Lindau - The city in the lake

On our way around Germany we stayed in the Lindau area near the Bodensee most of the time. We found it way easier to place our caravan somewhere and then drive around from there, even though it was more than 100km away.
The area is just up against the border to Austria, so you have to watch out and don't make the wrong turn, if you don't want to pay road taxes to drive in Austria.

In the area Lindau is a city called Lindau (such an imagination). It's a small city on a island in the Bodensee wihch is connected with two bridges. We used the eastern bridge and was met with a beautiful park/garden area with lots of colourful flowers on the right and a Casino on the left which isn't happy about you using their parking lot (We didn't realize it wasn't a public parking so we got locked in and had to ask them nicely if they would let us out again. Many other tourist did the same every day apparently).

One of the things Lindau is most known for is their harbour. Right at the entrence from the lake side are two gigant monuments. One of them is called the Bavarian Lion and the other is a beautiful lighthouse; both from 1856. The Bavarian Lion got its name from Bavaria, also known as Bayern in german. Bayern is the most south eastern state in Germany and of course where Lindau is. The Bavarian Lion can be seen on their coat of arms.

The new lighthouse and the Bavarian lion

The old lighthouse

Further in the harbour is the only lighthouse from 1300s which is much more colourful and unique in my opinion. Sadly you can't go inside like with the new one.
Along the harour is a wide selection of different restaurants and tourist shops. It is also possible to buy a boat trip on the Bodensee.

I have to admit that it was almost 40degrees when we went here and it was almost too hot ot do anything else but crawling in the shadows. We hurried throught the main street Maximillianstrasse and saw the old part of the city and St. Stephens Church from 1180.
I was a bit disappointed when we ran right past the Former Imperial City Library in the Old Town Hall. I love old libraries and the way they made books back in the days. But i'm more okay with it, after visiting the Library in St. Gallen.

The old town hall

Fun tip!!!
If you are ready to go for a long walk and want to see something a bit strange, then tage a walk along the water at schützingerweg. There is a fun shop called Wiedemann Decoration GmbH which has mady strange sculptures in a hidden away garden. Everything in there is for sale but maybe a bit hard to take with you home. It's really beautiful though so its worth a visit!

Lichtenstein - A mordern spot in the middel of the antique

So this summer we went on a small road trip and while we were around, we took a quick trip to Lichtenstein.
Licktenstein is my third visit to a "microstate" in Europe. I camped in Luxembourg many years ago with my parents and really loved Luxenbourg city which was full of life and it was crazy to see all the mordern people in their fancy working clothes everywhere. I was in Andorra in 2014 when i went to guide school. We were only there for a day to shop and trying River Rafting for the first time.

Lictenstein was very different. Andorra and Luxembourg are all about cheap shopping. Lots of designer brands are a lot cheaper here than everywhere else in Europe. But that's not at all the same in Lichtenstein. Lictenstein is very expensive. I guess they have that from thier neighbor Schwitzerland which is too damn expensive as well. But the "shopping" streets in Vaduz is really empty anyway. There isn't really much. I had to remind myself that it wasn't any bigger than 160 km2 and they can't have much considering all the mountains they have as well. But it really isn't the best place for tourists. I think it's the fact that you can tell that you were there afterwards that makes people come. And well.. the stamp in your passport you can buy for 3 euros in the tourist information.

There was one thing i was interested in and it's the pretty castle on the top of a "mountain" right behind Vaduz. Schloss Vaduz is the official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein, so you can't visit it as a tourist. It's a shame now that it's one of the only tourist attractions, but i do understand if the royal family don't want anyone running around.

The picture above is taken down the "main street" in Vaduz and as you can see it's very modern, which again is very much like their neighbor Schwitzerland are. I just expected it to be a lot more old-fashion and with an "alt stadt" like you see everywhere in the surrounding countries. But they have a lot of modern art galleries and art in the streets. Their facination about modern art shows in their souvenirs as well and the princes shows that most of it has some kind of artists name on it or brand. The chain stores like H&M is no where to be seen either. So it's a place for you, if you have a very big wallet and an interest for modern art.

Colmar - my adventure as Belle

While we were roaming around near the southern German boarder we went a short trip over the boarder to France. Because of the massive interest about Beauty and the Beast now that the new Disney Original movie came out this year, we have seen some articles talking about this small old village that might have been the inspiration for Belles village in the original Disney cartoon back in the days. The small village is of course Colmar.
Mostly known is the Schwendi Fountain that should be the one Belle is seen sitting at and reading out laud for some sheeps.

Colmar is also known as "little Venice" as the river Lauch goes through the town in small channels and you are able to buy a small sailing trip around the town. There was a lot of people in line for the boats even though the weather wasn't the best, so it may be a good idea to get there in early if you want to see Colmar from the water.

