You’ve seen the photos, now here’s the blog. Yesterday, Steve and I went with a group of people on a tour of downtown Stuttgart. We started the day at 6am, breakfast at the hotel and a 15 minute walk to Kelley Barracks to catch the bus to Panserkaserne where we met the group. We got to Panserkaserne around 7:30am, we were early so we grabbed some super coffee from the bakery. It was happy coffee! I woke up with just one sip!

At 8am the grouped headed out the gate to begin our journey through public transportation. We got on the 721 bus to Böblingen. Then from Böblingen we get on the S-Bahn S1 to Plochingen which will took us to the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof. The Hauptbahnhof is the main station for the trains; we spent about an hour there because the tour guide wanted to explain every little bit about purchasing tickets from the kiosks and also the ticket center. Argh! I was so frustrated, it was a waste of time for us because we knew enough to get around.

Finally, we moved on to go outside where she took us to an information center. Holy crap! She kept half of the group there for 30 minutes! WTF? Was she telling how to ask for information or something? Any way, once she finally started to walk us around we had a good time. Downtown Stuttgart is awesome there is so much shopping and food! The best part is that everything around is so beautiful and clean.

We walked past all the shopping and went to a museum where I experienced the strangest elevator. You can see in the photo album (the photo that looks like some guys are in a coffin because the photo displayed landscape instead of portrait). Any way, the elevator just kept going, we had to hop on and off just perfectly or else we’d get caught. It went in a loop so when we reached the top it just slid over to the side to go down and vice versa. Insane! I was totally claustrophobic.

We went to lunch at Gaststätte zum Ochs’n Willi where Steve had the Stuttgarter Kräuterpfännle and I had the Hausgemachte Käsespätzle. They both had cheese-Spätzle (cheesy noodles), mine had small slices of fried pork and beef and Steve’s had pork medallions. Yes, I’m disappointed too… we’ve kicked the vegetarian lifestyle… for now.

We walked through this open market where they sold flowers, plants, herbs, fruit, and vegetables. It was amazing, the photos I posted didn’t cover half of it. The open market was only for mornings, they packed up around 1:30pm. Around this time Steve and I decided to break off from the group to walk around and explore on our own. We went back to the indoor market and back to the Schloßplatz where all the United Buddy Bears were.

We walked around and took photos all day and by 3:30pm we were beat. It was time to head back to the hotel. We stopped at a bakery to get some pretzels and pastries for dinner. Then we were off to catch the U-Bahn U6 to the Möhringen Bahnhof where we jumped on the U3 to take us to Salzäcker, the stop right behind our hotel. Ahhh, finally back in the hotel. My legs were burning! I needed a shower to be refreshed to post the photos.

We had such a great time that we went back to the Schloßplatz today to share the experience with the kids and the puppies. The experience today was as good as yesterday’s, I took more photo (click here to see). Saw more and  yet it still wasn’t enough… we’ll be back.

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Meldeine Sipes

Yay! We’re here and the best part is that we had no problems getting the dogs on board with us. Initially, they told us about the pet embargo for summer but when we asked them about sitting in with us it was a breeze. A huge sigh of relief came out of me, I was almost in tears… finally all the trouble the past couple weeks trying to get them ready to come here has finally come into fruition.

Kookiis and Vandy didn’t really like the little Sherpa bags, tight squeeze compared to the kennels. They were whinning a bit in the airport. They would calm down when we stuck our hands in the bag to pet them. I really didn’t like that we couldn’t take them out, because I knew that they would just lay on our laps quietly. But, I was still happy because we were all together on the plane. Once we got in the plane in LAX Kookiis was whinning up until we took off. Initially I thought she calmed down but when I reached in to pet here she was really tense and shivering, I think she was the entire flight. I couldn’t check on Vandy because we were all seated rows away from each other. We didn’t realize they seated us apart until it was too late.

The flight from LAX to ATL was a little over 4 hours, take off and landing was on time. When we got to ATL we had a short layover. Well it was supposed to be only 2 hours but it ended up to be 4. The worst part about it was that we boarded on time, but we had to sit on the plane for an extra 2 hours to wait for 26 late people who missed their flight to Munich. Arghh! Poor dogs. The good thing is that we finally sat next to each other, the kids were a row behind us. Finally we were off, the dogs started to calm down (thanks Benadryl), I think they slept a lot through the entire trip.

We landed over an hour late. The dogs were ready to get out, just like the trip from Japan to Los Angeles 3 years ago Kookiis couldn’t hold it any longer, she peed in her bag while we were waiting for the bags. Vandy was fine, she was able to hold it till we got to the hotel. Alex felt a little queezy when we landed, but shortly after we exited the airport he was fine.

Our sponsor, Sonya, is great. She was at the airport waiting for us and thankfully brought a van large enough to accomodate everyone and everything. She dropped us off at the hotel at 11am and came back for us at 3pm to check in on base and grab some food. The entire time we were with her we were all dragging ass. The kids and I slept in the van and also fell asleep on the couch while waiting for our turn at the IACS (check in place). I hope we weren’t snorring or drooling!

After she took us to a few check in spots I asked her if there was a McDonald’s close by. Yeah, yeah, we’re in Germamy why in the hell would I want Mickey D’s? Well, since we found out we were coming here I remembered that I really enjoyed the milkshakes from German McDonald’s, plus they have the McRib which they don’t serve in the the US. Any way, we wanted fast food so we could get back to the hotel and crash.

Got to the hotel around 7-ish, scarffed down food and went to sleep. Now I’m up at 3:30am checking email and writing this blog… for a whopping 179 euro internet fee for 7 days! I just hope we find a house soon!

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Meldeine Sipes

As some of you know, we’re moving to Germany. In about 17 days! It’s been tough getting everything organized and ready.

It’s our last weekend to pack up the house before the movers come. Tomorrow we get our initial shipment picked up. I got everything and everyone packed up except for me. I can do all that tonight. I’ve been doing nonstop laundry for the past 4 days! Our washer and dryer never worked so much since we got them; just as well, they’re going into storage for 4 years anyway… they’ll get a good rest. On Tuesday, the movers come back and pack up the rest of the house all the furniture and stuff wouldn’t need immediately. On Wednesday, that’s when everything is gone. I can’t wait until this entire process is over.

You must be wondering why I’m writing this blog. Well it’s because my feet are burning, I think they’re about to explode. I’m so freakin’ tired okay, can I get a little break? I figured if I’m doing something not just sitting it wouldn’t be so bad. Ok, this blog is pretty long so I guess break time is over.