Oh wow it's been a while, lots has happened, my uni life took over and then I was on holiday and now I'm back and slowly getting back to making content. I always love getting creative again but I start writing four different posts at once and have to hold back and say "no, finish one and then do the rest". An awful lot has happened in the last few months, good and bad, and I've learnt a lot of things. But first of all, before all that talk, I'm here with a little trip I went on back during Easter to see my lovely friend in Konstanz which was an adventure in more ways than one.
The following day was a very chilled one, Joe had definitely had more than me to drink the night before and was feeling fragile so I decided to go and by myself some breakfast and have a leisurely morning sat by the lake with a book.
The next important thing after that was just my next meal, so I checked out Happy Cow (if you're veggie/vegan and don't have it, get it, amazing stuff) and found Sol VegiFood. Here I had the most amazing pesto pasta and lounged around until my friend was ready to meet me later in the day.
Ater a very lesuirely morning and early afternoon I met Joe, we grabbed some snacks and drinks and headed down to the waterfront for an evening of people watching in the sun - which I highly recommend doing once in a while. We sat and watched groups of tourists pass by, misbehaving kids run past, dogs come to say hi, good stuff, after which we called it an early night ready for the next day.
Before this trip I had deadline after deadline and I was pretty sure my lecturers were trying to kill me from stress, I almost cancelled my trip because I didn't think I'd have time to spend any of my holiday actually enjoying myself and not doing work. But I've learnt that no matter how much work you seem to have on, if there's an opportunity to have a break and look after your mental health, that's way way more important than a couple of deadlines could ever be. That's not me saying take a holiday through your exams but a couple of days away in your Easter break will probably do you a lot of good, it did for me.
Flew into Zurich, train from airport to bus station, then buss to Konstanz... where I got off at the wrong stop and had to find another bus to get to my friend. Oops, then we get lost several times trying to find the accommodation, but that's all part of the adventure, right? Get to my lovely little Air BnB and start making some food, turn round to grab my camera to take a picture of my dinner and it's not there. I search frantically around, look outside, under the bed, cupboards I haven't even opened yet, but all in vain, my camera is gone.
I was so so upset, I felt more ashamed than anything else because I'd lost something that I'd had by my side for 7 years, it seemed like such a waste. I also lost my purse and all of my cards but that really didn't matter all that much to me because I still had cash and my passport. I was safe.
I'd left the camera, on the floor in a car park where the bus had dropped me in the flustered hurry when I realised I was at the wrong stop, it was gone and there was nothing I could do about it.
But it was a blessing to be honest, not that I lost the camera all together, that's still a shame but that I didn't have it with me for the weekend.
After that traumatic evening, the next day it was time for little adventure round Konstanz trying to find my camera, we wandered back to where I had it before, to the lost and found, asked the police. But it was no use, the camera was gone. So with all the options done it was just time to explore, where I had one of the worst eating experiences, not because the food was terrible but it was so so so awkward. I ordered lunch and accidentally ordered chorizo pasta, I'm a vegan, oops, but it had no cheese on it so it wouldn't have killed me (milk allergy holla). It was my fault so I ordered another meal saying to the waiter that I was a vegetarian and wanted the veggie dish, and assuming he'd remembered about the no cheese thing. What I got the second time was meaty bolognese with cheese all over it. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't bring myself to order more food and just kind of tried to pick round the meat and cheese, which didn't work too well. This time it was the waiter's fault, I should've said something but I didn't want to pay for a third meal, so I left it.
After this point I decided that I'd had enough of feeling awkward and shitty about myself and that I didn't give a damn what happened ,I was enjoying the rest of my stay, and I did. I knew I was so privileged to even be in Germany visiting my friend and so I decided to just be grateful for that.
So after decided to fuck everything and just enjoy myself, me and my Joe spend the day wandering around Konstanz. Visiting the lake front, the cathedral, a vintage store, a camera shop so I could stock up on film, he took me to his favourite supermarket, yanno all the adventure travelling sort of stuff. The sun was shining and it was just a beautiful day, without my digital camera I was able to just be present, I'd take one or two pictures with my film camera, and move on. I wasn't worried about getting the "perfect shot" anywhere because I couldn't see the pictures coming out and I barely even knew the camera worked, I was simply enjoying being there and having a break from the stress pot that had been uni for the last couple of months.