One thing that was a little annoying was that the restaurants around the channels only serves flammkuchen; A pizza like dish with creme fraiche instead of tomato sauce. They told us to leave at the first restaurant because we said we just wanted something to drink if we couldn't get anything else but flammkuchen because i'm allergic to milk products. But we gave up trying to find a restaurants near the water that had anything else, so i had to eat it anyway.

As i said before there is a rumour that Colmar may have been the inspiration for Disney's Beauty and the Beast cartoon movie, so i thought i wanted to have a little fun with it.
Some years back i auditioned to be a Disney Princess at Disneyland Paris (didn't get the part) and back then i sewed my own Belle costume and slowly became a cosplayer (costume player) and did many more costumes after this. So why not bring my Belle costume to Colmar and have a little photoshoot and make some people happy?

So i packed my costume and got dresses on a parkinglot near the center of Colmar and wandered around the old part of the town near the channels. People glared at me and smiled while taking pictures as discreet they could. Other asked me for pictures, selfies and group pictures. Some children even started to scream Belle's name! It was such a fun experience! I have only ever cosplayed at conferences before so going out in public was nerve wrecking! I had my mom and dad walking along way behind me taking pictures of it all.

Schwendi Fountain

St. Gallen Cathedral and library

On out roadtrip around the area near the Bodensee we went to Schwitzerland for the first time. We had read that St. Gallen has a really pretty Roman Catholic Cathedral, also referred to as Abbey of Saint Gall. It was pretty easy accessible and there are a lot of different parking houses underground near the center of St. Gallen. When we got there they were builing up some kind of stage just outside the end of the Cathedral, so we couldn't get a proper picture of the it.
Luckly for us we could still get inside!

I felt bad right away because I usually always show respect before going into a Catholic Church and covering up down to my knees as I once was instructed by my grandma and i actually do own a piece of fabric that has the purpose of that, but i simply forgot it and it was 35 degree outside so i was in a small dress. Non of the people working there didn't seem to mind though but I still felt bad about it. But the inside of the Cathedral was amazing! The painting in the ceiling was my favorite. They were kind of gloomy and dramatic even though it should show the goodness of god, but the detailing was incredible.

In the area around the Cathadral is also a monastery we couldn't figure out if it was public and we could go in there. There weren't any natural front door that looked inviting anywhere, that's for sure. But on the other side of the Cathadral was one of my favorite things on this vacation; Abbey library of Saint Gall.

I didn't know much about the library but when i searched and found it on a top 10 list of the most beautiful libraries in the world i just had to see it.
Like everything else in Schwitzerland the ticket price was quite high. It's 12€ for adults but i used my ISIC student card and got a discount. A student ticket is 9€.
You get asked to leave all your belongings outside in small cabinet and you can't take pictures in there, because the blitz can make the ink fade. Therefore the pictures used here is from the internet or a scan of the postcards i got.
When you get to the entrence of the library you are asked to put on some giant slippers to protect the old wooden floors from 1767. All the books in there is protected with grids so you can't touch them but they are all beautful and leather-bound. The overall theme of the books are religion and the middle ages. Some of the books are more tham 1000 years old and a few of them is on display so you can have a little look inside them through the glass.

Though one of the first things you see is a huge globe. It's over two meters tall and really detailed. It's also the only object in the room that doesn't have an english translated sign near it, so i could see what it was. I asked a nice lady that worked there about it and she told me it was a earth and sky globe from 1600 century. It was a copy of the original though because they had the original and borrowed it to the national museum in Zürich and they forgot to give it back. The lady looked so angry while saying it. But she said the copy was much brighter in the colours, so it was easier to see all the details.

Another one that i personally found interesting was a sarcophagus and i mummy. It didn't really fit in the Rococo style of the library and it didn't fit into the theme of the books either. The lady told me it was actually just a random gift that was given to a rich family living in St. Gallen in 1800 century. They later donated it to the library. They don't really know who it is, only that she was a daughter of a priest in the Ancient egypt.

All in all, if you are a bookworm like me and loves libraries, then it's definitely worth a visit.

Neuschwanstein Castle - A childhood dream

Ever since i was little i have dreamed about seeing this castle in real life. I loved making jigsaw puzzle when i was little and one of my favorites was the one with the huge pretty castle on it. I loved it because my mom loved it too and we always made it together between christmas and new years eve. I was much older when i started to actually research the castle and found out that it was actually not that far away, because it was only in Germany.

Me back in 2004

So when my mom said that this year we would finally see something else than Rüdesheim and my dad's family in France (not that there is anything wrong with that) AND see Neuschwanstein, i didn't believe it at all. But when we finally went to the southest of Germany i could be more excited!

