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accompanied by candlelight and singing by children of this age group.
Then with our stomachs slightly coated and our hearts warmed by a few
speeches and dignitaries, came the feature of the day- the wine tasting.
We sampled in about a half hour a glass each at least of seven different
and excellent Remsstal wines. Then all slightly high, we walked in the
rain back to the burg.

Jan 12, 1960

Last Wednesday was a German holiday so we had the day off. I left after
breakfast with one of the girls to spend the day in Stuttgart just
looking around. We spent about an hour window shopping and then stopped
to go through the state museum. It was quite fascinating. One floor of
displays showing the evolution of man and his culture since the Ice and
Stone Ages- 5000BC, very well presented. Another floor of religious s
sculptures- 1400-1800, very beautiful and moving. There is much more
attention here to the suffering and agony of Christ and these sculptors
seemed to understand that aspect much better. Though to some Americans,
the result of sort of horrifying, shocking and sickening. My own thought
is that America has unconsiously suppressed the less pleasant aspects of
Christianity and thus lost some of its meaning. The most remarkable thing
about the museum was that its materials were drawn almost entirely only
from the state of Wurtenberg, a small part of Germany. After leaving the
museum we window shopped some more. Stuttgart was 80% bombed during the
war downtown and thus there are a great many new and modern buildings.
The windows are beautifully decorated and it is interesting to compare
styles and prices to those in US. The styles are much like ours. They seem
to use more colors more freely and imaginetively. Furniture is especially
beautiful, appliances generally less flashy looking and more expensive.
Clothing is quite reasonable- good mens shoes $10 to 13.00.

During the afternoon we walked up into the old residential area of the
city, climbing high enough to get an excellent view of the city below.
Then back down to the beer hall restaurant near the RR station, had a
beer (with which I struggled) and listened to the crazy band they have.
Then about 7PM we set out for the concert hall, very new and beautifully
designed to meet the rest of the group for the concert by the Stuttgart
Chamber orchestra. They played a whole evening of Mozart- just beautifully
done, and best of all we had special seats right on the stage of this 2000
seating hall where we could see everything.

Friday morning I got up at 5:15 AM and left by 6 with 3 other kids to spend
the weekend in Munich. It is really a beautiful city, much more like the
old European city one imagines than is Stuttgart. Munich has rebuilt itself
since the war and much of the historical architecture was restored and
preserved. From almost anywhere in the city one can see several towers or
spires of lovely old churches and other buildings. And we were especially
fortunate in two ways-in our choice of time to go. For one thing, it was
the opening of carnival season which lasts until Lent and the beer halls
were gay and brightly decorated. Also, we arrived jsut as the first snow
of the season began and it snowed all Friday and that night and all of
Sat. and there is nothing so beautiful as such a city in the first snow-
the churches are capped in white, the trees are crystal and lace and the
ground is white and untrod--- a winter wonderland.

We took a trolley sat morning to a museum. and before going in stopped by
the river to view the beauty of the snow. The museum is one of the finest
in the world- it concerns technology and natural science, has eight miles