Honeymoon in Germany: Stuttgart (Day 5 to 6)

We woke up pretty early on Day 5, so we cooked some simple breakfast and took a stroll in Schlossplatz where the Christmas market was in full swing the night before. It was so peaceful and beautiful in the morning, a totally different but equally amazing experience.

Neue Schloss

lake behind Neue Schloss

creeping up on mandarin ducks

Christmas market in the morning

life-size trains for kids

We strolled towards the Konigstrasse, where the wife was able to get some decent buys in Mango and H&M; they were much more affordable than their Singapore outlets. There was also bread everywhere; and they always look so delicious! We checked out the morning market stalls selling an assortment of fruits,vegetables and flowers and also donated some coins to search and rescue dogs.  For lunch, we located a famous kebab stall near Ruben’s apartment, Beykebab, the wife was not a fan of mutton so she didn’t find it as satisfying as I did.

tasty bread, even when its cold!

more tasty bread!

H&M

toilet in the middle of the street

golden retriever!

Stiftskirche

Altes Schloss

that’s a lot of meat (picture taken at noon)

extreme makeover, kebab style!

Beykebab

best kebab ever

The second half of Day 5 was set aside for Ludwidsburg, famous for a baroque-themed Christmas market. We took a long walk from the S-bahn station to the Residential Palace, taking in the sights as we go. The sun started to set as we were walking in the gardens, which gave us the signal to head to the Ludwidsburg Christmas market. Located in the Marktplatz, it was just a smidgen compared to the one in Stuttgart; nevertheless it had its own unique charm and variety of food.

map of Ludwisburg

Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg

Ludwisburg Christmas market

gyro box

gastronomy in a box

great looking mug too

We checked out of Ruben’s apartment the next day, and made use of our City Ticket to get to the Hbf to catch our train to Freiburg. We said a reluctant goodbye to Stuttgart, both of us agreeing that this was our favourite city in Germany.

Honeymoon in Germany: Stuttgart (Day 3 to 4)

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.

second class cabin

Bordbistro

we chose the seats with the table

Stuttgart Hbf

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.

travel route of the train

seat reservation

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.

Stadtkirche St. Dionys

the balancing man on Schelztor Tower

Esslingen Christmas market

Christmas pyramid

live performance at Altes Rathaus

hamburger steaks

bratwurst with kinderpunsch

lots of sausages

pistol game

archery game

climb up to Esslingen burg

what a view!

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.

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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.

on the bus

get off the post office (marked by H on the right of the map)

there it is!

definitely to the shop

so many flavours, spoilt for choice!

holiday flavours

more flavours

even more flavours

this is a great gift!

1kg of chocolates

flavors under testing

assorted flavors

hazelnut

had to buy a bag

small musuem

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.

Stuttgart Christmas market

the market place

very nice decor

nutscracker soldier

flammkuchen

currywurst FTW

kinderpunsch

gluwein stall

skating rink

Konigstrasse, the main shopping street in Stuttgart

christmas pyramid

wonderful christmas atmosphere

Stuttgart Airbnb Review: Dreaming in the House of Angels

Again, listing is true to photos shown on airbnb. In fact, the airbnb photos are better than our badly taken ones. Haha. It was difficult to find a listing in Stuttgart, most are private rooms and there aren’t many listings that are near to the HBF. There are some really nice ones but they are too far out! This apartment was one of the more pricey ones we stayed in.

The good thing about the apartment is its location. Very accessible from Ubahn (Rathaus) and Sbahn (Stadd Mitte). There is a REWE (City) that is just across the road. Stuttgart’s longest shopping district is just a few minutes away. Well-equipped kitchen and lots of heaters to help dry your clothes. Good WIFI connection and clean apartment. The TV has 2 to 3 english news channel. Check in was easy as Ruben actually owns the bar on the first floor.

Communication with Ruben was not easy as he only replies in German; most of the time in just one or two short sentences. However, most of the information you need can be found in the description in airbnb. You have to climb many many flights of SPIRAL staircase before you get to the apartment. After opening the door, you still have to climb another one to reach the main area. It was madness! We decided to leave our luggage at the bottom of the staircase in the apartment and only take what we need up. Since there is a pub downstairs, there was always this faint smell of cigarette smoke at night. We were not bothered by the noise though.

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