Typing is too easy.

So, since we last figuratively spoke, I've relocated 40 minutes down the road from the bustling seaside of Konstanz, Germany to Oberaach Switzerland.  Oberaach [Ober-aaa-k] is a miniscule "district" of the not-much-larger town of Amriswil [Am-ris-ville].  How small, you ask?  Well, at ~11,000 inhabitants Amriswil is only about 1/3 the size of Maryville, TN.  However, given how compact all of the towns are in Germany/Switzerland vs. in the U.S. it seems physically much smaller than that.  I'm reasonably certain I could jog around the circumference of this "Dorf" in well under an hour (might try that later now that I think about it.).

Speaking of jogging, I went for a run yesterday:  Here's a map

....and here's a picture:

Honestly, barring the tiled roofs everywhere and lack of humidity, I could have been jogging around rural Tennessee somewhere.

On the face of it, it's honestly very pleasant here.  In fact, if one wanted to see the Lake Constance area, Amriswil lies directly between Konstanz and St. Gallen, both of which have decent dining and touristing prospects.  The place I'm staying is somewhere between a Hotel and a Hostel,, but my first impression was that of an immaculately-kept college dorm.  Apparently I'm the first North American to stay here.  Even so, my hosts are both pretty fluent in English....which is good because speaking/understanding German isn't the same as speaking and understanding Swiss-German.

So yes, very quiet and pleasant.

It remained a mystery, then, as to what the folks that were working here had to complain about.  Then it hit me, one of them is from Milan, one of them is from Rome by way of Munich, and the other originally from Korea, but also by way of several large cities.  To confirm my suspicion, I then googled, "Things to do in Ariswil, Switzerland".  Three out of three travel sites I looked at in the results, basically said, "Go to Sankt Gallen", or "Go to Konstanz".

The proverbial light-bulb now fully lit, what is "just like home" to me (i.e. you need a car to go and do anything), is a foreign and oft-frustrating concept for them.  Where, in their respective home-metropoli, they would at-worst take a bus for 10 minutes to be in the heart of a city with and endless choice of things to do; to get to an evenly slightly large-ish city here (St. Gallen is still slightly smaller than Knoxville, population-wise) requires a half-hour drive....hmm, just like West Knoxville or Maryville....only without the suburban sprawl. 

So....what did we all do last night?  Right: 'went to St. Gallen, lol.

I'm suspecting this will be my last full-day in Switzerland, so hopefully it will be entertaining. Beyond that it's just a question of the particular route to take in getting back to Holzkirchen tomorrow so we can be on our way to Munich on Monday.