Donna's Visit Part 2

Monday, March 3

Fasching in Germany
(German Mardi Gras) thought to chase away winter and celebrate before Lent begins, HUGE PARTY day and night.
a few interesting things, they actually grab people from the crowd and pretend to run away with them AND they are dressed very scary.  Blake was abducted by one and Trey had his shoe laces taken and burned, this was a big thing in the festivities.  This particular day the parades were in our town.

Photo bombed by STU

Trey missing his laces

Taking someone away

That night we made it down to the ADULT party at the Brauhaus.  Dancing til the morning on tables with an awesome DJ and as Donna days "All the Pretty People"

It was wall to wall people on tables and on the ground, we had such a blast!!!!

The next day, Tuesday, we planned to train it to Munich but nobody had the energy for such a LONG day sooooooo Donna and I headed to the Mineral Baths in my town.  Mineral Baths in Germany are very popular but I had yet to make it there.  Well, one floor is all these beautiful type pools in different rooms and different settings, so relaxing.  Relaxing enough that we planned to get a massage and decided it wasn't necessary after a day in the baths.  Oh, let me mention, there were swimsuits in the baths.
we decided we needed some sauna time.  Well, there are several different types of saunas on another floor so since that was included in our admission we went to check it out.  NUDE NUDE EVERYWHERE!!!! Everyone knows Europeans are very open to nudity but this was seriously over the top.  Lots of older people but the ages did range.  They were hanging out having lunch, laying in chairs reading and in open showers and in the saunas.  OMG!!!!  We kept our towels on and since our swimsuits didn't have straps no one knew we had suits on under.  The towels alone were out of place though, I am sure it screamed AMERICANS!!!!!  We were brave enough to venture into one sauna that looked like only one  guy was sitting in it.  That is until we opened the door and another was laying up top with all his junk hanging out.  It was all we could do to keep our composure.  We laid down immediately , towels stayed on, and we stayed there for about 15 minutes then we had to get out of there.  One part of European culture I cannot adapt to.
We did have a gourmet lunch at the end though and it all in all was a pleasant relaxing experience.
The boys went to have Indian food for lunch and then hit up some casinos and the "MALL".  Dont think American mall, German malls are different.  Yes, it is shopping but it is also restaurants and cafes with people having beer and wine all through the center of the mall.  Its a beautiful thing.

Donna and I decided to let the boys go out for a bit this evening and we took the kids to Sensapolis, an indoor amusement park kinda thing.  It was amazing.  Rock climbing, slides 10 stories high, zip lining and just about anything else you could imagine.  The kids had such a great time.

 Trey rockclimbing

The next day The Carroll's headed to Ireland to visit the Carroll Family for a few days. 

They returned on Sunday and it was warm and beautiful so we headed to a biergarten with Bella.

Icecream in Germany is a HUGE deal. All icecream establishments close mid October and reopen when it gets warmer.  This was opening day with long lines waiting for deliciousness.

That night we prepared schnitzel and spatzle for the Carroll's.  I am pretty sure it was enjoyed by all.

Here we are the FINAL day:((((((

Billy and the kids returned to work and school and I took the Carroll Family on the train to Ludwigsburg to visit the palace.  this is hands down the best tour of a palace ever.  This was my second time and it is still just as fascinating as the first time.  We had icecream again also, how could we not when every other person is walking by with it.

The Carroll's on the train

To celebrate a great trip that night the adults headed out to Stuttgart for one final dinner together.  This time we had Italian.  The Italian food in Germany is unbelievable.  We tried to take them to a certain restairant but after taking 3 trains to get there we discovered it was CLOSED!!!!  We had another in mind so it all worked out!

Here's our last dinner together

And the boys figuring out the trains...........

The last goodbyes on Wednesday morning

So long til April, thanks for an AMAZING time

Donna's visit Part 1

Actual Dates of this event February 26- March 11, 2014

This blog will be a basic recap to help Donna and Stewart remember their awesome time here in Germany!

The Carroll clan arrived on Wednesday, February 26 at 9am.  Donna experienced her first Stuttgart train ride as her and I trained it home from the airport due to lack of space in the car.  The Carroll's were greeted with a breakfast of beer and pretzels:)

The first day was a FULL one.  We took them to the markets in Stuttgart, there was a little dozing off in the car.  We grilled brats and had sauerkraut for dinner, and then the big people of the group headed out.  We took them to the Irish Pub in our town to meet up with our friends Darrick and Jess for drinks then we went on to Mauritus, another establishment in our town that is known for tropical drinks.  Needless to say I think they passed out the first night.

The next morning we got up and headed to Strasbourg, France.  We spent the day there walking around visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral, yes one of the many in France.  We took a boat ride, shopped a bit and had a great French dinner.  

On Friday, we had plans of taking them to a town near us that we had heard so much about but had yet to visit, Tubingen.  Well, this day we were in separate cars and we were separated so we spent most of the day trying to find them and the town itself.  The girls were in a rental and we could not figure out how to get the GPS in English, ugh!!!!!  Finally, we found the town but not the boys and we were needing a drink so we found an El Chico, Mexican restaurant.  This was very exciting since we didnt know it existed out of Stuttgart and we cannot go to that particular one, thanks to Tanya:0 haha

The boys finally met up with us for a beer but then it was time to head out because we had Blake's last basketball game, so the girls never did make it to the town but the boys said it was great.  It sits on a "stream" I am looking forward to going back on a pretty nice warm day.

That evening we had Blakes last game and his party at the bowling alley

After Blakey's celebration the adults headed out to date night.  We had dinner at one of our favorite Greek restaurants in our town, Greek restaurants are popular here in Germany.  The restaurant is called Gruner Turm and is a in a building from the 16th century.  the food is fabulous and the atmosphere is very cozy.

After our fabulous meal we took them to another favorite place Cuba Libre, we wanted them to get a feel for walking all over our town.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Porsche Museum, for those of you that do not know Porsche is made right here in Stuttgart.  The museum was enjoyed by kids as much as adults.  We had never been but it was really fun.  AND Sally from "Cars" is on display there.

 yes that is us, in our DREAM car! Who knows, maybe as our Stuttgart souvenir:)

Blair is dating the "Commander" of the JROTC and they had their ball this night so we had to get home to take pictures and have a toast.

 That is Blair and Joe, along with his parents!!

Needless to say the Carroll's and the Rossignol's were worn down but a trip to Germany is not complete without a trip to the bowling alley. We played a great game there where I beat EVERYONE!!!!  WooHOO!!! My boys taught me how to bowl correctly over Christmas and ever since I am unstoppable.....well, not really but that night I was

On Sunda, we woke up super early and took our 2.5 hour drive down to Garmisch so they could play in the alps.  First we visited Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is the castle Disney is replicated after so this was a must.  Unfortunately, it was a super foggy day and I have no worthwhile pictures of this adventure.  We did head up in the lifts to the top of the alps after though to sled.  It was frigid cold and foggy as anything, I have no clue how people were skiing up there.

You can definitely see how ugly the weather was this day:(  Still a blast was had by all.  The day wasn't complete without a trip through the iced over gorge though  

Followed by a lovely dinner at the Edeilweiss Resort then a LONG drive home!!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Carroll's visit to Germany