Moving house can be cathartic

Being on holidays means that you can don't need to watch the clock.
We rise later today and enjoy breakfast on our own.
I get chatting with the hotel owner. Turns out that he has operated the hotel since the death of his father in 1975 and he had followed his father into the hotel business. The building is a former farm and only dates back to the 1870's - so quite new by European standards.

Before going over to Steph and Felix's we head back up the hill to visit the Burg Hohenrechberg ruins. Only they aren't. Ruins that is. Well, there are some parts in ruin, but there is a great part of it that is not in ruin, and more is being restored.Driving up from below, the runious side is more evident, but when you get up to the site, you immediately see how much has escaped damage, and is being restored.

A castle on this site dates back to the 13th Century, with what is now standing built between 1599 and 1648.  This was a prime defensive spot with views across the surrounding territories for hundreds of kms. 


The remains are in remarkably good condition, a testament to good materials and great workmanship - and with none of today's modern tools!
The defensive tower with it's hoarding still stands, complete with gun slits, cannon portals and murder holes!  How barbaric we can be when we feel threatened. The timbers holding the tower roof are all original and remind Michael of the tower roofs of the great cathedrals across Europe. Whole trees are used in

the support poles and even the bracing.  Where parts of the castle are missing, etchings show how it would have been in operation - the kitchen must have been a sight to behold! There are pieces of fancy masonry showing that even back then, we ladies like to have pretty things to show our status!

Back at Steph and Felix's, the packing for the move continues. They are super excited at the moment as today the kitchen starts to be fitted. Many months ago Steph asked me whether she should get a steam oven and of course I said yes!

Today, Felix is on leave for the next week to help with the packing.  Lunch is huge to feed the working men - leftover chicken and strawberries with veges from yesterday and Maultaschen (rolled or folded pasta bags with a hearty filling of meat, spinach, onion and soaked stale bread) and Kartoffelsalat (potato salad).

Getting ready to move to a new home provides the opportunity to cleanse the family of gathered 'stuff'! Both Steph and Felix are being very strong.  BUT, then there is Felix's Trekky memorabilia.He gladly gives up the VCR and tapes, but is having trouble letting go of his large poster.  And to his delight Niklas claims it for his bedroom. This results in a cuddle and "Mein son" being warmly exclaimed!!

I'm flaking fast and just after 2 head back to the Hotel for a sleep.  There are a lot of people having lunch in the courtyard, and even though I have no appetite, it smells wonderful.  We have booked in to have dinner here tomorrow night - so will have to curb my food intake to allow for ample indulgence!

Michael stays to help Steph and Felix fill more boxes, coming back down to the hotel just after 6 pm.
Dinner too smells amazing - but neither of us is hungry!  Plenty of people are dining which promises well for dinner tomorrow.

Schorndorf - here we come - hope you are ready!

The trip down the autobahn is without incident. Michael is constantly fascinated by the wind turbine farms and likens them to something from the War of the Worlds. The traffic seems to fly past us travelling at 120 kph. There is supposedly a speed limit of 130 kph but I guess old habits die hard (from the days of no speed limits) as many of them are doing in excess of 150! We decide 120 kph is enough as the car is hungry enough at that speed.

The roads are well signed and it is easy to follow the autobahn and then the highways into Stuttgart. A little harder to find the road connections to the smaller communities. Finally at 1:00 pm we arrive in Schorndorf Weiler and a quick phone call to Steph to ask 'where the bloody hell are you' calls her to the balcony where we are parked below! She looks really well and happy to see us and there are many hugs all round.

We sit and chat and have pretzels for lunch - yu-um. I don't care how nice it is to have pretzels on sale in the markets at Maryborough, there is nothing like really fresh pretzels warm from a German bakerei! So pretzels and ham and cheese and chat - nothing like it!!! Following lunch, we go up to Steph's aunt and uncles house where we will be staying. Mutti (her grandmother) is keeping watch from behind the curtain and is outside waiting for hellos before we can get out of the car. It is lovely to see her again, although she is older and looks more frail than I remember her. We meet Aunt Olga but Uncle Rudi is not well and is in bed. You should see the rooms we have. They are on the second floor of their house and consist of a huge bedroom, a separate living room and a bathroom. Such joy after hotel rooms for the past couple of weeks. It is very obvious that they have all gone to a lot of trouble to get ready for our arrival and it is lovely to be welcomed so warmly into the family.

As tonight is the last night for the Christmas market in Stuttgart (that are known as the best in Europe) we had asked Steph if she would come with us. As parking will be painful in the centre of town, we catch a train in and meet up with Steph's man Felix at the station in Stuttgart. He has worked as a tour guide one summer, so knows all the information about the area that we are walking through and readily shares it with us.

The markets do not disappoint us. Lisa, Kelli and all of you need to come and see how a REAL Christmas market operates!!! Maybe FCRC can send you to investigate!!!

The stalls are a combination of food stalls, handicrafts and commercial goods. But all are themed and as it is now dark (of course!) everything is lit. We go to the Ratskeller Stall for Nuernberger Wuerschdle (Bratwurst) Rolls and Gluehwein. Talk about food fit for kings. After we finish, we spend the next couple of hours wandering through the markets, contemplating buying all sorts of traditional souvenirs and decide that we are not in a position to carry them all. Michael however does manage to get a fleece lined flannalette over shirt for 15 euros.

We finish our night at the Breuninger Department Store - a large store similar to David Jones that is only found in the Stuttgart area - they have 10 outlets for hot chocolate and coffee before returning to the Station via another section of the Christmas markets for the train ride back to Schorndorf.