I suggest starting your Stuttgart city center tour at the main station. This might be the place where you pick up your visitors anyway, plus it is very central and easy to find. Local fun fact: The little crèpes stand at the beginning of Königstraße, right next to the stairs leading down to the S- and U-Bahn is THE meeting spot for locals! But if you’re in doubt whether your friends might find it, you can also choose the office of the tourist information I-Punkt on the other side of the stairs.

• Start your tour with a panorama view. Simply climb the 300+ stairs of the train station tower and enjoy the view. You can even point out the sights you will visit next. This treat is even free of charge!

• It is only a short stroll from the main station into the park and over to the historic opera house. Fun facts to impress your visitor: The Stuttgarter Staatstheater are a multi-branch-theatre, including the opera, the drama theater and the famous Stuttgart ballett. It was built between 1909 and 1912. The original drama theater got destroyed in WWII and a new building is home of the theater now on the very same spot. The opera however is one of the few opera houses that survived the bombs. Don’t miss the art nouveau fountain on the left of the opera house. It is dedicated to opera singer Anna Sutter who got killed by her lover in 1910. It is called Schicksalsbrunnen (fountain of fate) and symbolizes the ups and downs of life.

• We move on towards Neues Schloss. Fun facts concerning the New Palace: When duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg came to Stuttgart in 1744 to assume his throne he demanded a new residence and even threatened to move to Ludwigsburg if he would not get what he asked for. Thus, Neues Schloss was built. The cornerstone was laid in 1746 and the residence was completed in 1807. Nowadays the palace contains government offices and is only open to the public on special occasions.

• When we are standing in front of Neues Schloss, we are already at Schlossplatz. Fun facts: The square was built to host military parades and was not open to the public at first. The square was redesigned in 1977 to host a Bundesgartenschau. It is home to baroque gardens, two beautiful fountains, the jubilee pillar with goddess Concordia and the little music-pavillion that makes a great picture motive.

• From Schlossplatz we see our next stop already glittering in the sun: The Kunstmuseum hosts contemporary and modern art and was built in 2005. Fun facts: Even though it doesn’t look that big from the outside, a tunnel system streches its display space to 5000 m²! The plans of building were looked at controversial by the people of Stuttgart because the beloved Freitreppen had to move for the construction. Eventually, a compromise was found and thus there are still stairs next to the glass cube where you can see people sitting and chatting on warm summer days. By the way, the restaurant on top of the museum offers amazing views and is also open for coffee and tea during the day!

• We follow Planie road and turn right where we arrive at Schillerplatz. Fun facts: The statue of the German poet Friedrich von Schiller gave this square its name. Schiller used to live several years in Stuttgart. This was actually the first memorial erected for Schiller in Germany! But there is more to see on this square: Nestled in the corner is the Fruchtkasten, one of the oldest houses in Stuttgart. Next to it sits the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church) with its two unsimilar towers. The earliest parts of this church stem form the 10th or 11th century. Since then Stiftskirche has had a changeful life and it displays parts of romanesque, early- and late-gothic, renaisance and baroque origin. If you are starting your tour early on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, you will get to hear one of Stuttgart’s loveliest traditions: Four brass players will climb up one of the towers and perform for ten minutes, starting at 8:45 am. This tradition started in 1618! But there is one more main attraction we musn’t miss: Altes Schloss! The history of this castle goes back to the 10th century when a Wasserschloss was erected on this area. Step inside to see the arcaded courtyard and a monument of Eberhard I. If you walk around the castle you will find a tiny museum at it’s back. It is dedicated to Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.

• Next to Altes Schloss we find the grand art nouveau building of the Markthalle. Here you find high quality native next to international products and the delicious smell will draw you in even more. Definitely a great place for a short break and to grab something to eat. If you want to get a good view and/or picture, climb up the stairs to the first floor. Fun facts:  The market hall was erected between 1911 bis 1914. A curved glass roof spanned the 60 X 25 meter Hall, offering daylight for the presentation of goods. Paris’ Les Halles served as a model for the covered market hall.

• We now arrive at Marktplatz and the Rathaus. Unfortunately the old late gothic city hall, that got destroyed during WWII, didn’t serve as a model for the new Rathaus. The building we see today was erected between 1953 and 1956. I have to admit, the building is not much beloved but well, we have to live with it. But what is loved by the young and the young at heart are the old fashioned elevators called paternoster that still run inside the building! Please feel free to step inside the city hall, turn left and hop in one of the wooden cabins!

• When we have had enough of riding up and down the building in the paternoster we leave the city hall and walk to a place that is very popular amongst young people: Hans-im-Glück-Brunnen. The area surrounding the “Lucky Hans” fountain has become THE place to go for a fun night out. Here you find lots of bars and restaurants – and of course the pretty fountain (picture opportunity!!). Let’s take a closer look: Six bronze plaques display scenes from the fairy tale “Lucky Hans” written by the brothers Grimm. Hans had to lose all of his possessions before he found true fortune. Fun fact: The area surrounding the fountain is only a century old! But its medieval look doesn’t come from nowhere: The town planners wanted to create exactly that, an idyll of bourgeois life! Well done, I have to say.

