Inside, it looked like a nice car dealership. Everything was in neutral colors with soft lighting, sharply dressed people behind large desks, and an almost sterilized feel to the air. If there was any doubt before, it was now gone: there were cars in this building.
We picked up our audio guides and jumped into the modern elevators (they looked like silver eggs). We rode the elevator all the way to the top floor, disembarked, figured out how to work our handy audio guides, and began walking through the museum. The museum is structured so that you start at the top (at the beginning of car history) and spiral down to modern day cars (and the gift shop). It was amazing. It started with the horse and carriages and the first engine. It seemed primitive in comparison to today's. We also saw many of the first cars. Ranging from electric carriages to free-standing automobiles, the innovations were clear and genius. Along the walls as we spiraled down, history began to unfold, with each car-era having it's own floor.
This was the first modern automobile.
This pre-dates the first modern automobile. It's a motorized carriage.
This was the 1920s, when cars were beginning to become more accessible to the public. I love these old cars.
This is an old double decker bus, an early attempt at public transportation. It looks more pretty than practical, in my opinion.
I love this car. It's a James Bond car. I don't know anyone who doesn't love this car.
They apparently also have medical cars as well as medical trucks. They used this at race tracks to transport doctors around really fast.
This is a child's toy car. It's a little scary looking.
I love this car. It was made in the year I was born, and it's one of my favorite colors. It's my new favorite.
Once upon a time, in a galaxy not too far away, they used to also race trucks (because racing cars wasn't dangerous enough). They stopped that when all the other companies (except Mercedes-Benz) stopped producing racing trucks and went back to making normal trucks.
After a through exploration of car history, we arrived at the gift shop. There were rubber ducks, pens, model cars, T-shirts, and real cars (in case you now felt compelled to buy an actually Mercedes-Benz car. I did not). After deciding not to buy a car today, we all bused over to the center of Stuttgart, which consisted of a good sized park (complete with fountains, a statue, a pigeon gang and a very friendly duck), a shopping center, a castle, and a palace (it's not Europe if there are no castles or palaces in the middle to town).
After promising to stay together in groups of at least three people, we were set loose on the town. My group ate lunch in the park, where we were accosted by the pigeon gang and the duck. It probably didn't help that some people kept feeding them bread.
We all then got some much needed shopping in before returning to the bus and returning home for the big soccer game that night. My family decided to have a quiet night in, so I joined the men folk on the couch to watch the game on the television. Soccer games are a lot like football games (lots of action, lots of injuries, lots of cheering, etc.) except there are far less commercials, and 90 minutes is actually 90 minutes. The game started at 6 pm and we were done by 8pm without skipping commercials or the halftime commentary. I was impressed and a bit confused as to where the rest of the game was. But then my host and I played a game until bedtime, during which she tried her best to teach me basic numbers and colors in German. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn more, and I think she enjoyed being able to teach me something about her and Germany, even if that something was just how to say blue in German.
Every day I learn something new. Whether it's the history of the Mercedes-Benz company, the value of a good soccer game, or a completely new language, I have come to appreciate the time everyone takes with me, and I am eagerly anticipating what I will be able to learn tomorrow.
