Greece: Athens and the Islands

BEST TRIP EVER. That is how I think I will always refer to these twelve days in Greece. It easily exceeded all of my expectations.

We flew from Stuttgart to Athens, where we met up with my parents, and then we all took a high speed ferry to the island of Paros, where we had rented a villa for the week. We usually rent apartments or homes when we travel and we have learned to expect that the photos of the properties are often much nicer than the properties themselves. Imagine my happiness and surprise when we arrived and the villa was just as nice, if not nicer, than depicted. Even better, it was in walking distance to the beach and a short car ride to the center of town.

We spent the mornings swimming and the afternoons exploring. We feasted daily on fresh fish, calamari, octopus, Greek salads and yogurt, and my favorite, spanikopita.

One day, my parents kept the boys and CM and I took a ferry over to Mykonos. What an extraordinary island. Paros is much more family friendly, while Mykonos is perfect for a couple or a group of friends looking to rage all day and all night. Definitely the party island. The landscape of Mykonos is unbelievably picturesque: the famous windmills, white stucco homes, crystal blue water. We spent the day pretending we were kid less, eating and drinking and soaking up the culture.

After spending a week on Paros, we checked out of the villa and headed back to Athens.
I have learned that having children means you stay at hotels that have pools. The Athens Marriott has a rooftop pool that overlooks the Acropolis. Quite a view.

Athens was hotter, dirtier, and not as beautiful as Paros but we had just as much fun. We walked to the top of the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon, and also toured the city, stopping to eat, shop and people watch.

I know that our travels will take us to many other places, all with wonderfully rich cultures. However, our nearly two weeks in Greece will be hard to top.  And until proven otherwise, this remains the BEST TRIP EVER.

Sensopolis

One weekend in May our dear friends from the UK came for another visit.  I thought this would be a great time for our first trip to Sensopolis in Boblingen.

Sensopolis is a huge indoor playground/ interactive science museum.  It has a multi-level ball and netted climbing area, a big castle with interactive rooms, a pirate ship, a large water table, fun slides and a humongous spaceship that the kids run throughout. There is also a climbing wall and a ropes-like course for big kids.

Sensopolis is perfect for those many cold and/or rainy Stuttgart days.

 By days ends, the kids were worn out. And when you are headed home for dinner and bed, that's a very good thing.

Rue de Vin "Thelma and Louise" Weekend

This summer my oldest and dearest friend and I took to the autobaun and headed to France to explore the Rue de Vin.  The Rue de Vin starts just outside of Strasbourg and extends about seventy miles through the Vogues mountains. It covers the Alsace wine region which are known mainly for their fruity white wines.

Having planned this trip a few months in advance, I had anticipated being able to enjoy the aforementioned wines. What I hadn't counted on was that I would be 10 weeks pregnant when headed out on this adventure. So...although I couldn't enjoy the "Vin" part of the Rue, the Alsacian villages, the patisseries, the rolling vineyards, and of course the company, made the trip a wonderfully memorable one.

The Spring We Felt the Love... (visits from our Amerikanische Freunde)

What fun we have had these past few weeks. Many of our dear friends made the trip across the Atlantic this Spring to check out our life in Germany and to experience some of the local culture. I continue to be touched and humbled that they would spend their limited free time and their hard-earned money to see us. We visited cities, villages, castles and biergartens. We walked and talked and ate and drank. My heart was filled.

Calw

Another one of our day trips took us to the northern part of the Black Forest to a small city called Calw (pronounced 'kalf'). The outskirts were very industrial, so we felt a little bummed driving into town..we even passed both a McDonalds and a Burger King. Not exactly what we were looking for! So of course we were pleasantly surprised to find the small village that sat a little further in, with an open air market, a green park, restaurants and eis cafes.  And even though the photos of these quaint towns are starting to run together, we still love the "going back in time feeling" we get each time we stumble upon these little pockets of German history.

Weiden and Nuremberg

CM has continued to travel a lot for work. This past trip, he stayed in a great little German hotel in a town named Weiden. He booked the family suite and asked us to join him. Weiden is a lovely small town with great restaurants, shopping and a large park with running/biking path that runs parallel to the village.  And although we stuck to our regular schedule, it was a welcome break from our normal routine. (We even had gelato, and only gelato, for lunch one day....we were crazy like that. It did put G in a short-lived sugar coma, however ...documented in pic below)

For the weekend, we headed to Nuremberg. Of all the larger cities we have been to in Germany so far, this is one of our favorites. It's a fantastic walkable city with a castle that sits on the edge of town high on a hill. Nuremberg is known for its Christmas Markets that are said to draw over a million people each winter. It was nice to see this city in the Spring but being only a two hour drive from Stuttgart, we plan to return for the markets next holiday season. 

Essingen

 

Just when I think that we may have visited and seen everything there is to see within a half hour of our house, we stumble upon another amazing find. This time it was the town of Essingen, which is a little reminiscent of Tubingen with its cobblestone streets, open air cafes and old homes that date back for centuries.  However unlike Tubingen, Essingen has the old castle walls still in tact high on a hill.  The hill is surrounded by vineyards and once you make the climb, there is an amazing view down into the village. Within the walls lie a beautiful green space and huge playground.  This is only a twenty minute drive from our home! I wonder what else is out there that we have yet to discover?