On our own - Germany.

Arrived in Stuttgart early afternoon, with nothing booked. Another adventure.

So far so good. Used online booking to book a hotel in Stuttgart. Only planning to stay one night so a hotel right at the station seemed a good choice. Wifi costs extra. We are not used to that elsewhere on this trip. ;-(

First impressions of Stuttgart ... It seems to have fewer old historic buildings, and those that are there are less ornate. There's also a lot of construction going on.

Lex and Jeff opted for a visit to the Mercedes Benz Museum - boys toys, and they definitely enjoyed that.

Looks like he found a boat as well!

Jill and I chose the Hop On Hop Off bus tours. Sights were not as impressive as other cities, but the commentary was very good. 85% of the city centre destroyed in WW2. New infrastructure was erected rapidly, and now much of that needs to be replaced, hence all the present construction.

The city has huge tracts of natural woodland throughout the wider city, and surprisingly many small vineyards, many not very far from the city centre. Even more amazing is that these vineyards are heritage listed, and can never be built on. We heard about local wine pubs, similar to what we experienced in Vienna with Hannah. The tradition began many years ago, when vineyards were trying to dispose of the previous year's wine before the next one was ready. Government made this a tax free period, to assist farmers, and neighbours, more than willing to help out frequented these establishments. The wine pub custom has continued, with vineyards selling food and their own wines, although the tax free period no longer exists.

Then on to Karlsruhe to visit Susie. Woohoo

Staying 2 nights with Susie was fabulous. What a wonderful welcome we received. Staying with friends has such a different feel to hotel/hostel accommodation.

We got a guided tour of the city and surroundings, always better with a local guide, especially when it cames to ordering food. For lunch we had 'flame cakes', a bit like pizza made on flat bread, but without tomato. A culinary highlight was our ice-cream treats. Sooooo much icecream and cream. Perhaps we should have shared one!!

There's lots of construction happening in Karlsruhe, as they move the city trams underground. Currently the inner city is shared by pedestrians and trams. It seems to have a very good public transport system, which is magnificent, given that the city is so spread out. There's lots of woodland areas throughout the whole city... That's impressive.

 

First class TGV train to Paris. Train reached speed in excess of 310 km/hr, but was still quite smooth. Meal packages, including beer or wine were served in our seats. Very comfortable, but no wifi was a big disappointment. We have certainly become spoiled! ;-(

 

Only a couple of days in Germany is not really enough. We have definitely left things for our next trip.

 

 

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