EuroTrip: Stuttgart: Porche und Mercedes

Woo hoo.. the fastest land transportation that I've been too. (it goes up to 330KM).

Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Württemberg in South-Germany. The town has 600.000 Inhabitants. - Wikipedia.

It took me about an hour to reach there. Great! Now I got so many times and dont know what do do. hi hi

Revisited my plan yesterday (open the laptop and take a look at the saved maps and point of interest). Okay I have time for two "museum/galleria" tour. Stuttgart is often called the cradle of the automotive industry. Being in a car capital of Europe, its only natural that I should visit those, namely: Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

A - Train station + City center.
B - Mercedes-Benz museum.
C - Porscheplatz.

Stuttgart is extremely easy on the eyes. If you arrive by train, the city you see straight out of the Deutcshe Bahn station is clean, lovely and easy to navigate. It's ironic that a city which built its fortune on making cars, Stuttgart is ideally explored on foot.

But the Porscheplatz was not reachable by foot. You can, but it will take 2 hrs to get there. So, take the city train instread, go down and down at the train station. The station is depressing by the way. Mono-colored building and too boxy.

Anyway, we'll take the city train (S-Bahn - S6) towards Leonberg Weil der Stadt.

Alight at Neuwirthshaus. The museum/ head quarter is right in front of the station. How convinient.

The pic I took was ugly, so i had to take pic from the web.

It's a huge complex, you'll need 2 hr for express tour and 5 hr for detail tour. Admission fee is €8

Showcasing the models and technologies used by Porsche since the beginning.

Jangan betulkan kaca tv anda. Do not modify you tv.

Porsche 917. These racers from Porsche almost completely dominated the racing circuit in the 1970s - considered the gloden years of the Stuttgart carmaker. The actual championship cars are on display in their original racing colors

Old and new - side by side

Newly addition to the series - panamera. I fell in love with this car.

Chanteknyaaaaa

Then off to the souvenier center. So cute!

Sad reality. The only stuff that I could afford.

As if the torment wasnt enough, I walked thorugh the sales center. Here, all you have to do is sit in fornt of the computer (with or without the salesman), choose your color, finishing, etc, and 2 hrs after that its ready to be collected! (if you choose from the default, for further modifications would take longer time). Beat that Protong. You have to wait 9 months for Inspira.

One happy customer, with her brand new Porsche. Like buying toys/handbag!

This Beemer got balls! Plying through the Porsche street.

Back to the city center. This is the train station from the outside. Seriously looks like a Gestapo prison.

Okay, Merz time now. At the main station, take the S1 subway train for two stops, getting off at Daimler Stadion and following the signs to the museum. There, th emassive and more impressive building will greet you. In fact all of the car HQs look impressive in germany.

Volkswagen Autostadt

-- Source: Google Img

And just for the sake of comparison. I knows its unfair.. but hihihih, Proton city:

-- Source: Google Img

See not that bad. Easily accessible by public transportation too (by the most efficient KTM komuter)

If you think youre impressed on the exterior, wait till you see inside. Jaw dropping ID. Fucking futuristic.

If the maleis serbanista see it, they gonna have frothes at their mouthes. Tapi dapat kat golongan ni pun , aku kasi 3 bulan. Pas tu gerenti berbau hapak mcm tempat wushu masjid KLCC. Tak pun roboh terus.

Benz engine is even used for flying

Sports cars section.

Unlike Porsche, Benz does built wide range of car segments (compact, luxury, sedan, sports, etc). A Mercedes-Benz after all is a work of art. Take your time to enjoy the masterpiece as the collections are massive.

--img source: Wiki img
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Too late to visit the state gallery. It closed at 8 (i think).

WIth nothing much to do, I ate, I walked a little and go back to the hostel. And sleep. Very safe to walk at night, just like any other cities in Germany.

The next morning I wanted to take the 8am train to Cologne. But Anton smsed me askign for me to get the later train (at noon). He had to go to Bonn for work.

Okay. The plan had derailed (not that I have any plan, but I wanted to use that word since the beginning- hihihihi, goes so well in this situation). Derail betul2 karang baru tahu.

So yeah, with 2-3 hrs to kill, I just walk around (the farthest you may go is 25 min, then its already a city limit)

Had a sip of coffee at the nice cafe here..

.. and continued walking.

Dari jauh dah kerdengaran bunyi org mengumpat..

