As this was my view from the hotel balcony, I thought it would be sensible to actually visit this beautiful church.
This is certainly a rather photogenic church. The present building dates to 1820, but the parish is older and there was an earlier church on this site. Documentary evidence shows that there was a priest in Flirsch as early as 1385, so there’s a long religious tradition here.
The interior of church looking towards the altar.
And looking back along the nave.
The pulpit and it was slightly puzzling to see how exactly this worked in terms of the priest having to somehow climb up from one side. Until 1975 there was more stained glass here, but they’ve removed a fair amount of it to ensure that the interior looked brighter.
Things became a little clearer when we went to see what was on the other side of the wall. It’s a beautiful church and I’m puzzled that I didn’t take a few more photos, but I think I was distracted at how the pulpit worked….
And here’s a list of all those from the local area who died during the Second World War.
Peter Zangerl, Soldier Born 8 September 1916 – Died 13 May 1940 in France
Franz Helmuth, Corporal Born 9 July 1920 – Died 10 April 1941 in Italy
Max Walch, Senior Corporal Born 29 May 1918 – Died 13 September 1941 in Russia
Josef Walch, Corporal Born 1 February 1914 – Died 16 November 1941 in Russia
Johann Zangerl, Soldier Born 18 March 1921 – Died 10 December 1941 in Russia
Anton Kathrein, Senior Corporal Born 16 June 1919 – Died 13 December 1941 in Russia
Georg Zangerl, Corporal Born 2 September 1918 – Died 15 December 1941 in Russia
Franz Zangerl, Corporal Born 20 June 1914 – Died 28 December 1941 in Russia
Paul Mang, Soldier Born 10 September 1917 – Died 25 January 1942 in Russia
Alfons Zangerl, Corporal Born 11 January 1913 – Died 10 February 1942 in Russia
Karl Heim, Senior Corporal Born 8 March 1912 – Died 18 March 1942 in Russia
Albert Walser, Corporal Born 30 March 1912 – Died 10 July 1942 in Russia
Franz Ladner, Corporal Born 6 October 1908 – Died 17 December 1942 in Russia
Josef Mang, Corporal Born 8 March 1915 – Died 2 January 1943 in Russia
Lamprecht Hellrigl, Corporal Born 24 February 1914 – Died 21 February 1943 in Russia
Karl Zangerl, Soldier Born 7 May 1924 – Died 28 August 1943 in Russia
Adolf Ladner, Corporal Born 2 December 1914 – Died 21 February 1944 in Russia
Wilhelm Ladner, Soldier Born 4 February 1919 – Died 26 July 1944 in France
Kurt Kathrein, Senior Corporal Born 1 April 1922 – Died 8 August 1944 in Normandy
Johann Ladner, Corporal Born 26 September 1911 – Died 20 September 1944 in the Netherlands
Vincenz Kathrein, Corporal Born 5 January 1909 – Died 18 October 1944 in Russia
Josef Walch, Corporal Born 22 September 1919 – Died 19 January 1945 in Hungary
Wilhelm Kathrein, Corporal Born 24 January 1916 – Died 24 February 1945 in Hungary
Hermann Ladner, Soldier Born 28 June 1925 – Died 4 March 1945 in Russia
Missing since 1944 in Russia: Johann Zangerl, Soldier Vincenz Zangerl, Soldier Franz Ladner, Soldier
It had inevitably been challenging for families of the dead during the First World War to come to terms with their loss, but this time, not only was there defeat but very many Austrians had welcomed the Anschluss with Germany in 1938.
It’s an intriguing concept to wonder what would have happened if Winston Churchill had got his way to create a new republic including Austria, Bavaria and perhaps Hungary, a nation designed to be strong enough to stand up to Germany and Russia. Stalin didn’t like this idea, precisely for the reasons that Churchill wanted it, but I can see the appeal of uniting Bavaria and Austria. But probably not now, the moment has rather passed….
