For the past three days, I was required to participate in a German headstart program that allows servicemembers (and spouses) to learn about German culture and language and about the area of Stuttgart. Yesterday was the best part of the program because it involved a tour of downtown Stuttgart. After looking through all of the pictures I took, I realized that over half of them were of....yes, you guessed it....FOOD. Lots of it. And I didn't even get pictures of every single thing. So I decided to split my post about the tour into two---one about food and the other (which I'll post tomorrow) about the city itself.
Please forgive the quality of the photos. I took so many and am way too lazy to do any sort of editing at the moment.
In any case, eating is not going to be a problem, which is not conducive to the diet I'm supposed to start sometime soon. And why? Because every corner, or every two or three stores down a street, has a bakery/cafe lined with treats like these:
I wasn't so sure what these were, but up close, they look like giant meringues.
Pies and cakes galore.
We even have a German backerei (bakery) just like this in our PX. The chocolate croissants are my weakness!
During lunch hour, we were released to eat at a restaurant of our choice and to look around downtown on our own. Unfortunately, Malu and Sina weren't able to come with me on this trip because they were waiting for our unaccompanied baggage at our house that morning (plus Sina was sick). So I paired up with another girl in the class and went to a place called Arche (German for "ark"). The people in this region of Germany are referred to as Swabians and while Swabich cuisine does include the typical schnitzel and spatzle that you'd find in other regions of Germany, one of the Swabich culinary specialties is maultaschen. I had this for lunch!
Maultaschen are small pasta squares (like ravioli) that are filled with sausage meat, ground meat, spinach, eggs, onion, parsley and seasoning. They can either be served in broth or cut in pieces and baked with an egg topping and served with potato salad. I had the latter, only this restaurant topped the "ravioli" with sauteed onions and a house potato salad. I was in heaven. It was truly one of the finest meals I've ever had and was, surprisingly, very affordable. I'm definitely going to take Malu there sometime!
Cooking and baking aren't going to be a problem either.
By far, my favorite part of the entire trip was visiting the Markthalle (or Market Hall) Stuttgart. Inside this historic building, is an open market that sells just about anything you can think of from fresh produce, to fresh meat and fish, to the rarest kinds of spices that I could never find back at home to make some of the recipes for my French Fridays with Dorie cooking group. It's kind of expensive in there, but I have a feeling it's so going to be worth it.
Fresh vegetables.
I'd never seen so many different kinds of mushrooms in one place!
Candied and gingered fruits and other stuff.
Spices! Oh, the possibilities!
Fresh eggs.
Got olives?
Fresh fruit.
Chocolate truffles.
Fancy chocolate bars. See the ones with the saffron?
Chocolate and more chocolate!
Did I tell you that Stuttgart is wine country? It's the only city in Germany where there are vineyards in the middle of the city.
It's the perfect stop for lunch. Panini, anyone?
The place was amazing. What's more is that there is a farmer's market downtown every weekend. So if you don't want to spend all your money here, you can go cheaper and buy from the farmer's market not to far from the markthalle.
Although the cafes here in Stuttgart are terrific, I was (thankfully) able to locate a Starbucks in the hauptbahnhof (or main train station). By the time I found it, however, I'd already had my coffee intake for the day. So you guys remember how I collect the Starbucks city mugs? Well, this particular store had a mug for every major city in Germany.
Naturally, I got the Stuttgart mug. Totally made my day.
As I said, I didn't take pictures of everything I saw. I mean, I didn't even get pictures of all the crepes carts I saw along the streets. Shame on me. But I think you guys get the point. This place is awesome.
Every Army post has a motto and usually the gate guards say it every time you they wave you into the post (after you've shown them your ID card). Fort Carson's is "Best Hometown in the Army". Fort Bliss's is "Serving the Nation".
Stuttgart's is "I'm Glad I Live Here". Now, the gate guards here don't say the motto when you go through and that's because they're a German security company with German workers. But man, am I glad we live here!
