Day 38!

Today I got up around 9 and after a quick shower and breakfast me and Mrs Kirste went into Esslingen to church for the last time. This week it was a familys service, so at the start all the kids got up and sang a song which was very cute :). And then we sung some..
Ok I found this last week too, whenever I opened up the hymn books that they had I got the maddest burst of hayfever.. I have been struggling with a bit of the hayfever recently, but with the help of some nasal spray its been fine.. But oh man, I open that book and the eyes start running and the nose gets all runny.. kinda makes it hard to sing :).

Anyhow, after that a few little kids got up and read parts of a Psalm, and then the minister gave a reasonably short sermon on it. (come to think if it, it was Psalm 23, that famous one you know.. 'The Lord is my shepard, I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me by the still waters..) That was all pretty cool, and at the end all the little kids sung again. After the service we left to come home and we hung out for a while. I wanted to get the family a good present but couldnt find anything suitable when I looked in Stuttgart and Esslingen, so I asked to take them out to lunch. They said I could just pay for drinks, and after alot of trying thats all I ended up paying for. (I think ima try sneak some money in somewhere tho to pay for it!!). We went to this really nice outdoor Italian restaurant. The food was great, it wasnt too hot, and it was all around a really nice time.

Once we wered one Björn Heidi and Mr and Mrs Kirste left to buy some stuff for Björns new flat, and me Arnulf, Ariane and Andreas went home. I went online a bit and wrote a blog, and started organising my flickr photos a bit, and then after a while Arnulf came down and we played a game of risk. It was one of those cool oldschool sets with shapes instead of figurines.. He had some different rules than I was used to and at the start I was getting pretty owned! I made a comeback though, and after around 2-2.5 hours I had won (at the end he fully retreated into Austrilia.. and then it was just a matter of time really). Man risk can be a looong game tho.. its so yo-yoing and stuff.. anyways..

Later in the evening we played a 'farewell' game of poker :). And I lost! :) but that was cool, I sat and watched for a while, ate some food, finished organising my flickr site a bit, and had a good relax. Around 10 I gave out all my presents to NZ to the family and showed them a video of the haka which they were quite interested in :). They seemed to like their presents which was cool, and then I said bye to Björn and Heidi, then Mr Kirste (I wouldnt see them again), and went off to my room where I listened to a sermon then went to sleep.

Last day tomorrow!! :(

Cya!

Day 37

Today I got up around 8.30 and hopped onto the computer to burn all my photos etc so far onto some CDs to send home. After doing this and measuring my suitcase, and packaging up the CDs and my fossil rock thing and some brochures n stuff id colected into a box, me and Mr Kirste went into Esslingen to send it off to NZ. This ended up costing 37 Euro (ouch!!).

After this I decided to stay in Esslingen to look around for a good gift for the Kirstes, but I couldnt find anything good that they didnt have already :), and I didnt have time to buy individual gifts for everyone.. Altho I still have gifts from NZ to give them. It was cool wandering around Esslingen. The Zwiebelfest (Onion festival) has begun and there are big open air cafes and stalls and stuff everywhere. As it is a saturday there were also heapsa fruit stalls lining the main shopping street. It was cool!!

Anyhow.. I wandered around for a while then jumped on a bus home (the bus driver coulda been a famous soccer player or celebrity by the way he was dressed!!), and got home intime for some Maultaschen and soup for lunch (mmmm). I had a couple of pieces, and then me, Arnulf, Ariane and Andreas hopped into the car and drove about 75ish km out to the blackforest to this 'barfusspark' (bare foot park). On the way to the entrance Andreas noticed a rustling under some leaves so we stopped it watch. Underneath was a mole (aww!) it was small and black and cute, and started diging sideways instead of downwards :). Ive never seen a mole before, so this brief glimpse was cool!! So cute!Soon after we were at the barfusspark. This place was really cool!

You took off your shoes and put them in a free deposit box thing (like the lockers at the pool) and then walked along a nice soft earth`bark path. First you came to this waterpark type place with a little river down the path, and assorted toys that had to do with water. Shortly after were a couple of ice (and i mean ICE) cold pools to walk through to give your feet a good wakeup call :). You walked through a smily pond, and then back onto a grass/dirt track and into the forest. This park was great, it was like a feast of sensation for your feet. there would be patches of wooden path, then some stones, then spiky loose stone, and pebbles, and sand, and large stones, small stones, concrete.. the works :), there was even a part where you walked over some broken glass. Mainly it was the dirt track, but there would be sections of this different stuff everywhere. The scenery and forest itself were really beautiful! (reminded me of NZ quite alot)... But the best part of all was this one section where you walked through two consecutive sections of different mud :D!

First was a pool type thing with sloppy light brown, clay type mud, and then some thick, brown, squeltchy, ooyz-between-the-toesy mud :) so much fun! I had a ball skidding and sliding around (altho upon inspecting my feet today I see a bunch of small cuts ha ha.. stupid rocks!). After this we stopped at a little playground, then walked out. We had some rotewurts and curry wurst, and then walked the track again seeing as we had spare time and it was so nice. And after cleaning off our feet I offered to shout a round on mini-golf that was nearby.

Unfortunately the mini-golf sucked. It was only 12 holes.. and all of them were shockers and the ball would roll all kinds of weird places and it was dumb.. but oh well :), after thaqt we piled into the car and headed home (got in at about 8). Soon after we were out the door again and off into Esslingen to the Burg (up on the hill.. in some early photos on flickr.. went there on one of my first days here) where there was an open air cinema. Arnulf and Andreas drove with Chrissi, and me and Ariane picked up Anna and Dominik and we headed off. (saw the gorgeous cat perched on a windowsill outside annas that I spent some time stocking :)). By the time we were at the Burg it was packed out: but we found a spot and lay down (I was on the bare ground (grass and sand)) but it was all good.

I really enjoyed the movie even though it was in German (it was walk the line - about Johnny Cash). I could understand enough to watch the film and not get bored or frustrated or anything.. and I thought it was really nice!! I also had lotsa fun playing around with my camera too before the film started (but it was already dark). Its so my favourite new toy ay!! I LOVE taking photos and figuring out new things and experimenting.. its so much fun!.. Anyhow.. Around 12.30 the film was done and we walked back to the car and drove home. Woah im tired!

C u!

Day 36!

Well.. I could write for hours today, but it wouldnt be super interesting so I wont. I got up reasonably early and me and Mrs Kirste went to the Wilhelma, the massive Zoo and Botanical Gardens in one. I set my alarm for 8 but forgot to activate it, and around 8.20 Mrs Kirste woke me up. I had a shower and a quick breakfast, and around quarter to nine we were off on our way to Wilhelma.

The Wilhelma is a really old gardens that was built long ago by a King called Wilhelm. We got a park close by and after buying a ticket made our way in. Inside the Wilhelma is a bunch of beautiful flowers and planets like in any botanical garden, but also some cool specialised houses like the Amazon house, and a massive room of different cactii and another full of fuschias. There were tons of animals.. and as you probably know Im a real animal lover.. so all in all I ended up shooting 421 photos (257 of which I kept). In doing so I almost used an entire charge of batteries, but it was so great!! Im putting a bunch up on the flickr site (not quite 250.. but quite a few) so I think if you have time the best would be to look at the photos. I can talk about the animals and stuff.. but its not as interesting.

I must say though the Wilhelma was totally great. It was so well kept, and as well as all of the beautiful plants and animals, there were lots of really cool, oriental styled buildings and awesome statues and water features around the place too.. I coulda spent ages and ages there! (altho I kinda did). One thing I didnt get a good photo of but was classic was this little turtle that would swim around and whenever it saw another turtle would swim right up in its face then start slapping it with both front legs :) HILARIOUS!. Itd take on any old sized turtle.. The bigger ones could kinda fend it off.. but the littler ones had no answer.. I dunno what the turtles problem was, but he was taking it out on everyone he saw :).

We stayed at the Wilhelma and pretty much visitng everything except the petting zoo. Firste walked around, then saw the sealions getting fed, and then walked around a bunch more :). Around 3 or so we headed back to the car. Once home I came online and started loading photos on flickr and had some late lunch. Since then Ive taken a break to win a game of poker (he he), had some dinner, and written this blog. Im near finished loading all the photos now (theres like almost 800 on my flickr now.. :S!.. but im sure once im settled in in Sweden the number of photos I load up will significatly drop.. so thats cool!). Definately go and see the flickr site of the animals and stuff! Alot of the photos look better when you view a larger size.. but if internet speeds an issue then dont worry :)!

Only 3 days more in Germany now :(.. how sad! But its been totally great!!

Gute Nacht

Day 35

Today I got up around 9 and had a shower then came online for a bit and wrote some emails and blogs and stuff like that. I took it reasonably easy for a while, and at 11:30ish I went down the road with Mrs Kirste to the local butcher. The butcheries here are great ay!!! they smell amazing, and they have so many varieties of different meats and cheeses :) its great. Most are made on site or by the company too, so its always different and stuff when you go around. One thing I noticed that was odd to me is that all 4 butchers there were female. In New Zealand my experience has been that the vast majority of butchers are male. I thought that was quite cool, there are a few reasons it could be.. or it could just be how it is over here. Anyways.. We loaded up on cheese and wurst and headed back home. Oh we also bouht 4 home made pizzas they sell for lunch.

Once home we waited around till arnulf was home, and after a little bit we sat down for the pizza lunch which was delicious! After this I went downstairs and listened to a sermon, and went swimming with Arnulf. We didnt play any offical game this time round, just kinda a friendly throw around with the ball which was fun. After I dried off Mrs Kirste came down and asked if I wanted to go to the 'Zadarlie Ausstellung' (thats what I heard even asking her to repeat it :)) I knew Ausstellung meant exhibition so I said sure.. And after a while I clicked we were going to the Salvador Dali exhibition in Stuttgart (that kinda thing doesnt happen much.. but did today). I had been wanting to see the exhibition, so that was great!! I guess she said Sa - Dali Ausstellung, maybe thats what they abbreviate his name as here :).