I’m used to seeing war memorials in the UK commemorating the lives of those who died during the First World War, but it feels different looking at the Austrian equivalent. The difference is ultimately because Austria lost the war, so families of the dead had no consolation that at least their loved ones hadn’t died in vain.
The translation of the text reads:
“They gave everything they could give, their soul to God, their homeland their blood and life. Past are toil, hardship, death and battle… It is accomplished!”
I’m not actually sure how cheery that messaging is, it would have been hard to explain to families in Austria what exactly had been accomplished given that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had collapsed in 1918.
WORLD WAR 1914–1918
Anton Ehart, Territorial Rifleman Born 8 December 1891 – Died 4 September 1914 in Galicia
Rudolf Geiger, Imperial Rifleman Born 8 December 1894 – Died 7 September 1914 in Galicia
Franz Grobner, Imperial Rifleman Born 8 January 1895 – Died 6 September 1914 in Galicia
Rudolf Schwenk, Senior Rifleman Born 8 January 1895 – Died 6 September 1914 in Galicia
Alfons Lins, Imperial Rifleman Born 18 February 1897 – Died 7 June 1915 in Budapest
Engelbert Schaltner, Imperial Engineer Born 3 December 1887 – Died 14 July 1915 in Galicia
Adolf Wald, Imperial Rifleman Born 2 April 1891 – Died 16 July 1915 in Russia
Josef Trawa, Imperial Rifleman Born 13 December 1890 – Died 28 July 1915 in Italy
Josef Alois Tragl, Imperial Rifleman Born 13 June 1892 – Died 14 May 1916 in Italy
Albert Martl, Imperial Rifleman Born 26 March 1895 – Died 10 June 1916 in Russia
Siegfried Tschofen, Territorial Rifleman Born 6 February 1896 – Died 21 May 1917 in Italy
Franz Ladner, Imperial Rifleman Born 23 December 1894 – Died 7 October 1917 in Italy
Martin Thalhammer, Territorial Rifleman Born 4 September 1883 – Died 15 October 1918 in Montkuk (likely Montcuq or another wartime location)
Josef Schmid, Territorial Rifleman Born 7 March 1890 – Died 26 October 1918 in South Tyrol
Josef Zangerl, Imperial Rifleman Born 15 February 1892 – Died 13 October 1918 in Innsbruck
Hermann Walch, Imperial Rifleman Missing since 1918 in Galicia
Johann Zangerl, Territorial Rifleman Missing since 1918 in Galicia
I’m sure that it exists, but I can’t find any Austrian list of war dead to find out more about any of these individuals. Around 1.2 to 1.5 million members of the Austrian military lost their lives in the conflict, compared to around 880,000 members of the armed forces from the UK and colonies.
The country of Austria found itself no longer part of an empire, with Vienna now being an oversized capital with considerably less power than it had. The population had to decide whether to throw their hats in with Germany or try and go for it independently, all whilst dealing with a badly damaged economy and infrastructure.
Richard and I were booking hotels just a day or so in advance a few weeks ago, so going to this location in Austria was a little random. Flirsch is a small, picturesque village in Tyrol which is nestled in the Stanzer Valley between Landeck and St. Anton am Arlberg. It has a lot of alpine charm and traditional wooden houses, a very peaceful little place (well, other than the church bells, but I’ll come onto those in another post).
I’ve never been to a hotel like this, a full on wooden Austrian guesthouse and it was something of a delight. There was a friendly welcome at reception and a cosy atmosphere to the whole arrangement. The online reviews we’d looked at in advance were quite mixed, but it transpired to be a positive experience for us.
Richard had booked a deluxe room with a balcony and I had booked a cupboard, as I like a thrifty option. However, I got to the room and immediately thought that they’d given us the wrong room keys. Much as I liked my room, even I thought that I’d do the decent thing and message Richard telling him he might want to come to the room he had booked.
