Germany Day 2- Stuttgart

I have to admit I was not a fan of Stuttgart when we arrived by train. Well first our train travel did not go smoothly. Michael was cranky that he didn't know what he was doing and I was trying to go with the flow and think of it as adventure. Role reversal anyone?! We severely overslept the train we had reservations on so we didn't have seats and had to stand the thirty minute train ride. The disadvantage of a little too much fun in Heidelberg. Our hotel was awesome but not really near much we wanted to do (it had air). The hotel had a king bed which is unusual in Europe and the room was cool so we did sleep well that night. It was just a little too city for me from what we could see on the way in and at the train station. But we tried to brush it off get into the groove of things.

We headed to the Porsche Museum. Michael was really excited about this and it was one of the few things he planned. After getting on the train the wrong way (Michael's way) we lost some time but finally made it there!!

I am not really into Porsches, but hey I am a husband pleaser. My opinion being they really haven't changed much over the years. But I learned alot about that and how they try to perfect each model that last like decades. I like the older models the best.


There were only two racing cars I liked....this one was converted to a street model to meet a requirement by some big race in Europe and was named Pinky. Love it.

The other true racing car that I loved. Notice a trend. The only two chick cars in the place.


This one was so funky. Green Rims? Not very Porsche if you ask me.


Stuttgart is the headquarters of Porsche and a big place for Mercedes. We didn't make it to the Mercedes Muesum but every cab we took was a Mercedes. They are like Fords there. Everyone drives them. Kind of takes the coolness out of it huh?


This car is a 2008 Porsche that sole for 1.5 Million. Holy Moly!

Okay when they start converting Porsches into Police Cars they lose a coolness point for me.

Who knew they made a tractor?!

A convertible Police car?! Give me a break.

Stuttgart grew on me fast because we wondered out of the main train station and into the Palace Gardens. By mistake at that. This is a huge park where people just sunbathe, hang out, play with the kids, play soccer, play music and guitar. It was awesome. We just don't have stuff like this in the US.

In front of the Palace (which I later found out was the side)

We saw random people on these "stilts" that made them look like robot kangaroos. Then they started walking across the fountain area. I felt like it was that scene with Forest Gump and Jenny in DC.

The Palace

The Opera House. Of course it was "dark" while we there. Much like Cirque on our honeymoon in Disney. Oh how I would enjoy torturing Michael with an Opera.

I love this picture!

But this is one of my favorites

The view from the Palace Gardens

There were two huge fountains in the gardens that looked like this.

The fountain scene is unreal. So people just take off their clothes and hop right in. I said before the guy in Heildeberg was rinsing off in one. Well kids were playing (butt naked) in them and people just hanging out with their feet in the water. It was odd.....

But when in Rome......

I couldn't get an awesome picture of the Palace from this angle (the front!)because of drunkey McGee in the lawn. (See Party Hard Post) I feel I should mention this is like 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I really thought the guy might be dead.

A little better without Drunkeys

Speaking of odd people. Remember the weird haircuts discussed. The biggest Mullet EVER! See the GUY in the yellow. Too funny. I wonder if he thought it looked good. I am telling you it is not unusual though. You should have seen Michael go run after this guy to get this shot. Check out the shoes too.

This is for Tanya....she gets it! We ate ice cream in the park and chilled. I think we were having a hard time recovering from the day before.

We never went back to the room until late that night. We just hung out in the gardens and surrounding areas all afternoon into the night. We found a Beirgarten (Beer Garden) in the middle of the grassy park. White umbrellas and picnic tables. You walk up to order a beer and take it back to your bench. No waiters. The beers are 7 euro (.5L) or 9 euro (1L=HUGE-I mean so HUGE it is hard for me to lift glass) but you get 2 euro back when you return the glass to the bartendar, thus eliminating the need for high numbers in staff. They had a live band playing 50s music, mostly Elvis. There was a Brautwerst vendor and we ate and drank for a long time into the evening. Then we wondered back through for one last look of the Palace.

Night shot of the Palace

Night shot of the Opera House

Love it!

I finally figured out after a hundred blurry shots that night shots can only be taken on a tripod because of the shutter speed. So this is one of my last shots that turned out great.

So I will say this... Stuttgart did not make a good first impression but it ended with a bang. No really. They set off fireworks in honor of the 4th. A really small show but hey it gave me a little piece of home that I needed. Stuttgart was a rough day of missing Lily. This day officially marked the longest I have been away from her. There were so many kids playing in the gardens that I just ached for her because I know she would love it here. Mommy ended up loving it. I miss you babygirl!

Up tomorrow....Zurich. A much smoother train ride and an Italian restraunt to die for.