Ibis Stuttgart City

This morning we went to church. We went because we wanted to see the church where Granny and Pop were married. When we got there and had sat down Ute whispered to us the Hilde had told the Priest that we were here, that we were visitors from Australia. She is so proud and happy to have us here. The service started and the German was all going ov...

Today we spent the day with Philip. He got us really excited to go to Switzerland when he showed us pictures from his holiday there. He then took us over to Hilde and Karl's. We had waffles for lunch with fruit from trees they had planted many years ago. Philip taught us a game, I don’t know what it’s called but you lay out 18 sticks...

We were back on the road again today, but we didn't go to far. Interlaken to the Black Forest in Germany was only a couple of hours. We stopped for lunch and a look around Switzerland’s capital, Bern, where we were lucky enough to see one of the bears they keep in captivity, albeit from a distance and only for a minute. When I was last in ...

We spent the day with Herbert. He took us to the Black Forest (Schwarz Wald) and showed us where my Great, Great Grandmother Sophie had lived. We also went to a spot where Mum and Granny had come when they were in Germany. We went for a beautiful walk in the forest. It was really magical walking through the forest half covered with snow. I was r...

For our first morning in Kieselbronn, Harald took us for a tour of the town. It's been much warmer then we were expecting – around 4°C, the perfect temperature to go walking outside. It is such a small, friendly place, as an outsider it has the feeling of a strong community. There are a lot of clubs and groups here such as sport, outdoors ...

My time in Germany has definitely forced me to confront some of my perceptions about Germans. My birthday made me rethink the perception that workers don't have friendly relationships with colleagues. My trip to Stuttgart made me rethink the perception of punctuality, particularly in regards with the Deutsche Bahn, or German Train System. What ...

It's Monday, 04-Nov-2008, early morning... sitting right now in the train from Stuttgart to Frankfurt for my flight to Manila via Amsterdam... Do I have everything that I need? Have I forgot anything? Have I turned off all devices which can (and should) be turned off?!? Most of these questions will be answered when I'm standing in front of the c...

The flight with Swiss was rather relaxing and we actually managed to get some sleep on the way to Zuerich. Noble was already a bit sick and after a few whiskeys back in Hong Kong, she slept quite long and well. Since we were a bit late, we had to rush to our connecting flight to Stuttgart (which is a nice way saying that I managed to forget my b...

In the l*st entry I cre*ted I st*ted th*t it h*d been * long time since I h*d written *nything. I w*s right. Now this one h*s been even longer overdue th*n the l*st one but *l*s, it is complete. Th*nks to those of you who h*ve continued to push me for upd*tes *nd to everyone for t*king some time to follow *long with me in my *dventures. Followin...

We slept almost 11 hours, then got up for breakfast (cheese, cold cuts, muesli with yogurt, bread, and canned fruit-okay, but not too filling). Then we called a taxi and took our free ride to the Mercedes plant (they provided us with a taxi voucher). The customer center is very modern and expensive-looking (as well it should be). We met with a n...