We were pleased to host Mary and Wilburn Pargman 22-28 May. They were the first family members to visit, and we would be sincerely delighted to have any one else to come out. All of the pics below are from the Pargman Visit set on our flickr.com site, and clicking on the thumbnails takes you to the page for that pic.
Here they are arriving at the airport and making thier way to the Schneider house. Looks like Mary is the first of the Abrameit clan to get hugs from Victoria in Germany! The last pic on the row is the accomodations in the Schneider Bed and Breakfast... Make your reservations soon!
On Tuesday I took Mary and Wilburn to visit the Residential Castle in Ludwisburg, which offers the best of 18th century Germany's archetecture and Baroque castles. In addition to the tour which we would recommed, there was the garden grounds which were great for flowers and a few birds.
After an evening of relaxing with checkers with the boys, Wednesday we went with the whole family next day to downtown Stuttgart to see the sights there.
Thursday, Wilburn wanted to see the Mercedes-Benz mueseum. It had only been open for about a month and is touted to be the world's largest brand-specific muesum.
On Friday we went to Tübingen and stopped at the Monistary in Bebebhausen first. I was very impressed with the tour of the site. They had interactive audio players with wich you could select the language. Very well done.
After the monistary we we continued down to Tübingen, the major city of the district. We toured the altstadt, had dinner at a great little cafe, and walked through the old fortress. The fortress there dates back around 1000 AD, and the Rathaus was first renovated in 1485, if I read the inscription right on the photo.
On Saturday, our final day of touring the area, Mary was feeling a bit under the weather and stayed back at home with Vivian and the kids. Wilburn and I went up to Heidelberg. There was a big festival ongoing at the time with dancing competions, and shopping. We took the tram up to a high point on the ridge above the city where we could see for miles, walked around in the castle ruins courtyards overlooking the town and river, and had Wurst and Bier in the market square. By far the most exciting day for me. Wilburn seemed to like every day as much as the previous.
