We took the train to Stuttgart this morning (taking advantage of the 36Euro for 2 day tickets). F. was keen to see the Mercedes Benz museum, so we took the S-Bahn to there.
Stuttgart’s station is undergoing some major rebuilding at the moment, with the Stuttgart 21 project (opening date, erm, 2031), essentially converting it from a terminus to an underground through station. We traipsed through a long covered passage, taking us over the building site to the S-Bahn.
A short walk at the other end took us past a statue that looked a bit rude from some angles:
The Mercedes museum was very impressive; essentially what you’d imagine a museum to look like if you threw infinite money at it. Definitely had a corporate edge to it, but it was nicely presented. All the cars were immaculate; reading the small print, some were reconstuctions, but even the genuine ones looked like they were fresh off the production line.
Unlike yesterday’s museum, there was definitely no going in vehicles today. There weren’t many interactive exhibits, though this one let you adjust the number of passengers, distance, rural/urban etc, to find your perfect drive-train:
For short, solo, urban journeys I think the answer is actually “bike”, but anyway…
Having washed the taste of petrol and dish-soap from my mouth, we exited via the gift-shop, followed by (in one heck of a flex), the exit via a Mercedes dealership. I resisted the urge to buy anything in either
After that F and I had a little wander around town. The New Castle was nice:
Then I said my goodbyes to F. and walked back to the station. The main shopping street has the air of a busier Broadmead, with a slightly past its best atmosphere.
My train was delayed, which DB had emailed me about, so I took advantage of the time to have a quick look at the Stuttgart 21 exhibition at the station. The main highlight of this was the observation tower, which gave a good view over the site and the city.
Writing this from the (delayed) train to Munich, where I’ll be spending the next two nights