We started today off with a walk.  We encountered this on the way.  I wonder what the story is behind this bottle of Jack Daniels…

No, we didn’t drink any.  For all we know, someone peed in the bottle.

Bill and I didn’t go anywhere yesterday, mainly because we wanted to keep an eye on Arran.  Since he seemed to be fine today, we decided to head into Stuttgart and check out the Afrikafestival and the Hamburger Fisch Markt.  It was easy to access both of these events via public transport.  We parked the car at the Herrenberg train station and took the S-Bahn to Vaihingen.  From there, we took U1, first to Erwin-Schöttle Platz, where the Afrika festival was going on, and then to Charlottenplatz, for the fish market, which was actually being held at Karlsplatz, across the street from the metro station.

The Africa festival was interesting, though we weren’t there in time to hear any live music.  There were vendors from all over the place selling food and drink items, clothes, art, jewelry, musical instruments, pottery and dishes.  We wandered around a bit and Bill picked up some African coffees.  I made use of the nice, clean, uncrowded WC.  The Afrikafestival ends today, so I’m glad we were able to get there and check it out.  Here are some photos of what we saw at the Afrikafestival.  I was a little disappointed that I didn’t find anyone selling music.  Some of the stuff that was playing sounded good to me.  There was some interesting food being offered by vendors, but I wanted to eat fish at the fish market.

Pretty church.

Man, I wish I had bought that plate in the foreground.  

After about 45 minutes of walking around the Afrikafestival, we got back on the metro and rode a few stops to Charlottenplatz.  I was excited about the fish market, since when we went to Hamburg last January, I slept too late to catch the real market in action.  We will have to go back to Hamburg and get up early on a Sunday so we can catch it live.   The weather today was absolutely beautiful.  Temperatures were comfortable and there was a nice breeze.  I’m so glad we did this today and not last week, when it was sweltering hot.

I love interesting graffiti.  

Here we go…

Smoked salmon…  Just across from this, a vendor was selling enormous pickles.

Our first mission was to find something to eat.  The fish market is loaded with good fish dishes.  You can find everything from salmon and shrimp to fried delicacies.  I saw people eating sandwiches, crab cakes, and fried fish.  There were also plenty of sweets available, though we didn’t partake.

We ended up in a tent…

Jever was apparently a big corporate sponsor.  It was everywhere.  Jever is pretty hoppy!

Those plastic tablecloths stick to your legs if you wear shorts.  

Bill had shrimp with garlic sauce.

I had salmon with an enormous baked potato and salad.  I could have done without all the sour cream, though I managed to enjoy about half of the potato anyway.  The salmon was absolutely delicious.  Not too much, not too dry, and perfectly seasoned.

A rubber seagull…

Though Bill and I spoke crappy German to the waitress, she said goodbye to us in perfect English.  I’m not sure why we bother trying to learn German, though I do find that it makes understanding menus easier.

I got a big kick out of the guy selling sausage.  He had a microphone on a headset and was doing a great job talking up his meat products…  

I thought we might bring home fresh fish, but we actually ended up with a big bag of sausage…  10 euros for all this!  The vendor next to the sausage guy was selling ten euro bags of fruit.  I wish we had more than two of us in our household because the fruit looked really good.  But it would go to waste at our house.

Spices galore.

I kind of wanted to buy some of this, but we were afraid the long journey back to Jettingen wouldn’t be good…  I think Bill is going to get some dorade this week.

This guy was surprisingly entertaining…

See?  Actually, I think Bill was laughing at me.

After awhile, we became thirsty again…

So we stopped for prosecco with strawberries…  The strawberries were delicious!  Sweet, luscious, and very nice with the sparkling wine.

Mmmm…

I might have liked to try some chocolate dipped fruit…

After awhile milling around the market, listening to music, and overhearing many American conversations, we decided to make a pit stop…

And I am glad to report the toilets were clean and functional.  The line wasn’t too long. 

Waiting at the Vaihingen train station…

I had to take a picture of this ad…  I’m not sure German beef is a selling point.

More photos…

We had a good time today.  I kind of wish I’d had some fried fish, since it’s not good for me.  But the Hamburger Fischmarkt is a lot of fun.  It runs until next Sunday.  Monday-Saturday, it opens at 10:00am and stays open until 11:00pm.  Sunday hours are from 11:00am until 11:00pm.  Who knows?  Maybe we’ll go back for more!

ETA:  We just tried the sausage and it’s really delicious.