Sunday July 29 Lake of Constance
It was up early as we had to collect our hire car at 10am (when Hertz opened on Sunday) and drive to Lake of Constance to meet up with Helmut and Maggie (H&M) et al. Our car was an upgraded Nissan X-Trail 4WD so we can go cross country and up the Eiger. The car had a GPS which also turned out to be useful. The day was shaping up to be a real scorcher - 33℃++. There seems to be no end in sight for this heatwave.
The drive to our hotel took 2.5 hours with only a couple of wrong turns (one due to construction in Stuttgart and another due to Google maps stalling on my iPhone). We reached out hotel, Pilgerhof, in time to join H&M for lunch in the outdoor restaurant overlooking the lake. Unfortunately their son and his partner (Mark and Balkees) were last minute dropouts as were the other couple who were to join us (they due to illness). So we had a long lunch then checked in to the hotel and spent the rest of the day settling in, walking and resting.
We met for happy hour and dinner at 6pm then went off to bed. Fortunately it finally cooled off after sunset as the hotel is not air-conditioned; not even a fan.
Monday July 30 Lake of Constance
Another hottie today - after breakfast with H&M, D&I set-out for Konstanz by car ferry - just on the other side of the lake. H&M did not join us as they were meeting 4 additional people who were arriving today (to fill in for the dropouts).
We had a good day - walking around Konstanz in the blazing heat then visiting Mainau - a castle and grounds on an island connected by a causeway. We arrived back at the hotel and met the new arrivals then had a quick happy hour before showering etc before dinner at 7pm.
Tuesday July 31 Lake of Constance - the Opera at Bregenz
Another hottie - and the day of the Opera and tour. Dieter and I had an early breakfast (well earlier than the rest of the group) then walked to Pfahlbauten - an outdoor museum showing the pole houses from the people of the Bronze age (4000 years ago).
After lunch we all set-out for the major tour. Taxi from hotel at 2:30pm, boat trip to Bregenz at 3:30pm, arrive Bregenz at 6:20pm, cafe dinner, Carmen at 9:15pm, bus to Meersberg at midnight, back to hotel at 2am. Set of the opera:
Wednesday August 1 Lake of Constance
Another hottie - the heat wave continued with 35℃ days - we did a bit of driving tour.
By dinner time cloud cover had moved in with a breeze - offering some relief from the heat - it started raining during dinner - we squeezed into the only undercover outdoor table as the hotel restaurant had taken down the umbrellas.
Thursday August 2 Lake of Constance to Basel
Another hottie but a bit of cloud making the day start out a bit cooler. After breakfast and packing up we bade farewell to M&H and set out to drive to Basel. We stopped at Schaffhauser at the Rheinfall for a walk around. Then onto Basel arriving at our hotel, the Pullman, around 2pm. We had a quick bite to eat then rested and showered and headed into the old town by tram around 7pm. It was really hot (34℃) so we checked out a few shops and sights - in particular the ‘flotilla” of people float swimming down the Rhein in the swift current - they start at one point with a special waterproof bag to hold a few belongings then swim / drift to another location down the river - you can go as long as you want or just a short drift. There were literally 1000’s of swimmers.
In the end we went back to our hotel for dinner at their bistro.
Friday August 3 - Basel
The heat wave continued - after brekkie we went into town for more sightseeing and shopping (buying nothing) then stopping for a light lunch at a beer garden along the river.
We spent a lazy rest of day then had dinner at hotel - very good indeed.