Busses, Ferries, and Cherries

Traveling in Germany from Constanz to Oberstdorf

Monday, July 22

We awoke early in our hotel room in Constanz, Germany; we had a long day of travel ahead of us.  We walked down the road to take a bus downtown.  I think it may have been day's few experiences with public transportation.  We got off at the train station, got breakfast at a cafe, along with bread.  We withdrew some money from the Deutsch Bank and went to the grocery store to purchase sausage, cheese, chocolate, and orange juice.

We had to figure out how to get to stage 6 of the E5 trail.  But how?  We checked at the train station, one ticket would cost 25€, however, my frugal father thought we should hitch hike.  So we did...

1. Got a bus to the edge of the huge Lake Constanz

2. Rode a ferry to Meetburg North on the lake

3. Walked an hour to the freeway entrance to hitchhike

4. Ate cherries while waiting for a ride:

   a) a lawyer picked us up and dropped us at another town

   b) a young woman named Kathryn who had a small car full of plants drove us 45 minutes to Lindau

   c) waited an hour with a sign, was about to give up, when a young man who was a mechanic gave us a ride for 30 minutes to another place

   d) bought more cherries and were picked up in 1 minute by Benjamin the plumber, who dropped us 20 mins further

   e) waited 15 minutes and were picked up by Kurt, the elderly caretaker, who drove us 45 minutes to the door of the tourist office in Oberstdorf, Germany-- our final destination!

We found the cheapest hotel, walked up hill for 20 minutes to find it, got the room, showered, did laundry, and went in search of dinner.  We found a local place with decent priced food. We enjoyed a beer, grilled pork, and special German potato like pasta. I finish it off with their homemade apple strudel and then I knew it was bedtime.