The Mercedes Factory Tour
Posted by ScarlettNov 6th, 2009 | 3 Comments
Apart from going to the museums, one of the things we really wanted to do while in Stuttgart was tour the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen Plant, where the S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, CL-Class, CLS-Class, and Maybach vehicles are made. We had read that all you have to do is phone well in advance to make a reservation, but all of the numbers we tried went to automated messaging services that were in German! Finally, on our first day in Stuttgart, Paul managed to find a phone number (+4970319070403) for the Mercedes-Benz European Delivery Center, which is at the Plant, and they were able to schedule us in for the English tour today, before our flight to Istanbul this evening. We are so glad we had a late flight and could fit this tour in…
The Mercedes Museum
Posted by ScarlettNov 5th, 2009 | No Comments
As you may know (either from knowing us personally or from reading the about section), this trip became reality partially because I was working in the car industry as a finance manager and got laid off. This career path began at Mercedes-Benz Canada, and although I’ve long since left the company, I remain loyal to the brand and still believe they make some of the best cars in the world. Today at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, I was reminded of all the reasons I believe that, and even felt a bit of remorse about leaving the company, but everything happens for a reason and if I hadn’t quit, I don’t think I’d be here visiting the museum now!
The Porsche Museum
Posted by ScarlettNov 4th, 2009 | No Comments
Part of the reason we are flying to Istanbul via Stuttgart (other than the fact that it saves us money) is because Paul actually wanted to go to Stuttgart because it’s where the automobile was invented and Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, and Porsche are all still produced in Stuttgart or nearby towns, and each has a museum you can visit. Since we woke up late, we decided to just go to the Porsche museum today, and save the larger Mercedes-Benz Museum for tomorrow, when we will force ourselves to get up on time…
Why I Hate Flying
Posted by ScarlettNov 3rd, 2009 | 1 CommentToday marks the beginning of what I call “the home stretch” – our last five weeks in Europe before going home for Christmas! We are heading to Turkey & Greece to finish off, but first we must fly to Stuttgart, Germany to spend three nights in the “cradle of the automobile.” I’ll never understand the way flights are priced, but it was much cheaper to fly from Budapest to Stuttgart then Stuttgart to Istanbul than to fly from Budapest to Istanbul directly, which is retarded because Istanbul is southeast from Budapest and Stuttgart is west so we’re basically going backwards then forwards!
All Saints Day In Budapest
Posted by ScarlettNov 1st, 2009 | No Comments
Yesterday, after wandering around on Budapest’s well known Andrássy Ave near the famous Hungarian State Opera House, we went to Gellert Hill, a 235 m high hill on the Buda side of the Danube. We had planned to hike up and take in the spectacular views we had read about, but when we got there I realized I had forgotten to put the memory card back in the camera after offloading pictures the night before! Since it didn’t make sense to climb up and not take pictures, we decided to come back today, camera and memory card in hand…
Budapest Day 2: The Danube
Posted by ScarlettOct 30th, 2009 | No Comments
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, flowing through or forming part of the border of 10 countries. It flows right through the middle of Budapest, separating the west bank of Buda and Obuda from the east bank of Pest, three cities that were unified in 1873 to form the city of Budapest. We saw a bit of the Danube during our self-guided walking tour of Bratislava, but hadn’t really walked along its banks so we set out to do so today, starting at the Budapest Parliament building, which is located on the Pest side of the river bank…
Budapest Day 1: The Holocaust Memorial Center
Posted by ScarlettOct 29th, 2009 | No Comments
Our three hour train ride to Budapest from Bratislava yesterday got us to our hotel (another Ibis) just in time for Paul to start working so we didn’t do much apart from check out the area we’re in and buy stuff at the grocery store to make sandwiches for dinner so we wouldn’t have to eat fast food, which is the only type of food near the hotel. Today we began our sightseeing at the Holocaust Memorial Center, which was sad but very informative…
Bratislava In One Day
Posted by ScarlettOct 27th, 2009 | No Comments
While planning this leg of the trip, we weren’t sure if we should bother going to Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic. Most people don’t have much to say about it, other than the fact that it’s really cheap. If you remember the movie Euro Trip (which totally doesn’t depict Europe correctly at all but was humorous nonetheless), Bratislava is the run down, dump city where they ended up with only $1.83 while trying to hitchhike to Berlin, but managed to live like kings thanks to the conversion rate. Since it’s only an hour by train from Vienna, we decided to come spend 2 nights and see for ourselves what it’s really like…
Le Nozze Di Figaro @ The Vienna State Opera
Posted by ScarlettOct 25th, 2009 | No Comments
I am excited to report that tonight we officially attended our first real opera and, lucky for us, The Marriage of Figaro was playing so we sort of knew what was going on! The Don Giovanni marionette show brought out more of an appreciation of opera for me, but tonight took it to a whole new level and I can’t wait till I get a chance to go again. Paul isn’t quite as enthralled, but he played the part of the good husband and stood through 3/4 of the performance with me, so I can’t complain…
Rick Steves’ Vienna
Posted by ScarlettOct 24th, 2009 | No Comments
While going to ask a question at the hostel’s reception last night, I noticed a huge pile of guidebooks available for guests to borrow, so I picked up Rick Steves’ Vienna and planned today according to his itinerary and recommendations. We had recently used his book Rick Steves’ 2009 Italy throughout our 4 weeks in Italy since the friends we were travelling with had brought it along, and it felt familiar and comfortable to follow his book again today. Having a route to follow and a list of places that are “must-sees” just makes sightseeing so much easier!
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