At CMT you can find your dream holiday and everything you need for it as well as the latest travel trends and new destinations. Get to know various countries, regions and cities, have a look at (and into) caravans and motorhomes and shop for equipment for your next vacation. Moreover numerous shows, international folklore and culinary delights from around the world await you.

I love this fair and I try to go every year. In this post I would like to share some tips that might help you plan your visit at CMT 2018 in Stuttgart:

• If you have the chance, take a day off and visit CMT 2018 in Stuttgart during the week! The fair is huge and VERY crowded on the weekend. If you have to visit on a Saturday or Sunday, make sure you arrive early and be prepared to meet many other travel enthusiasts.
• Leave your car at home and take the S-Bahn. It is the easiest way to get there as the stop Flughafen is just next to Messe Stuttgart, were the CMT is located at. You can plan your trip here.
• Make sure to take a copy of the visitor guide before you enter the fair. You find it at the information and meeting point. It includes a map and makes getting around much easier. However, for some reason it is hard to find a copy somewere on the fair. So take it with you when you enter.
• If you’re visiting the CMT for a specific reason, maybe because you want to get information about a certain country, make a plan! Check out the visitor guide a the beginning or even do some research about where the stands you’re interested in are located at on the CMT’s online exhibitor index. The CMT 2018 in Stuttgart is huge and you will not notice how time flies while you stroll through the halls. Browsing through the fair without any plan is lot’s of fun but if you want to get information about a certain topic, check out were you want to go and go there first!
• Wear comfy shoes! This might sound stupid but I can tell from own experience that it not unlikely to get blisters while walking around the CMT for the whole day when you’re wearing the wrong pair of shoes. So leave the high heels at home and choose sneakers.
• Bring a backpack. Especially when you plan to get information about a certain topic. Believe me, at CMT you will find TONS of information. And it comes in brochures. And brochures add up and become heavy. Real pros come with a trolley. Whereas I think a backpack is sufficient – but you decide for yourselves 🙂
• My last tip depends on what you prefer: If you want to save money, bring your own snacks. As food isn’t cheap at CMT 2018. However, if you want to turn your visit into a culinary highlight, bring money. You will find a lot of stands that offer either local or exotic food. It all comes with a price of course but it’s a great opportunity to try different things.

More information about:

CMT – The holiday exhibition

My visit of CMT 2013

My visit of CMT 2014

The post How to plan your visit at CMT 2018 in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Tábor in the Czech Republic is a medieval city located in the South Bohemian Region. It is a 6 hours drive away from Stuttgart. One of my very good friends, Moni, lives there with her family and I went to visit them for the weekend.  I arrived on a Friday night and we headed out for some sightseeing on Saturday.

Tábor in the Czech Republic is located next to the river Luznice…

… and has a picturesque old, medieval town with winding, little streets and a castle.

In the center of the old town you find the large “Zizka Square”. Here you really feel thrown back into medieval times…

… especially when you meet these guys

Fun fact: Tábor hosts an awesome medieval festival every year. Moni once invited me and even borrowed costumes for us and we took part in the huge parade. That was an amazing experience!

This time, we only paid Jan Zizka, the famous Hussite leader and founder of Tábor, a visit.

We met this guy who made some sort of Italian sandwiches on the terrace of one of the restaurants at the square. Very yummy!

Afterwards we had  ice cream at “moccacafé” (where they have a miniature train circling above the counter!! ) for dessert:

And then it was time for the fabulous  “Museum of Chocolate and Marzipan”!

Yep guys, a whole museum only for chocolate and marzipan. Heaven on earth, guys, heaven on earth.

They have a lot of figures made out of chocolate and marzipan on display from all sorts of settings, from fairytales over modern stories to the royal family…

They even have a miniature Tábor Do you recognize Zizka Square?!

