A day in Stuttgart.

The weather today was sunny and mild (aka not sweltering hot) so we decided to go explore more of Stuttgart. Our first stop was the TV tower. The first in the world! (These pictures look really pixelated, so feel free to click on them to get a better view.)

Views from the top.

Downtown Stuttgart. It looks small, but I promise it isn't!

Waiblingen is off in that direction.

You might enjoy this video:

Now time for some arty pics!

Down on the ground again.

On the way back to the U-bahn.

On our way up to the TV tower, we spotted an awesome fountain along the road with an amazing view of Stuttgart, so we stopped by on the way back down to relax for a little while.

A little ice cream shop across the street.

This is what the full waterfall looks like. The water from it goes underneath the sitting area and down the hill. Pretty cool.

We went back to the main shopping area of the city and someone was handing out free Cokes! We heard of some baseball games happening in Stuttgart this weekend, so we went to investigate. Mark said they were the European Championships for baseball. We went out to the closest U-bahn stop by the stadium, but we were still quite a ways from it. So we figured that by the time it took to walk there, the game would have been more than half way over. We decided to scrap the idea. We were both bummed. We wanted to see some baseball in Europe!

After that, we went back to the center of the city to do some shopping and looking around. We saw some German rappers. Notice how the guy on the left looks like a slightly more muscular Dana Carvey. But the awesomeness was cut short by two girls who step in front of my camera at the end and one proceeds to do her hair. Shucks.

We decided to go back to Waiblingen to try some pizza at a restaurant down the street from our apartment. The pizza was good and really affordable, but I found a hair in mine. Ugh. Why do I always have bad luck with restaurants?

Overall though, it was an awesome day. It was so nice to be able to go look around and explore more of Stuttgart. The more I go back, the more I love that place.

What we miss about the U.S.

Yeah, I know. I'm risking sounding horribly bratty because of this, but it must be done. Some of you might think I'm crazy for missing some things while we're over in Europe of all places, but we do. And I have a list to prove it.

1. Guacamole/rice and beans/Cafe Rio/mexican food of any kind.

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I never realized how much my diet regularly consisted of the aforementioned items until I moved over here and a) have only seen one Mexican restaurant, and that was in Switzerland. b) have not seen an avocado of any shape or form, or the glorious goop that is produced from one since I've been over here c) often catch myself dreaming of guacamole and that perfect combination of food items that is the Cafe Rio salad only to hear my stomach grumble shortly thereafter. Mark misses those pork burritos with the medium sauce and black beans. If you leave near a Cafe Rio, get thee to the restaurant and scarf down a salad for me, please.

By the way, Sue, if you are reading this: Tell Ryan I desperately miss that lovely guacamole of his. We need to eat some together ASAP when we get back. :)

2. Tom's toothpaste.

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We switched to Tom's about a year ago because, as much as I loved my Colgate, I wanted to shy away from a company that tested on animals and used animal products (although I heard recently that Tom's sold out to Colgate--whatever. At least their toothpaste originally wasn't tested on animals and contain animal products). At first, it tasted different but I grew to really love it. Now that we're over here we've had to switch back to Colgate because of the lack of Tom's, and I really, really miss it. Colgate tastes much too chemical-y and silicone-y for me now. Really missing my Tom's. By the way, should you ever want to try it (and I think you should), I suggest this kind. The peppermint flavor is great, too.

3. Good deodorant.

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This one is mostly Mark because I'm still getting by with my stick that I brought from back home.

I guess Germany doesn't allow for certain ingredients in their deodorant like the U.S. does so it apparently doesn't work as well. I think it might be aluminum because I know a lot of people are skeptical about it being in deodorant. It might also do with the fact that Europeans are a little skeptical of deodorant anyway, well at least the old people are. (If you are ever in Europe on a hot summer day, stay away from the old men as much as possible.)

In fact, when our downstairs neighbors heard that my parents were coming over from the states, she promptly put in a request for American deodorant for her husband because that's what works for him. And there you have it. A deodorant black market.

When Mark ran out of his Old Spice from back home, we went to the store to get some more. He left with an aerosol (more aerosol choices than sticks) can of Adidas deodorant. PHEW. It is nasty smelling. When he sprays it, it's almost like a skunk has been let loose in our apartment. I gag, and sometimes cough a little. Mark hates it, too, and complains that it really and truly doesn't work as well as the Old Spice from back home. So Old Spice, Mark misses you.

4. Fresh produce.

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Oh my. I really love my farmer's market and Smith's Marketplace back in Logan. Good produce has been a bit of a challenge to find over here. It reminds me of shopping at the Montpelier Broulim's. Recent horror stories:

A few weeks ago, I bought a head of broccoli on Friday night. I check on it Sunday afternoon? Yellow and wilted. How does this happen in the span of one day?!

A recent trip to the grocery store yielded a withered bag of lettuce with a fly on the inside, a shriveled up pepper that almost looked like a prune, and oozing tomatoes. Gah!

Good, solid lettuce is really hard to find. I've been on the hunt for it since I've been here. I think the whole "we miss good produce" thing started about a month ago when I lamented to Mark about how much I missed having bagged spinach (he agreed). Then that avalanched into what it has become today. I asked my downstairs neighbor how she gets by with such produce and she said she buys a lot of frozen stuff. There is a farmer's market here, but the produce is expensive. Not something our wallets can handle for the time being, so frozen it is. I'm still on the hunt for the good stuff though. It's gotta be out there!

