If you win the Take Me To Frankfurt contest, here are some suggestions for what you should do in Germany.
Fly to Frankfurt and take the InterCity express-train (ICE) to Stuttgart.
Stuttgart is famous for its car manufacturing industry, like Daimler and Porsche.
Visit the Porsche Museum, the Mercedes Benz Museum and the Art Gallery of Stuttgart.
Stuttgart lies in a valley surrounded by vineyards, where one can take a walk and visit wineries.
The Bohnenviertel (bean-district) is an insider tip. Founded in the 15th century, it used to be where the poor lived on beans. Now, the Bohnenviertel is full of artists, restaurants, coffee shops and galleries. The Hüftengold Coffeehouse has the best cake and pie in the city.
The Autobahn A81 starts in Stuttgart and leads to the Lake of Constance. Along the way, there are many stops. Here are some highlights:
Exit Nr.30 Horb Every June, the town goes back in time for one weekend. The Middle Age Festival of the Knights offers a medieval market with foods and crafts, and everyone is in costume. Knights will sword-fight on horses, and there is music and theatre.
Exit Nr: 31 Watercastle Sulz/Glatt The castle is hidden down in the valley of the village Glatt. Visitors can visit the castle, the museum, and eat Black Forest cake in the coffeehouse. It’s the best Black Forest cake in the area, with lots of kirsch; in Canada you may need a liquor license to sell it.
Exit Nr 34: Rottweil is the oldest town in southern Germany. The town was founded by the Romans in 74 AD. People can visit the ruins of the Roman swimming pool downtown.
The town is also famous for the Rottweiler dog and the old Middle Age-era buildings. The tourist information centre offers English walking tours.
Rottweil is a good place to start tours into the Black Forest. The Black Forest is famous for the cuckoo clock, Black Forest ham and the aforementioned cake, but it has more to offer.
One hour from Rottweil is an open-air museum called Vogtsbauernhöfe. It shows the history and the traditional farmhouses of the Black Forest. Life used to be hard; there were cold winters, and people farmed and were in the lumber business. Visitors to the museum learn about traditions, and traditional cloth.
It`s worthwhile to buy ham or Kirsch-Schnapps directly at a farmhouse or distillery instead in the souvenir shops.
Baden-Baden is worth a day trip. It’s the “hip town” of the Black Forest, where there are fancy casinos, designer stores, and spas. Dostoevsky used to spend some time here to gamble; he lost a lot of money.
The brewery of the Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu was founded 1877. It offers a museum, a shop, and tours in German and English.
Return to the Autobahn A81 and drive to the Lake of Constance, at end of the road. The lake offers warm weather, a view of the alps, and excellent restaurants. Switzerland is just around the corner; there are more things to see and do if one still has time.
