winter Archives - Living in Stuttgart

Stuttgart Hacks – Winter Duties in Stuttgart

Mellivinginstuttgart — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 09:34:40 +0000

Wherever you look in the web these days you find life hacks: Videos or blog posts where people share information that makes your life a little bit easier. So I thought, why not do that for Stuttgart? So this year I want to introduce the new series Stuttgart Hacks on the blog. Here I will be sharing tips that might make your life in Stuttgart a little bit easier. Today I want to start with explaining winter duties in Stuttgart.

Living in Germany comes with a lot of rules attached to it – you might have noticed that already 🙂 One of them is applicable in winter, when there is snow: Winterdienst.

Winter duties mean that you have to clear the sidewalk from snow or ice. It is your responsibility that walking on it is save. If someone slips and gets injured because you haven’t cleared the sidewalk, you will be liable.

You have to rid the sidewalk in front of your house of the snow and ice on weekdays before 7 am, on Saturdays before 8 am and on Sundays and public holidays before 9 am. Winter duty in Stuttgart ends at 9 pm. And you have to make sure walking on the sidewalk is save throughout the day. When you are not present when it is snowing you have to make sure someone else cares for the part of sidewalk you are responsible for. You can ask a neighbor or book the services of a company that offers Winterdienst.

Stuttgart Hack: sand and gravel help make the sidewalk safer to walk on even when there is some ice left after you’ve cleared it. You can buy gravel in shops like OBI, Bauhaus, Hornbach… but sometimes even in supermarkets like Edeka or even discounters like Aldi. Please be aware that you are not allowed to use salt for your winter duties in Stuttgart!

More information:

Kiramiga – Winter duties

Disclaimer: Please note that I put together the posts with great care. However I can not be held responsible for any missing, inaccurate or outdated information.

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Weekend getaway to Prague – the “Golden City” (part I)

Mellivinginstuttgart — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:15:03 +0000

Hi guys! Thank god, this grey February is finally over! As I told you, I just don’t like this horrible month. So Moritz had the great idea to invite me to one of my most favourite cities in the world for the last weekend in February: to Prague!

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

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A relaxing getaway to Bad Wörishofen

Mellivinginstuttgart — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:13:16 +0000

Hi guys! I never told you, but now it’s time that you know: I hate February. It’s true. I just hate this grey, cold month. Not that February has ever done anything to me, no. It’s just the way he is, his appearance, I just can’t stand him at all. Sorry February, I know, I am unfair. But that’s how it is. In order to make the most of this horrible month, Moritz and I have decided to go on a few weekend trips. So last weekend we said our goodbyes to Stuttgart on friday evening and hopped into our car in order to drive to Bad Wörishofen in the Allgäu.

Bad Wörishofen is a spa town in Bavaria, more precisely in the Allgäu (remember, I wrote about another town in that region, Füssen, a little while ago in my article “A romantic place for a weekend getaway“). It is famous for its water-cure, developed by Catholic priest Sebastian Kneipp in the second half of the 19th century.

After a two-hour delay because of a huge traffic jam up the Eichelberg, we arrived at Hotel Sonnengarten at 8:40 pm and just before their restaurant closed. But they kept their kitchen open just for us! We were so happy because the food they serve is one of the main reasons why we like this hotel so very much! 🙂

As it was a long and – due to the heavy traffic – very exhausting day, we well into our beds with full stomachs and slept like stones. The next day started with a few snowflakes and sunshine. What else can you ask for?? 😉 After a huge breakfast, we headed outside. Bad Wörishofen has a small town center with a pedestrian zone leading along very special – and expensive – shops…

…where you are meeting exactly the tourists you would expect in a Bavarian spa-town…

…wearing fur coats and leather trousers. 😉

We went into the “Kurhaus“, something like a cultural center, where the tourist information is located and where they have a winter garden.

And there we found a basin, designed for Kneipp treatments. ‘Awesome’, I thought, ‘here we can try an original Kneipp treatment for free!’ Well, you should know that the idea of Kneipp was that ice-cold water is good for the body. One can debate whether sticking your arms in icy water on a snowy day in February is fun or folly, but we were brave and tried it!

OK, maybe not all of us were equally brave…

But still, we did it! 😀

After we had spent half of the day in the town center, we walked into the “Kurpark” (spa gardens). We have never been in Bad Wörishofen during summer, but I can imagine that the park must be lovely. They have a rose garden for example, a bare foot path and at various places you can try different Kneipp treatments. But it was also nice walking through the snow!

After we had walked around the park for a while it got really cold and we decided to go back to our hotel in order to try their pool and jacuzzi. And then, out of the sudden, it was time for dinner again 🙂

On Saturdays, guests of Hotel Sonnengarten are invited to a candlelight dinner including 4 or 5 courses, depending on what they have booked. So when we came to our table, a candle was already waiting for us and the menu had our names on it. Very cute 🙂

We started with a salad from the huge buffet.

I loooooove their salads. What you see on the picture is only one-third of the buffet. And believe me, ALL of the salads taste wonderful. I would not mind eating only a huge plate of salat for dinner – wouldn’t all the other courses taste amazing as well… 🙂

I really had to control myself not to overload my plate because I know too well that the next three courses are so good as well, that I do not want to be full after the salad…

As the second course, they offered white (!) tomato soup. A dream!!

And then the main course followed. Moritz and I both had chosen chicken with noodles and a creamy mushroom sauce. And what can I tell you, OF COURSE I was already so full when my plate arrived. But what can you do, you just HAVE TO eat, because it looks and smells so tempting…

And last but not least, the dessert arrived. We’ve had the choice between a selection of cheese and a selection of sweet desserts. We went for the sweet alternative and did not regret it 😉

OK my friends, THIS is a mini black forest cake, a mini apple strudel with vanilla sauce and homemade walnut ice cream. Y-U-M-M-M-M-M-M-Y-Y-Y!!!

We left the restaurant with VERY full stomachs but also VERY satisfied 🙂

On Sunday – after an extended “Champaign breakfast” – we had to check-out and leave this relaxing place again. But we will definitely be back!

There is one more big attraction in Bad Wörishofen which I do not want to withhold from you, just because Moritz and I were too lazy to go there this time: the new thermal spa! They have huge pools with apparently “healing water”, surrounded by palm trees. It is really worth going!

More information about:

Bad Wörishofen (change to English at the bottom left of the page)

Sonnengarten Hotel im Allgäu (only in German)

thermal spa in Bad Wörishofen

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