More Switzerland and an Island of Flowers, 12 Juni 2010

My Saturday morning began way to early, but it was still a good day. After driving for about an hour or more, we passed through the Germany/Switzerland border and continued to Stein am Rhein. Yes, that literally translates as Rock on the Rhein.
This was a pretty historical town, kind of like a different version of Rothenburg, but on the waterfront. While this meant it was pretty, it also meant there were clouds of giant gnats everywhere. It kind of sucks when you either have to walk really slow while looking at the ground to avoid a bug in the eye, or walk at normal speed and wave your arms around like a ninny. But, I'll quickly go through the highlights of Stein am Rhein.
1. St. Georgen Kloster, or monastery. Its really cool and old. I took some pictures, but I always feel bad taking pictures of holy places, because I feel like I"m being irreverent.
2. Chicken broth with homemade pancake noodles and toast for lunch. This was the best toast I've ever had (except when I'm sick) and it was the perfect amount of food.
3. Getting a free concert from two professionals who left the windows open. They were practicing for the night's concert. Flute and Piano duets are awesome.
4. Chocolate shop. This place was crazy and I felt like it was one of the closer stores to being related to Willy Wonka. They're really serious about their Lindt chocolate there, but there were plenty of other things to look at. It was hard decided what to buy.

From Stein am Rhein, we drove down to the Bodensee and went to the island Mainau, or Island of flowers, as its nicknamed. There really weren't that many flowers outside of the Italian Rose garden, but it was still pretty cool. It was like an almost better version of our Botanical Gardens, complete with a giant play area for kids. And topiary, like a giant peacock. And weird daisies with faces.
But, the best part was the Italian Rose garden. I bet there were over two hundred different types of Roses, all kinds. Wild ones and tame ones, bushes and vines and more normal ones. Some were really small, and I swear that others were bigger than a softball. Do you have any idea how crazy that is? And of course there were all colors imaginable, save for any blue ones.
Another cool thing about Mainau is the baroque schloss. We couldn't go in, though it looked nice. But there was a small Baroque church, which was cool. Not as nice as the Birnau one, but still quite good. Don't worry, I took pictures.
From the schloss, we went to the Butterfly House. This was my first butterfly house, unless we count the tiny one at the zoo. It was super hot and humid and I learned that butterflies are hard things to take pictures of. But I managed a few.Then I took a picture of the turtles on a raft and my camera died. Oh well.
I somehow did not fall asleep on the way back home. Its getting annoying when you wake up and think, "When today will I have time to nap?" usually the answer is never. But, after getting home, we ate some dinner and I quickly answered a bunch of emails/messages (thank you) and then watched USA's WC/WM debut.
I wasn't sure how we were going to do, because we're typically not so, so great. But I was pleasantly surprised and totally happy with the results. I didn't really expect to beat GB, but a tie is pretty damn good. I hope we beat the next team. Excuse me for not knowing, but my short term memory is only good for today's games. But I know we play Friday at 4pm. So there. Someone in St. Georgen set off fireworks after our first goal, so, I guess we have some supporters here. I also ate so many strawberries during the game, I had no more room for chocolate. I'm surprised myself.