So, as I mentioned earlier, I wasn't too excited about the thought of traveling alone in Europe, but still wanted to maximize the time here before Wes arrived. That meant that I found out where other people were going to be here and invited myself along on their holidays. Margaret is a friend of mine from high school and was gracious enough to let me visit her in Stuttgart.
FRIDAY
First indication that the trip was going to be amusing, if nothing. Security was baffled by my camera - Likely the only picture on my blog EVER that will be taken by someone I don't know....I told the guy before the x-ray machine that there was a camera in my purse and he made it seem like not a problem. Of course the level of scrutiny made me really nervous for the trip back where my camera battery had died and no one could verify that this camera-shaped machinery was actually camera. Fortunately no issues on the way back.
Overwing shot from the flight:
I arrived in Stuttgart and Margaret met me at the airport, which was really nice of her. I find the idea of figuring out public transport alone to be a bit scary (especially because I sometimes have trouble asking questions...) so it's awesome to have someone who will meet you.
We stayed in a hostel for students, Margaret graciously got a double for the weekend. Once we got settled we met a friend of mine who works for PwC in Stuttgart for coffee. We found a place that overlooked the Schlossplatz (the largest square in the city and home to the New Castle which was built between 1746 and 1807 - that's what in the background of this picture)and was kind of out of the rain...either way it was great to see Van before he took off for his south of France holiday because he was full of great suggestions for Stuttgart, since he's been there for 2 years already.
After coffee Margaret and I wandered down the Königstraße, which is the main shopping street in Stuttgart. There were tons of people there, because there were big sales happening. We did manage to see someone who was a staple of the Königstraße when Margaret was in school. Yes, that is a guy playing a saxophone, and yes, that is a parrot on his head, and yes, it is a real parrot - I watched it move. And the guy was pretty good too.
We wandered around the city center a bit more before heading back to the hotel -
Then we took a turn into the park before dinner. Margaret explained to me that there is a big protest regarding the current renovations of the Stuttgart train station - check out Stuttgart 21 for some additional information. Basically, the way I understand it is that a bit of a very large park that is next to the train station would be used to modernize the station, of course I'm sure that's vast oversimplification. Anyway, the fun part was the protest camp in the park, some people have a lot of time on their hands...
Translation:
Thou shalt not kill.
This tree (and all his friends) makes our life here possible.
In case of imminent danger to his existence notify us immediately.
Secret: This scarf was not part of the initial protest. Margaret found this scarf the day before I arrived and draped it over the branch. Someone else came by and artistically added it to this tree's decorations...I mean protest gear...Congratulations, Margaret, you contributed to the cause!
We saw a bunch of police officers out and around the city and realized it was because there were protests planned for Monday. I suppose they were monitoring the situation to make sure nothing got out of hand. They did step in to take down this sign - "all cops are bastards. They at least had a sense of humor because there were other officers taking pictures as the two were taking the sign down.
After this we climbed the tower of the train station, which had some great views of the city. The tower has the Mercedes symbol because Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart (as is Daimler and Porche for you car people out there). You'll see later that on Saturday we visited the Benz Museum which is outside of the city.
We had dinner at a place off of the Königstraße called Ochs'n Willi. From the sign, it looks like a complete tourist trap, which is the reason that Margaret had never been before. However, inside the place is pretty classy and a lot bigger than the entrance suggests. The restaurant serves Swabian food, which is the regional specialty for the area surrounding Stuttgart. Perhaps it's because Swabia is relatively close to Italy (or may be for no real reason) but Swabian food has elements of the traditional heavier German cuisine and elements of Italian in that there's lots of pasta and pizza type dishes.
I had a traditional dish called Kasespätzle (translation: macaroni and cheese). The sauted (may be fried?) onions on top were awesome.
Margaret had another traditional dish called Maultaschen, which are similar to ravioli, usually with a pork filing. It was tasty too!
I bought an English language Swabian cookbook before dinner and I'm really glad that I did!
After dinner we met a friend of her, Robin, who is in school at the University that Margaret attended in Stuttgart. She met him when the University sent him to be a teaching assistant in Charlotte at her middle school! The party was organized by the university students to celebrate the end of the term. And when I say organized, this was not your traditional fraternity kegger. Why? In Germany, there are strict recycling rules. These are enforced by "pfand" (translation: deposit) on each plastic or glass bottle. For example, we purchased a few bottles of water and the pfand was more than the the cost of the water (for 1.5L the cost was 0.19 cents while the deposit was 0.25). Amusingly enough, I learned of this earlier in the day when meeting Van. The restaurant put a deposit on the glass my tea was served in!
As you can imagine the student organizes don't want to be stuck with the cost of this deposit so they pass it along to the partiers by handing them a bottle and a chip, that is used to redeem the deposit. The students came up with what might have been the most complicated but ingenious system to get back your deposit, driven by the fact that the bar staff wasn't handling money. So here's how it went down:
1) Cover price of 10EUR paid at the door when you arrive. This got you a ticket that you used at the bar.
2) At the bar, you used your ticket to pay for the cost of your drink and the deposit. You got your drink and the deposit chip.
3) When you finished your drink and returned the empty bottle and the chip, you got a slip of paper.