We got to the exhibition and started looking around. I knew Salvador Dali was a little loopy, and I'd seen his melting clock oil paintings and ones like that (knew he was surrealist), and I woulda been happy to just see a bunch of those.. But this exhibition had a real variety ay!! It had all sorts including some sets from story books, and portfolios and everything. Not only the well known ones like Id seen, but also some cool more sketch-type ones (like this here.. this was actually on display.. http://www.fundaciondoctordepando.com/PINTURAS/SALVADOR%20DALI-quixote02.jpg ), and ones done using.. argh, whats it called.. you carve out the design, then put ink down and roll it thru a press.. mmmm.. the words ecsaped me.. But anyway, there were a bunch of those too (often with extra ink painted and spalttered ontop) (arr does it start with S? I keep wanting to say stenciling or sketching but both arent it.. AHHA!! ETCHING!! - I think..). There were also sculptures and photos.. all up very very cool!!

Anyways, I slowly made my way around the exhibition. Man his works were amazing.. totally whacky sometimes.. It was like walking into some kinda of dream.. But there was so much to look at and think about.. it was great!! He was pretty big on butterflies and moths too! But he could make them really creppy and use them to symbolise all kindas of stuff, it was quite clever. Some sets I really loved like this one that must have been a story book about this dude and a rotty old donkey/horse.. It was great!! And the etches were all awesome, and also an Alice in Wonderland set.. Some of the paintings really didnt do it for me tho.. some were a bit over the top and had all these subtle sexual themes running through them and stuff.. and I dont find that kind of stuff very clever at all.. Even if it is a comment on something (or a whacked out bizarre dream). But yeah.. by and large it was amazing!!!

The only thing I could say bad about it was that it was almost too big. In the time I had it was too much to take in. After about a third of the way through my brain was so full and stimulated it was hard to cram more in.. And to make matters worse at the end the aircon had broken.. so it was muggy and hot too.. :S. Anyway. I sat down for a bit and watched some whacked out video of him in a bubble painting the walls with fans on the outside going all mental.. I dont remember him being alive.. but you older people reading this probably know.. he seemed pretty whacky!! On the way out I fought the temptation to photograph the awesome painting at the entrance (I totally loved it.. Ill try find it online quickly..) grr cant find it.. altho looking round was cool seeing heaps of the paintings and sculptures and stuff I saw. It was a cool kinda of self portrait one with other stuff going on around the place including a elephant kinda deal like in the right on this picture.. http://www.jmthivel.com/autre_obj/dali/Salvador-Dali-Tentation.jpg .. and a bunch of other stuff. The frome it was on was equally whacky and cool.. Awesome!! My other favourite was this one called metamorphosis.. VERY cool!!http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c169/reflectedparadox/Salvador-Dali-Metamorphosis-of-Narc.jpg
It had a creepy german poem that went with it too.

Anyhow after this we went home (I was gonna go into Esslingen and do some shopping but I was on overload from the exhibition, and the weather looked like it might get bad.. So instead I just came back home and played with Andreas Björn and Arnulf for a while, then came here and wrote todays blog.

Germanys great! I wish I could speak even better and that I didnt have to leave so soon :(

Bis bald

Day 34! (July 26)

Today was great fun :) but im ready for a good sleep too :)! I have officially been in Germany for one month now.. Its incredible as it noway feels that long! A wanna stay longer sooooo much!! Its great here ay!! My german is still reasonably basic, but i can communicate, and can follow almost everything thats going on.. And its improving.. But im leaving soon :(. Oh well..

Anyways, today I got up a little later and had a shower and some breakfast and all and then checked my emails and all that. Today I'm gonna go to Tübingen to visit a New Zealander I know a little, and who is studying there called Tanya. I was gonna go last week, but it worked out better this week as she was finished with exams and all that, so it was cool!!

Around 11ish me and Mrs Kirste headed off to do some stuff in Stuttgart and visit Mr Kirste at his work. First off we stopped at the petrol station to top up the air in Arianes bike tyres that I was gonna borrow for the day. And after that we headed off into the city and met Mr Kirste outside in the lobby of the MASSIVE complex that is the Landesbank Baden Wüttemberg. While waiting Tanya rang up to check when id arrive. It was so weird switching for german to english, communicate to her in english then to Mrs Kirste in german.. ha ha my brain got a little tied in a knot for a second or two :). Oh! Also while waiting we saw the boss of the whole massive bank come out and jump into a car that instantly drove off. He had an awesome navy blue suit on.. very cool :).

Once we had met up with Mr Kirste we walked to the office canteen which was huge! There were all kinds of things to eat, and you could pretty much mix and match whatever you wanted! It was cool! I had a fish steak, some wedges and some zucchinis and a glass of water with a tiramasu with strawberries for a dessert (phwoar!). Around the canteen were works of 'art' as were all over the bank. Most of these were pretty rubbish.. but a few were quite nice! After finshing up the meal we went to where Mr Kirste works. This place was amazing. A big open plan office and everyones got like at least 3 screens on the go and a few communal screens with news and stuff on them. There are graphs and stats and phone numbers and millions of telehpones and intercoms everywhere! Looks like when things were busy it would be absolutely crazy!! He deals with buying and selling bonds and stuff, and with that comes hedging and exchange rates and all that too. Must be reasonably stressful! But it was a very impressive place to behold (and that was just one room in a huge complex!!).

The cell phone I was using had died so after finishing at Mr Kirstes work we headed quickl home for a few minutes to top it up a little then Me and Mrs Kirste drove to Tübingen. We got some heavy traffic and pretty much every red light possible, so instead of getting there at 2 it was more like 2:15.. but that was ok. We drove to the trainstation where we had organised to meet, and after getting my bike outta the car and saying hi, Mrs Kirste left to go shopping for a bit (I hear she bought a small mountain of towels and washcloths and stuff on sale :D). Me and Tanya hopped on our bikes and headed out to a lake that she had found a few weeks ago that was 5 km outside Tübingen. First off we chatted in German, altho my German is ok but not very fluent, so I couldnt say everything and all but that was fine (her german is amazing! She went to primary school here and has citizenship.. so yeah :) she could pretty much speak as well as any old german could). After a while we switched over to English coz we could both speak that well, and chatted while riding out to the lake. The countryside that we rode through to get there was really pretty. First off a bit of the city, and then past a big swimming pool and some sports fields and parks, and then into the countryside through lotsa corn and grain fields and stuff. Ha ha my NZ riding instincts kept on kicking in and I often had to pull over a bit, or suddenly head back to the right when an oncoming vehicle or rider came along (or one who wanted to overtake). and 5km later we were there.

The lake was an artificial one made due to a quarry previously being there I think, but it was really beautiful! There were lots reed type plants around, and a bit of sludge in the water.. but it was pretty clean, although very green. Once we arrived we prretty much jumped straight into the water as it was pretty hot and we had just biked out there. There werent too many people at the lake either which was cool.. altho ALOT of the people who were there were stark naked :) ha ha Europeans.... You kinda didnt know where to look some of the time.. but it wasnt too bad really. I dunno if all lakes out in the country are like that, or if this one was a known naked hangout.. but anyway.. we kept our togs on and headed out into the water. In the water it was really pleasant, not cold at all. And we kinda treaded water for a while and chatted, then took a breather and floted around for a bit then talked some more. After a wee while we headed back to shore and lay down on some towels in the sun (it was reasonably overcast htho which was cool).

It was cool to be able to talk to someone from New Zealand again, it was really refreshing and nice to be able to talk about stuff without having to think how to put it in a way which I could express easily. We lay on the towels and had a chat, and also ate some fruit and biscuits that tanya had brought along with her. Time flew by, n soon it was 5:15, but we chatted some more and then after a while hopped back into the water for another swim. It was seriously a beautiful place ay!! I could spend many lazy days there :), bring a barbeque or something, lotsa fresh fruit and a chilly bin full of cold water and drinks and itd be totally awesome ay! I was so glad we went there. Later on we dried off and got back on our bikes and went a slightly different route home which was even more beautiful! On the was we saw a little (semi-natural?) dam that you could walk down to so we headed down for a while. It was really beautiful and there were some lovely reflections, and a little section of rapids where the water ran over the dam. There was another old guy there taking photos of a young girl who was all made up and wearing hardly any clothes.. but we left them to do their photo shoot thing, and after a few minutes enjoying the view and trying to take a few photos we headed back on our way.

Once back in Tübingen we were both pretty hungry (quite a few hours of biking and swimming) so after a little bike tour through the old-inner city (GORGEOUS!!) we stopped at a shop to buy some doner kebabs and drink. Oh! on the way we passed one of those streets where each house had its own little bridge over a little river to its doorway. Tanya pointed out a really cool little door with an equally little bridge. It was cute! I should have stopped and photgraphed it.. anyways. With our doner kebabs we walked our bikes a few meters and sat down on the stairs on the big main church in the old city. If you look at this photo at my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardneill/194024307/ we woulda been sitting just below the person you can see in the right of the photo, on some stairs leading up to the church. Accross from where we were eating was a bookshop where Herman Hesse used to work (cool!!) we studied a couple of his poems in German.. so it was pretty amazing to see some little shop where he actually worked! The doner kebabs were great (and huge for only €2.50) and the cola-orange mix that I bought (made by coke) was really nice too! (they should really release that over in NZ!!). Naturally since we were eating doner kebabs it was a bit messy and I got some on my shorts, and the ground infront of tanya got some too.. but it was all good :)!! There were a few wasps flying around bothering us (probably coz there was an overflowing public bin nearby), but it was really nice. Around 8 we jumped back on our bikes and Tanya showed me how to get to the main train station. :) I said goodbye, and after making a fool of myself on the basket on the back of Arianes bike, headed off and bought my ticket for me and my bike (which didnt get checked.. again..) and hopped on the 8:15 train back to home.

On the trainride home I got to watch the sun set (totally breathtaking!!) The sun was this huge red globe lighting up the sky all pink.. it was amazing. I took quite a cool pic (the best I could from a speeding train). I was so tempted to get out and take lotsa photos and just catch a later train.. but Mr Kirste was gonna be waiting for this train, so I didnt. After a bit of stress caused my poor labelling on the trainstations I got off at Plochingen and loaded the bike up into the car and drove home. By then it was 9.30ish and after saying hi to Heidi and Andreas and Björn and Ariane I hopped on here and loaded up some photos and wrote out todays blog. Oh and at the moment Im talking to Louise, my swedish contact person on MSN which is cool too! Its getting late tho so ill prolly head off soon.

Later!

