in May. I'll be living very close to Stuttgart (home of the Merc and Porsche). Let me know of any cool ideas, places to go, things to see, eat, etc.... thanks!

[Edited on February 13, 2009 at 1:19 PM. Reason : a]

2/13/2009 1:12:32 PM

you're moving there

dont be a tourist

2/13/2009 1:42:50 PM

^^My brother's been living in germany for several years now...in Bad Duben (outside Leipzig). He too is near a porsche and bmw factory. I would definitely suggest going on tour to one of those...tourist or not, a lot of people do it and its very interesting if you like cars. Also, trips to IKEA seem to be something people do just for fun in germany

2/13/2009 1:54:59 PM

^^ bah.

don't be afraid to be a tourist. Travel as much as you can - it's very easy over there to get on a train or plane and be anywhere in Europe for a weekend trip. You can take 2 or 3 days weekends to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Florence, Vienna, Prague, Madrid, etc.

My wife and I lived in Munich, about 2.5 hours East of Stuttgart on the Autobahn, for a year and it was awesome. From Stuttgart, you can easily explore the Black Forest and take trips to the Bavarian Alps, and get to Eastern France within an hour or two.

You can look through the blog I kept intermittently when we where there for some travel ideas and general thoughts on living in Germany
http://joelion.com

here are pictures of places we went in Germany
http://joelion.com/gallery/europe/germany
for some reason the rest of the gallery (pictures of other countries) isn't working

This is a good website for English Speakers in Germany. You can get to know some people there and get tips on learning German and local events and things to see and do.
http://www.toytowngermany.com/
it has a small Stuttgart section http://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/Stuttgart

[Edited on February 13, 2009 at 2:02 PM. Reason : .]

2/13/2009 2:02:06 PM

Auf wiedersehen.

2/13/2009 2:16:02 PM

Spend a lot of time in beer gardens.

Perhaps all your time.

2/13/2009 2:59:48 PM

Ich bin eifersuchtig! Viel spass!

2/13/2009 3:16:32 PM

yeah, ha.
The first day I was there I went exploring Munich by myself on my bike and found a biergarten. The next day I told a friend at work I went to the "Zum Biergarten", because that's what it said on the sign, and he just stared at me for a while before cracking up (check Google Translate if you you don't sprechen Deutsch)

I also had no idea what to order at the biergarten so I just pointed to the top of the list that said "maß Helles" (which I pronounced "maab" ) and was extremely surprised when they plopped this down in front of me:



a full damn liter

I was obviously ill-prepared when i got there, but I learned quickly

2/13/2009 3:27:22 PM

Ah Augustiner, how I love you.

2/13/2009 8:21:28 PM

I love Germany...everybody's friendly and serious

One thing I have heard, from talking to Germans, is that they take friendships much more seriously there than here. What I mean by that is, it's harder to make a close friend of a German, but once you've done so, you've got a friend for life.

2/13/2009 10:19:21 PM

Definitely check out the Burg Hohenzollern to see a large impressive castle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_Hohenzollern

2/14/2009 10:28:07 AM

drive the Nürburgring Nordschleife fgj

[Edited on February 14, 2009 at 2:21 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2009 2:20:35 PM

go skiing.

2/14/2009 7:08:35 PM

My grandparents are from Germany and my Dad lived 2 minutes outside of Stuttgart for most of his life -- there is SO MUCH to do there. In the summer, go to the Freibad (outdoor pools) you can google it for pictures but they are super nice. In the winter time you can go to the hallenbad, which is a collection of indoor pools and slides and it includes spa whirlpools and giant mineral water pools that are relaxing and healing. The zoo right near Stuttgart is really fun too - also there are tons of night clubs and everyone is super nice and everyone speaks english. It's really fun to just walk around and sight see too.. if you drive or take the strabsenbon you can go to really pretty castles and see cool stuff like that. You should probably try to go to a castle party while you're there too.. massive parties in super old castles. Oh yeah and if you don't already have a boyfriend/girlfriend, there are tons of hott girls and guys there.

Also, everything is super clean. Be prepared for super clean streets, buildings, bathrooms.. everything is well taken care of. Also, crime is very minimal even though Stuttgart is a big city. But yeah there is TONS of stuff to do. Have fun!!! I will be visiting some friends this summer.. I think I might also try to move there when I graduate. Are you going to be working there or is it a study abroad thing?

2/15/2009 6:18:13 PM

I got a job there. (i graduated last may)

2/15/2009 7:49:12 PM

I stayed in Stuttgart for a few weeks a year or so ago.. awesome place. I was visiting a friend who lives there (military) so he knew a lot of stuff to do so we didn't waste much time having to figure things out on our own..

def on my list of places to go back to and/or live in if i ever get the chance.

