Esslingen, Germany

Side Street

Der Schtarbucks

It's Sunday, and in an attempt to go grocery shopping, I have arrived at the only place I could find that's open:

I've also only eaten Margherita Pizza for the past 2 days, because it's the only thing on the menus I can read.

2 out of the 6 people I've tried to talk to spoke English.

They both worked at Starbucks.

Our Room:

Here are some shots of our room at the extended stay hotel in Esslingen. The kitchen has a double range, mini fridge, and extensive selection of one pot and pan. The living room, also shown in this photo, houses our free internet, and large flatscreen TV (hidden behind my 10" notebook.)

The master bedroom is outfitted with not one, but two single beds, and is accented with a matching headboard and wardrobe - with a total of 5 wooden hangers in it.

...and this is our thrown:

Yea, that's a real starfish, solidified forever in this gorgeous blue-to-clear gradient acrylic mold. Click for a sweet high-res. of that thing you can use as a background.

In reality, I'm very happy to have a kitchen and to be in such an awesome location. The entire city is very walkable. It takes me about 25min to walk to work, and there's an abundance of shops, restaurants and grocery stores on the way.

I'm going to bed now. I've been up so many hours that I can't calculate it with the conversion rate.

I Have Arrived!

Well, I didn't sleep at all on the 8.5 hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. Neither did I on the 1.5 hour train ride from the airport to the hotel. I got here and was absolutely exhausted, but I've been forcing myself to stay awake so I can handle the jet lag as soon as possible. It's now 6pm.

I forced myself to walk around the city for an hour or two and snapped a few photos. Everything is very walkable. There are tons of shops and restaurants right out our doorstep. The city is surrounded by hills lined with wineries. In the city, there's a good mix of historical buildings along with very modern architecture.

Here's a glimpse of the historical street walks that snake through the town:

And here's the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, in the center of downtown.