So there you have it, some things we miss from the U.S. I think it should be noted that when you move to another country, there are always going to be things you miss from back home that you wish you had, no matter how much you like it where you are. I know this is true, because I'm already building my list of things from Germany that I will deeply miss when I get back home. And it's going to be big.

We're thankful.

Lately, we've kinda run into a rough patch in the course of our trip. Of course, one being that my computer crashed and I ended up losing hundreds (thousands?) of pictures and documents. Bummer. (A friendly reminder to keep your computer backed up!)

But luckily, Apple was kind enough to replace the hard drive and several things in my Mac that were wearing out for free. It's definitely bittersweet, but it's nice to have a computer that works again. I think I would compare it to a friend having amnesia--you get your friend back, but it remembers nothing. Another annoyance is that I don't have all the similar software that used to be on my computer, including Snow Leopard which I've found out that I desperately need. Oh well, such is life, right? I'm just very thankful that Apple replaced it for free and that I didn't have to do it myself.

There's also been some payroll miscommunications with Mark's work that resulted in him not being paid in full for this month, so that's been a little rough.

But, looking on the bright side, things could have been a lot worse. So tonight, we're really thankful that things are better now and we're not completely starving (yet). :)

Oh, did I mention that it finally cooled down today? After weeks of sweltering, sticky, and swampy heat, it rained. Now it's about 60 degrees outside and we have the windows open. It feels delicious!

Here's some pictures of our expedition into Stuttgart today to get my MacBook.

Stuttgart U-Bahn station (Stuttgart's subway)

We found this fountain by the Apple store that trickles down into a waterfall that goes into the U-Bahn station. Pretty cool.

Hmm...a deep thinker.

Out of Commission.

Dear Readers,

My hard drive on my computer is kaputt (broken), so my updating is going to be very limited for the next week or so. (Not like it was very often to begin with!) :) The good news is, Apple is replacing my hard drive for free. Bad news is that I kept ignoring all my nagging thoughts that I had to back up my computer. About a week before it happened, I kept thinking that I needed to do it and never got it done. Now the guys at the Apple store are trying to recover the data off my hard drive (which includes hundreds of pictures from this trip). Cross your fingers that I'll get most of my stuff back!

I hope to get back up and running as soon as possible! Hang in there with me!

Going...

...going...

gone.

(Mark proudly displaying his two empty döner wrappers. Not an easy feat, I've heard.)

Our "4th of July" Weekend.

I don't know about Mark, but the 4th of July is my favorite holiday back home.

I was kind bummed that I was going to miss my annual tradition of Chuck Wagon Breakfasts, parades, illegal trips to the border, cookouts, and fireworks. I just had to remind myself, "You're only going to miss one year!"

Unbeknownst to us, we ended up having our own little 4th of July celebration, German style. No American flags were waved, but we did manage to sneak in a parade and an amazing fireworks show.

In the World Cup, Germany played Argentina and blew them out of the water, 4-0. So now they are in the semifinals. As is usual, the Germans took to the streets; wearing flags as capes, brandishing a bottles of beer in one hand and vuvuzelas in another. Oh, the crazy Germans!

We could hear a lot of commotion coming from the street behind our apartment, so we went outside to see just how crazy it was. (You can click to enlarge)

People flying up and down the streets, hanging out of their cars and holding flags!

There was a huge crowd gathered at one of the biggest intersections in town, totally shutting it down!

One crazy loon hoisted into the air while holding a flare. I love this picture, because you see the two drunks sitting in the middle of all the madness (at the bottom of the photo), kind of looking depressed. Haha!

Traffic was backed up on all the side streets

This group of kids was hilarious. They would sit in the middle of the street and cheer. There's also a video of them rocking cars back and forth below.

Mark insisted that I take this photo for my father, so here it is, Dad! Probably the first truck I've seen here in Germany. :)

Mark and me in the middle of it all

Even our downstairs neighbor decided to get a little patriotic and drape a flag out her window.

Mark and I have decided that we love how Germans (and probably any football fanatics) celebrate a victory. Makes me want to hop in my car, take to the streets, and start honking the next time my favorite team wins back home!

Alright, you have to click on this photo to zoom. Look at that crazy German in the car!

Now for some videos, hope you enjoy!

Later that night, we headed to a town north of Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg. Mark's boss told him there was a fireworks show set to music. We decided to check it out and we weren't disappointed!

Ludwigsburg is home to a huge castle that is right in the middle of the city, and the gardens surrounding it are huge. Pay a little, and you can go sit in the gardens of the castle and watch the fireworks.

You can't see it in this photo very well, but there were tons of lanterns around in the gardens.

Better view of the castle

And now for some videos. (This is probably video overload for you, but I just can't help myself!) :)

The last song set to the fireworks was "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli. Love, love, love. Plus, it reminds me of my nephew, who happens to be obsessed with a Bocelli and Elmo skit on Sesame Street, in which Bocelli sings a modified version of this song to put Elmo to sleep. It is adorable.

We didn't get to celebrate it back home, but we still had an amazing time celebrating our nation's birthday with the Germans!

We're Melting.

Wow, it's been a scorching week here in Waiblingen!

There are two thermometers in our apartment: one in the kitchen and one in the living room/bedroom. They both are reading about the same temperature: 90 degrees. In our apartment.

View from our balcony

The funny thing about it all is that Germans don't believe in air conditioning. Mark works in a big office building and he says it gets pretty hot in there. He and the other American intern joke around about getting air conditioning in there so it's not as miserable during the day. The response from the Germans: "Air conditioning is unhealthy for you!"

So what is our cure for the heat? Daily trips to the pool, a fan by the balcony door, and lots of bottles of Coke.

Someone want to send some rain our way?