Elder G and I left Scotland and flew to our next refueling stop – Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Friedrichshafen, Germany
Friedrichshafen is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the Bodensee) in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (Kreisstadt) of the Bodensee district in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Friedrichshafen has a population of about 63,000.
By Julian Herzog (Website) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9855308
Friedrichshafen’s fair ground during AERO in 2011 By DLR, CC-BY 3.0, CC BY 3.0 de
Children and adults wearing Seegockel at the carnival parade
By User:NetCuRLi – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ferdinand von Zeppelin established his famous dirigible factory at the end of the 19th century.
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was born in Konstanz (Constance), originally had his airships built in a floating airship hangar on the lake which could be aligned with the wind to support the difficult launch procedure of rigid airship flight.[citation needed] Today there is a large Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen sited near the lake shore. In recent years the company ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, also located in Friedrichshafen, is the constructor of small, semi-rigid airships designed by the Zeppelin firm, named (called Zeppelin NT), by using modern technology. These airships can be booked for sightseeing tours above Lake Constance.
The Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen is a museum in Friedrichshafen in Germany, the birthplace of the Zeppelin airship. The museum houses the largest collection on airship travel in the world, and chronicles the history of the Zeppelin airships.
Zeppelin cabinet of curiosities The cabinet hosts many small pieces of Zeppelin history: coins, porcelain, postal documents, tin toys and Zeppelin bibelot of all types.
Uplift, propulsion, aerodynamic This wing of the museum is specially designed for children. Numerous experiments, original exhibits, and touchable replicas allow visitors to interact with the displays and try them out on their own.
Maybach Zeppelin This Maybach Zeppelin was built in 1938 in Friedrichshafen. The car weighs 3.6 tons and can achieve a maximum speed of 170 km/h. Its engine has twelve cylinders with a total stroke volume of 8 litres and a capacity of 147 kW (200 hp). The engineering design for this car was based on the Maybach engines for the airships LZ 126 (1924) and LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (1928).
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1416279Wikipedia
Oh, it makes me Wonder
Did Led Zeppelin ever visit the Zeppelin museum?
Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH)
Friedrichshafen Airport is a minor international airport 1.9 miles (3 km) north of Friedrichshafen, Germany, on the banks of Lake Constance (German: Bodensee). It is the third biggest airport in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and served 559,985 passengers in 2015. Friedrichshafen features flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations. Due to its proximity to the Austrian Alps it is also heavily used during the winter by skiing tourists.
By Holger Uwe Schmitt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97473080
Early years This airport was established at Löwental, north-east of Friedrichshafen in 1915 when the first hangars were constructed. The first scheduled passenger flights with Zeppelin airships started from here, long before they were relocated to Frankfurt/Zeppelinheim.
By fightlog, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19191945
Airship hangar at the airport
By Hansueli Krapf This file was uploaded with Commonist. – Own work: Hansueli Krapf (User Simisa (talk contribs)), CC BY-SA 3.0
This is where the story acquires gravy and gravitas.
Café FDH was a wonderful experience while we waited for the Citation to be refueled.
Possibly due to some miscommunication, Café FDH was not Zeppelin themed, but rather Led Zeppelin themed.
Interestingly, all the waitresses were named “Bev“.
Our Bev brought us a delicious plater of wienerschnitzel, bratwurst, and a huge side of eggplant.
It turned out that there were three waitresses on duty, and again, a very odd coincidence, they were all named Bev!
Elder G started talking with Bev, wanting to know more about the café. They are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They run three shifts a day, with special shifts on the weekends and holidays.
Elder G also learned that all the waitresses have a crush on the short order cook Gunther, who bears an uncanny likeness to Jimmy Page. Entirely understandable. Some forces of nature require no explanation.
We met the morning shift. Bev had photos of the other shift waitresses.
Evening Shift
Graveyard Shift
Sunday Brunch
2:00 AM Bar Rush Staff
They’re not taking any of your crap. Leave a big tip.
Again, we note this oddity: our delightful waitresses were all named Bev, even though that is not a common German name.
