First weekend

Every inbound military here at Marine Forces Europe has a sponsor; someone to help you figure out what you need to know just to get stuff done.  My sponsor is a Major who's been here for about a year and a half and really did a great job of showing myself and another newbie, a Capt, everything from the lodging office, the commissary, exchange, post office, gym, health clinic, etc.

This past Saturday he came to our hotel to show us how to use the German train system.  There's the Deutschebahn, the national train (sort of like Amtrak), the S bahn, a regional train, and the U bahn which is local (like a short commuter system).  We took the S bahn into Stuttgart and poked around a bit.  It was a cloudy, chilly day but nice to explore.

I had actually been to Stuttgart four years ago on my way home from Georgia, but that was a far different experience.  I remember the train station here in Boblingen (the town near base) was being renovated and it was a mess.  I struggled to figure out how to get a ticket but I did make it to Stuttgart and wandered around all day and even toured the Mercedes Museum, which was great.  So this time, with a modern train station complete with ticket machines and a manned booth, it was far easier.

These two photos are of the Schlossplatz (roughly castle plaza), the bottom shows the Neues Schloss (new castle) which was originally a palace built in the 1740s by 18 year old Duke Charles (just cuz he could).  After almost being destroyed in WWII it was rebuilt and now houses the Finance and Education Ministries.

This is my walk to work, chilly but nice now and should be much better next month.