Stuttgart - 26 March (Thu)

Finn and I were up early and volunteered to go to the bakery and the market before breakfast. We thought we remembered the way, but we had already made so many different trips out from the Apartment, that we got turned around pretty quickly. We ended up at a different bakery, so decided to try this. Finn apparently had something particular in mind that he had seen the day before at the bakery. This new bakery didn't have what he wanted, so we left without anything. We tried one more street and viola! We found the bakery and market. This time we walked back the way we should have come and we made a note of all the landmarks along the way. We would be ready tomorrow!

The weather was pretty decent looking right now, but it looked like it would be changing. We decided to head downtown and get some shopping done. We rode the train down toward the main pedestrian zone, which begins right at the main train station. Since the weather was good right then, we went up into the tower at the train station. This gave us a pretty good view of the whole city except for the weird netting that stretched over the whole thing. We managed to take some pictures anyway.

In the train station, there was an elaborate display of the upcoming train station renovation. The train station is called a head station because the trains come in and out from the same tracks (instead of passing by the train station). The new train station will pass underground and follow a completely different path. The heart of downtown will be completely different and be revitalized. This will take 10 or more years to complete.

The first thing we shopped for were soccer jerseys for the kids. I really wanted to buy German National team jerseys, but mom was opposed to them because the home jerseys are white (and boys tend to get dirty). We both started to get cold feet because all the jerseys were about $60 each and the kids would be growing out of them soon. We ended up compromising with athletic jerseys with a Stuttgart team logo patch on them. This worked out just fine because the boys STILL love these shirts!



We finally got to do shopping for other people - which mostly included candy. I went to the bookstore and bought several books for myself - including a copy of one of the Harry Potter books and a computer book! The Stuttgart pedestrian zone was lots of fun, but we were getting tired. We had decided to eat Doener for lunch. This Turkish sandwich - a lot like a greek Giro - is very popular all over Germany. Doener restaurants are everywhere! This was one of my favorite foods when I was here as a student! Penny and the boys even loved it! They're HUGE and cheap and delicious!

After lunch, we headed to a large, LARGE toy store. We knew this would be tough - to get the boys to buy something unique (not just Lego or Hot Wheels), something not too (TOO!) expensive and something small enough to fit in the luggage. We found some nice things. Finn bought Playmobil. Keane bought some cars that were German cars we had seen - a Police car SMART with the word "Polizei" written on it and also an bright orange Fire Truck like the ones they have. We also got a very cool memory card game with German pictures and words on it. The boys had been playing memory with Alex for several days. This was a great suggestion from the toy store clerk!

Finally, we headed home to rest. Shopping can really wear us out....but not the boys! They wanted to go back home, put on their soccer shirts and go down to the park to play. Alex and I went along. This was a cool little urban park. The soccer field was inside a fence, was small and the ground was artificial. We kicked the ball around a little before the boys wanted to head over to the playground.



It started to lightly rain. We were really tired and the boys were getting grouchy anyway, so we headed back to the apartment. The girls had rested some. Now we turned on the TV, dried off and relaxed a little bit.

Ramona and Alex were working on a popular regional dish called dampfnudle - Steam Dumplings. They made the dough, let it rise (yeast dough), shaped them into pretty big dumplings and then steamed them. They served them with a vanilla sauce - very good!




After dinner (which was an early dinner), we all went out to a neighborhood pub - one of Alex and Ramona's favorite pubs. We ordered some appetizers and some beers. We also took along a Yahtzee game and some coloring books. Finn has learned to play Yahtzee. It's pretty easy to play in a loud place.

We got home late. The boys were exhausted again. After we put them to bed, we all stayed up late again talking, listening to music and playing games. I'm learning that the Germans really like to play games together! It's really a fun way to hang out and talk....better than TV!