Okay, so it's like this. After I got my winter holiday all planned and reserved, I found out all about my nephew Robert's pre-Christmas show with Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart. That programme sounded really tantalizing, so I bought another trans-Atlantic air ticket and arranged it so that I would fly to Stuttgart, and then land back in Toronto the night before I was going to leave for Florida and my cruise. So the whole thing becomes one single trip, but in two segments.
Since I am continually talking about my nephew and his dance company (can you tell I'm frantically proud of him?), I figured the least I could do was finally post a couple of pictures of the theatre. It's a great instance of a repurposed building: an old factory of 1930s vintage, by the look of it, now converted into an arts centre with studio and rehearsal space and three theatres of varying sizes.
The seven vertical windows in this picture actually form the back wall of the stage in the largest theatre, and have even been incorporated into the scenic design for one of the dance works performed there this week.
Since I am continually talking about my nephew and his dance company (can you tell I'm frantically proud of him?), I figured the least I could do was finally post a couple of pictures of the theatre. It's a great instance of a repurposed building: an old factory of 1930s vintage, by the look of it, now converted into an arts centre with studio and rehearsal space and three theatres of varying sizes.
The seven vertical windows in this picture actually form the back wall of the stage in the largest theatre, and have even been incorporated into the scenic design for one of the dance works performed there this week.
So, obviously, here I am back in Stuttgart yet again. I hope that all the material I'm posting about this city will tempt some of my readers to check it out when they get to Germany. You certainly should! Stuttgart offers intriguing sights, diverse shopping, an increasingly growing selection of restaurants at various price points, and some beautiful parks for those who love to get out and walk. There's at least one big mineral spa with hot pools and the like and a busy local culture scene. This city continually achieves top-20 ratings on lists of the world's most livable cities -- and, I would say, with good reason!
If you've missed my previous posts about this intriguing place, here are the links:
If you've missed my previous posts about this intriguing place, here are the links:
Before getting into this latest Stuttgart post, a little geography lesson.
The anarchic-looking street layout in Stuttgart isn't mere caprice. The city sprawls over a whole series of hills, and while the downtown area (shaded) is pretty level in its valley, you can't go far in any direction without having to climb. And that's when the streets have to start turning and twisting all over the place. A neat grid layout this is not. I'm glad that I don't have to navigate it by car.
The anarchic-looking street layout in Stuttgart isn't mere caprice. The city sprawls over a whole series of hills, and while the downtown area (shaded) is pretty level in its valley, you can't go far in any direction without having to climb. And that's when the streets have to start turning and twisting all over the place. A neat grid layout this is not. I'm glad that I don't have to navigate it by car.
That's because -- fortunately -- Stuttgart has a really superb transit system, comprised of dozens of S-Bahn suburban train routes, U-Bahn trams in the downtown and surrounding areas, and bus routes to cover the thinner spots. Here's a U-Bahn train, made up of two double-unit trams, at an outdoor station in the city centre.
I'm calling the U-Bahns "trams," but they are really 2-car or 4-car light rail trains. Even when they are operating on the streets, they stop at stations with raised platforms. In busier areas, the U-Bahns plunge underground and run under the traffic, and many of the street stretches are on separated medians. The S-Bahn trains are wider and longer, and operate on completely separate railway rights-of-way, again with multiple stops at fully-constructed stations.
The coloured lines on this chart are all the U-Bahn and S-Bahn routes. The grey lines represent only a selection of the connecting bus routes. Now you can see just why the Europeans are light-years ahead of us in the field of public transit!
The coloured lines on this chart are all the U-Bahn and S-Bahn routes. The grey lines represent only a selection of the connecting bus routes. Now you can see just why the Europeans are light-years ahead of us in the field of public transit!
The system runs on a zone chart, but most of the main city (apart from the airport) is one single zone. You can even get a discount on the one-zone fare if you travel 3 stops or less. The base adult fare for a one-zone ticket is €2.50 and you can cover two zones (which gets you to or from the airport) for €2.90 one way on the S-Bahn. A full-day pass in one zone is €5.20. In the centre of the city, multiple lines join together on two busy underground trunk routes, with the crossing points of U-Bahn and S-Bahn under the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station).
Coming in from the airport the other night, I had a 28-minute ride on the S-Bahn from the station right under the airport terminal to the Hauptbahnhof station, then less than a 2-minute walk to the U-Bahn platform, short one-stop ride on the U-Bahn, up an elevator to the street, and 30-second walk to the entrance of my hotel. How's that for convenience?
On my first full day, the weather was sunny enough -- in spite of scattered showers -- that I decided to go up to the Fernsehturm on a hill south of the city centre. Fernsehturm, literally "far-seeing-tower," is the German name for "television tower." Like its cousins in North America (Toronto's CN Tower, for instance), this one was built to hoist broadcast antennas high into the air. Even though it's not needed for that purpose any more, it continues to be a major visitor attraction.
You can get up there on either the U7 or U15 from downtown. The U7 is faster, running up the hill in an express tunnel, but the U15 has the more interesting and scenic trip as it runs a snaky course on the street right up to the peaceful hilltop forest park where the tower is located. Both U-Bahn routes stop at the Ruhbank station, and from there it's a 7-10 minute walk along a level footpath through the forest to get to the tower.
And here are the views. The first one shows the Ruhbank station with both a U15 and a U7 in view on their separate but adjacent tracks.
