They landed up in Ramstein AFB and then traveled over to some friends before traveling down to see us near Stuttgart[wiki]. We wandered briefly around Stuttgart after they got off the train since we were there in the downtown area anyway. There's a few things to do around there, but since it was so heavily damaged during the war there's virtually no quaint old architecture there.
The first thing that we did was to visit Tübingen[wiki], a beautiful college town on the Nekar river. I also took Mary and Wilbun there and have a great deal more pics from there as well.
Tübingen had a pleasant market that morning with all sorts of your typical German produce, foods and vendors. Something that I hadn't seen before was the blooming Artichokes. They reminded me so much of heleconias that were so prevalent in Hawaii.
September was my "Garmisch" month, since I was there 3 weeks out of the month. The first week was on our own vacation and the second week was for the DISA Europe's Leadership Offsite and finally, the last week was with a EUCOM theater technology conference, and Mom and Dad got to come along.
While we were there, there we took a trip to the world famous Oktoberfest in Munich. Unfortunately, we got seperated only a few minutes after we got off the bus, so I don't have too many pics of them, but interestingly enough we went to pretty much the same locations, one which was the St. Paul's church, where I got the most of the night shots from.
While I was at the conference, Mom and Dad took the gondola up to the peak of the Zugspitze[wiki] , Germany's highest point.
The Next night on the conference we went along with the conference attendees to the Frauendorfer restaurant for some great food, and some fun. As a part of the meal there was a guy with an accordian singing German songs, a pair of youths doing a Traditional Bavarian "shoe slap dance" that was a hoot, and of course, vast ammounts of Beer and Beer Shots.
While we were there, there we took a trip to the world famous Oktoberfest in Munich. Unfortunately, we got seperated only a few minutes after we got off the bus, so I don't have too many pics of them, but interestingly enough we went to pretty much the same locations, one which was the St. Paul's church, where I got the most of the night shots from.
While I was at the conference, Mom and Dad took the gondola up to the peak of the Zugspitze[wiki] , Germany's highest point.
The Next night on the conference we went along with the conference attendees to the Frauendorfer restaurant for some great food, and some fun. As a part of the meal there was a guy with an accordian singing German songs, a pair of youths doing a Traditional Bavarian "shoe slap dance" that was a hoot, and of course, vast ammounts of Beer and Beer Shots.
On the return ride we went through Augsburg[Wiki]. Most of the pics here are from "Der Goldene Saal" or Golden Room in the Rathaus or City Hall.
Mom and Dad came along to the a homeschooling picnic during the Pumpkin Festival on the Ludwigsburg[wiki] castle garden grounds. The gardends there are some of the best that I've seen and they also have a fun fairy tale land area with a few rides suitable for children and scenes depicting various tales.
Mom, Dad and the family went to Triberg[wiki], famous for Cuckoo clocks[wiki]. In addition to having lots of stores selling literally thousands of them, there's the largest cuckoo clock. From the stadtmitte, there's a short hiking trail that we all went on that goes up and around the Triberger waterfalls that are absolutely georgous!
Mom and Dad kept the kids for a night and let us get out on a weekend Getaway (Thanks!!!). We went to Worms[wiki], where Martin Luther[wiki] was declared an outlaw after refusing to recant his writings.
The last day trip that we took was to Burg Hohenzollern[wiki], a beautiful castle on top of a hill south of Stuttgart.
On the return, Dad and I stopped by the Bebenhausen[wiki] Monestary.
After visiting us, Mom and Dad went over to visit David and Laura who just arrived southern France last month. Looking forward to the pics from that part of the trip!
As for any family and friends reading this, we'd love to have you too! Drop us a line or give us a call!
