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OBW Weekend in Konstanz

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Place: Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland
Original name: Constantia (Latin) after Emperor Constantius Chlorus
Geographical fact: borders Switzerland, separated by Lake Constance
Interesting fact: NOT BOMBED b/c city left its lights on at night (WWII), thus fooling the Allied forces in thinking that it was Switzerland!
University: University of Konstanz (1966)
URL: www.konstanz.de
Site of: Konstanzer Münster (cathedral) & Council of Constance (re: Western Schism)

On 20.09.08 we (F, Ja, Jo, and I) took the train down to Konstanz and met up with other Canadians. We stayed at Don Bosco Hostel, which was by far the nicest hostel I’ve stayed at. Thereafter, we had our Mittagessen (lunch) at the university’s Chinese restaurant and then had a tour of the city. By 20.00, we went over to the Konzil to have our Abendessen (dinner). We didn’t get the chance to go back to the hostel to dress-up for the dinner, so we ended up looking pretty casual for a fancy dinner (i.e. except for me, as I’m always in a dress!). Afterwards, F, K and I quickly toured “la petite Paris” – the site of Konstanz’s Oktoberfest – before returning to our hostel.

Place: Meersburg, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland
Special wine: “Weissherbst”
Famous for: medieval town and Old Castle (7th C.) & New Castle (18th C.)
The next day (21.), we took the ferry to Meersburg, where we had a very long tour of the Alte Schloss – not that it really needed that long of a tour. The Altes Schloss (Schloss Meersburg) is death place of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, the “queen of [female] poets” in Germany. We then had a quick glimpse of the Neues Schloss and a quick tour of its Kapelle (chapel). Our tour of historic Meersburg ended at 13.15, which was quite sad as we really didn’t get a chance to discover the beautiful, charming medieval town. We had lunch at Hohenegg and were on the train back to Heidelberg by 15.38.
It was a wonderful weekend! The water was so clear and blue, and I felt like I was in Vancouver again.