Mario, the dogs and I took adventure of our 3 day weekend by spending it in a French Chateau.

A friend and I took part in a walking tour entitled Stuttgart after WW2.

A friend and I took bus tour to Wurzburg, which is the center of Franconian wine and home to The Residence Palace. ​

We took a quick drive to Ludwigsburg. We walked around the garden and palace area. We decided it would be prettier in the summer when all the flowers were in bloom; so we plan on exploring it in the summer. 

The day after Christmas we headed to Hohenzollern Castle which is the ancestral seat of the Prussian Royal House. The parking lots are located at the base of the mountain; so visitors can choose to climb the mountain or take a shuttle. We decided to hike to the top instead of waiting for a shuttle bus. The castle was very busy with guests. We waited for a English speaking tour and took a quick tour of the inside of the house. 

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas. Our first Christmas in Germany was a relaxing day with warm weather. Trooper and Sissy wanted to wish everyone a happy Christmas. Trooper is looking a little like Scrooge in the picture, but Sissy is super ready for the holiday!

 
A friend and I went to the Esslingen Medieval  Christmas Market. We decided instead of dealing with parking and traffic we would take the train. It was about a 30 min commute by train. We got our mugs filled with kinderpunsch (mulled wine without alcohol) and a yummy dessert. It was like an elephant ear but tall like a tower ( see below). 

One tradition here in Germany are the Christmas Markets or Weihnachtsmärkte. They start around end of November and ending at Christmas. Some are a quick weekend while other are a few weeks. 

It has been a busy few days here unpacking and getting our new place looking like a home. After being in a hotel for a month and half it is so nice having our stuff and finally a place to call home. The movers came last Friday morning and were done in under 2 hours. I felt bad since we live on the 3rd floor the guys had a lot of stairs to climb. Luckily we got the moving company which spoke English. They were super nice and did a great job. Later that day we got our cable and internet working. 

The house is unpacked and I just need to finalize the placement of things. We are lucky and have tons of storage in the form of build ins and two small units in the basement. The dogs are enjoying their morning walks and getting use to climbing all the stairs to our house. Trooper and Sissy love the idea that the dog park is only a few minute walk from the house.

Here are a few pictures of our place.

We were able to get the keys to our place today! We are schedule to get our loaner furniture on Friday and sign the paperwork on Monday. We got a 3rd floor 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment with a small storage unit in the basement. We have a good size living room which connects to the dinning room. The kitchen is small but with lots of storage. The apartment has a good amount of storage and has a washer/dryer. Here are a few pictures, it kinda hard to imagine with it being empty. On Friday when the loaner furniture comes I will upload more.

We took a walking tour around Boblingen which is a city close to where we live.  The rectangle beige building is there city hall and every city has one.

Today we drove to Schloss Solitude and walked around. The area had walking trails and a huge front lawn. So we may go back and bring the dogs. As we walked towards the castle, the ground was covered with buckeyes and made me think of home. The trees are really changing with the cooler temperatures. 

We walked around downtown Stuttgart. It had numerous stores. The fountain area is called is Schlossplatz.  The new palace is near the old palace and is used by the state government.  

Guten Tag!

The Curtis family has finally arrived in Germany! Our flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt wasn't bad, just long. It was a little under 9hrs and landed earlier than planned at 7 am. We couldn't sleep, so we watched some in-flight movies. We had dinner and breakfast. For being a big plane of 45 rows which at least 8 seats across we deplaned pretty quick.

My biggest worry were the dogs and they did great! I did get a little emotional when I dropped Trooper off in Oversized baggage in Atlanta, mind you he was already whinny and had threw up in his crate. Sissy was a little whinny on the plane, luckily in our row of three seats no one was next to us, so I put Sissy crate next to me. When we landed, we heard Trooper barking from below the plane, which was a reminder that he made it to Germany in one piece. My biggest annoyance was when we got to baggage, Trooper was sitting off to the side and the only reason I saw him was because he was barking. I'm glad no one took my dog. We got our luggage and rental car. It was an adventure to say the least fitting four suitcases, two crates and four of us in the car we rented. After that adventure, I'm really not a fan of two door cars. The autobahn or highway was fast, I'm glad Mario was driving. We hit a lot of traffic leaving Frankfurt  but finally arrived at our hotel in Stuttgart.