4) The slip of paper was presented to the people at the door to redeem your deposit.
That's the complicated part. The ingenious part was that the students had allowed for a shortcut here - at step 3 - where you could just get another drink instead (one that cost less than the deposit...). Smart kids...making money by capitalizing on the complicated nature of their process.
We caught the last tram home because we are old and were not willing to a) walk back to the hotel or b) stay out until when the trams started running again.
Saturday & Sunday coming in the next post!
FRIDAY
Overwing shot from the flight:
I arrived in Stuttgart and Margaret met me at the airport, which was really nice of her. I find the idea of figuring out public transport alone to be a bit scary (especially because I sometimes have trouble asking questions...) so it's awesome to have someone who will meet you.
We wandered around the city center a bit more before heading back to the hotel -
Then we took a turn into the park before dinner. Margaret explained to me that there is a big protest regarding the current renovations of the Stuttgart train station - check out Stuttgart 21 for some additional information. Basically, the way I understand it is that a bit of a very large park that is next to the train station would be used to modernize the station, of course I'm sure that's vast oversimplification. Anyway, the fun part was the protest camp in the park, some people have a lot of time on their hands...
 |
| Yes, a tree house... |
 |
| This train station is killing the best friends of small children! |
Thou shalt not kill.
This tree (and all his friends) makes our life here possible.
In case of imminent danger to his existence notify us immediately.
Secret: This scarf was not part of the initial protest. Margaret found this scarf the day before I arrived and draped it over the branch. Someone else came by and artistically added it to this tree's decorations...I mean protest gear...Congratulations, Margaret, you contributed to the cause!
We saw a bunch of police officers out and around the city and realized it was because there were protests planned for Monday. I suppose they were monitoring the situation to make sure nothing got out of hand. They did step in to take down this sign - "all cops are bastards. They at least had a sense of humor because there were other officers taking pictures as the two were taking the sign down.
After this we climbed the tower of the train station, which had some great views of the city. The tower has the Mercedes symbol because Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart (as is Daimler and Porche for you car people out there). You'll see later that on Saturday we visited the Benz Museum which is outside of the city.
We had dinner at a place off of the Königstraße called Ochs'n Willi. From the sign, it looks like a complete tourist trap, which is the reason that Margaret had never been before. However, inside the place is pretty classy and a lot bigger than the entrance suggests. The restaurant serves Swabian food, which is the regional specialty for the area surrounding Stuttgart. Perhaps it's because Swabia is relatively close to Italy (or may be for no real reason) but Swabian food has elements of the traditional heavier German cuisine and elements of Italian in that there's lots of pasta and pizza type dishes.
Margaret had another traditional dish called Maultaschen, which are similar to ravioli, usually with a pork filing. It was tasty too!
I bought an English language Swabian cookbook before dinner and I'm really glad that I did!
After dinner we met a friend of her, Robin, who is in school at the University that Margaret attended in Stuttgart. She met him when the University sent him to be a teaching assistant in Charlotte at her middle school! The party was organized by the university students to celebrate the end of the term. And when I say organized, this was not your traditional fraternity kegger. Why? In Germany, there are strict recycling rules. These are enforced by "pfand" (translation: deposit) on each plastic or glass bottle. For example, we purchased a few bottles of water and the pfand was more than the the cost of the water (for 1.5L the cost was 0.19 cents while the deposit was 0.25). Amusingly enough, I learned of this earlier in the day when meeting Van. The restaurant put a deposit on the glass my tea was served in!
As you can imagine the student organizes don't want to be stuck with the cost of this deposit so they pass it along to the partiers by handing them a bottle and a chip, that is used to redeem the deposit. The students came up with what might have been the most complicated but ingenious system to get back your deposit, driven by the fact that the bar staff wasn't handling money. So here's how it went down:
1) Cover price of 10EUR paid at the door when you arrive. This got you a ticket that you used at the bar.
2) At the bar, you used your ticket to pay for the cost of your drink and the deposit. You got your drink and the deposit chip.
3) When you finished your drink and returned the empty bottle and the chip, you got a slip of paper.
4) The slip of paper was presented to the people at the door to redeem your deposit.
That's the complicated part. The ingenious part was that the students had allowed for a shortcut here - at step 3 - where you could just get another drink instead (one that cost less than the deposit...). Smart kids...making money by capitalizing on the complicated nature of their process.
We caught the last tram home because we are old and were not willing to a) walk back to the hotel or b) stay out until when the trams started running again.
Saturday & Sunday coming in the next post!
Yep, that's the Germans. Making you think and make calculations while drinking. Honestly that was the most convoluted Pfand system I have ever encountered at a party. 2 Euro Pfand?? The punch card (I guess that's the closest equivalent we have?) system is annoying because you always seem to end up with money left on your card. But it makes the drink-givers' job easier. They are only students, not professional bartenders.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we had fun together in Benz Town!!
Bahaha! Also I appreciate the shout-out to the scarf. I saw it lying on the ground earlier that day and I was like "oh maybe someone dropped it. I'll hang it on the tree and maybe the owner will see it if they come looking for it." I did not intend for it to be conscripted into the K21 movement!! Dirty hippies.
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