Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Konstanz und Pfahlbauten:

We boarded the bus early in the morning for our furthest field trip, our tour to the Bodensee (Lake Constance), which is the largest lake in Europe and is shared by three countries: German, Austria and Switzerland.  It was a beautiful day and despite some stop and go traffic on the Autobahn we made it to the Pfahlbauten (stilt houses) in Unteruhldingen, which is an archeological outdoor museum, almost in time for our guided tour. We had a funny German guy who gave the tour in English and showed us houses, tools, jewelry, attire etc… from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age (4000 to 850 BC). The reason why all these things were relatively well preserved for such a long time is that the people built their houses on stilts (they were fishermen) and the objects preserved very well under the water in the sand for several thousand years until they were found by archeologists. It was incredible to find out how smart and crafty these people were 3000-6000years ago. Fun fact: A man in those days needed to eat about 5000 calories, because they burned so many calories each day just to provide food and shelter for their families.
After our tour, some of us went swimming in the beautiful waters of the lake and enjoyed a delicious lunch in a nearby café. Later we boarded the bus again and went on to Meersburg a picturesque small town surrounded by vineyards. Once there, we toured the town and admired the beautiful houses, the old and the new castle, and the shops and little cafes with their delicacies that we can only dream of in the USAJ
An incoming storm provided us with a nice change in colors of the water and the sky, and we left a bit early to escape the rain. We made a short stop at the baroque church in Birnau and then returned after a fun filled day to Goeppingen. Thanks to Frau Blennemann and Frau Wasnick for this great day!!





























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