I have TWO adventures to write about, but here is the first.
Stuttgart
Saturday, we took the S Bahn (the Stuttgart regional train) into the city for the first time. Stuttgart, I've learned, is very much my speed. It's a massive city, but it's massively spread out. There were no real skyscrapers or high-rising apartment complexes. But there were TONS of people, mostly German, some French, very few Americans. We emerged from the train station, deep underground (think New York subway system but much cleaner), and came up at the end of the Königstrasse, which I believe means "King Street."
With the exception of Times Square, it is the busiest place I think I've been to thus far. Not only are people walking and shopping, but they're eating and sitting and people-watching everywhere. There are tables down the middle of the street (by the way, it's a pedestrian zone in case you didn't get the hint) that to an American might appear as if hey just sitting areas until a waiter appears out of no where to take your order. The cafes down this way are extremely expensive, though, because of the high volume of people, so we found lunch elsewhere (more to come on that later.)
In the heart of the Königstrasse, at the edge of the city square known as the Schlossplatz, is the "New Palace," predictably located adjacent to the "Old Palace," that served as residence to the kings of Württemburg in the 18th and 19th centuries and was destroyed by Allied bombings along with most of the city during World War II. It was rebuilt and now serves as the State Ministries of Finance and Education.
The one place I really wanted to go was the Markthalle, where locals go to buy maybe two days worth of fresh ingredients from local vendors.
It was here that we found our lunch: a sandwich cooked like a panini with thinly sliced ham and arugula and cheese. Add the Mezzo Mix, and it was a pretty filling meal for 5 euros. We ate in the garden across from the Stuttgart Opera House, which is where some of the Avengers is supposed to take place (they cheated and used Cleveland.)
Basically I have fallen in love with Germany and Germans and the German way of life, and will be heartbroken to leave in August.
