Gutentag!
The flight from Norfolk (to Newark) to Stuttgart, Germany was nice.  Plenty of legroom but I still couldn't sleep.  So I watched Contagion.  Then I watched Horrible Bosses.  Then I watched Real Steel.  Then I felt a little sleepy but with 45 minutes of flight time left the cabin lights were turned on so I just stayed up.  Arrival in Stuttgart was fine, clearing through customs took all of 30 seconds.  Unlike an American returning to the States where the TSA, FBI, Border Patrol, and Immigration all take turns grilling you for hours. 
So I went through another day of briefings at MARFOREUR (Marine Forces Europe) which is located on a base called "Panzer Kaserne"  For those of you unfamiliar with German military terms, 'panzer' means tank.  And who is the most famous German tank commander?  Rommel.  So Panzer Kaserne is actually Rommel's old headquarters which the US took over after WWII.  It's actually a really small base, you could walk around the perimeter in a half hour.  But on a few of the buildings there are still concrete eagles of the German army but the swastikas have been removed. 
Today is Saturday so I took the train into downtown Stuttgart (I'm staying at a hotel in Boblingen) http://www.reussenstein.com/joomla/
and walked around for a few hours.  I took pictures but they're all too big to squeeze through this internet connection, I'll have to shrink them to a smaller format.  The main tourist area is nice, probably a lot nicer in the summer.  I had a little pizza from a bakery.  They used cream cheese as the base with spiced ham & herbs sprinkled on top.  It was ok but really?  cream cheese?
Taking the train to Stuttgart wasn't too bad, the automated ticket kiosk had instructions in English.  Coming back was different.  Buying the ticket was easy but then I had to figure out which track my train was on (imagine a semi-outdoor Grand Central Station)
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  Which train takes me to Boblingen?"
  "Gretunchenken wertan obnachtingen" (yes you are stupid and I will put you on a train to Norway)

Actually the Germans were/are great.  This is a major city with lots of tourists so everyone I asked for help spoke English.  Now I'm back in the hotel drinking beer (what else?) and contemplating dinner. 
"Hello, I am a stupid American.  I'd like to order some tasty sausage."
  "Ratnakgretchen weinerschnitzel haufcraken."  (yes you are stupid but I won't spit in your food)