The Outdoors

I have been bad about posting with trying to fill the last week of summer with LOTS of activities.

Sunday, August 18, we went hiking in Bad Urach with friends. This is about 30 minutes away and is a pretty steep hike. When you reach the top there are castle ruins and we ate lunch right in the middle of them. Very neat. Then on the other side, yes a separate hike, there was a waterfall at the top with a surprise bier garten. Nice!!! Great day outdoors!!

On Monday, August 19, the kids and I decided to check out the Stuttgart Zoo, known here as Wilhelmina. It's a zoo, aquarium, and insectarium and beautiful gardens all located in one place. The zoo in Stuttgart is one of the top attractions, it is sooo beautiful. We enjoyed the fact that there were some different animals than we are used to....the polar bear and kangaroo just to name a couple. There were amazing views of the city from here as we'll.

Wednesday, August 21, we went with our friends to a wieldpark. There are several playgrounds for the kids and you feed the animals. It is a free day, you only have to buy the food, 1€ a box, so cheap. We all packed lunch and the moms and Blair packed wine:) the kids loved feeding the animals and so did I. We fed European bison and wild boar and precious little Bambi's just to name a few.

Friday, August 23, we hiked Rubble Hill with our friends:) yes, everything is with my friend Liz and her friends she is introducing me to. Liz has been here over a year so she has discovered lots of cool places. Rubble Hill is a place I will plan to take every visitor. It's a hill made of building debris from WWII. They hauled pieces of debris to this one area in the city and supported it with steel rods then planted grass and trees on it. This is an easy hike but it is the highest point in Stuttgart and the kids loved climbing on the rubble. On a super clear day you can see the entire city of Stuttgart, which was completely leveled during the war. So much history and thoughts go into this one hill. It's a weird feeling to sit there and look at all of this and imagine what it must have been like:(

On a side note.....last week we were outdoors everyday and the weather was beautiful, it's over!!! Highs the past few days have been in the 60s with rain and gloom, no sun. It's actually been a bit cold, especially at night. But I am NOT complaining because it feels good!