I can't believe I've only been here five days.
Saturday bright and early, Saori met me outside of customs and we got a coffee at the airport and chatted. It was a surreal experience for both of us, since it has been over 13 months apart. Fortified with coffee, (German Kaffee = sehr gut) Saori grabbed one of my suitcases and we lugged it to the S-Bahn.
For the metro area, there are two systems of mass rail transit. The u bahn and the S bahn. The names are misleading. The S bahn which I thought was for straße or street, mostly runs underground, and the U ban, which sounded like unter something actually runs more on the surface like light rail. And there's a bus system too. I'm still trying to figure it all out.
Anyway, the s bahn runs from the airport right to Saoris neighborhood in Stuttgart West and so we saved the $50 odd cab fare. After I took a shower and we exchanged presents, I crashed for a long nap since I was exhausted from all the traveling and the stress, and we set out in the late afternoon for the historic center (Stadtmitte).
Stuttgart is kind of a mysterious place. On the surface it feels like a large British city like Guildford, or even someplace like Florence, in terms of the density and size. Stuttgart city proper is very small and walkable. The city was mostly destroyed in WWII, so most of what is here was rebuilt although there are a few neighborhoods with buildings which remained intact.
The historic city center is mostly pedestrianized, with a huge street running through the center of the center called Koningstr, which is basically the pedestrian backbone. Lots of boutiques, giftshops, bookstores, cafes, H&M, Starbucks, etc. is here. At the end of Koningstr. is the train station with high speed rail connections to the rest of Europe. We went back there sunday, and I was surprised to find the street still filled with people, despite the fact that all the stores were closed. (In Germany, with few exceptions, all the stores and businesses are closed Sundays. That means no grocery shopping, no pharmacies, no bookstores, nada. The only places open are a few shops in the train station).
Anyway, Saturday night, Saori took me to a restaurant called Zum Something (not called Zum Something, I just can't remember the name). It's an old building with several floors which serves traditional Bavarian and Swabish cuisine. Lots of tourists, but lots of locals too. We were seated at a table for four where there was a hard-looking Russian man already dining alone. Ok, communal dining. I did it in Mexico, I can do it here. We said hello and ordered two beers.
The food was really good. I wasn't that hungry, so we split a bowl of liver meatball soup with a kind of beef broth and onions, and a plate of pork chop Schwinenbraten with big potato balls. Apparently it's a very Swabish meal. Really rich and hearty and I was happy we split the plate. The beer was a Pauliner Krystal Weisen, a clear wheat beer, which was pretty tasty. Living in the US, with all of its distinctly shitty lagers and pilsners, it's surprising to find that they can taste pretty good!
Anyway, I was fading fast with jet lag and the half-liter of beer, so we rolled back to Saori's apartment for the night.
Saturday bright and early, Saori met me outside of customs and we got a coffee at the airport and chatted. It was a surreal experience for both of us, since it has been over 13 months apart. Fortified with coffee, (German Kaffee = sehr gut) Saori grabbed one of my suitcases and we lugged it to the S-Bahn.
For the metro area, there are two systems of mass rail transit. The u bahn and the S bahn. The names are misleading. The S bahn which I thought was for straße or street, mostly runs underground, and the U ban, which sounded like unter something actually runs more on the surface like light rail. And there's a bus system too. I'm still trying to figure it all out.
Anyway, the s bahn runs from the airport right to Saoris neighborhood in Stuttgart West and so we saved the $50 odd cab fare. After I took a shower and we exchanged presents, I crashed for a long nap since I was exhausted from all the traveling and the stress, and we set out in the late afternoon for the historic center (Stadtmitte).
Stuttgart is kind of a mysterious place. On the surface it feels like a large British city like Guildford, or even someplace like Florence, in terms of the density and size. Stuttgart city proper is very small and walkable. The city was mostly destroyed in WWII, so most of what is here was rebuilt although there are a few neighborhoods with buildings which remained intact.
The historic city center is mostly pedestrianized, with a huge street running through the center of the center called Koningstr, which is basically the pedestrian backbone. Lots of boutiques, giftshops, bookstores, cafes, H&M, Starbucks, etc. is here. At the end of Koningstr. is the train station with high speed rail connections to the rest of Europe. We went back there sunday, and I was surprised to find the street still filled with people, despite the fact that all the stores were closed. (In Germany, with few exceptions, all the stores and businesses are closed Sundays. That means no grocery shopping, no pharmacies, no bookstores, nada. The only places open are a few shops in the train station).
Anyway, Saturday night, Saori took me to a restaurant called Zum Something (not called Zum Something, I just can't remember the name). It's an old building with several floors which serves traditional Bavarian and Swabish cuisine. Lots of tourists, but lots of locals too. We were seated at a table for four where there was a hard-looking Russian man already dining alone. Ok, communal dining. I did it in Mexico, I can do it here. We said hello and ordered two beers.
The food was really good. I wasn't that hungry, so we split a bowl of liver meatball soup with a kind of beef broth and onions, and a plate of pork chop Schwinenbraten with big potato balls. Apparently it's a very Swabish meal. Really rich and hearty and I was happy we split the plate. The beer was a Pauliner Krystal Weisen, a clear wheat beer, which was pretty tasty. Living in the US, with all of its distinctly shitty lagers and pilsners, it's surprising to find that they can taste pretty good!
Anyway, I was fading fast with jet lag and the half-liter of beer, so we rolled back to Saori's apartment for the night.
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