Busy, Busy
Trip Start
Apr 24, 2010
1
15
Trip End
Jul 28, 2010
Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Sunday, May 23, 2010
As predicted, the morning is an absolute stunner, and we should be able to get quite a lot done. The city of Stuttgart is surrounded by vineyards, so today we decide to head to visit a wine museum near Untertürkheim. Next to it is a little village called Rotenburg with a small chapel which was the former site for the castle of Württemburg. It's historically important to the area, so we figure we may as well take a picture of it.
Its also on the way to the Merceds Benz museum, which we want to shoot the outside of again. Perfect - 3 birds with one stone. We also have to do the Fernseturm, which is the other way though, so we decide to do that first. It seems the lift took us the 150m to the viewing platform faster than the lift at home takes us to the 5th floor. The view is spectacular, and the visibility is great too… good thing Rob decided not to do the shot yesterday. We take plenty of shots - including a couple that Rob can stitch together for some panorama's. 20 minutes is all we need, and then its back down to the city to catch the S1 to Untertürkheim.
The Weinbaumuseum is an interesting old building, and we spend about half an hour wandering around. Then, its on the bus back to Unterturkheim to catch another bus to Rotenburg. The road winds up the hill to a beautiful old village. There are Wein weg's (Wine ways /paths) here where people can wander around among the fields of vineyards. Its a very pretty place. There's a 10 min walk further up the hill to the Württemburg, where we have a great view of the city even though we're looking into the sun and some haze has built up.
Peter takes a short tour of the chapel - which is now the burial place of the old kings while Rob just soaks up the sun.
We decide to go down the hill to take a few shots with the sun behind us. There are a few picnickers out here and the smell of their barbeque's wafting through the air is mouth watering. We trudge on down the hill thinking of our empty belly's.
The town of Obertürkheim doesn't seem too far away, so we decide to keep walking down instead of going back up the hill. As usual, our feet and our eyes end up in disagreement - but we manage to finally find a bus stop that looks like it'll take us to the station. We wait there for about 20 minutes before the bus comes to take us what turns out to be a two stop trip around the corner to the train station.
At the station, we can see a Mercedes-Benz sign in the skyline that looks fairly close, and having seen one like it at the Museum, we figure we can walk it. Peter double-checks with a shopkeeper to see how far away Mercedes-Benz is… "about 5-10 minutes walk that way," comes the reply. Cool, we can walk that. Just cross the road, and an overpass and we find the entrance to Mercedes-Benz… the factory, not the museum. Ok, lets just go around it… we walk…and walk…and walk.
In the distance Rob sees a blue bridge, and offers Peter some encouragement by telling him that's where the museum is. After passing the blue bridge, we keep on walking. And walking.
Finally, we got to the museum - the light in the late afternoon was beautiful, and almost made all that walking worth it. Peter made the mistake of kneeling down for a shot. Deciding to get up or just lay there till morning was a 50/50 decision.
To finally get home and get our shoes off was bliss.
DAY 30 - Monday 24th May
Its a public holiday today - Pfinsten (Pentecost). This is the third public holiday this month! Its a beautiful day for it though, so we know we'll have a busy time ahead of us. Peter's got a few things on the list he has to do, so he heads out early to do a walk around the southern end of town. Does a few hours there finding some new streets, and then its on the U to Mineralbäder for a wander around there. Rob goes into town first for a wander there, before heading out for the Schlossgarten again - he's got the big lens this time, as he wants to get some wildlife and people shots. Its going to be a long walk. The sun is out, so the park is full of people enjoying the sun… nice.
Locally, the whole park is known as the Green U. Its about 8km give or take, and its a nice walk, especially on days like this one. There's a area near the Nordbahnhof that is supposed to be worth a visit. Rob hasn't got a map with him, but thinks he can remember the direction he has to walk in. He doesn't, and manages to walk next to a junk yard, then some buildings that look a bit rundown. Definitely not the right place. After about 1/2 an hour he finds two people, and after greeting them asks, "How do I get out of here?"
"You'll never get out of here" comes the reply. Damn, must have missed the Hotel California sign. They're friendly though, and point out an exit - which is pretty similar to a Fiji dirt track, but 10 min later, Rob is back to civilisation. Good time to head home.
DAY 31 - Tuesday 25th May
Didn't feel like doing anything today - its like we knew we were done with Stuttgart. We had an appointment with GEO to finalise the contract, but that was about it. Time to unwind... Beer for breakfast. Rob spent the morning working on the Freiburg book - its a good thing Peter insisted on a few days break in Kronberg... if we hit another city now, the book designs would be getting pushed back too far.
At 11am, we get ready, and head to the tram station. We arrive at GEO right on time... chat with Andreas, and then sign the dotted line. Its official - we now have a distributor in Germany... we just have to deliver the books. Great moment.
We say our goodbyes, and walk around the block to Bauhaus to have a slow walk around. Kids in a candy store. Cash and a shipping Container was all we needed… we'll come back later.
We head back home for some lunch, and Rob works on the Freiburg book a bit more before we head into the city at 5pm to see if we can get anything new. Its a half-hearted walk, and although we manage to take a couple of shots, we know we're done. Take a slow stroll to Konigstrße to have a last look at the Schlossplatz, and then we're on the tram for home. Beer & Pizza for dinner, and chill…
DAY 32 - Wednesday 26th May
Rain. And for once, we don't mind it. We pack our bags, have crepes for breakfast, and finish what we can. Last quick check, and then its the bag drag to Olgaek tram stop, then down to the Hauptbahnhof. We've got a 2 hour train ride ahead of us to Kronberg, and about 5 days of taking it easy… well thats the plan anyway.
