6/25/14. The post where we visit a lot of churches.

6/25/14: my foot did not behave very well in the night, but it felt okay this morning.  After breakfast at the hotel, we made a short drive to the island of Mainau.  Formerly a summer retreat of European royal families, it is now famous for its gardens.  It was a lovely morning and we enjoyed the walk through the gardens.  

The palace building and adjacent chapel still exist.  The palace can no longer be toured (except for the gift shop that takes up most of the first floor), but the chapel is open.  The opulence of European churches never ceases to amaze me.  I imagine they didn't have many issues with people napping during services.

We just managed to beat the rain back to the hotel and ate lunch during the shower.  It cleared up again after lunch and we walked to the old city center, where we toured three more churches, all within about a five minute walk of each other. 

I enjoyed all three, but the largest church was the most impressive, with remnants of the first church built on the property in the 8th century.  As Americans, it is difficult to conceive of buildings, or institutions for that matter, that have survived for that long.  And for that reason, we have a different attitude when it comes to aging landmarks.  Our tendency is to either demolish them to make way for something new or restore them to their former glory.  Europeans seem quite content to leave things as they are.  Today we saw a gate that used to lead to a boat dock on the lake.  It probably had not been used in two hundred years and there were tree roots growing through it.  And, guess what?  It was beautiful.  While I suspect I would have gotten rid of it long ago, I'm glad they didn't.  You mean my way of doing things is not the only way?  I guess that's one of the best reasons to travel.