But the best part was the kitchen where you could participate in creating your own little piece of marzipan artwork. I had lot’s of fun

OF COURSE the museum has it’s own little coffee shop. And OF COURSE we tried different types of hot chocolate and marzipan cakes. Yuuuuuuummmmmmmyyyy!!!

I had to leave on Sunday again but before I hit the road, we visited the monastery Klokoty.

Klokoty was built in 1708 by the order of Saint Benedict.  We visited the beautiful church of Saint Mary (where I was not allowed to take pictures, unfortunately) and strolled along the arcades, passing baroque chapels.

And of course, I lit a candle. Whenever I visit a church or monastery, I light a candle for my grandma. So now, a little flame burns for her on the outskirts of Tábor.

Well and then it was time to say goodbye to Tábor in the Czech Republic. What a wonderful town!

More information about:

Tábor in the Czech Republic

Museum of Chocolate and Marzipan

Klokoty Monastery (on Trip advisor)

The post One weekend in medieval Tábor in the Czech Republic appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

As hotels are ridiculously expensive in Switzerland, we had decided on staying in a hostel. And what can I say, we were very pleased with our decision…

Hostel Rotschuo is located in Gersau, right at Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland. The main building looks like an old farmhouse and I loved the cozy hallway and rooms.

For some reason, our room looked a lot like a honeymoon suite!?

The main reason we had chosen Switzerland for our reunion was our wish to do lot’s of hiking. So on Saturday morning, we headed towards mountain Rigis.

We took the bus to the village “Vitznau” and after the friendly lady at the tourist office told us, it takes three hours to hike to the top of the mountain where the main hiking trail begins, we decided to take a gondola, operated by local farmers.

Say “Hi” to Anne:

Those of you who follow my blog for a while might remember Anne as Moritz and I were invited to her wedding two years ago. Anne is a blogger, too. Check out her fun food and fitness blog www.fannetasticfood.com .

On top, we found our trail straight away and followed it uphill for a while. Even though the first hour of the hike was quite a bit exhausting, we got rewarded with stunning views.

We had lunch in an old farmhouse before we arrived at Rigi-Kalthaus.

Rigi-Kalthaus is a small village where the station of the incline is located and where you find the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen on top of a mountain: a mineral bath and spa!

Relaxing in warm water with an amazing mountain view after three hours of hiking? Let’s do it!

After two hours in the spa we took the incline back down to Vierwaldstättersee.

The incline brought us down to Weggis, another picturesque village at the lake. We had dinner in a lovely restaurant next to the water.

That’s what happens when you bring two bloggers together: You can’t even cling glasses without some picture action going on…

What a lovely Saturday we had. And Sunday was just as great:

We got up early in order to hire a kayak from our hostel and explore the lake.

It was 8 a.m. and we had the lake to ourselves. We couldn’t believe it.

After our little kayak adventure we had breakfast at our hostel and took the ferry to Luzern afterwards.

Luzern is a lovely city with a beautiful old town and lot’s of bridges. The most famous one is Kapellenbrücke (Chapel Bridge).

There are remains of the old city wall, too:

We enjoyed the afternoon in Luzern and took the ferry back to our hostel in the evening.

Monday was our last day in Switzerland. We had planned to drive to Zurich first thing in the morning but as we had enjoyed the hike on our first day so much, we changed plans and drove to Melchsee-Frutt in order to do another hike. However, on this day we were not very lucky, weather-wise. It was raining when we drove up the mountain and even though it stopped when we started our tour, there was heavy fog.

Even though we didn’t have much of a view it was a beautiful, very mysterious hike in the clouds.

Well and then, after three amazing days full of fun and adventures at Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland, it was time to say good-bye to Anne. We drove to Zurich from where her plane left on Tuesday morning. But this was definitely not my last weekend in Switzerland. It really is a beautiful country with amazing mountains and very lovely people!

