I’ve previously written about Kelly and Rhina. After a chatty pub dinner earlier this year, we very quickly formed a most wonderful friendship. As with many things in life, change came along and Rhina moved to Germany at the end of July. Not ones to admit defeat, the three of us promised that we would not stay out of touch – thankfully, we didn’t (yay group messages!). Once Rhina got settled, she put out an open invite to Kelly and me, as well as our partners, to come visit. Kelly and I are teachers so we looked at when our half terms linked up and soon we had flights booked. A couple of weeks ago the three of us were finally reunited!

Day 1:

Early in the morning, Kelly and Grant met up with Nick and me at the airport. In a few short hours, we were with Rhina at the University of Hoehenheim – there was running, screaming and hugs involved. We met her lovely colleagues and saw some very old and rare specimens from their collection – I was so scared of dropping them! After a very delicious German canteen lunch, Rhina showed us around the university and the botanical gardens. The weather was almost as if we were in late summer (thick tights weren’t a great choice). Autumn in Stuttgart is particularly beautiful.

University explored, we took the rack railway into central Stuttgart for an ice cream break and a quick look around. From there we headed back to Rhina’s place to drop our stuff and relax. Kelly brought a surprise over for Rhina in the form of a handmade dress – needless to say, Rhina loved it.

Later on, we went off for dinner at a ‘BROOM’ (winemakers open up their homes, serving local wine and food – signposted with a broom on the side of their home). I don’t think we realised how knackered we were from travelling so we headed back for some shut-eye after some local music.

Day 2:

After a massive, traditional German breakfast, Rhina took us to the Stuttgart City Library. As we like to coordinate, we all wore dresses handmade by Kelly. I love libraries but this was something else – I could have happily spent the entire day (and more) there. The space was incredibly calming and visually-pleasing. On the roof, we got all-round views of the city.

Next we went off to explore more of the city, including the food market. We strolled past stall after stall of mouth-watering produce, stopping to try Ofenschupfler as we worked out wanted to get.

In the evening, we met up with Rhina’s husband Holger at an art gallery. After a mooch about, we headed off to a local bar for more delicious German food and good conversation.

A fabulous start to our holiday!