This sports ground below the tower would be the envy of nearly every sports coach I know in Canada.
A perfect illustration of the rumpled landscape in and around Stuttgart.
Sadly, none of my pictures of downtown turned out very well -- too grainy. But for what it's worth....
Another nearby transmitting tower figures in this view to the east.
Looking south, you can see the airport in the distance and, far beyond, the higher mountains towards Switzerland.
On the way down the hill, there were interesting views of downtown in the valley through the gaps between the trees and the houses. One thing's for sure: plenty of people living on this hill have a great view!
There's also the occasional quaint older house along the way.
Among the newer buildings, this one definitely caught my eye. I'm not sure, though, just why a Werbeagentur ("advertising agency") needs a giant, multi-coloured-striped Thing like that on its roof, nor am I sure whether the Thing is a lampshade, an umbrella, or a water tank.
Back downtown, I hopped off for some more walking before heading back to base.
Language lesson of the day: the German word Backstube looks suspiciously like the English "backstab" but it's nothing of the kind. Back is the cognate of the English "bake" and a Stube is a cafe. So: Backstube = bakery cafe. Kamps is a popular chain in these parts.
And then, I continued my walk along the pedestrian shopping mall of the Königsstrasse ("King's Street"), with the dignified tower and facade of the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) in the background. Apart from the barren trees, you'd hardly guess it was December. Turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.
The second day I was busy with catching up on lost sleep, then attending the daily class which opens the dancers' day each workday. The third day turned out to be exactly like the first two: sunny and brilliantly blue sky one minute, and dense clouds dropping rain the next. As I write this, it's just started raining again. At least the temperature is a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but it's plain that apart from above-freezing temperatures, winter in Stuttgart is just like winter in southern Ontario -- wacky and unpredictable to the max.
Like all rack railways, this one moves at a speed that is stately rather than energetic -- this to avoid any possibility of the cogwheel jumping of the rack rail, with disastrous results.
A perfect illustration of the rumpled landscape in and around Stuttgart.
Sadly, none of my pictures of downtown turned out very well -- too grainy. But for what it's worth....
Another nearby transmitting tower figures in this view to the east.
Looking south, you can see the airport in the distance and, far beyond, the higher mountains towards Switzerland.
I had come up the hill on the underground U7, so I decided to go back down on the U15 which runs along the street.
There's also the occasional quaint older house along the way.
Among the newer buildings, this one definitely caught my eye. I'm not sure, though, just why a Werbeagentur ("advertising agency") needs a giant, multi-coloured-striped Thing like that on its roof, nor am I sure whether the Thing is a lampshade, an umbrella, or a water tank.
Back downtown, I hopped off for some more walking before heading back to base.
Language lesson of the day: the German word Backstube looks suspiciously like the English "backstab" but it's nothing of the kind. Back is the cognate of the English "bake" and a Stube is a cafe. So: Backstube = bakery cafe. Kamps is a popular chain in these parts.
And then, I continued my walk along the pedestrian shopping mall of the Königsstrasse ("King's Street"), with the dignified tower and facade of the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) in the background. Apart from the barren trees, you'd hardly guess it was December. Turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.
The second day I was busy with catching up on lost sleep, then attending the daily class which opens the dancers' day each workday. The third day turned out to be exactly like the first two: sunny and brilliantly blue sky one minute, and dense clouds dropping rain the next. As I write this, it's just started raining again. At least the temperature is a few degrees warmer than yesterday, but it's plain that apart from above-freezing temperatures, winter in Stuttgart is just like winter in southern Ontario -- wacky and unpredictable to the max.
This time, I decided to pay a visit to the Fahrradbahn (rack railway), and quickly found out that I was actually visiting a true historic relic -- the oldest surviving link in Stuttgart's transit system. The single car on the Fahrradbahn may look like the regular U-bahn cars, but it's a law unto itself in other ways. Inside the car, a poster illustrates the history of this steep line up the hill to Degerloch, which went into operation in 1882.
This unique journey begins at the Marienplatz, shown here.
Coming up the stairs from the U-bahn station, you will see the base station of the rack railway ahead and to your right. The tilt is built right into the station platform, and the train instantly has to climb across a bridge that goes right up in the air between the houses on the south side of the square. The passenger vehicle pushes in front of itself a flatcar equipped with racks for eight bicycles.
During the ride up the mountain, the best views are on the left hand side of the car. At certain key moments, you get a striking panorama of the city centre spread out below you.
There are some stretches where the rack railway runs along one side or down the middle of a street, while in other parts it has its own right of way. I think those streets were probably all built after the railway line was already in place. Then there's the occasional moment when the train crosses high in the air above a suburban street.
At the top of the mountain, the tram stops at a station called Fahrradbahnhof, plainly the original terminus. But that historic poster in the car explains that the line was extended a few hundred metres to the current terminal at the major intersection of Degerloch in 1931. As you approach that station, this structure on the right displays the kind of colourful quirkiness in design which you can discover in bits and pieces all over Germany, and in wholesale quantity in Berlin.
As you may have guessed, the canopy structure is a bus stop. Then, right alongside the Degerloch platform is this quaint older building housing a pub and restaurant.
From Degerloch, it's a simple matter to hop the U-bahn back into town. The U-bahn station was built right under the rack railway station in 1977. Of course you are welcome to take the Fahrradbahn back down the hill, and at no extra charge if you're using a day or week pass.
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