I spent two days in Stuttgart this month. I really like visiting Germany, much more so than I ever imagined I would. This is not a place that was ever on my tourist wish list for a few reasons. First, Germans have a reputation for being a rather cold and humorless bunch (I have found this to be untrue), plus I didn't really know of too many "sights" there worth seeing. After all, much of the "old Germany" is gone, compliments of the RAF and the USAAC I suppose. On my first visit to Dusseldorf, I made the mistake of asking my local companion why there were so few old buildings. "You didn't miss many" was his response. Oops.
All that aside, I do like Germany and I recommend it to anyone touring Europe. The cities are very clean and apparently safe, the countryside is beautiful with mostly rolling hills, many spotted with vineyards, and English will mostly get you by. Oh yes, and did I mention they have beer? Really good beer?
I was free one evening and decided to try some local food. I took off walking from the hotel through the Bad Cannstatt neighborhood which had numerous restaurants and bars, but for the life of me I could not find a German place. Italian?, Spanish?, no problem. Sushi or Falafel - everywhere. Sauerbraten? Nowhere in sight. Perhaps I just didn't wander enough streets, or maybe I didn't know what a traditional German restaurant looked like.
After wandering for an hour or go with nary a bratwurst in sight, I accepted defeat and entered an asian place where I was greeted by a very petite Chinese looking girl who asked me something in German with an obvious asian accent. I speak no German, of course and she apparently no English, so almost as a reflex I tried a little Chinese. She looked at me strangely and rolled her eyes, said something in some other asian tongue and walked away. After getting a look at the menu, I discovered that this was not a Chinese restaurant but Vietnamese. Oops once again!
The Vietnamese food was good.
All that aside, I do like Germany and I recommend it to anyone touring Europe. The cities are very clean and apparently safe, the countryside is beautiful with mostly rolling hills, many spotted with vineyards, and English will mostly get you by. Oh yes, and did I mention they have beer? Really good beer?
I was free one evening and decided to try some local food. I took off walking from the hotel through the Bad Cannstatt neighborhood which had numerous restaurants and bars, but for the life of me I could not find a German place. Italian?, Spanish?, no problem. Sushi or Falafel - everywhere. Sauerbraten? Nowhere in sight. Perhaps I just didn't wander enough streets, or maybe I didn't know what a traditional German restaurant looked like.
After wandering for an hour or go with nary a bratwurst in sight, I accepted defeat and entered an asian place where I was greeted by a very petite Chinese looking girl who asked me something in German with an obvious asian accent. I speak no German, of course and she apparently no English, so almost as a reflex I tried a little Chinese. She looked at me strangely and rolled her eyes, said something in some other asian tongue and walked away. After getting a look at the menu, I discovered that this was not a Chinese restaurant but Vietnamese. Oops once again!
The Vietnamese food was good.
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