On that second evening Joe came to meet me as we were planning to head out for a couple of drinks at the Irish pub in town. But Ingrid invited us in to meet her family and have a few drinks with them, including her daughter, son in law, and adorable baby granddaughter who were visiting from Switzerland. I'm not a beer fan but I couldn't really go to Germany and turn down free local beers now could I? Though I did turn down the "probably about 40%" home-brewed German fire water as I didn't really trust my stomach with it, though part of me wishes I'd been a little daring I didn't want to get trashed in front of my host and her whole family. Ingrid had lived in Konstanz her whole life, apart from a short stint in Leicester for uni, and so talked all about life in this beautiful city and taught us some local slang. We talked about idioms and local ways of talking, and laughed about English and american words for things, all with a baby giggling along with us. These interactions when I travel are always my favourite kind, just learning and having a laugh and being human, even when there's language barriers there's just something so pure and natural about this kind of communication; though I'm really sad I didn't get a picture with them all.
Then Joe and I decided it would be a great idea to walk into town to the Irish pub, he said it would be a 40 minute walk but misunderstood he thought I meant through town and not around the lake. And so we went on a two hour walk around the lake in the pitch black before finally getting to the pub in time for one drink. Though I did complain most of the way it was a really nice little adventure, though I'd completely sobered up half way around. There were little beacons of light where people were having fires and barbecues along the lake, and I wished we'd brought some beers and a speaker so we could just chill by the lake watching the stars instead of walking all the way into town but hey, we did.
One thing I do have to say is that Konstanz felt really safe, I would've been more worried about getting lost walking on my own in the dark than anything else around there.
So after our long walk in the dark we made it to an Irish pub serving basically nothing but german beer (oh and Guinness of course), with some very strange bathroom signs, Australian decor, and the novelty of an indoor smoking area. All in all a pretty good night, I have to say.
There's also a reason this post is all on film... I lost my digital camera before I even got to my accommodation. Heartbreaking as that was t it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Flew into Zurich, train from airport to bus station, then buss to Konstanz... where I got off at the wrong stop and had to find another bus to get to my friend. Oops, then we get lost several times trying to find the accommodation, but that's all part of the adventure, right? Get to my lovely little Air BnB and start making some food, turn round to grab my camera to take a picture of my dinner and it's not there. I search frantically around, look outside, under the bed, cupboards I haven't even opened yet, but all in vain, my camera is gone.
I was so so upset, I felt more ashamed than anything else because I'd lost something that I'd had by my side for 7 years, it seemed like such a waste. I also lost my purse and all of my cards but that really didn't matter all that much to me because I still had cash and my passport. I was safe.
I'd left the camera, on the floor in a car park where the bus had dropped me in the flustered hurry when I realised I was at the wrong stop, it was gone and there was nothing I could do about it.
But it was a blessing to be honest, not that I lost the camera all together, that's still a shame but that I didn't have it with me for the weekend.
After that traumatic evening, the next day it was time for little adventure round Konstanz trying to find my camera, we wandered back to where I had it before, to the lost and found, asked the police. But it was no use, the camera was gone. So with all the options done it was just time to explore, where I had one of the worst eating experiences, not because the food was terrible but it was so so so awkward. I ordered lunch and accidentally ordered chorizo pasta, I'm a vegan, oops, but it had no cheese on it so it wouldn't have killed me (milk allergy holla). It was my fault so I ordered another meal saying to the waiter that I was a vegetarian and wanted the veggie dish, and assuming he'd remembered about the no cheese thing. What I got the second time was meaty bolognese with cheese all over it. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't bring myself to order more food and just kind of tried to pick round the meat and cheese, which didn't work too well. This time it was the waiter's fault, I should've said something but I didn't want to pay for a third meal, so I left it.
After this point I decided that I'd had enough of feeling awkward and shitty about myself and that I didn't give a damn what happened ,I was enjoying the rest of my stay, and I did. I knew I was so privileged to even be in Germany visiting my friend and so I decided to just be grateful for that.
So after decided to fuck everything and just enjoy myself, me and my Joe spend the day wandering around Konstanz. Visiting the lake front, the cathedral, a vintage store, a camera shop so I could stock up on film, he took me to his favourite supermarket, yanno all the adventure travelling sort of stuff. The sun was shining and it was just a beautiful day, without my digital camera I was able to just be present, I'd take one or two pictures with my film camera, and move on. I wasn't worried about getting the "perfect shot" anywhere because I couldn't see the pictures coming out and I barely even knew the camera worked, I was simply enjoying being there and having a break from the stress pot that had been uni for the last couple of months.
