Sounds of Friedrichshafen

One of the most noticeable things about moving to Friedrichshafen is the different sounds that we are growing accustomed to.  Here's a list of those sounds and why we deal with them on a daily basis.

Train
Across our street and through a row of trees is the train tracks.  We hear trains several times an hour throughout the day and night.  Unlike American trains, these German trains are not as loud and do not last as long.  They are past in less than 30 seconds and are not nearly as noisy as American trains.  Definitely not as much of a nuisance as living next to American train tracks would be!

Airplanes
We may have lived between 2 airports in Belleville, but we definitely are more aware of the planes here in Friedrichshafen!  We are in the direct flight path of planes flying into the Friedrichshafen Flughafen (Airport) which is closer to us than either the Detroit Metro or Willow Run airports were. On the plus side, only a few (like 3-4 on a good day) flights fly into the Friedrichshafen airport per day.  If we were in the direct flight path of the Detroit Metro airport, we definitely would not complain about the number of flights we deal with now.  The only problem with this is that several times a day it seems as though an airplane is going to land in our living room!

Heels
We are growing accustomed to the sound of heels on tile!  The hallway/stairway of our apartment is covered in tile and the woman who lives above us (who is quite nice - we met her yesterday!) likes to wear heels.  We hear her whenever she walks up or down the stairs and sometimes even when she is in the apartment.

Saxophone
The son of the woman who wears heels is a budding saxophone player.  We have heard him practice (usually only scales and arpeggios) on the weekends.  He usually doesn't last for very long, so it's generally not a problem to listen to him.

Bike bells
Because one of the most common modes of transportation here is bikes, we hear a lot of bike bells while we are out walking.  We have learned that Germans do not ring their bells in disgust with another biker or walker, but rather as a polite request for the slower person ahead of them to move to the right so that they can pass.  It has taken a little getting used to the fact that the ringing of the bell is not an impolite noise, but rather one for our own safety.

Zeppelin
Since we live in the birthplace of the zeppelin, it is common to hear the whir of the propellers of the zeppelin.  On nice days, a zeppelin flies around the Bodensee for people who have enough money to pay for the quite expensive ride.  Brian and I joke a lot that we are being stalked by a big giant white blimp whenever we see it. :)

Tennis balls
This may seem like an odd sound to hear regularly, but it's not when your backyard shares a property line with a tennis club.  Our balcony overlooks a tennis club and we often hear the bouncing of tennis balls since it is nice out right now to play tennis.  Last week was some sort of kids camp and this week I have seen mostly older men playing together. 

German
Everywhere we go, we hear this!  I am getting good at blocking out German and basically just tuning out people when they are talking around me because I can't understand them at all.  Sometimes this comes back to bite me though!  One day in the cafe, a woman was talking and I was ignoring her.  After several sentences, I realized she was talking to me and that she wanted me to watch her desserts as she got her friend.  Today, I ignored a man until I realized that he wanted to know if he could have the newspaper that was sitting on the table that I was at.  We hope to start German lessons in the next month, so hopefully I'll be able to help people when they want something relatively simple from me!