Schloss Mittelbiberach

Schloss Mittelbiberach

Did you even wonder who invented the blimp? Our hosts for the last couple of days have been Albrecht von Brandenstein-Zeppelin and his wife Nadine. Albrecht is the great great grandson of the zeppelin's inventor, Count von Zeppelin, a nobleman from pre-war Germany. Benedicta, their daughter, was our very first German home-stay students so we are visiting them in their home, Schloss Mittelbiberach. The family's closest forebears inherited the schloss 100 years ago or so, but it dates back to the 16th century. There are items of furniture with inscriptions dated in the 1600s, and it is chock full of very old things. It's a pig to heat, though, so some rooms are cooking while others are like a tomb. The estate accounts are all lined up in the library dating back from the 1700s, along with massive old books that I daren't open because they would probably fall apart. There are some chairs in the chapel that were made in the 16th century. Grant thought he'd have a sit down but I suggested that breaking a 16th century chair might not look good, and besides, our travel insurance might not cover it! Nadine, our hostess, is amazingly flippant about it all, thinking mostly about how impractical it is to run a house like this in the modern day. This is considered to be a very small schloss, but it must cost a fortune to keep it up. Albrecht has wide business interests and they are considered the local nobility, which must be both a blessing and a burden. Nadine and two of Bene's sisters visited Bene in NZ in 2006, and Nadine loved the informality and down-to-earthness of the kiwi way of life.

Yesterday we went for a drive down to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) where Switzerland, Austria and Germany meet. It was very unimpressive on a grey bleak day. However, we also went to the Zeppelin museum which was interesting - didn't realise how extensively used the zeppelins were from 1900 to the 2nd world war. Later we visited Fabian, our 5th student. He comes from more humble origins, his dad a school teacher, so he lives in an ordinary house in an ordinary street! It was great to see him and as usual we were plied with black forest cake, etc. Keeping the waistline to its normal girth is a challenge here!

Last night we had the official tour of the schloss by the Count, and boy was that interesting. I was particularly interested in the books, and I flipped through one printed on the Gutenburg press in the 1400s! Albrecht is very proud indeed of his family's heritage and he knows a lot about all the artefacts and art in the house, a real mixture of gothic, renaissance and romantic styles. They even have some family torture instruments, which were decidedly uncomfortable to try out!

Today we were picked up by Lennart's family and taken to Ulm, a very old city with the world's tallest cathedral spire. It is an absolutely fantastic church, and sports a gargoyle of Albert Einstein who was born in this town. We spent some time this afternoon at Bad Waldsee (Lake Forest Baths), a spa centre with a complex of pools heated by hot springs. All very German but it was great to do some lengths and feel that post-swim glow. Tomorrow we go to Munich and will have a few days on our own, which will be great. We have been treated like royalty by our host families but it's quite tiring being a guest and it will be good to be able to blob out a bit for a few days.