Quick post from Stuttgart

We’ve made the switch over to Germany and, while I’ve always been underwhelmed by my German food options, it turns out that Stuttgart is the place that changed my mind! This city is fantastic! And I’m immediately reminded that, while I spent a lot of time learning German before this trip, it was really not necessary – everyone simply speaks to us in English before I can say anything at all.

That was my dinner last night! It’s basically a big plate of macaroni and cheese!

I should, of course, point out that I never would have found the restaurant if we weren’t in the capable hands of Sarah – a poster on the Rick Steves’ website and owner of a small Stuttgart-based touring business. She gave us a little walking tour of Stuttgart and then took us out to dinner. And even better – we’ve met up with another couple of travelers I know from the Rick Steves’ site – Tammy and Tim – and so we’re touring Stuttgart with friends! I know this pic is dark – talk to the server at the restaurant if you have a complaint – but here we are at dinner:

Sarah gave us an overview of Stuttgart as we walked. And it’s an interesting city. It was heavily bombed during WWII and, unlike a lot of German cities, it was not rebuilt to look like its former self. Sure, a few of the buildings were – but mostly it’s new architecture. It’s a lively and prosperous place – mostly due to the companies that are based here – Porsche, Mercedes, and Bosch are some of the biggest.

Here’s the modern art museum:

Here’s the rebuilt New Castle – reconstructed in the 1950s:

Here’s a good picture of the mixed skyline:

This is Stuttgart’s opera house, which managed to remain intact during WWII.

But below is the original roof of the opera house, which was blown completely off in some crazy 2021 storm, and the city decided to leave the crumpled wreck in the water as some large art and a public reminder of climate change:

Sarah also took us to see a paternoster – an insane type of elevator, with linked, continuously moving, compartments. The compartments are open to the elevator shaft and to each floor. It looks kind of like a conveyer belt to move humans around. It looks so dangerous it’s hard to fathom. The city has a prominent liability waiver pasted off to the right and Sarah says that it has to be run by a human operator now (pictures and video not mine):

Here’s a video of a paternoster in action:

As we strolled, Sarah showed us the extremely small and extremely spotless “red light district” of Stuttgart:

I’ll report back with more later. It’s time to head to Mercedes! I’ll just leave you with this lovely pedestrian street. Stuttgart is fabulous!