I decided to have lunch with a colleague who lived in Stuttgart. He's actually been a pretty cool friend so it was nice to visit with him. This week, he was working from Stuttgart instead of Nuremberg so it was a good excuse for me to take another roadtrip. It's a "short" 2 hour drive to Stuttgart so as I was looking at the map, I decided to take a detour and take the scenic route.
Total distance: 603km (375 miles)
My first stop was Heidelberg where there's a famous castle. This town was really interesting with all the old buildings and squares and bridges. Unfortunately, for me, the weather was a bit foggy so I couldn't take all the pictures I wanted to take (or what I saw on the internet). For example, there's a shot of a bridge with the castle right behind it, but I couldn't get it done because the fog covered the castle. In fact, I couldn't even find the castle. I eventually found it by following the signs that say "schloss". It also helped that it had a picture of a castle right next to it. Random thought: in Deutsch, there's "schloss" and "burg" which are actually two different meanings. One means castle and the other one, I think, means fortress. I'm not sure about fortress, but it could also be palace. I know that one of them is more of where people live and the other one is where they battle and stuff like that. Perhaps one day, I'll know the difference.
So I followed the signs to the schloss and since it was all uphill, I actually drove up there. There were houses right next to the schloss as you're driving up. I'm sure those were million dollar homes because of the view and it's right next to the schloss. If people asked them where they lived, it wouldn't be hard to find at all. "We live behind the castle, you know."
Schloss @ Heidelberg.
After taking some pictures of the schloss, I headed towards Stuttgart to eat lunch with Frank. We had lunch at Ochs 'n Willi which was a "typical" German restaurant. When I was driving towards Stuttgart, I wanted a schweinebraten (which is like a potroast), but when I walked in the restaurant, I saw someone eating a schweinshaxe, which is pork and it is crispy on the outside. Just looking at a schweinshaxe will give you a heartattack. But it was perfect and it totally hit the spot. I do have to admit that it rocked me pretty good and I could still feel it six hours later.
Schweinshaxe.
Before dropping Frank off, he showed me the Porsche Museum. The building is incredible and so I decided to stop by before heading over to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I didn't plan on actually going inside the museum, but I was attracted to the gift shop. Unfortunately, their selections were pretty lame and I couldn't even buy a teeshirt. They did have this really cool poster on the wall, but they weren't selling posters. Once inside though, I decided to get a ticket (8 EUR) and check out the museum. They had every Porsche ever built and it felt like a giant toy store for me. Next time, I'd like to go to the Mercedes Benz museum. I'm sure they have better selections in the gift store. So now you know Porsche and Mercedes comes from Stuttgart. And BMW is from Munich.
Porsche Museum.
After Stuttgart, I went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Several people have recommended going there and I could totally see why. All the buildings inside the castle wall felt like an original. The architecture made me feel like I walked into a postcard or a Hollywood set. I knew they were genuine, but my mind and eyes weren't believing it. The only thing that was strange was that it was empty. Nuremberg at 5pm has more people walking around so it was weird to see this town empty. So after a while, it also felt a little lonely and depressing. I almost felt like that Will Smith movie "I am Legend" where he was the only person remaining. After feeling that way, I decided to go back to Nuremberg. =)
For this trip, I drove an Audi TT Coupe, and let me tell you, that car is SWEET. I don't think I would buy one, but it was definitely fun to drive. The other cars I've driven can go the same speed, but this little car WANTED to go fast. It reminded me of our dog, Bailey (in his younger years), when he would pull on the leash and it felt like he could literally pull your arms off your body. That's what the Audi TT was for me. Fortunately, there was a strip of highway during the roadtrip where I could actually unleash the car. And when I pressed on the gas pedal, the car just took off. The acceleration was like butter. It wasn't even trying at all. It felt like it was born to do that. The cool thing too is that, unlike the other cars I've tried, this Audi TT was hugging the road. The faster it went, the harder it grabbed the road. You could almost feel the car lowering to the ground. The rear spoiler also would come up as you went faster, which was actually my favorite part. For a short duration, my top speed actually reached 250 kph (155 mph). Welcome to the German Autobahn.
For more photographs, you can click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220126&id=653050323&l=3f137
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