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.

Haircut on Panzer, Erla's Birthday Party

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, sat up in bed and took one earplug out and held it in my hand while I held my water bottle with the other. Then I proceeded to attempt take the earplug like it was a nutritional supplement. This either illustrates just how many supplements I take when I travel or the fact that I was tired, I don't know which. 

After I woke up, Arnheidur walked by and offered to take Embla to school today so I could sleep after staying up late making the cake, and I took her up on it. It's hard to sleep after you're already "up," so to speak, but I laid back down and willed myself to rest. I did end up sleeping until ten or so, and I even had time to exercise before we left to pick up Embla from school to get her a haircut on base. 

She had told me what she wanted to get and I found pictures on Google that accurately represented her desired style. 

Thus, she had entrusted me with accurately interpreting the hairstyle she desired to the hairstylist at the salon on Panzer. It's located on the base PX, which is similar to a mall and food court.

It is precarious thing, to be in charge of someone else's hair cut, a risky thing. Even though she assured me repeatedly that it wouldn't be my fault if it went wrong, but I knew that I would still hold at least some of the responsibility for the failed haircut. 

One stylist was very bubbly and outgoing, the other was reserved and appeared to be somewhat snippy (no pun intended.) But as the haircut progressed, though seemingly a sober-minded individual, she proved to be excellent with hair and gave Embla exactly what she wanted- soft layers and some framing around her face. She intentionally made it long enough so it wouldn't be too short to put in a ponytail and did the layers soft enough so her fine hair would not have jagged edges.

Regardless, the cut was cute and very becoming for my girl here.

This is before:

And this is after.

 

We came back home to load up for Erla's Birthday party at the park a few minutes away.

If you are German and throw a birthday party at a park, as is quite common here, you bring your own nice plates, cups and dishes from home, and spread out a blanket and have your picnic and cake. You use them and then take them back home dirty in a special caddy.

Today we had what Arnheidur jokingly referred to as a "half German and half American"

birthday, where she used some paper products and some dishes from home. 

It was a pleasant time getting to meet some of Arnheidur's fellow Navy wives and their kids along with some girls from Erla's kindergarten. Even Guthrun, the landlord's wife and our neighbor, came out for the party.

This little park is accessible by the highway or the bike path that runs through to the nearby villages. And it is beautiful.

In the background, you can see the shared garden plots on the hill. Since the houses here are somewhat packed close together within the towns, typically each village has a space like this where you and your family have a shared plot to tend as you see fit.

Here is a better view.

The cake was a big success and Erla enjoyed the party and the limelight.

Besides two Russian kids who would not stop throwing rocks at us, all the children we met at the park were just darling. 

Played hide and seek tag, which has become the game of choice for Embla and I. I did a lot of running, and one comic moment occurred when I was chasing her down the nearby sidewalk. 

We whizzed by an old man puttering down the sidewalk in his little drivable wheelchair, wearing an old fashioned German hat, that kind you wear with lederhosen. I'm sure that as we rode past he thought "kids these days!"

We also took a picture together on top of the climbing wall.

The boys played soccer on the field.

7 year old Alicia, an African American girl who rode her bike to the park with her Dad and brothers, introduced herself to me and we were fast friends.

"Wanna see me ride my bike? I can show you."

"Want to meet my little brother? I hope you could meet my Mom! She would like you too."

(I did end up meeting her Mom, as she came by to pick the baby up.)

Goodness, this outgoing little girl was such a sweetheart. She was born in Germany but her language is English. Her Mom works on Panzer, and her Father does IT work from home. 

I don't know how many friends she has, but it was clear she might be in need of one. And so, for at least a short while, I was able to be her friend, to watch her ride her bike really fast and play with rocks, to talk about the new school she is going to this year, the one at Panzer near the bowling alley, the one I've passed on quite a few occasions while on base.

By the end of our time together, she had invited me to their house which was just up the hill in the nearby village. She gave me a big hug when I had to leave. I treasure these kind of encounters.

