Bodensee

 This week went by so fast, I can't believe it is Monday again.  Wednesday was book club where our friend from Turkey led the discussion about  a book written by a Turkish author, "Forty Rules of Love" .  She brought delicious Turkish food and the afternoon was pretty special.  Friday, I had four friends over for lunch.  Monique, Kelly, Uma, and Becky  It was fun to get together and share ideas of places we had been and great things to see in Switzerland.  We all agree, Switzerland is going to be a tough place to leave.  Friday, Josh went with his school class to some Roman ruins near Basel.  He left early in the morning and didn't get home until about 6:00 pm.

 This weekend Keith planned the trip and we took a train early Saturday to Appenzell.  Appenzell is in the northeastern part of Switzerland and it is an area we have not been to and - big surprise -  it was spectacular.  We walked around town for awhile and then went to rent some bikes.  Long story short, we ended up with two electric bikes, which are my new favorite mode of transportation.  Josh was too small so Keith and Kelly rode for an hour while Josh and I goofed off and then Keith and I rode for another hour while Kelly and Josh got lunch.  Josh was a good sport about it and the sweet lady at the train station didn't even charge us for the bikes.  Next we took an open train through the Rhine Valley.  We then ran across town to another train that we were suppose to get to by bus but the buses weren't running because of a bike race.  We barely made that train and headed to Germany hot, tired, and excited to jump into the hotel swimming pool which we did the minute we got there.  We stayed that night on a beautiful island called Lindau.  

The town of Appenzell had these great painted buildings and the most amazing hydrangeas everywhere.

The open train was really cool!

A picture of our hotel on the lake.

 Sunday, we had  breakfast at our hotel which everyone agreed was the best breakfast since we've been here.  Our table was overlooking Lake Constance (Bodensee) which probably helped make the food taste even better.  Our next stop was Mainau Island where the island is covered with amazing gardens.  The boat ride over was beautiful, but the gardens were kind of a disappointment.  I had read about them and seen pictures (see pictures bellow) but we were too late for the tulips and the grounds were just okay.

This is what I was expecting.  Not even close.

This morning Kelly left to spend a week with her school class in the country.  This is something they don't often do in Utah.

Off to the Migro to meet a friend.  Then to the train station to meet their class.