A birthday celebration for two very important people in my life
Stuttgart
Most of you that know us well will know we worked for Daimler AG, headquarters in Stuttgart Germany. For almost five years, while based in Fort Mill, South Carolina we reported for the most part to the world’s best boss, Claus P Roth. The nice thing and although the year was very different, Claus and Kristi both share the same birthday. So coming to Germany had a double whammy for us, to see Claus and his family and to spend time with them in Stuttgart, outside of Daimler. And also to plan our trip around their birthday for a double celebration. We were somewhat excited for both.
Taking one step back for a minute, Claus had called me right at the start of our trip, before we had even left the USA. He told me about a job position in Mercedes UK and it would be working for his division. It was a huge decision to forego applying and to turn down the chance of working with Claus again, but the right one at the time because of our family’s awesome experience that we just weren’t willing to miss. But, if Claus’s call had been a year later, towards the end of the trip, we would probably be living close to Milton Keynes, England by now. Pretty crazy! As much as the girls loved England, I think they are both happy to be back in New Zealand.
Kristi had been to Stuttgart a few times and I had been many times so we knew our way to the office, the hotel and I knew my way to the Hugo Boss factory outlet (sadly not this time), but that was about it. Claus had a wonderful weekend planned and what great fun we had.
We took our little Citroen C3 from Switzerland to Stuttgart in a matter of a few hours and planned around a Friday so that we could spend as much time with the Roths as possible. We found the address and we were immediately greeted by Petra, Claus’s Wife with a lovely, warm welcome. Claus was delayed in Italy coming back to Stuttgart, so we made ourselves at home and got to know Petra and Josh, their son, a lot better than the short time we had met them in America. The kids made themselves at home and Josh was an immediate hit with Charlie because he liked to play soccer.
Crashing at the Roth’s 
USA V Germany
It was wonderful to see Claus when he eventually returned from his late flight back, we had so much to catch up on and we immediately sat down to a lovely meal and shared our travel experiences and caught up on Claus being back in Germany from his 6 years or so in the USA.
It was now quite late and Claus and Petra had so kindly found us a two-bedroom apartment not far from their home where we were able to comfortably put our heads down for the night. The next day, Saturday, Claus had planned a wonderful day for kids at the lovely Bluehendes Barock in Ludwigsburg.
The blooming Baroque Ludwigsburg is the oldest and most beautiful permanent garden show. With its extensive parks and colorful flowers, the Blooming Baroque draws more than 500,000 visitors, large and small, from all over the world every year. Set in the gardens of the beautiful castle there was so much for the kids to explore.
Set in the gardens for many years is the fairytale garden. The extract from their website reads: “The Fairy-Tale Garden has a magic all of its own. You will feel it as soon as you step inside the iron gate: the kings and princesses, witches and giants who live there will make sure of it. In the Upper East Garden, a historical playground awaits you“.
Set into this magical fairytale garden are interactive scenes from nearly 40 nursery rhymes or fairytales that we all grew up with for the most part, some were from Germany and didn’t make it to the UK or the USA but were absolutely awesome for the adults to interact with and take a trip down memory lane, let alone the kids.
Rapunzel
From Aladin to Thumbelina to naughty Max and Moritz we spent a few hours exploring everyone. The Rapunzel one above had her hair descend from the tower when you called her name. Even Lara was in awe of this one.
Once again we were blessed by the weather and this gave us an excuse for ice cream while exploring the grounds. Look at his golden goose egg!
The next day, after a walk with the dogs in the local woods, we set out for a great day with the whole family. The first stop on the tour was Sommerrodelbahn Sonnenbuehl at the Schwaebische Alb.
An area about an hour outside of Stuggart and in the middle of a woodland area where lots of folks were enjoying walking. What we found was a great idea where the owner had turned his winter snow lift into a summer toboggan lift and run as well as a small cafe.
Can We Do That Again?
We spent an hour or so here letting the kids try the toboggan a few times, Charlie just wanted to go faster and faster so it was time for his Dad to call it quits, kids with no fear = Dad with plenty of it.
Next stop, Nebelhöhle cave in Sonnenbuehl. Yes cave, the last thing I imagined would be a spectacular cave in the beautiful countryside surrounding Stuttgart. Nebelhöhle was extremely impressive, known locally as the fog cave, it meets another cave, again known locally as the bear cave. Inside is a spectacular display of stalactites and stalagmites for all to see. The history of the cave is also impressive stuff.
Known as the fog cave because it omits fog on a regular basis, the cave has also been used as homes, animal shelters, and even a mass grave. Now, of course, all that has gone and it is a well worth attraction to the locals and visitors in the area.
After the cave, we had a little walk around to run off some of the guy’s energy and found a 1 Euro ride the boys couldn’t resist.
The next and final stop was exactly how I imagined Germany to be, beautiful countryside and drop-dead gorgeous castles. Claus’s choice of the castle was Burg Lichtenstein, it was simply breathtaking. Built into the side of the hill to either protect or watch the Echaz valley below. It was a complete wonder how the architecture then could present something that even today people would marvel about.
