Viaje a Germany: Stuttgart

In my last post, I described a little bit about Mitfahrgelegenheit. I had tried again to get a ride, this time from Nürnberg to Stuttgart. Finally we were able to ride with the third person I contacted. He seemed really nice. We didn’t really talk to him much. He was also going 150 km/hr in a 120 km/hr zone on the Autobahn, but we didn’t get caught and it got us to Stuttgart faster! Once in Stuttgart, Susan and I took the S-bahn to Herrenberg, a town close to where my friend Anke lives. Once again we just talked some, skyped my boyfriend so Anke could meet him :), and went to bed.

The next day, Susan and I took the S-bahn to Tübingen a lovely picturesque town where my friend Lauren studied one summer. We saw these lovely houses on the river, the church, the townhall, and the outside of the castle.

Townhall

Cool-looking building

It’s kind of a funny story, but not really. Susan and I were trying to actually get to the castle, but we ended up on the road below it. We walked along the road and then climbed what must have been at least 200 stairs to get to the same level as the castle. We walk about the other side of the castle. The path inclined down and it was icy. Both of us fell twice. That part was not fun. But then it was time to head to Altingen to watch the Karneval parade!

Apparently in this region, nearly everyone in Karneval parades dress up as witches (but it’s not necessarily what standard witches in the United States look like), but I think that varies depending on where you live. We stood across from the announcer’s stand. All the time he would shout (and I have no idea if I’m spelling this right): Nahrie! And we would reply: Nahro! Nahrie! Nahro! Nahrie! Nahro!

I liked how kids were included.

When there were groups of witches he would shout the name of the town they were from and we would reply: Hexe! (Witches!)

Some of the witches would let off these colored smoke bombs that smelled really bad.

Lots of times when the costumes contained bells, they would all walk in step so their bells jangled at  the same time.

Many of the troupes of witches would do a trick in front of the announcer's booth.
99% of the time it was forming a pyramid.

There were also a few marching bands, but they were definitely a lot more laid back than marching bands in the United States.

Also, the witches in the parade oftentimes had a marker or a stamp and would mark on your face. Or they would grab you and get straw in your hair or steal something from you. Or dump shredded paper or paper punch circles on you. They also handed out some candy. We left halfway through because our feet were frozen, but it was so much fun!

You can see she has a stamp and ink pad.

The girl running away? They just stuck her head in the hay at the back of that float.

Anke's family has friends that are in this marching band, and you can hear the 'Nahrie! Nahro!' in the following videos:

The next day Susan and I headed to Stuttgart. We walked around and saw the old castle (turns out it costs 15 € to enter to see the traveling exhibit. Yikes!) and then took the S-bahn to the TV Tower. Sadly it was a cloudy day and cold, so the view wasn’t as good as it could have been, but I did find a penny-squisher machine (okay, technically it was a 5-Euro-cent-squisher) and that made me very happy.

The old castle

A carnival for Karneval!

The view from the TV tower

DFTBA!

Then it was time to take the bus to Frankfurt so we could catch our plane to Madrid.

Now comes the worst part of the trip. Our plane was delayed over an hour. It was scheduled to arrive in Madrid at 10:20 and our bus (the last bus to Oviedo of the night) was scheduled to leave at 11:00. We were hoping the bus would leave late. This is Spain, right? The plane arrives to Madrid at 10:50. The first class takes forever to get off the plane. Susan and I run through the airport. We have to take the train to the other terminal. We run some more. We get to the bus station at 11:15 and alas, our bus has left. We were able to change our tickets for the first bus the next day. At 8 o’clock. We spent the night in the airport. I didn’t sleep. For this bus we had to go to the other Madrid bus station. We decided to leave at 7:00. I really wish the person who changed our tickets and told us what Metro station we needed to get off at had warned us how long it would take to get there. We got to the station at 7:55. There are literally a hundred buses at the Madrid bus station. We had no idea which one was ours because we didn’t see a board anywhere that said. So we each took a side and ran up and down looking for the right bus. And sat down in our seats at exactly 8:00.