Abenteuer Neunundzwanzig: Creux du Van

Creux du Van is a giant natural amphitheater near Neuchatel which was created by glacial formations thousands of years ago. Standing at a height of 1460 meters, it is one of a few rock formations labeled the "Swiss Grand Canyon."

My Erasmus group (the exchange student club) had a trip scheduled to Creux du Van--however, having other plans for that particular weekend, I decided to visit on my own.

The day I arrived was cool and rainy, and as the train pulled into the microscopic station, I had some serious fears about trails being closed due to rock slides.

On the plus side, the grey weather made the spring greens glow.

Sorry about the black bars--I was having some shutter issues with my camera 

 On the sides of the path, the fields were covered in dandelions.

After a bit of wandering (of course), I managed to find where I was supposed to go. The steep path, like many Swiss hiking trails, cut directly through someone's farm. It was at this farm that I stumbled across the SKETCHIEST Tweety Bird I have EVER seen.

Tweety Bird and the Pink Panther. American culture is everywhere.

The hiking trail to the top of Creux du Van is about 900 m long. I had read online that it was an "expert level" trail. Therefore, I was pretty surprised when  the beginning of the path actually resembled a  decent, normal-person (not a run-off trail leading to some guy's cow pasture) path.

I made a friend! 

On the way up, there were a few of these--fountains for refilling water bottles. Of course, they were fed by the mountain springs and carried some of the coldest non-solid water viable for human consumption.

After a while, the trail let out into someone else's ' farm.

At this point, I was a little nervous--my nicely paved trail had turned into this:

Dodging suspicious glances from some rather aggressive chickens, I hurried on.

A muppet stump. 

From here, the path became--well, about what you'd expect from a Swiss Wanderweg.

The trail up to the Creux du Van is famous for hairpin turns. And when they say hairpin, they mean it (and the added mud and fallen trees from all the rain weren't helping).

Up and around. Yup, this was part of the trail. 

The higher I climbed, the narrower and messier the path became. Oh, and, in case you were wondering, the Swiss don't believe in those crazy American contraptions called "handrails."

Yup--that rocky dirt road is still the path. And people bike on these things! 

A long way down--that's the town I started in. 

Finally, I reached the top .

My first glimpse

Pictures of the Creux du Van don't do it justice. This thing is impossible deep, impossibly vast.
I started off on the trail around the edge, hoping for a closer look.

Comrade Gary, admiring the view. In the distance, lake Neuchatel. 

A different view

View from the precipice 

Where I had been standing--I'm approaching the middle of the cliff at this point 

At this point, I took a seat and had my lunch. Oh, and I tried to not look down.

I could make myself sit on the edge, but I PHYSICALLY COULD NOT make myself look over it. To take this picture, I had to stick my camera out at arm's length and hope it caught something good. Guess I'm not quite as adventurous as I try to make myself believe. 

Vertigo? Gary knows not the meaning of the word. 

The Creux 

On edge

When I complain about crazy Swiss Wanderwegs, THIS IS WHAT I MEAN.

It was pretty cold at the top of Creux du Van, and the weather combined with the altitude meant that there were still huge tongues of unmelted ice.

This was one of the ice patches that WASN'T in the middle of the rocky path...

The view from the other side of the top was pretty incredible, too.

There were some incredibly gnarly trees along the path. They still hadn't realized that spring was on the way.

Hide and seek 

There were also some fluffy, adorable, and highly tame Ibex.

As I rounded the end of the Creux, rain began and I needed to turn back. On my way down, I learned that the  steep, rocky trails are even scarier when coupled with active rain and gravity.

Fortunately, I did make it down in one piece.

Abenteuer Achtundzwanzig: Blumeninsel

WARNING: this post contains a plethora of pictures of pretty flowers and not much else. If flowers bore you--TOO BAD. Go read something else!

Ok. This was an adventure from a long time ago. One weekend, I decided to go visit the "Flower Island" (Blumeninsel) in Konstanz, Germany. (Gonna keep the writing on this post pretty short because I have A LOT of more interesting things to write about). 

Anyway, the Flower Island was basically exactly what you would expect--and island full of flowers.

Luckily for me, my visit was also the weekend of a big German cultural festival (of some kind--don't ask me what), so I got to see a bunch of stereotypical-looking Germans running around, as well.

When I got there, these were the first people I saw:

The Blumeninsel is located just off the shores of the Bodensee. Crossing the bridge to the island, I got a pretty nice view of the  lake. 

My friend Gary got to go for a swim: 

When I got to the island, I was greeted by this:

 

And this: 

Another cultural reenactor. Also the first time I've ever stared down the barrel of a gun. 

And these:

Blumeninsel: the aptly named  

Throughout the day I encountered many different German cultural exhibitions--Blassorchestern ("Oompa bands"), choirs, and dance groups were performing all over the island. The first group I stumbled across, quite accidentally, was a group of slap-dancers. 

I'm glad I got to see some stereotypically German things. 

From there, I explored a bit more. 

All fear the mighty Topiary Duckasaurus!!!!

Topiary Peacock

The Blumeninsel also had a lot of cool stuff for kids, including a petting zoo and the coolest model train EVER. 

Stopping to smell the flowers

A remarkable view--see that dark spot in the sky? That's a blimp 

Tree bridge 

What exactly is the melting point of Alpaca? 

Getting "a head"

Eventually I stumbled back across the main path. There, I found treasure. 

I couldn't believe the brightness of all of the different flowers 

Ever seen a black tulip before?

Mini-waterfall.

I visited the Blumeninsel just after the dutch Tulip Festival--fortunately for me, the Blumeninsel in Konstanz has an agreement with the Dutch government permitting them to grow all kinds of rare Dutch tulips. 

About half of the gardens were solely devoted to tulips when I visited. 

A map of the Bodensee constructed entirely from flowers. 

Palm trees in Germany. Who'd have thought?

The center of the island is occupied by a small hill which houses a few museums and medieval watch towers. It was my next destination. 

 At the top of the hill, there were even more tulips. 

A lookout point 

If you're sick of flowers at this point--tough! I warned you! 

Huuuuuuuuge tracks of tulips

A medieval watch tower--as promised 

A bell-band concert in front of the main building.

From there, I headed back down the hill. On my way back, I encountered a Saint Bernard puppy who had decided the waterfall was the only bathtub sizable enough for a dog of his stature. 

 I left the Blumeninsel and headed back to Konstanz about a couple hours before my train. The spare time gave me a chance to get a quick look around the town. 

Spoiler alert--it's pretty.