Off to Germany.

Had an early night but not sure 100% what the people in the room next to us were doing and probably a good thing....lets just say they made a lot of loud banging noises and leave it at that.

Taxi to the train station at 5am and then to work out which train platform etc we needed to be on. Worked it out and waited for the train to arrive. When we got on the train and the conductor looked at our tickets he told us that the train now did not stop at Stuttgart......we think he expected us to know what to do but we had to grill him to explain further what we needed to do. We had to get off at Esslingen(Neckar) and then wait for a connecting local train to take us to Stuttgart Hbf. So just a small adventure except we had to try to contact Laura to advise we would be about 30 mins late..........a smile later and I managed to use a gentleman's laptop to leave a Facebook message. However when we finally arrived Laura was running late as she could not find a park so it all worked out. So good to see Laura again.




We drove back to her place and I now want to win money so I can build a German home. It is beautiful. We had a coffee, then went and picked Rowan up for school. We took the two dogs which are enjoying having all the attention Dusan is giving them. A beautiful walk along the river to the school. On the way back Rowan showed us how fast he could go on his bike. He is very cute.




Then off to have some lunch. Not 100% what we ate but it was extremely yummy. We had apple strudel and it was awesome.




Then we went to "America"........as both Laura and Tommy work with the forces we went to the Panzer Base, named after German Tanks, and had a wander though what they call the "Exchange". It is a shopping area where the troops can shop, was all in US dollars and was all American goods. Some people come over from the USA and never leave the Base as they can do everything they want there. I think if I was relocating all the way around the world I would like to experience the culture if possible but the comforts of home are good too. We actually bought a new suitcase as the pretty pink one decided that the zip was to break so a nice suitcase later and a couple of beautiful balloon Christmas decorations.




Back to Laura's for dinner with some lovely people from up the road then time to sleep..........wonderful bed which has been great.