Uncle Tan's Bday @ Lake Constance

Uncle Tan took a day's leave to celebrate his Bday and we went to Lake Constance (Konstanz), which is near Germany's border for a day trip.

Even though it's summer, the weather recently had been freaky and temp has dropped to mid 20s deg celcius even though there was no rain. That day was cloudy and it was drizzling slightly when we arrive. Fortunately, it was a passing one.








After almost 1.5 hr train ride, we arrived @ Konstanz.





A little Tourist Info centre, which is a few minutes walk from the train station.













Hehe, teaching Uncle Tan how to focus. He's better at taking far far away sceneries ;p

This is the old town of Konstanz. As it was a weekday, it wasn't as crowded.

The fountain at the centre of the old town.

The design of the buildings are pretty similar to the ones we saw in Switzerland, perhaps we see more buildings with paintings on the wall.

Shopping here is not cheap as it's in Euro and although Uncle Tan's colleague mentioned that in the past most of the Swiss would go to Germany to purchase things as it's cheaper, now fewer of them are doing so as the prices now are no longer as cheap and in fact, we found the stuff more expensive than in Zurich. Eg. a blouse on discount in Zara cost CHF9.95 in Zurich, but over here, it also cost Euro 9.95, meaning that it's more expensive after conversion. The conversion rate between CHF and Euro are not favourable as well.

We are not very souvenir people either unless it's something that we can use, so we ended up getting only some unique chocolates, their local bread and a small cake ;p

By the time we reach the place it's almost lunch time, we were tempted by the roasted chicken in this little shop along the street.

This chicken is definitely nicer than the one we took at Geneva and cheaper too. About 5 Euro and just nice for the 2 of us :) At least it is succulent and fragrant.

They sell a lot of the 'cheong' crocs here too. Of course the ones in SG are cheaper.

We passed by this perfume shop and saw a very nice ceiling on the 2nd level. We were wondering if this was an apt or an office space.

Somehow their shop display just tempts you to want to step in :)

Ah Kin with the strong arms trying to break into a shop.

It's the entrance of an art gallery actually.

Saw this pretty shop selling pretty cutlery. Strange, I thought shops are closed on Sundays? Or were they out for lunch?

Not sure if you can see this but it's actually flowers being hung or rather fitted into a hole in the wall.

The Uberlingen Munster

Other than the cathedral we saw at Lausanne which left us in awe because of the grandeur of the building and the detailed architectural works, this cathedral has also left us a deep impression amongst the cathedral we've visited. There were ongoing construction works while we were there.

The interior of the cathedral is very elaborate and I thought it looked much brighter than the rest of the cathedrals we've been to. I've noticed that were many statues of Jesus on crucifix in this cathedral.

As we walked along this pathway where I took the picture, we could hear a lady singing which seemed to be coming from one of the rooms. It would be kinda eerie to hear such a voice if you were here alone at night...

I like the visitors' intrigue look on their faces when they were curious yet no one dared to open the door to find out ;p

On our way to the lake, we pass by this..er... well, a river I think, where the water is in emerald green...

Comparing between Ouchy Lake and Lake Constance, I prefer the former as the alps formed the background. Perhaps we were not standing at the most strategic place to view the lake cos I've read that there were some parts of the lake where you could see the alps as well.

Well, Ah Kin is very into trees and green grass, so here I am getting the birthday boy to pose for me hehe ;p

There's a hotel right in front of Lake Constance.

And we're happily snapping pictures in their compound ;p







Lake Constance is the largest lake in Germany and the 3rd largest lake in central Europe (after Lake Balaton in Hungary and Lake Geneva) and is located between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It lies on the southern border of Germany, bounded on the south by Switzerland and, at its southern tip, Austria. So in a way, we are at 3 places in a day :>

Apparently, Lake Constance acts as a natural reservoir of warmth, helping to keep the temperature consistent...consistently cool I suppose...

The public park at Lake Constance.

A mummy bird nesting...

It was cloudy no doubt but fortunately still managed to take some pics with blue skies.

This stretch reminds us of the Fremantle Market in Perth where they too serve Fish and Chips here.

Another place you might like to visit is the Zeppelin Museum which is an airship museum and Meersburg which has 2 castles dated in the 16th century an perched on a cliff top and spreading down a steep slope to the waterside. The Altes Schloss is now a museum which is open 9am to 6.30pm daily. We didn't go to the Zeppelin Museum cos it's closed on Mondays and we didn't go to Meersburg cos by the time we found out about this place, it was already kinda late to go...

The sun only came out in the evening when we were about to leave...

A little surprise for Uncle Tan - his favourite Luxemburgeli (aka macaroons) from Sprungli.

A box containing expensive 'sugars' haha ;p

And a mini cake from Konstanz :)

Making a wish "Make me young, make me young..." keke ;p

No candles to blow thou...so, he's still 36+++ till he blows the next candle next year ;p
This time he didn't slip his tongue and reveal his bday to anyone so it's just the 2 of us and a mini cake :>

It's somewhat like blackforest cake where the cherries are soaked in rum and we like it as it was light and not too sweet.
Besides the ABF shirt, I got him a belt from H&M cos I just realised that he has only one belt for work! Better get him another one in case.

Made a card for him since it's been some time since I've made a bday card. Forgot to bring along my sharpener so had a hard time trying to get the colours on ;p