Trip to Stuttgart

It was a beautiful sunny day last Saturday. And since there was going to be a Stadtfest in Karlsruhe that weekend (and a crowd reminiscent of the one we encountered in Heidelberg), we figured it would be the perfect day to take a trip to Stuttgart. Well, we escaped Karlsruhe's Stadtfest and found ourselves smack in the middle of Stuttgart's Volksfest.

But even though there were loads of people on the streets of Stuttgart, we didn't quite feel like we were in the middle of a mob. Stuttgart is a bigger city after all and it is also the state capital of Baden Wüttemberg. Needless to say, there were makeshift biergartens and wagons selling würsts everywhere.

Stuttgart is also the home of Mercedes-Benz, as you can tell from this side view of the Hauptbahnhof. There is a Mercedes-Benz Museum in the city, though we didn't go there this time. We'll probably go take a look when my parents come for a visit in December.

We arrived in town just in time for lunch. We were casually exploring the streets when, lo and behold, we came across some signs. There were photos of dim sum! We've been on the lookout for dim sum restaurants for some time now, and we couldn't believe our eyes. To get to the restaurant we had to walk through a Chinese take out joint and go upstairs. Once upstairs, the restaurant changed from a take out into a sit-down restaurant. This was where they had the dim sum, and this was also where you could order fresh ingredients for a hot pot if you so desired. After we all gleefully got our dim sum fix, we were able to continue our exploration of the city.

We walked around the beautiful Schlossplatz and had planned to attend a presentation at the Carl-Zeiss Planetarium. Unfortunately, we didn't get there in time and missed the presentation. Gabriel was initially disappointed, but he brightened up once we got to the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. We decided to go there because Jocelyn is a big fan of modern art. The building itself is pretty impressive, with its stylized glass exterior and sleek interior.

Once inside we saw the Christian Jankowski exhibit, which will be there until January 11, 2009. The exhibit was surprisingly thought provoking (as you can probably tell, I'm not a big fan of modern art). However, Jocelyn was so inspired that she immediately asked for a set of paint. We have yet to buy a set for her, but she hasn't forgotten either.

And of course the kids couldn't pass up the chance to be rowdy.

After we milled around Stuttgart for a little while longer, we boarded a train and returned to Karlsruhe. Who knows where we'll go next weekend?