Day 33

Today I slept in a little as everyone was out in the morning, and around 9.30 I got up and had some quick breakfast, and soon after Mrs Kirste arrived back from work. I had a bath and a shave and then went online a little and caught up on some blog for a while. Lunch was pork cordon bleu/schnitzel and hash brown triangles which was delicious!!! :D.

After lunch I took a quick swim, and after coming back in Arnulf went for a swim so I joined him and we played some water polo and stuff which was good fun. Time passed (probably did another day's blog) and me and Mrs Kirste went out for a short trip. We visited a cool musuem with lotsa fossils. At first I thought it might be a bit dry.. But it was cool that right on the ground I was standing these awesome fossils were found and stuff.. Aparently this area of southern Germany has alot of fossils). There were lots of spiral shells and stuff, but also cool seas creatures and sea plants.. Unfortunately we only had 30 min to look around.. but yeah.. It was cool ay!! We dont really have any archeological sites round NZ, so it was cool to visit a Museum at one. All the rock in the area is this super thin slate, and the fossils are in that.

Across the road is another place owned by the Museum with more fossils, a movie to watch, and a big area out back where you can search yourself for fossils (apparently its not super hard to find some, especially if you will settle for a spiral shell or two). I thought that was pretty cool! But it was too late to go hunting.. so cest la vie! It was another ridiculously hot day (over 35) so standing on some rocks.. surrounded by rocks in the beating sun probably wouldnt have been great fun anyway :)

We then drove over to the ex-wife of Mrs Kirste's cousin, and said a quick hello. Her daughters werent home, so Mrs Kirste had a quick chat, and then we headed off to that lady's mothers place nearby. One of her daughters was there too, and she had just got some grades from school and they were good so there was lotsa congratulations and stuff. She was probably 10 or 11, and she was really friendly and nice, and the grandmother was equally so! All the elderly people I have met in Germany so far have been absolutely lovely ay!! Its been awesome :). They have all been really on to it too, and have this great sense of humor and little twinkle in their eye when they use it :). We had a decent chat, during which the Grandmother presented me with a piece of slate her husband had foraged with some spiral shell outlines in it. I cant believe how generous she was!! Its a great present, and I'm hopeing that I can get it home safely coz its an AWESOME present!! Anyhow, she and Mrs Kirste chatted away and I listened in, and after a while we left with the granddaughter and walked down to road past a herd of sheep (ahhh.. felt like home) to a small fenced area where the Mother kept two goats (I love goats.. they always have such great, kinda feisty personality.. so much better than sheep), lotsa rabbits (and baby rabbits awwwww!) and two lamas. Ha ha ha the lamas were great! They are such hilarios animals! They look so funny and they just kinda stand there, staring out at you through their messy surfer-style hair :). Ha ha and their two bottom teeth stick out at you :) gives an overall very funny effect :D!!

After stroking a few baby rabbits, playing some funny staring games with the goats, and internally cracking up at the expression on the lamas face we headed back to the car and home. We got home around 6.30 so I heated up a schnitzel and some hash browns and munched them down and watched some russian play (rather poorly) poker on the TV. Soon after was some darts which was cool to watch.. they have some serious skills ay!!! Björn had been watching the poker too and asked if I wanted to play a match with him and Arnulf so I agreed. We played for about 2 hours (mainly outside) and I won again (woot woot!!). And yeah.. It was around 10ish so I hoppped on here to write up today, and soon Ima head off to bed

I guess ppl in NZ will have 3 new blogs to read :S, oh well, at least im up to date now :)

Auf wiederschreiben

Day 32

Today was a reasonably relaxed, but very enjoyable day. I got up around 9 somethingish, and soon said farewell to Mr Kirste's brother and wife who had been staying the last couple of days (they slept in my room and I moved across the hall to another one). After this I spent a bit of time downloading some sermons, then went downstairs and had some down time.

Lunch was Maultaschen :D mmmmm!! Just before lunch Ariane and Andreas showed up (she had the day off, and had been at Andreas's I think). I had lunch, then soon after we all went swimming. A few minutes later Jessica turned up and joined us and we all played round for a while with a beachball, mainly bashing it up in the air and trying to keep it off the water.. kinda like a variation of volleyball I suppose :), but no teams and all that..

After a while of that we got out and went up to the Kitchen to make some iced coffees, and then Anna turned up (good timing :D). Arnulf also came down and made a iced coffee.. and then we all went down under the cherry tree and just sat, drank and chatted for a while. Andreas and Arnulf got a bit restless and started chasing each other around then into the water.. So I thought what the heck and threw off my singlet and bombed into the pool (Ariane got a picture of me mid-air :) ). After expelling a few litres of water from the pool I joined Andreas's team in a game of hit-the-other-guy-with-the-ball (thats what guys do...) and then we played a occasionally physicall game of piggy in the middle. The girls happily chatted away for a while, and Arnulf left after a while. Me and Andreas played a water-polo variation, and then the girls joined us and we played some more with the beachball (I think everyone plays the same game with beach balls..). At some point Andreas accidentally broke the roller for the pool cover. But me and him lifted it outta the pool and rolled it out and kinda bent/hammered the aluminium rod in the middle back to reasonable shape and put it back.. It still works so thats all good!! We played on for a while and eventually people got out. Mr Kirste turned up and wanted a swim so me and Jessica got out.. and then we all just sat on the grass on towels and chatted more and stuff.

Later in the evening Andreas cooked up some wurst and steaks on the grill, and we sat down for a meal outside.. and then for the rest of the evening just talked.. topics from travel in Tunisia, to school, to military, to stupid Tv shows :) very interesting ha ha. I was mainly a passive participant.. but that was fine! :). Around 11ish Jessica left, and soon after we tidied everything up and Andreas left with Anna.. I came online to write this and yesterdays blog.. but a whole afternoon in the pool had kinda wiped me out :) so I worte it now instead.

Cya! :)

Day 31

Today was sunday, so I got up around 9, and after breakfast me and Mrs Kirste headed off to the Baptist church again. It was another cool service, although this time I couldnt understand as much of the sermon as the guy used more complicated words, and none of the songs were familiar to me.. but hey.. It was still cool! Also found out there was an english speakers service on that evening too so that was cool!

After the service we came home and I made a hamburger for lunch, and then soon after we we off and on an excursion. Me, Arnulf and Mr and Mrs Kirste piled into the car and headed to an eara about an hours drive away. First up we went to some awesome ruins at Reussenstein Castle. We parked then walked a couple of hundred meters along a path (next to which was a beautiful field, and along the side of the path were lotsa tiny flowers, and equally tiny butterflies landing on them and doing their butterfly thing). Before reaching the ruins there was a place where you could look out towards them. This areas was full of vertical rock faces and was a rock-climbers paradise! There were rings and stuff anchored into the rockface everywhere, and while there I saw 5 people climbing in different areas. The castle overlooked a lovely valley and was built above a cliff face of its own. The ruins were awesome to walk around and stuff, lotsa walls were still intact, and I really enjoyed it (I love ruins.. dunno why..). There were also lots of faces where you could do a bit of bouldering which was fun.. altho my shoes were a bit big a clunky for it really. There was a big main courtyard, and also on a lower level was an old cellar and lookouts. It seemed someone had camped the night there aswell which woulda been pretty cool! There are walking trails all over the place in this part of the country, and the scenery and forests are gorgeous!! I so wanna come back one day and also do alot of tramping. Itd be soo cool walking in these forests up n down hills and stuff and every now and then coming to an old castle or ruins.. and great views.. AHH! :) AWESOME!.

Anyway, after we had had a good nosey around we went back to the car and had some drink then carried on to our next destination. On the way however we stopped for a drink and cake at a place, and ajacent to it (up a hill) was this thing called the Bobbahn. It was like the luge but you were on rollercoaster type rails, and you controlled your speed on it. This thing was great fun! Altho it made slightly worrying scraping noises when you rounded tight corners (I went maximum speed the whole way :D). We rode it once, then decided it was so fun we would do it once more, and this time down I made a video (hopefully will be able to post videos somewhere sometime!!). After this me and Arnulf enjoyed a white magnum (cant get them in NZ anymore..) (oh and they call 'streets' 'langnese' here in Germany..), and then we carried on to the Castle Teck.

This was up on a hill and you had to walk a fair bit of the way to get there. Down at the carpark were lots big open grassy fields, and there were tons of family groups there playing games, and having a barbeque. Some of the setups were classic too. One family had a mini doner-kebab thing (you know.. that rotating vertical hunk of meat that they shave bits off). Anyway, it was all quite cool. The walk up was a nice rpad through forest which reminded me of home and gave me strong urges to take shortvuts through bush and run down the steep, root-ridden slopes really fast (I love doing that!). Me and Arnulf took a few shortcuts at bend in the road. And near the end we took what looked like a long shurtcut.. but it actually led to a path under the castle that kinda looped around under the main wall (and the cliff it was on). On the way we saw a cool Skink-like lizard, and a totally sweet cave directly under the castle. there were some stairs up to it, and inside was like an arch-entrance (natural?) and it went way back into the darkness. I went in until it got a little too small, then we harded back ou and rounded our way to tghe entrance of the castle and met Mrs Kirste in there. We all drank some cold mineral water (mmmm) and then I went around a bit looking out at the view and stuff, and we headed back down to Mr Kirste waiting in the car.

We drove home, and soon after arriving me and Mrs Kirste went to the church for the English service. It started at 7 and we arrived a few minutes before but nobody was there and the church was closed. I walked around the back of the building and saw someone sitting there with a guitar, so picked up some courage and asked if there was an english service being held here tonight (in German). He said yep, so I called over Mrs Kirste, and soon another guy arrived with a key and we went into the church. The guy sitting on the step that I met was called Michael, he was reasonably young and was completing an apprenticeship. He was german, but liked to practise his English, the other guy was originally from Britain, but had been in Germany for like 30 years, and he was a teacher. Soon a couple turned up with their little son, and after waiting a bit for some other guy who was ment to be there we just flaged and started singing. I knew all the songs which was cool! Michael played the guitar, and the couple's (from Cameroon) little son played bongo drums (well bashed them while we sung.. but it sounded fine, and he started and stopped when the songs did.. very cool :D). After singing 'here I am to worship' Michael gave a devotion from Ephesians 6, which tied in really well with chapter 2;1-12 that id just been reading. the chapter 2 stuff kinda gave great hope and stuff to it, and a reason for what was instructed in Chapter 6. So it was cool to be able to share that. After another song or two the guy showed up and asked if someone would share a Psalm, so we read out Psalm 63, then had some time of prayer which was also really cool! We finished up with a few songs (an hour or so all together) and then after tidying up, and a couple of photos we headed home. The guy who came late is an expert on cameras, and complimented me on mine, and wanted to know where I bought it, so that was cool!! :D.