More information about:

fannetasticfood.com

Luzern

Hostel Rotschuo

Rigi Mountain hiking trails

Mineral Bath and Spa Rigi-Kaltbad

Melchsee-Frutt

The post A fun weekend at Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Moritz and I went today. We go there every year and collect ideas and magazines about the countries we would love to travel next. This year, we were mainly into the US, Australia and New Zealand .

But of course, there are many, many more places to explore. And of course, the region of Stuttgart is also present:

Definitely worth a visit when you want to find out what Stuttgart has to offer.

My personal highlight every year is checking out the camper vans, trailers and caravans. You’ll find them in every sizes on the CMT, from small…

to huge…

… and every year, there’s something new to explore, like this boat/trailer:

Next to getting information about every corner of the world, you’ll find entertainment around every corner:

You can try out several things, like this bike for example…

…or you take off your shoes and enjoy this bare foot path:

Whatever you feel like and look for, you’ll have a good time on the CMT. And if you’re hungry, I recommend visiting Weingut Zaiß in hall 5, one of my favourite wineries.

Moritz and I carried home two backpacks full of magazines and information for our next trips so we’re looking forward to a relaxing Sunday on the couch, planning holidays!

More information about:

CMT 2014

The post CMT 2014 – Inspiration for your next holiday appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Where the entrance to the exhibition used to be, a green park and modern, white houses awaits you. Walking on the footpath feels like walking in a maze because the green area is a meter higher than the foot path.

Most of the buildings at Think K will house luxurious flats soon. At the moment, there is still a lot of construction work going on.

Some of the shops around the main square are open already, and so is a little Café. And that’s where we spent our lunch break.

The atmosphere is very cosy and I liked the mix of visitors: Rich looking ladies who might have visited their new flat in one of the buildings next to construction workers who spent their break there, too.

They offer a selection of breakfast specials, sandwiches and sweets. I went for a Croissant, filled with homemade strawberry jam. Yummy! 🙂

I am curious what this new quarter will look like in a few months, when all the construction work is finished.

More information about:

Think K (only in German)

The post Think K Killesberg – A new quarter is born in Stuttgart appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Ludwigsburg is a lovely city for itself and definitely worth a visit. It’s right next to Stuttgart. I’ve been here last winter, visiting the Christmas Market, which is very special and beautiful. But to tell you the truth: Ludwigsburg is even more beautiful in summer. One of its main attractions is the Residential Palace.

But we were not here because of the castle (well, at least not because of this one ;-)) but to see Hänsel and Gretel and Rumpelstilzchen and Aladdin and much more at Märchengarten Ludwigsburg.

I got some last coaching in fairy tales by this story teller…

and then we were ready for witches, dwarfs and Co.

As we were quite early and it was not too crowded, we decided to start our day in the Märchengarten with a boat ride.

The boat ride is a very relaxing thing to do. You pass different houses where puppets tell you about several fairy tales. Very cute! The only scary thing (at least, when you’re three years old) is the mouth of the whale…

…but don’t worry, Pinocchio is waiting at the end, eager to show you the way out! 😉

After this adventure, we had to prove how brave we are, again: By visiting the witch!

Two courageous men debating whether it’s a good idea to knock on the house of the witch or not…

… and hiding behind the fence when she looks out of the window. But be assured: She didn’t put the two in the oven!

Our next stops where less nerve-racking: We saw Aladdin and the  genie of the lamp…

… the orphan girl collecting star money…

…and looked through grandma’s window only to find out the wolf was lying in her bed!

Well, what can I say, the houses with the different fairy tales are a delight for the young and for the old:

🙂 Cute, hum?

We also passed a giant in his castle…

…and Rumpelstilzchen…

… before we arrived at Rapunzel’s tower:

Can you see her braid dangling down from the tower? 🙂

When you walk around it, you’ve got a great view:

When you step inside, stairs lead you down…

…and down…

… and down…

… until you arrive at the very bottom of the rock on which the tower is standing.

