Der Junge Turns 30 29

My parents first visit to Germany overlapped with my 30th 29th birthday. Worked out well, as we also had a bank holiday at work.

In honor of Einstein spending some time locally, die Mutter decided to try his hairstyle during the visit.

Afternoon in Ulm

Der Vater an I climbed the tallest church spire in the world. The best news about that: we have an immediate out to climb any more church spires if we don't want to. Why climb another after you've climbed the tallest?

It looks bigger in real life.

Lunch with Parents!

Beautiful sunny day with Das Madchen und my Parents in Nürnberg!

Of course, Der Hund is here to keep an eye on the group. Just finished the tour of the Zeppelin field so Der Hund could hunt for some Nazis.

Now a much needed lunch at a Paulaner Cafe in the Alt Stadt. After that we can walk through the streets of  Nürnberg looking for over priced German items that we don't need.

Vienna

We are staying in Vienna for Friday and Saturday night! Vienna is Sehr Elegante (very elegant!) and so hotels are $$$$.  So we are staying at a hotel on the outer ring of the old town (still in very respectable walking distance to the center). However, we learned that it apparently does cost more to have a room with a bigger bed!  So upon checking in, I would think its obvious that we are a couple as we have our dog with us but to our surprise, we walked into our room to find two twin beds (and not the pushed together into one bed as is typical of this region- but two beds built in to adjacent walls)!

Hmm, do they really wonder why the birth rate is declining in these European countries???

Salzburg

This is another holiday weekend (4 day weekend!). So we took a train trip to Salzburg and Vienna, Austria. 

We went to Salzburg for Thursday night for just a one night stay.  Salzburg means "Salt Castle" which comes from the 8th century when barges carrying salt on the Salzach River were subject to pay a toll to go through Salzburg.

Salzburg is a big tourist spot for fans of Mozart (Mozart was born here and his house is a tourist museum), but especially Americans love Salzburg for The Sound of Music.   There are a ton of Sound of Music tours and loads of Americans taking part.  Actually, very few of our German friends have even heard of the Sound of Music.  Apparently, the Austrians also don't understand either why we love it.  Shocking, I know!

Stuttgart

This weekend is a trip to Stuttgart via train. Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Wurttemberg (our "state") and is an easy 90 minute train ride from our town.  It's famous for it's automotive industry, headquarters to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche and also electronics giant Bosch. During World War II Stuttgart was heavily bombed because of its position as a major industrial center.  The city was quickly rebuilt but most of the downtown was built as temporary structures using rubble and provisional building materials with the intent of putting up more permanent structures in the future. After World War II the city grew at an enormous rate and as a result, there is little left of the historical architecture. The city today more resembles a city found in the US than a typical German city.

train to Stuttgart

Kiwi's seat

Visiting cOmrades In The 'Heim

Some friends came to visit this weekend. Well, in fact, der frühere Chef, but that is neither her nor there.

Friday night was a walk around town.

Think you have a hard time getting from the base of he mountain to the castle? Try being a snail.

Surprise Stop- Strasbourg!

Since we left Colmar so early (because nothing would be open today for the holiday), we decided at the last minute to detour to Strasbourg, France on our way back home!

Follow us to Strasbourg...