After we returned from Garmisch with my parents Sunday night, we took things easy on Monday. We did manage to go out to dinner at the Seegärtle in Böblingen after everyone was home from work and school.
Tuesday was my parents’ final day in Germany. They stayed busy washing clothes, packing, and preparing for their flight. On their final night, we had one more dinner at their favorite restaurant, Ganseestüble, in our neighborhood.
Their flight was early Wednesday morning, so we all said our goodbyes before work and school, and I got them to the airport in plenty of time. As usual, it was another tearful goodbye.
There wasn’t much time to rest before Matt, and I headed into Stuttgart for dinner at Abacco’s with some friends. One was moving back to the US on Thursday, and we wanted to give her one final sendoff.
Dinner was great, and we all had a great time as usual. Then, it was time for another tearful goodbye at the train station. It’s so hard making friends and then having them move away so frequently!
Thursday was Halloween, so we headed to the High School in the evening for their huge trick-or-trunk event. This event seems to get bigger and bigger each year. Brooklyn and Ryan both had to volunteer to sell food for the softball and baseball team fundraisers. Then, they got lost with their friends. I barely saw Ryan all night, but a friend sent me the picture below.
I only saw Brooklyn once across the parking lot and didn’t even get a photo of her. They are growing up too fast, and even though they don’t want to be around us anymore, I am happy that they still choose to attend events like this.
Friday, we had dinner with neighbors and played cards. Saturday, we were all up early for the SATs. Brooklyn was taking them, and Matt and I worked at the event. Ryan came up later in the morning to work on more Boy Scouts requirements with me (and to help me kill time). We were done by noon. Matt and I came home for a much-needed nap, and Brooklyn went to hang out with friends.
Ryan worked a volunteer shift selling poppies for the VFW at the Base Exchange. While there, his Scout leaders surprised him by promoting him to the next rank. He’s really having a great month for promotions!
After our nap, Matt and I joined some friends for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Zum Rad in Sindelfingen. Followed by a stop at a new wine bar, Officina Italiania. Finally, we finished up the night with some more wine at our friends’ while we helped them unpack some of their boxes from their move. It was a great night!
On Sunday, we let ourselves sleep in a little after our late night. As cringe-worthy as it sounds 😂, when we got up, we were craving French Onion Soup, so we decided to go to France to get some. Brooklyn had to work, and Ryan was going bowling with friends, so it was just Matt and I.
We made Wissembourg, France, our destination. Wissembourg is in Northern Alsace and sits just at the corner of France, where Germany is to the East and North. This is maybe the tiniest border crossing we have used before; we literally drove off the main road in Germany and through a farm gate into France. From there, we continued down a farm lane through the field and into town. It was so cute! It had also started out as a typical cloudy and gray German day. But, as we approached the French border, the clouds started clearing up, and it became a surprisingly sunny autumn day.
We parked the car and took a short walk through the town center before deciding on a restaurant, as we were starving by then. We chose a small bistro off the main square called Restuarant au Saumon. The meal started with each of us receiving a soup sampler. The samplers had the restaurant’s different soups, served out of shot glasses with tiny spoons. Then I had the onion soup, and Matt had a shrimp pasta. We both also got the dessert sampler. Each came with a chocolate mousse and panna cotta in shot glasses, a macaroon, and an espresso. Perfection 🤌
After lunch, we were stuffed and needed a walk. Luckily, Wissembourg has a marked town path that runs through the town, along the River Lauter, its canal, and the medieval city walls. We didn’t want to do the whole loop, which takes you up through the vineyards, but we did do the inner loop of the city, which took just under an hour. If we had more time, we could have also done the tiny tourist train that every town in Alsace seems to have. Before returning to the car, we also checked out the huge Church of Saints Peter and Paul. It was the perfect day out!
Funnily, as we crossed back into Germany, the clouds and gray skies returned, so it doesn’t seem we missed anything during our afternoon away. We were home pretty early and had plenty of time to catch up on TV shows and be lazy around the house with the kids!
Gilcrests Abroad 