Monday was also a holiday but it was overcast and threatening rain in the morning, so I made us some hot muesli and coffee for breakfast (from the downstairs kitchen). In the early afternoon, we took a walk through the edge of the forest nearby to Killesburg, a nearby area perhaps a few miles up the road along the ridge. There is a lot of very new housing and retail developments over there, actually the highest per square meter housing in Stuttgart, designed by British firm David Chipperfield architects. There's also a shopping center with an Aldi and the Edeka I was mooning over in a previous post, and at the edge, there is Scholz and Schloz. Scholz is the cafe, Schloz is the ice cream store.
The walk through the forest was really nice. It had rained a bit before, so everything was bright green with the spring, the trees are incredibly tall and old, and I enjoyed birdwatching through the underbrush. Lots of these little sparrow-type birds in the low branches and close to the ground, with striking white and black faces. We also passed a few people on horseback, coming down the trail from the big ranch at the edge. When we popped out, it was a short walk down to Scholz.
At Scholz, we ordered cappuchinos and slices of cake. I never knew how much Germans are into their kaffee und kuchen. And these guys do a good job. I had a zitronensahne which is a lemon-creme cake.
After cake, we walked over to park and indulged our inner five-year-olds by riding the little train. I'm actually happy we did since we got a nice view of the expansive park (it was once a quarry but has had several decades of renovations and new installations). All the tulips were in bloom and the park was packed as people flocked in to enjoy the warm (if threateningly cloudy) day.
There is a really cool observation tower, visible even from my office across the valley, which one can climb, and it's quite striking from a structural standpoint, since it simply consists of a single steel mast, circular platforms, a double helix staircase, and a cable next suspension system to tie everything together and to the ground.
As it began to rain, we caught a bus back to my street, but we still had a ten minute walk ahead of us. As soon as we hopped off, the rain picked up and we were quickly drenched. The rest of the afternoon, we spent practicing German and drinking tea in my big bedroom, waiting for the sun to come out.
The walk through the forest was really nice. It had rained a bit before, so everything was bright green with the spring, the trees are incredibly tall and old, and I enjoyed birdwatching through the underbrush. Lots of these little sparrow-type birds in the low branches and close to the ground, with striking white and black faces. We also passed a few people on horseback, coming down the trail from the big ranch at the edge. When we popped out, it was a short walk down to Scholz.
At Scholz, we ordered cappuchinos and slices of cake. I never knew how much Germans are into their kaffee und kuchen. And these guys do a good job. I had a zitronensahne which is a lemon-creme cake.
After cake, we walked over to park and indulged our inner five-year-olds by riding the little train. I'm actually happy we did since we got a nice view of the expansive park (it was once a quarry but has had several decades of renovations and new installations). All the tulips were in bloom and the park was packed as people flocked in to enjoy the warm (if threateningly cloudy) day.
There is a really cool observation tower, visible even from my office across the valley, which one can climb, and it's quite striking from a structural standpoint, since it simply consists of a single steel mast, circular platforms, a double helix staircase, and a cable next suspension system to tie everything together and to the ground.
As it began to rain, we caught a bus back to my street, but we still had a ten minute walk ahead of us. As soon as we hopped off, the rain picked up and we were quickly drenched. The rest of the afternoon, we spent practicing German and drinking tea in my big bedroom, waiting for the sun to come out.
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