A Quick Trip to England

I had the opportunity last week to take a trip to England on business. The two things that were so noteworthy were that the flight from Germany to London (Stanstead) took less than two hours, and that my lodging accommodations were in the converted stables of a 12th century Gilbertine Monastery in beautiful Bedfordshire.

I spent a day and a half in England before coming back to Germany. While it was certainly short in duration it will certainly have a lasting impression on me.

Here is the outside view of the building. The brick addition is from 1740.

 

Here is a view of the front foyer. The architectural elements are throughout the building.

A glimpse of the stables where I stayed.

(These photos are not mine...credit lies elsewhere...teaches me to bring a camera in the future!)

~Andrew~

A Day In Stuttgart

This Saturday we took a trip into the city of Stuttgart. It was our first time using public transportation. There was the annual Sommerfest (summer festival) going with a variety of food, drink, music & entertainment as well as the weekly Stuttgart Market where you can find fresh fruit, vegetable, & flowers along with home-canned goods.

Here we are trying to figure out how to buy tickets for one of the railway systems called the S-Bahn. The S-Bahn is an abbreviation for the German word Stadtschnellbahn, which means "city rapid railway." We are grateful they had an English translation for buying tickets.

This is what our tickets looked like:

Here is one signs that was at the train area:

Advertising of cigarettes is not too uncommon to see, so I guess it's still allowed in Germany, at least on billboards. Here is a sign across from us at the train station:

These trains move FAST. And you had better be right there at the the door when it comes, too, because it's here for like a minute and then takes off again...very promptly. Here what the S-Bahn looks like:

I'm not sure if the train is normally very crowded on Saturdays, but it was a "full house" when we traveled on it, with many people standing:

We arrived in Stuttgart underground on the train. From there, we had to figure out how to get to some of the places we wanted to go to:

We first came into a "pedestrian only" area where there were lots of shops, restaurants & people walking about:

 
Lots of seating was available outside the many restaurants (Sarah & Andrew are there on the left):

Some dining was more elegant than others:

Here is an area we found very pleasant with a shady tree & cascading window boxes:

The architecture we saw in Stuttgart was quite interesting. Here old meets new:

More neat architecture in Stuttgart's Stadtmitte (city center):

Even the fountain was a piece of architectural art:

The Stuttgart Market:

For lunch we ate fish with potato salad. It was okay. Sorta tasted like school cafeteria food:

Dessert was better...a crepe filled with Nutella (a chocolate & hazelnut spread):

Here's the crepe stand:

There were also some street performers:

 

Some were odd, like this man in a skirt:

Reminds me off a guy we saw in Unity, Maine, at a fair. Guess red is a popular color around the globe for skirt-wearing men with beards:

This person was really odd...kinda creepy, actually...not sure what he was trying to be, but he moved like a robot & made squeaking sounds like a rubber ducky:

A children's ride where you manually push to get it going & then it continues to rocks back & forth until it runs out of momentum...looks like fun for die Kinder (the children)!:

Here is an interesting, space-aged-looking Toilette (toilet). You put money into the "machine" and a door opens. Then you get inside, push a button and the door closes and locks behind you. You do your business, then push a button to unlock and open the door. When you leave and the door is closed, you can hear water jets spurting about inside washing down the whole bathroom area. It's a "self-cleaning" toilet. We didn't use this one, but Andrew relayed the story of when he had to use one once:

Here is the panel in which you insert the coins for the toilet:

This is ein Geldautomat (an ATM machine):

I'm glad we took the train into Stuttgart. We didn't have to worry about parking on this busy day in the city. Here is a meter maid (don't know what they're called in German) checking cars for parking violations:

All in all it was a nice day, but we were glad to get back to the hotel after a long day in the city. We still have more to learn about public transportation as well as about the German culture, but we are slowly learning and adjusting to the new area where God has planted us for a few years.


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Sorry to those folks who have been sending comments from when we began blogging. We're still new to blogging & didn't realize that these comments were there. I think we're getting the hang of it now. Your comments are now posted.

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Here's a little sneak preview of an upcoming post on clothing styles in Germany:

~ Janet

Vehicles In Germany

The cars here in Germany are pretty neat. Many are small & some are so small they almost look like toys. They also have several car brands here that are different than in America, though you'll still see a few common brands seen in America scattered here & there, too.

Here is the rental car that we've been using since we arrive here - a Chevrolet Spark:

Front view:

 

My favorite small car her is the cute little Smart Car manufactured by Daimler, AG, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. There are tons of these cars here:

You get to really see the size of the Smart when someone is standing next to it:

Sarah fell in love with this car that we saw in the parking lot - an old Fiat 500 in powder blue:

Such a cute car:

The Mini, made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC):

Another Mini...I wish I knew the style & year of all these cars:

Love the little British flag on the side of this Mini:

A Mercedes taxi...not too unusual to see, as Mercedes is a popular brand of car here:

A very sportliches Auto (sporty car) - Mercedes:

And another style in black:

 

Audi is another popular brand here. Here is an Audi TT:

 

You will also find many VW's around here. This German auto maker has its world headquarters located in Wolfsburg, Germany, where there is also a Volkswagen AutoMuseum (VW car museum). Volkswagen means "people's car" in German.

Here is a VW Fahrschule (driving school) car:

VW also owns Porsche. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, Germany, which is part of Stuttgart. There is also a Porsche museum, too.

Here is a cool Porsche Panamera:

We occasionally see Peugots, which are a French brand of cars:

 

The Citroën is another French car which is very often seen here:

 

Here's another one used for advertising:

 

A Dacia Duster, developed by the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia, now a subsidiary of the French car maker Renault:

 

 The Twingo is another car built by Renault:

We see lots of Opels, too. This is a German automobile company headquartered out of Rüsselsheim, Germany:

A Fiat Panda. Fiat is an Italian auto manufacturer:

Here's a neat looking old motorcycle. We think it may be called a Simpson:

 

And a groovy looking camper for sale. Hey, we could have fun touring Europe with this (smile):

 

But, we settled for a brand car that is very common around here and not too expensive - a 1999 BMW 323i:

BMW is a German manufacturing company. Bayerische Motoren Werke (in English: Bavarian Motor Works) is headquartered in Munich, Germany.

Here is the back of the BMW that we purchased:

 

We are still waiting for the arrival of our Honda Odyssey that is being shipped over for us, which is supposed to arrive no later than August 18th. So, this car will come in handy while we wait. It will become Andrew's commuting car when the Honda arrives. 

Happy motoring.

~ Janet