Well, and if you were the only one of your group who was stupid enough to walk down all the stairs of the tower, you have to climb up again in order to meet the rest…

Now we were hungry! We left the Märchengarten early afternoon and went to a Café in the park… not without enjoying the first flowers of this spring…

We chose the “Cafeteria” for our lunch break…

… didn’t care about healthy eating principles…

…and had our first ice-cream in 2013!

Aaaah, what a beautiful day! And can you imagine a better end to it than swinging into the spring sky with an ice-cream in your hand…?

Well, I couldn’t… 🙂

More information about:

Märchengarten Ludwigsburg (only in German)

Ludwigsburg

The post Fairy tales become true in the Märchengarten Ludwigsburg appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

I’ve been there lately with my mom. My dad and I invited her to a wellness weekend and I accompanied her – best decision ever! ;-)!

We have booked a “Komfort Room” for two people for the weekend. It came with a very comfy double bed, a sitting area and – of course – a very clean bathroom.

The only – and truly the only thing – I didn’t like, was the glass door to the bathroom…

Seriously – a see-through glass door to the bathroom??? Well, you better like the person you share the room with a lot and are very close to her. Definitely nothing for the first romantic weekend-trip with the new lover. You won’t have any secrets after this stay, that’s for shure. And yes, this is the toilet right behind me – right in front of the door… 😀

We arrived late on friday night so we had no time to check out the spa area but went down to the restaurant for dinner straight away.

The hotel offers three restaurants: The “Silberberg” for hotel guests, the “Anitastube” where they serve traditional meals from the Black Forrest and the gourmet restaurant “Schlossberg” where chef Jörg Sackmann himself creates the menu. It has one Michelin-Star and offers a truly amazing menu. However, my mum and I went for the “Silberberg” and didn’t regret it.

If you want to dine in the Schlossberg, make sure to make a reservation before you arrive, otherwise you might not get a table.

So here comes our dinner: We got a little starter, then had a salad (the dressing was a dream!), then both meat and after this, we were too full for dessert.

As you can imagine, we slept like babies after this dinner 🙂

We began the next day by participating in the aqua fitness. It takes place between 8 and 8:30 am and is free for all hotel guests. This was also the first time we set eyes on the spa area – and fell in love with it (sorry dad, it’s true, mum’s in love… ;-))

After this little morning sport programme, we were very hungry. We went back to our room got dressed and went down to have breakfast. We got the same table as the night before and were eager to find out what the breakfast buffet has to offer. And we were very happy with what we found: Sackmann offers a huge selection of cheese, sausages, fresh fruit, jam, bread, fish (!) – and you could even have a glass of sparkling wine for breakfast.

Round No. 1:

And round No. 2:

For me, it’s always a sign of quality when a hotel offers fresh fruit. And Sackman had a lot of it…! 🙂

Next to the buffet, you could also choose different items from a menu, like eggs, cooked the way you like it, or some sweet dishes.

After breakfast, we had not much time to loose as we both had appointments for massages. I had chosen the Abhyanga Ayurveda Massage and my mum went for the Samvahana Ayurveda Massage. Both took 1.5 hours and it was my turn first. Obviously, I could not take any pictures while enjoying the massage, so you just have to believe me that it was AWESOME!! Soooo relaxing and wonderful! Same was apparently true for my mother’s massage, at least that’s what she told me when she came back 🙂

We spend the rest of the day in the spa, trying the different saunas and relaxation areas.

Man, was I relaxed after this day!! 🙂

You want to know what I liked most? Definitely the salt sauna… and the water beds… and the jacuzzi… and the steam bath… and.. oh well, it was all so great… 😀

Another nice fact about the spa: They offer tea, fresh water, dried fruit, apples and – in the afternoon – little cakes for everybody.

What can be the perfect end to such a perfect day if not a perfect dinner? Today, my mum and I went both for fish (were we in the water for too long?? ;-)) So here’s what we got:

We started our next day again in the pool, doing aqua fitness, and enjoyed another great breakfast afterwards. We’ve spent a wonderful weekend in Baiersbronn, in an extraordinary hotel. We only hated that we had to leave again… 😉

More information about:

Romantik Hotel Sackmann Baiersbronn

The post Finding paradise – in Baiersbronn… appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

If you’ve missed part I, you’ll find it here.

