Diamonds in the German Rough

Friday, I found myself on a Swiss Airways flight to Stuttgart, Germany, to visit my big brother for the weekend. This is how every conversation went in the week leading up to Germany:

Me: I am going to Germany for the weekend!
Person: Wow! How exciting!! Where in Germany?!
Me: Stuttgart.
Person: ..............oh..............What's in Stuttgart?
Me: My cousin.
Person: Oh, good! There's really nothing to do there, you know.
Me: Yep.

So, I had my expectations pretty low, and really I was just so excited to see Harsha for the first time since his wedding in November, 2010. Naturally, the lower your expectations, the better things turn out. I fell dead asleep as the plane took off from Madrid, but when I woke up next, I was flying over this:

Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France

The Pyrenees range didn't hold a candle to the Swiss Alps 

Can't we just land here and frolic?

Believe it or not, this is the moment when it dawned on me that I was in Europe, something I had dreamt of for a long time. Finding out I was going to Spain two months before departure did not allow enough time to wrap my head around this new reality.

It was pretty late by the time we got to Harsha's place, so Friday night we just stayed in, had dinner, and caught up. Saturday morning, I woke up to Nutella toast, coffee, and not terrible weather. We went for a walk at a nearby lake and park, and I stared at Germans.

Frozen lake. It's The Boots you should be looking at.

Love them!

After a small break back at the apartment, we set out, along with Harsha's friend Amshuman (who also gets credit for 90% of my Germany pictures), to seek what little there was to see of Stuttgart. I found a few diamonds in the German rough.

Legal Graffiti Zone

German guys asked for a photo at the Mercedes Benz Museum.

Stuttgart is quiet, not boasting of much more than its industrial prowess and some nice architecture in the central part of town. But the entire weekend, I didn't feel like a tourist, which is all I can ask for from any city I visit. I even said "Danke" (thanks) a few times.

The boys at Schlossplatz (Palace Square)

Köenigstrasse at dusk. Main shopping street!

Sunday morning. Rainy.

Sundays generally suck, and it didn't help that I was leaving good company and good food after just 2 days. We spent the morning Skyping with family, and then headed to the airport late in the afternoon. As boring as the flight home was (too dark to stare at the Swiss Alps), it was the first time I had thought of Madrid as home.


Tschüss!