LINDAU, GERMANY, LAKE CONSTANCE, AND HAMBURGERS!

 Metropol Apartments

Muhlstrasse 1

Tubingen, Germany

Sunday, June 30, 2024

70sF, sunny and a little rain

 

Bavarian lion and a stone lighthouse guard the harbor

We awoke early to a quiet Tubingen on a Sunday morning for a short bus ride to the train station. Thankfully there was a Veit Bakery there so we could grab a bite (croissant) and some coffee before we were off on another adventure.

Peaceful Tubingen, just outside our hotel

Bridge crosses the Neckar River

 

Veit's Bakery

Three trains later, about 4 hours, we arrived in Lindau on Lake Constance, near the borders of Switzerland and Austria. Lindau, population about 25,000, is a delightful old town situated on an island.  The area has been German since 1805, Austrian previously. The harbor entrance features the Bavarian lion and a lighthouse (Germany’s most southern lighthouse) set against the Alps and the lake.

TK and Janie in Lindau, Germany

Along the waterfront in Lindau

 

Friend Ann was anxious to meet her 2^nd cousin, Petra and Petra’s son Paul there—a very nice circumstance, especially since we knew Ann’s story of her two great uncles, one American-the other German, both killed in World War I. 

 

Since we were hungry again, Petra and Paul joined us for lunch at Onkel Tom’s Wirst Haus. I was so happy to see hamburgers!  My house hamburger was delicious with a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and a “special sauce,” tomatoes, and gooey cheese.  TK enjoyed his currywurst brat—a sausage about 10 inches long with a barbecue-like sauce and curry.  Both lunches included French fries.

Exterior of Onkel Tom's Wirsthaus

We ate outside

Janie and her burger

TK's currywurst

After lunch we walked around the old town, beautifully preserved buildings, some dating to the 11^th century, possibly earlier.  Lindau is a renowned summer resort and tourist center and retains its medieval and Baroque appearance.

Cool buildings

Citroen for Friend Judy-remember those days?

A house I could live in!

Of particular interest to me was Peterskirsche (St. Peter’s Church). The church was once dedicated to the apostle Simon Peter, the patron saint of the fishermen. Until 1180, St. Peter's Church was the parish church of the town of Lindau. The eastern parts of the existing building probably date from the middle of the 12th century, while the western third of the nave with the entrance dates from 1470.  The church was deconsecrated in the 17^th century and was consecrated again as a war memorial in 1928.

St. Peter's Church in Lindau

Fresco mural attributed to Hans Holbein the Elder 

by some art historians

Fresco near choir area

There are memorial plaques in the entrance area for Lindau soldiers who died in World War I and II. They are complemented by plaques for those who were displaced from their homeland and, since 1981, for victims of the Nazi regime, including Jews, euthanasia victims and forced laborers, of which there were over 1,000 in the Lindau district. The latest plaque speaks of "warning signs from German history," warning signs about what has happened as a result of militarism, nationalism, imperialism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, so that it does not happen again. Remembering these memorial plaques is, to quote Ernst Bloch, only fruitful if it also reminds us of what still needs to be done.  [https://www.lindau.de/addresses/peterskirche/]

I was interested in the frescoes in the chapel, attributed by some art historians to German painter Hans Holbein the Elder, an artist among many whom I studied in art history classes at college in Aix-en-Provence.  He lived c. 1470-c. 1524. The style, subject manner, time period, all match, and he was living nearby at one point, but personally if they really were Holbein’s work, I would think they would be much better cared for and guarded. The church/chapel was open, no one else in sight.  No matter, they were beautiful, and I am glad that I saw them.

We continued our stroll with another break for gelato—I can attest to the fact that Fruits of the Forest is wonderful.

 Three or four hours later—whose counting? 11,053 steps for me and 10,000 for TK, we arrived back in Tubingen about 8 p.m.  Some of the group went to a Chinese restaurant.

New adventure tomorrow!  I will add that we are grateful for a guide who can read train and bus schedules like no one else!  And one more thing, Germans are very very polite and have given up seats on the trains several times for me. 

TK’s Takes:  Yesterday was hot, today cold!

Ann’s Takes: I was so excited to see my cousins!

Derek’s Takes: Well worth the train ride for the beautiful lake view!

Chris’s Takes: Soaking in all the scenery on the train ride, the orchards, the fields, the little towns!

Jim’s Takes: Enjoyed another/different German beer—Meckatzer!

K1 and K2 tomorrow!