Südwestdeutschland

Porsche Cars North America sent me on a business trip to Stuttgart, Germany in May of 2011 so I asked Mary to come along.  We were staying in Ludwigsburg for a week so we figured we could enjoy Southwest Germany over the weekend and do some sightseeing.  Some outdoor sightseeing.  The weather was glorious while we were there, so we did not spend much time indoors.

I went 10 feet into the Porsche Museum, just enough to get something at the gift shop.  We didn't even consider going to the Mercedes-Benz Museum.  Apparently these are must-see destinations in Stuttgart.  We bypassed them in favor of other attractions.

Mary spent one day touring the palaces in Ludwigsburg.  They have one tour in English, so book early if you want to understand the tour guide.  We found out early in Südwestdeutschland that it really helps if you can sprechen sie deutsch.  We got by because I memorized nouns for food and drink thanks to my workplace German classes and Mary still recalled her verbs from high school and college.  Hand gestures helped as well.

Here are some shots of the palaces:

In Stuttgart we spent a whole afternoon walking the length of Rosenstein Park to the Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Garden.  We highly recommend it.  Buy some ice cream -- we felt out of place because we seemed to be the only ones not walking around with a cone in our hands.  There are many enjoyable sights throughout the park, from the many sculptures, to the rosegarten, to the dozens of young people carrying their beer coolers for what was probably their first drunken picnic of the season.

We've all been to Zoos.  No pictures of caged animals here.  I do consider it a 5-star zoo.  With one amazing surprise: a stand of redwoods! In Southwest Germany!  How curious.  Turns out the German royals planted sequoias between 1845 and 1865.  The giant redwood trees are just starting to show their glory:

The last city we visited on this trip was Heidelberg.  A short train ride from Ludwigsburg.  The main tourist destination here is Heidelberg Castle.  You can spend an entire day inside this centuries-old structure, seen here on the hill above Mary.

Think of the biggest fort you've toured in the southern USA and now imagine something much, much older and 20-50 times bigger.  I'm just going to copy paste from Wikipedia the words of the man for whom this blog is named after, Mark Twain, after he saw the castle around 1880:

"A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude."

These two pictures barely do the castle justice, but a tourist has to try:

Go see Heidelberg Castle in you are in the area.  You will not be disappointed.  The city of Heidelberg is also a treat, with much to see while walking around or sitting down for a meal.  Here are some pictures we took in and around the riverside:

I trust the photos showed how lucky we were with the weather in Germany that May in 2011.  We leave you with a picture of our last lunch in Südwestdeutschland, a quintessential German meal:

Yeah, the beer was already one-third gone.

Travel in style -- Porsche plug

What is your favorite way to travel?  I tolerate flying, never been cruising, and hiking is what we do once we arrive at our destinations.  But in order to get "there", at least here in the States where public transportation is often lacking, that usually means driving.

Well, if you're going to drive, there's no finer way to enjoy our roads than in a new Porsche.  I had the fortune of working at Porsche Cars North America from 2003-2011 and as an employee you can lease their vehicles at a decent rate.  Employees used to be able to enjoy the Porsche Driving Experience (PDE) at  Barber Motorsports once a year.  Apparently that's no longer the case, so if you're interested in racing Stuttgart's finest then go here instead: Porsche Driving Experience.

Enough promotions concerning my former employer.  Let me list all of the cars we were able to enjoy over the years.  Yes, we name most of our cars, a tradition started by our kids after they played the fabulous Putt-Putt games from Humongous Entertainment in the late 90's.  Over 8 years we drove 3 Cayennes

• Black Dog
• Blue Dog
• Ugly Dog

2 Boxsters

• Raven
• BABS (Big Ass Boxster S)

plus 1 Carrera (Sally) and very briefly one Cayman (Snowflake).  We also borrowed a Cayenne S and a Panamera for one week.  We took these vehicles all over the Southeast, driving up to Nashville, TN in one of the Boxters and down to Sarasota, FL in Sally.  I must say, some of the looks we got on the roads and some of the compliments we would receive at gas stations would make me feel a little sheepish.  I would usually reply with me "it's not mine, it's a company car" to which the retort would be along the lines of "Nice company!".

Here is the first Cayennes we leased, Black Dog, parked in our garage:

This was the first series of SUV's sold by Porsche in the USA and it had a couple of minor issues.  The one that annoyed most was the broken cup holders.  Yeah, I know, "First World Problems".  Black Dog was followed by Blue Dog:

To this day I wondered what our distant neighbors thought when they would see a new Porsche driving in every 6 months.

Here are some picture from the PDE.  The first year Mary talked me into going (yeah, I'm not a car guy).  The second year I was able to take some friends (on the right of the photo) thanks to my colleagues on the left.

It was quite expensive, so we only drove Sally the 911 for 6 months.

Here is the Panamera (before this series had been released to the public for sale) we enjoyed for a few days:

The 4-door sedans and SUVs saved Porsche the company.  It turns out that rich soccer moms don't like small 2-seaters and dads occasionally want trunk space beyond just storing golf bags.  But Mary loved her Boxters.  To this day she pines about no longer being able to drive somewhere with the top down.

All good things must come to an end.  I left the company in 2011 to join a hard-core software development firm.  Our last company vehicle was a Cayman, which is a 2-door coupe that is half-Boxster, half-Carrera.  So your journey in style ends with Snowflake: