Wine and beer is not a great mix, but the hangover wasn’t too bad and I felt almost human after a hot shower in the morning. I was able to use the water kettle in the kitchen to make coffee while the service breakfast was relegated to another section of the hostel. I studied about two hours.
There is a lot to do in Stuttgart, but very little of it appealed to me. I’m sure the Mercedes and Porsche museums are top notch, but I just can’t be bothered to go so far into the suburbs for those. I headed to the middle section of town to check out the Württemburg history museum, which had free admission. For that price, any museum is worth checking out despite getting a negative review about it the night before. It is located in a converted palace, but the palace has nothing to do with the museum, which displays archaeological findings from some tombs in the area and the treasure collection of the local former-royal family on one floor and presents an entire history of the region since the Neanderthals. Though I usually don’t go in for the archaeology (I’m no Indiana Jones), this museum was surprisingly accessible, despite my turning down the free audio guide.
After spending close to two hours in the museum, I returned to the hostel to eat two more giants tacos and graze from the breakfast leftovers (whatever freshly baked rolls and coffee is left untouched). Afterwards, I set out to track down the Pig Museum, which sounded interesting from the description. It was a 40 minute walk out into the suburbs on the other side of a mountain, but I didn’t mind the heat or strong sunshine. I did mind how run down the “museum” looked when I reached it. It appeared to be as much a museum as a Cracker Barrel. There was a Gasthof with some attached rooms for the museum, and I thought twice about barging in for the honor of paying 6.90 to look at a bunch of pig-themed tchotchkes.
So, I walked back towards the city by a different path, covering almost the entire stretch of the Schlossgarten–unter, mittel, und ober. I did make a detour at one point to swing by a Penny and get some water. The gardens were nice, except for the construction at either end. By the end of the gardens near the train station, I took a peak at the recommended beer garden and noted that it must be that empty because everyone is in the middle of town drinking wine.
I passed around the planetarium (which looked closed) and tried to find the tower in the train station for a view of the city (also closed). I had been walking around a lot and didn’t have much to do, but finished the walk down the pedestrian zone from the train station to the Schlossplatz and cut back to the hostel.
I decided that I should stock up on food for the weekend and filled the fridge (two whole fridges for the guests to use!). While those were chilling, I sat on the terrace and read. Because I made fresh curry the other day, I still had a stash of garlic, ginger, and onion. I was able to use a bit to make the taco meat, but I was basically swimming in fresh ingredients (and leftovers). I decided to try something kind of crazy… make my own currywurst and chips. So, not that crazy, because there is literally an entire freezer case of french fries to throw in the oven and I bought random bratwurst. But the crazy part, is I made my own curry ketchup from scratch so that it actually tasted like curry and was appropriately spicy.
It seems that no one is ever around during the dinner hour and while I was planning to give away handfuls of fries, I ended up eating the entire package myself with three of the six pack of sausages. Oof. The several bottles of beer helped wash everything down. It was a quiet night. Before I started cooking, I had bumped into the British guy with a solo female traveler. They went to check out the wine fest and sit in the park. I turned down the offer to go along because I was eager to cook. When they returned starving, I was down to a plate of chips, but it wasn’t so appetizing looking at the point.
All in all, I went up to bed fairly early. When I went to take a shower to wash off the days sweaty grime I discovered that I had misplaced my shower gel and washing device (what is the name for those things). I searched through my stuff, and not finding it suspected that I left it in the bathroom after my shower in the morning. I was juggling a lot of things at the time so it was a possibility. I went down to the lobby to ask if the maids had turned anything in. They had not. So, either the maids threw it out (which they aren’t supposed to do) or someone stole it. Fortunately, the hostel was able to hook me up with a little hotel sized 2-in-1 shampoo/body wash.
Though I had thought to maybe read more or watch something, I fiddled about with the German vocabulary database on my computer until I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
| Eis (after eight) | 1.2 |
| Water | 0.44 |
| Beer (6 kinds) | 6.89 |
| Junk food | 6.32 |
| Total: | 14.85 EUR (115.8 RMB) (USD 16.15) |
Running Total: 31900.7 RMB (USD 4447.95)
Daily Average: 366.7 RMB (USD 51.13)