Secret City Trails: Stuttgart

Charles requested that we do established "date nights" now that we're back to being in the same zip code. With his last year spent serving overseas while I remained stateside, date nights just did not happen. 

For our first date night (although technically it was a day date) in Germany I found a website that offered some city tour options that could be done even during COVID restrictions. The website has city tours and activities in places all over the world! Check out Secret City Trails if you are looking for some options near you or for your upcoming vacation. 

Our tour started near the main train station in Stuttgart so it was easy to find our beginning point. The tour was set up like a game where we had to solve riddles to find the various sights around town. The riddles were pretty easy, so it was not hard to figure them out. 

This was a fun pig statue that we were guided to. One day we might be able to check out the pig museum in Stuttgart!

We love snapping photos of churches during our travels! We have some beautiful shots from our honeymoon and have continued this mission since. While this one might not be frame worthy, it was still nice to take a picture of it to document.

 Overall, the tour was a great way to see some of the sights of Stuttgart. It gave some suggestions on restaurants and bars to check out, but unfortunately many were closed due to COVID. But at the end we could download a map with all the suggestions so many one day we will get to return and give some of them a try. 

You should try this...

Yesterday Charles and I had a little date day. We started with a late lunch at BJ's Brewhouse. Even though it is a chain, they have some really yummy food. I love their fried artichoke appetizer. We both had small deep dish pizzas. Delicious!

Then we saw the new movie, A Walk in the Woods. It is based on the Bill Bryson book with the same name. We both read that book and love Bill Bryson books. The movie was really good. Of course, it was not as good as the book. The movie made me wish I loved hiking. The scenery is so beautiful.

We ended our evening by visiting the much-hyped Parlor Ice Cream Puffs. The concept is a donut stuffed with ice cream and toppings. Genius! I had a glazed donut with cake batter ice cream and Nutella. It was amazing! The donut is somehow warm while the ice cream inside is cold and melty (in a good way).

A Saturday hike

For Charles' birthday last year, I gave him a bunch of "coupons" to redeem for various things throughout the year. Yesterday he redeemed two coupons, so we had a fun Saturday! One coupon was redeemed to visit a state park in our area and hike. The other was to go to Young's Dairy which has mini golf, a driving range, the best ice cream and more.

The day was perfect for a walk in the woods. It was sunny, but not too hot. It was great on the trails through the trees because we were in the shade and kept cool. We were hoping to see the waterfall, but must have chosen the wrong trail. We never saw it.

At Young's, Charles and I played a round of mini golf. I was ahead for most of the game, but ended up losing by 1 point. That's probably the closest I have ever come to beating Charles. Then we tried our luck at the driving range. I didn't do too horribly. And we finished off the time there with two scoops each of ice cream. I picked my usual--chocolate peanut butter. Yummy!

I love days were we have fun things to do together that are out of the norm. We usually go to the mall or do stuff around the house. But we got out in the sunshine and spent the day together.

Date Day--Vintage Baseball

Last summer, when we visited Connecticut , we attended a vintage baseball game. Vintage baseball teams play baseball with old rules (1860's to early 1900's). They wear vintage style baseball uniforms and use old style balls and bats. It's a lot of fun to see the game how it used to be played.

Turns out that Dayton has their own vintage baseball team. They had a home game on Saturday, so Charles and I went for our date day. They play their home games at the historical park here (which is on my list to tour soon). We brought out the picnic blanket, sat under a tree and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

If you're looking for a unique outing for a date or for the family, try looking for a vintage baseball team in your area. This site might help in your search: www.vbba.org

*I shared this post on Under the Table and Dreaming

Dating

Charles and I have been doing a weekly date day/night. Our first date night was to a local Italian restaurant. We love Italian food! I had Chicken Parm. That's my favorite dish to order and it's a good test of the restaurant. This place didn't have amazing Chicken Parm, so it was a let down.

Our second date night was Indian food and getting the kitties. I always order the same thing at Indian restaurants--Chicken Tikka Masala. It's not too spicy and the sauce is really good. And whenever you eat Indian, you always have to have Naan. Yummy! This Indian restaurant's Chicken Tikka Masala wasn't as good as the place my parents go to in Houston. But I think there is another Indian restaurant nearby that we might have to try.

One of our dates was getting burgers at Five Guys and seeing Water for Elephants. We love Five Guys burgers. I always get a mini burger with lettuce, mayo and ketchup. And I usually drink an orange soda. We split an order of regular fries, but Charles always eats more of them than I do. I've never been a huge fan of french fries.

Last week we went to The Pub which is in this outdoor shopping area about 10-15 minutes away from our house. I had a Pub Burger and a Ticket to Ride (tropical alcoholic beverage). It was very tasty and the atmosphere was great. It's a place I will probably bring visitors to. After eating, we played Mini Golf. The rain held out which was nice. I lost by like 10 points, but I almost never beat Charles at any kind of game we play.

Yesterday our date day included going to the Dayton International Festival and going to a concert at the A.F. Museum. The International Festival was pretty cool. There were booths set up for various countries such as Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, China, Africa, etc. Most of the booths sold some kind of food and/or beverage that is unique to that country. The theme this year was wedding traditions, so each booth also had to highlight the wedding traditions of that country. The festival also had two stages set up with performances every 15-30 minutes. We saw dancing from Greece, Scotland and Czechoslovakia. We also saw the Kenyan Safari Acrobats. They were very interesting. The food we sampled included: an egg roll (China), a pretzel (Germany...really good, by the way), appelflappen (The Netherlands...fried apple ring covered with powdered sugar...yummy!). I had a virgin pina coloda (Puerto Rico) and Charles had a beer from Lebanon.

That evening, at the Air Force Museum, the band was giving a concert honoring Glenn Miller. If you don't know who Glenn Miller is, then you really need to check out his music. It's big band/swing style from the 40's+. The concert was outside and everyone brought chairs or blankets to sit on. The music was great. And it didn't rain! Charles and I had been to the A.F. Museum twice before--once to see the museum (we only got through WWI even though we were there for like 2 hours) and once to see a lecture on the Battle of Britain (yes, I'm a nerd). Both of those times, it rained while we were there. So I was slightly surprised that the rain decided to hold out this time.

Yesterday's date day was one of the best we've had, in my opinion. It was interesting and entertaining and encompassed things we both love.