John and I sleep well. We wake up a few times but go right back to sleep. I am hoping we have adjusted to the time but it usually takes more than a day to make up 8 hours. (Germany is on Standard Time already) We slept well the first night in Maastricht too but not after that for the next few days.
We have breakfast in the hotel. It is the usual German buffet with cold cuts, cheese, eggs, etc. We each have rolls and coffee or tea. Tea is always an adventure. Hot water and a tea bag would be too simple. Today it is a china tea ball with a top. I manage to practically burn myself and spill half the tea figuring out what to do with it. John has coffee which I find so strong as to be undrinkable.
John is off to work – Waldemar has him booked so tightly that I doubt he will have time to go to the bathroom today. I speak with a man at the front desk about the train. He is very helpful and it does not sound too tricky. We will see. Not being able to speak, read or understand German makes life very difficult. (It also makes you feel like a dunce since most people can speak at least some English, thank god!)
I walk to the airport across the street and buy a zone 3 ticket for 4.10DM which is about $2.50. It goes from the Flughafen to Hauptbahnhof in the center of Stuttgart. A lady across from me on the train sees me looking at the S-bahn system map and asks me where I need to get off. At least I think that is what she said. Somehow with neither of us speaking the language of the other, it is communicated that I am getting off at the main station and so is she. She will let me know when it is time to get off. So no problem.
I walk out the back door of the station and take the scenic tour around to the front and find a tourist information place. I Buy a map and get some brochures and advice about what to see. I walk down a long pedestrian mall, the Konigstrasse. There are many stores and lots of people. It is a beautiful day with the temperature around 60F mid-day.
I go down to the Schlossplatz (castle plaza). I see the Jubilaumscaule fountain and take some pictures. I continue on to Schillerplatz where there is a statue of Schiller and lots of old buildings. The old castle was built around 13th century and remodeled in the 16th century. There is also the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church.) There are a whole bunch of school kids there, maybe in the 5th grade doing some sort of project. They are a very homogeneous looking group but running and yelling like kids anywhere.
After that I walk to the Markthalle which is full of great looking and high cholesterol food. I step on some guys foot and remind myself to learn how to say I’m sorry and excuse me in German. I find an interesting street, Calwer Strasse. There are many restaurants in the ground floor of the old houses. Very German looking. I walk back towards the station through the Oberer Schlossgarten. It is very lovely with a big pond with swans. There are a lot of parks all over Stuttgart.
Next I cross K. AdenauerStrasse and go to the Staatsgalerie art museum.I see a very fine modern collection including works by Klee, Kandinsky, Picasso, Brach, Mondrian, and Warhol. There is some weird stuff here, a kind of modern representational sculpture and a bunch of TV monitors and some broken stuff. Then I try to look at some other art but get talked at in German. Apparently I need a ticket.
I have been walking for 4 hours and am tired out so I decide to go back to the station and return to the hotel. I get panhandled by some old bum at the ticket machine. I use my German sentence. “Ich night sprechen Deutsch.” He seems disappointed but moves on to some other mark.
The ride back is uneventful. I take a nice nap. I will probably be awake all night. I do not eat lunch. It is too stressful. I am starving. We are having dinner with Waldemar’s family tonight.
Waldemar picks us up at 7:15 and takes us to his home in Althengstett (the old hanging place.) We meet his wife Mariam and daughter Lena who is 4 years old. Their other daughter, Isabel, 6 months old, is asleep.
For dinner Mariam makes smoked pork with spinach en croute. It is very salty. We have smoked salmon to start and a pie in component pieces which is good. We sit and talk until 1:30 AM. It is a very enjoyable evening.
