Last day in stuttgart
Iit has been interesting the last couple of days here in stuttgart. The more time I spend here the less I'm interested in this town. it is a very modern town and one that has a large focus on shopping, oh how it thrills me. I would say that the only draw for foreigners would be the fact that both Porsche and Mercedes-Benz are based here. Other than that I would say it's a skip on the list of places to visit. At any rate, being a car freak I found some pretty interesting things to do. On my first full day here I went to the porsche muesum.
I've been thinking about what this might be like for a while now. I've looked at pictures online and heard other car nuts tell the stories of going. Needless to say I was looking forward to it. This place did not dissapoint. They had everything. At the top of the escalator you are treated with the very first hand crafted metal prototype of the 356. It just goes from there. They have all the race cars, all the production cars and a number of prototypes. Some I had seen but a number of them I had not. There was a 4 door 928 created for Ferry Porsche, a 914/8 ( the one I hadn't seen), the original prototype for the 911 and a few others. It was awesome. Also next door was the biggiest and nicest porsche dealer I've ever seen. You could god next door and purchase a car the was designed across the street and assembled just a few KM away, awesome.
With another day to kill in stuttgart I decided to go to the mercedes museum. It was a similar experience, but on a much grander scale. This museum was killer and much bigger and nicer than the porsche one. You take an elevator to the top floor and work your was down through 8 stories of Mercedes and car history. You start at the top with the transition from the horse to the motorized buggy and end with the race cars on the bottom. Everything in between is amazing. I had never seen a gullwing 300sl and I have to say it is one of the cooliest cars I have evern been near. It is a new goal of mine to drive one some day. I would say my favoriate thing was how well represented the trucks, busses, ambulances, van's etc. were. In the U.S. Mercedes is purly a luxury brand. In most other parts of the world they are a whole lot more. It was neet to get to see the vehicles that I won't see back home up close and personal. Oh and dad they make this westfalia camper van that is what dreams are made of, but we will never get it!
Tomorrow I'm off to see the bodo in the morning. It's about a 2 hour train ride from here to koblenz so that will be nice. I really have taken to riding the train. You get to watch the scenery go by while you sit back in a comfortable space that someone else is in charge of. It's great! It would be great if we had a cheap efficient train from say Eugene to Portland. Any how I've got some pictures to upload soon and I'm sure I will write more once I see Bodo, but this internet connection at the hostel sucks so i'll have to save it for another time.
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