[Edited on February 15, 2009 at 8:31 PM. Reason : 22322 dammit]

2/15/2009 8:31:14 PM

Quote :

"Also, crime is very minimal even though Stuttgart is a big city."

yeah, that's true. I was in Munich for a year, and crime is basically non-existent.

Then I took a business-trip to Dresden last summer - it's in the former East Germany is is considerably much more run-down than central and southern germanym (on account of, uhh.... being in East Geramny for 50 years). Given that, there was still no crime. We went out to dinner one evening and stayed until 9 or 10, and decided to walk downtown with our host. At 10PM in almost total darkness we walked on a greenway through a forest in the middle of the city to get to downtown - the same type place where any major city in the US would be lined with bums or you (or maybe a woman walking by herself) would be nervous of being mugged or something. We asked our host about this, and he said there was nowhere in all of Dresden that a young woman couldn't walk by herself at any time of night without feeling completely safe.


i was looking through some of my old posts - here is a good one I wrote about what you need to know about eating and dining out over there. I wrote it after only being there a couple weeks, but it hits a lot of the major differences
http://joelion.com/archives/18

here are some general observations on Munich, which will also apply to Stuttgart
http://joelion.com/archives/5

Quote :

" * The dogs must be really well trained, or something, because I saw almost no dogs on leashes. The owners were just walking down the city streets, and their dogs would trot along beside or in front of them. Even at cross walks, the dogs would just stop with the owner, and nobody seemed worried that their dog would dart into traffic or anything. * The cars are comprised probably 85% of Audi, VW and BMW, with the remaining 15% mostly Mercedes, Opel, and the little tiny cars that are about 6 feet long. * Every single stop light has a walk signal, and a number of them have a dedicated bike-signal. * There’s absolutely no question that bikes and pedestrians get the right of way. I haven’t been cut off once, and every single car has yielded every time to me at all intersections. * The city is very clean. I’ve run across no slummy neighborhoods, all the sidewalks and buildings are clean, there is no litter (come to think of it, there are not many public trashcans either….), and I haven’t seen any beggers or homeless people, despite the reported 12% unemployment in the country. "

aaaaand.... some more observations
http://joelion.com/archives/6

Quote :

"I got some reactions to my previous observations from Anke, a German native who is currently in the Cary office. She cleared up some of my questions, and confirmed some things. * When I ordered a Maß Hellas at the biergarten I went to on Saturday, yes, I was ording a “massive beer” - Maß is the size, which is 1 liter, or close to 1/4 gallon! Hellas is the kind, kind of like a lager. At the biergartens anrestaurantsts, they generally only carry one brand of beer from a single brewery, of the six major breweries in town. So you don’t have to worry about what brand you want, just what kind - hellas (lager), weis (white, or “wheat beer”), dunckles (dark), bok, etc. * The döner I had is from Turkey, so not exactly the Middle East, but close. Apparently more döners are consumed in Munich than anywhere else in the world. * The surfers I saw were on the “Eisbach” or “ice-creek”. Anke says “[In NC,] the water temperature of the creeks is like water in a bath tub. Not refreshing. It is to warm. But the water from the Eisbach is refreshing ;-)))” * Yes, the dogs are trained better (I even saw dogs walking around the subway station with trains zooming by, none of them on a leash), but the owner’s are not. According to Anke, “[Owner's in Munich don't] take care of s*** on the sidewalks. I like it that the people in Cary take the s*** away.” Well, I don’t know about the owner’s in Cary, but I certainly haven’t seen nor stepped in any dog crap yet! A couple more observations from the past couple days: * The bike situation is still very weird to me. Like I said, there are a ton of bikes (there are 100’s parked outside my office everyday), but nobody locks their’s up! Well, that’s not entirely true - most of the people just lock their back tire to their frame, and leave the bike sitting next to the sidewalk. I guess the mentality is that no one want’s to steal a bike that can’t roll because the tire is locked to the frame. Even so, I’m making sure my Cannondale road bike is securely locked to a rack or something everytime I leave it. It is true, that 98% of the bikes are beaters that aren’t really worth stealing (I’ve really only seen a couple other people riding road bikes like I am), but still….. * Pedestrians and bikes are very well behaved. I haven’t seen anyone jaywalk or walk against a signal. Everyone obeys the walk and ride crosswalk lights, and like I said earlier, the cars respect the crosswalk signs too. * The subway/trains are kind of on an “honor system”. You are supposed to buy a ticket, and apparently it’s 40euro if you’re caught without one, but I haven’t seen anyone get checked. You don’t have to pass through any turnstiles or anything to get on the train - there are just some posts that you’re supposed to punch your ticket in. Of course, I don’t want to be sent to German prison or anything, so I’ve paid my fared dutifully. "

2/15/2009 8:40:01 PM

thanks guys, this is great. keep the ideas comin!

2/16/2009 10:51:05 AM