Long Weekend Busyness

One of the lovely things about living in Germany in May are the holidays (Have I said this every year?). This year we have a three-day long weekend and two four-day long weekends. Unfortunately May 1st fell on a Sunday, so we missed out on that holiday.

Last weekend we had four days off, and I took full advantage of those days. In four days I managed to go to four different places, three of which involved softball :)

Thursday
My first trip was to Karlsruhe, to watch a friend play in the Bundesliga. A group of us went, and so luckily I got a ride there. We then spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, eating hamburgers and watching some really good softball. My friend plays with a team from Stuttgart, and they won the first game. Unfortunately not the second.

Marion at bat against Karlsruhe

Friday
The next day I headed back in the same direction, but this time by train. I took a train to Stuttgart, and then an SBahn to Ludwigsburg. One of my colleagues goes there every weekend to visit her boyfriend, and so we met up there for the day. I first went to the castle, and then met up with Allison. The castle is pretty special, as it has not been changed or destroyed since it was redone in the early 19th century. Not so common for this area. I took a tour, and then went through the fashion museum they have there.

The outside of one end. The castle was originally only one end, but was then expanded when it became a main residence of a newly promoted king.

After I met up with Allison and we sat on the Marktplatz for icecream, then did some shopping. For dinner we went to a traditional Schwäbisch restaurant. Still had Schnitzel, but with a Schwäbisch cream sauce and homemade Spätzle as a side.

The restaurant behind, it is actually a brewery

We sat out in the square across from the restaurant. Can you imagine Canadian servers crossing a street to serve people?

Saturday

Finally I got to play myself! Only our second game day of the season, in Darmstadt. I was playing 3rd base, as normal, and had a great time. We played two excellent games, and solidly won both. I was fielding well the whole time. It didn't hurt that a few times they practically hit it right into my glove. Batting was still a bit of a struggle for most of the time. I got on base with a walk and an error, but was still looking for my first hit. Then my last time up at bat it finally worked! I managed to hit the ball over the outfielders and get a 3 RBI triple :) And for that I was given the MVP of the game trophy for our team.

Sunday

And since I had not done enough driving, on Sunday I drove with some friends to Stuttgart (yes I had been there on Friday...). We went back to watch Marion again, this time at home against Freising. Again we had beautiful weather, and had to move into the shade for most of the afternoon. For the first time this season, Stuttgart won both of their games. A highlight was watching one of the Stuttgart players hit an out of the park homerun! 

Marion up to bat, having just hit to ball

After all that travelling and sunshine I was definitely ready to be home Sunday night. Though that was just to pack, as Monday the grade 2s at my school were off to camp for two nights!