Deutschland Dispatch # 3: Stuttgart and Herrenburg

Herrenberg.

I confess that for as much as I appreciated my three days in Berlin, I was ready to travel to a different part of Germany.  We flew to Stuttgart in the early morning, and immediately attended a meeting with the minister of education for the state of Baden-Wutenburg. It was extremely informative (though extremely hot).

Stuttgart

Afterwards we spent some time in the center of the old city. There we visited the old castle (13th century). It was so fun to watch the mood of our group shift dramatically- taking more pictures, and generally showing so much excitement for these truly historic parts of Germany.  Stuttgart very much fulfills the traditional paradigm of an old European town, and we all recognized that we were no longer in ( the more international and modern) Berlin.

Our visit to Gymnasium was enjoyable, as we were able to meet with teachers and students for quite a while.  I felt very much at home at this school, as I was able to meet Jonathon, who teaches tenth grade geography.  Being in his class with 16 year old German kids was like being at any given day in my class. The students asked great questions about the USA, including  “Does everyone carry a firearm?”  We talked a lot about how large and diverse the USA is, usually discussing the differences between Texas and NYC.


But the greatest discovery of our trip came in the evening as we ended up in the small town of Herrenburg (founded, 1278), due to a last minute hotel switch. A few of us decided to walk through the town, where we discovered an amazing medieval town, complete with immaculate houses, narrow streets, and a cathedral with a glockenspiel. We took in the sunset, grabbed an ice cream cone, and explored.

As John Lennon said, “Life is what you get when you don't get what you expected.”

And he was the walrus, so who am I to question it?