Relexa Waldhotel Schatten Stuttgart

... 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 ...

Nun sind es also knapp zwei Monate her, als ich das letzte Mal an einer Schule die Geschichte<br>von Selma und mir erzählte. Einen Abend zuvor telefonierte ich mit meinem Bruder und so ganz nebenbei scherzte er, dass ich aus der Übung sein müsste, da ich schon mehr als 8 Wochen keine Schule mehr betreten und Mainecoon gepielt habe. Ach, von wegen aus der Übung. Bücher zu präsentieren ist wie Auto fahren. So etwas verlernt man nicht, und ...

... of the Mercedesturm to get a nice view of the city, for free!<br><br>On our drive back we spotted a castle ruin high above the autobahn and tried to find it. We climbed up a steep and winding hill through wine fields to the castle gates, which were locked. A sign posted on the gates stated that the castle is private property and trespassers will be fined. Unfortunately this is the only thing I took pictures of from our entire trip.

... lunch we went to the Ludwigsburg Castle which is the most well preserved castle I have ever seen. The castle dates back to the 1700's and has original floors, wall coverings and furniture as well as gold leaf decorations and crystal chandeliers. Napolean was a guest there as well as dukes and kings of the time.The gardens are beautiful as well. Tonight we have a formal concert in the concert hall in Beitigheim.<br>Video of the concert today and some pictures will be uploaded soon.

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.

... pictures and just generally poking into as many places as I could, climbing stairs, going through passages, checking out the case mates, etc. Since there was a nice restaurant in the shell of the castle we had lunch. On Tuesday I had had Schnitzel (breaded and pan-fried veal cutlet - it has nothing to do with hot dogs, not even the Viennese variety called Wiener Schnitzel). Today I had Maultaschen soup and a salad. Maultaschen are a noodle stuffed with ground beef, egg, parsley and a ...

... which presented me with many difficulties. I just got used to the dialect in Graz, and then to be hit with another foreign dialect was pretty tough, but I did learn "a bissele" Schwaebisch, so now I can understand Opa a little better! I also heard many family stories and took a trip to where my Opa's boyhood home used to stand. Unfortunately, the house that stands there today seems to be another cookie cutter house and ...

... and it is a very high tech set-up. The displays gave a lot of information about the history and people involved. We are really enjoying being here, and I think we have finally got a grip on the time difference, though my bladder still insists it is not 4:30am every morning. Sigh... I hope to add lots of photos soon. Don#t forget you can leave comments and that this thing has a guest book! God bless, Dave and Heidi.