Heftiger Regen

Today is a washout! Heavy rain's preventing us from doing much, which might be just as well; since we did so much walking yesterday, we needed a rest day. We caught the trains to Konstanz and back once more, thus bringing the total of train rides so far to 14, and wandered up and down the wet streets of the old town again.

After getting off the Seehas in Konstanz and noticing the red, double-decker train to Karlsruhe parked by one of the other platforms (we'll be on one of those tomorrow) we first walked to the harbour jetty where the catamaran docks, leaving for Friedrichshafen every hour. I wondered if that trip would be worth doing today, but there'd be nothing to see of the scenery under these low, dark clouds --- just grey lake water. The most eye-catching thing in the harbour is the 9 m tall, concrete woman called Imperia who stands at the end of the jetty on a rotating stone plinth. She holds up the Pope and the Emperor, naked dwarfs (wearing a papal hat and a crown respectively) in her giant hands. The statue is a sardonic comment on a religious / political upset of the 15th century, the Council of Constance. Imperia appeared unexpectedly one morning in 1993, the artist having had prior permission to erect her there, but it must have been a bit of a shock for the local populace, what with her all-revealing dress and high heels. My brother-in-law Mel comments that she must have been inspired by statues of a Minoan Goddess from around 1600 BCE. That one brandished a pair of snakes.

Minoan snake Goddess (Wikipedia)

I learned a little more about the Council of Constance while looking round the interior of the cathedral up the hill, a dimly lit church; one of the side aisles displayed information about the days when the leadership of Catholic church was disputed by three rival Popes (in Avignon, Rome and Pisa). The consequent upheaval was known as the Great Western Schism. There was also a good deal about the Czech "heretic" (would-be church reformer) Jan Hus, who was arrested here and burned at the stake. His ashes were thrown into the Rhine.

Yesterday, by the way, Chris was very taken by something he found in the Kunsthalle, a 19th century poem or credo by another progressive critic of the church, Ignaz Heinrich, Freiherr von Wessenberg. Copies of this poem were available as handouts to take away. One of its 13 verses reads:

...[ich glaube] nicht, dass vor dem Gott der Welten
Des Talmud und des Alkoran
Bekenner weniger als Christen gelten;
Verschieden zwar, doch alle beten an!

(= I cannot believe that confessors of the Talmud or the Koran are less valuable to the God of the Worlds than are Christians; different, yes, but all of them worship!)

A couple of verses later, Jesus is mentioned:

Er lehrte Schonung, Sanftmut, Duldung üben,
Verfolgen war des Hohen Lehre fern;
Er lehrt' ohn' Unterschied die Menschen Lieben,
Verzieh dem Schwachen und dem Feinde gern.

(= He taught mercy, gentleness, how to be patient. Persecution was far from his High Teaching; he taught the love of mankind without exceptions, glad to forgive the weak man or an enemy.)

------

For the rest of today's outing we either got drenched or sheltered in bookshops, coffee shops and the Karstadt department store. The Rosgartenmuseum, where we were hoping to learn more about the city's history, is closed on Mondays.