Anyways.. I returned home and had a light dinner, then went to bed and listened to a semron on the iPod (I have set up some computer speakers in my room.. I dont like earphones very much ay.. and I can also bring it outside to pump happy summer music whenever Im out swimming or playing with people in he backyard.), soon after it was time for sleep :)

Day 30!

Today I got up a little later and had some breakfast before me and Mrs Kirste headed off on an excursion. Both places we went to were about an hours drive or so from Esslingen. First up we went to this placed called the Nebelhöhle (fog caves). To get here we had to wind up a really scenic forest road and walk in a little bit. Once there we bought our entrance tickets and headed in. On the way down you could tell how the place got its name.. there was a fine mist coming out of the caves.. kinda eeire but cool nonetheless.

Once inside you got to walk yourself around the main chambers of the caves (no ropes or barriers or nothing.. kinda different to what im used to!). There wer lotsa nice stalagtites and stalagmites, and it was (at first) pleasantly cool. However soon it was too cold (I think caves are always around 9-10°).. I hadnt felt cold in quite a while, and had thought id been missing it a bit... But nope!! Ugh... Sweden winter is gonna be something else!! Lets hope I make it :)!

In one part you could walk through some naoorow gaps and up some old as stairs and here and there to a chamber that was used ages ago to house an important revoltuionary for a while so he wasnt captured.. I sure wouldnt have wanted to stay there!! But better than the alternative huh! Near the end of the accessable caves was this weird set up which I later discovered was a stage for a theater! That would be some setting for a show! Would be quite cool to attend one.

Anyway, I took a bunch of photos, got all covered in icky-soft-rocky stuff, and we made our way out. After a quick icecream we hopped back into the car and off to castle lichterstein (not lichteNstein). This place got its name from the awesome old 'white jurassic' rocks on the surface around the area. These are naturally light, white coloured (licht mean light, and stein means stone..lichterstein.. go figure :)!). Earlier it housed the knights of Lichterstein, and a while later was also used as a summer home and hunting base by the owners and friends. This castle was well up there with Neuschwanstein, as you could walk around all the buildings and old wall, you had a spectacular view, there were far less tourists, and the castle was equally dramatic and cool (altho alot smaller).

I took a tour which had a bunch of interesting information. The dining rooms and bedrooms and stuff were impressive, but nothing on Neuschwanstein and Hohenzollern. (altho the owners actually looked like normal people :) some looked quite good). But the highlight was the armoury, and the hunters room. The armoury had a big selection of weapons and suits of armour and helmets which was really interesting to look around. Im not hardout into that stuff or anything but it was really cool none the less. The helmets were just like in the movies, but real :), and the suits of armour too!

The hunters room was totally great! It had an awesome atmpsphere to it, and was basically alot of seats along the walls with benches. There was an oven on one side and at the front was a raised section with a table for two and a place where you could sit and recall hunting stories to the others. There were trophies on the walls, and painted on the walls were nice designs, and some german drinking slogans :). There was a massive collection of glasses, mugs, steins etc.. but also a MASSIVE!! horn that was used to drink out of.. (oh my..), and this HUGE glass for champagne. It was 1.93 meters tall, held 3 bottles of champagne, and required 3 people to use. One to hold the glass, one to drink, and one to hold the drinker :).

We then ascended to the next story which had some cool stuff and gifts and paintings around the place. There were paintings of the dude who I photographed the statue of in the Old Castle in Stuttgart, and a bunch of other important historical characters. Allied tanks shelled the castle in WW II, so they left some of the stuff in its damaged state which was quite dramatic! Anyways.. we walked back to the car (saw the cutest dog on the way!) and then it was back home.

Dinner was this DELICIOUS feast of roasted capsicums filled with mince and rice, pastries stuffed with spinach and probably feta, fresh rolls, and a great potatoe salad... Oh man!! *droool*. They sure know how to eat over here!! :D

Later in the evening me Arnulf Björn and Heidi all played some poker. I ended up winning again after a while, but it was a fun game. After that Björn and Heidi went upstairs and me and Arnulf went down the main Berkheim street to a little festival that was taking place called the Maisenfest (Maisen is a nickname for people from Berkheim :D). Here there was food, drink and a little music. We walked around for a while, met a few of Arnulfs school mates. Stuffed around with the camera and pxt phone for a while :), and then when we found out we couldnt go for a ride on the cool street train thingy-ma-bob, we went home around 11ish.

I went online briefly and saw Kouji and had a chat, then went to bed :)

Its getting late so I wont write up today now.. Ill have a bit of free time tomorrow so can do it then.

Bye!

Day 29

Today I got up around 8ish and everyone was either gone to work or school, or still upstairs asleep (Ariane). So I went online a bit and relaxed round for a while :). I had some breakfast, and then after a while Ariane and Andreas emerged, and went for a swim. I was gonna join them but Kouji was online, then a bunch of other people knew, so I stayed on the computer.

Later we all went downstairs and played on the mini-pool table for a while which was great fun!! First we played singles, rotating after each game. But then when Arnulf joined us we played me and Arnulf vs Ariane and Andreas (i was the odd one out being non-german, and my name not starting with A ha ha!). For Lunch we had some fish, fish fingers, leftover pasta friend up with lots of eg and ham (delicious!) and fresh boiled potatoes. It was fantastic, and as im in the habit of I ate too much (gotta stop that!). After lunch Ariane and Andreas went back upstairs so I listened to some music and a sermon and stuff, then Arnulf and I went and played some table tennis outside. This was great fun! They have some blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries also growing out behind the houes (and some grapes). Some of the berries are ripe now and tasted great!

Arnulf beat me 2-1 in table tennis which was good! By then though I was well overheated and ready for a swim. I came online a bit tho and Jamie was there playing a poker tounament, so I watched him for quite a while, then Andreas and Ariane came down for a swim so I joined them. I stayed in the pool for a while, first playing a waterpolo variation with Andreas, then all sorts of games that involved hitting things with the ball, and aim and skill and stuff. I think its a guy thing.. but I can play silly little games like that for hours ay! I totally love it! :). Anyhow... Then Björn arrived home so we played some piggy in the middle again which was always great fun! I worked really well ay, as often piggy in the middle is lame coz it too hard for piggy.. but in a pool you are slowed down, and have limited space so its good ay!

Later me and Björn hopped out as Ariane and Mr Kirste hopped in, and we played a couple of games of pool. Then we both went to eat and have a shower, and then around 9.30 we went into Stuttgart. We parked and walked past some of the main bar-lounge-club-disco streets. One of the popular hangouts was really weird ay. A small kiosk type bar, and outside is just concrete and some lumps and seats.. its fully open and people walk through all the time as its just between two streets. People of all sorts (doctors to junkies) meet there, and alot just kinda just sit down on the concrete in a circle and talk.. very different.

We didnt go into any discos (clubs) tonight, but went to the Fischmarkt (Fish market) this comes every year from Hamburg (near the North sea and thus lotsa fish). A big square is filled up with stalls and shops selling fish of all kinds (mainly cooked) theres also a little fake beach, some fruit and planet shops, and of course a bunch of drink shops. We met Heidi after squeezing through the crowds and hung out for a while and had a couple of cokes. There was old english songs playing, and classic german ones, but with slight remixes and a faster beat, so we just kinda stood there, talked a little, and moved to the music. Oh that reminds me :). Andrew Watson and Rob Smith you love the clubs in Stuttgart :) the music is fully right up ur alley ay! You could hear it blasting from the outside when you passed them. I might go to some next weekend maybe.. will see...

Anyway, after a while, round midnight we headed home. walking back through that place where people sit I got handed a card with two white pills in a small bad stapled to it.. Im pretty sure its just painkillers or something,.. but im not gonna find out :). We got home about 20 minutes later and I finished off a sermon I had been listening to, then after a while went to sleep.

Day 28! (July 20)

Today I got up reasonably early and me and Mrs Kirste made a trip to the nearby township of Tübingen. This incidentally is where I was tossing up between going to along with JIBS in Sweden. Its a really nice little city ay!

I had a bit of a headache and was feeling quite groggy (not helped by the blistering heat) which kinda ment I was a little out of it for some of the trip.. but cest la vie! First we went to a couple of factory discount stores where Mrs Kirste did a little shopping. I had a look around but didnt find much. We drove into the normal carpark she uses, but it was closed so instead we parked a bit further in town entering onto a little platz next to the 'Nonnenhaus' (nunnery) which was a couple of really nice and old buildings. There was a little fruitstall, and a small river-let running past, and on the small bridge over it (1m or so wide) was a dude playing accordian which was cool. Tübingens got alot of students everywhere and lotsa cafes and little corners here and there to sit and talk and enjoy the great weather. Very cool.

We walked through the inner city visiting first the big evangalical church. In here were some cool stained glass windows, but on all the walls were carved tablets and stuff, all really old. And in the very front of the church were a bunch of graves with a carving of the person buried underneath (probably important people). This section was sealed off and it wasnt as if while in a service you looked over graves to the preacher or whatever :). We went past one of the rivers running through Tübingen (ahh what ws it called??), and past the old wall and stuff, and then we came to the Nekar (same river as Esslingen). There are lotsa beautiful buildings around in Tübingen, and It was cool to look at them all. On the nekar were some lovely trees and some boats you could go for rides on (punting). All very nice. Along the wall by the river a few students were here and there chatting and stuff (should be studying for final exams. tut tut!!). But it was all really beautiful ay! We walked along the wall by the river for a while, and then climbed up a hill to the old castle.

The entranceway to this place was very cool, and it was the first of three (i think) bridges over deep pits (for defense) inside was now used as a musuem and archeological institute, so didnt bother checking out the insides of any buildings. But walking around the outside you could tell it used to be a pretty sweet castle! it was up high so you got a great view along the Nekar, and back over Tübingen. After this we walked back to the Marketplace where the City hall stands. The City hall is like the one in Ulm, in that its all painted and stuff on the outside, and also has a little balcony thingy, where I assume the Tübingen Mayor also pledges his allegiance and stuff :). Outside it is also a great staute of Neptune (with assorted seas-stuff underneath) waving his trident in the air. Very cool.