Everyone was very tired when we arrived home but nonetheless, we managed to get things unloaded out of the car and the laundry finished.

However, we were not too tired to enjoy looking through the photos of my brother's wedding, since George wasn't able to make it. In turn, he showed Rachel and I some old pics of Embla and Ellert when they were young

and he showed us Erla's pictures from when she was baptized as a baby back in Iceland. Then we had a wonderful time looking through some old (very old!) family photos before crashing for the night.

Patch Library, Breuningland Mall, and Mission (somewhat) Impossible: Making Erla's Birthday Cake

This is what I see Schönaich when I wake up in the morning-SUN! (Well, if you're lucky, sometimes there is sun, but you get the idea.)

I took this laying in bed. For whatever reason it is very, VERY bright here at 6 AM.

Took Embla to school. As usual, on the way we discussed many matters on varying scales of importance.

I taught her my top secret chair and/ or steering wheel stretch, "thumbs away, ribs up, inhale big, exhale bigger!" ;)

We saw an old-ish fellow with white hair showing off riding his bike on the bike path near the road with no hands, lacing them behind his head like he was taking a nap in the park. Shortly thereafter we saw him spit, and I joked that any old ladies in the area that were checking him were not anymore after that display. 

I almost got smashed by an impatient lady on the way back home. I was pulled over to let someone by from the other direction, as one does, and she must have either been impatient or thought I was parked, because she pulled around me go try to get ahead.

I hope you were on your way to a very important event, missy. It would have been an expensive one too if you smashed your Audi.

As it was not quite eight, I was alongside all the other Germans sitting in their cars waiting for Penny to open up at eight. Since they are German after all, punctual to the enth degree, it opened on the dot and I was able to buy my water.

I realized today I haven't described some of the streets and such. There are very few telephone poles here, which makes the scenery a lot more aesthetically pleasing when you are in a town.

 

You would be hard pressed to find trash on the road or litter of any kind lying around. People seem conditioned to not litter due to either fees or moral feelings.

Germans pay attention. If you are doing something wrong, whether that is failing to shut the door on the Sauna, putting the garbage out near the street too early on collection day, forgetting to take the .50 € coin out of the slot on the shopping cart, parking in a spot that is not allowed, or biking on the autobahn, they will tell you or they will call you on it. And oftentimes it is for your own good, they mean to help you.

One might say that they are "quick to correct", but perhaps, it should be "quick to help."

In most instances they are helping you not get fined or physically hurt, in the case of the Autobahn biker we saw today. 

As is our usual Tuesday routine, we began the day on Patch Barracks with coffee. Then Arnheidur took us to the on-base library, which was fantastic. 

They even have a recommended selection of books to read for you to read if you or your family member is serving in EuroCom or AfricaCom. 

This is very thoughtful, as it would give you a broader view of the history of the place your work with the Army has taken you.

I found two books I might have to bring home from the free used book section. Russian fairy tales and a military history account, of course. 

Arnheidur asked me to be on the lookout for books the kids would like and I was very pleased to find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the free book section, which they haven't read before.

We all shopped at the commissary and got stuff for Erla's birthday party tomorrow and supplies for the cake I'm making.

Rachel bought two coke Zeros and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a pic.

"here, you be Legend, I'll be Better Half."

"Well you're definitely my Better Half, but I'm no Legend."

"You're a Legend because you are my Better Half."

On the way back from base, Arnheidur dropped us off at Breuningland Mall for an hour or two. It's a rather ritzy three story mall in nearby Sindelfingen. Breuningland is kinda like the U.S. equivalent of a Macy's, except nicer.

We had lunch at Frisch, an eatery in the mall that looked straight out of an Ikea catalog. 

Soo many shops! 

Very fancy sweets aplenty.

Only in Germany do you have a fish market and meat market....at a mall!

Of course, they had an Apple Store.

