First Stop (with the help of the GPS): Porsche Museum...of course! I read the list of things we could do but when I got to Porsche Museum, the decision was made to go there and since I wasn't driving, I couldn't do anything about it. Perhaps I should have not put that location into the mix! But, it's out of the way now and we can move on to other attractions. My husband, however, reminded me that there are two other car places he wants to see: BMW and Mercedes. I guess I will have to indulge him since he only has three things on his list and I've only just begun my list!
However, the museum is spectacular. The architecture is astounding. I'm glad we got there around 9:30 because when we were done with our tour, the crowds were starting to build up. I guess it's a very popular attraction. Although I'm not a car "buff", I can appreciate the beauty of the cars, their workmanship and the minds behind the workmanship. I particularly liked the history of the cars and the technology they used to present the history. It was really cool! We both had on headsets which allowed us to hear audio on many of the displays. And when there wasn't a display, there was a quasi-computer monitor that had pictures and captions written in both English and German. The monitors were flat panel monitors affixed to a stand. It was interesting to me because to advance to the next frame you literally moved the monitor to the right and if you wanted to go back, you moved the monitor to the left! Really cool.
There was a multitude of information I didn't know about Porsche, including the fact that they built airplanes and were originally designed as race cars. I'm a female..why would I know that? Anyways, it was a cool place, even from a woman's point of view!
We then went to lunch in the museum. They are very technology oriented. As we walked through the door, we were handed green cardboard-like credit cards. It was a cafeteria style-type restaurant. When we ordered our drinks and sandwiches from the clerk, she asked us to slide the cardboard card across the scanner located on the counter. When we finished our sandwiches and drinks, Ted took the card to the cashier and paid the bill. The Cashier doesn't have to remember prices (like in the States - not to mention keeping employees honest) and checkout goes fast! It was very, very slick!
By now it's around 1:30pm and it's my turn to choose where we're going. On we go to City Centre in Stuttgart. Not so much to shop but to get a feel for the area. Again the GPS comes in handy, except we kept going around in circles! I didn't know that the city centre was one big walking plaza so the "nice GPS lady" kept sending us around, and around, and around. Ted started to get frustrated so he decided to park the car. By this time, it had started to rain. This time I DID remember to bring an umbrella...but what I didn't remember was to bring BOTH of them! UGH!
So we started walking around the square and I snapped pictures as we went. We window shopped and I couldn't believe the prices! They were outrageous! It appears I will be doing ALL of my shopping either at the base or by catalog in the next several years. I'm certainly not going to pay 125 US Dollars for a pair of capris!
Ted looked at a shirt in La Cost store and it was 130 US Dollars! He won't be buying shirts there anytime soon. There was a fur-lined raincoat for 10,000 US Dollars and a diamond necklace at Cartiers for 250,000 US Dollars. Someone's making some big bucks around here, huh?
Walking along, I took pictures of art sculptures, fountains, and buildings. We finally came to an old Catholic church. It was from the 1500's but it was decimated by WWII bombing which was such a shame. But they restored it and it is beautiful! They seemed to be preparing for Easter Sunday. I found it weird that they were putting technical equipment in an open room that housed two tombs! Ah, the era of technology!
After walking around some more and being cold, we stopped for a snack at a local cafe. We split a "Berliner" which is like a doughnut with vanilla creme inside. It is not as sweet as a doughnut which is fine with me! And it was wonderful!
On the way to the car, we heard music. It was coming from somewhere in the plaza and it kept getting louder. I was hoping that it would be local music or possibly the German version of Rock music. Unfortunately, it was Rap. I thought it was quite funny, coming to Germany and hearing Rap in German. I just had to snap a few photos.
By this time, it was around 4pm and we needed to go to the PX and get a pan so I could roast vegetables and bake chicken.
Then it was on to Kelley base to do laundry. Luckily there were very few people doing laundry and I was able to grab four machines and get the laundry done in double quick time.
By this time we decided to go to dinner because I was just too pooped to cook ;)
We went to a few places on the list of restaurants our landlords left for us but none of the ones we went to seemed appealing. We ended up going to the first place we went to earlier in the week. We knew the food was good and the waiter speaks English! So off we went! Again, the food was great and now it was time to come back home and unload the car and drag a week's worth of laundry up the stairs to our apartment and put them away.
By the time we did all of that, I was ready for bed! Tomorrow is another day!
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