Motorworld and Stuttgart

We split up in the morning -- Steve and Liesl went to see Lichtenstein castle, and Seb and I stayed in Boblingen to explore Motorworld. The castle looked like a fairy tale, and they had a really good time taking some photos and exploring it.

 

Seb and I stayed put in Boblingen. Our original travel plan was to go to Stuttgart to visit the Porsche and Mercedes Benz museums, but then Steve read about Motorworld, a combination event center/car showcase/hotel/car dealership and repair shop in this suburb, and decided we needed a night here. Such a good decision! Motorworld turned out to be the coolest place you could imagine -- so many amazing new cars just lined up one after each other, with no real barriers between you and the cars. There were McLaren and Ferrarri dealerships on site, with the newest models for sale. There were more expensive cars in our basement parking garage than Seb had ever seen before. He was in heaven. There are quite literally 100 photos of cars on my phone right now.

This was the parking garage under the hotel. We couldn't believe it.

Ferrarri showroom.

Parked outside the main showroom and event space -- Porsches and Lamborghinis and Aston Martins and Bentleys...

There was a simulation racing setup, where you could drive a Formula 3 race car around a racetrack. I was absolutely terrible, of course. Seb was pretty good and gave me some excellent coaching tips (mostly that I needed to brake harder and earlier...)

And then we all drove into Stuttgart, to our hotel in the center part of the city. Steve and Seb went off to the Porsche museum and Liesl and I stayed in town and wandered the streets of the city. It was a lively city, lots of people from all over, and a fun mix of old and new architecture.

We tasted the gelato first thing, and were happy to report that it was totally decent. The following photos are from a central square -- the new castle, and the old castle, and various monuments.

We ate a late lunch under this fantastic public sculpture.

The ballet and opera house.

I don't have any photos of the Porsche museum -- word was that it was crowded with tourists (not car buffs) and didn't have as many cool cars as Motorworld. But still good to go there and see it.  Anyway, we reunited again in the evening for a very traditionally German meal at this lovely restaurant near the hotel.

 

The menus were made of wood - handmade!

Roast beef, spaetzle with cheese and onions, and a maultaschen (kind of like a ravioli).

The kids were smuggling away Steve's crutch and cracking themselves up in the process. Poor Crutchie (it's a Newsie reference).