We uwent in this store called Mangos, which we decided was the German equivalent of a Banana Republic, except it's based from Barcelona.

Rachel got a good amount of items and found some good deals on gifts for her friends and family back home. She is one of the giving-est people I know and has such a heart to bless others that I think the only thing she got for herself was a 3 € scarf, the rest was gifts for her friends and family.

As for me, I bought nothing. I am one of those people who can go shopping for three hours and talk myself out of buying everything I might see. If I already know and have thought about said item and weighed the pros and cons, I am more likely to buy it. My all-or-nothing personality can extend to shopping as well. I'm either buying nothing, or four shirts off the sale rack.

And excuse me, but how come it's always the parents giving the talks on their children's frivolous spending choices? 

"Sweetie you already have a teddy bear like that at home."

"You don't need another one of those, you have several almost exactly like that, why do you need another?

What if the tables were turned?

"Mom, you've already got a dress just like that at home....technically, you've got four."

"Why do you need another shotgun, Daddy? You have two already."

Just food for thought. 

When I got home, I started work on Erla's birthday cake for the party tomorrow. I will admit that I felt a certain level of intimidation at making a decorated birthday cake without the use of any of the usual tools and various accoutrements I am accustomed to. The thought made me nervous. However, I pulled myself together and was able to locate all the necessary ingredients for my go-to dark chocolate cake recipe that I have memorized.

I honestly couldn't have done it if Rachel hadn't cleaned the kitchen ahead of my beginning the cake, as I needed every bit of what little counter space there is in the kitchen.

Baking a cake from scratch with little equipment was like an episode of one of those food network challenges, except for cakes. Think: No cooling rack, no piping bags, no offset spatula for icing, a half cup and a teaspoon as my only measuring utensils, no cake board, a Celsius oven to fiddle with and a cute little toddler in her underwear running in and out?

Bring it on. 

Actually, the oven is quite nice, they have a Bosch with settings for convection options. It reminds me of my oven at home, since it cooks quickly and evenly regardless of temperature. 

My homemade marshmallow fondant turned out especially nice this time around for some reason. Must have been the microwave I had to use to melt the marshmallows.

Ugh.

I'm normally a snob about such things as microwaves, but hey. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I was pleased to be able to use German dairy in my icing. That balanced out my abject horror of using a microwave instead of a double boiler my prep work. You'd think they'd indoctrinated me at the Cordon Bleu or something, but I've never been to cooking school. I must just be naturally snobbish about doing things old-fashioned. And from scratch.

Embla was a natural at covering the cupcakes in the fondant. I told her the basics, turned around to wash my hands, and by the time I turned back around she had one covered better than if I'd done it myself. Methinks I have found a new employee.

We got those covered and I set to work covering the cake in fondant. No mat and no rolling pin was an adventure, but it actually turned out decent, all things considered.

I spent a lot of time making flowers for the cupcakes and the cake. Arnheidur was in the kitchen as well, working on her Icelandic cheese salad to take to the party, so we had a pleasant evening chatting away as we both worked. 

And in the end, all things considered, the finished product and cupcakes turned out good enough for three year old's birthday cake.

Everything with the cake went so smoothly that I was quite surprised. I am the type of person that thinks ahead to the 10 worst case scenarios for a given situation or problem and then plans ahead and creates solutions to those problems, except then I remember a little important fact that they are all, well, imaginary. I'm a problem solver, it's just that at times, I can expend a lot of unnecessary energies doing so.

"I have worst cases 1-7 solved, working on 7-10 right now."

It is flaw, I suppose, but I guess that being aware of the problem is half the battle.

So I can solve the problem.

And make myself quit thinking through and worrying about solving the problem of solving the problem.

Ok, I'll stop now. And give you a picture of CAKE!

:)

I safely sequestered them on a vacant shelf in the bomb shelter room downstairs, of all places, before cleaning up and getting ready for bed, because I am tired.