I know it is a very popular place to visit but i didn't know it was THAT popular. When we arrived at the parking lot it was a whole lot bigger than we expected. There were tourists everywhere in big busses and people were running around in the middle of the streets trying to find there guides and everything was a bit chaotic. The place was filled with souvenir shops and small quick stop restaurants that served fries. It wasn't really what i expected. Our GPS also told us that we could drive all the way there, but forgot to tell us that there were only private roads up to the castle. So beware of that!
It's a long walk up but there are small busses that drives you from the parking lot and all the way up there for a few euros, which we did and walked down afterwards. It's also a possbility to take a horse-drawn carriage, but i took one look at the poor horses and instantly felt bad for them. The veins on their legs were popping! It looked so painful!! One of the horses also had to be replaced while we were there because it was so exhausted.  

I found this really great page that helped you to find the best photospots for the castle. The most popular photospot is Marienbrücke; A little wodden bridge in a cleft. And i just have to tell you... I'm not afraid of heights... but F*** that bridge! There were SO many people on it that you have to squeeze yourself our onto it and the bridge is made out of very thin wood panels that sinks 5cm when you step on the middle of it. I swear, it's only a matter of time before that thing falls down!!

Marienbrücke with all the crazy tourists

Even though it was kind of a dead trap.. It was really the most beautiful view i have seen. So i got my very famous photo of the Castle even though i feared for my life while doing it. It was really worth it all and i got to see my castle!
After taking pictures of it from afar we walked to the castle. Even though it looks like it's far away we were surprised to find it (almost) around the corner. My dad gave up just looking at the view and took the bus down from Marienbrücke again.

And here comes the most important tip! If you want to see the castle from the inside, book a ticket a few days before! Or else you have to wait hours! HERE is the page for booking.
News flash!! We didn't book a ticket. So when we got to the castle at 2pm we were wondering why people were laying around and sitting everywhere in the shadows and slept. So we went to the information and asked for tickets and they said the next guided tour available was at 5.30pm and we couldn't go in there unless you were with a guide. So all the people that slept outside were the people that was waiting to get a guided tour.
So we didn't see the castle from the inside but i did get some brochures with picutres and the history behind the decoration inside inspired be old Germanic and Nordic sagas.

My own picture from Marienbrücke

The walk down from the Castle to the parking lot was very wonderful though. I can only recommend taking the walk down through the forest. It's the road the horse carriages takes as well but it's really pretty. There is more than one place to buy ice cream on the way down, which we gladly took advantage off even though we could walk in the shadow all the way down. Did i mention that there was 32 degrees that day?

One last thing that I think is worth mention is that there is a "rumor" going around that Neuschwanstein is the Castle that inspired Disney's Cinderella Castle. Maybe not from the angle on the picture i took at the bridge, but here in the end i'll throw in a picture i found online and you can judge yourself. I love the theory but sadly we can't ask Mr. Disney about it.

Graduation and my mini European road trip

Quick update!
Long time no see.
I have been very busy with my studies the last half year because it was the end of it. I can now say that i have an academy degree in service and tourism management!
The vacation this year was well deserved in my opinion and was a lot different than my summer vacations usually are.
Every summer we use to go to my dad's family in Frence and stay at a camp site on the German side of the boader, but this year we actually went to 5 different countries in just 2½ week.
Germany, Austra, Schwitzerland, Liechtenstein and France.

We visited the area near the Bodensee and camped on the german side of the lake in a city called Lindau, while driving around from there. Bodensee is a lake shared between Germany, Austria and Schwitzerland, so we didn't have to drive very far to get to another country. We actually got lost a few times and accidentally ended up in Austria.

We visited the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, St. Gallen and Rheinfall in Schwitzerland, Bregnz in Austria, took a short trip to Vaduz in Liechtenstein and did a photoshoot in Colmar in Frence. I will talk about all these things in differnt posts that will come out soon.

Of course we ended up in Rüdesheim again afterwards and stayed there for a week and justed relaxed and tried to do as little as possible which we deserved at that point! It was really awesome to have a full vacation without thinking too much about the academy stuff like last year where we had to hurry home so i could start my internship in the middle of July.

Cosplay Photoshoot: Genderbend Nathan Drake

Some time ago when it was the coldest weather me and my photographer friend Ayla to take some cosplay pictures.I have been working at this cosplay for some time last year and was wearing it at Comic Con Cophenhagen. It was my first time i have cosplayed at a convention so i felt kind of awkward when people took picutres of me and with me.

Nathan Drake is known for jumping around in ruins the most exotic places and Denmark is not exactly known to be the most exotic place on earth, but you don't haveto drive too far to find some old ruins. We ended up at the ruins of Bishop Jørgen Friss castle from 1528.
You can't drive all the way to it because it is in the middle of a lake with a small bridge leading to it.
It is a very popular place for active walkers so we did meet a few people on our way there and i was wearing my winter coat but had the makeup on so i looked bruised which made people look one more time.

Anyway. It was minus degrees and i was taking my coat on and off all the time. It was SO cold!! But i survived without getting sick and Ayla edited a couple of pictures you can see below.