Mercedes Benz Museum

Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Museum is probably the best automotive museum in the world with over 160 vehicles all magnificently displayed in a building designed by UNStudio who also designed the New Zealand Te Papa Museum, which can only be described as art. There are over 16500 square metres of exhibition space with some of the world’s finest examples of Mercedes Benz automobiles. The exhibition starts at the top floor and works it’s way down spiral ramps to the bottom with giant showcases of vehicles on all levels. Amongst it’s huge collection are cars, buses, trucks from all eras of the Mercedes Benz timeline all shining like jewelery in the beautiful displays. One highlight is the Gallery of Celebrities where visitors can get up close to the Popemobile, movie and music stars cars and even a Mercedes owned by Princess Diana.

for more information: http://www.museum-mercedes-benz.com

The festivals are starting to kick of in Germany, and one of the premier events is the Stuttgart Cannstatter Volkfest. It’s Stuttgart’s answer to Munich’s Octoberfest and last year attracted over 4 1/2 million visitors and over half of them from outside Stuttgart. Now in it’s 163rd year the festival runs from the 26th of September until the 12 of October and is fun for the whole family. There are some great carnival rides and attractions plus plenty of beer, infact over on million litres of beer is served during the festival and over 700,000 meals.  This year the festival has a mascot, he is WasenHasi, who is a cute little bunny, the soft toy market is going to go crazy because he is so cute. Some of the huge tents this year include Grandls hofbrau Zelt, Stamer Hof, Furstenberg Zelt and Schwaben Brau Festireli. The festival takes up a huge 68,000 square metres and is open daily from lunch time to midnight.

For more information: http://www.cannstatter-volksfest.de

Stuttgart is not only the home of Mercedes Benz and Porsche it’s home to the annual Cannastatter Volksfest- the second largest beer festival in Germany (or the world for that matter) after Munich. The centerpiece of the festival is the huge Ferris Wheel and 24 metre basket of fruit. The festival dates back to 1818 and now attracts over 3 million people to its two weeks of celebration. There are huge beer tents but they are not as big as that found in Munich, but its much easier to find a beer here as things are not quiet as busy.

This years event starts today and goes through until the 12th of October.

http://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/ENG/leisure/volksfest.htm

Stuttgart yard-brew make this delicious beer, Herren Pils it is has a fresh crisp taste and is very popular around the Stuttgart area of Germany. The brewery makes beer using the Bavarian purity law which forbids nasty preservatives and chemical additives to the beer.