gulfoss in Iceland, but beautiful and breathtaking nonetheless. Once we go to the bottom, we took a boat ride to a big rock viewing station in the center of the falls. The boat was packed and the line up the stairs of the rock was long, but the view was well worth it. From the top you could see the force of the water crashing into itself without mercy. At the bottom, while we were waiting for the boat to come back we could view the surrounding magnificence of the falls. There was this fish bound and determined to swim its way up the falls and all I could think of is those inspiration posters with some key phrase about Determination written along the bottom. Skylar tried to take a picture, but unfortunately the boat pulled back up and knocked into the dock, making Skylar bang his shin along the guard rail. First injury of the trip and probably not the last.

We stayed quite a bit longer playing in the water, taking pictures, and walking around, so that we missed the last ferry on to Am Rhein, so we biked it. After leaving the falls area the bike path ran along the highway of Switzerland. Then the bike path signs seemed to stop altogether and the lake was no where to be seen. We biked for a few hours on what seemed to be a general country highway, past lots of cow pastures and corn fields. We came along this beautiful flower garden with a sign that seemed to offering for people to pick the flowers and take them, but I didn't really see the sense in that. We decided to just take pictures amongst them.

We finally came a long a small restaurant along the Lake and knew we must be at least heading in the right direction. Luckily they took Euros, so we got dinner. However, this was quite a cutesy place and the food was ridiculously overpriced. It was good though and the waitress was from Australia so was able to translate the menu for us. Unfortunately, the vegetarian options were very limited, so Skylar got spaghetti with pesto and I got a tomato and mozzarella salad.

We hopped back on our bikes and rode for another hour or so until we came along a train station as it was getting dark. Not soon after we got on the train, it stopped and a mad told us we had to get off because there was something on the tracks up ahead and we had to take the bus. I was so confused, but followed the other passengers to the bus and crammed ourselves on with our bikes. I was precariously holding mine up over a baby carriage and using every muscle in my body as the bus went around turns so as not to fall on him. We were finally able to get back on the train and then we arrived in Kreuzlingen. Again my directions failed me and my bike map was beyond useless. We found a small restaurant and between the five people there and after a few German discussions and arguments over the map, they were able to point us in the direction of the hostel. We had to ask two more people along the way... actually one woman must have just saw the lost look on my face because she was biking in the opposite direction and asked if we needed help when I didn't even have a map out. All in all, we biked about 50km this first day and that doesn't include all the back and forth from getting mixed up. Snowy had the best seat for the ride :) We finally found the place, which was situated in the middle of a park and looked like a mansion.

Our key was clipped to a board when we came in as it was past curfew. We found our rooms and made our beds. There was another young man staying in the room with us, but other than that the rest of the beds were empty (the room had 5 bunk beds). Within minutes, we were sound asleep.

More pictures can be seen at:http://picasaweb.google.com/osani77/BodenseeBikeTourDay1