I’m almost fully recovered from the Coronation last weekend! Of course, we had another busy week at home. At the end of the week, I also realized I passed the two year anniversary of when I arrived in Germany. It feels like it was just yesterday and a lifetime ago, all at the same time.
Tuesday night, Brooklyn had a softball scrimmage against a local softball team in Herrenberg. The game had already been rained out once before, a few weeks prior. On Tuesday, it poured in the afternoon, soaking the field. The teams decided to go ahead and play in the outfield in order to complete the game. Unfortunately, the torrential downpour continued off and on and after several breaks due to the rain, the game was called before they finished two innings.
Thursday night, we went to the Stuttgart Opera. Opera is so popular in Germany; every city and large town has its own opera house and people regularly go. Brooklyn loves opera so it really is a shame that it took us so long to see one.
We saw a production of Carmen, which turned out to be a very modernized version. The characters were transformed into clowns, flight attendants, and redneck men. There was a tv that sat in the middle of the stage the entire show, that just showed a single eye-ball looking around, and there was a green “alter ego” that looked like the grinch running around the whole time. It was definitely a far cry from the gypsies and bull fighters of the traditional Carmen. We don’t enjoy modern art so much, but the music was at least original and very pretty. At the end, the applause lasted over ten minutes. It was a packed house; even on a Thursday night, and I didn’t see one person with their phone pulled out the whole evening. Later, we read that this was one of the best modern productions of Carmen in recent years. People come from all over Germany to Stuttgart to see it. I don’t think we really appreciated it as we should have, but at least we got to experience it. I asked Brooklyn if it was what she was expecting and she replied “Duh, Stuttgart is known for their modern interpretations of Opera.” Got it.
Saturday, Brooklyn had a double header in Vilseck, about 4 hours away in Bavaria. As we were going to Fruhlingsfest in the evening, Matt and I stayed back from the game. We dropped Brooklyn at the bus at 4am and then came home for some more rest and then to get some things done around the house. A friend made sure to take lots of videos of Brooklyn and of course since we weren’t there, she hit a monster triple and a double during the games. They played against a team they had lost to twice already in the season but ended up winning their second game of the day against them. We were so proud, and also mad at ourselves for missing the action.
Saturday night, we headed to Bad Canstatt for Stuttgart’s Fruhlingsfest, AKA Spring fest. This time, we had two tables reserved and we spent the evening singing, dancing, and enjoying the bier with 20 of our friends. All I can say that is that we did use all of our bier tokens and did not make it to the closing of the tent.
Sunday was Mother’s Day and we celebrated by taking the day off from all activities and laying around the house, relaxing. Next week, Brooklyn is off to the Euro Championships for softball.
Gilcrests Abroad 