Wednesday morning, Bill had to go to work.  Because of the shower’s window, which lets the light from the bathroom flood into the bedroom, I was wide awake with him when he rose before the sun.  This is actually a pretty normal thing for us, though.  I used to be a late sleeper, but since I married a soldier, I’ve gotten used to waking up at the asscrack of dawn.

Anyway, neither of us slept well.  It was in part because the room was a little too warm and partly because a certain monthly annoyance kept me getting up to go to the bathroom all night.  Consequently, we were both still somewhat tired when we went to breakfast.  The Wald Hotel’s breakfast is expensive, but it’s quite expansive.  They have everything from breads, cold cuts, and cheeses to hot items like eggs, sausage, and bacon.  They even have sparkling wine for those who want it.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast with some strong coffee, then Bill went to work.  I considered going back to bed, but sleep eluded me.  I did some writing instead.

At about 10:30am, I realized I needed to vacate the room so it could be cleaned.  I got dressed and took a walk to the nearby Fernsehturm (the TV tower).  I went to the top of the tower last July, but we had pretty yucky weather that day.  It was actually very cold up there!  Yesterday’s weather, by contrast, was much nicer.  I decided to go up and get some pictures of Stuttgart while the sun was shining.  It also gave me a chance to break in my new camera a bit more.  The pictures immediately below were taken with my iPhone.

As we were waiting for the elevator to take us up the tower, a lady was telling me about how the TV Tower had recently been closed.  She had been expecting more people there yesterday.  Then she took a look at me without my jacket and admonished me because she figured I was going to get cold.  Surprisingly (even to myself), I wasn’t cold yesterday.  I was when I visited in July.

I loved this little plaque around the whole walking area, showing where the different suburbs of Stuttgart and major cities in Germany and Europe are.  I like that they put these things in places where there’s a big view.  Seems to me they have this at Hohenzollern and the Tree Walk, too.

I took this photo with the zoom lens.  This tower actually pretty far south from the TV Tower.  I just wanted to see how close I could get with a zoom lens.

 

There are several restaurants near the TV Tower and the Wald Hotel.  I decided to go to the Luftbad Restaurant Der Grieche im Grünen, which I went to the last time we stayed at the Wald Hotel.  In retrospect, I should have tried a different place.  But I always feel awkward when I’m dining alone.  This particular restaurant offers Greek and German food.

I took a seat at one of the many empty tables.

Ordered myself a Paulaner hefeweizen…

And I ordered gyros with t’zatziki,  which came with the salad above…  I kind of liked the lack of lettuce.

The gyros were pretty good, although I’ve had better in other restaurants.  I did like the red pepper relish that came with them, although they did double billing with the t’zatzki.  This was 14,50 euros.

After a leisurely lunch outside, I pondered having another beer.  But clouds were coming and it was getting cooler.  I decided to pay the check and head back to the hotel to wait for Bill.  If we stay at the Wald Hotel again, I will make a point of trying a different restaurant for lunch.  There are several to choose from in the area.

Stuttgart is pretty nice when you have a bird’s eye view.