After we were all home from our separate adventures the Monday after Veterans Day, we had a quiet week at home.
The weekend finally arrived after a long week of school and work. We started it with a birthday celebration for one of our friends at the Check Inn in Böblingen. The Check Inn is part of the old Böblingen Airport complex, where every store and restaurant has an airport theme, and this one was the check-in desks (go figure). It’s a super cute restaurant with good food that we’ve been to, and the dinner was just as good this time as before.
On Saturday, Ryan helped another Scout with their Eagle project, restoring a historic fountain in Downtown Stuttgart.
Saturday night was the Marine Corps Ball. After Ryan was home from Boy Scouts, Matt, Brooklyn, and I headed back into downtown Stuttgart, where we stayed overnight. That night, we attended the Ball with friends, and Brooklyn babysat for a couple in their hotel room.
This was our second year attending the ball. Last year, the event was held at the historic casino in Baden Baden. While the venue is definitely much more beautiful, it is more challenging for families with young kids to get childcare since its so far away. This year, they moved the venue back to Stuttgart, where it was held in a concert hall, the Kongresshalle.
The evening started with cocktails in the foyer. At 6 pm, a bugler comes out and plays, signaling it’s time to move to your seats.
The ceremony starts with the band leading the procession of official guests. Then, the Marine Commandant’s Birthday Message, a ten minute long film—which could really double as an action movie trailer—is shown. It was really cool to watch especially with all the Marines in the room cheering the whole time. I’ll put a link to it below!
Since this is a birthday ball, the huge birthday cake is wheeled out after the film. This is my favorite part. The cake is cut with a sword, and the first piece is given to the oldest Marine in attendance. This year, the oldest was a retired Colonel, born in 1959 and commissioned in 1982. The second piece of cake is given to the youngest Marine in attendance. This year, she was born in 2003 and commissioned in 2021. It was really cool, but also hard to believe she is only five years older than Brooklyn.
The speaker was General Ivo Moerman, the commandant of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, and he was awesome! At first, for me, a Dutch general did not seem like the natural choice for an American military ball, but I turned out to be so wrong. He gave an amazing speech, drawing back to how the Dutch were the first to salute the American Marines during the Revolutionary War when the Americans came into harbor in the Dutch West Indies for supplies. He then carried the theme forward to the cooperation still occurring in modern times. After the conclusion of the ceremony, it was time for dinner and dancing.
The Ball ended way too soon, so we all walked a couple of blocks away to end the night at the Jigger & Spoon bar, where they gave us a VIP room. It was the perfect end to an awesome night.
I’m not sure when we returned to the hotel, but I know it was late! We woke up in time for the massive breakfast at the hotel and then made our way home, where we napped and relaxed the rest of the day. It was a great weekend, and we are so lucky, and honored, to have gone two years in a row. I hope we can go again next year!
Here is the link to the Commandant’s 249th Birthday Message: https://youtu.be/HKpfV_dKOWY?si=rZXALLVID8Cx5Hid
Gilcrests Abroad 