Stuttgart, Germany
We started our day with a good German breakfast of hard rolls, cold cuts and cheese, then had a nice walk into the city from our Hostel and through the local park toward the local rail system on our way to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. A short walk to the S-Bahn and a couple of stops later we were there, Right between the manufacturing plant and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where the local soccer club plays). The people at the museum were very courteous and I should take a moment to mention that Patrick and Rebecca's admission was free as was the lanyard used to hold the audio guide. So, after a coat check and an explanation of the audio guide, we were on the elevator to the seventh floor where the story of Mercedes-Benz starts with a... Horse?... Yes, a horse! The museum tells the story of MB from the top down starting with the stories of Daimler and Benz who worked separately on developing and building powerful single piston engines called "grandfather clock" engines due to the overall shape... all the way through the first and second world wars to todays emphasis on green engines and technology. Every floor showed a different era and had a special place to show specific tasks or cars beyond the history of the company, like busses, campers of what they called "helpers" (Kathy especially loved the garbage truck that she was able to sit in), and "famous" Mercedes vehicles like the bus that transported the World Cup champion German team and the Pope Mobile. Another nice part of these "Special" exhibits was they had widows that looked out onto the area around Stuttgart including the practice fields where the local soccer club played and the Ferris Wheel for the Stuttgart Frühlingsfest.The Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) was only a 4 or 5 block walk from the Mercedes-Benz Museum and when we got to the actual area where the festival was taking place, I wasn't very impressed. I wasn't expecting much for a Tuesday at 4PM and as such, I didn't see many people. Kathy saw a big tent and was trying to direct us to it. I was hoping to see, or at least compare, a German carnie to ones that I'm used to, but mostly I was struck by the booths that surrounded a few of the rides. Most had some inference to what Germans must think is Americana; a picure with Rambo or Charles Bronson ususally was outside a shooting gallery or a Goofy and Donald Duck at some game or another, but again, I didn't see a whole lot of people. My thought was that this place was dead. Then after a booth where the main subject appeared to be how Lady Gaga must love chocolates, I saw a picture of a cartoon chicken pointing to the left and a long German word under it... it made me think of El Pollo Loco back home.
We eventually got to the place the chicken pointed us to, was called Göckelesmaier, an open (and empty) outdoor picnic area with tables and the yellow chicken pointing us inside. All we saw was a private security guard watching the door and we could see quite a few people. Being the "when in Rome" type travelers, we waited to see someone else head in before we attempted to. When we got in, we saw where all the people had been, this place was packed! Inside was a large tent with picnic tables running from the front of the tent, where a stage stood, all the way to the back. A band was set up, but no one was on the stage. There were at least 100 tables which stood end to end then the tables were at least 20 wide and every table was full of people. Gaps had been set so the waiters could come, get your order and deliver your food and drink. The first place we sat was at the back of the back near a awninged area that we thought was the smoking area, so we moved to the area next to where they were making the rotisserie chickens. Imagine 4 or 5 Costco chicken ovens side by side and you'll get the size of the ovens they needed for the hundreds of people there. A server came up and asked us something in German. Kathy tried to reply, in German; something about the tent specialty. He looked at all of is in turn and asked "Englisch?" to which Kathy responded asked, "Englisch, bitte..." He came back with, "English? Of course! What can we get you today? Our special is two beers for the price of one." We ordered the beers and 2 half chickens and an order of wiener schnitzel with potato salad. All the food was very good, and the people seated around us were very entertaining. Most of the younger girls were in a traditional dress and some of the boys were either in full lieder hosen or just the shirt. A group of these boys (probably around 17 or 18) were singing loudly, drinking heavily, and slamming their mugs together so hard their beer sloshed out. At one point, I was video taping them. They saw what I was doing, they shook their fingers at me as if to say, "what happens in Göckelesmaier, stays in Göckelesmaier..." The beers Kathy and I got were in liter mugs. Basically, it's a 40 with another one for free. I drank most of mine, but Kathy got about a third through her's and was asking me for help. I got about another third drank when I couldn't have any more, so we left the rest there.
I was feeling very buzzed at that time, and as we left, there was a strange, giant animatronic gorilla out front. It was chasing a regular sized guy up a rope. There were only 2 things we were looking forward to while we were in Germany; spatzel and bratwurst. It just so happened that the very next booth we came across was one selling wursts.... So we all had some Bratwurst with some very spicy mustard. We walked some more looking for the "Big Tent"... We found a little traditional village with a couple of bakers, a pub and some craft people. We walked even further and found a place called Zum' Wasenwirt.... Similar in size to Göckelesmaier, the main difference was much more security due to what appeared to be a much younger and wilder crowd... Oh and the fact that everyone was standing on the tables singing the song that was blasting through the tent. We couldn't see if there were any tables to sit at as everyone was standing on them, so we decided to sit outside. There we met Jörg, a young man of Chilean decent. He also started talking to us in German, then switched after he realized it would just be easier if he spoke English... After a few moments of talking to Jörg and finding out his origins... We decided a half liter was in order... and a Fanta for me and the kids because I'd had too much already. That one didn't particularly appeal to Kathy's palate, so I helped finish that one as well... As Jörg was dropping off our drinks, he tried to give us a chip. The price of the beer also included €2,50 surcharge that would be refunded if we returned the glass with the chip... so we got a mug as well.
We had left the Frühlingsfest using the great public transport that got us there and we said for the price that we'd be back tomorrow. We didn't go back, at least not on this trip, but it was well worth the stop and will give me something to look forward to next time I'm in Germany.
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