Rating:
 (5.0) (1 Votes)
Stuttgart, Germany
December 22nd, 2004
Pros: very friendly
Cons:
none
Early in the morning I arrived in Strasbourg, and since I had never
seen the city I wandered around a bit so I could get a feel for
the place in the wee hours of the morning. Bakeries were just starting
to come to life, but all the Christmas lights were still on because
it was completely dark. I went over to the island that seems to
form the centre of the old city, and looked around the Christmas
market in the main square. It seems like every city around here
has one. Strasbourg is in Alsace, which has gone back and forth
between France and Germany so many times in the past 150 years that
some people changed nationality four times without ever moving.
So, it has an interesting mix of French and German food, language
and tradition, and is right across the river from Kehl in Germany.
I bought a lovely almond croissant in a little boulangerie, and
enjoyed it so much that I went back to get another one for my boyfriend
who loves croissants. Then, I had to sneak it across the border
to Germany, because that's where I was headed to stay with him and
his family for Christmas. No problem, right? Inter-EU borders are
not so heavily guarded.
I found my train and settled in for the 2 hr trip to Stuttgart.
By now I was really very excited because I had come all this way
and had been missing my boyfriend for the last few days. About half
an hour into the trip, military police appeared in my carriage.
Oh, no! They know I have French baking!!! However, they checked
the passports of the family sitting behind me and then moved on.
The rest of the ride went without incident, and Chris was grateful
for his croissant when I saw him, which I somehow managed not to
eat myself on the train.
I met some of his family in the morning as well, but some of his
sisters were not yet home for Christmas. Just when I had settled
in to feeling at home with Guillaume's family, here I was yet again
in a different family, in a different language, and a different
city! A bit daunting, but, this was what I came for. One thing that
helped a lot was that Chris's family, like Guillaume's was amazingly
friendly, and they all spoke English. This was important because
unlike in France where I can get by in French if people speak slowly
and excuse my mistakes, I barely knew a word of German except for
a few useful phrases like "Ich habe Sauerkraut in meiner Lederhosen!"
(I have sauerkraut in my leather pants...) which can produce some
really strange reactions, to say the least. They didn't speak German
all the time, however, so the conversation would sometimes drift
from one language to the other, coming back to English where I would
be completely lost because I no longer knew the subject they were
talking about.
In the afternoon, Chris and I and one of his sisters went exploring
in the public woods right within Stuttgart. Horseback riding must
be popular in the area because by the side of the road we saw a
horse-level zebra-crossing (crosswalk) button to push without dismounting!
We went to a little park on the top of one of the hills encircling
Stuttgart where you can get a very good view of the city, including
the two (famous) television towers, a bit like the CN tower but
smaller and older. Just behind us on the hill was a Bismarck Tower.
These can be found all over Germany and were built in honour of
the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815 - 1898).
That evening we went over to his friends´ place for a games
night, where I learned a few new board & card games (Hexenjagd
{Witch-chase}is highly recommended!) and was convinced that everyone
was talking about Barbie cars when it was actually Bobbycars, ride-on
cars that all German kids seem to have. Because the 'r' is not pronounced
strongly in Germany, I thought it had just disappeared like it would
here in Britain |
