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.
