Stuttgart Proper: Breakfast, Markets, and Errands; Dentist Visit and Swim Practice

We were so pleased to be able to meet Bernie at the main station in Stuttgart to spend the day with her in the city.

We left Schönaich rather early, after Embla and Erla went to school. I have the S-bahn system pretty well figured out, so after Arnheidur dropped us off at the station in Böblingen, Aunt Rachel and I hopped on the S-bahn to Hauptbahnhof (main station.) You never know who or what you will see on the Bahn, and today we saw a loud and boisterous fußbal team of some sort. 

We had no problem getting to the main station and met Bernie on the platform, and then it was up, up, up on the escalators.

Thankfully, I saved myself a whole lot of awkwardness by remembering that  when you're on an escalator here, the people that are not walking stand on right, and those who wish to walk up stand on the left. This way, you don't block anyone from walking up should they wish to do so. I figured out this unspoken piece of escalator etiquette when I visited England a few years ago. 

We tagged along with Bernie and covered a lot of ground while in Stuttgart- we saw the main square, the State of Baden Wurttemberg Parliament building where, as Bernie put it, they "Turn the coin around three times before they spend it." ;)

A short walk from the station yielded several flower and vegetable markets, the main Stuttgart indoor market, which sells everything from pancetta to fresh flowers, macarons to locally made champagne. 

It was so surreal to to be in Germany with someone from such a familiar place as Eden, which is not only Aunt Rachel's hometown, but my Mother's as well. It was so delightful to get to spend time with Bernie and walk around to some of her favorite haunts and shops.

Of course, breakfast was amazing, as is the norm for Germany. We ate at a cafe/bäckerei just outside the indoor market and enjoyed some good conversation and people watching too.

Of course, a trip to Stuttgart would not  be complete without a trip to Breuning, the fancy-schmancy department store. It included some very fine stores where the only thing in there that I would be able to afford are the clips they use to pin the clothes on the size 0 mannequins.

Such as:

(Not pictured: Valentino, Tiffany and Co, Dolce and Gabbana, etc.)

Kids, Gucci makes clothes in your size so that you too can dress to impress.....your kindergarten acquaintances. 

We also went in a makeup store. I feel a little twinge of something like self-consciousness when I go in makeup store since makeup is not the norm for me, by my own choice. It's my preference for people to be used to and conditioned to seeing me as the "real" me, and not becoming conditioned to the "enhanced" me.

I guess I am succeeding on that front to some degree, because when I wore makeup for my brother's wedding, several people didn't recognize me.

But anyway. The ladies in said makeup stores are always done up to the nines, and as for me, well, I'm just lucky if I got my hair brushed. The ladies in this store were no exception.

German ladies seem to have a particular fascinaition for eyebrows and eyelashes. Eyebrows must be contured, and eyelashes are teased very long indeed or are worn fake, if you really want to bowl people over.

By the way, the ladies' undergarment section at the mall here is......um.......extensive. We will leave it at that. 

Though I will be leaving in a few days, I have noticed that my comprehension of the spoken German language has cotinued to improve with every interaction, which is encouraging. I can now understand some of the snippets of conversation I eavesdrop along the street.

Though I do have trouble switching sometimes. I have said "Bitte Schön" or "Morgen" to people on base before on accident, I forget that I'm in "America-ville" for the time being while on base. I have to catch myself and switch quickly between the two languages, because once you step off base, it's back to German. I can't imagine the brain contortions required to switch between three languages, as Arnheidur and the kids do on a daily basis.

We enjoyed Stuttgart and Bernie's company very much, and when we were done for the day, we bid farewell to her as we left from separate platforms. We hopped aboard our S1 nach Herrenberg and Arnheidur + kinder picked us up.

And imagine our surprise to see chat somebody had gotten himself a supa cool European haircut. 

Isn't it sharp? All the girls just squealed (and by "all the girls," of course I mean Rachel and I. We are his biggest fans.)

He looks several years older with his cool dude hairstyle. I'm already slated to help him style it for the soccer tournament we are going to his Saturday. I told him if will help him play better.

Visiting a dentist's office for Embla's appointment was a rare glimpse into the German way of doing things. (Hint: logical, efficient, and maybe even a little perfectionistic.) 

Of course, the dentist spoke perfect English and chatted with us as we sat and watched as he fitted her retainer.

"German Orthodontics is different from America, no? We work with the development of the bone instead of against it, and it is easier to fix a problem as it is developing instead of afterwards."

I would have loved to talk more with him and have him expound on those differences, but the visit did not take very long and soon we were on our way to dinner in downtown Sindelfingen.

But not before we went in Müllers, which is like a drugstore/department store. The tea section was fun to look through, and this one made me giggle.

I translated it in my head:

Heiße= hot

Liebe= love

Okay then. Seriously, who makes these names?

Waitin' on the food

Mr. Cool, smiling version 

We ate at Köchloffel (lit: cooking spoon) where they have these specialized forks for the pommes, as Embla demonstrated in this picture.

I should mention that in Europe, for whatever reason, there are no ice for drinks, not in the machine that dispenses drinks, not in restaurants. Drinks are served cold, yes, but I haven't had ice in a drink in five weeks, and I haven't missed it really. However, I may not need ice in my drink now, but I have a raging sparkling water habit that will continue, I have no doubt.

Today was what I have deemed  a "local flavor/local color" sort of day  because we did and saw some things that the average German might do in a single day: take the kids to school, rode the S-Bahn, did a lot of errands in Stuttgart, went to the dentist, and our last activity for the day, which was take the kids to swimming practice.

I swam competitively for nine years and thoroughly enjoyed it, and so seeing them practice definitely brought back memories for me. To be honest, I was itching to get in there myself.