Translated as the “shining stone” and accessed only by a bridge this stunning castle was its own fortress and made for great storytelling with the boys. They ran around wanting to cross the bridge and go and try and see the castle resident dragon. Where did that idea come from I wonder?
That was the end of our Sunday tour with the Roth’s but not before trying out the local coffee and apple pie at the castle cafe, yummy stuff.
In the evening we walked down into their local area of Stuggart and enjoyed a wonderful meal. The weekend had sadly come to end with Claus, Petra, and Josh. It ended up being another top highlight of our trip. We cannot thank them enough for such a wonderful time and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives, thanks guys, until next time : )
Freiburg
Ian has tasked me with writing this bit of the blog – I was the one bringing my family “back” to Freiburg and it was a magical week! I studied for a term in Freiburg when I was 19 and a sophomore at the University of Washington. That 2-month language school ended up being 6 months in Europe – I guess nobody should be surprised that I would choose to travel with my family later in life!! It’s hard for me to know where to begin really because there is was so much emotion behind the scenes of visiting Freiburg, things that I really don’t have the writing skills to articulate. It was a neat time in my life, but a chapter that I had closed, so it was really rewarding to bring my family and make new memories in this quaint and idyllic little German town.
Rumor has it that if you step in a “baechle”, or little brook, in Freiburg then you will marry a Freiburger – well kids, I hate to break it to you but you are too young for love!! Truly though, these little waterways running throughout the old town are absolutely adorable and are a big part of what makes Freiburg so idyllic. They date back to before the 12th century and were used for many more centuries to bring water from the mountains down to Freiburg for use as drinking water and for fighting fires. Thankfully it’s not used directly for drinking because after a week in the German heatwave those waterways were full of dirty little feet and big ones too! We quickly saw kids sailing boats in the waterways and had to jump on that bandwagon. The kids were really good about trekking all over the world with us, but with the heat and lots of walking, pulling little sailboats and rolling our ball in the waterways made it all SO MUCH MORE enjoyable for them! We didn’t buy much during our year abroad because we didn’t have much space in our bags, but these were definitely well worth the few Euros for the week of joy that they brought. We left them behind in our Airbnb for the next child visitors, because could a summer day in this little town get any more charming than with ice cream and boats?
Did I mention it was HOT? We thought we were back in SE Asia during our week in Freiburg and without a beach or pool, we only had so many ways to beat the heat. The boys’ favorite was playing in the local fountains. Daddy took it to the next level when he made the balloons fly in the fountain. Most days in Freiburg we spent our time exploring parks, fountains and playing soccer. It was a nice break for Ian & Lara from the hiking of the previous couple of weeks.
What blog of a little German town would be complete if it weren’t for the beautiful architecture, markets, and cobbled street? Let me tell you from a mom’s perspective, cobbled streets are actually really difficult!! From pushing the stroller – and risking shaken baby syndrome – to all of the tripping and falling, it proved challenging albeit beautiful! Freiburg has a great little market every morning in the church plaza – our favorite thing by far was the AMAZING raspberries! Ian didn’t stand a chance of getting one between the kids and I. Lara & I decided they were the best raspberries we had ever had in our lives. My mouth is watering just as I write this 5 months later…
It’s really weird for me to write about these memories around the church plaza and market. When I was in Freiburg for university my mom came and stayed with me for a while and we frequented these markets. What I remember though are the sausages and ice cream – it’s good that my diet has matured along with me! It was really interesting that there was actually very little I could remember from my stay in Freiburg – we would walk down streets and it would be vaguely familiar, but that was it. I spent hours walking all over town with the kids trying to find the guesthouse I stayed in, but could only get as close as the church pictured below. I couldn’t remember the street or perhaps it has changed in 20 years, either way it’s a mystery. I’ve always admired my best friend Rachael’s memory because she remembers every detail from when we were in high school and sometimes when she tells me stuff it’s like I get to live it all again for the first time. The cool thing about this stay in Freiburg though was how familiar the scent was and how it felt a bit like coming home. In some ways, I’m grateful that I don’t have very strong memories from my time in university because I was able to make new memories with Ian and the kids. It’s funny because I’m a big proponent of never being able to go back, but in this case it was such a different and special experience.
Nearest street to our apartment 
Church near the guesthouse where I stayed in university
With construction beginning in the 1200s, the Freiburg cathedral is unique in that it is the only gothic style cathedral completed in Germany during the Middle Ages and also survived the bombings of WW2 without being hit. We were able to go up to the top of the tower via the bell room. The largest bell weighs nearly 3,300KG!! The worker warned us to be quick because the bells were about to chime and while they sound beautiful down in the market, they are alarmingly loud in the bell room! Ashton, who is sensitive to noise, was less than impressed so I rushed out with him to continue up to the top of the tower. Ian, who is sensitive to heights, was also less than impressed going up the stairs to the top of the tower. At one point he nearly turned back and was not very receptive (or kind) when I tried to encourage him to the top. Thankfully he made it and recovered when he saw the big fence preventing any falls! The previous day the kids and I went to the top of a big tower in the forest overlooking Freiburg and I waited and waited for Ian with the kids at the top only to find that he had backed out part way up and opted against it… I was proud of him for redeeming himself with the church tower climb!