After having a drink we headed back home for lunch (delicious! - pasta with a stroganoff style beef mushrooms and sauce ontop). I ate too much, and then played around outside and with Arnulf and all of that for a while. Later on I took some time out to sit in my room and read and listen to a sermon and read some more which was freshing and nice. The evening wasnt too eventful, however at about 4 I went outside again, saw the thermometer and the photo is now on my flickr site. Am I ever glad its not that humid here!! Altho every now and then it is coz a storm will come along or something.. Anyway.

I played a card game type thing with Arnulf and Mr Kirste in the evening, and Andreas turned up with Ariane. He had brought a mini pool table with him, but we didnt play any today. Around 10.30 I went down to my room, read some more and went to sleep

Cool day, shame I wasnt feeling that great in Tübingen, but it was still enjoyable!

Cya!

Day 27!

Today I first slept in a bit as Mrs Kirste had to work. However she was soon home and I went online a bit, and then really just enjoyed the day for a long time! The weather today was again 35-37ish, (I saw the thermometer reach 36.5 - and the radio backed it up in the car later). I lay round outside with my iPod hooked up to some speakers and it was all rather nice. I sent alot of time in the pool too. Once Arnulf was home we played a bunch of games in the pool, relaxed n stuff..

Oh! Lunch was Bratkartoffeln (kinda fried pototoes with onion.. a bit like potatoes O'Brian) with some cooked ham and spinach. It was fantastic and as usual I had just a little more than I should have (Its sooo good tho!!)

Anyways.. afte a little while Arinae was home too and Andreas turned up aswell (he may have picked her up from work?). So I stayed in the pool and played around some more.. and got my sinusses totally rinsed out with pool water many many times doing handstands and rolls and stuff ha ha. One of my ears still has that little annoying bit of water in it.. grrr! Ha ha anyway.. everyone else was sunbathing, so I joined them. I stuck to happy summer-y songs like Nesian Mystik, Sugar ray and stuff like that on the iPod. It was great ay!! I love that holiday feeling that you get from water, sun and happy, light, summer music :). Just need a barbeque, a big group of friends and family and a large pohutukawa tree to shade under and its perfect ;).

I have no idea if the neighbours were disturbed by the music.. but it wasnt anything too aurally-agressive, and I didnt see anyone (altho I wouldnt seeing as theres a big hedge..). Around 5ish I came back inside and me and Mrs Kirste went to the Fernseherturm (TV Tower) outside Stuttgart. This thing looks really modern and stuff.. but was actually built in 1956 and was the first tower made of re-enforced concrete. On the way out of Berkheim we passed the big Festo complex (talked about it a few blogs ago?). They have these awesome little robots that mow the lawn for them!! :D So cool!!! They are small and disc shaped.. kinda like those automatic vacuum cleaners a bit (probably use similar technology). Ontop is a solar panel, and they buzz around cutting grass :). When finished they automatically return to their home where they slot themselves back into a main thingy and recharge etc. Very cool!!

Once at the tower I got a ticket and zommed up in the elevator to the platform at the top (150m up). Underneath is a cool panorama cafe and stuff.. And ontop of the tower is a spike with TV stuff on it.. but I dont think its used for TV any more.. Anyway.. Up here was great! You had the most spectacular view! And coz it was dry and still you could see for miles!! Photos didnt do it justice but i took a few anyway.. On the top section of the platorm was a ring around the edge showing was some of the main buildings were and where different places were, and in what direction different cities in Germany are and all that. From up here you could see what I meant in my blog when I arrived in Germany.. There was Stuttgart city, but outside this were heapsa little city/villages only a few kilometers apart, and they are littered around everywhere.. very different but very cool!

I could see all the places id been in Stuttgart, also Esslingen, Berkheim, A whole bunch of forest and stuff.. and basically everything for miles and miles. Nearby is another tower, which kinda just looks like the top of a tower, it has a little base, then a big wide platform, with a tall spike coming out of it. I remeber see-ing this as I flew into Stutgart and not knowing that was all the tower was. I though it was just the top of a tower poking up over a hill and was freaking out that such a GIGANTIC tower existed :). Ha ha but anyways.. After a really good look around I came back down and we headed back home again. I jumped into the pool again (noticing I was a bit sunburnt - not badly tho.. and id been out all day in 35°+ sunshine with no sunblock... man the Ozone hole sux!!). Björn came down, and Arinae was at tennis, so it was me, Arnulf, Björn and Andreas. We played a piggy in the middle type game which occasionaly involved some grappling and splashing ha ha. It was good as. Anyhow, After a good while Mr Kirste said he wanted so swim so we piled out, and I came up and had some dinner with Björn and Anrulf. I then ate some icecream with Andreas and Ariane outside.

After this I went up to Björns room and hung out with him for an hour or so.. and then it was down here to the computer. I tried to register my arrival at Sweden to guarantee my accomodation but the website is broken which is kinda annoying and a little unnerving.. but im sure itll be fine. I rang home quickly, and then typed up todays adventures (well todays happenings :) )
10 o'clock.. think I'll go listen to some music and sermon, do some reading then head off to sleep.
Oh and to any of you out there who actually read these daily blogs.. good on ya ay!! And thanks for taking an interest!! :D Its really cool! I hope they arent too boring, I know I get a bit carried away sometimes..

Servus!

Day 26!!

Today was the (reasonably long) trip to Neuschwanstein Castle!! WOOT!!!
I decided to forgo the shave I kinda needed, and wake up at 8 rather than 7.30, and after a quick breakfast it was in the car and off!! The drive to the castle takes about 2 and a half hours.. so I just kinda relaxed, enjoyed the countryside, and listened to 'SWR 1 - die aktuellste Vekehrsservice im Land' for the whole trip. Mrs Kirste always has this station on.. they play heaps of old school songs (like really old school.. like my parents songs). But its all good coz they basically play the huge popular ones, so most are pretty good. Oh, I was reminded on my trip out to the castle of these funny tunnels they have in the Autobhan.. The only concevable reason for them that i can think of is that there must be aroad ontop of it.. basically its a really short tunnel.. with like 1 m or so of earth above it. Its so weird! And they are totally outta the blue... No other hills or raises anywhere to be seen (altho they are always when you are climbing or descending a hill yourself. If it were a natural little rise you would think it be cheaper to flag the tunnel and just remove that last little bit of dirt and just have a normal road.. Anyway.. must be a road ontop.. Oh and while im on observations.. So many planes are flying over Germany all the time a! At any given time you can look up and see easily 6-7 planes in the sky.. its quite different to what im used to in Wellington!

After a few detours cozza road upgrades etc we found our way to the castle. MAN!! From about 45 min out you could start to see the outline of the mountain range that Neuschwanstein sits infront of... Its gorgeous ay! The mountains are so dramatic, and their shapes and stuff are so nice! I so wanna do a Carl and Sandy thing one day and bike around a bunch of Europe. I saw bikers today and yesterday.. and while itd be hard work I reckon itd be so great! Anyways.. I'll try and not get too sidetracked. So we got to the carpark, and after I took a few shapshots from below we lined up for a ticket into the castle at the office below in the carpark.. And we had 2 hours to wait. Instead of catching a bus (or horse drawn carriage) up the hill we decided just to walk which was really nice. Today it was 35-36 degrees.. but being in the shade of the trees was quite plesant still. And even in the sun it doesnt seem unbearably hot.. just rather warm. Walking up was great coz you could really enjoy the surrounding forest and see a few things on the way.

We reached a restaurant and decided to have lunch which was great. Theres a pic and description of mine on Flickr. Mrs Kirste ordered a wurst salat (wurst salad) which I assumed would be a salad with some bits of wurst through-out it... but no.. imagine a bit leafy salad... then replace all the greens with meat. Now you have a wurst salad :D. ha ha my kinda salad!! :D. After this we carried on up to the castle which wasnt much more of a walk. There were heaps of people there as there always is :). There were heaps of Americans too. At first it was cool to hear some English, but after a little bit it seemed really weird, and I was wishing they would speak German.. Im not sure exactly why.. and it was nothing to do with them being American specifically.. It was weird!! Dunno.. Anyways.. I had a while still before the tour so I walked around the castle and through as much of the inside courtyard that I could. Around the Mountains near the castle and here and there there were many para-gliders and hang-gliders cruising around basically the whole time I was there. Talk about the perfect place to go hang-gliding too!! If i ever learn how to do either of those sports I must come back here to do it ay!!
Anyhow once id done all around the castle and stuff it was only 10 min or so until my tour started. Ha ha the guy at the gate letting you in was wearing lederhosen!!! :D I wanted to take a picture.. but i felt it was a bit rude so i didnt in the end :).

Ok so our tour guide fully sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger and kinda had theis weird serious look the whole time with a matching tone :) It was kinda funny :)!! The Castle was dedicated to Richard Wagner, and thus heaps of the rooms are painted with scenes from his Operas and stuff.. its great! Unfortunately when King Ludwig II died 17 years into construction they stopped work on the castle. so while it looks all complete from the outside, only a third of the rooms were finished :(. But the ones that were finished were spectacular!! Its almost stupid how decadently royalty lived!

We started off walking past the servants rooms (pretty nice for servants rooms!!!) and then came to the Throne room... WOAH!! A mosaic floor of over a million little tiles showing animal and plant life. On either side of the Italian marble stairs up to the throne were paintings of the 12 Apostles, then on the wall above where the throne would be were 6 sanctified European Kings, and above them all, depicted as the king of kings, was Jesus. There was a ridiculous chandellier and some amazing paintings mainly of stuff to do with the 6 European kings. All the paintings on the walls was done by artists from the academy of art in Munich, so they were great!

We then went into the Kings bedroom which was just ridiculous! It took 40 craftsmen a year and a half to make!!! The wooden carvings everywhere were breathtaking! On the top part of the kings bed was a massive carving that had the tops of all the major cathedrals in Germany on it! There were a bunch of paintings from a Wagner opera, an awesome writing/reading chair, and a washbasin with running cold water!! (from a spring 400m above the castle up in the mountains!!!!!) WOAH!!! Then through a secret door in the wall next to the basin was the toilet, which also fluched with the same water! Crazy man!! Next was the dressing room, which was similarly adorned with great carvings and painting from Wagner operas. There was a room basically all dedicated to swans (and with paintings of a Wagner opera where the hero rides a swan-drawn boat.. forgotting the name of it). There were swans depicted in the carving on the ceiling and doorhandles and everywhere!! And a large porcelein swan that was actually a vase! WOAH!!

