We (or I) were really looking forward to taking the Bahn; I love taking trains and German trains are known to be punctual and comfortable. To ensure we sat together we paid 4€ per person (6€ without the Bahncard) to reserve our seats on-board in second class. Food can be purchased while onboard from the Bordbistro and our luggage was too huge to be placed next to or above us, so we had to leave it in the designated area.
Seasoned travellers on the Bahn don’t usually reserve their seats. We gradually realized how it works the more trains we took. If a seat is reserved, you will see an indicator on top of the seats. The following seat 66 and 68 here states ‘Stuttgart to Mannheim’ which means that the seat is reserved for two passengers travelling from Stuttgart to Mannheim.
What this translates to is that the seat is free for anyone travelling to Stuttgart. These passengers will just have to change their seats when the rightful two passenger who reserved the seats board the train at Stuttgart. Once we knew how to do this, we started to move around to different seats just for the fun of it.
After about 2 hours, we arrived in Stuttgart. It took us some time to find the tourist information center where we purchased the 3 Day Ticket that gave unlimited rides on all buses and rail lines within the Stuttgart area. Before using this ticket, it has to be validated by inserting them into the validating machines found on the platforms on all railways.
We made our way to Ruben’s apartment in Rathaus using the U-bahn, the cobbled streets were beautiful but it was not as nice when we had to drag our luggage on them. After settling down, we headed to Esslingen! It was already pretty dark when we arrived and there was a light drizzle, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the Medieval Christmas market. The owners of the stalls were all dressed up in Medieval costumes; there was even a games section and some theme rides, this is a great place for kids. Having some energy in us, we climbed up the steps of Esslingenburg for a stunning night view of the city.
Day 4 was a visit to Mercedes-Benz Museum! The entrance ticket came with an audio guide which you can activate and listen to the details of each exhibit as you visit, this really helped since it was quite tiring reading the exhibits one after another. I found the modern designs to be more interesting while the wife prefers looking at the classic designs.
Next up was Museum Ritter! The wife was extremely excited about this trip and even though I wasn’t a fan of chocolates, I eventually found it a great place for purchasing gifts for friends and family. It was not an easy place to get to; we had to take the S-Bahn to Leinfelden station, take bus 86/826 towards Waldenbuch, alight at Waldenbuch Postamt. Once we got off the bus, there were various signs showing us how to walk to the museum. The shop had the widest collection of Ritter Sport chocolates with every flavour and size imaginable. They even have testing flavors for sale and also random combination of assorted flavours that were selling at a discount. We exited the shop after an hour with 7 kilograms worth of chocolates; we had to buy a Ritter Sport bag to carry them.
We dropped our chocolates in Ruben’s apartment and went to the Stuttgart Christmas market situated mainly in Charlottenplatz, but it extends far beyond the area. This Christmas market is highly regarded as one of the best and largest Christmas market in Germany and we couldn’t agree more! There are numerous stalls selling gluwein, sausages, roasted chestnuts and there’s even a skating rink! The crowd was massive, there were Christmas lights and decor everywhere and it was such a great feeling to be able to experience it together.
absolute honesty 