Germany - Day Seven

Sunday 6-19-2011
We were off for a ferry boat ride into Austria. I kept thinking of the Von Trapp children in The Sound of Music. Lindau was about two hours away. What another lovely setting, Lake Constance, huge with many glorious mountain ranges surrounding it, is on the southern German border between Switzerland and Austria. We could see the Alps from both countries. I would have loved to hike a bit, but the group was content with a steep 5 minute walk to a viewing area. The clouds were working on putting a thunderstorm together, but only a few sprinkles developed. Following the boat ride and hike, we walked down to a new opera stage which was on a floating dock. It is actually a huge scuplture, about 30 feet high of a young boy in the water. His hand stuck out of the water and he appeared with a large book, which also made up part of the stage. Interesting. As we ventured back, we stopped for a cup of coffee at a sidewalk cafe and somehow Monika was separated from the group. We realized she was missing, sent Fidel and Tony out on a search mission. It was nearly an hour before she was discovered waiting for the group by the vehicle. Apparently, she was watching the ducks, and missed the group heading into the cafe. "Alls well that ends well", as Ma Ingalls would say. That night, the group was going out for a special chicken dinner, but Claudia offered to cook another traditional Swabian dish, spaetzla, a special noodle dish at home instead. I gladly took her up on the kind offer. Her son Timo demonstrated how to cut the batter into thin strips right into boiling water. The noodles cook rapidly and float to the surface. The more modern technique is to use a utensil similar to a potato ricer, which creates uniform round noodles. We feasted on the cheesy noodles. I watched carefully, took notes and would like to attempt this dish at home. My pasta loving kids would devour this! A tasty salad, great wine and wonderful company made this meal perfect. We took a stroll around the neighborhood after supper. Later, it was reported that I missed the best chicken anyone has ever eaten, but I'd say I did fine on my end too.