Stuttgart

I really didn't have that much time to plan a trip for this weekend because my Professor visited and I spent most of the week preping for our discussions. We had a good day full of meetings on Thursday and basically decided what I'm doing for the rest of the summer and worked out some collaborative projects for the future. I was beat on Friday and decided that a last minute trip would be too much work. Also I really hadn't had a chance to see most of Stuttgart either so it worked out well. Saturday I visited the Mercedes-Benz Museum: a car lover's dream. Opened in 2006, this 8 story building follows Gottlieb Daimler's invention of the automobile right through to modern Mercedes models (you can even get in most of them, although I really don't fit well in the sporty ones.) It explains the company's involvement in the first and second world wars, which was really interesting. Over 90% of Stuttgart was destroyed by the allies because it was heavily involved in munitions manufacturing, most of which took place at Daimler and Mercedes Factories.

To most Germans the city is known as "Benz-Town" because there really isn't anything else famous to attach to the city, except maybe Porsche. There are no huge monuments of anything really historic to note that would bring tourists here. I haven't seen a tour bus yet downtown, and most people don't even notice the Stuttgart Logo (right) inside the Porsche Symbol (Left). The reality is that "Region of Stuttgart" was the birthplace of the automotive industry and has rebounded from the second world war to become Germany's 6th largest city. It is also the home of Germany's 2nd largest Stock exchange. A good example of Stuttgart's almost unnoticed wealth is in its Summer Festival. Summerfest, which I attended on Friday and Saturday night is a completely unique event. Instead of beer tents and sausages, this festival offered Champagne, Oysters, and Lobster prongs to a well dressed, almost yuppie crowd. These were probably employees of Daimler, Porsche, Bosch, HP, and IBM which all have head- or European-offices here. These and other tech companies generate 11% of Germany's R&D in Stuttgart making it quite wealthy. I took this picture from the steps of the Modern art gallery, where every night people sit and watch other people (usually there aren't this many though)
One of the most interesting things that I've learned is that Stuttgart has Germany's 2nd highest cost of living. But guess who is first? Berlin would be the easy answer, but as i mentioned before, Berlin's amazing buildings and attractions are all a result of Foreign and Government money being pumped into the city to revitalize Germany's capitol city. Munich is the most expensive place to live in Germany. Above is one of the music stages at summerfest in front of the state opera.