We went thought some other rooms. The paintings everywhere were awesome. And the view out the windows on any side (which I always leaned out of to have a look) was absolutely stunning!!. We then came to the Singing room.. OH MAN! This place was breath taking! Gorgeously furnished, and again paintings from Wagner. It also has a stage at the front (never used in the Kings life time. And the room has awesome acoustics. This is aided by the ceiling being made of these large wooden tiles, and something about double layers and something and it kinda acts like the inside of a guitar.. Sweet man!! This was where the official tour ended and we left the room through a door (above which was the only place in the castle anything directly to do with Ludwig was.. his crest), then down a spiral staircase the servants used, and we got to a cafe and souvineer shop and stuff.. There was a model of the castle and stuff.. I was gonna watch a movie thing about Ludwig, but decided time was moving on and Mrs Kirste had probably been waiting for me at least a good hour and a half.. so I carried on and came back out to the outside of the castle.

I was pretty keen to go to the Marien Brücke, so we trekked up a little hill and after about 10 minutes we were there. I was glad we went!! You got an AWESOME view of the castle, and in the other direction and equally stunning view of the mountains... The Bridge was bulging at the seams with people. but I took a few minutes to just stand and stare, enjoy the awesome view and relax a bit.. Incredible!! I am SOOOOO coming back here one day with a tramping pack and a map and doing some serious walking around these mountains!!! Tho i think ill stick to the summertime :)!

We then walked back to the carpark via another, more bush-track-ish path (and a more direct one at that) and were soon back in the oven of a car and cranking the a/c. Id left some mineral water in the car which was seriously warm, no longer fizzy, and had a completely different, almost sweet taste.. was very odd.. Anyhow, we started on our way back home. near the start I saw this gorgeous sight that I so wanted to photograph, but we were gone too soon and I didnt wanna ask Mrs Kirste to turn around. It was this little wooden shack in a field and inside were a bunch of cows squeezed into the shade and lying down asleep. The cow you could see best looked so sweet and peaceful.. and it was such a good photo! :) but you cant take them all huh! We carried on and soon I got uncontrollably sleepy all of a sudden and couldnt stay awake.. It was weird as coz that kinda thing doesnt happen that extremely to me usually, and I dont often sleep in cars (unless im totally zapped, then i sleep like a log!). Anyway.. we reached about Ulm, and I woke up. We stopped in Erbach on the way back to visit Mrs Kirste's brother Wolfgang whos a pretty nice guy, and then made the rest of the trip home, probably getting in at 7 o-clockish. Everyone else was in the pool (Dont blame them in this heat!!), I was gonna join them, but I was famished and had some leftover spaghetti again for dinner (mmmmm), then they were all out of the pool so I came here, started photo-loading, sermon-downloading, and blog writing.
And now its 10.30 and I think I'll call it a day. My jaws kinda sore from dragging along the ground most the day due to the stunning scenery ;).

G'nite!

Day 25

Today I made up for alot of late nights and a very tired Richard..
I got up maybe 10ish? then just kinda mooched around all day in my pjs :)! Lunch was spaghetti again (MAN Mrs Kirste's spaghetti is great!!) ha ha so I ate much more than I should have :) then just lazed around again :). I wrote a few blogs to get up to date, updated all my photos on flickr, and booked the last of my flights.

Later I had some more spaghetti for dinner (mmmm) after Mrs Kirste gave me some delicioud cakes and slices as a afternoon tea (boy they were nice too! - so spoilt!).
I went for a swim a bit and then downloaded a bunch more sermons. Then I retreated to my room for an early night. But Ariane came down and said she, Andreas and Bjorn were gonna play poker. So I threw on a singlet and some shorts and came upstairs and we played until about 11ish, by which time Björn was out, and I was ahead by about double the chips on Ariane and Andreas (man is Ariane ever a dangerous player tho! And Andreas definately knows what hes doing! Björn just had some bad luck).
Anyways.. Thats about it. Woah.. This is the shortest blog so far.. but guess that makes sence, as i didnt do heaps :)
Tomorrow Neuschwanstein!!! :D!

Day 24

Today I got up early (pain.. to many late nights..) but it wasnt too bad. I had a shower and breakfast and at 8.45ish me and Mr and Mrs Kirste headed off on a trip to Lake Konstanz (the Bodensee). First up was a 200kmish drive, so I took the opportunity and had a bit of a snooze. Before i knew it we were there, and i was awake. First off we walked through the inner city a bit. We went into a few cool churches, and went into the courtyard to the city hall, another beautiful building with pai9ntings on the outside. There were so many beautiful buildings and towers it was hard know what to photograph, but i took a few and then we kept on walking. We went past a massive cathedral, but there was a service on inside so we couldnt head in and take pics etc..

After this we started walking around towards the water. We got to a little river with some ducks nesting here and there (beautiful) then we were looking at the big lake. It was beautiful, and the weather was stunning! Breathtaking! the Rhein river ends up down here which is interesting i guess :). Anyways, we walked along the waterfront a bit, It was gorgeous. By now we were a bit hungry anyway, so we went to this lovely beer garden (lots of the round here, and they are often very big!) with some live jazz playing, and the big umbrellas for a little shade. I had a big pork hock with crout and some big meatball thingy (forgotten what its called ay) which was nice! There were flies coming in trying to land on the food which was a bit annoying, but it was great. Nice atmosphere and good music and weather and view.. awesome!!

After finishing our food we walked around a bit more (saw a cool statue thingy at the main harbour thingy that was cool.. I never looked for long enough but I coulda sworn it must rotate.. coz it always seemed to be on a differynt angle.. but then again I was moving around.. who knows.. It was cool tho!). There are a bunch of ships going back and forward and they fly the flag of what country they are from. We had a look around some more cool places then back to the car.

we now drove over to the Ferry that took you across the lake to a settlement on the other side called Birnau. The ferry ride over was cool! It went pretty fast, and you got a great view of the lake and surrounding areas while it traveleed. If you stood at the front you got spriknled with sea spray as it motored forwards, and there was also a zepplin (a real one this time) flying around on the horizon! Cool! First up a we went up a hill to the church of a monestry that was here in Birnau. This was another one of those pilgrims churches I think.. Inside was STUNNING!! but they had a notice up saying no photography.. which was a bummer coz it was another Baroque style church.. but this one was my favourite so far by miles.. It was awesome! And the lighting was good.. Ahh it was a pity.. But anyways. From up at the church you had a spectacular view of the lake aswell.. it was gorgeous.. oh and the weather.. It was all around just totally great!!

After having a good look around and admiring the view we bundled back into the car and drove back down the hill and went to a nice beach next to some old wooden pontoon houses that have been there since who knows when (Im pretty sure the whole of the lake konstanz is an archeological treasure trove). These were cool, but you had to pay a bunch to get in and walk around them.. I wasnt that keen so we gave it a miss.. Seeing them from the side was enough for me. I took a pic too.

After this we went to an AWESOME cafe right on the waterfront.. It was seriously awesome ay! I coulda stayed there forever. The water and weather was so picture perfect. The cafe was great and served great stuff, and yeah.. it was just all round perfect! Reminded me of pictures ive seen of holidays in Europe on the meditteranean and on beaches and stuff.. it was so awesome. I ordered some crepes with vanilla icecream and cherrys and cherry sauce which was divine. Man.. I dunno how to describe this place.. but it was really nice.. and the weather being so great just played into it all and it was fantastic.

After sitting here for a while it was hometime. This time I was awake for the home journey (200ish km in like an hour 20 ha ha!). Autobahns rule :D!! ha ha we never went faster than 180.. I was hanging out for the 200 mark to take a photo.. but ahh well.. It was cool ay! Its amazing how quick you get used to travelling this fast tho ay.. (maybe Helen Clark had a point :) ). Once home I noticed Id been mildly sunburnt (prob not helped by having the sun roof open there and back). But its not bad so its all good!

At (5ish) home Björn and Arnulf were in the pool playing a game, and were soon back upstairs and we played some poker. I got off to an AWFUL start, but clawed back and Arnulf was first out again unfortunately. By about 7 I had double Björns chips and we called it a day, and me and Mrs Kirste went to an evening service at the church. This was a thing they hold every 2 months or so and is just singing and prayer. There werent many people there, but it was great ay! The music team was great too! And the songs were easy enough to pick up even tho in german. There were a couple of songs that were sung in english then german or vice versa that I already knew, plus a few songs i knew, just translated into German, so it was quite cool singing along to these actually! The girl who was singing last time was singing again which was cool, shes a great singer ay!!! The service lasted an hour, and after having a short chat to the guy playing piano we headed back home.

At home I finally had some dinner (8.30), and then got to catching up on my blog (almost there!) and around 10.30 headed off to bed, where I listened to one of the new sermons I downloaded (by the same guy as the 70ish others on my ipod that Sym gave me). Then off to sleep!

Cya!

Day 23

Today I had a sleep in for a while then got up, had brekky, went online a little while, then (around 11) me and Björn went off to the brand new (opened in May) Mercedes Benz museum. I had driven past it before on the city tour, and its a very impressive building! Anyways.. so we got there and headed in. Inside its a cool kinda double helix design thingy, and you catch an elevator to the top and work your way down. It loosley starts at the beginning of automobiles (Daimler - owner of mercedes - made the first engine n car n stuff (not quite true.. but close enough)).

Ha ha, you get to the very top, and there is this stuffed horse standing there :) I thought it was a pretty funny start to the musuem :D! Its all by itself in a reasonably large room, and it had a quote about how horses were the be all and end all of transport and that automobiles were just a fad. The entire musuem is in english and german too which was great!! We started off with the very first cars.. ha ha they looked like you would expect, and had massive 1 or 2 valve engines, with earth shattering power like 1 or 2 HP (PS in german). I dont know heaps about car engines, but I know what those two things are.. ha ha, so they were cute little cars :).

