Day trip: Mainau

Maybe some of you read this blog and feel like we are crazy all over the place traveling with toddlers nonstop.  Well, that's probably half true.  First off, I don't write tons of blog posts on that day to day normal routine (maybe I should try?).  Most of our "traveling" are day trips on Saturdays.  We don't have a booming social life or tons of commitments here, so we take advantage of most Saturdays to get out somewhere close.  That's the other thing, we live less than 2 hours away from so many cool places, day trips are easier and cheaper, and, why not?  We have no idea how long we'll be here, so YOLO! ("you only live once")  Another thing to remember, is that we are *blessed* with European vacation days which are many more than the typical amount in the USA.  That's the other reason that we keep thinking, "we gotta get out!" because we may never have this many vacation days again.

At the end of July, we spent a Saturday at Mainau Island.  It's "the flower island" in the middle of Lake Constance.  Bryce's German tutor highly recommended it.

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We've been to the city of Konstanz many times, but never took the ferry (or drove) over to see Mainau Island.



It was so beautiful and reminded me a lot of Longwood Gardens.  All of the flowers and landscaping was perfectly maintained.  It was a lot of walking, but the set up was geared for families.  There were multiple restaurants (from fancy to a gelato stand, bakery, and an outdoor casual biergarten).  There was a petting zoo with pony rides, a butterfly house, and the most amazing playground we've ever seen.  Seriously.  I think we could go to just play at the playground all day.

It was really windy that day, especially being a small island on a huge lake.  We couldn't get over the water...it looked like we were in the Caribbean from some of the pictures!