I was confused as I had booked a room which didn’t have a balcony, yet here I was standing on a balcony with this view. I was surprised and very delighted when Richard replied by message that his room was correct, which meant that I’d been upgraded.
Given Richard had done all the driving that day (and indeed every day) I thought it was only fair that we had a meal on his balcony.
Healthy eh?
The view from my balcony in the evening. This really was so much better than I had anticipated, the room had only cost £60 including breakfast.
A little reading area near reception.
I thought it was a little confusing where to go for breakfast so I waited for Richard as he’s more responsible than I am and he went to go and ask. It’s handy having an adult around.
The meats selection.
The highlight of the breakfast for me was the tomatoes, they were absolutely lovely. I had a lot of them alongside the fresh rolls. This was a perfectly agreeable breakfast and a solid start for the day for Richard and I as we prepared to visit four countries in one day. The juices are from a machine, something Richard wasn’t keen on, but the coffees had a bit of a depth of taste.
As a hotel, this surprised and delighted, although I thought I’d be on my best behaviour all day as Richard questioned privately why they’d given me similar to him when he had paid more. But he was very understanding as he’s better natured than I am with these matters. But the views from my room really were idyllic, I’d very much like to come back here.
Light really was fading as we walked past this statue in Friedrichshafen, but I liked it and that’s enough reason for it to appear on this riveting blog.
Located next to St. Nikolaus Church, this is a bronze figure of a man standing in thoughtful pose, dressed in a suit and turtleneck, his eyes closed, arm bent, appearing as though he’s paused time itself. Sculpted by Esther Seidel in 1997, the sculpture is known as Der Denker, or ‘the thinker’.
If I’m being honest, this whole sculpture looks like the sculptor had enjoyed several beers before starting work, but it’s certainly interesting and noticeable. Designed by the wonderfully eccentric sculptor Peter Lenk (1947-), it stands proudly on Adenauerplatz, located in front of the town hall. Lenk has numerous other sculptures around Lake Constance, I’m sure I’ll return to the area to visit some more of them.
As for this one, I was greeted by a large bronze head with enormous horns and behind it rises a stylised Zeppelin, soaring above the chaos like a metallic halo. It’s all deeply symbolic no doubt, but I suspect that Lenk was happy for people to be a little confused as to what they’re looking at.
The fountain’s name, Buchhornbrunnen, refers to Friedrichshafen’s medieval name, Buchhorn, meaning “horn of beech trees” and so the horns are a nod to the town’s past, while the Zeppelin represents its more glamorous twentieth century history.
Unfortunately, the light was dimming and so my photos aren’t entirely clear, but they’ll have to do. I like a bit of random modernity in my life, so was quite drawn to this arrangement.
The final night of our European trip a few weeks ago was to Friedrichshafen and so the first port of call was the Accor operated Ibis Styles. I had rather expected it to be a little more centrally located, but if I had looked at a map before booking it that might have been helpful. Fortunately, it was still walkable, even for Richard, so we were happy with the location.
We were greeted at reception with this mention that we could phone someone for attention. I am most certainly not calling anyone, as I’m quite millennial, I’d rather have a nice WhatsApp link to chat away using text. Anyway, Richard then came clattering into the hotel with his big executive bag and so the receptionist heard us so that avoided that problem.
It was all bright and spacious in the hotel reception, the whole arrangement felt modern. The welcome at reception was also friendly which is always a positive start to any visit.
The seating area by the reception desk.
The walk to the room was along long corridors which took a little longer than ideal to actually light up as the sensors seemed to be rather sluggish.
I reached my room first and noticed the lack of welcome gift, but I was reassured when a few minutes later Richard confirmed to me that he hadn’t got one either. I wasn’t surprised, Accor hotels in Germany aren’t as consistently excellent as the ones in Poland. But I don’t go on about that. I would have gone to reception to complain if Richard had a gift and I didn’t though, as I’m like that….
