Today was castle day.

Again.

I actually would like to sometime go back and read through all my blogs to find out how many castles I’ve actually visited during my travels.

And the funny thing?

It’s not even the last castle I’ll be visiting this trip as there’s another one in a couple days just outside of Munich.

But that’s neither here nor there because today was castle day!

Visiting the Hohenzollern Castle was actually the only reason we booked our one night in Stuttgart last night.

Car rental

This morning I woke up bright and early at 8:30am but Shawn had already left to go pickup the rental car we had booked for this excursion.

The castle is about 70km south of the city and it takes about an hour by car to reach it.

I’ve only ever driven once while traveling and, while I’m perfectly comfortable driving at home, when I’m in a foreign land, I prefer not to.

So, I was more than happy to pass the driving reigns over to Shawn and just sit back in the passenger seat today.

This was the plan for the car today:

1) Pickup the car and drive it back to the hostel
2) Checkout and store our bags in the car
3) Drive to and from the castle
4) Swing by the train station and store our bags for a bit
5) Return the car

Phew, that was alot of stuff happening with that car today.

Like I said, by the time I woke up, Shawn had already left to go pickup the car.

While he was gone, I got ready and did a quick trip to the breakfast buffet that was included with our hostel stay.

By 9:45 we off in our little blue Hyundai heading out of the city due south.

Hohenzollern Castle

An hour later we had arrived at the castle.

Unlike the castle we saw a few days ago, this one was fully intact.

It’s also way touristy than the other one as there a few dozen people visiting at the same time as us.

Tickets to enter the castle run €26 ($39) or you can buy one online for €3 cheaper.

In my everlasting hunt for unique paper souvenirs, I actually opted to buy my ticket at the ticket counter just so I could have that precious ticket stub.

To get to the top where the castle is you can either walk for 20 minutes of take a 2 minute shuttle van that runs every 10 minutes.

I think you can guess which one we went for.

It was a cold 10C and windy up at the castle so the shorts and tshirt were put back in the bag.   Yup, back to pants and a jacket.   Even my touque made yet another appearance today.

As I’ve said previously, I’m enjoy learning things visually.   I find museums boring.   I just don’t have the temperament to stand there and read placards next to displays or to listen to an audio guide.

But if there’s a bunch of cool things to take photos of, well, now we’re talking.

I’m sure alot of people spend a couple of hours visiting the castle, looking intently at the various rooms and listening to their audio guides describing what they were seeing.

Me, I was in and out of there in 45 minutes.

I came, I saw, I snapped a bunch of photos, I conquered.

A well deserved treat

At just after noon we were heading back into Stuttgart and arrived an hour later.

Our plan to drop the bags at the train station to store them was a little wonky because there was nowhere nearby to park the car and go inside.

After debating it for a bit, I figured the best solution was for me to take all the bags and leave Shawn to drop off the car.

So, along with my daypack and my backpack, I also had Shawn’s 3 bags.

And because of nearby construction, the train station was a grueling 10 minute walk away.

There I was, my backpack on my back and 2 bags in each of my hands drudging along the sidewalk towards the train station.

Yeah, I instantly regretted that decision.

But I made it.

And I deserved a treat!

It would be about a half hour before Shawn would return to town because the rental place was outside the main part of the city.

There’s a café chain named Isabella Glutenfreie Pâtisserie in Germany that I had marked in various cities on this trip but had yet to visit one.

It’s entirely gluten free and offers desserts as well as breakfast and a few sandwiches and quiches.

I was too late for breakfast, wasn’t really craving a sandwich, and their quiches were sold out.

Guess I’m having a White Chocolate Cheesecake for lunch!

And a nice berry smoothie to wash it down.

A quick tour of Stuttgart

By the time I was done with my “lunch”, it was already 2pm and our train leaving for Munich was scheduled to leave in just over an hour.

Taking into account the 10 minute walk to the train station from the UBahn metro station and the time to retrieve our bags from storage, I figured I had about a half hour to explore Stuttgart.

A whole half hour.

I’ll be the first to say I did not give Stuttgart the respect it deserved.

I mean, who visits a city for only a half hour.

Well, as it turns it, this guy does.

Sorry Stuttgart.

Anyway, I did manage to walk about Karsplatz which was a nice open space with a Palace, a church, a park, and a fountain around it.

So, while it was just a brief glimpse into Stuttgart, what I did see was magnificent.

Hello Munich!

And just like that, our short time in Stuttgart was over.

We caught a 3:15 train out of the city headed east to Munich about 2 hours away.

This being DB Trains, it was obviously 2 1/2 hours but, whatever, we’re used to it by now and we finally made it to Munich.

We had dinner reservations for 7pm so it was a quick turnaround from checking in and heading straight back out for dinner.

Being in a big city again like Munich it gives me more choices for places that cater to gluten intolerant people like myself.

The restaurant I chose tonight had a menu where almost everything was gluten free.

All it took was a trip to Venezuelan cuisine to find a celiac’s paradise as they use corn in place of flour in their dishes.

Yup, you read that right, we had Venezuelan food for dinner tonight.

I mean, really, you expect me to have sausage, schnitzel, and sauerkraut every meal?

For dinner I chose an arepa, which is a cornmeal cake, stuffed with beef, avocado, tomatoes, and cheese along with a side dish of plantains.

Perfect!

Considering all the traveling I’ve done and all the different types of cuisine I’ve tried during those travels, I’ve never had an Venezuelan food and, I gotta say, it was pretty damn good.

By 8:30 we were back for the night.

Tomorrow is an easy day with only a plan to go on a walking tour of Munich which is a good thing because the Canucks are playing another playoff game tonight at 1am Germany time and I have no idea how or when I’m going to sleep tonight.

Go Canucks Go!