After an amazing time in Paris with my sister, I took the train back into Germany to Stuttgart. I had booked a room at the Le Meridien, which normally is an easy walk from the train station, but took a bit longer due to a TON of construction in the area. The renderings of what the area will look like when complete are amazing, and I can’t wait to see the final result.
After checking in and dropping my things off, I took a walk through the Oberer Schlossgarten towards the main area of town. It’s an absolutely beautiful park, and the pond was full of swans (which I didn’t get a photo of!).
In the main square past the garden, was the massive Christmas Market. I took some time walking around the stalls, before stopping into Carls Brauhaus for some much needed dinner.
The food and beer at Carls Brauhaus was amazing, and it was a nice relaxing way to end the long day of travel. The restaurant is huge, and it was easy to find a high top table in the bar area.
After dinner, I walked back to the hotel and had a nightcap at the hotel bar, Lillet. While I was there, I met a few folks that were traveling Germany just to visit the Christmas Markets. I hadn’t thought much about the markets before my trip, and by this point, had already decided to take a trip back the following year just to tour markets. Unfortunately, COVID had other plans, so I’ve put off the Christmas Market tour til 2021.
Day 2:
After some coffee in Lillet Bar downstairs at the hotel, I walked back through the Oberer Schlossgarten towards the main area of town. The day before, the pond had been full of swans, and now it was completely frozen over from the temperature drop the night before!
I walked over to the Markthalle, and spent time walking through all of the incredible stalls filled with meats, vegetables and other delicacies from all over the world.
Afterwards, I spent more time walking around the Christmas Markets, finding more and more little stalls around the area, including an entire section of animals – reindeer and donkeys front and center. I was starving after walking around the Markthalle, so I found a stall selling brats in the Christmas Market and grabbed a quick lunch outside.
I had heard amazing things about the Johanneskirche, and so I took a trek to go visit. Unfortunately, the majority of the church was closed. The outside was absolutely beautiful though, and the water in front was a gorgeous spot to stop and sit for a bit.
My last stop was the Stuttgart City Library. The library is rated one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and I am an avid bibliophile. I love visiting independent bookstores in every city I visit, and this library looked AMAZING online. With the construction, it was quite a roundabout walk to get there, and it took a long time.
Unfortunately, once I’d arrived, I ended up getting a call from work (on vacation) and at the time thought that responding quickly to a work request was the most important thing to do. I left the library before getting in, and rushed back to the hotel to grab my bags, and take a conference call on the train to Frankfurt.
Luckily, I was able to get back to Frankfurt, and then enjoy an incredible last night wandering the Christmas Markets and having one of the best dinners of my life before heading back to the States. I can’t wait to head back to Germany next year to explore all of the Christmas Markets and hopefully see the Stuttgart library! If you have any tips on cities I should make sure to add to my list, or questions about planning your own trip, please let me know in the comments!
