Almost finished in Germany. Our last stop is Stuttgart for a one night stop. We haven't done much research on Stuttgart so we are not sure what to expect (we have read that it is well known for its Christmas markets).

Our stay doesn't start well. When we got to the hotel, there was a note on the door: "Message for Julie Browning - Reception is closed, book yourselves into the hotel. Your room is number 19, key is under the doormat". Great start. No info about the hotel, no info about the local area, no indication of where we were in relation to the rest of the city, not even the WiFi password, which we rely on to access the net to do some forward planning. I tried a few well known passwords (surname, room number, hotel name etc) but to no avail. By now navigator Julie is giving a "Not happy Jan" look. I went searching for the wifi router (sometimes the password is on the label), no luck. However, I did hear a TV in the room next to us, so I thought "Why not?", and knocked on the door. the guy who answered the door was an elderly German gent who looked like he might have been a permanent resident of the hotel. Luckily he spoke a bit of English and I was able to explain to him what i needed, and he gladly supplied us with the password. We also chatted for a bit and when he heard we were Australian he told us his son was in Australia as part of a world trip. All was right with the world again.

So, did a bit of Googling on the laptop (now that we had the password), saw that we were only about a 10minute walk from the city center, got all rugged up and set off for a bit of exploring.

Christmas markets here are amazing. As well as selling all the usual trinkets, there are stalls selling antique jewelery (saw some really old Rolex's going for a few thousand euros), home made leather goods, smoked fish (smoked right there at the stall), home made sausage, mugs of mulled wine (Glühwein).

Found a great restaurant for dinner, the Alte Kanzlei, where they served some local Swabian specialties, all washed down of course with some fine local red wine. The dishes we had were superb, full of flavor, and generous helpings. A good way to end the day.

Stuttgart has a more modern feel to it than Munich. There are not as many historic buildings (probably due to the bombing in WWII), but rather the whole place has a "new" feel to it. The word "younger" comes to mind.

One night is nowhere near enough to do Stuttgart justice. But we did get just enough of a taste to warrant a return sometime in the future.