(Dec 08)
Or for those who didn’t understand my dreadful German linguistic feat- Up to Christmas- I just thought it sounded fancier this way.
Another day another flight: after only one day back in London we were off for another early morning flight. This time we flew to Stuttgart in German. Previously I had only ever been through there on the train a few years earlier so I was not only excited to properly see the city, but also excited to be able to test out my German again. I must admit it was pretty rusty and I was frustrated that I had forgotten so much. So on arrival to our hostel I said in my very best German: “Guten Tag, sprechen Sie Englisch?”- Hello, do you speak English? Big cop out I know, but at least I said it in German!
After dumping our stuff in our room we were off into town. The hostel was right at the top of a big hill and the views over the city as a light covering of snow came down were lovely. In town there was a huge Christmas market on. The Germans really do know how to do Christmas, and they really do it in style. Somehow Christmas feels more Christmassy when it is snowing, with traditional markets, people rugged up in woolly hats, drinking mulled wine, laughing, singing carols and generally having a fantastic time. I love it! Yes, they don’t have the Boxing Day test, and the weather is hardly appropriate for a barbeque and cold salads, cold beer and a game of cricket outside- in a way I wish I could have both- cricket and cold meat and salad in the morning, and a snowboard and hot roast in the evening- that would be ideal.
So, back to Stuttgart and away from my philosophical ramblings- it’s a great and bustling busy town. I managed to buy about 5 DVD’s from my favourite band (Die Toten Hosen) and to have my favourite German food- Flammkuchen, which is like this gorgeous flatbread potato pizza thing with fancy cheese. I managed all of this in German and even managed to successfully translate a menu for Emma and to order for her and me with all of her fussy little changes. So all in all I think it was quite a good day. By now I was starting to get excited about impending Christmas and snowboarding- but before then the next stop was Nuremburg.
