Last Saturday Saori and I took a train to Tübingen, a town a little over an hour away. Tübingen has several attractions, mainly the Altstadt, the Neckar river, and Tübingen castle. It was a bit overcast when we're arrived, so we decided to skip the paddleboat on the Neckar river and walk down the tree-shaded island in the center. Tübingen is close enough and charming enough to be a pleasant retreat for Stuttgarters.
The city climbs a gentle hill from the center of the Altstadt up to the castle. Saoris guidebook suggested we check out the museum of archeology at the castle, which is also part of Tübingen University and a center for archeological and scientific research. Apparently, nucleic acid (DNA juice) was discovered there. The museum of archeology had a surprisingly good collection of Egyptian and early middle eastern artifacts. The highlight of the museum was their collection of 35,000 year old Paleolithic figurines carved with surprising grace and skilk into mammoth ivory. It's some of the oldest artwork in existence.
The time scale is staggering. We are closer to year 0 than the construction of the pyramids. The pyramids were built 5,000 years ago. The mammoth carvings were 30,000 years beyond that.
Anyway, afterwards we wandered around and through the Altstadt, enjoying the boutiques, little canals, and medieval layout. We worked our way back to the river to a recommended brauhaus. It was a nice day on the weekend and the patio overlooking the river was packed, so we had to grab a sunny table inside. We ordered a surprisingly good and strong May Bach beer and some local Schwabian specialities like Spätzle-käse which is basically macaroni and cheese but with super eggy potato noodles instead of macaroni and really good cheese.
Thoroughly tranquilized we wandered back through the town enjoying the late afternoon. Until we came across some colorful paper cutouts hanging in the breeze. Mexican papel picado is instantly recognizable, so of course we had to go in to the store it was decorating.
We walked in to a grand opening winding down. The store sold Mexican foods and decorative items like the colorful vinyl tablecloths, designery stuff with Frida Kalho images, an odd assortment of stuff from some of the tourist markets. I was overjoyed to find salsa so we picked up two bottles of La Condesa brand like I used to eat in DF. But at €6 a bottle, to be used sparingly in moments of required spiciness. They also had corn tortillas made reasonably fresh in Munich, so we picked up some too. The owners, a Mexican German couple, were also excited by our excitement so they sent us home with some free avocados and cilantro.
We also sat down at a little cafe in the church plaza and watched the musician club set up a small symphony orchestra to play. Lots of Jazz and old American tunes by the sound of it. It was nice.
At the end of the day, we jumped a train and sped back to Stuttgart. We will have to come back for a lazy Sunday of beer and paddle boating sometime.
The city climbs a gentle hill from the center of the Altstadt up to the castle. Saoris guidebook suggested we check out the museum of archeology at the castle, which is also part of Tübingen University and a center for archeological and scientific research. Apparently, nucleic acid (DNA juice) was discovered there. The museum of archeology had a surprisingly good collection of Egyptian and early middle eastern artifacts. The highlight of the museum was their collection of 35,000 year old Paleolithic figurines carved with surprising grace and skilk into mammoth ivory. It's some of the oldest artwork in existence.
The time scale is staggering. We are closer to year 0 than the construction of the pyramids. The pyramids were built 5,000 years ago. The mammoth carvings were 30,000 years beyond that.
Anyway, afterwards we wandered around and through the Altstadt, enjoying the boutiques, little canals, and medieval layout. We worked our way back to the river to a recommended brauhaus. It was a nice day on the weekend and the patio overlooking the river was packed, so we had to grab a sunny table inside. We ordered a surprisingly good and strong May Bach beer and some local Schwabian specialities like Spätzle-käse which is basically macaroni and cheese but with super eggy potato noodles instead of macaroni and really good cheese.
Thoroughly tranquilized we wandered back through the town enjoying the late afternoon. Until we came across some colorful paper cutouts hanging in the breeze. Mexican papel picado is instantly recognizable, so of course we had to go in to the store it was decorating.
We walked in to a grand opening winding down. The store sold Mexican foods and decorative items like the colorful vinyl tablecloths, designery stuff with Frida Kalho images, an odd assortment of stuff from some of the tourist markets. I was overjoyed to find salsa so we picked up two bottles of La Condesa brand like I used to eat in DF. But at €6 a bottle, to be used sparingly in moments of required spiciness. They also had corn tortillas made reasonably fresh in Munich, so we picked up some too. The owners, a Mexican German couple, were also excited by our excitement so they sent us home with some free avocados and cilantro.
We also sat down at a little cafe in the church plaza and watched the musician club set up a small symphony orchestra to play. Lots of Jazz and old American tunes by the sound of it. It was nice.
At the end of the day, we jumped a train and sped back to Stuttgart. We will have to come back for a lazy Sunday of beer and paddle boating sometime.
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