Great day- lots of walking.Visited Planten un Blomen - a beautiful park in the middle of the city with the largest Japanese garden in Europe, botanical gardens and a tropical house. In the afternoon found the Hamburg Kunsthalle -a beautiful Art hall & Contemporary Gallery. Here I viewed a visiting exhibition - "Passage dangereux"- by Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010). A most confronting exhibition of sculptures, tapestries & textile works from the last 15 years of her life. In front of the museum - stood a 9 metre high spider made of bronze, steel & marble- always the greeting to all passer- bys for one of her exhibitions. I did not enjoy the art as I found the pieces disturbing- but nevertheless it was interesting    Left Cologne Tuesday May 1st for Hamburg. Ron doing a training course in Hamburg - so i am left alone from Weds-Frid. Started out early Weds morning by walking to the main station and finding a Hamburg City sightseeing Hop On / Off bus. This lasted 1 1/2 hrs and took in many sights. After returning to base I decided I wanted to visit the Miniatur Wunderland-the largest model railway in the world. An absolutely amazing feat of fantasy with replicas of many real life tourist points of interest. One could visit & revisit here many times and never take in all the intricate details.     Saturday April 28th saw us catch the train to Cologne to visit Ron's cousin Ilan. Spent a very enjoyable time together with Ilan & Heike- lots of laughing at really bad jokes (by the boys!) and fun. ( Enjoying lunch by the Rhine - Cologne)    Went to Konstanz and spent a lovely day there. Revisited the Imperia - a statue at the entrance of the harbour of Konstanz, a reminder of the Council of Konstanz that took place there between 1414 and 1418. This concrete statue is 10 meters high, and stands on a pedestal that rotates on its axis every 3 minutes. I really like her - holding religion & royalty in all their naked glory in her hands!
Today we visited our friends at Schluchsee - a lakeside village in the Black Forest. A lovely pictureresque drive of about an hour brought us to the Hotel where they were staying- and with their family we all visited a beautiful working glass shop
near by - then had a light lunch at a hotel. Snow was gently falling but there was no wind. A beautiful day near the largest lake in the Black Forest. Hello there- we arrived back in our beloved Busingen on Wednesday 18th. I must say I don't travel well and arrived at Zurich airport tired and grumpy -then we missed the 9.01am train to Schaffhausen 'cause our luggage took ages to emerge and had to wait for the 10.01am train (yep you heard right -1 minute to the sec passed the hour!!!) However everything was perfect when we rocked up to the flat. First a mug of coffee and some apple cake appropriated from the plane and then off to the shops for supplies. A walk along the Rhine confirmed our belief that this is paradise- the water so clear and still that the opposite side was mirror reflected in the glowing sun. This is Spring and the ducks can be seen everywhere along the Rhine gathering materials to build their nests - some already proudly settled in. Tulips & daffodils are unfolding their petals before our very eyes- and trees are blossoming before they reveal their delicious summer fruits.  A city that owes its name & existence to the wandering Irish Monk Gallus- it is nestled in a beautiful landscape between rolling hills and Lake Constance. In the distance is the Santis mountain - whiere we went to a few days ago. Today we visited the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Abbey- with the famous Abbey Library. It must surely be one of the most exquisite rooms I have been in. There is an amazing collection of early medieval handwritten and pictorial manuscripts, prints & books housed in a magnificent rocco hall. Another highlight in this marvellous library was the huge world globe on display. It is an exact copy of the original 16th century globe which is housed in Zurich. The original was stolen from St Gallen by Zurich troops in 1712 and has been housed in the Swiss National Museum since. It took 7000 hours to replicate- and shows both the heavens and earth on one sphere-which makes it unique. The globe is so vibrant with bright colours- much brighter than the original which is now faded. The calligraphy was done with quill pens. It shows the world as it was known in 1571- fairly close picture of Europe, coastal outlines of Africa, Asia quite well shown, but Australia doesn’t exist yet. I was totally awe struck by this I WANT ONE!!! Next was the impressive Abbey cathedral- with an interior so magnificent to behold. Off to the Chocolate Cafe for hot chocolate and croissants. Then off to the Bleicheli district - fir the "City Lounge" art project- where the square has been covered with a red carpet. Above hang stone-like lights.   Decided to visit Winterthur - not too far and day a bit dreary. Lucky us - rain cleared away mostly and we could walk around fairly comfortably. Strolled through the old town and saw the Marktgasse-old town pedestrian area, Rathaus- a beautiful Town Hall Passage with its covered courtyard, Stadtkirche- the town church with two towers and most impressive panels of paintings of prophets from the Old Testament done by Paul Zehnder and the Steinberggasse -one of the oldest places in Winterthur with 3 Judd wells and the Fischer girl well.   Off to the Rhein Falls - only falls on the entire Rhine River system. So magnificent in their full fury of rushing over the rapids - These imposing waterfalls are awe inspiring to view Leaving the Rhein Falls we drove to nearby Rheinau. Here we visited the Rheinau Abbey – a Benedictine monastery founded about 778. It stands on the bend of the Rhine and is an impressive Abbey in the gothic-baroque style.     | Author
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