Himmelstreppe

On page 4 of the wonderful book, Dr Eckners Dream Machine, the author, Douglas Botting, is describing the passengers boarding Graf Zeppelin for her round the world trip. He says "Lady Hay Drummond Hay.....wearing a cloche hat and with a fashionable stole around her neck, clambers up the short wooden gangway - Himmelstreppe, they call it, steps to heaven - shows her ticket and enters the ship".

When I first read this I stopped in disbelief. Surely it could not be a coincidence that the nickname for the boarding stair for the Zeppelin was also the name of one of the most famous Led Zeppelin songs of all time, Stairway to Heaven. Indeed, if you hunt for the German lyrics, you can see it quite clearly.

Well, dear readers, I have Googled, and searched high and low, and this would appear to be just one of those coincidences. But what a wonderful coincidence...