On Saturday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in Wald Hotel’s restaurant.  They serve a pretty good buffet, with breads, fruits, vegetables, eggs, bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, and fried potatoes, among other things.  They will also cook eggs to order.  When we arrived at the buffet, the wait staff was very busy.  It took awhile before we could score a carafe of coffee.  My husband is usually a very mild mannered guy, but I could tell he was getting impatient for his morning caffeine shot.  I, for one, was more impressed by the Kessler Sekt that was made available.

While we were eating breakfast, I took note of all the people joining us.  Quite a few of them were obviously planning to attend the concert last night.  In fact, as we were out and about in downtown Stuttgart yesterday, I saw many people sporting t-shirts from previous concerts.  I had already read the information about the event that was emailed to me indicating that they were expecting 40,000 people at last night’s show.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I don’t go to a lot of concerts.  This was the first one I’ve ever been to with that many people.

After breakfast, we walked to the nearby train station and traveled to Charlottenplatz, where we knew we’d find something going on.  Sure enough, the city was alive with people yesterday, many of whom were there for the Children and Youth Festival.  We walked through the festival and I was very surprised by how many activities and exhibits they had.  Many groups had come to advertise their clubs.  I saw people from a fencing club, a dance club, and various sports groups.  I also saw a cooking school for kids as well as an impressive display by Porsche.  Below are some pictures from the festival.

The festival was scattered from the Schlossplatz to Charlottenplatz.  I was surprised by how many exhibits there were.

They had plenty of activities for kids to actively try, like this football exhibit.

Lacrosse.

Dance club.  You know the dresses were a draw.

 

We wandered out of the festival for a short time as we made our way toward the Schlossplatz.

They had set up a red carpet for a documentary festival that went on all weekend.

There were buskers everywhere, including this guy who was gamely singing Rolling Stones songs.  Bill dropped a couple of euros with him because he was genuinely entertaining and giving his performance a lot of go!

The Schlossplatz.  This was where we saw Van Morrison in 2016.  I can’t help but marvel at the people whose job it is to set up and take down bleachers and stages.  It seems like a huge undertaking.

A cooking school for kids.  I enjoyed the guy dressed like a chef who was working the crowd.  He wore chess board patterned pants and spoke enthusiastically into his microphone, inviting kids to participate.

It was very safety oriented!

I snapped this photo just as we were about to cross the street.  Parts of Stuttgart are truly lovely.  I also noticed the church had its tower open earlier in the day.  We didn’t get around to climbing it.

The hour was getting closer to lunchtime, but we were still pretty full from breakfast.  We were about to head over to Karlsplatz, the square where the Hamburger Fischmarkt usually takes place every July, but ended up stopping by the Landesmuseum Wurttemberg.  We’ve passed it many times, but never bothered to visit.  Yesterday, we noticed entry to the permanent exhibits was free of charge, so we decided to stop.

There is also a children’s exhibit that I think does require an admissions fee.  Since we don’t have kids, we didn’t visit that part of the museum.  However, I am a big kid myself, so I probably would have liked it.  As it was, the Landesmuseum impressed me by being very extensive and including explanations in English.  It’s also kid friendly, with quite a few activities designed to engage children.

This is what you see as you enter the courtyard where the museum’s entrance is.

Information on the signs.

When we got our free tickets, the receptionist noticed how big my purse was, so she asked me to put it in one of the lockers situated in the lobby.  Large bags and some other items are not allowed in the museum, so if you have a big bag or a backpack, you will be expected to lock it up.  You use a one or two euro coin to lock the locker, and when you return the key, you get your coin back.

If you wanted to, you could spend a couple of hours in the Landesmuseum.  It’s surprisingly large.  In fact, we only explored the second floor.  On the first floor, there’s a permanent clock exhibit.  I took note of all of the history of Baden-Wurttemberg, particularly among Neanderthals.  Thanks to 23 and Me, I recently found out that I have a lot of Neanderthal genetic variants.  That explains a lot.  Neanderthals came from the Neander Valley here in Germany and many of their remains were found in Baden-Wurttemberg.

Besides information about Neanderthals, the Landesmuseum includes many paintings, artifacts, and precious jewels.  They’ve designed the exhibits to allow visitors to get a lot out of the experience.  For instance, a few exhibits had cleverly designed magnifying glasses that allowed visitors to see the detail of some of the precious artifacts being displayed.  In another part of the museum, there was a really interesting exhibit about religion.  They even had a hilarious oil lamp in the shape of a man with a very large phallus.  I wish I’d had my camera with me for that one.

After we explored the museum, it was time to hunt for lunch.  As I mentioned previously, Stuttgart was loaded with people yesterday.  A lot of restaurants were at capacity, especially outdoors.

We headed toward Karlsplatz, where a flea market was going on.  Lots of people were selling everything from military relics to carpets.  A Turkish food stand was open and putting off heavenly aromas.  A rockabilly band was playing live music.  The atmosphere was very festive.  Below are pictures of what was being sold.  

This band was pretty great.  I got a few video snippets of them playing.  

We probably should have stuck around to see if they were selling CDs.

The lure of beer was too strong and drove me away from this scene.

This seemed promising, but turned out to be a disappointment, since there were only tables able in full sunlight.  

Things were looking more promising as we approached the Markthalle, where we discovered a shady spot at the Marktstüble, a restaurant that is not open on Sundays.

The menu offered typical Schwabish delights like maultausen, schnitzel, and other porky delights.

But what I was after came in a mas krug…

Prost!  I’m glad we got the krugs because our poor waiter was pretty busy.  People were desperately seeking lunch outside in yesterday’s glorious weather.

And then, these buskers showed up and accompanied our lunch with their perky brand of accordion music.  I probably enjoyed them more than I should have.  They had game!

The guy in the orange shirt and his companion stayed at our hotel and took the same train into downtown.  All day, we ran into people from our hotel or folks who had been in the museum with us. It was kind of funny.  On the way back from the concert, we saw a guy who’d had breakfast at the same time we did.  He was distinctive because of his hat.

Bill had cold pork roast with potato salad and a green salad.  It was very good!  In fact, if we eat there again during the summer, I may order that myself.

I went with a green salad with shrimp.  I don’t usually go for salads, but I wanted something that wouldn’t be too heavy.  This fit the bill nicely.  It filled me up without making me bloat.

Below are some more photos from the Children and Youth Festival, which we passed through to get back to the train station.  It was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for our big concert!