Usually as you spiralled down there would be some history placades on the wall, then you would reach the new floor and there would be a display of some kind of cars, a hands on section to the side, and then off to the right would be another gallery with a themem like 'gallery of heroes' or 'of carriers' or 'helpers' and stuff like that where they would have a bunch of ambuklances, police cars etc, or a bunch of busses n stuff. or whatever. It wasnt boring though! There were enough cars there for it to have great variety and be cool, but not so many you got blown away, and kinda stopped caring about each one. Each level was also connected by some stairs off to one side and a bunch of otherstuff, aswell as the main spiralling walkway down (with the history on the sides).

We spiralled our way down past a bunch of great cars and automobiles (and some HUGE plane engines - daimler makes all kinds of automobile stuff) and eventually got to the bottom. near the end we took a ride in a driving simulator.. which was a bit of a let down as most the time u were just flying around looking at people, and occasionally getting a driving simulation.. but those parts were great! (ha ha and the rest explained why the simulatros moved in ways that i couldnt for the life of me figure out how a car could move like that..). Once finished there is another small section with some cool as modern cars, and a cool section on the company: first research, then design, then construction and all of that. This was REALLY interesting!!! :) made me wanna go work for Mercedes :) After this me and Björn strolled through the shop, and then had a browse through the car yard that is right next to the museum, and you see as you walk out (cunning people). But all the cars were a bit below our price range really.. Was considering the new S class, and I had the 100,000+ Euro in my back pocket.. but i thought id leave it.

Afterwards we travelled home and I rested up for a while before we all went out again. At about 6.30 me, Arnulf, Mr Kirste and Mrs Kirste hopped into the car and drove to Nellingen (5min) to watch a concert. It was first up a piece by Mozart (its the year of Mozart here at the mo.. so gotta listen to some of it!! But I#m not complaining, I like Mozart!) Then a piece by a guy I hadnt heard of called Mjaskowski, and finally a piece by Tschaikowsky (who is one of my fav's yay!). The Mozart piece was really cool. The Orchestra was seated up behind the audience, along with the conducter, and just the percussionist, 3 violins and a kontrabass (double bass?) were on stage. It was "Serenata notturna" [KV 239] - for 2 Violins, viola and kontrabass. The lead voilinist and the double bass guy were great! altho thelady on viola had a bit of a shocker on her solo.. but it was nothing major. After this the orchestra came down and sat on stage. The Mjaskowski piece (op. 66 for Violoncello) was great ay!! It was pretty modern.. but very cool! Id never heard a piece for the before.. and it was GREAT! The violoncello soloist was fantastic too! He sat at the front with no music and kinda led the whole thing.. It was an outsanding performance!! And hes a doctor too.. just plays as a hobby! The only shame was that one of the french horn players was pretty bad.. every time they chimed in (which wasnt too often) it sounded pretty bad.. It was a funny group actually, a bunch of great players, and some pretty average ones! Anyway.. after this peice was a break, sop we went outside, and the percussionist came out (he knew Arnulf from school) so that was pretty cool! He was the youngest player there just incase ur wondering if it was a school orchestra or something. I also had a brief chat to the two Oboe players which was nice. They say hi to Rachel! Ha ha oboe power! After the break was the final Tschaikowsky piece, 'Mozartiana' (suite No. 4) which was also good! although of the pieces ive heard by him it was one my least favourites.. but it was still very nice! The Mozart and Mjaskowski were definately standouts though for me. If u wanna check out the orchestras homepage I found it here :)
http://www.filderharmonie.de/

After a cool little short encore piece that really made me wish i listened to more classical music so i knew which piece it was we made a quick exit and headed into Stuttgart by a (crammed) train, to the Lichterfest (Light festival). This kinda like a massive carols by candle light almost.. but with hundreds of thousands of people :). So you had that weird mix of families, old people, and drunken sleezy teens... But also a bunch of older teens and twenteens that were there for the big club party thing starting at midnight.. kinda weird.. But anyway, I went round with Arnulf. We had a wurst in Brötchen, then made our way over to watch the fireworks. First there was a skydiver which was pretty boring.. But the fireworks... woah!!

There was this big cool tower with spiralling staircases, and there were 'small' fireworks coming off this aswell as it being lit up. And then seriously huge big ones going off above it. This rivalled the Chinese New Year fireworks in wellington a year n something ago as the best fireworks display ive ever seen.. It was GREAT!! And the music they played with it went really well along with the fireworks too!! It was FANTASTIC!!! Kinda hard to describe fireworks.. but yeah.. it was 15 min of awesomeness.

After this we tried to get through the crowd to another site, but by the time we were there it was finished.. But you could always hear the music pumping. Its funny hearing germans sing along to english songs (of which there are heaps over here). They get some parts spot on.. and if they know the song very well its all good. but when they dont its kinda like listening to someone sing along with headphones on.. They get the tune right and the general sounds.. and some keywords... but the rest is a mumbled mash :) ha ha my favourite i heard tonight was someones attepmt at the beastie boys 'YOU GOTTA FIGHT... FOR THE RIGHT... TO PAAAAARRRRRTY!'
It went something like thins:
'oooo-aa-dada-ITE!... fada-LIGHT.... TO PAAAAAAAAAARRRRRTY!!!'
Gold :)!!
We met back up with Mr and Mrs Kirste and headed back with a swarm to the train station. This place was absolutely bustling! But the city had it under control.. there were copy n stuff there all over the place, and after enough people were down on the platform they stopped people heading down to it didnt get overpacked and people start popping out onto the tracks. Very smart! I spose when u are a big city you get good at anticipating problem areas and controlling potential hazards from crowds. On the way home some IDIOT musta pulling the emergency brake again.. GRRR!!! ha ha, but this time the driver could fix it, so after about 10-15 min waiting we were under way again. We got back to the car and headed home and I got to bed around maybe 12.30-1ish. Oh that reminds me, the big mercedes that Mr Kirste has a foot handbrake.. I was talking to someone about those recently.. Anyway.. I reckon they are kinda weird.. but there are quite a few over here so there ya go..
Catcha later all!

Day 22! (14th July)

Today I got up at around 8 as we had to leave reasonably promptly. Around 8.30 me and Mrs Kirste left home and headed first to Ulm after a quick breakfast. the drive in was ok, and after we got a park spot we headed over to the massive cathedral in the innercity. This thing was seriously awesome ay!! MASSIVE! And so elaborately decorated.. It was quite stunning!! The inside was equally so, although unfortunately it was a little dark and the pictures didnt come out that well.. but take my word for it. AMAZING inside aswell!!

After have a good look around inside and lighting a candle for Grandma I started the 768 step climb to the top of the spire (Mrs Kirste opted to stay down ha ha). The stairway most the way up was a really narrow spiralling one that kinda made u dizzy coz u had to look down at where u were stepping! A stopped a couple of times to take photos and to let people ahead of me get further up again. Being up close to the spire you could see some more cool details including some great gargoyles (I love those things!, even if a bit creepy). I finally got to the very top, where u could kinda just shuffle around to look out at the cool 360 view of the city and the Donau river.

After trekking back down and encouraginging a few americans and a family (from the UK it sounded like) to keep on going, I met mrs Kirste and we had a drink, then walked through the old city. There was a ship builders guild house, an awesome city hall with paintings on the outside, and this great hotel which was all slanty and part of which was in a small river ( bad description.. theres a pic). We then walked along a section of the old town wall. And past a bunch of closed stalls (its the Donau fest at the mo, so lotsa food and crafty stuff from a bunch of the cities on the Donau - which is quite a few - and quite a few very cool cities too! But anyway.. I had a feuerwurst for lunch, which lived up to its name even though the saleswoman assured me it wasnt 'too spicy'.. Im glad I avoided the one she said was spicy!! Sitting eating on the Donau was very nice! After this we walked through the city a bit more.. went up the cool modern glass triangular library then back to the car and off to Erbach again to do errands and stuff like last week.

First off we picked up her Aunty and did some shopping and errands.. Oh! that reminds me! There are a few flies around, especially when u get further into the 'country'.. but man.. at the supermarket, and other places ive seen there will be a bunch of flies flying around in the deli and walking on the cheese and meat and stuff... Nobody seems to care very much :S. Ha ha to me its gross as!! Anyway... We did that, and once all finished we headed over to Mrs Kirste's brother Wolfgang's place and she did the ironing and stuff, then we went and got some mineral water for him (they drink the stuff like mad over here.. must be expensive! and kinda weird when u have perfectly fine tapwater..). Then he arrived home so we went back to the supermarket to pick up some more stuff for him n stuff, and then dropped him home, and im pretty sure by then it was late and we headed home.

Got home around 6.30 and had some dinner, then me and Björn went for a run. We went the same gorgeous route as last time, but there were hardly any people out this time. Near the start we passed the big Festo plant and there was a big zepplin (well actually a hot air baloon shaped like one) giving people rides which looked cool! But anyhow.. we finished the run (went a bit faster this time.. Björn was pretty stuffed :), he told me he wouldnt go jogging with me again ha ha, but it was all just jokes n stuff).

Once home Arnulf asked if I wanted to go play some pool with him in Esslingen. I thought thatd be cool! So we headed in and played a few games (slightly diff rules here, but it was fun) and after about an hour Ariane rang Arnulf's cell and said she was going with Andreas to a friends to play some board games and all that. I said Id come, so after she had picked me and Arnulf up, driven back home and picked up a popcorn machine (and i had a quick drink of water) we headed first to Andreas's to pick him up, then into Stuttgart where his friend Chrisi (spelling?) lives. He (his family) has a totally mint place, with a crazy view, awesome furnishings, and a great outside garden and plaza type thing. Also there were Carson and (i think) his gf Caro. I had met them all before (at the beergarden after the quarterfinal, and watching the semi-final. (and somewhere else too).

It was dark, but we played outside using outside lights and stuff. The game of choice was poker - must be pretty popular over here! (glad I downloaded that texam holdem game to my cell phone a while back, so i know how to play!). We were playing reasonably conservative petting rules, so nobody got elimainated (prob a good thing). This carried on for a while, and we eventually moved inside and carried on. After a while Carson and Caro left and it was just us 4, so we played this game called (in english) 'yes, my master' or something similar. Ha ha i just realised that sounds dodgy, so it wasnt! Its basically just a bunch of cards with different events and people on them. And the master sets a story (like I sent you out to deliver a letter to my aunt.. tell me how it went), and then the other players have to tell a story about it using the cards they have. And if you stuff up 3 times u loose. Not worth explaining in super detail, but thats the general idea. Seeing as it was in german I opted out, as to play a game like that you need to be quite good at the language, like really good. So it was still fun watching them play :).

