Millennium Hotel Stuttgart

Hallo Tonia,
wir freuen uns, dass Du Dich so gut eingelebt hast und so viele nette Leute kennengelernt hast.
Hoffentlich klappt alles weiterhin wie am Schnürchen. Deine Berichte sind wirklich interessant und lese sie mit Begeisterung.
Uns geht es auch gut. Zur Zeit ist es etwas stressig. Der Garten nimmt viel Zeit in Anspruch, von der Obstwiese in Amstetten ganz zu schweigen ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... ich muss meine Familie tschüs sagen? "Du kommst ja weider oder?" hat sie gefragt. "Ja, natürlich komme ich weider aber es wird nicht wie früher."

So ich sagte noch mal tschüs, ich habe euch lieb und bin weggelaufen. Ich müsste meine Flugzeug Tür oder Boarding Gate finden- natürlich war es weit weg! Ich bin bei zwei oder drei verschiende Restauranten vorbei gelaufen und die Leute haben mich angeguckt. Vielleicht war es ...

Today started out nice and slowly. Grabbed a small breakfast, added leisurely showers to that and then it was off to Stuttgart for a day of touring around. We actually began our tour at the Wilhelma, the Stuttgarter zoo, but all the parking places were already taken. Since the place seemed so swamped, we decided to take the tram downtown and start out by grabbing some lunch ...

... It's so old, it dates back to the 10th century. Many years back it was home to the Counts of Württemberg. Then in 1931, it barely survived a bad fire, and top of that it was bombed during World War II. The final reconstruction was complete in 1969. King Charles and his wife, Olga, are buried beneath the Schloss. And did I mention this is only the Old Castle, in the 1700s, they built a New Castle. This new castle was built in a new kind of style and it stands adjacent ...

... and aren't afraid to use it! Later we had a Christmas beer, sort of like fruity Tooheys Old I suppose. Quite good really. It was a great night out. On Sunday we met a lot of relatives, to be honest I lost track of how most of them were related. Heidi may update this bit later. I had a great discussion with one bloke about the dangers of Australian flora and fauna, yes Andrew, I warned him about the sheep too. He ...

It was time for us to leave Switzerland and return to Germany. Our first stop was in Stuttgart and then the small town of Ohringen to visit Vivian's uncle. This was supposed to be a very quick visit, as we were supposed to meet my friend Richard (from Sweeden, who was on his way to Amsterdam) in Hamburg. Unfortunately the train in Ohringen had problems and delayed us by 20 minutes. This in turn cause us to miss our connections to Stuttgart and our ...