Der Bodensee
Lindau is a German town and an island in the eastern part of the Lake Constance, or the Bodensee, as it is also called. The lake borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Over the weekend we stayed there with some friends of Mike's in a cute little bed and breakfast. The island was tiny, and all of the buildings were cute, with balconies up on the roofs.
Because I complained so much about the heat in Germany last week, it decided to do me a favor and start raining for our vacation. How lovely.
The first morning we decided to rent bicycles and ride a path that goes along the coast line. We were lucky with no rain most of that day and we rode all the way from Lindau to Rorschach, which I think was in Switzerland, which was just a little too long for me. I started to get cranky, so we rode a ferry back to Lindau.
On the next days we were going to ride the ferry to an island called Mainau, which is a garden island, but both days the ferry did not run for some reason. Then we wanted to go see the Zeppelin museum in Friederichshafen, but it was closed as well.
So we ultimately ended up doing a lot of relaxing, walking around, window shopping, and sitting outside cafes drinking espressos in the rain. It wasn't that bad, since anytime I go on vacation I seem to have sudden attacks of extreme fatigue and just want to sleep all day. I haven't decided if this is just a result of the travel or if it has to do with all of the German speaking wearing me out.
One thing that I notice even more since I got back from the U.S. is just how awful service is here in restaurants. I don't think the locals find it awful, so I guess I am just spoiled. But it was seriously annoying to sit in a restaurant and be ignored for atleast a half an hour, and to have to chase down your waiter to get a bill after you have been sitting finished forever. It makes me practically livid, because if I got service like that in the U.S. I would never go back. Maybe I just need to work on my patience.
We got back safely on Tuesday, even though the plane we were riding in was tiny and made me sick and frightened. We picked up our keys to our new apartment and went to check it out. The kitchen has still not been installed, and the power & internet weren't working, so we have just been slowly taking stuff over there. I hope we can move in after a week or so.
I got a little depressed while shopping for some things for our new apartment because in a year we will have to give or throw away all of this stuff. I really, really can't wait until I can have a home in a place where I can stay and accumulate tons of stuff, which is probably every girl's dream. I have less incentive to buy nice stuff for this apartment and make it look cute since I don't want to waste money on things I can't keep for long.
A lot of people have asked about wedding gifts since I announced the happy news. This is one of my dilemmas. I don't want people to buy me things that I will have to part ways with in a year! What is a girl to do?
Anyways, I am looking forward to moving in. The apartment is a lot bigger than I remembered and with so many big windows. I can't wait. And I think Penny will like being able to watch out the windows now that we live on the ground floor.
I have my German final exams on Monday & Tuesday which I am really dreading. I hate oral exams so much, and I am supposed to give a formal presentation for seven minutes with no notes. "HOW?" I ask. But then my class will be over and I don't know what I will do next. I need a hobby.
