Very Busy Day
The trip from Stuttgart to Langenargen would take about 4hrs with three trains. Rough to consider because I have a lot of stuff with me. Fortunately, host Klaus' plan to do a field trip to collect some aquatic plant samples with he and PhD student Gunnar to Lake Constance spared me this long train trip. So we were going to launch their boat in Konstanz, which is my final city of this trip. Langenargen is just about an hour's train trip from there, or I could take a catamaran across the lake.
Gunnar picked me up early; poor guy was driving a van with a small boat and trailer behind through the convoluted early workday traffic of Stuttgart. We had to pick up Klaus in Tubingen an hour later and off we went.
This trip was also noteworthy because it would be my first time to see the lake. It's been a major subject of my focus for a while, starting with setting up these collaborations and proposal for the Fulbright in September 2019 (remember those days?).
(Lake Constance border issues?)
Also noteworthy was that this was the very first sunny day in my two weeks here; no snow or rain. It was a whole new beginning. The boat was prepped under the shade of a Konstanz city bridge. The wind was heaving through and it was really cold. I should add that the city of Konstanz is essentially split by where the Rhine River flows out of the lake (pic about from unk source). Konstanz is also split by the boarder with Switzerland, but let's stay on the water. Here are some pics of the awesome first exposure to the lake.
City pic of Konstanz
Some wicked Quagga mussels. They are from the Black Sea area, and are also a nasty invasive species in CA and the rest of North America.
Klaus loving it!
Castle-like structure on the Swiss side of the lake
Potamogeton; the target of the sampling. Gunnar and Klause were taking samples at different points. The plant tissue would be genetically sequenced for understanding of the plants spread in the lake.
Gunnar going full blast with the 20HP new motor.Looks like Konstanz is floating on water. This is the 'Altstadt' (old city) area. My place was just behind this riverside (Rhine) row of buildings.
After the collecting trip we went to check out Reichenau Island, it's a very interesting World Heritage site. Famous for the Abby of Reichenau (in pic) which was founded in 724(!!)
Finally, here are pics of the AirBnB apt from the listing website. Very nice cabin-like feel, and a much better kitchen & bath than the prior place. So many birds singing all the time.
