Modena to Pullman Fontana Stuttgart

Making our way gingerly to the gate

It took us nearly an hour to leave our house that Saturday morning. It was freezing cold, we had snow nearly to our knees and this all happened overnight. Hub sent the Teenager to remove the snow from the gate with our only spade. And it was quite an expedition driving that few hundred metres to the gate and getting out onto the road - we could have gotten stuck anytime along the way. Thank God it was Hub driving.

Snow in the garden

The road just outside the house

Our street was dead that morning. All the cars were crawling as the roads were very slippery. It took us nearly 8 hours to reach Metzingen (instead of 6) meaning that we only had 1.5 hours to do damage to the wallet. But Hub and I managed to grab a coat each from Burberry plus a few other items from Hugo Boss and Escada. Some of you know that I have been hoping to buy a trenchcoat from Burberry - but never managed to find one that I like. Finally I bought an A-line Sarcliffe coat (one of the rare made-in-England's) admitting at last that what looked good on others may not look good at all on me. Problem is that I still have 2 anti-theft tags on my coat - the alarm went off as we left the shop, but the security guards checked our pockets and waved us off. Now I look like an idiot with 2 big plastic tags on my coat. Will have to drive to the Burberry store in Bologna to have them removed.

Pullman Fontana Stuttgart-Vaihingen****

We had dinner late at Ganesha's (it's still one of the better Indian restaurants outside the UK, actually it's Sri Lankan) and checked into our hotel the Pullman Fontana Stuttgart-Vaihingen. The hotel is part of the Accor group, but I think that it's better than most of the other 4-star hotels in the chain. We booked 2 connecting rooms and they came with breakfast and access to the pool/gym/spa. Typical German-style, there were 2 single duvets on the double bed - which probably explains the low German fertility rate. But it was super comfortable, inciting Hub to say that we should buy a bed like that too. The pool was quite lovely (with access to natural light) and the breakfast was good, with attention paid to detail and quality. The U/S Bahn is at the foot of the hotel so access to the city centre is easy. We had lunch at the hotel on our way out on Monday and it was very good too. I would recommend the hotel.

The Pool - the View - the Breakfast

Our 2 days in Germany were spent visiting Hub's ex-colleagues (all Francophones). We could have stayed with the both of them, but I hate to impose so we didn't. But maybe we should the next time as the kids had a great time playing with theirs and it was difficult each time to say goodbye. Goran S lives in Reutlingen and is married to a Chinese girl from Madagascar. I do not know if this is a coincidence, but quite a number of Hub's overseas working connections are French married to an Asian. Anyway, the men talked business and strategised. We will return to this day in a year or 2. Watch this space.

Udo S was not there unfortunately, but his Mexican wife Maria cooked us lunch in their house in Plieningen and introduced us to her illustrous neighbour Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Burghof who teaches Banking at the Hohenheim University and who appears on German TV quite often as I was told. Interesting guy who speaks French and English fluently too. I adore Maria, we saw each other often in the past as our kids went to the same school. Maria is always happy and happening. A scrapbooking artist, she has the most amazing collection and works from an atelier in her attic. She also works at the French school's garderie and teaches French at the French Institute in Stuttgart. We have missed Udo though, he's German but is more French than German. You always have a good laugh with Udo.

Needless to say, we didn't get to visit Stuttgart or its famous Weihnachtsmarkt. Nor our many other friends. We really will have to return to Stuttgart again.