moreover, mannygoossen: Friends in Deutschland Tour Pt. 1 // Stuttgart

The time had come for Willie and I to part ways. My five days were up, and his experience at Bodenseehof [Bode] was well underway. Solo travel mode was thus kick-started. (I'm ecstatic that I got to travel with my brother creating memories that we'll cherish for a long, long time. It already feels like it was quite some time ago!). From September 24th to this very day I began a bottom-to-top tour of Germany, visiting friends along the way. Here is a (hopefully) short and efficient summary of the past three weeks from my adventures; starting with the first leg of the tour...

Nächste Halt: Stuttgart. I planned to stay a couple nights with a friend, Gaby, who went to the Bode with me, however she surprised me with another Bode friend, Mirji, who joined us as well! Over the next couple days, we caught up on good memories, cooked up some Schwäbisch staples (spätzle, maultaschen and schnitzel of course—more on those here). Gaby had to be at university the next day, however Mirji was free and kind enough to show me around the city, taking me with her to various errands for her day. I experienced a day in the life of a German. First, was a meeting with a local bakery's owners. They discussed bread types and prices (in Deutsch of course) for a fair trade event at a high school Mirji volunteers at. I sat there with my mouth open the entire time, trying to pick up at least a few words (like Nutella... HA just kidding). Second, we dropped by the high school itself and as she made a few announcements to three Grade 9 classes, I was the show-and-tell in the background. Lastly, it was time to visit the Mercedes-Benz museum. It was massive. From the top floor down it took us on a historical whirlwind of the Daimler-Benz automobile dynasty. The ramps leading to each level/gallery gave corresponding dates and subsequent events of world history parallel with the legendary company. The facts were fascinating but the automobiles themselves were obviously the stars of the museum, and shone gallantly in the bright lights.

My final night there we reminisced, watching Bode home videos of performances from concerts, open mics, and special events throughout the '07/'08 year. It was a short and sweet visit in Stuttgart, but it was a blast catching-up with old friends, especially German old friends.

Here are some pictures from this leg of my journey: