Sindelfingen & Stuttgart

Today is Mercedes Benz day.  End of story. We have a Mercedes factory tour booked for 10:30am, and after lunch in Stuttgart, we’ll make our way to the Mercedes Museum to close out the day.

There was no rush to get up this morning but the strong sunlight woke us up. Yes, sun light. That’s S.. U.. N.. light!! I looked through the curtains and there was blue sky. That’s B..L..U..E.. sky!! Are we dreaming??  Well as it turned out we weren’t.  But by the time we finished breakfast the clouds had rolled in. Today will turn out to be a kind of New Plymouth day. Rain, sun, rain, sun rain etc etc.

We fired up Hermann at about 9am just in case there were hold ups with traffic. There weren’t.  Sure it was busy, but no dramas. We had to wiggle south to the A8 and then head west to connect to the A81 south to Sindelfingen – home of the Mercedes factory.

All went fine. We negotiated the speed cameras through to the autobahn without a flash. Man they are everywhere!! And painted a nice ‘army’ olive green so they blend in nicely. We’re noting that they’re very strategically positioned as well (why wouldn’t they be?). Bastards! (as Paul Henry would say).

Here’s a pic from the A8. No chance of big speeds this morning. It’s chocka!

Kath is picking up the passenger seat photographer role very nicely.

We arrive at the Mercedes Kundencenter (the Mercedes customer centre in Sindelfingen) about 35 mins early for our tour. No problem well look at the goodies in their shop. I was sooo tempted to buy a jacket but Kath talks me out of it. “How often would you wear it?” Bloody common sense spoiling another fine purchase! It’s fine on the drive down (about 30 mins from Esslingen), but clouds are looming.

The tour is absolutely brilliant. A great insight into this fine motor vehicle company. After touring this factory I’m thinking – why would you buy anything else? Oh yeah, that’s right…price!   But here in Germany the Mercedes car is as common as Toyota in NZ. They are everywhere. They are driven by most taxi drivers (always a guide for reliability). And the most popular colour is clearly black.
There are no photos allowed inside the premises, so here are a few notes and numbers I jotted down that relate to the factory & staff …
1. This factory employs 35,000 people! WTF! It’s virtually a small city.
2. Staff are very loyal, and work there for anything from 25 to 50 years.
3. There are 1,700 meals served per day in 5 restaurants.
4. There is a medical centre with 14 doctors.
5. They have their own power station which produces 65% of their power.
6. Their technical centre employs 8,000 people (engineers, designers etc.).
7. There are 20 fire trucks and 80 fireman on site.
8. 1,200 students will be trained over a 2 to 3 year training period.
9. Assembly lines comprise teams of 15 staff. Teams rotate jobs so as not to get bored.
10. 2000 cars are produced per day over three 8 hour shifts.
11. Each car is assigned a bar code that carries the details specific to the customer’s requirements. This ensure the correct ‘extras’, colour, upholstery choices etc are applied.
12. One car will take 4 days to be completely finished.
13. Staff receive a 21% discount on a car purchase, and may buy 2 per year max.
14. 1,000 cars are placed on trains each day (and sent away for shipping globally).
15. 200-300 cars are personally collected by new owners each day.
16. In the body shop 99% of the work is done by robots. (They are all German robots!).
17. There are 5,200 robots operating at the plant. They work 24hours per day.
18. The robots could well be Transformers in another life!
19. 700 cars will be deliberately crashed each year (to test and pass the safety requirements set by various countries).
20. We were watching the E Class cars welded in the body shop. 486 will be done this shift and 2,000 completed per day.

Here was our tour bus. Yup, we had to be driven from here to there and to there and back.  There were 16 people in our group and 3 of them were collecting their new car after the tour!

Ok we’ve done the tour. It’s highly recommended, and it’s free! Well done Mercedes!  Very customer focused!  Time to go, but first the important snap.

I reckon this one would do me just right!

Beautiful!

Off we head north into Stuttgart city for lunch. Up the A81 and through some tunnels.

We carefully negotiated town and landed in an underground parking building right next to Altes Schloss. Smack in the middle of town.  A driving comment. The bloody traffic lights could be positioned much better.  At an intersection they’re either above you (and out of sight if you’re no. 1 in line), or away to the left on the other side of the road, or not.  Yes, sometimes they are only up high, so if you’re at the front you struggle to see what they’re doing. C’mon Germany, sort them out. Take a trip to NZ to see how friendly positioning of lights work!  Enough of the rant. Our parking entrance. It’ll cost €3 per hour so just 2-3hrs will do us. Time for lunch and a look around the central city.

It’s quite chilly outside. The weather is erratic. Fine right now but dark clouds looming. We have the brollies ready as usual. This is the German summer!  No better than ours!!!  We walk around into Schillerplatz.

And the into the massive Schlossplatz which seems to be popular lunch time hangout (at least until the rain came!). But first I spot an action shot of one of the early Stuttgart cricket umpires.

The decoration at the front of the new palace (Neues Schloss).

Looking across towards Konigsbau Passagen which houses a 3 level shopping complex. We head there reasonably quickly because the dark clouds are producing some big drops of rain.

In we go.

We found a place for lunch and then eventually poked out a side door to see Christoph.

