The day we went to Monkey Mountain we also went to the Bodensee (aka Lake Constance). It’s my kids new favorite place to go. I can’t blame them, it’s just over an hour away and simply beautiful. It is the Lake Tahoe of Europe. Caveat… I have not seen all the lakes, maybe there’s a better one? Maybe?
I am a water baby, I love all things water. I especially love boats, and kayaking is big on my list. We had planned to kayak in a small group, one adult, one kid per kayak. Racing. Instead, we wound up with one big canoe and took turns paddling the lake. Filling a canoe with up to 5 people is just as fun, if not funner, than the smaller boats. Though, paddling 3 kids by myself, even with all of them “helping” is physically exhausting.
I loaded them all into the canoe, paddled furiously for the opposite shore, making little to no headway, yelling:
“Switzerland, here we come!” Sadly I didn’t have the strength to make it across the lake to Switzerland. Perhaps fortunately, since we had no passports in our pockets. I’m wondering what happens to people that do make it to Switzerland, or Austria (bordering the Bodensee on the north shore), while canoe’ing, kayaking, sailing or paddleboarding? Where do you keep the passports? Are there guards on the shore? I’m feeling a rebel streak come on and I want to paddle to Switzerland and ground my boat… without a passport!
I swapped out in the canoe with Alan, our new friend and Dave’s replacement, and took photo’s for a bit. But when the kids started to climb the ladder up the diving platform, I couldn’t just sit & watch! I had to jump too. I’ve always dreamed of diving into a cool mountain lake, from a platform, flying through the air in the hot summer sun. I made my way out to platform too.
I should have guessed, by the knots & twists in my tummy just climbing the ladder up, that actually diving off the platform would not be in my bag of tricks. I stood at the end of the board, seemingly miles above the lake below, and felt every tremor, every step, every breath shake the precarious perch I found myself on. The kids hopped around, causing panicked yelps from me, all of them making “chicken” noises. Not that any of them were perched on the end of the dangling board overlooking the deep, black hole below.
I finally, and I mean a good 5-10 minutes after I got up there, stepped off the diving board. I floated through the air much longer than I had anticipated, finally hitting the deep, cool water below. I sunk deeper than I imagined possible and everything around me was black. Dark as night. I kicked my feet rapidly, took big, powerful strokes with my arms and made my way up to through forest green water, teal, light blue and beautiful air! I did it! Woooooooohooooooooooo!
After my stellar example, the kids jumped in one after the other, ready to do it again & again. Fears. Conquered.
Yvette
A temporary pet is still a pet = happiness
The sun is coming out a little, it feels like Tahoe
Paddleboarding. On my bucket list!
I love the trees on the lakeshore
Crystal clear waters
Time to brave the diving plank
Tess took a nap
Canoe’ing to Switzerland
The wind came up, the windsurfers came out, we packed up to go home
What a nice trip! 🙂
I have to tell you how much I enjoy reading about your life and your excursions. I’m Austrian, and it’s really fun to experience the German culture, things and places through your eyes. You have a different take on many things that I find very refreshing. And I love your sense of humor. I giggled at the idea of your “invading” Switzerland in a paddleboad with all the kids in tow LOL
Germany and Austria have both signed the Schengen treaty so usually there are no passport controls along the borders (exceptions are possible in a crisis). You still should be able to prove your identity when asked by authorities so you should always have some kind of ID with you. But the police is fully aware that people don’t carry around their IDs in their bathing suits. So unless you do something that requires them to ask you for ID you’re not going to run into problems. Switzerland is doing its own thing and I don’t know exactly how they handle it but I doubt that they have border guards set up along the lake shore *g*
Oh and btw. Lake Constance is great but there are a lot of other lakes that are equally beautiful, even if much smaller. I don’t know many German lakes but some of my favorites in Austria are the Altauseer See and the Traunsee. And the Neusiedlersee has a totally different atmosphere than all the others, but it’s on the Austro-Hungarian border, a long way from where you live.