Germany by rail. Destination #6 - Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Location of photos
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1. Less than an hour after departing Heilbronn, we arrived in Stuttgart.
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2. We checked in at a downtown hotel and immediately proceeded to find a place for an early dinner. As had already become our custom, we had coffee and sandwiches at a cafe in the main downtown plaza. Afterwards, we toured the adjacent palace and cathedral. Those Germans sure knew how to build elaborate buildings! We were finally in the big city so, instead of going about travelling at first, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening right in the central city, window shopping and observing the buildings and the women. That night we went to a pub and got drunk again. Franz had 7 shots of scotch - big mistake! We practically had to drag him out of bed the next morning!
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3. Once we managed to pull Franz out of bed, I implored my two friends to let me have my industrial fix.
"We're in Stuttgart and I simply must see the Mercedes factory!" I said.
"There's two of them. Which one do you want to see?" asked Hans.
"Both!" I said.
Finally we agreed we'd visit one of the two at first, then if we had time later on, we'd see the other. The closer of the two was not far east of downtown, so we rented our car and went there first. It was magnificent!
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4. Afterwards we went back downtown and wandered about a bit. The city began to remind me a bit of Pittsburgh or Cincinnati: There was a fairly small but compact central city, and the rest of the metropolitan area consisted of a series of towns which were somewhat forcibly seperated from one another by steep hills or deep valleys. At any rate, downtown, while mostly low-rise, was dense with a mixture of old and new structures.
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5. Here was an ultramodern district.
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6. And climbing the hills to the west was a beautiful old district.
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7. As you climbed the hills of that district, the views became ever more grand!
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8. Our car nearly overheated climbing the hill, so we went back downtown. This was a modernistic structure of some kind right next to the railroad station.
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9. To the east of downtown were some smaller hills with more grand residential areas.
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10. And a mixture of old and new residences south of downtown.
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11. More of the same district here.
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12. Then we went north of downtown. We had a light lunch in this cafe here. Franz began flirting with the waitress and got her phone number! She also had 3 tickets to the football game today which was to start in just a few hours, which she could not use. So she gave them to us - free!
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13. To kill a bit of time before the game, we drove a bit farther west and ran into some cute but unremarkable neighborhoods.
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14. But soon it was time to drive east again and watch the football game. Stuttgart won! There were, as expected, riots on the streets afterwards and drunken brawls broke out everywhere. So we retreated back to our hotel for the rest of the day, to insure our safety.
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15. At the hotel that night I was thumbing through a tourist guide and discovered there was not just the 2 Mercedes factories in town, but this was also where Porsches were made!
"Oh please guys," I said in my poor German, "I want to see the Porsche factory tomorrow!"
I was rather surprised when they agreed that would be cool. So the first thing tomorrow morning we set out to the northern portion of the city where the plant was located. After seeing the Mercedes factory it was smaller than I anticipated. I suppose they don't sell as many Porsche's as they do Mercedes!
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16. After checking that out, we passed another industrial area to the south.
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17. Then headed east, passing through a new development rising over some vineyards.
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18. Toward the northeast side of town we saw more modern developments.
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19. And to the south of that, some smaller apartments shared the hilside with still more vineyards. Seeing all these vineyards, I began to wonder how much wine Germans drank in a typical year!
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20. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in this beautiful neighborhood east of downtown. The geometry of the streets was wonderful, and the architecture of the buildings was beyond quaint!
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21. We must have spent 3 hours sitting at a cafe here, watching the streetcars pass by - and the women, too. And speaking of women, Franz called the waitress we had met yesterday on his cellphone. She told him to piss off and hung up on him!
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22. The next morning we headed south again, passing by some modernistic institutional-looking buildings.
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23. As well as more cute neighborhoods.
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24. We had breakfast at a cafe here.
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25. Then just started driving around aimlessly.
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26. Here was the Stuttgart Technical University.
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27. And the rather interesting centerpiece of a neighborhood.
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28. In the same general area we saw solar panels on the roof of an industrial building.
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29. And a modernistic office campus next to a freeway interchange. Just like America!
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30. Farther to the north was another office campus, this time housing some Bosch offices. I recalled the magnificent complex in Mannheim.
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31. North of that there was yet another outlying town or suburb with yet another quaint central area.
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32. Driving north we passed still more modernistic offices.
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33. As well as some pretty ugly distribution facilities.
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34. To the west was still another quaint little outlying town. Did Germans ever get bored of these, I wondered? I was too embarrassed at the thought to ask Hans or Franz.
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35. After passing through that town we veered west and began to hit the countryside. We were tempted to take a longer jaunt into the rural areas but decided against it. "There's too much in Stuttgart to see," noted Hans. We agreed.
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36. Still driving aimlessly, we decided to head back south again and passed some mundane looking places.
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37. When alongside the road, I saw something I thought I'd never see in Germany: BASEBALL!!!!!!!!! 
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38. At last we decided to see the other Mercedes plant, located in a distant suburb southwest of the city. Along the way, we passed some modern highrise apartments.
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39. As well as the cute center of the town where the plant was located.
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40. HERE IT IS!! Wonderful!! This and the next 2 shots comprise the plant.
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41. More.
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42. And more. If you have a Mercedes made in Sindelfingen, Germany, now you know what its birthplace looks like!
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43. Since we were in the south end of the metro, we decided to check out some more little towns. It was just amazing how every little town was carefully seperated by farms or forests, and typically had a quaint and identifiable city center.
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44. North of the airport, city and farm were, as always, carefully defined.
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45. More of the same.
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46. Still more.
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47. New developements were carefully planned, laid out in formal patterns and typically comprised of dense housing.
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48. Another newer district south of Stuttgart proper.
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49. And a close-up of some cute smaller apartments in yet another town.
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50. North of ^that^, hillside development faded into more vineyards.
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51. And to the east, near the river, a nice little town abutted more garden plots.
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52. We continued east toward the river and took the bridge which passed near the port.
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53. And encountered yet another magnificent huge factory!
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54. ^In the bottom-right corner of that factory photo you can see a little town. Here's what it looks like up close, from the opposite angle. So, in one small stretch, you have a giant factory, a quaint little town, and some vineyards climbing the hill!
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55. Just to the north of that was still another cute little town with still more cute vineyards.
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56. And if you climb the road which goes up the hill, you encounter still another little village, nestled in a little valley filled with fields. Lovely! We bought a bottle of wine here.
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57. We went back down the hill.
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58. And, not having eaten anything for hours, stopped at an unremarkable deli here for a sandwich.
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59. Afterwards we continued our aimless drive. We went north to visit yet another town.
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60. Passed by some greenhouses
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61. And some more small apartments. Or are these single-family houses? It was hard to tell!
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62. To the northwest there were more apartment blocks
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63. And to the northeast there were more fields and garden plots
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64. This was a newer village to the north
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65. And an older village along the river. We watched a boat go through the locks.
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66. To the west was another large apartment complex
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67. And more. I couldn't decide whether more Stuttgarters lived in quaint towns, or more lived in modern apartment blocks. I asked Hans and Franz, they didn't know either.
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68. We started to venture really far north, but it was beginning to get late so we turned around
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69. Passed some more fields
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70. Got some gas
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71. Passed one last new housing complex
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72. And headed back to the center of town.
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73. Before calling it a night, we took one last drive up the hills to the west of downtown to look at the city in the sunset. Beautiful! We had dinner in a restaurant near here, drank our bottle of wine, and headed in for the night.
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The next day it was time to leave. We handed in our car rental and checked out of the hotel. That was fun! What a city! After the big city we've got a small one next - Ulm. Time to hit the road . . . or should I say, the railroad!
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