Sunday 26 October 2014

An Afternoon in Lindau

In my previous two posts, I showed you a complete walk around the island of Lindau, with many views of the lake and the sky. After lunch at the "Möwe Jonathan", I resolved not to go on a boat tour; it was still very windy and the weather kept changing, and I was sure I would have spent nearly all the time on the boat under deck, which is clearly not the point of such a trip round the bay to Bregenz (Austria) and back. 
Instead, I climbed the lighthouse which you have seen already on a few pictures in the other two posts. It was built in 1856 when Lindau was just emerging as a tourist attraction thanks to the advent of that brand new technology, the railway. 

Of course, Lindau itself is much, much older, and the harbour was always used as such, it just didn't have such good stone works to protect it. There is archaelogical proof of a Roman settlement in the 2nd century on the island, but it found its first written mention in the year 882 and turned into a proper town, with market, church etc., in the late 11th century. Much of what can be seen today was built in Lindau's heyday in the late 15th century and, after a much reduced population slowly recovered from an outbreak of the Black Death, in the 16th and 17th century.




The views from the lighthouse were good; three countries can be seen: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The high winds meant I did not stay up there too long, but went back down and into town for a leisurely stroll along the old streets and alleyways. My next post will be with pictures of these streets and alleys.

For the rest of the afternoon, I had a special treat for myself: I went to a rather posh perfume and cosmetics shop for a 90-minute treatment at their spa, complete with massage and something totally new to me: a proper make-up! It was only a very light day make-up, so I didn't really look any different (at least I didn't think so, and RJ did not remark on the way I looked when we met after his seminar ended), but it felt strange having something called "foundation" on my skin. Usually all I do is put some cream on, and for going out or to the office, use a bit of black mascara on my eyelashes (hardly visible behind my glasses anyway) and dab on some lipstick to match the colour of my outfit. I don't paint my nails or pluck my eyebrows; I just can't be bothered with such things, but I do very much enjoy an occasional visit (maybe twice a year) to a cosmetics salon and have someone faff with my face.
It was most relaxing, the lady who took care of me very pleasant (not too chatty, but not as mute as a fish, eihter), and I nearly fell asleep on the recliner during the 15 minutes one of the treatments had to be on my skin. A real holiday!

9 comments:

  1. I like that you can see three countries from the lighthouse. You enjoyed your pampering, and like you, I just put on lipstick and call it good. Still, fun for you to have the relaxing pampering.

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    1. Actually, you can see three countries from the ground, too, but of course the view is a bit better from the top of the lighthouse :-)
      Yes, the pampering felt very good!

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  2. I love your photos here, it looks very much like a place where I would like to take long walks!
    Glad you took the time for your beauty treatment! (Or whatever you call it.) I've never done that either, but I suspect I need it much more than you do! I would love to have someone put proper make up on me, I would appreciate it very much indeed!

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    1. The beauty treatment did not made me irrecognizably beautiful, I'm afraid, but it certainly made me feel very relaxed, which is what a holiday is there for, right? It was the first time since June that I had time off work to just relax.

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  3. Such treatments are fun! My last one was a few years ago, and i hope you enjoyed yours as much as i did mine.

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  4. I had a long comment yesterday but pushed "publish" without selecting a profile and all was lost, alas.
    I would like to see the view from the lighthouse! In'92 we went skiing in a place where you could see Austria, Switzerland and Italy from a place on one of the trails......I think those were the three countries. I love the description of your time at the spa. I haven't done anything like that for a long time, but remember how relaxing and pleasant it was! You spent your time well.

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    1. Sounds about right to me, Kristi, that you were in a skiing place where you could see Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
      How about wishing for a spa treatment voucher as a Christmas present? :-)

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  5. Looking at the waves I'm wondering what you consider to be high winds. At the moment here it is 34mph = 55kph = 30 knots here and I regard that as a 'fairly windy' depending upon what I want to do. The waves that I can see suggest to me no more than a stiff breeze in Hebridean terms. But then if it gets to 2ºC we think that it's the depths of winter cold. You probably regard that as relatively mild in the middle of winter.

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