Now, where did we get to in my last post? Somewhere approaching our holiday apartment I think. I’d chosen Friedrichshafen as a place to rest for a couple of days after the big cities (Paris and Stuttgart) and before we moved on to a bit more exploring.
Welp, things didn’t work out as planned.
The first bit did – we arrived at the station and found our apartment, which was about ten minutes’ walk away. We even found the correct apartment after some confusion – mainly me telling Nathan entirely the wrong street number. I found the supermarket and got a few basic supplies to cook dinner, which was nice after having to eat out for a couple of nights.
Aaaand then I got ill. You don’t need the details but suffice to say, it threw our onwards travel plans into disarray and we never did make it Austria or Liechtenstein. We had nights in Feldkirch and St Gallen booked that we had to cancel and instead book a second apartment in Friedrichshafen for an extra two nights.
So we ended up spending the bulk of our holiday in one place and I spent a fair amount of that lying down with my head under a duvet. But eventually I was well enough to be out and about again, which was just as well seeing as we had a four hour gap between leaving one apartment and moving into the next. Once again, we needed a place to leave our worldly goods and after some hunting, managed to locate the luggage lockers at the station.
We had to go onto the platform, so luckily there were no ticket gates, and right at the end of Platform 1 were a stack of lockers with pretty pictures of the town on them. Most had a red light on, suggesting they were occupied, but the ones on the far side had a few with green lights. For a very reasonable 5 Euros (in coins of between 50 Cents to 2 Euros), we managed to fit three suitcases and two bags inside. I had hoped for maybe one or bags so that was a proper result.
With many hours still to go before moving back in, and with me still not at full strength, we wandered down to the lakefront to find somewhere to sit. It’s very pretty along there, with the boats in the harbour and Switzerland on the horizon. There’s mini golf, which Nathan took the kids to while I was hibernating., and ice cream and public loos. Plus there’s a Geldautomat, which is Eva’s favourite German word.
After a short sit down, the more ambitious of us decided to climb the Moleturm. Eva and I both got up about three levels before she remembered she didn’t like heights and I remembered that I hadn’t eaten for about three days. Only Nathan actually made it to the top. Apparently the views were nice.
It did remind me though that I should start the eating thing again and I could be tempted by Currywurst. We wanted to sit outside and this place was probably a total tourist trap but it ticked all the boxes.
Nathan and I had the Currywurst and Pommes Frites deal for 12 Euros each, Eva just had the Pommes and Reuben had a salami pizza. It would have been perfect if it hadn’t been for the wasps but Reuben managed to trap at least one in his Coke glass.
After lunch we wandered around the town a bit more and sat by the church in the shade for a while. The kids and Nathan also found a comic and games shop to browse through. We saw the outside of the Zeppelinmuseum but didn’t go in. It’s a very cool building though, and there’s a little zeppelin-themed play area just outside.
It’s all very mellow, which was welcome after the busyness of two cities in a row. Everywhere we went was walkable and you can see the Bodensee from lots of bits of the town.
The best bit was actually swimming in the Bodensee, which was what we did for most of the day on our last day there. The Strandbad was around fifteen minutes’ walk from the new apartment and only 4,80 Euro for a familieneintrittskarte for the day. Once you’re in, there are stands selling drinks and ice creams as well as “Potatoes” (wedges) and yet more currywurst.
There’s a playground and giant chess and inquisitive ducks, who Eva named Tom, Gary, Cheesecake, Computer Monitor, Essen, Child, Thomas Jefferson and, of course Geldautomat. None of the rest of us were convinced that these weren’t just the same two or three ducks over and over again but she claimed to be able to tell the difference.
The lake swimming was lovely, and the perfect way to sooth my head after a week-long headache. I feel like people in the Sadlers Wells books are always going off to convalesce in Switzerland and this had much the same feel…..I was regaining my strength through See bathing, not quite in Switzerland but certainly within sight of it.
In terms of practicalities, there were a few ways of getting into the water. There was a small pebble beach or an even smaller sandy one but the main ways were either down the concrete steps or along the metal pier into the deeper water. Not that the water got very deep, even at the end of the pier – I think Reuben could still touch the bottom all the way out there. I was slightly out of depth by the floating platforms but most of the way along I could still stand up. Non-swimmers had to stay within the roped off bit, so that’s where Eva hung out but she was quite happy. She could duck down and be up to her neck in cool water without having to cross the line.
It was a very happy place to hang out. As the temperature crept up, it did get very busy but nothing compared to Southend on a hot day. There was shade under the trees and Monster Slush on hand to cool us down. Plus there were all the facilities you need, like little changing huts and showers. And such a bargain too!
In some ways, it was good that we were forced to stay in Friedrichshafen longer than expected because it gave us a good chunk of time away from travelling, except for the bit where we had to drag our luggage around with us for a few hours. We got our laundry done, we lived very cheaply off pasta and potatoes and salami for a few days and we regrouped for the final bit of the trip that would take us homewards. But that is yet another post.
