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Published: November 4th 2013
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Stuttgart to Heidelberg via Heilbronn Germany 29 Oct 2013
On this Tuesday, we woke up to rain but it wasn’t too cold. Our camp site was 10 minutes walk from the Mercedes Benz Museum so that was our 1
st destination in Stuttgart. We found it with no problems because it was huge! We walked past a big soccer stadium on the way, which was sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. There was also a massive area where the city holds expos and major fairs and exhibitions next to the camp site.
One would expect a pretty spectacular building from Mercedes Benz….and we got it! There were 8 floors (9 levels and 16,500 sq m)of displays covering the chronological history of the M-B vehicles starting in 1886, and how they influences the cultures and history of countries to which they supplier their vehicles/motors. All the walls, ceilings and floors were highly polished/shiny. There was also a history of the major world events and how M-B changed their business strategy to meet the needs at that time, including the 2 World Wars. It also included information on the Daimler- Benz relationship (which was where it all started 125 years ago by these 2
wealthy men) and later, the M-B Chrysler merger.
Carl Benz had a daughter who was Mercedes so this is where the name came from. Carl was a very wealthy man which he acquired from the tobacco production his company was involved in Africa. His only daughter was very special to him and he named all his residences around the world as well as his company ‘Mercedes’.
We were at the Museum for 2 hours and Tom and I selected the vehicles that we were going to take home!!!
After a cup of coffee in the M-B restaurant, it was then time to take our camper out of the Camping grounds. We then drove to the closest metro station and caught the metro into the Stuttgart CBD to have a wander around.
Big wide streets, many pedestrian malls and multiple squares lined with historical buildings was the theme of the city. Arts and entertainment was also a big feature.
The shops were of high quality brands, as was the restaurants. In nearly every square there was a market – food, flowers, and merchandise. We walked around the main area of the CBD seeing the Opera House,
the Old & New Palaces which were former residences of the kings of Wurttemberg.
We stopped for lunch and did some wandering through their markets in the squares – very interesting. Time was against us as we had our motor home on a parking metre so we caught the efficient Metro back to the station where we left the car.
So it was ‘goodbye’ to Stuttgart – short visit but well worth it.
We decided not to take the motorway, but after an hour of 30-50kph through suburbs, raodworks and towns (it was beautiful scenery outside the towns) we switched to a motorway up to Heilbronn. We drove through Heilbronn but again, much construction, road works and very short traffic light changing sequence so we headed for Heidelberg. Wow, these days are really getting short now – sun set at 5.30pm. There was a beautiful sunset. We went to the closest Campsite to Heidelberg but it was closed – forever!!!! There was another campsite only 2.5km away so we successfully booked in there. It was on the banks of the Neckar River.
Boy, was there a nip in the air. As soon as we hooked
the camper up to the power, our heater went on. Our motor home is always lovely and warm and so quick to heat. We had dinner in the camper.
The next morning we woke to a very thick fog, particularly over the river. We couldn’t see the mountain which was over the other side of the river. By the time we packed up at 9.00am it was clearing and the sky was sprinkled with white clouds and the sun was shining. We were off into Heidelberg.
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