I got a message to ring home. So once i got back around 2am I rang home and talked to the family (quite a few people :) ), for who it was saturday morning the morning after the funeral. It was cool to talk to everybody!! Anyway.. after this (around 2.30ish I went to my room and went to sleep)

Day 21!

Today I got up reasonably late, probably 10ish or so, and then went online and talked to some people on MSN for a bit. This actually ended up being a reasonably long while.. but hey. After this I sat down and wrote my reflection thingy that I would have read out for me in my absence at Grandma's funeral. Near the end it was time for lunch so i left the computer for a while and had lunch with Mrs Kirste and Arnulf, which was a nice dish of chicken and rice.

After this I finished off my writing, and it was about 2! So I quickly got ready and Mrs Kirste dropped me down to the U-Bahn station where I cought a train into Stuttgart. In Stuttgart I initially walked down König Strasse to the information kiosk and got some info on this walk that looks great. Its through and around the city in parks. They designed this big 'green u' that you can walk through parks and stuff (hence green) without ever having to cross a road (with the help of some bridges). Unfortunately the weather was threatening (big black clouds in one direction and the occasional boom of thunder) so the lady advised me to give it a go another day. (its 8km so not super far.. but u can go further and make it a loop too.)

In light of this I went for a bit of shopping. It rained for a little bit too, and was reasonably dark, so not going for the walk was probably a good call! There are heapsa shops in Stuttgart, and heaps i wanted to buy.. but my suitcase is only so big.. So i ended up buying a polo shirt and a pullover (3 euro each!! :D), then called it a day around 5ish.

Once home I had a light dinner and later on me Arnulf and Björn played some soccer and handball out in the lawn which was good fun! (tho i think i slightly tore a bicep which isnt cool :) but ill live ha ha! After a while Heidi arrived, and so did Ariane and Andreas, and Arnulf had some study or something to do.. so I went online a while then down to my room for some music and then sleep

Day 20

Today me and Mrs Kirste went into Stuttgart for a while. Initially the plan was to also go to Wilhelma, the big botanical/zoological gradens all in one here in Stuttgart. But the weather was stinking hot and i was tired as, so we just did Stuttgart city, and not Wilhelma today.

First off (after getting up and having some toast for brekky) we went to Stuttgart Uni to drop off some books that ariane had borrowed a while back. On the way in there was a big group of kids playing in one of the fountains :) It was really cute! Ha ha isnt it great how kids can get away with just jumping in a fountain and having a bunch of fun.

After that we drove into Stuttgart and headed over first to the evangalical church I saw yesterday. Inside it was very modern. The stained glass windows were either new, and done in a slightly more modern fashion, or they were these equally stunning, but completely different windows. It was great ay! There are a few pics on flickr so check them out! The organ was also beautiful, and it was playing a lovely (but also reasonably modern) piece. Im so used to organ pieces from vampire movies or stuff like that, that i cant really hear it nowdays without getting these images of scary things, or bad guys' lairs and stuff. But its truely an awesome instrument though ay! so powerful and such rich sound! I love listening to it.

After this we went into an indoor market hall. This place was fantastic ay!! There was pretty much anything you might need (in the way of food) there! And heaps of speciality stalls and different international products and stuff.. Not only were the stalls and variety impressive, but the smells were fantastic!! There were different smells when you walked around different parts, but they were all fantastic! fresh cheeses, fresh and dried fruits, the meats and sausages.. it was awesome!!

After this we walked around the park behind the New Schloss and got a nice view of the entrance of the Opera house among other things. (there was a statue outside the Opera house and I thought i recognised it as Schiller, so I asked. Mrs Kirste said she didnt think so but we went to check, and it was! woohoo!! I guess thats really a testament to the skills of the sculpturers that made that statue and the other i saw in Shillerplatz outside the Old Schloss). We walked down to the end of König Strasse and crossed the street to get to the main railway station, where we then went up the massive tower and got a great view of the city. I also saw the HUGE building complex of the Baden Wüttemburg Landes Bank where Mr Kirste works. Behind this is a big empty lot and the train tracks. Aparently they plan to put these tracks iunderground and build a massive new area of apartments and offices there. The project is called Stuttgart 21, but itd cost HEAPS and they dunno if itll go ahead yet or not.

Afterwards we went home and i relaxed for a little while, then we made a brief trip to this old site of a roman camp. There wasnt much left too see except some old statues and pillars.. but it was still cool!! There are some photos on flickr. After arriving home and having a hamburger-a-la-richard me and Björn went for a run. Picked up the pace a bit, but by the time we got back Björn was saying he would never go running with me again ha ha! But it was all just jokes and stuff. Oh! on the run we saw this cool zepplin (actually a hot air baloon in the shape of a zepplin) that was taking people for rides. It was cool! I wish i had my camera :). It was from the company Festo, they have their main office right here in Berkheim, and they are a big international company specialising mainly in pnematics.. Their stuff is really good and is in most countrys i hear.

After the run we had a swim, and then sat up on the veranda and had a chat for a while until around 10 something (it was still low 20s so hanging out in your togs wasnt a problem... nice!!
After this I quickly went online to write an email then off to bed.

Day 19!

Today I got up around the normal time, had a bath and a shave, and had some breakfast. After a a little while it was 11 something and me and Mrs Kirste went into Stuttgart and firstly had a look around a few shops and things like that. At 1.30 we had a bus tour around the city which was really cool. We drove past most the main places outside the innercity, and got some cool explanations and stuff like that too. The tour guide explained in german then english.. i found i could follow most the german, but after a while got mentally lazy and just waited for the english :).

One of the coolest things we drove past was the brand new Mercedes Benz Museum! Im not a car fanatic or anything.. but it looks totally amazing ay! And the design of the buildings is awesome too!! It was designed by a dutch architect, and has this cool double helix thing going on :) VERY cool! Im going there on Saturday, so i-ll have some photos and more explanation soon! The tour also included a trip to the 'Fernseherturm' (TV tower) where aparently you get a great view of the ciyz.. but unfortunately it was closed for the day.. but we still got some pretty cool views out over Stuttgart from up high anyway.

After this we got a short tour around the old schloss, which is a beautiful old building where Stuttgart was founded in 950. Outside this there was a square with a statue of Shiller in the middle, and the main Evangalical church at one end. Its a really nice looking building, but quite hard to get a good photo of!!

After this we walked across the road to the schlossplatz where the new castle stands (they were gonna build a department store there after it was destroyed in WWII!! So glad they didnt!!) And then the tour was over. Me and Mrs Kirste had a drink and went up the big new glass museum/gallery to get a nice view over the innercity, and then it was home time.

At home I had some tortellini for dinner (left overs from lunch - we left home before lunch), and after a little while started a game of texas hold'em with Björn and Arnulf. Arnulf was out after a while, and me and Björn carried on. By about 10.30 we still hadnt finished, but the phone rang and it was Mum.

She told me Grandma died this morning (in NZ.. so in the eveneing here in Germany). That was pretty stink! When I tried to explain n stuff to the Kirstes in German it just wouldnt come out.. it was weird! Its cool that she is now at rest and is back home and doesnt have to worry about nasty elderly-home food anymore.. but its also sad that I am so far away and cant be there for the funeral and stuff :S. I dunno... Anyway, I went to bed after checking whether insurance would let me return home or not.. and didnt sleep that great, but prob finally got to sleep around 1.30-2ish

Day 18

I didnt get to sleep until pretty late last night so i slept in until something crazy like 12 or something today.. seemed like a bit of a waste of time.. but oh well it was also nice none-the-less :). At 2 o'clock i was due in Esslingen to get shown around the technical institue a bit.. but first i wrote yesterdays blog, and then had lunch. Lunch was fantastic as always! A beautiful pork schnityel (pretty popular over here) but done like a cordon bleu, so it was crumbed and had ham and cheese in the middle. This was accompanied by a nice salad and some hash brown triangles.. Yuummy!

After a little while we headed into Esslingen to the Automobile Engineering school.. MAN was it impressive, I got to see a few (mainly electronics, and testing - stuff like hydrolics n all) labs and peek my head in the door of a bunch of other rooms. I guess Stuttgart is pretty famous for its car-making, so you would expect pretty good automobile engineering schools.. but it was still very impressive!! Around 2.45ish we were done and headed back home where I loaded a couple of photos, did some sudoku, a little reading, helped Mrs Kirste pick some cherries, then tried to send off some videos to Roydon so he could put them online.. but most of them failed which is dumb and confusing..

Anyway, after that Mrs Kirste made a cherry cake, and once it was out of the oven we went to Ariane's old (and Arnulf's current) Gymnasium (High School - ish - place) where he was having tennis training. We watched for a little while then went home via Denkendorf.. another village like Esslingen (but smaller). In Denkendorf is an old monestary, like in Blaubeuren (but smaller, and not the awesome setting like Blaubeuren.. but still great). These places are always pretty cool. You can just imagine the people living there all self-sufficient and all. The church was very old, and underneath was a creepy as crypt.. We drove around Denkendorf a bit.. which is a very beutiful place, with gorgeous houses.

Then on the way home we stopped off at the Graveyard so Mrs Kirste could water the plants on the graves of Mr Kirste's parents, and aunties.. The graveyard was quite different to NZ ones.. the grave plots were often quite large.. and they all pretty much had a little garden of their own growing ontop of them (bordered by stone tablets to walk along. The writing on alot of the gravestones was often also this rather large.. kinda almost comic-book style writing.. I found that kinda weird, but kinda nice at the same time. Its very hard to describe. I took a couple of pictures.. but I dunno if you My description along with them really gives you a feel for it or not.. But yeah.

Once home around 8ish I had some leftover Käsespätzle for dinner with some chopped ham ontop (mmmm), and then i watched some poker on tv.. I know its quite popular, but id never seen it before. It was ok.. kinda cool how they put the liklihood or victory up after each round of betting and stuff.. but it was a bit tiresome really.. Anyhow, around 10.30 that finished and the TV went staight to some dodgy, pornographic ad with topless ladies rolling round in soccer nets and stuff, so i made a hasty exit to my room and off to sleep.