The second day of our wonderful weekend in winter wonderland Prague started as the first day had closed: with lots of snow!! We saw little snow men everywhere! Very cute 🙂

We had decided that we want to spend this day just wandering around, sucking in the atmosphere of this beautiful city. After breakfast (which was very nice in our Grandhotel Bohemia!), we headed to the Old Town Square again and walked to Charles Bridge.

When in Prague, make sure to look up from time to time. There are so many beautiful, historical houses. You’ll find a lot of Art Nouveau for example.

But you don’t have to get a stiff neck, there’s also a lot to explore by looking straight ahead:

And sometimes, it’s also worth looking to the ground…

Isn’t that cute? Four hearts in a golden circle. I nearly missed it… 🙂

We crossed Charles Bridge and entered the “Kleinseite” (“Malá Strana” in Czech – which translates to “Little Side” and refers to the part of Prague in the west of the Vltava River).

When you leave Charles Bridge, you’ll find the park Kampa on your left. I’ve never been there in winter so we wanted to find out what it looks like covered with snow. And our undertaking got rewarded: Suddenly the sun came out and the snow was sparkling. We had such a beautiful view from Kampa over to Charles Bridge, with a blue sky over it.

It was so magical, time could have stopped moving, I wouldn’t have minded…

But to bring you guys back to reality, too, that’s what we found in front of Kampa Museum:

Yes, it’s a museum for modern art, why are you asking…? 😉

There’s a little canal leading around Kampa and that’s why this part of Prague is sometimes called “Venice of the east.”

A very romantic spot. 🙂

We left magical Kampa and started to walk up the winding streets to the castle.

The last part of the street is a bit steep but it’s worth the climb because you get rewarded with a stunning view.

Even this little snow man liked what he saw… at least I think so, he didn’t talk much… 😉

We didn’t visit the castle, we just had a look at St. Vitus’ Cathedral from the outside.

OK, I couldn’t resist, I had to get this touristy picture taken:

We also had a look down on the city from the other side of the castle…

… and descended by using the stairs next to this wall:

On our way back to the city center, we passed Charles Bridge again.

When you’re on Charles Bridge, you might observe many people touching pictures of a saint. Let’s talk about this cult for a moment: John of Nepomuk was drowned in the Vltava River at the behest of King Wenceslaus in 1393. As the confessor of the queen he refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional – and thus got in trouble with the king. Today, he is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional and a protector from floods. And many people touch his picture for good luck. But some people get confused by who exactly they have to touch…

This is one of the pictures of Nepomuk. So, if you have to, touch it…

Here’s another picture of Nepomuk – but there are other individuals on it, as well. Question: If you want to touch this picture for good luck, what figure would you go for?

a) the random dog

b) the rubberneck, watching poor Nepomuk getting killed without doing anything

c) Nepomuk, falling down the bridge

d) none of the above because by touching this picture, I’ll get in contact with billions of bacteria, the hundreds of tourists, who touched it before me, left.

Well, this woman is not on the right track, she’s touching the rubberneck. Don’t know what luck will come from that… 😉

On our way back to the city center, we passed two more points of interest, I would like to share with you:

1.) My favourite shop in Prague: Manufaktura!

Here you find cute Czech folk craft and traditional wooden toys and (even more interesting! ;-)) cosmetics inspired by balneology and Czech natural ingredients. I LOVE their soaps, shampoos, body lotions, creams… 😀

I got two body lotions and a shampoo for kids…

2) Marionette shops: You’ll find a lot of marionette theaters in Prague. Many of them are performing Don Giovanni (and they are doing it quite well, I can tell you ;-)).

