Catching up with the Apapapate's

We recently caught up with our good friend Rakesh and his wife Emily, who we met for the first time.  They were both travelling for work and had to make a short stop in Switzerland.  So we spontaneously arranged a weekend meet-up with them along the Austrian/German/Swiss border at Lake Constance (also known as Bodensee).

We picked them up at the town of Bregenz, Austria in the Honda Jazz.  We made the 2 hour drive from Munich and they took the train in from Zurich (you know, the Washington DC to Zurich to Bregenz connection).  We didn’t waste any time on chitchat and headed straight for the nearest mountain gondola (Pfanderbahn) to get up into the mountains, enjoy some views, and drink a beer.  We made a few attempts to stroll around the animal park but the rain kept us mostly inside.  

Eventually we set out for an early arrival to our hotel in the nearby town of Mellau, which happened to be offering cheaper rates than along Lake Constance.  We were in for an amazing surprise as we made the 30 minute drive to our hotel.  The mountains and scenery were so incredibly beautiful… I will let the pictures do the explaining on this one.   But the surprises did not end there because we were completely blown away by the amazing guest house we ended up at.  Apparently it is brand new and we may have been one of the first guests to stay there (at least judging by Booking.com).  Our little apartment was equipped with a kitchen and an enclosed balcony with the most spectacular waterfall and mountain views.  This felt like a 5 star kind of place for a 2 star price. 

After an evening of catching up we spent the next day back along Lake Constance in the town of Lindau.  This is the same place we came to for Julie’s birthday last year so we were able to navigate our way around the adorable little town with ease.  Number one on our destination for the day was this restaurant/café which offers the most delicious wraps and healthier oriented fresh food (exactly the kind of food missing from the scene in Munich).  This was one of the highlights from our previous trip to Lindau and we were not about to pass it up.  And just like we remembered, the fresh wraps were incredible.  Oh and of course spending the day with our fabulous friends from America was also wonderful. 

It was, however, just a short visit, which meant we were back on the road to Munich by the afternoon.  So the last time I saw Rakesh was of course in Brazil for the World Cup last year.  The time before that we were in Hawaii.  I sense a trend here, looking forward to seeing you in Asia somewhere and sometime in the near-future old buddy old pal!