Airships

Friedrichshafen was the place where the mighty Zeppelin’s were built. The first one in 1900 and by the 1930’s they were a viable alternative to getting across the Atlantic. Firstly to Brazil and later to New York. Even after the fatal explosion coming down to land in New York in 1935, Hitler still had another one being built here for the Luftwaffe.

There’s an awesome museum here showing the full history of airshipsThe museum has replicated a section of the ‘Graf Zeppelin to give an idea of the sheer size. 245 metres long and inside this hull was 200,000 cubic metres , mostly filled with hydrogenFor the 60 passengers there was 30 bedrooms, kitchens, lounges and a garage for the cars the wealthy might like to take with them. 60 crew members made the ratio 1:1. It must have been expensive!Hitlers last Zeppelin never saw service Move forward 50 years.

In 1997 a new local company was started called Zeppelin NT (new technology ) and started building this new version . 75 metres long, helium filled , (non flammable ) with a mix of carbon fibre and aluminium frames. 3, 200 hp engines etc etc. The down side is they only take 14 passengersWell , we biked out to the airport, just to have a look , I asked the lady what were the chances of a ride and how much, 🤔.

” I’m afraid you need to book months in advance and the price is €480 for an hour”. ( strewth!), however, there is a vacancy on the half hour flight at 11.30 for only €245″ said the lady

€245 is a return flight to Australia but it sounded such a bargain I quickly took it. (Talk about a morning of ups and downs )

10 minutes later she informed me that that flight had been cancelled , “but” she said ” hang around , you never know your luck ,we may have a no show

And she was right. , “furthermore,”she said very confidentially, “you can do the one hour flight for the half hour price”. I was over the moon and joined the 13 others ready to fly with strict instructions not to tell them what I’d paid. I felt like I’d won lotto but couldn’t tell anyone !

We went through all the preflight ritual( in German) put in a van and taken out on the tarmac to board. After a looong wait and lots of discussion ( in German) someone realised I didn’t know what was going on and so explained to me that a thunderstorm was coming down from Switzerland and the flight was cancelled. SHIT !! Oh well , they gave us a free tour of the hangers and invited us back another time. Maybe next year ?We’ve just come another 10kms out of town to a pretty little village called Immenstaad How’s this for a corner shop. Everything from milk to bread, fruit veges, you just slip your credit card in the slot , punch in the number/s you want and the little door opens for you to take it.