A cheeky little guy
Back to my accommodation, the air BnB I stayed in was wonderful, I was in a small room sort of inside someone's flat; but outside their front door. Ingrid, who ran the air BnB, was just the most warm and welcoming person you could hope for. She lived in this small block of flats with her mother and two brothers in separate apartments, her and her wife on the ground floor. I had my own bathroom and went into Ingrid's flat for a shower. It's always amazing being able to stay with local people, in a little picturesque neighbourhood and although I was pretty far out of town i really enjoyed just wandering around. It was clearly a very family friendly , not so touristy area,, area with bits of art everywhere, lots of beautiful houses, and was only just up the hill from the lakefront, idyllic. Plus busses were pretty cheap so there wasn't really much of an issue getting to and from the city centre.
my accommodation
Then Joe and I decided it would be a great idea to walk into town to the Irish pub, he said it would be a 40 minute walk but misunderstood he thought I meant through town and not around the lake. And so we went on a two hour walk around the lake in the pitch black before finally getting to the pub in time for one drink. Though I did complain most of the way it was a really nice little adventure, though I'd completely sobered up half way around. There were little beacons of light where people were having fires and barbecues along the lake, and I wished we'd brought some beers and a speaker so we could just chill by the lake watching the stars instead of walking all the way into town but hey, we did.
One thing I do have to say is that Konstanz felt really safe, I would've been more worried about getting lost walking on my own in the dark than anything else around there.
The following day was a very chilled one, Joe had definitely had more than me to drink the night before and was feeling fragile so I decided to go and by myself some breakfast and have a leisurely morning sat by the lake with a book.
The next important thing after that was just my next meal, so I checked out Happy Cow (if you're veggie/vegan and don't have it, get it, amazing stuff) and found Sol VegiFood. Here I had the most amazing pesto pasta and lounged around until my friend was ready to meet me later in the day.
A rainbow clad nursery school! Magical
Ater a very lesuirely morning and early afternoon I met Joe, we grabbed some snacks and drinks and headed down to the waterfront for an evening of people watching in the sun - which I highly recommend doing once in a while. We sat and watched groups of tourists pass by, misbehaving kids run past, dogs come to say hi, good stuff, after which we called it an early night ready for the next day.
All of the different brands of port-a-loos in konstanz seemed to have hearts on them?
And so on my final full day in Konstanz we visited the small island of Minau, which I highly highly recommend if you're ever in the area. It's incredibly beautiful and definitely has a full day's worth of stuff to explore. Even if you just came here to sit peacefully in the gardens and read a book it's the perfect place. But we didn't do that, we looked at everything there was, from the butterfly house to the flower gardens, the petting zoo, and the main palace, it's called the flowering island for a reason and was all pretty magical.
A butterfly house, shaped like a butterfly, with a caterpillar you have to walk inside of to get in. Pretty magical
I always love a good butterfly house, I find they're one of the few "animal attractions" I can visit now that I'm aware of the ethics of zoos and the like. There's something so serene about watching butterflies flutter up overhead, even when you're crammed in with about 100 other people. And though on a hot day a tropical house is not the most comfortable place to spend time it's still a place where I feel I can step outside myself and enter a new world. Plus this place has terrapins living there and they're just the most chilled dudes.
Minau was originally owned by a prince of Sweden who built the palaces and gardens, the palace is really beautiful but the only part inside you can visit is a shop, as the place is still lived in, and sort of indoor orchid gardens where you can eat very expensive cake.
This flower bench is still one of my favourite things
The first blimp I've ever seen.
Peacock made of flowers?!!
If I lived in Konstanz I would spend most of my days off on Minau, though it's full of tourists it's still tranquil and there's so many perfect places to just forget about the stresses of life. Wonderful stuff.
On my final day I had another pesto pasta lunch from Sol (seriously eat there, its great) and then hopped on the train back to the airport (which I would recommend over the bus option as it's much quicker and easier, though a little more expensive).
So on this trip I didn't see and do everything there was to see and do, I didn't take any pictures that are ever going to be featured in travel magazines, but I did have a happy little adventure. The trip took me away from the stress of life in uni, meant I could catch up with an old friend, and I had a lot of fun just exploring a new place bathed in sunshine. In an age of social media it's easy to get caught up in trying to keep up, or do everything, capture everything (I know as someone glued to their camera I am guilty of this one), but sometimes a simple weekend away with a friend is all you need to keep you sane. There are countless moments I missed with my little film camera but that's ok, just because I didn't take a picture doesn't mean it didn't happen, what matters is that I learnt from, grew from, and enjoyed the moment when it happened and that's all you can really ask for in life.
This was a post that's not quite of my normal content here, and not the best writing I've ever done, but I hoped you liked a peek into my little weekend on film. I'll be back to more activist style stuff with lots of exciting little projects over the rest of the summer so I hope you'll stick around for those.
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