die Insel

The Bodensee is large, I'm not sure exactly how big it is, but trust me it's big. Because it's so large it has more than enough room to contain some islands. Today's word by the way means 'island'.

One of the islands is Insel Reichenau, which is a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site. Reichenau is also the place where most of the food around here is grown. The first week we were here, there was also a wine festival there.

But as pretty as Reichenau is, it's not the reason I'm writing today.The last time I was in Germany, my uncle strongly recommended that I visit a place called Insel Mainau, which is located off the coast of Konstanz. Sadly I didn't get the time and I missed it.

Insel Mainau is a botanical island and is somehow loosely related to a Swedish count who I believe lived on the island.

Now you know how I get about plants; it's bad. I just know that one day I'll end up like Seymore from Little Shop of Horrors with some crazy venus flytrap ordering me around. So when my Language School offered a trip there, I was on it like white on rice.

The island is absolutely breath taking. And the fact that it's in Germany makes it all that much better. The island has a winding footpath that takes you all around the grounds. The displays are split between very natural looking scenes of wild flowers and native plants or wildly shaped flower displays. There is also a small petting zoo, but the dwarf pony looked ridiculous and I didn't wanna chance getting anthrax or bird flu by interacting with the animals, so I speed walked past that. I'm gonna stop talking and just leave the rest to be described in pictures.

Here is a map of the Bodensee in flowers. The tall ones represent that agricultural island, Reichenau.

The Swedish Count's Castle

I have no idea who the dude is, but he is standing in front of a really cool waterfall that leads into the Bodensee.

Here is an alley of Redwood Trees!

This is one of those flower sculptures I was talking about earlier.