Blogs from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 8

We are now in a motorhome. We have called it Macre Coeur. It has everything you could possibly think of, a toilet, a shower, a place to cook, a fridge and bunk beds and an even higher bed over the drivers cabin. We picked up our Motorhome in Germany. We have travelled through Germany, Austria and we are now in Italy. We met our friends at a farm stay in Bavaria. We went to a great water park and also had a farmers lunch, which had great cakes and a big hay stack for all the kids to jump in. We are now staying with some other friends in Maranello in Italy. The house is a 400 year old horse stable. Our friends have a lovely dog called Spoon, there is also another dog called Pe ... read more

Last weekend I had some friends in to visit since I had the apartment all to myself. It’s been nice being able to take over the whole place for a couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to my new flatmate’s arrival. She is from France and speaks very good German, not much English, I believe this will be a good thing for my German! My Couchsurfing friend Ulf came to 'surf' with me last Thur-Sat which was a highlight because not only do I not see him very often, but he was my first official Surfer! Finally, I had the chance to be a host, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the crew from my program came on Friday and Saturday and we made the most of the very small Karlsruhe ... read more

I've probably written dozens of 'top ten destinations' I wanted to go to over the years, but I don't think Germany ever made it onto any of them. It wasn't that I objected to going or anything, there just wasn't anything there that demanded my attention. Well, my apologies to the German nation and its people; You should have definitely cracked the top ten. The only reason we actually came to Germany, specifically Stuttgart, is because we wanted to go to Switzerland. Almost all the flights into Switzerland had two layovers, or didn't fit our timetable. I finally started looking at major cities in the surrounding countries with the idea of taking a train in, and Stuttgart ended up being the most reasonable choice. We had only a brief stop in Atlanta, and then an eight ... read more

Germany is quite beautiful so far. It looks just like Washington with a lot of trees and rain, and it feels really great. I feel like I'm back at home! It is such a relief to get out of such a big city and be in a small villiage where there is actually rain. It's really quite enjoyable! I was able to ride on the Autobahn for the first time last night and that was pretty interesting. People drive very fast. Tomorrow we are either going to Munich, France, or Switzerland, because I am close to all three. I'll let everyone know what I'm up to and be expecting a lot of pictures! Dave... read more

Ludwigsburg is about 12 km (7 miles) Norh of Stuttgart's city center. In the beginning of the 18th century (1704), the Ludwigsburg Palace was being built. It was built for Duke Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg who later owned many more castles. It is still today the largest Baroque Castle in all of Deutschland. Later on the French King Napolean Bonaparte lived in the castle.... read more