The New Oberbuergermeister of Stuttgart Army Garrison!

On Monday morning Stuttgart Army Garrison welcomed a new Oberbuergermeister (Lord Mayor)… my Dad! It was a fun event and we were overwhelmed with the incredible five-star treatment we received. Our cousin Robert even came into town from Hanover… He and the Social Protocol gal from my Dad’s office, Liz, (Who by the way is an absolute hoot to hang out with! So far I’m loving the Germans!) had tricked us by telling us Robert wasn’t going to be able to make it! So we were thrilled when he shocked us by walking in!

The Ceremony was absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t have had a more beautiful day… But after all the hand-shaking in the reception line Drayton, Carolyn and I thought our hands were going to fall off! (I’m telling you what, Germans sure do have a tight grip… So try shaking about 200 hands in a row!) After the ceremony/reception Dad went straight to work while we decided to venture into Stuttgart for the first time to find the local Ikea… Robert had been in our new home for no less than two minutes before declaring that “We need a toilette brush!” (Now keep in mind that we’ve been in our house for all of 3 days and none of our “things” will be arriving until later August)…. Although he also   added that  Ikea has the best Swedish meatballs a man could ask for… So off we were! But holy cow! The ensuing  4-5 hour escapade took us to the four corners of Stuttgart.

In total tally my mom managed to  get thrown onto the Autobahn for the first time, we got lost in the urban center of Stuttgart during rush hour (thanks to a combination of Robert’s not-so-brilliant “sixth sense” for directions and our malfunctioning German Audi navigation system)… We asked a total of 4 people for help, had one person actually get into the car to help us try to understand the “Garmin”, broke 2 laws (one illegal u-turn and one hasty cut across an intersection in front of a very angry looking German trucker), and drove past Ikea THREE times screaming “but it’s right there!!!” before we successfully managed to make it to the parking lot… All in all the never ending search for Ikea took us almost 4 hours and to the far corners of Stuttgart… But we laughed until we cried the ENTIRE way! It was more fun than I’ve ever had traveling in a car around a foreign city… And not understanding the language (or Robert for that matter) half the time made it even the more comical!

Upon finally arriving at Ikea we did in fact confirm that Ikea has AMAZING Swedish meatballs and ice-cream… And we finally managed to find the toilet brushes after walking through every-inch of the store… After much deliberation over the specific type of toilet brush to be chosen (and getting yelled at, in German of course!, for touching the toilet-brush display)… We eventually managed to acquire enough cleaning supplies for all the toilettes in Stuttgart.

In the end we were FINALLY on the way home before we realized, much to our dismay, that there is a second Ikea in Stuttgart, literally only 5 minutes from Patch Barracks… Such as life… Haha

We spent the evening celebrating at a local beer brewery… The Schounbrauhaus… It was great to be out; although this time we took Liz along to be our navigator/second translator/comic relief for the evening! It w as amazing food and even more incredible beer… I have now determined that my favorite beer is “Unfiltered”, closely followed by “Import” or a “Pillsner”… This will be rather important  information come the Keg Tapping my Dad’s performing at a local beer-fest this weekend with the Mayor… Should be fun!

Tomorrow we’re headed on an impromptu day-trip to France! It might be a little risky given our current track-record of navigating with Robert, but he assures us we won’t regret it! And I am increasingly becoming a fan of the unplanned, spontaneous, go-where-the-wind-takes-you kind of travel… So I’m looking forward to an adventure!

With Love from Germany, Mary