Dan in Real Life
As I mentioned in my previous update, a group of us Purdue students traveled (I still feel like that should have two L's) to Stuttgart today. We went in two groups with my group (Steve, Zach, Wei, and I) leaving about an hour after the other group. We took the Laender ticket for Baden-Wurttemburg while they bought IC tickets.
I feel like I should explain the difference between our methods of travel. My group's "Laender-ticket" is essentially a group ticket that lasts for one day. Deutsche Bahn offers this lovely deal (as well as a weekend long, "Schoenes-Wochenende", ticket) for up to five passengers. The ticket allows all five of you to travel anywhere within the German state for which you bought the ticket for, in the Laender-Ticket case, 28 euros which is split up to five ways. The ticket covers all regional and local trains and buses.
Well, all the regional trains that aren't IC (Inter-City), ICE (Inter-City Express), or EC (Euro-City). These trains are typically faster and make fewer stops. Hence, they are more expensive. I say they are typically faster because my group's lowly Inter-Regio Express train took the same amount of time as the other group's IC train. Correction: it took a whole minute more for less than half the price.
Anywho, upon arrival in Stuttgart, we did the typical lost tourist routine and desperately searched for a map. We finally found our El Dorado and figured out what buses to take to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. We, of course, didn't realize that there is a train that runs directly between the Hauptbahnhof and the area of the museum. Oh well. If we had taken the train, we wouldn't have seen this:
Bier Bike -- a multi-pedal vehicle on which people drink large amounts of beer
We walked to the museum and past the soccer stadium, Mercedes-Benz Arena. The ticket booths were still closed, so we went ahead to the museum. It was only four euros for admission to the giant six-story museum. Being an engineer and a history nut, I really enjoyed the museum, though it was a little long. The free audio tour (in English!) was very helpful at times. Disappointment number one of the day was the closure/remodeling of the super cars area of the museum.
After leaving the museum and getting a little grub at the restaurant there, we walked back to the arena with about 30 minutes to go until kickoff. We walked up to the nearest ticket booth to find out that the game was a sellout. With there being four of us, it would have been impossible to find scalped tickets all together or even in groups of two on the cheap. We talked to a couple of guys selling tickets, but they didn't have enough. I suggested we stand in front of the arena until after kickoff to see if there would be anyone really wanting to get rid of tickets. This fruitless endeavor was disappointment number two as we longingly stared at the stadium like puppies in the animal shelter.
The day was not lost, however, as we decided to forgo the Porsche Museum and go to the Fruehlingsfest (spring festival). We spent a good amount of the time ogling at the impressive rides which we deemed too advanced/dangerous for the typical carnival worker to correctly, and safely, put together. Eventually, all of us summoned up the courage to ride one of the roller coasters.
When I say roller coaster, I don't mean the small Matterhorn "roller coaster" you typically see at county fairs. I mean a real coaster with trains, a chain-lift, and, why not, a loop. No wait, make that two loops. And it pulls 4 G's. It was enough to make me question my decision to ride as we reached the summit. This uneasiness was probably increased due to my lack of trust in the ride builders/operators. Luckily, all of us survived the coaster. We then grabbed some pizza and made our way back to the Hauptbahnhof.
What we neglected to remember was that the soccer game had just ended. Inconveniently, our train to the Hbf also picked up at the stadium. After watching three trains filled to the brim go by, we tried our luck at the fourth. The hot, packed train made for an uncomfortable ride that was prolonged by frequent stops due to traffic. Eventually, the train station was in site, and we eventually hopped on our train back to Karlsruhe.
Having been back in Karlsruhe for a few hours, Zach, David, Steve, Adam, and I decide to go to Hooters at 11. We had seen a poster that said "American Dream: free admission and wings with American ID". We were a bit stumped by the "admission" part, but hey, other things are different in Germany. Why not Hooters? We awkwardly walked into Hooters, sat at one table, realized that we would never be seen there, and sat at another table. This was when our waitress informed us that "American Dream" is a discothek that Hooters was going to deliver wings to later in the night, thus completing the list of disappointments. Don't get me wrong. It was a good day overall, and the wings were still really good. But things didn't go quite as well as planned, and wings never taste as good when you have to pay for them. C'est la vie.
I should be getting to bed. We begin really working on the project tomorrow at 11. Gute Nacht und Alles Gute.
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