8 September 2009: Stuttgart

Stuttgart strikes me as an attractive, affluent, bourgeois city. It's not a major tourist destination, but it's a pleasant place to visit.

The "old" castle:


The opera:


Back in Berlin, we visited what's essentially the embassy of Baden Würtenberg, and learned a bit about the region and its culture. The area has been deeply influenced by Peitism, which for simplicity's sake I'm going to describe as German Puritanism. In Berlin, many buildings have balconies so you can sit outside and read the paper. In Stuttgart, there are no balconies, since sitting on a balcony would amount to ostentatious idleness. A fellow American compared the locals to New Englanders.

I've gathered now from various sources that Stuttgarters are thus kind of stingy, trying to save a Euro where they can. We were hardly slumming it, but the plainest hotel we've stayed in yet was the one in Stuttgart.

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