Thankfully on this leg of my journey there were no problems with the trains and in a little over two hours I’d exchanged the cultural city of Cologne with the industrial city of Stuttgart. You could tell the difference immediately as I was greeted by more modern architecture as soon as I arrived. I had a little while until I could go to my accommodation, so I put my big rucksack in a locker before heading out and walking around. By chance I happened upon a large but slightly unloved Chinese garden that had clearly been created with a lot of effort but needed a bit more upkeep. Despite its slight tattiness it was an enjoyable first stop, especially as it wasn’t very busy. It seems I was getting in plenty of Asian culture even on a trip to Europe. After a while watching the goldfish swimming in the pond, I realised that there was a large resident terrapin that was occasionally appearing on the surface. Not a native of either Germany or China but I guess the effects of 90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mania are still felt in many different parts of the world.

Knowing that the next couple of days were going to be busy I didn’t have any great ambitions. After the Chinese garden I wandered through the lengthy Schlossgarten with its attractive avenues of trees and carp filled ponds. At least in a city of concrete and steel there are still green spaces to escape to. Eventually I hit upon the River Neckar with its many bridges and down this end of the park is even a zoo, which I didn’t have the time to visit. It turns out this area is also well known for its mineral baths with more than one facility allowing a warm water soak. Again I didn’t have time, but I did make the mistake of attempting to drink the water from a nearby set of taps. I was expecting something more inline with the mineral waters of the city of Bath but instead my mouth was greeted by a horrendous sour and sulphurous taste that I hope I’ll never experience again. You have been warned.

After a good night’s sleep in private accommodation away from snoring ogres I was ready for my big day out to the home of the city’s most famous exports – the Porsche Museum. It’s a good distance out from the city centre but easily accessible by train and by showing your train ticket you also get a 50% discount on entry. This year was an especially good year to visit as it was the 75th anniversary of Porsche and the 60th anniversary of their most iconic car, the 911. Special exhibits took you through the history of the company starting with Ferdinand Porsche and the evolution of the 911. I was very surprised to see the oldest remaining vehicle that Ferdinand Porsche worked on was in fact electric. Simply astonishing that this technology was being developed as early as 1898 and this Egger-Lohner C2 Phaeton had a very impressive range of around fifty miles. However, it also had a charge time of more than a day and the technology proved too costly and impractical for commercial enterprise. Just imagine if electric vehicles had been developed throughout the entire twentieth century! I imagine they’d still be very heavy.

I think the recommended time for being in the museum is around two hours, but I spent more than seven here. There was just so much I wanted to see in detail and the layout of the exhibitions was great for photography. I did try to read as much in German as possible and I found the early history of the company and its founder to be fascinating, though also sad given the events of the Second World War and Porsche’s imprisonment at the hands of the French at the war’s conclusion. After all these years Porsche remains an iconic brand and their enormous trophy collection speaks for itself. If you love cars then this is a must visit. As an added bonus, it’s also possible to walk around the outside of the main factory, though don’t think you’ll be able to go inside. Unfortunately, by spending so much time here I was not able to visit the Mercedes Museum, the city’s other famous export. But I’m quite happy to visit Stuttgart again in the future.

On my final day I went to the nearby town of Kirchheim unter Teck to visit a friend from university that I hadn’t seen in over a decade. Seeing as she is now married with children there was plenty to catch up on and it gave me the opportunity to speak German continuously for several hours. Tiring but it also makes for great practice. As the major cities were smashed during the war it’s often these smaller towns where you can still see the traditional wooden buildings of old. The distinctive Fachwerkhäuse is not too dissimilar to the wooden-beamed Tudor buildings we have in the UK. Although our buildings are certainly much less red. Beyond the architecture it was also a good place to eat traditional food from Baden-Württemberg. German regional differences are far stronger than those we have back home in the UK. My dish of choice was Maultaschen which is like large tortellini stuffed with meat.

As I had been travelling around Stuttgart I had noticed there was a massive event occurring in the city. In the UK we are used to the local funfair appearing periodically throughout the year but in Germany they have much grander volksfests which are more like Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland. Throughout the summer and autumn there is at least one occurring somewhere in the country. As I had a bit of time left my friends recommended I check it out and whilst I didn’t go on any rides, I had plenty of fun capturing the scenes on camera. Interestingly a great number of people were all dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndls which are normally associated with Bavaria, but apparently wearing these iconic clothes to volksfests has become more popular amongst young people. It was a great deal of fun to see and be amongst, just a pity we don’t have many things like this back home.

Amongst everything else I did manage to see more of the city centre in the evenings. The high street with all its shops and places to eat seems almost endless but there are also a few green spaces to sit in. Nearby there are also a handful of older buildings including Neues Schloss that was once home to regional kings. Still, I don’t think anyone would describe Stuttgart as a beautiful city. There’s plenty to do here but Germany’s real beauty was yet to come. Tune in for next week’s blog as I head to the city of Freiburg.

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