The Christmas lights have been up around the columns of the Königsbau Passagen for over a week now. My weather app is forecasting a chance of (gasp!) snow this week. Our grocery store has a full display of Lindt Christmas chocolate and rows upon rows of Speculoos cookies and Lebkuchen. And just yesterday, I watched as they began erecting the ice skating rink and Christmas village in front of the New Castle.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Christmas is fast approaching...
This past weekend we took a trip south to Tübingen. Our goal was twofold: to eat some delicious Swabian Maultaschen and to check out the Chocolate Festival for the first time. While it can usually take over an hour to get there by train from downtown Stuttgart, we were lucky to have a friend with a car who was willing to drive our small party.
We set out early(ish) on Saturday and zipped along the Autobahn. Just 45 minutes later, we made it to our destination. The town was absolutely packed for the chocolate festival, and though we hadn't planned on having to drive around for 20 minutes to find a parking spot, I'm glad we arrived early. We parked the car at at a garage near the center of town, and walked the quick 15 minutes through the old town to Hotel am Schloss next to the castle. We were scheduled to have lunch there, at Restaurant Mauganeschtle, at noon...
Christmastime is almost here again! It's a magical season in Germany when the Christmas stalls fill the streets and Glühwein appears in everyone's mugs (not really, but that would be nice). Living in a city as large as Stuttgart, there are many opportunities to attend not only Stuttgart's four-week market, but also many of the other smaller markets around the area.
So get ready for the Christmas season and look forward to these events coming up in November and December...
