Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Gardens/Stuttgart

Mac and I have been living in Stuttgart area now for almost 2 years.

We had heard about the Wilhema Zoo and Botanical gardens but,

had not bothered to go.  After our fantastic day out here, we wished we'd gone sooner.

The park is open 365 days a year and you'll find it at

Neckartalstr. 13

Neckartalstraße 70342 Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg

www.wilhelma.de

This is the only zoological botanical garden in all of Europe

and it is a MUST on your do to list in Germany.

Let me show you just a few of the highlights of our day here.

We loved the penguins.

My personal favorite are the monkeys!

Look at this extraordinary little fellow with his white beard and long brown tail.

Don't miss the insect house with it's collection of unusual

insects such as this one that looks like a dried leaf.

Our favorite butterfly in the Butterfly house.

The aquarium had some very strange

looking fish.

This is a Cardinal Shrimp from Indonesia.

Look at these amazing fish.  They swim vertically!

Of course, you'll also find big animals here.  Elephants, tigers

giraffes etc.

A collection of lizards.

and ssnnnnn-akes.

Don't miss the buildings that house the gardens

as they have animals inside too.

This was a wonderful day filled with fun seeing the beautiful flora and fauna.

The animals are so enjoyable to watch.

Mac says, "This place get's the thumbs up, bring your family because

there is something here for everyone."

Halloween at Castle Frankenstein

We orginally wanted to drive ourselves but, the tickets were sold out except for the USO

VIP Tour.  We boarded the USO bus on base and headed off with the other

brave souls to attend Haunted Halloween at Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt

on October 31st.

They say it was the Americans stationed in Darmstadt, who came up with the idea of a

"Fright Night" at the ruins of the very old castle.  Arguably, you couldn't ask for a more dramatic backdrop then this castle whose history includes a man named J. Konrad Dippel who  thought he could create an "elixir of life" by reducing animal parts and some say he did experiments on humans.  Whatever he did do, his gruesome experiments led to the town people

driving him away from the town.

We found the gates to the "haunted" area did not open until

8:00 so we headed over for our VIP Buffet at the Castle restaurant with the rest of our group.

The salad selection was amazing and tasted fab.  We didn't get the pictures of the other

courses, but it included pumpkin soup, pork, melt in your mouth beef,

a curry and rice and lovely veg.

There was an assortment of yummy dessert items.

This buffet was worth the money paid, folks.

The restaurant even had fun touches.  Here's a big hairy spider holding back their curtain.

This couple got our vote for best costumes in our group!

We headed out amongst the crowd waiting for the gates to open at 8 pm.

Once into the "Haunted" area we came across ugly trolls, zombies, deranged men and women.

Why don't I just let the pictures tell the story for us?

The monster dance on stage!

Poor old mac was choked by a monster and thrown into a casket

by a zombie!  He didn't mind though...should that worry me?

I was terrorized by this goul!

An evening of totally "frightening" fun.

Frankenstein bade us goodbye and said,

"Tell your friends to come back next Halloween, I'm DYING to meet them.

Mhhhhaaa hhaaaaa!"