Any Porsche fan knows that Stuttgart, specifically, Zuffenhausen, is the home of all things Porsche! The company headquarters, the main factory and the Weissach R&D center are all here in Zuffenhausen. And since January, the brand-spankin' new Porsche Museum is here as well!
My girls were all nice enough to let Daddy call the shots on a recent free weekend, so we packed up the car and started on our five hour drive to Stuttgart. Immediately upon arrival, we headed into the city centre, to see what was going on.
As luck would have it, the Hamburg Fish Market, a 10 day celebration of Hamburg specialties was going on at Karlsplatz (Karl Square). We really enjoy eating the local specialties in an informal setting and these types of festivals are great! The Germans enjoy eating, and of course, drinking! There were plenty of both here at the Fish Market...
On Sunday, after a nice brunch at our hotel, we headed out into town to visit the Porsche museum. It's a beautifully modern building worthy of housing all of the exhibits, special vehicles, race cars and rolling works of art created at Porsche during the last 78 years.
Every former Porsche owner has the dream of getting another one someday and I guess I am no exception. Wonder if I can convince Jo Ann that the girls really don't need to go to college!...
After the visit to the museum, we headed back to the hotel to go for a swim in the indoor pool. DS and PS have been taking swim lessons and DS has improved immensely! PS is just plain dangerous, because she has no fear of the water and just dives right in. She also has a slight buoyency problem too!!! ("I'm a submarine, daddy", she says...)
The following morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed towards Strasbourg, France. On our way home from Italy last April, we had hoped to stop by this picturesque French town, but unfortunately, we were not able to. Today, however, we alotted enough time to see the city and stop for lunch.
As in many cities in Europe, the main focal point of the town is the cathedral, and Strasbourg is no different. The Cathedrale Notre Dame is over 600 years old and boasts the highest cathedral in France (over 142m, or about 465 feet) We went inside and took a look inside, and it was pretty spectacular...
Lunch was at an outdoor cafe, down the street from the cathedral. We ordered the tarte flambe for the girls. These are what you would describe as the "French version of pizza" and they happen to be a local specialty as well. The girls loved it!
Next, we went to see an area of Strasbourg called "Petite France". I was expecting a miniature city or something, but it turned to be a collection of stores and restaurants with unique architecture and built beside the canals. Unfortunately, the hour was getting late and we needed to get back on the road, so we cut our visit short. It is definitely worth a stop to see, if you are in the area.
This weekend, I was able to go somewhere that I have always wanted to see, Jo got to check off another European town from her European "to-do" list and the girls got to go swimming. All in all, a perfect weekend for all of us...
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