Konstanz's winters are a far cry from its sunny summers. Right now the nights are misty and the days are foggy until 1:00 p.m. As the temperatures drop week by week, the restaurants turn on their tile stoves and serve customers hot mugs of mulled wine - an old German tradition. We are descending into the coldest days of winter, when the ice and snow make it saukalt - literally, "pig-cold."
Surprisingly, no pigs! But on our walks, Jenny and I watched hundreds of ducks, dozens of loons and no fewer than forty swans swimming in the lake next to the city. They flock here constantly, always in the same places during the winter, as they feed off the pondweed in the water.