Ettlingenweier!

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Travel day today. We drove to Aalen just in time to miss the direct train to Karlsruhe. Fortunately, another train, connecting in Stuttgart, actually got us there even faster. Our second leg was on the French TGV rail, which seemed like a major score until we figured out that our tickets didn't include seats. We had to stand in the entryway for ~25 minutes from Stuttgart to Karlsruhe. Oh yeah... the seating compartments were air-conditioned... the entryway, not so much. A kindly French gentleman insisted that I take his fold-down jump seat, which must have been built in the entryway for just this purpose. There were lots and lots of unclaimed seats, but the two locals riding with us didn't take them, so we didn't either. Fortunately, Karlsruhe was the next stop. 😊

Ettlingen, or more accurately Ettlingenweier (a small village outside of a small town outside of Karlsruhe), seems to be just the prescription we needed this week! We walked from our hosts' home down the street to a local Spielplatz (playground), had a tasty German dinner, and LG went right to sleep with no problems. I think we're going to like it here.

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