We flew out of Chicago on August 27th and landed here the 28th. There was a short layover in Newark, but our flight ended up delayed by about an hour with us sitting on board. Nothing like being stuck in a plane for an extra hour when you have an international flight ahead of you! I can't complain too much I suppose, because this did lead to additional movie watching time. Tom is somewhat of a pro at international flights while I am not. When we flew to France last summer, he was peacefully asleep within thirty minutes of take off and I was restless the whole flight. I expected a similar repeat for this trip, but neither of us slept much. I got in a solid thirty minutes while he didn't sleep at all. This was an unfortunate situation as the jet lag and exhaustion set in before too terribly long.
We made it through airport security and successfully retrieved our luggage before heading to the rental car desk. The car pick up point wasn't a terrible walk, but it was a major struggle with our 100+ pounds of luggage and carry ons. We weaved our way down sidewalks, through elevators, and up a half flight of stairs before successfully making it to our Ford Kuga (the European version of a Ford Escape) and piling in. After spending fifteen minutes with the employees setting our GPS to English, we were on our way!
We arrived at our apartment mid morning with minimal directional difficulty. Street parking can be a bit tight and our road is very narrow, so we did have to do a lap before finding a spot. Before arriving, we were able to see pictures of our apartment. This went a long way in helping us to feel comfortable and relaxed in a new environment. Being told our place was on the third and fourth floor, we were quite surprised when it was actually the fourth and fifth. I've quickly discovered the first floor is actually referred to as the ground floor in Germany, I look forward to all the extra cardio this will bring in the coming months. After a tour from the moving company and hooking up our phones to our wireless, Tom and I headed downtown Stuttgart with our moving coordinator.
Balcony view one.
Balcony view two. More on this lovely church tower later..
There were some logistical things to begin to worry about, our coordinator was amazing and helped us navigate the large walking area of central Stuttgart. We attempted to set up our phones, which didn't quite work out as our SIM cards were still locked. Awesome. It was a very good thing we had wireless working at home. After some errands, we grabbed a beverage at a great coffee shop downtown. I had an espresso and Tom got a hot chocolate.
The cleaning company was at the apartment when we came back, so we tried to prolong our adventures for a while longer. We parked by at our place and walked around the neighborhood before settling on a local hotel and restaurant to try. We each ordered a beer, Tom got wiener schnitzel and I had some kind of steak with fried onions and spatzle. As soon as we ordered, Tom almost immediately fell asleep at the table, the jet lag was really hitting us hard. He did wake up to eat and for us to pay and walk home.
As we dragged ourselves up to our abode on the top floor, we realized the cleaning people were still there. Throwing all decency aside, we passed out on the couch before heading up to bed after they left. Tom carried all of our luggage up that afternoon, but we slept for another few hours before beginning to unpack anything.
We awoke around 8:30 pm and the local nightly television served as quite the entertainment while we arranged our things that evening. Our place came mostly furnished upon move in, kitchen basics, towels, and sheets. All of which were lifesavers as our shipped items weren't going to be arriving any time soon. We showered and made ourselves some tea before heading up to bed as we had to be downtown again early the next day.
We awoke around 8:30 pm and the local nightly television served as quite the entertainment while we arranged our things that evening. Our place came mostly furnished upon move in, kitchen basics, towels, and sheets. All of which were lifesavers as our shipped items weren't going to be arriving any time soon. We showered and made ourselves some tea before heading up to bed as we had to be downtown again early the next day.
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