Stuttgart, Germany

     Our trip to Stuttgart was quite short. We decided to stop through because it was on our way to Munich and we met some girls from Stuttgart who had couchsurfed with us in October. We arrived late in the evening and walked around the center of the city for a bit since they recommended we stop by and see the center before coming to their house. We walked up and down a long pedestrian streets that was full of stores for shopping. After being a bit bored by the shopping district, we headed back to the car but we didn't make in time and had to pay for another hour of parking for the extra five minutes of parking. Oh the frustrating parking schemes here. We headed on to meet up with our friends and enjoyed a nice dinner and went out to a salsa bar for some drinks.

     The next day, we headed back to the city center to walk around. Our hopes that the weather would be a little better were dashed as some flurries continued to fall and the snow slosh was in full force. We checked out an art exhibit at the Kunstmuseum about food being used as art. It was interesting to see some of the older brand designs that we remembered from being kids. Out front of the museum is the New Castle and Schlossplatz. Schlossplatz is a central point of the city and is surrounded by tons of old important buildings. The New Castle is now the home of state finance and education offices. 

     Above is a famous opera house that, like most of Stuttgart, was destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt. After wandering through this area of buildings, our friends decided to take us to the train station so we could go up the tower and get a nice panoramic view of the city. Sitting atop the tower is a large Mercedes Benz emblem, something quite telling of the city as it seemed every car we saw was a Mercedes. The view was nice and the last bit of the city we would see. Sadly, we didn't get to spend too much time in Stuttgart due to scheduling problems but what we did see was nice. We decided to pack it in and head on to Munich so we could make it in time to return the car.

     Our GPS led us through lots of small towns on our way to Munich. We finally arrived and got rid of the rental car. We stayed in our favorite Munich hostel, Wombats. Even though we've never stayed anywhere else in Munich, we are confident its hard to beat Wombats for all it has to offer. It is located right beside the train station and a short ten minute walk from one of the best beer halls in Munich, the Augustiner. We headed there for dinner and after thirty minutes of being passed over for a table because there was just two of us. Finally, a girl came over and invited us to sit with her and her friends at a table.

     After some time and more arrivals, we were engrossed with our new German friends. The girl who invited us over was married to a guy who was a brewer at the beer hall. Since he gets tons of vouchers for free beer, he treats all of their friends to drinks at the end of the year and we just happened to get invited to their private party. They ended up buying us lots of drinks and even had the drinks we'd already paid for comped and our money refunded. It turned out to be a great night but not a great morning for our ride to Innsbruck to see our good friends Tom and Rachel.

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