The tiny tower in the background on the hill is the tower he missed out on the previous day but we’re HAPPY we made it to the top of the church tower!
One morning we heard a lot of noise and realized there was a parade in town!! We followed the noise to the main street where we stumbled upon Freiburg’s gay pride parade. It happened to go right in front of Starbucks so we settled in with a coffee to watch the action. None of us had ever been to a gay pride parade and didn’t know what to expect. In fact, I never really realized what the point of a gay pride parade was. To be honest, I don’t care if people are gay or not, so I never quite understood the reason for having a parade about it. However, after stumbling upon the Freiburg parade and subsequently the London pride parade later in the summer I’ve learned a few things. A friend posted this quote which I thought was really poignant, sorry I don’t know where it originates, “gay pride was not born of a need to celebrate being gay, but our right to exist without persecution. So instead of wondering why there isn’t a straight pride movement, be thankful you don’t need one.” Having experienced how many more obstacles women in business face versus our male counterparts, this quote really resonated with me. Men, including my own husband sometimes, just never got what I had to deal with as their female counterpart and I think many straight people, myself included, just never really get what our LGBTQ friends have to deal with. I am thankful that I can go into a bathroom and not be glared at, that Ian & I can play with our kids and not be questioned, that we never had to grapple with coming out, being ostracized or the myriad of other obstacles that we can’t even imagine just because of who we choose to love. I would love a day where there wasn’t persecution – of religions, sexuality, gender, ethnicities, etc and therefore these parades, women’s rights movements and other similar activities weren’t needed but in the meantime though I better understand the need for community and finding your place.
We all enjoyed the parade – the colors, the music and the primarily positive atmosphere. One of the funniest things that we enjoyed the most though was seeing, yet again, German ingenuity and discipline. Literally following RIGHT behind the parade was a garbage/recycling truck and workers systematically cleaning the streets and sidewalks. The parade was gone as quickly as it came – no rubbish, no broken glass and no noisy leftover drunks. London could learn something about the post-parade recovery!
The really big milestone of Freiburg though was the boys’ THIRD birthday!!! I just can’t believe a couple of things… 1) that these little guys have been with us for 3 years and 2) that I survived traveling the world with TWO kids in their terrible TWOS!!! Haha. Honestly, these little guys exhaust us, but they also bring us SO MUCH joy that we wouldn’t change it for the world. Getting to see their development over the last year of these travels, spending every minute with them, seeing the world through their little eyes has been amazing. I say their little eyes, but in many ways, their eyes are much, much bigger than ours. They see everything with such wide-eyed wonder, seeing it all for the first time, spotting little details that we would have overlooked, having no preconceived notions or expectations, trusting us unabashedly through it all. They each bring unique personalities and qualities to our family that we would otherwise be missing. From Charlie’s smile in his eyes and his chatty nature to Ashton’s snuggles and huge physical smile we are so grateful that we got this time. I think it’s also really neat that almost 20 years later I got to celebrate my kids’ birthdays in a town where I lived around my 20th birthday (don’t do the math). As much as having a traveling soul sometimes is difficult, because let’s face it, there are bills to pay and kids to educate, I do hope that these boys will also have our zest for life and seeing the big wide world out there. I know they won’t remember this trip or this 3rd birthday, but I have two big hopes for them from all of this. Firstly, I hope that this time together with them in these early years builds a bond of love and trust with us (and Lara) that will last a lifetime. They are especially lucky to have had so much time with their Daddy & Lara because the reality is that in “normal” life Ian & Lara would have been gone all day. Secondly, I hope that the experiences and lessons that we’ve learned as adults on this journey are implemented into our family in such a way that we bring up more socially and environmentally conscious children, children with a passion for making the world a better place, a passion for learning about the HUGE world that is out there and gratitude that they’ve been born into a freaking amazing little corner of it.
One of the main reasons that we did this blog was so that the kids could look back and read it one day because we knew they wouldn’t have actual memories of it. So boys – happy birthday! One day when YOU read this, maybe it will help you understand a little bit more about who you are and why you are the people that you are today. We love you so much and have absolutely loved this year around the world with you!! We can’t wait to see where the world takes YOU both! xoxo
I admire Ian for writing these blogs. They always make me teary as I take a walk down memory lane. I’m just so grateful. I’m thankful that I got to study German in Freiburg (and it came in handy this year!) all those years ago, that I have memories with my mom in this town, that I got to make memories with my family in this town, that I got to celebrate Ashton & Charlie’s birthdays in this town and although the life I imagined when I was in Freiburg the first time is NOTHING like the life I am leading now, I am so grateful that God’s crooked path of life has given me so much more than I ever could have dreamed to imagine. To be loved by such a kind man (except while on high towers), to be adored by 2 little kids, to be tolerated (and secretly very loved I know) by a teenager and to get 18 months off to travel around the world is incredible. Bis zum nachsten mal Freiburg!
Check out our amazing photo gallery of Stuttgart and Freiburg here.
Next stop, Paris, France