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Published: June 12th 2017
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Our last day on this trip started off with a late breakfast just off the Schlossplatz. We knew that eventually we wanted to try to find the apartment that my parents used to live in when they lived here in Stuttgart. However, we weren't quite sure of what else to do. We noticed that just off the Schlossplatz, there was one of those Hop on Hop off tour buses that would take us around the city. Not sure of what sights there was to see in the city, we chose to sightsee aboard one of these. We rode around the city stopping at various points of interest but it didn't really seem like any of us were interested in getting off. Apparently 2 weeks of travelling had taken it's toll on all of us. Everyone just seemed to have hit a wall including myself. We simply just sat aboard the bus taking in the sights from the window without even bothering to get off once! When the tour came to a complete full circle, we got off the bus to continue our day in Stuttgart. Walking down the main pedestrian street, Konigstrasse, we went in and out a good number of
the shops located here. We were all looking for some final souvenirs. I was able to find a football jersey for Stuttgart's football team. Josie and Sylvia tried on some dirndls and were almost convinced into purchasing one. Mostly, we just went in search of small souvenir trinkets to give to the people back home.
Later that afternoon came the most emotional part of the trip for my mom, Josie, and myself. Stuttgart was the city where I was born in back in 1975. My parents had met here when my mother was working here as a nurse and my father was stationed at a nearby US military base. We were looking for their first apartment here in Stuttgart and the apartment that they brought me home to when I was born. Earlier that morning, we looked at a map of the city and discovered that Kernerstrasse, the street where their first apartment was located, was within walking distance. It has been almost 40 years since my mother was last here and most of Stuttgart that we had seen up to this point was not recognizable. I was hoping that as we made our way to her first apartment,
things would begin to become more familiar. We finally arrived at Kernerstrasse and still nothing seemed familiar to her. It wasn't until we were literally in front of her old apartment that all of a sudden things clicked and she started to recognize her surroundings. She mentioned that the apartment building did not look any different 38 years later. After showing us which apartment was theirs, we were almost tempted to knock on the door but chose not too. After taking a few photographs and shedding a few tears and exchaning a few hugs, we walked back to our hotel for one final dinner before flying home tomorow. Dinner tonight was at a nearby Greek restaurant, the Cava Taverna. Afterwards, we just returned to the hotel as we all had to pack our bags for the early flights that we all had tomorrow morning. Mom and I had a 630am flight to Frankfurt to connect to LA. While everyone else had a later flight going home via Newark. We all had such a great time on this 2 week trip but as today proved, everyone just seemed ready to return home.
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