But even better: You can buy a marionette as a souvenir, too. You’ll find a lot of cheap puppets in many of the souvenir shops, but there are also a few professional marionette makers, too. They sell high quality puppets and they are absolutely worth their price.

When I left Prague after living there for 7 months, I wanted to buy myself a souvenir that’s worth my good memories of this city. So I went to some of the marionette shops and chose a little wooden replica of Mozart. I still love it.

We had again an awesome time in Prague. This city is simply something very, very special. It was great being in Prague in winter when there is heaps of snow. But I am also looking forward to coming back one day soon in summer, when you can sit in the parks, climb one of the hills and enjoy the view from there. Good bye Prague, see you soon again!

More information about:

Museum Kampa

Manufaktura

The post Prague – the “Golden City” (part II) appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

I’ve lived in Prague for 6 months in 2005 and again for 4 months in 2008, to do an internship and to write my thesis. And somehow, this magical city became very important to me and I HAVE TO come back again and again and again.

It takes six hours to travel from Stuttgart to Prague. You can take the train to Nürnberg and switch into a bus there. Very convenient! We arrived last Saturday in the early afternoon and found the “Golden City”… all white! Covered all in snow! Very beautiful, I have never seen the city like this.

We walked from the train station to our hotel, the “Grandhotel Bohemia”, close to the Municipal House (Obecní dům) and the Powder Tower.

A fantastic hotel. Don’t miss the huge breakfast buffet!!

We quickly put our luggage into our room and off we were, enjoying this beautiful city. We went to the Old Town Square  (Staroměstské náměstí) first. Here you find the Old Town City Hall with its famous Astronomical Clock,…

… the Church of Our Lady before Týn (in the background)…

…and the Jan Hus Memorial:

We left the historic Old Town Square and went to the modern Wenceslas Square (Václavské námestí).

Here you find a lot of shops and restaurants, but also the old Museum.

We went into some shops and soon it got dark and were hungry. So it was time for some typical Czech cuisine, so we went to the “Novomestsky Pivovar Restaurant & Brewery”, close to Wenceslas Square.

It’s easy to miss the entrance to the restaurant as it doesn’t look like much from the outside.

But the interior is really something special:

In the main room you find big brew kettles, when you follow the labyrinth of corridors and stairways to the other rooms, you can admire all the wall paintings along the way…

As all the tables in the main room were already full, we followed our waiter to one of the rooms downstairs.

What I like a lot about this place is a) the waiters are very friendly and b) they have menus in many different languages. Moritz and I ordered a Czech beer first. Even though I am not at all a beer drinker, I don’t mind the Czech beer very much. It tastes lighter than German beer and I managed to finish half of my glass (Moritz volunteered to drink the rest, he’s such a gentleman :-))

We shared a garlic soup which came with breadcrumbs and a piece of Camembert cheese…?! Very tasty though!

As the main course, Moritz chose the Bohemian Platter…

…which consists of roast pork, pork neck, sausage, two kinds of dumplings and sauerkraut.

I went for one of my most favourite Czech dishes: Svíčková!

Marinated sirloin with dumplings, cranberries, cream, brown sauce and – very important – a piece of lemon – what a dream!

After this rich dinner, we had to have a Becherovka of course, a cordial from Karlsbad.

We definitely needed an after-dinner walk! As it was already dark when we left the restaurant, we decided to go to Charles Bridge and take some night pictures.

On the way back to our hotel, we passed the Old Town Square again and found some stands where they sold mulled wine and Trdelnik, which consists of grilled dough, wrapped around a stick and topped with walnuts and sugar. “That makes a perfect dessert for our traditional Czech dinner” we thought and had some. Mmmmmhhhh! 🙂

That was our first day in Prague. “Czech” out my next post about what we did on our second day! 🙂

More information about:

Prague

Grandhotel Bohemia

Novomestsky Pivovar Restaurant & Brewery

The post Weekend getaway to Prague – the “Golden City” (part I) appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.