Going out in Stuttgart - Theaters

There is quite a large cultural scene in Stuttgart. First of all there is the Staatstheater Stuttgart which offers a large variety of opera, ballet and theater. The ballet is quite famous due to the John Cranko Ballet School. It is situated in the Schloßgarten which is behind the Old and the New Castle in the center of town.
The Theaterhaus has moved a couple of years ago from Wangen to Pragsattel and now offers 4 different halls and a gym. Many plays are shown for quite a long time. The most famous one is "Caveman" . (Written by the American Rob Becker).

On the website Schauspielbühnen.de you will find those theaters:
Altes Schauspielhaus which offers classic plays by authors like Shakespeare or Schiller and Musicals.
Komödie im Marquardt offers comedy,
Theater unterm Dach has a choice of small alternative spectacles
while the International Theatre produces plays in foreign language, right now in English, French and Spanish.

Theater über den Wolken (theater above the clouds) has a variety of different plays and a fantastic view from the Fernsehturm.
Children will love the Theater U18 (under 18).

Theater der Altstadt entertains you with a variety of plays from classics to comedies.
Other theaters: Theater Rampe, Wilhelma Theater, Krimifabrik.
Of course theater plays will be shown also in other cultural centers and halls. I will write about these in one of the next blogs.

Landesmuseum - Treasures of Old Syria - Qatna

Exhibition in the Old Castle/ Landesmuseum "Treasures of Old Syria"

More than 3.000 years Qatna was buried underneath the earth. Now the Landesmuseum presents a special exhibition "Treasures of Old Syria" - The discovery of the royal crypt of Qatna.

An unbereft royal crypt
Visitors are relocated back to the times of about 3.500 years ago: Once the royal town of Qatna was a flourishing trade metropolis in the heart of Syria. In 2002 , under the remnants of a monumental palace, archeologists from Tübingen who cooperated with an international investigators' team discovered an unbereft royal crypt.

Discoveries of inestimable value, arms, jewellery, crimson colored cloths, cylinder seals, valuable vases and an extensive archive of cuneiform scripts - all these discoveries are now national treasures of Syria and can be seen for the first time here in Stuttgart.

The highlight of the presentation is the multi media reconstruction of the emperor's palace and the crypt. Animations simulate the live in the ages of Bronze in Syria - the religious ideas, the cult of the dead, everyday life in trade and crafts and the extensive cultural excange in this region.

The exhibition will be open until the 14th of March 2010 - every week from Tuesday to Sunday - 10 am until 6 pm. There are numerous other accompanying events like lectures, discussions and presentations about the restoration.

More information:

Gorilla baby in Stuttgart zoo Wilhelma

Baby Gorilla born in Stuttgart Zoo- Wilhelma

Gorilla woman Kolo made a special Christmas present to the Wilhelma, our Stuttgart zoo. It has been already the second gorilla baby in 2009 which was born in the "year of the gorillas" in Stuttgart.

In the early morning on the 22nd of December Kolo gave birth to her baby amidst her family. She retreated to one corner of the conjoint enclosure, built a nest made of excelsior and shortly after 8 am the little one arrived.
Kolo already has a 6 year old son, Lengai and had a baby the year before which unfortunately died. Right now Lengai is very curious of his new brother or sister.

Foto: Wilhelma

In March 2009 Gorilla woman Mutasi had a little girl - Mawenzi - she was the 30th Gorilla baby which was born in Stuttgart. Father of both children is Kibo, the benevolent silverback of the clan who likes to play with the three "oldest" children: Meru, Shira and Lengai.

Right now you will already be able to catch a glimpse of mother and child. Also small Mawenzi and all the others are looking forward to the visitors durin the calmer winter season.

First Christmas Market in Germany 2009

Due to a participation in a competition arranged by Antenne 1, Tamm (Kreis Ludwigsburg), a town about 25 km from Stuttgart, held the first christmas market this week. They promised to make a snowman of the height of the city hall. There were stands everywhere selling christmas items, hot spiced wine, cake, sausages and meat.
Just have a look and enjoy the photos.

There is the snowman. You could say that it is as high as the town hall if you count the hat. I think they could have made some more effort. I mean, if you do it then do it right! I expected something more spectacular.

Speaking of christmas markets, the season starts always at the end of November, usually with the weekend of the first advent and ends 1 or 2 days before christmas.
Maybe you know the most famous, the Nürnberg Christkindlmarkt. Stuttgart holds the largest christmas market in Germany. There are many other ones in the South German region. Ludwigsburg always arranges a Baroque christmas market with very nice stands of applied arts. Esslingen has a normal and a medieval christmas market which is also worth a visit. Another quite small but very interesting christmas market is the one of Bad Wimpfen. However, nowadays it has become a tradition that every little town organizes at least one weekend during the last 4 weeks before christmas.

Flohmarkt

What is a "Flohmarkt" - The translation I found was junk market (which, honestly, sounds a bit negative) or flea market. In the last 10 or 20 years these markets have been increasing everywhere. They usually are held in large parking lots on Saturdays and Sundays. Several of these flea markets will be held even 3 times a week.
There are special themes where people sell CDs, records, antique furniture or childrens' clothing. Others just offer anything you can possibly imagine. Even if you decide just to have a look and not to buy anything it rarely happens that you won't come home with some object or other. You can do great bargains you never expected, especially things like china, glasses, tools, games, books etc. I once got a great dog sofa for a ridiculous price. I didn't search for it - just found it.
Stuttgart offers a large Flohmarkt on the Karlsplatz every Saturday from 8.00 am to 4 pm. http://www.flohmarkt-karlsplatz.de/

For most flea markets in the region of Baden-Württemberg just try this link: http://www.marktcom.de/veranstaltungen-im-bundesland/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg or have a look at the local papers.

Afrika-Haus in Heutingsheim

I passed a many times the sign "Afrika-Haus" when I drove from Ludwigsburg to Freiberg and was always curious to know what there would be. Some information on the internet told me that it was about modern African art and that it is open only on Sundays. Being on the right spot and in the right time we jumped at the chance of having a closer look at this museum. The Afrika-Haus is situated in a residential area in Heutingsheim which belongs to Freiberg. We passed around 3 pm and found out that it was open from 3 to 5 pm this Sunday. A nice lady greeted us and showed us around. The owner, Mr. Benseler, unfortunately is very ill and not able to be there himself anymore. In 1957 he made his first trip to Africa with a friend. They stayed more than one year. After this he made several more trips to Africa - always for several months. There he collected different pieces of modern African art - statues and pictures. The collection grew larger and larger. In the end he decided that he had to build a house in order to exhibit the pieces of art properly.
We have seen many interesting pictures and skillful statues. It is definitely worth a visit. As we were told there is an African festival every year in August with special African music and food. So we look forward to this as well.
If you want to visit it as well just follow the signs after the first traffic cirle from Ludwigsburg to Freiberg.

Baumarkt - Germans do it yourself

10 Things you shouldn't do when you are in a "Baumarkt"



You might call them building centers or do-it-yourself stores. Living in Germany you might have noticed the numerous ads for them. They are called OBI, Hornbach, Globus, Toom or Bauhaus.
What are the exactly? You could say: hardware store meets garden department meets building material meets sanitary plumbing, pet food and accessories, lights - whatever. Everything which you can possibly install, mount, repair, build or fix yourself and all the necessary machines can be found there.
This is fantastic because you will find most of the stuff you need in one place and you don't have to browse different shops.
My advice to women: Leave your partner at home if you know what you have to buy. Otherwise you will loose precious time of your life waiting for him until he has finished admiring all the different machines like drills, saws, grinders, steam cleaners....