Germany: Day 1

Here begins Rob's obsession with panorama shots.

After approximately 17 hours of travel (including a three hour layover in Turkey, in which we inhaled as many taste testers of Turkish Delight that we could get our hands on) we arrived in Stuttgart, Germany. I was surprised that the 10.5-hr flight to Istanbul went so quickly. And let me just say that Turkish Airlines was great. They fed us dinner shortly after takeoff (nothing like a delicious salmon or chicken breast shortly after midnight) and then a breakfast shortly before landing. In the meantime we slept a good portion of the first flight and then watched movies for the rest of our travels. A luxury we are not usually permitted when travelling with our youngsters. Upon leaving the airport Anna, of course, looked fairly shady and was accosted by the German Customs officer: "Hallo." "I am ze German customs officer" "Vhere are you coming from?" "Vhy Istanbul?" Our answers were satisfactory, apparently, and he let us through without any fuss or bag checking.

Sa-weet bracelet from the Ataturk Airport

5 star service at the Anderson household

Day 1 in Stuttgart: After a little sleeping in, we went to a 15th century monastery in Bebenhausen. Highlights include a 1470 medieval painting of Christ descending from the cross.

Then off to 14th-century Castle (schloss) Lichtenstein, which is built on the edge of a cliff, 250 m over the valley floor. This was really neat. The tour was all in German so we didn't understand much but luckily we were given a sheet with a description of every room. Highlights include a secret exit from the hunting room (where men drink and regale other men with their hunting stories), a broken mirror left-over from a flying window shard from a WWII tank shell blast, and a 6-ft champagne glass that fits 3 full bottles of champagne. The glass requires three people to use: someone to hold the glass, a drinker, and someone to hold the drinker. Prior to touring the castle we had our first German food: bratwurst with French fries and an apple juice/sparkling (apfelschorle) water combo drink (kinda like Martinellis but less carbonation--enough though that Peter would still like it). I had been trying to learn some German all day from Jake and Ashley and successfully ordered our food in German. Thankfully there was a sign to read from; all I had to remember was "ein" for one. That was about it.