Car Museums and No Crashing Chandeliers!

Yesterday was our last day of our Kompakt intensive language course and we celebrated spectacularly.  On Thursday, armed with the knowledge from my stack of 200+ note cards, I took my final exam. (Fingers crossed!) We got to start our Friday off right - no classes, just a lavish breakfast (can I just say again, for the record, how much I love Nutella?) with our class and then a city tour.  It was raining so we did one with the help of posters and imagination.  Then we joined the other 2 classes and took a bus to Stuttgart.

First stop: The Mercedes-Benz Museum!

Now, I'm hardly a connoisseur of cars.  I know they have 4 wheels, an engine, a battery, a spark plug (whatever that is), and many other little parts that tend to crap out when you need them and are expensive to replace. Other than that, I know nothing about cars. So the Mercedes-Benz Museum was not high on my list of things to see.   I was prepared to be bored out of my mind with pictures and models of pistons and engines.

I was wrong.

It was a lot of fun! Granted, I still don't know any more about cars now then I did before, but I had lots of fun in the museum.  We were given audio headsets (in English and German) and we took a pod-shaped elevator up to the top of the museum and then walked our way down through the different eras.  It was super cool.  The audio headsets were sensor activated so it knew when you entered a new room it would automatically begin playing.  It was a little scary sometimes!  The audio headset also had some device that would read a specific symbol on certain plaques to give you more information on specific items.  It was very high tech and cool.

The world's first car.

Behold - beautiful precision German engineering

Look at this beautiful early motorboat!

Another early car model. Still looks like a buggy to me.

Pimpin'

This one was my favorite.

How cute.

Love the wings.

New Concept Car

Front of the concept car

After we saw the Mercedes-Benz museum, we got to spend the afternoon in Stuttgart.  We ate lunch at this classy cafe, which probably only hires attractive people.  Luckily, we were dressed up for the opera so we looked attractive enough to be there.  Even better, I was able to get a club sandwich.  With mayonnaise.

It was super cold and windy in Stuttgart so we took shelter in the mall and found a port in the storm.

Yes I know I'm in Europe. Yes, apparently they have the best authentic coffee here.

Good thing I don't like coffee!

And yes, although my grande caramel hot chocolate was priced for highway robbery at 4 Euros, I can safely report it tastes just like it does at home.  It was comforting to have a piece of overpriced Americana in my hands after one month sans American stuff.

Then we met at the opera house to see La Traviata.  Now, in case you don't know the plot, it's the story of a French courtesan with TB who falls in love with a bourgeoisie author.  Now where have I heard this story before?

I love this movie. By the way.

Anyway, the opera was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it.  It was amazing how loud (and for the lead, how high) people could sing. It was very cool.  Here's a clip of Pavarotti singing the famous drinking song from "La Traviata":

  

Don't you feel cultured now?  I do.

I was waiting for the chandelier to crash, but there was no Phantom in this opera house!

(Side Note: In December, the Stuttgart Ballet is doing Swan Lake. I'm so excited!)

Tomorrow, we hit the Stuttgarter Volksfest, the second biggest beer fest in Germany after Oktoberfest in Munich (aka an alcoholic's Disneyland).  Although I hate beer, I'm still going to order a Maß of beer for the obligatory facebook photo.  Or maybe I can get a Maß of Apfelschorle....