April 3, 2007

Tour Day 9

After a free day in Munich on Saturday, we got back on the bus Sunday morning and headed south, destination Konstanz.

Clever planning by Fritz broke up the long trip into manageable chunks. We stopped in Bayreuth to visit a 1750’s Italianate Baroque opera house built by the Prussian princess Wilhelmina, who also composed many of the early works performed there. It was ornate beyond compare; no surface was left ungilded. I imagined Liberace and his piano on stage.

Andrey and I shared the back bench of the bus and resolved to play internet chess. Perhaps inspired by all the art, he made a sketch of me in the Tagebuch, but wrote that he was ready to move on, “I don’t know about everybody, but I am absolutely satisfied by different art, kunst, bilder, malers, and so on. Now we go to a natural area and will look at lakes, forests, butterflies. Wonderful.” He is an environmental scientist to the core, outfitted in field boots and camping vest every day.

Next stop, Meersburg, on the shore of Lake Constance. The Bodensee, as it’s called in Germany, is one of the largest lakes in Europe, forming a border between Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We got lucky with sunshine, which we soaked up at lunch time like a bunch of lizards on a café terrace. The bus drove onto a ferry, and we crossed the lake, marveling at the clarity and light blue color of the water. Although the area is densely populated, and the lake is used intensively, careful environmental management helps keep it sparkling clean.

Within 15 minutes of arrival at our hotel on the other side, I had rented a bike, along with Andrew, Daniela, and Oleg. Our destination became obvious when we consulted a map: Switzerland! Only a few streets away from the hotel. We rode along the lake and tried to find a place to buy Swiss chocolate. The first town we found was eerily quiet, even though I am accustomed now to everything being closed on Sundays. We fueled ourselves at a gas station and watched the sunset.

The next day, we began learning about Umweltschutz, or environmental protection, in the Bodensee region. We visited the Insel Reichenau, also known as “Gumüseparadies”, or vegetable paradise. Residents wanted it to remain a farming community, so they protected it as a UNESCO world heritage site, and mainly use organic methods. The growing season is short, which they compensate with greenhouses. Our guide said the island has15 hectares under glass, (nearly 40 acres).

Next stop, Fruchthofs Konstanz, an eco-friendly fruit and vegetable distributer’s warehouse. The company needed to cut costs on energy fast, so invested in a green building. Designed to keep cool, the warehouse has 6 km of pipes buried in its foundation, using the earth to chill circulating water; it also has a grass roof, which doesn’t absorb as much heat as a metal or tar roof. They have some air conditioners, but power them partly with solar panels. This system enabled the company to cut energy use and costs by 50%. They paid off the initial investment within 7 years. Our tour was led with obvious pride by the eco-enthusiastic CEO. He treated us to organic apple juice on the grassy roof, complete with pond, and told us how a wild duck returns there every year to nest.

The next day, we visited the Blumeninsel Mainau, or flower island, the former private estate the royal Bernadotte family. The family gave the castle and grounds to Germany as a park and environmental education center. We were greeted by Countess Bernadotte, who is the CEO today, by the Shmetterling Haus, or butterfly house. Afterwards, we had a presentation on the Grünen Schule Mainau, an environmental education program.

Over lunch, I asked Li and Xiaoyun whether there are aristocrats remaining in China. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been a renewed interest in geneaology. While having aristocratic roots won’t grant you any special status, as it does in Germany, it’s a point of family pride. It sounds like Chinese noble families keep a very low profile, but have managed to regain wealth. They asked whether America had any aristocracy. I thought of the English traditions from colonial times maintained by old families in the south, like debutante balls, and of societies like the Daughters of the American Revolution. But while aristocrats derived their authoritative legitimacy via a blessing from God, America’s dynastic families derive theirs from wealth. I’ve never thought about the role of aristocracy in modern society in my life!

Ed summed it up in the Tagebuch, “We met the Countess ‘von Schmetterling’ Bettina, and learned about umweltmanagement, which seems to me more of a loosely defined buzz word referring to something between organic farming, energy efficiency, park management, regulated tourism, and corporate sponsorship. We had fun feeding the goats.”

The group started getting feisty on Day 9. Perhaps it was so much close quarters on the bus. But as patience wore thin and politeness faded, people seemed to let loose, and friendships to grow.

It started out with a visit to Larisa’s workplace, the Bodensee-Stiftung, an environmental management NGO. There were two presentations, one about the Global Nature Fund, with beautiful photos of animals and lakes, and another that was just too long. And finally, our colleague Larisa, who is studying eco-friendly tourism at Lake Constance as a model for Lake Baikal in Siberia. She rocked it.

Then there was a five-hour bus ride to Karlsruhe, where I overheard grumpy comments like, “I wanted to tell that presenter after 20 minutes on one slide, ‘shut up!’”

It was perfect timing for a group drunkenness ritual, like a wine tasting. Fritz took us to a small weinstube where we filed into a cellar and ravenously consumed bread, pork liver products, and Rieslings. Conversations got more controversial. I was asked, “What do you think about Taiwan?” by a couple of Chinese colleagues. I realized in the ensuing conversation that Americans and Chinese have a different notion of what defines a nation. “They are Chinese, they are our family,” is what I heard. I understood this to mean that Taiwan is considered the black sheep of the family, a wayward offspring who must be tolerated, but must inevitably come back into the fold. The idea of a nation composed of people of ethnic Chinese, but separate from China, seemed unacceptable. I wondered if this was how the English had thought about the Americans.

It made me realize that the American idea of nationality is separate from ethnicity. American citizens are of diverse ethnicities, but all equally American, recognized with terms like Chinese-American, African-American, etc. It appeared to me that the Chinese ideas of ethnicity and nationality are more conflated. It’s not so different in Germany. People of many ethnicities may live here, but it is difficult to be naturalized as a citizen. The idea of a Turkish-German, for instance, doesn’t really exist.

Anyway, things really started to get loose at the wine-tasting when our host appeared with an 8-foot long Alphorn. To our delight, he demonstrated how to blow it, and then asked for volunteers. First Alexander took a try, next Rong, and then I felt we needed an American and a woman, so I hopped to it. There is a good reason you don’t see those things played a lot – they make rather awful sounds. Luckily, they only be sustained for a short time, so the crowd reaction is better than for, say, karaoke.

Our guests also started the singing. They performed a couple of German folk songs, then some familiar standards and people joined in. Then Alexander grabbed the guitar, and began with Russian folk songs. This started the great tri-national sing-off on the bus ride home. By the time we stumbled out of the cellar, people were falling down drunk. We got on that bus and sang everything from “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” to “Wo Sind die Blumen” and “Katarina”. It was fabulous.

Jiang, aka Judge Li, summed it up in the Tagebuch, “Tonight was one exciting night which gave me a deep impression, especially the wine and songs, including the different rhythms from Russia, America, Germany and China. I love this night!” He made a sketch of some wine glasses and abottle of Riesling bottle, on its side.

Memorable moments in Konstanz:

Being toasted by the Russians at the next table, and Katya serenading us with her favorite folk song, played on her golden Dolce & Gabbana cell phone

Playing with the butterflies in the Schmetterling Haus

Laughing through the narrow, empty streets of Konstanz to find a bar, with a cryptic treasure map marked with two X’s, but no names

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