Germany Day 1

Aug 4th
Well We finally made it to Germany. After a three hour flight delay in Philadelphia we landed in Frankfurt at 12:30pm today. It was a relief seeing Wilfred, our good family friend who picked us up from the airport. With out knowing any of the language it is nice to have someone who can speak both German and English to make us feel comfortable. From Frankfurt we drove to Stuttgart, which is about a two hour drive south on the Auto Ban. During the car ride jet lag kicked in majorly. As much as I wanted to stay awake and see the drive I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and fell asleep. When I woke up we were in a small town 15  minutes out of Stuttgart where Wilfred lives. The town was everything I had hoped it would be, with typical German looking houses. White, with brown shutters, long slanted roofs, and flowers everywhere. The town is very quaint and quiet, with cobble stone roads and mom and pop shops. We pulled up to a small apartment building with a gate. When we entered the parking garage Will made us get out because the parking spaces were so small that you couldn't open the doors and get out. After we got our luggage out of the car and headed to the elevator to head up to his floor, I couldn't help but laugh at the size of the elevator that was no bigger than a closet, with a capacity of two people with out luggage. Heather and I got in first, cramming in with our luggage and will pressed the button for third floor. The buttons seemed easy although they were in German. one was red and one was green. I held the red button thinking I was stopping the door from closing to let heather in, but I guess I pressed the emergency call button. When we got to the third floor we waited for Will and my dad to come up. Wills place was small and cute. The thing I found strange was that each room had a door on it. A door to get into the living room, a door for the kitchen, and a door for everything. The toilet was also in its own room separate from the bathroom that had the shower in it. After taking a 2 hour nap and refreshing shower, we were ready to go out and experience some German culture. For a celebration we had a beer at the house and looked through some German magazines. We left to go out about 7pm and walked to the local beer garden where we ordered food and beers. Heather and I got two separate meals and shared them. I ordered these potato pancakes in a bed of warm apple sauce and heather got an egg omelet fritter with pesto tortellini and sausage in it. It was very different from anything I have seen but It tasted great. After Our meal we walked around the cobblestone roads and took pictures of the cute German buildings and statues. We came upon another bar and went in for drinks. We sat on the outside patio, which was a large courtyard with Christmas lights. Each table had a large blanket draped over the back of the chair which I thought it was funny. Wilfred said it was for when you get cold. I definitely wouldn't be needing that considering it was 10pm and 85 degrees out. The guys ordered beers and heather and I bought some fruity drinks called pussy wagons because of the funny name. After chatting about the cultural differences between all the European countries  and after we finished our drinks we decided that it was time to call it a night and go home. Tomorrow will be another day full of adventure.