I couldn’t understand why Richard left this when he got his coffee in McDonald’s earlier on in the day, but waste not, want not. So I had it as my own little welcome gift to myself.
We had our welcome drink after returning back in the evening and the set-up here is that they have a joint reception and bar. The staff member was friendly, engaging and welcoming, with the service always being personable during our visit.
I was surprised and delighted at the choice of beers that I could have as the welcome drink, I opted for the Benediktiner Weissbier Dunkel which is a dark wheat beer. This was decent, it was robust with the wheat beer banana notes and I’m genuinely not sure I’ve had this exact beer style before. Richard opted for some wine and he enchanted the receptionist with his grape chat.
We then sat for hours trying to work out how to get the missing images from this blog sorted. That’s nearly resolved now. This blog is sometimes something of a headache, but I have to persist for my two loyal blog readers. And my own memory actually, I like to be reminded where I’ve been.
We opted to have breakfast at the hotel and there was a decent selection available. He’s Richard getting ready for his coffee and Coco Pops.
The bread selection.
I liked those little edible containers (well, I ate them) for the honey and jams.
And the butter machine.
The cold meats and salad items. Sometimes the ham served at breakfast isn’t entirely appetising, but the ham here was so delicious that I might have had about a kilo of it. I exaggerate, but only slightly….
One of my several plates as I’m quite greedy. The Germans do breakfast perhaps as well as anyone in the world, so I was entirely happy with this whole offering. The breakfast area is also spacious and stress-free, so that helped with the calm and laid-back start to the day.
I really quite liked this hotel, although it felt a little soulless for an Ibis Styles and I’m not sure why they picked that branding for this Accor hotel. But, the rooms were clean, the staff were friendly, the welcome drink selection was generous, the prices were reasonable and so I could forgive the lack of a welcome gift. And if Richard is reading this, he’s probably still wondering how he missed his wafer with his McDonald’s coffee and I couldn’t possibly comment.
This monument looked rather interesting from behind, looking out onto Lake Constance. It wasn’t immediately obvious what it was, but it transpired to be the Zeppelin Säule, or Zeppelin column, which commemorates the life and work of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917).
The town that really owns the whole Zeppelin story is Friedrichshafen. A Zeppelin was basically a giant flying cigar, a rigid airship filled with gas (usually hydrogen), powered by propellers and steered like a slow, majestic whale in the sky. Invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 1900s, these rather incredible contraptions were engineering marvels for their time and became a bit of a science experiment alongside something of a cruise in the sky. This is the sort of thing that Richard (who was present whilst I took photos of this monument, although he was on the phone to someone as he struggles to live in the moment) would have loved to travel on, especially if there was a business class section with free champagne.
Now, the issue with these things is that they were filled with explosive gas and kept blowing up, but the principle was good. Count Zeppelin set up shop in the town, building his first airships and launching them from giant hangars by the water. It became the beating heart of Zeppelin engineering, a mix of optimism, innovation and the occasional fiery mishaps were something they hoped to get over. For a while they did, but the 1937 Hindenburg disaster put an effective end to the whole enterprise.
The lighting adds to the whole set-up, it feels like a fitting tribute to a man who designed an entirely new form of transport. I’m not an expert in balloons floating across the Atlantic, but I suspect that if the concept had been developed that they could have made it safer and more reliable, but with the advent of the aircraft it was perhaps always a bit doomed….
When Richard and I visited the rather lovely German town of Friedrichshafen a few weeks ago it was evident that he really fancied another McDonald’s, but I insisted we had something slightly more authentic. I had visited the town a few years ago, although I appear to have forgotten nearly everything about it other than it had a lake, something which felt sub-optimal. We walked to this restaurant from the hotel which was a good 40 minute stroll, so I pre-alerted the local ambulance that Richard might need some medical assistance on his arrival.