The sun has come out again. But for how long?  I spot the coolest of the cool.  🙂

Looking down Konigstrasse (the shopping stretch of Stuttgart). The people have re-emerged after the downpour. The tower at the end is Turmforum Bahnprojekt Stuttgart–Ulm at the Stuttgart Bahnhof (railway station).

Into Schlossplatz we go for another attempt to look around.  I look west and some filthy clouds are coming. This will have to be quick.  Here’s a few snaps around Schlossplatz. Looking back at those coloured columns.

At the top of the column in the middle.

Fountain one of three.

Fountain two.

The cube.

Around the column in Schlossplatz.


Whatchu lookin’ at girl!

The towers of Stiftskirche. Dates to the 10th and 11th centuries with the towers added in 1240.  Heavily damaged (virtually destroyed in WW2) but rebuilt in the 1950s.
Stuttgart WW2 trivia:  Stuttgart got an absolute pounding by allied bombers in WW2. The heaviest raid took place on 12 Sep 1944 when the British RAF dropped over 184,000 bombs on Stuttgart. All up there were 53 bombing raids on Stuttgart which destroyed almost 70% of buildings. Ouch!

Schlossplatz and the column. Dark clouds rolling in again!

The new palace (Neues Schloss) was one of the last large baroque residences built in Germany.  Duke Carl Eugen von Wuerttemberg (1744 – 1793) was responsible for its construction.  He demanded from the city and the Wuerttemberg representatives that they build a “proper residence which is convenable to his royal dignity and the amplitude of his royal household” because he wanted to make Stuttgart a second Versailles.  Duke Carl – what a twat!  If only he knew that the WW2 bombings would destroy most of it. However, it was reconstructed between 1958 and 1964 and was used by the Baden-Wurttemberg State Parliament.  Some ministries still use the building today.

The Altes Schloss was a water fortress built in the 10th century for the protection of the stud garden (which gave Stuttgart its name). The site was used for breeding cavalry horses. Today the Wuerttemberg State Museum and the children’s museum “Junges Schloss” are located in the Old Castle.

The rain is a coming and we head for cover. Looking down the south end of Konigstrasse.

It starts pissing down as we shelter by the Cube.  We’ve had enough and decide to head to the Mercedes Museum. It’s a good day for being indoors.  Back to the car. Short cut to Schillerplatz.

At Schillerplatz we see (at right) Fruchtkasten (the ‘fruit box’) which dates to 1393. Well at least the first version did. This is the second (reconstructed after WW2).

A wet Schillerplatz.

Driving to the museum. Looking for the B10 turn-off at the end of this tunnel.

We parked up at the P4 parking building (only €1 per hour for the first 3 hours – which is plenty). 2 hours is sufficient here.  It’s a magnificent building, built in 2006 it contains 1,500 exhibits, including more than 160 vehicles, some dating back to the very earliest days of the motor engine.  Starting at the top floor with the world’s first automobile invented in 1886 by Karl Benz and world’s first four-wheeled automobile invented by Gottleib Daimler, you spiral your way down through three big overlapping circles layered over eight floors to the bottom where a 2015 AMG GTS Edition 1 sits waiting.  Let’s take a look at some of the vehicles. The 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen – The first gasoline engine motor vehicle.



A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Spezial-Roadstar, ‘the car of the rich and beautiful’ and showpiece of the 1930’s.

Inside the infamous 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe. aka the Gullwing.

A 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL.

The car once owned by Princess Diana (A Mercedes-Benz500 SL). Acquired by her in 1991.  She was the first member of the royal house to drive a foreign car privately, however after criticism from government, trade unions etc she ‘returned’ the car in Sept 1992. Ridiculous.  (At the back is the Pope mobile which carted Pope John Paul II around in during his visit to Germany in 1981.

A 1926 Mercedes-Benz 24/100/140 PS Roadster.

Incredible displays.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23. Top speed 350kmph.

Nico Rosberg’s racing boots (2014).

The extended display of 2014 memorabilia includes Rosberg’s suit, Lewis Hamilton’s helmet, the trophy that David Coulthard won in the Australian Grand Prix, and Nico Rosberg’s gloves and boots.

More cars!

Barrie’s old racer! 🙂

That’ll do you for now. Just visit the place and you won’t be disappointed. Adults €8.
Kath found some new friends. She likes them coz they do as they’re told and never complain.  I won’t mention other benefits.

On the way out we pass this 2015 V8 AMG GTS Edition 1.  Superb.  375KW and 310kmph. We were slightly disappointed that the models from 2000 onwards aren’t well represented, but I’m sure that’ll be corrected once the Museum owners read this blog.  🙂

Outside the rain has stopped so we duck out for a snap of the building.

Adam Clayton. Or is it?

Back to the car and back to Esslingen (10kms up the road).  Job well done. Thanks for the day Mercedes. Awesome.  We park up Hermann and head to the supermarket to get a meal together.  We make it back in time to beat the next passing shower.  Temperatures today would’ve been max 18c and min 12C.  Summer?  Bollocks.  The forecast is good for tomorrow. Time will tell.
One last piece of trivia for Danella: Stuttgart is home to the world’s largest pig museum featuring over 40,000 pigs in 28 theme rooms. Books your flights, they aint flying anywhere soon!
Guten nacht.