Peter's Blog: Big Weekend in Stuttgart!

Stuttgart Kickers, Regional Soccer League, TV tower behind Waldau Stadium

Stuttgart was full of excitement this weekend with lots of different things to do with friends. Sabine and Julia and I spent Saturday together going to the Zoo and then to the city wide Culture Night, where different, musical, theatrical and artistic venues were staged throughout Stuttgart. We started out at the house of Architecture with some photography and cool modern 3D artwork with projected lights and mellow music. After that we went to the kulturwerk (Culture Work) where there were some impromptu skits, hilarious, even if I didn’t understand everything. After that went to a weird hall where guys were smoking with bongs on Persian carpets and a lonely guitar player was singing to a mostly empty room, good music anyway, Sabine felt sorry for him. Next I went to a dramatic poetry and literature reading with Julia and Bettina. It was very dramatic with this eccentric bald poet yelling at his audience, but Julia didn’t think it was very poetic (I wasn’t in a position to comment naturally since it was all in German). Next we went to a really packed bar where a band was belting out da funk. Then around 2 pm we ended up in a funky student bar, wrapping up the night with a couple of Radlers (7up and beer mixed).

We might have been the only fans that weren't soccer hooligans at this game! Germans are passionate Soccer fans!

The Wilhelma Zoo

Julia and Sabine at the Zoo

Papugai

Hey, give me my camera back!

Mugshot

This guy didn't make it to the South Pole with all the other Penguins this year

Culture Night in Stuttgart

I loved these 180 vertical degree photographs

Grand Canal in Venice

The house of Architecture, Stuttgart

Impromptu comedic acting and singing. I thought this guy looked like Drew Carrey.

Unwinding after Culture night with a Radler in a cool bar

Bettina and Julia

Trip to Bad Urach in the Schwäbisch Alb

The next day I took the train around the countryside south of Stuttgart and ended up on the edge of a very steep hilly region known as the Schwäbisch Alb. I found a castle and climbed up it pretending I was a Germanic warrior attacking the Romans around 500 AD (no really I did!). Maybe if I write another amateur novel I can incorporate this. Although it was a steep hard climb (nothing compared to Switzerland) I was totally rewarded by what I found. The castle was quite large at one time, with impressive, thick fortifications surrounding it. I tried to scale a wall for fun, like Robin Hood, but realized I left my grappling hook at home. All the while I was trying to figure out how that student health insurance plan I have works just in case. I wasn’t sure if it covers evacuations from medieval castles on mountainsides, you have to read the fine print! The inner courtyard was very serene with some trees, an old well (attesting to the importance of groundwater in ancient cultures), and one wall still standing. It occurred to me how strategic that well was to the defences of the castle, and how difficult it would have been for them to bore through 300 m of limestone bedrock to (where I guessed) the water table. This water supply would have allowed the people in the castle to water crops and animals within the walls perhaps too. It could also not be cut off or poisoned by the enemies from the outside since it drew water from deep within the mountain. No wonder they went through the trouble to dig so far down. At this point in thought, I was a little inspired about my master’s research. A reliable water supply is vital, so vital that all the walls, weapons and wealth in that castle would be futile without it.

Limstone Cliffs behind Bad Urach