...kan, mokcik2 Jerman sama ja dengan Melayu. Pagi2 berkemban mengumpat kat tepi lori jual ikan. Lori dah blah 2 jam, mokcik2 masih mengumpat. Bila mau masak daaa..

EuroTrip: München: Tag 4

Woke up and had my coffee and juice on the terrace. Super nice weather. Had another half of day to discover Munich before I moved on. Always wanted to go to Dachau and the Alps, but seriously its not possible this time. Not enough time for this time around (5 full days maybe enough). I promised that I'll be back.

So what now.
"Why not view Munich from a birds eye view?" Anton suggested.
Okay, im all ears, where is it?
St Peter's Church. Its in MarientPlatz.

St Peter's Church it is.

Paid €1.50 admission fee to climb the tower. The tower has its own name - Alter Peter; means old peter. Its about 90 meters and boy the climb (stairs) could take up forever.

-- Google image. The spiral stairs that go on and on forever. 1/3 of the way, the bricks stairs turn into wood and at the sections, the stairs go almost vertical. SCARY! and not for the unfit.

THe view from up there is breathtaking. You could see the whole city up to the Alps (i think its alps)

The only time that it sucks to travel alone - no one to hold the camera for you! A lot of my pic ended up like this, half cropped images. There's barely anyone up there. I bumped into 6 people that morning (maybe its still too early).

Dengan konfidennya memakai baju nipis dan berseluar pendek. Panas (hati) semalam beli jaket tebal, hari ni cuaca panas sekali.

After like 1/2 hour up there, I had to face another dreadful experience; descending the stairs. With no solid food taken, by the end of the stairs my knees was wobbly and my head was spinning.

Kwik refuel. Seafood. I think I had clam chowder and fish n chips. It was delicious! Okay, maybe I was starving, everything tasted amazing.

Then, took a bus to Kunstareal. On the map it looks pretty far, but actually its within the walking distance. Pffft!

According to Mr Wikipedia:
The Kunstareal (“art district”) is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany.

It consists of the three "Pinakotheken" galleries (Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne), the Glyptothek, the Staatliche Antikensammlung (both museums are specialized in Greek and Roman art), the Lenbachhaus, the Museum Brandhorst (a private collection of modern art) and several galleries. It is planned to move also the Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst (the state collection of Egypt art) to the Kunstareal. The history of the museums in this area of Munich began in 1816 with the erection of the Glyptothek at Königsplatz and will be completed with the new building for the Egyptian Museum (planned for 2010) and the extension of the Lenbachhaus (planned for 2012).

and According to Mr Chocomel (myself), you may skip these area if youre not into fine arts and museum and you have 2 days to spend on visiting all galleries in this area.

Its so huge, I had problems choosing which one to go. Ended up I went to NONE! hi hik, I knew if I were to visit one, I'm gonna ended up spending 4 hrs there easily.

So off I went back (by foot) to the city center. With a couple more hours to kill, i decided to went back to the shopping area. THis time I saw the "factory outlet" for household items.

Didnt know Hermes has a dining sets line. Same price as the generic brand one.

OMG, h.a.v.e. t.o. r.e.f.r.a.i.n. f.r.o.m. b.u.y.i.n.g.

Fissler. Slightly cheaper than the one in Saigon! Phew.. i'm glad I bought them in Saigon.

Opps almost forgotten. The map. I didnt go far around the city.
A - Train station
B - Kunstareal
C - BMW World
D - English garden Park
E - Marienplatz. Actually its right on the Munchen word. I didnt put the thumbtack there because it will hide the city name.

By noon, I went back to the apartment. Bid farewell to the host, and ready for my next destination.

Hop into the train. Opened the Germany map - made several shortlist Cologne, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Hanover, Stuttgart. Eenie, minnie, miny mo!

Stuttgart! About 220km from Munich. Okay probably will reach there in an hour!

Okay, Porche and Mercedes museum it is.

Yeah, with Eurorail pass, you dont have to book the ticket. Just hop into the train and write down your destination(s) for that day on the pass. When the ticket inspector come (rarely occasion in Germany), you'll show him the pass. Free seat concept.

The pass is valid for that day anywhere you want to go, no matter how far and its so worth it. You paid fixed amount (say €500 for 7 days) and you could utilized the ticket to the max, across borders, in any rail systems.

Only applicable for trains in Nederlands, Beligium, Germany, Austria and Hungary. For France and the UK, you have to make a reservation for the seat.