Am Charlottenplatz Esslingen am Neckar

... The fair grounds are literally right off of the train station for Bad Canstatt. It would be hard to get lost. Being a rainy Friday, we were able to find a seat in a beer tent too. It did take us awhile to try to decipher the reservation postings and finally search through our burgeoning vocabulary for "ist hier frei?" Apparently for dinner you have to think a year in advance, which obviously wasn't us. But for a "weekday" lunch, we were in ...

... Sonntag haben wir 2 Bäume Zwetschgen geschüttelt und die Dinger - Gott sei Dank zu sechst - 2 1/2 Stunden aufgelesen. Siglinde hat ein Großteil davon zum Schnaps machen abgenommen, den Rest hab ich verteilt und eingefroren.<br>Gestern war ich auf Betriebsausflug in Ravensburg (Stadtbesichtigung), in Weingarten (Basilika gucken) und in Bad Buchau (Führung vom NABU am Federsee). War ...

... das, obwohl ich noch nicht einmal die Hälfte des Liedes gespielt hatte! Wahnsinn! Das war ein wirklich unbeschreibliches Gefühl für mich, obwohl ich von mir selbst nicht behaupten kann, dass ich so etwas selten erlebe. Frau Kolbs Klasse hat hervorragend mitgemacht. Allerdings fand ich es sehr schade, dass die Zeit nicht gereicht hat, um tiefgehende Gespräche mit den Schülern zu führen.<br><br>Einen Abend zuvor nahm sich Frau Kolb die ...

... it was delicious. I must say there were more kids at this Oktoberfest then at the one in Munich and trhere were many 15 year olds drinking up a storm! They can all drink better then me Im sure...but we did see one of them yarp his brains out! Awesome!<br><br>Without much else to do in Stuttgart we decided to head back to Nuremburg and catch a hockey game before our departure to Vienna.

Haven't been wanting to get out of bed in the morning, this is a good sign. The up and at 'em, hungry and awake at o'dark thirty side effect of jet lag is disappaiting. So long, farewell, hope not to see you for awhile. So what to do with our first awake and alert weekend? Explore!<br><br>We have a pass for 3 days of unlimited exploring around Stuttgart. (ie. We can get lost as many times as needed, see whatever we happen upon, and it'll ...

... and the gardens are really nice. I think the Basel zoo is better as far as animals go, but this one isn't bad for variety. I did not like the small areas where the animals are kept though. It seemed much too small for large wild animals.<br><br>After the zoo we walked around the city center and stopped in a beer garden for a little relaxation. We managed to walk around the New Palace and Palace Square and then went to the ...

Caught a night train from Vienna and arrived in Stuttgardt in the morning. Had a great day wandering and seeing the sights. Yet another map from yet another tourist info place. More statues and old buildings (Boring right? Not by a long shot). Still walking around wide-eyed like kids at Disneyland.

... in a circle, then we all had to ask yes-or-no questions to try and figure out what job we had. I was a Dentist, or "Zahnärztin," it literally means female tooth doctor. German is a very literal language. After school I took another walk with Libby, Amy, and Sean, and went back to the school to use the internet and call Reid. It was good to talk to him, and he encouraged me to talk to someone about my host dad. He said I might not be the first to bring it up, and ...

... The hills around the town were green and beautiful, so I went to explore. Heidelberg has a very impressive and imposing red stone Schloss (castle), so I went to see it. It partly in ruins because it burned down in the 1300s (I think) but the view from up the hill where it is situated was absolutely amazing - you can see all the way up the river Neckar. I met Nathan from the USA there, and we just spend most of the day walking around ...