Palace sighting

Last weekend was a busy one. We had a guest from India at our house. To give our guest a feel of Stuttgart, we ushered him around the city, sight-seeing. He was mighty impressed with the Mercedes-Benz museum. It was my second visit to the place-and in no way was I bored!. It is really a superbly planned museum. They ensure that the visitor gets a view of everything in a decent amount of time.

We also visited the Solitude Palace, just on the outskirts of Stuttgart. This place is truly isolated. It is a rather small palace, surrounded by lush green lawns, on a hilltop that offers a breath-taking view of the surrounding towns. It is not something a tourist would enjoy on a short trip to the city, but rather a place for those truly interested in architectural and cultural history. Of course, it is also a wonderful place to picnic, on a lazy summer day.

The palace itself, is not excessively decorated and gives you the impression that the resident duke must have been a real loner!. What was more appreciable was the terrific maintenance of the building that keeps the palace resplendent to this date. Weddings are carried out in the inner hall of this palace even in these times! (at a price, of course!)

In fact all information about all palaces/castles/gardens in the southern state of Baden-Wurttemberg of Germany can be accessed online from a super informative website:

http://www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de/

A Superb quote I read on the wall of a children's hospital..

DIY Shape- Autobot!

There are umpteen blogs that give you a number of ideas to keep your toddler engaged indoors. And its nice to come up with a few of one's own innovations!.. 

Taking a cue from the "Transformers" craze,  here is a simple DIY Autobot!. Its made from different shapes stuck together like a robot on a plain white sheet of paper. 

Its great to get your kid to learn shapes, numbers and parts of the body. If not anything, it will keep them busy for about half an hour!.

DIY Kid Puzzles

DIY puzzles in 4 easy  steps!

1) Cut any picture or photograph that will interest your child. (My little one loves cars, so I just cut out this advertisement that was dropped in my mailbox)

2) Paste this picture onto a thick sheet of cardboard- the ones that come with packaging are great!

3) Draw some lines/curves that divide the picture with a thick felt pen. Make sure the number of pieces that you cut up the picture into is suitable for your child's age.

4) Cut along the drawn out lines to make your puzzle pieces!

Great way to keep your Coriander fresh.. and beautiful!

Simply cut away the roots till you are left with clean stems at the bottom. Fill a large cup with water  and dip the stems in. Leave it on the kitchen window sill. Thats it!.. Not only do they look beautiful and fresh, its easy to just pluck some leaves off, while you cook and they really last long this way!.

Don't waste those Turnip leaves!

I hate to waste food!. So, the other day when I was cutting up a turnip, I wondered if there was anything I could do with those leaves, without throwing them in the trash. So, I did some research online and sure enough, there were many suggestions for cooking turnip leaves. I selected one easy recipe, and threw in a few of my own ingredients and voila!, I got a really neat salad. 

So what did I do? First I just sauted finely shreded turnip leaves in melted butter. Once they get cooked, they get a lovely rich green colour and a weird taste. Next I seasoned that with salt and pepper, genorously sprinkled. Next I added this to a bowl of shreded carrots, cucumbers and paprika. Lastly, I drizzled an organic herb dressing and some sundried tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, on this. Yummy!

Tripsdrill!..

The best way to keep your kids busy on a nice summer weekend is to take them out!. And there is no better place than an amusement park to stimulate their senses.

The weekend just before my kid's school was to reopen, we made a late plan to go to an amusement park- Tripsdrill- no far from our home. We were to be joined by 3 other families with people of different ages, ranging from septuagenarians to toddlers!. The weather was sunny to start but later changed to gloomy skies. The route was well sign-posted and surprisingly beautiful, reminding me of our Switzerland trip. In fact, I think these were the best German countryside views I that have seen till date!.

Tripsdrill has two parks- an amusement park and a wildlife park, with different entrances and fees. Given a choice, and  the half a day's time, I would have gone to the wildlife park, but the majority opinion was for the amusement area and we headed that way!. The ticket was expensive at 26 euros per head!. But once inside, all the rides are accounted for and one can go any amount of times on them!.

The rides were great fun, especially for my little one. His favorite was the little speedway with self driving cars!. He just couldn't get enough of it!. My favorite was the water slide- my first time getting splashed while zooming down in a boat!. There was a nice "Vinarium" inside the park where I got a free souvenir- a shot glass!. It was nice to see how they made wine in yesteryears.

Unfortunately, rain cut into our fun and we had to make a hasty exit from the park. Weather here keeps changing so fast!.