Vaihinger Fruhling

Gosh, we had such beautiful weather in Stuttgart this weekend.  Not as warm as last weekend because there was a bit of a breeze, but it was still nice enough to NOT want to stay in the house.  Since my NCO, SGT Sunga, had never walked downtown before, Malu, Sina and I invited them to go with us. She brought her daughter and mother with her and the whole lot of us just took a nice, relaxing stroll into Vaihingen (the town right outside the gate). 

Just so you guys know, next weekend Stuttgart's annual spring festival (also called Fruehlingsfest) is kicking off.  Basically, it's a three-week celebration period to welcome the coming of spring.  I've been told from people at work that it's "not quite Mardi Gras, but it gets pretty crazy downtown, especially at night".  Well, we're not planning on going out there at night, but I heard it's great family fun during the daytime and we surely intend to check it out.  In addition to this, lots of the smaller towns like to hold their own versions of fruehlingsfest.  The one held in Vaihingen was nice and quaint.  Aside from the usual farmer's market that takes place all morning in downtown square, they had some vendors selling crafts, used books and other stuff.

Of course, I couldn't leave without buying some produce.  White asparagus is apparently all the rave in this part of Germany.  For some reason, I can't bring myself to buy it.  I always go with the intention of buying some then end up getting green asparagus.  Don't quite know how to explain that.

I also got a bunch of these strawberries, which were the reddest, shiniest that I've ever seen....and the sweetest I've ever tasted.  No wonder they were hella expensive.

Here are Sina and Daddy enjoying some time out in the sun.

There's that serious mug again.  She must be people-watching!

Aren't these flowers the prettiest?  I buy fresh flowers pretty much every weekend now.

Vendors sell brotchen and bratwurst, it seems, at all hours.  It's even eaten for breakfast here!  I don't know why I'm so surprised.  It's like us having our Sausage McMuffins in the morning back home.  Anyway...

Like I said...flowers everywhere.  I especially like how they grow on the walls.  I took these on the walk back home. 

And that was just Saturday morning.  Later on that day, we ventured off to Sindelfingen (another town nearby) and visited Ikea.  It was my first time.  I'll have to save that story for tomorrow.  I'll also save the post on how I spent today at an Easter market in Waldenbuch because it's late and I have to get up early for work! 

Speaking of work....ugh....it's going to be crazy busy, I can feel it.

Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying the last of the weekend!  And our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those in the Southeast (especially our friends in the Carolinas) who were affected by the tornadoes.

Beautiful Saturday in S-Vaihingen!

Oh my goodness...it was the most beautiful day today in our neck of the woods.  We gave Malu somewhat of a break today, so it became a mommy and Sina day--and we just had to be out there soaking up some sunshine.  It had to be about 70 degrees out, if not more.  At about 0930, Sina and I set out for downtown.

Vaihingen is one of many towns in Stuttgart.  On traffic signs, you'll see town names accompanied by "S-", which stands for Stuttgart.  Hence, S-Vaihingen.  It's right outside the Patch Barracks gate.  About a mile and a half walk from our house will land you in downtown Vaihingen where there is lots to do.  There's a mall (the Schwaben Galerie) and tons of stores to get your shopping fix.  If you want to hop on a train or bus to downtown Stuttgart, you can do it from that area with ease.  On Saturdays, there is a farmer's market right across the street from the mall.  Today was my first day going to the farmer's market in Vaihingen and much like the others that I've been to--in Austria and in France--this one had fresh produce, flowers, meat, cheese, bread, pastries...the works.  I love living here.

Spring is here!  Flowers!

The farmer's market.  Right behind it, you can see the Schwaben Galerie (the big glass building).

Just looking at the crowd, you'd never know it was only 0945 or so in the morning.  The place was hoppin!  As a matter of fact, on the walk down there, I'd seen two maintenance guys (in the neighborhood) kicking back a few beers while on the job.  Yuck...in the morning?

After perusing the farmer's market, Sina and I wandered into the mall, had a chocolate mochachino and a breakfast sandwich, and walked back home. The walk back is interesting and scenic.  You go from the busy-ness of downtown, to a quiet, residential area (which itself, is littered with small inns/hotels, restaurants, and small businesses), to wide-open fields where there are sheep, horses and trails to bike and walk your dog(s).

On the way home!  It was so sunny, Sina couldn't keep her eyes open!

Just outside the gate, is a small flower shop.  Sina and I stopped by and bought some flowers as gifts for our neighbors before checking through the gate. You can get flowers so cheap over here.  Cheap enough to keep fresh flowers in the house all year long.  Love that too!  And I must also note that the entire time we walked, Sina muttered, "Dada, dada, dada."  Yup, mom's chopped liver, but we really did miss our third wheel a great deal!

When Malu got home a few hours later, he came home with roses for us :)  Then, we headed back downtown to have dinner at the chinese buffet.  Yum!  I mean, with all that walking, a huge dinner was necessary right?

It was still pretty bright out when we were done with dinner, so we did some roaming around over where the farmer's market had been earlier today.

Yes, there is some really interesting art downtown.

 On the way back, we had some good laughs and conversation--and ran into more furry friends in those fields I mentioned earlier.

Sina's lesson for tonight--"sheep say baaaaa".  And don't you love how there's an Audi dealership in the distance (if you look closely)?  There's BMW and Volkswagen place nearby too.

So pretty much a day well-spent.  Tomorrow is definitely going to be a rest day! 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!