A new project of mine is to transfer my hand written notes from previous trips into my blog. After I finish a trip I will try to find the pictures that go with it.
Arrived in Frankfurt around 10:30 AM. I was still very worried about Sarah who had fainted yesterday morning. The doctor said she was OK just a case of low blood pressure, cramps, and rising too fast.
We were much more confident around Frankfurt airport having been there twice before. Got the luggage, rented a Ford Mondeo from Hertz, exchanged money (bad rate 1.44DM=$1US) and fumbled our way out of the airport. Started by going the wrong way on the A5. The trip down to Stuttgart was uneventful except for one large traffic jam. We have a manual shift and it is hard to keep starting and stopping especially on the big hills between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. John seems more comfortable with driving fast and we managed 130km when traffic permitted.
Arrived at the Hotel Movenpick (near the Stuttgart airport) around 2 PM. I was hoping for a hotel in the city where I could walk to different sights but this is close to the train station and the airport. I will try to figure out the S-bahn tomorrow.
After speaking with kids (Sarah is fine!) we took naps until 5 PM. I think we could have slept forever. I managed some on the plane, John very little, and we are both jet lagged. Waldemar Hartmann picked us up at 7pm for dinner at Gesthaus Hirsch (Swabian food) in Sindelfingen. We got to see quite a bit of Sindelfingen as Waldemar did not quite know where he was going. This was supposed to be a dinner hosted by John for members of the CTC and their wives, husbands, or guests. I was the only guest. Oh, well. Dinner was good. John had a wild boar schnitzel with pomme frite and I had a salmon roulade with rice and braised cucumber. Also had griebenschmalz to spread on bread which I originally thought was mashed potatoes with bacon bits but turned out to be rendered pork fat with cracklings. We had a little as a cultural experience.
Got back to the hotel around 10:45. (Europeans take forever to eat!) Beds are comfortable. Topped with a duvet.