• Either we stay here, have a beer or cocktail and call it a day (or night, depends on when you have started your tour :-)) or we head on, towards Feuersee. Here we see one of the prettiest churches in Stuttgart – even though its tower is damaged from war. The gothic Johanneskirche is thus a symbol for the destruction of war until today. We can sit down on the newly created stairs that lead down to the lake and watch turtles swimming in the water (yes, some wild turtles live here!) and kids navigating their toy boats over the water.

• Now we hop into the S-Bahn and ride back to Hauptbahnhof. From here we can catch a U-Bahn to station Stadtbibliothek. I know, this is a detour and you might be tired by now, but believe me, you want to show your guests this last sight! The new city library opened its gates in 2011 and won many prices ever since. Even though it doesn’t look like much from the outside (I like to call it book prison…) trust me: step inside, take the elevator to the top floor and look down and you will know why this is such a special place! The stairs and the setting look surreal! When the weather is nice, you should step outside and climb the last flight of stairs to the top of the building. Here you and you visitors can enjoy another nice view and even relax on one of the sunbeds (they do sell ice cream in the little café by the way – wink wink). From Stadtbibliothek you can walk back to Hauptbahnhof or take the U-Bahn.

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We visit the CMT each year. There is always something new to explore and as we love travelling, we are always looking for new destinations and inspiration. 😉

This year, we are planning our honeymoon. We want to spend it in Australia and have already had contact to various travel agencies. One of them is Boomerang Reisen in Stuttgart and as they have sent us a very interesting offer, we went to their stand first to ask some more questions.

We already got some good advice when we asked for an offer via email and our experience at their stand was equally convincing. Very helpful and professional. So maybe we found our partner for the big trip… 🙂

After Boomerang Reisen, we went to SK Touristik. They are experts when it comes to Canada and Alaska and we have already booked two trips with them in the last years. You might ask now why we visited their stand when we have already decided to go to Australia this year… Well, Moritz is just such a great fan of Canada in general and of SK Touristik  that he cannot attend a CMT without going and seeing what’s up at their stand… and taking some brochures… and discussing some destinations with the staff… and whispering to the guy behind the counter that he “has to go to Australia this year” – maybe there was even an “unfortunately” involved, but I am not sure… 😉

But as we think about going to Alaska in 2014, we got some useful information for the future and didn’t carry all those brochures he took for nothing. 🙂

When we left SK, we could put a tick behind the two main points that brought us to the CMT and were free to stroll around and see what else is there.

I like how the different regions and countries present themselves. The area of the black forest (Schwarzwald) was decorated with a huge Bollenhut, a traditional hat of the region which consists of a hat out of straw and some red wool balls on top of it.

Egypt did a great job as well by putting up the huge statue of a Pharaoh.

If you don’t mind the high prices, you can also sent your taste buds on a journey as some countries also offer typical food and drinks. We saw cocktails from the Caribbean, two beer gardens, fruit cocktails and smoothies and  much more.

We kept on walking and passed a well-known sight: A hut from the Cannstatter Volksfest, which takes place every year in Stuttgart!

When we came to the stand of Delta Airlines I couldn’t resist and tried their new Business Elite seats where you can turn the seat into a flat bed.

Very comfy indeed. I would have loved to take a little nap there… 😉 But time was ticking and there was still so much to see, like these two ladies for example…

… and to try, like the Sagway parcours:

Another “I like” goes to this fake Mercedes (which suits me just fine, I think… 😉 ):

But a huge “I don’t like” goes to the things, people try to smuggle into Europe. Shocking what the customs had on display at their stand…

Disgusting!

After a quick break…

(sorry, I HAD TO put up this picture, I think it’s hilarious!! :-D) we checked out some shops like this African one…

… this Mexican jewellery shop called URBANIA…

(I liked their really creative necklaces. All their jewellery is designed in Mexico, in Taxco to be more precise… I could hardly resist!)

…and some shops where they had backpacks and other travel related stuff.

The great thing about a fair is, that most of the exhibitors offer interesting discounts. Some of these backpacks were 50 percent off.

For Moritz and me, one of the highlights of every CMT are the caravans. Not that we think about buying one, no, but we love looking at the newest models, stepping into some campers as big as trucks and discussing which one we would buy IF we would buy one… 😉 Does this sound strange??

Hmmm, could this be something for us IF we would look for a camper?? 🙂 Oh, and that’s a nice model for our next trip to the Arctic…

But I am not sure if this one offers enough space for us… I mean, who want’s to take only the Smart when going camping?? 😀

OK, at the end of the day, we had to face the sad truth that THIS is the only model that suits our wallets…

…but at least it doesn’t need too much fuel… 😉

Last but not least we had a look at tents. There is this company called “3 DOG camping” which we found last year already and they have these tent trailers and rooftop tents which I think are just awesome!

You put them up within seconds – and the same is true for putting them down again. Well, maybe… one day… 🙂

We had a great day at the CMT and will go again next year for sure. But let me give you one last piece of advice: Do wear comfy shoes! Even though they don’t go well with the rest of your outfit! The trade fair is HUGE and you will walk miles and miles and miles. Even though I was in my tracking shoes, my feed hurt at the end of the day…

More information about:

CMT

Boomerang Reisen

SK Touristik

Delta Business Elite Seating

Cannstatter Volksfest

Urbania

3 DOG camping

The post Tourism fair CMT in Stuttgart – The whole world in one day appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.