Great weekend here in Stuttgart!

Friday:  We took in the Marienplatz Music Fest!  Dutch rock 'n' roll band played and sounded a lot like Of Monsters and Men.  Their encore was, of all things, Rocky Top.  Surreal!

Anna tried a vegan wurst.  I stuck with the more traditional (and tasty) bratwurst.  Rick and the students showed up around 1:00 and we all took the incline train (rack rail) up from Marienplatz to a little community and an overlook of Stuttgart.  Beautiful views!

Bought Jude a scooter so he can get around as quickly and easily as Turner on the skateboard.

Did laundry in the neighboring apartment (with Eva's permission) since it was available for the weekend and has a washing machine.

Saturday:  Walked to the Staatgalerie for the Edward Munch exhibit.  It seems that the gallery's curators and partners enjoyed Munch's work even while he was alive and had therefore assembled a stunning collection over the decades.  The boys enjoyed it and were very patient.

Headed back toward the city center (Stadt Mitte) and came across the Saturday flea market.  I bought a German-made stein.  (Original price was 15 euros; I paid 8.  It seems the Germans like to haggle as much as Americans, but I think I got the better deal.)  Ate at an Italian-themed restaurant and continued to shop.  The indoor market was right next to the restaurant, so we went through.  Bought some chocolates and gummies.

The boys went to the basketball park and the skatepark in the evening.  Anna and I ate at Mezzogiorno, a nice Italian place 5 minutes from our apartment.

Finished the night with a game of Uno.  We renamed it Eins (or "One" in German).  The boys made Anna say the numbers and colors in German each time she played a card.  She's learning more all the time.  Went to bed exhausted!

Sunday:  We took the train to Bad Connstatt (short ride) to watch Turner participate in the amateur skateboard competition. While others were in church, we were watching Turner compete with his international skate brethren--a.k.a. hooligans.  After two hours of warm ups, the organizers started the competition.  Imagine 50 sweaty, teenage boys, a warehouse building, an emcee, and an announcer on a terrible p.a. system.  Chaos!  He liked it though.  We all had a unique and wonderful experience.
 

Made it back to our 'hood and took in Hotzenplotz, our new favorite restaurant for dinner.  Again... exhausted at the end of the day.