Konstanz

My first full day after arriving at my host family’s home was full of excitement and a trip to Konstanz.

As the biggest city town on the lake, it makes sense that the lake is named after it…

Lake Constance if you didn’t get that.

Or, more properly, the Bodensee.

Where see means lake.

I have a feeling that that will always bother me.

Anyways, since that first full day here, I’ve been to or through Konstanz several more times and am certain that I will visit/pass through it a few more times in the coming few months.

It’s really not that big (it’s smaller than my hometown), but it feels like a big city.

But maybe that’s because I lived in a town of maybe 200 over the summer and a couple thousand now.

But also because of its shopping.

You see, Switzerland is crazy expensive and Konstanz is essentially situated on the border between Germany and Switzerland (there’s even a spot in town where you can have half of yourself in one country and the other half in the other…I haven’t found that spot yet, but will have to do so!) so all the Swiss people come over to do their shopping and then they don’t have to pay taxes.

But the size of the city center/old town is quite big and touristy.

You have your cathedral,

plazas,

and cute little side streets everywhere you look.

Konstanz isn’t only a town where Germany and Switzerland meet, but also where the Rhein/Rhine meets the Bodensee/Lake Constance.

Here, the closer water is the river while the water beyond the bridge is lake water.

Fun fact that I just learned. This year marks the 600th anniversary of the Council of Constance – the council that ended the Great Schism/3-Pope controversy.

Another thing I just learned is that this scandalously-clad, rotating statue (called Imperia) was erected to commemorate the Council. In each of her hands is a naked king wearing only his crown (Emperor Sigismund called the council) and a naked pope wearing only his mitre (Pope Martin V, who became the new pope after the council).

It’s so brash, but if you think about the Great Schism and that this Imperia is a seductress, you’d think it’s a *little* less weird…

Speaking of classy statues in Konstanz, I present you with this one:

All in all, Konstanz is a cute, colorful, lake-side town that warrants a visit or however many more that I will make across the lake. If not just to get a closer look at Imperia.