Anyway, back to this restaurant, which I feared might be quite busy and it did have that appearance from the exterior. We were greeted promptly and offered a seat outside, which I helpfully rejected as I didn’t need to look at some lake whilst being bombarded with insects. The waiter looked somewhat surprised that people wanted to sit inside, but Richard comes across as very English (I try to be seen as a bit Polish to give me that mystique of being vaguely European) and so I suspect that they weren’t surprised as he looked a bit new money.
There was some hammering in the background from what I assume was the kitchen and that was the authentic sound of schnitzel preparation, so that was me won over. Richard debated what wine he would get, as he’s getting good with knowing his grapes now, whilst I went for a reliable wheat beer.
Our mains came with salad, which was brought over first in what Richard suggested was the standard European way. I wasn’t convinced and so I left my salad until the main event arrived, I didn’t want to fill up on leaves.
Firstly, the drink, which was the wheat beer from the Meckatzer Löwenbräu brewery and this was very acceptable with a depth of flavour and the expected banana notes. This is one of the beer styles that the Germans seem quite competent at in my humble opinion.
Next, the leaves. They were fine as they had some dressing, but I won’t dwell on such matters. And, so, finally, the turkey schnitzel and I went for the large option as I’m really quite greedy. This was rather lovely, the meat was tender, the outside was crunchy and the whole arrangement had a depth of flavour. The chips were firm on the exterior and fluffy on the interior, with the lemon being the icing on the cake. Well, the fruit on the schnitzel I suppose.
The service was friendly and engaging, with the environment being calm and free from flies. The rhythmic banging in the kitchen added to the atmosphere and Richard was in agreeable form. He went for croquettes as he likes the ones in Asda alongside a Wiener Schnitzel as he likes veal, he was very pleased at the kitchen’s culinary prowess (although he thought the croquettes needed to be more like the ones in Asda).
This was a really delightful restaurant, the prices were reasonable, the service was efficient, the food was decent and I was satisfied with the beer selection. NB, Richard now gets these blog posts emailed to him and he has insisted I feature him more in them, hence the extended mentions of him.
This flight was from just over a month ago (I’m catching up slowly with posts), at the end of the trip that Richard and I had around Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. Richard was departing on his business class flight back to London Heathrow, whilst I was taking a more circuitous journey (because of my £9 Wizz Air flights) back to the UK. The first stage of that was flying to Budapest.
For anyone with either the time or inclination to zoom in, my 15:55 flight to Budapest is visible on the screens. This is very much a provincial airport, it felt quite organised but it’s limited on the amount of space that they have.
The airport was first constructed as a military airfield in the mid-1930s, being destroyed by air raids in March 1944. After the end of the war the site was used as a refugee camp and it was used by the US military until 1959 when it was handed over to the Germans, who were here until 2003.
In 2004, the airport started commercial flights and they’ve been adding bits to the building ever since. There’s a large new terminal expansion currently underway with a focus on budget airlines as Wizz Air and Ryanair use the airport extensively.
Joy of joys, it was a bus gate.
We were on board the bus for quite a while, but safe in the knowledge that it was unlikely the aircraft would go without me.
Boarding the aircraft and it was registration HA-LGQ, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before. The aircraft was pretty much full and the boarding process was all efficient. It was made slightly less efficient that there was someone in my seat and she was adamant that it was hers, until she thought she’d better check my claim with another passenger who told her she was in the wrong place. I find it quite easy to locate my seat as there’s a bloody sticker above the seat with the number on it, but there we go.
The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat and the flight was, yet again, organised and efficient. The crew members were engaging, the flight arrived on time and I’m always delighted when it’s uneventful as that means nothing has gone wrong.
As this was with my Wizz Air multipass, the flight was £8.99, another bargain arrangement. The flight only took ninety minutes and it’s a handy time to arrive into Budapest requiring neither a very early start, nor a nighttime arrival. I rather liked Memmingen as a place and it’s the gateway to southern Germany and indeed Munich, so I’m hoping that I’ll be back here again at some point.
