23 Mai - Biking in Stuttgart

We decided to take our bikes this time and ride from place to place rather than take the stuffy buses.  So first was getting our bikes on the train... how nice of them to have a bike compartment, but no ramps up or down the stairs to get the bike to the track... and doors barely wide enough to get through without a bike.

Before we left, I copied down directions from google on how to get to the climbing gym and how to get to the movie theater that shows films in English.  The first thing I did was buy a map.  Now I know google tries hard with its walking directions, but it took us forever walking circles trying to find how to take a left on a street that ended.  Finally I just skipped a few directions and headed in the direction that I was pretty sure we were supposed to go.

 

We came to a street fair of sorts and saw a big sign that said American Days and lots of cars for sale in the market square. We meandered a bit and looked around. We walked through some old parks and climbed on the sculptures.

Then back on our bikes and we rode and rode and rode... we were so tuckered out from riding in the hot sun, that we decided to skip climbing for the day and go on the movie theater. We hadn't really gone that much out of our way anyway, so we kept on riding through the old neighborhoods. I just love the architecture in these old towns and the smart cars everywhere.

We kept on riding through the town and parks until we reached the end of our map.  I thought for sure we must've have left Stuttgart and were traveling through some other town, but we stopped at a gas station and bought a bigger map and found where we were and where we were going.  Much to our dismay it was at the top of what seemed to be a mountain.  Luckily, the bike trail led us through a really nice park with waterfalls and air pockets that felt wonderful.  

What seemed like hours later we reached the top of the hill and went in search of the theater.  We rode back and forth and back and forth because I was sure it was right there.  On the fourth time past the place, we found it and  we were 30 minutes late to the movie.  So we decide to get dinner and ride around a bit more and go to the later show.  We found an Indian restaurant and it was delicious!  I love Indian food anywhere, but this was really good.  Again they gave us these little cordials after our meal.  He said it was mango liqueur and it was actually quite tasty.  With time to spare we went in search of ice cream.  There is only one place that I know that has ice cream/ gelato like they do here and that is Tartufo in NJ.  I always thought that was the best ice cream there was, but it turns out, that is how ice cream tastes in Europe!  Delicioso!  

Finally it was time for the movie and we went to see Night In the Museum 2.  I'm no movie critic, but I thought it was ok... it was cute and funny and Skylar liked it, so that was all that mattered.  Next time, we are going to see Terminator no matter what the reviews say :)

So now that it was 22:00 and nearly dark, we hurried back to the train station, which took all of 30 minutes down the mountain and back through town while ignoring all of googles silly turns. In town was like a street party! People were everywhere and having fun... dancing and playing music. We stopped to watch some of the music, but I had to get Skylar home. It was kind of neat the way people could walk around with their beers and drinks and didn't have to stay in one bar, but it was more like all the bars partied together inside and out.

My planning however did not include catching the train home at nearly 23:00 and the trains were infrequent, so we had to wait until the 00:05 train back to Heilbronn.  At 01:00 we dragged our bikes off the train, out of the station, and all the way back home.  We collapsed immediately and decided we would sleep in tomorrow rather than try to go back to find the climbing gym.