Greetings from Stuttgart
On our way to Alsace from Czech Republic, we drove through Germany, visiting the cities of Ulm and Stuttgart en route. We have actually been in Germany several times before, but never visited Stuttgart earlier. So we spent one warm and sunny day in this lively city, admiring the castles and other gorgeous old buildings, and wandering through some of the gigantic park areas.
Some of the main sights of the city are around the gorgeous Schlossplatz Square. On the southwestern side of the square is the majestic Neues Schloss, the New Castle. This baroque style palace was completed in 1807 and is nowadays used by the state government. The Old Castle, Altes Schloss, also still exist also just next to the Schlossplatz. There has been a castle on the site since 10th century, but the current stone castle is from 16th century. There is a church and a museum in the castle today. There are several handsome churches around the city. Gothic-revival style Johanneskirche am Feuersee has a top-notch location right by a small lake.
We also visited the main railway station and climbed up to the tower for a view over the town. There was a huge exhibition of the Stuttgart21 project, and it was interesting to get to know this huge rail project that will totally renew the rail system in town and enable urban development in areas formerly reserved for railway yard and tracks. The project, like probably every renewal project of this scale, has raised quite some public debate, and there are constant demonstrations against it.
After sightseeing in the center, we headed to a picnic lunch in a park. Climb on top of Karlshöhe in a hilly park by the same name, was rewarded with a nice view over the city and some German weissbier in a beer garden. We happened to be in town at the time of the World Cup, and it was a pleasant surprise to find an outdoor screen to watch quarter finals in a beer garden.
