Hotel am Schillerpark Esslingen am Neckar

... 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.
Gestern war ich auf Betriebsausflug in Ravensburg (Stadtbesichtigung), in Weingarten (Basilika gucken) und in Bad Buchau (Führung vom NABU am Federsee). War ...

... und die Geduld, um mir Teilzeittourist ihre Heimatstadt zu zeigen. Total überwältig war ich allerdings am Wartberg, als wir die abendliche Aussicht über Heilbronn genießen konnten. Nach der hochinteressanten abendlichen Stadtrundfahrt gab es für mich einen Gaumenschmaus mit traditionellen schwäbsichen Spezialitäten. Und eines habe ich an diesem Abend hinzugelernt: Spätzle schmecken nirgendwo besser als im Schwoobeländle, heiligs Blechle.

... the first night but had to leave since it was the site of Stuttgarts Oktoberfest. We got a hotel room outside of town and decided to enjoy a lil more Oktoberfestivities! This time we didn't join a beer tent but decided to eat our way around. We got Sausuage in a currysauce, Beavertail Pizza, Corn on the Cob and Smoked Salmon sandwiches. It was fun since everything had a twist to it ...

... a path through the side that opened up into a whole slew of gardens and a pumpkin festival, several hours worth of enjoyable walking.

The pumpkins were made into fairy tale scenes - Guilliver, Hansel and Gretel, that sort of thing, life size, made of pumpkins. If we were smaller, we could have jumped in the hay and looked for the needle. We stopped at walking up the tower, but did go up to the hilltop to get a look. And took the ...

... walked through the door.

Today, we felt the need to really figure out the trains and take "scenic" routes. The Stuttgart airport is just 20 min away by train, good to know. Plus, I felt empowered because I ordered in German and got what I wanted at a bakery without holding up the line, success! More on our eating adventures later . . . Well a quick note on how Jon is a cheater. He hasn't had to order much. Part of that's not ...

... from Stuttgart. Don't let the name or pink jerseys deceive you, they are certainly the best mixed team in Germany. We put up a good fight, but in the end they came ahead with the win. I think the video of the game is floating out there on youtube.... I'll be the out of focus #46 in black....

We attended a big birthday party this weekend in Stuttgart. It was my boyfriend's grandfather's (Opa, as I now know him) 80th birthday. We celebrated with the entire family in a nice little restaurant in a small town near Stuttgart. I have no idea the name of either of those places.

We had some free time to explore Stuttgart on Saturday morning so we went to the Wilhelma Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It is a massive ...

... Mal aus dem Fenster sah und immer noch den gleichen Bahnsteig vor mir hatte, dachte ich mir schon, dass irgendetwas nicht stimmt.

Tatsächlich hatte ein Blitzschlag den gesamten Bereich des Wiener Westbahnhofs lahmgelegt. Und so kam alles ein bisschen durcheinander.

Irgendwann ging es dann weiter und wir kamen mit ca. 3 Stunden Verspätung nach München...

... into the usual trendy restaurants, a cinema, and some public spaces. The heart of the town is the town square with the most amazing timber framed houses, a church or two and the old fortress wall that once surrounded and protected the town. We strolled up the pedestrian walkway admiring the town, headed for the main square, and Noam spotted a friend. Could we take a photo of him with his friend? Of course! Elke ...

... for very interesting stuff indeed. On fri nite we had a party shindig where everyone brought along a national dish and some music from home. Naturally Dinko, Damo and I dug into our stocks of vegemite and were able to put together a few dishes of vegemite sandwiches, complemented by another few of fairy bread. And never fear, OF COURSE Kylie also made an appearance on the dance floor (amongst the ...