On the Road Again

I've had a busy week of travel this past week, first to western Austria and southern Germany, where I revisited the town of Lindau, the place I had lived with a German family during my high school years. For me it was an emotional visit, since both of my "German parents" have died since last I was there. Their children have all moved away to other parts of Germany now, but I was able to find the cemetery where Herr & Frau Hümmer are buried, and had a chance to decorate their graves. I also revisited their old house, which is owned by somebody else now, and after chatting with the owner walked my old path to the downtown part of Lindau, which is on an island in Lake Constance (the Bodensee, in German) that is connected to the shore by a causeway. It's a gorgeous place, with the Alps visible in the distance across the lake.

The house I had lived in with the Hümmer's family, in Lindau, Germany.



Then I had the chance of a lifetime to go on a flight of the Zeppelin! I have been a Zeppelin nut for quite a few years now, collecting memorabilia and books about the "Graf Zeppelin" and "Hindenburg," the giant zeppelins of the 1920's and '30's. The Zeppelin company is still in business in Friedrichshafen, Germany, a town just 15 miles up the lakeshore from Lindau, and they have been flying a new version of the Zeppelin which is thankfully powered by helium now, and not hydrogen. I had wanted for a long time to take a spin on the new Zeppelin, and so had made a reservation for a one hour flight that would take me over Lake Constance and the island town of Lindau. It was a 7 hour train trip from Vienna, where I've been staying, to the Lake Constance region, and so I made a weekend trip out of it. Wouldn't you know it, the day I was there to fly on the Zeppelin, it rained, and my flight was canceled, due to the bad weather. What luck I have! But then the weather improved and they were able to reschedule me on a flight the next day. So I had just enough time to do the flight and rush back to Bregenz, Austria where I caught the train back to Vienna with 5 minutes to spare. That was last Monday, 9/21.

I kind of look like the mooring mast for the Zeppelin in this shot, but the guy I asked to take it of me was nice to do it!

The strangest sensation of riding in the Zeppelin was to take off and land. It just lifts off, kind of like a flying saucer, and hovers back down when you land. The propellers drone loudly while the stern sways with the breeze, since only the nose of the Zeppelin is attached to a mooring mast or literally held down by one man who hangs on to the mooring line.

"Up Up and Away," into the wild blue yonder in the Zeppelin.



On Tuesday, 9/22, my mother arrived in Vienna for a week's visit. She and I are now in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and are headed today to Opatija, Croatia, at the top of the Dalmatian Coast on the Adriatic. We have rented a car from Vienna, and stopped on the way yesterday at Hochosterwitz Castle in southern Austria, and at Lake Bled in the Julian Alps of Slovenia. Both places were dramatically beautiful, and the weather cooperated for us. Our plan from Croatia is to drive back north via Trieste, Italy and then over the Austrian Alps via the Gross Glockner high alpine road. I'll catch up with you again once we get back to Vienna.

This is Lake Bled, in Slovenia. This little pilgrimage church sits on an island in the middle of the lake, and it's one of the most beautiful places I think I have ever seen!