We made it to the world's sixth smallest country while adding another dot to our map, Lichtenstein!
Jeff had a couple of meetings to attend in Stuttgart, Germany (his first time back in the office!) so we took advantage of his work travel and made a long weekend trip out of it.
We caught the train to Stuttgart on Thursday night (First class, first time! For me anyway), arriving late and calling it a day once we got to the hotel. Friday morning came early as Jeff actually had to get dressed in business clothes and head to the office at 8 am. Luckily his colleague picked him up at the hotel, so he saved a few minutes there!
While Jeff was busy at work, I spent the day touring the city. I wandered through the city center, past the New Palace, and Jubilee Column, popped my head into a few little shops and eventually made my way to St. John’s church. St. John’s is a beautiful church that sits right on the edge of a pond, making for a picturesque scene. The church was heavily damaged during the war and was reconstructed afterward, except for the tower, which was left unfinished as a memorial to the war. There is plenty of seating across the pond from the church, which was a perfect place to sit and enjoy the view while deciding what to do next.
One item on my list of possibilities was to head over to Birkenkopf (Rubble Hill), which, according to Google maps, was only a 45 walk away. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I decided that an afternoon stroll would be a great option. However, I didn’t consider that the 45-minute stroll would be all uphill… what a great workout! I definitely overdressed and maybe should have brought the backpack instead of my purse… Thankfully, the hike was beautiful and worth it.
Birkenkopf, aka Rubble Hill, is a large hill and monument created after the Second World War when Stuttgart was trying to rebuild the city. They needed a place to put all of the rubble, so they dumped it in this one spot. Around 45% of Stuttgart was destroyed during the war, which left copious amounts of stone and debris that you can still see at the top of the hill.
Meanwhile, while I was enjoying the view of the city, Jeff had transitioned his workday from the office to the Porsche museum. It was the perfect way to end the week! He and his colleague got to see the evolution of the Porsche brand, which began as a simple father and son operation, and grew into the worldwide company we know today.
We spent the evening picking up the rental car, then stuffing our faces with some delicious Indian food, and ended the day celebrating my grandma’s 95th birthday via Zoom. Happy birthday grandma!
We woke early on Saturday and made our way to Lichtenstein, driving through four countries in one day! We were initially planning to stay in a little town in Austria, near the border of Lichtenstein, but over the weekend, that region of Austria hit the “high-risk list,” and we decided it would be best to avoid it. So instead, we woke early on Saturday and drove south to Vaduz. The drive was very rainy, but we did get to enjoy some pops of fall color, which was one reason we chose to adventure south to the alps.
Thankfully there was a break in the rain when we arrived in Vaduz, which made for a nice quiet stroll around the city. We stopped by the visitor center to add a second stamp to our passports (we’ve traveled to 15 European countries now and yet only have two stamps in our passport…). We wandered past the parliament building and over to St. Florin Church and Cathedral (unfortunately, we weren’t able to go in), and looked up at the castle on the side of the hill. We popped into a few stores and realizing that there wasn’t much left to do, we made our way to the covered bridge, and then up the street to the Prince’s wine cellar for a tasting.
Following the winery, we took a drive to Vaduz castle (where the Prince and Princess still live), and further on to the town of Triesenberg. We drove through the clouds and popped out on top, delivering a beautiful view of the valley.
We had plans of hiking around Lichtenstein, but thanks to the rain and muddy trails, we decided to skip that and instead, head to Friedrichshafen for a view of Lake Constance. We first visited Lake Constance a year ago, so it was fun to go back and relive a few memories!
Thankfully Sunday was a lot less rainy, making our travels a bit easier. We started the day at Hohenzollern Castle, a majestic castle on the top of a hill just south of Stuttgart. We took a short yet steep hike up the hill and were in awe of the stunning fall colors that surrounded us. The splashes of color mixed in between the evergreens and backed by the castle were picturesque and just what we wanted for this trip! If I could create my own heaven, it would be autumn all year around! I just love fall foliage and cool crisp mountain air!
We were able to tour the main areas of the castle, including the library, bedrooms, ballroom, treasury, and casements, but the real highlight was definitely the view from the castle courtyard.
On our way back north, we stopped for lunch in Tübingen and took a quick stroll through the adorable neighborhoods before rushing back to the car right as the monsoon rain began.
Thankfully we made it without getting too wet!
Next on our itinerary was a stop at the Mercedes Museum. Several people had told us about this place, so we figured we better check it out while we were in town. The museum was full of all kinds of cars, starting with an exhibit featuring the first automobile and motorized carriage (which were simultaneously created in Germany in 1886 by two gentlemen who didn’t know of each other at the time but lived a mere 85 miles from each other). We wound our way down through the different levels of the museum, stopping to admire the flashy cars from the 20s (which were our favorites), followed by the famous Mercedes driven by Princess Diana, the Popemobile, and even the car from Jurassic Park. We ended the tour admiring the electric cars and numerous race cars that we had no idea Mercedes made. There were so many to look at!
After the museum, we drove up to Sepulchral Chapel (aka Chapel of Love), making it right before closing and catching a great view of the sun setting over the city. However, on the other side of the hill, sat an adorable little town tucked between the vineyards, which offered a better view (in our opinion) than the city.
With our checklist complete for the day, we returned the car and caught the train back to Stuttgart for the night.
Monday looked a lot like Friday. Jeff set off for work bright and early, and I took off to explore more of the city. My first stop was a trip to the local library. I had heard it was “cool” but didn’t really know what that meant until I arrived. The security guard checking people in said I had 20 minutes to look around, so I didn’t dawdle. I caught the elevator up to the top level, stepped out, and felt like I had entered into the N64 Mario Kart Double Decker battlegrounds. I couldn’t help but crack a smile as I snapped my photos and began the descent down.
Following the library, I made my way back to the city center and over to the Stuttgart Markthalle. Visiting the indoor and outdoor markets is definitely one of my favorite things to do over here! I love the vibe, the crazy smells, the delicious food, and the overall atmosphere they offer. It may be associated with my long-love of Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle… who knows. So far, my favorite European market hall is probably the one in Malaga, followed by the one in Barcelona. I guess Spain does it right!
Stuttgart’s market was small, but I did finally find some cumin or “kreuzkümmel” which I’ve been searching for! (We ran out of it a couple of weeks ago, and I tried to buy more at the store, but I actually bought “kümmel” which turns out is ground caraway seed… once I figured this out, I couldn’t find “kruzkümmel” anywhere… but now we have plenty and can make Mexican cuisine again!). I also had to pick up some olives to share with Jeff when he got off work (garlic and basil, Yum!).
I was planning to grab lunch at the market, but unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for, it was mostly just fresh fruits and veggies, meat, cheese, and lots of spices. So, instead, I embraced the uncomfortable and ate lunch at a restaurant by myself. This is one of my least favorite things to do, but really it was just fine.
I met Jeff back at the hotel, and once he finished work, we took off for one last stroll through the park and around the city. We were planning to stop at the beer garden, but unfortunately, it was closed and deserted, so we simply continued on to the city. We caught a mid-morning train back to Düsseldorf on Tuesday and are now waiting to see if we will be able to make it to Poland at the end of the month. Unfortunately, Europe’s Covid numbers are on the rise, so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed we can still make it, we already had to postpone the trip once!
Comments
Post a Comment