LibraryPages: A Mini-Tour of the Public Library in Stuttgart, Germany

Months and months before our Europe trip, and well before we started to plan out an actual itinerary or even purchased flights, @welovebookworms posted a picture on Instagram of the inside of the library in Stuttgart, Germany. I was completely mesmerized and immediately looked at a map to see how close Stuttgart was to Frankfurt (two hours south, so not next door, but also not outside the realm of possibility). I took a screen shot of the picture and mentally filed it away on my bucket list.

It wasn't until we were actually in Frankfurt that we sat down with Rachel and Micah and made a plan for our five days of touring in Germany. Mike, being the nerd that he is, took all suggestions and put them in a spreadsheet. Then we each got a chance to secretly rank each item: three meant it was a top priority for us, two meant we didn't have a strong preference, and one meant we absolutely, positively did not want to go there. After we had all had taken a turn voting, Mike did some fancy calculation that gave each destination its own score and ranked them. (Trust me, after eleven years of marriage, I'm used to such nerdiness now.)

The Stuttgart library wasn't ranked the highest, but no one actually gave it a one, so it was sitting squarely in the middle of the pack. We took the highest ranked items first (the Rhine River boat tour and the medieval castle, Burg Eltz) and put them into the schedule, and then slowly filled in the schedule with the lower-ranked items. Everyone knew that the Stuttgart library was the one thing I really wanted to see and so they were generous enough to give it a spot on the agenda. (Of course, since we were traveling two hours one way, we wanted something else to do besides just see the library. The Mercedes-Benz museum also happens to be in Stuttgart, and so that satisfied the boys' interests.)

On the drive to Stuttgart, I was actually really nervous because I felt personally responsible to insure that this library really was awesome. What if we went and the general public wasn't allowed in? Or what if the photo was deceiving and it didn't really look like that? (Of course, we had looked it up ahead of time and it seemed like it was open to the public, and it had won an award for best library, which seemed like a good sign.)

But then, we walked into the library, and this is what it looked like. Not exactly my visions of open grandeur.

 
Trying to stay optimistic, we walked through various sections around the perimeter of the library, looking for some secret passage or something that would lead us to the view we were envisioning. Finally Mike said, "It kind of looks like they closed everything in. Maybe it was a safety concern or something." I had to admit he might be right. We could go into the middle of the building, which was an open, cavernous space, and look up several floors, and there wasn't even a hint of the bright, light, open space I'd seen in the picture. And no sign either, saying, "This way to the cool part of the library."

Before giving up completely though, we decided to ride the elevator all the way to the top, just to see. The doors opened, and we saw this:

Cue the angels. It was like walking into a fairyland. It was such a stark contrast to the drab space below, and even though it was exactly like what I had seen in the photo, it was such a delightful surprise because I'd started resigning myself to its nonexistence. Walking out of that elevator was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip.

  

There it was: four floors of stairways, railings, sunlight, seating, and shelf upon glorious shelf of books (in a language I couldn't read, but that's beside the point).

The doors on the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors led to additional sections of the library (like the children's section!) and from there you could go outside onto a balcony that encircled each floor of the building. On the eighth floor, there was a darling café, and you could also gain access to the outdoor walkway and the stairs leading up to the roof of the building.

 (lest you be confused, Rachel and Micah's baby, not mine)

 (view from the roof)

After I'd had my fill of the open space (and everyone was very patient with me and let me take my time), I explored the children's section and had fun finding many familiar titles in a not so familiar language--even Calvin and Hobbes, which we had to take a picture of since we knew Aaron and Maxwell would appreciate it.

 Walking around the Stuttgart Library was a highlight of our trip for me. It was so different from anything else we did, and I'm glad we took a chance and went.

Which amazing libraries or bookstores have YOU been to? Tell me, so I can add them to my future travel bucket list!

Europe Top Ten, Part Two

We spent the second part of our trip in Frankfurt, Germany (and surrounding areas). Mike's parents are currently living there on a church assignment, and so we were able to stay with them, which was absolutely wonderful. It was just so nice to be able to sleep in the same bed for more than one night in a row, relax in the backyard, and eat food that we (or I should probably say, they) cooked ourselves. It was perfect having the week in Germany sandwiched between our other travels. It let us recuperate after France and the Netherlands and gear up for Norway. As an added bonus, we were joined for this phase of the trip by Mike's cousin and her husband and baby, so we even had traveling buddies to go on adventures with. Here are ten of the things we enjoyed the most:

1. Rhine River Cruise

This 90-minute tour took us down a picturesque strip of the Rhine where the vineyards crawled up the hills on both sides, the little villages on the shore beckoned to us, and we were never out of sight of a castle. The weather was lovely and didn't get too hot until the very end. We went with Rachel, Micah, and Benji, and we kept saying to each other, "Isn't this amazing?! Here we are, just hanging out on the Rhine River together!" Definitely something we'll always remember.

2. Burg Eltz

Although we saw dozens of castles from the road (and river), we ended up touring just one, and it was a good one. Burg Eltz dates back to the 12th century and felt totally legit with cannonballs in the courtyard, towers and buttresses, and hanging baskets in the kitchen (the only place inaccessible by rats). Plus, we had the most awesome tour guide who sounded like he was straight out of Dungeons and Dragons.

3. Rothenburg (i.e., the Christmas village)

Rothenburg is this classic German village with darling half timbered houses, overflowing flower boxes, and an iconic wall that encloses the village. It was just my mother-in-law, Mike, and me for this particular adventure, and after driving for two hours, we arrived in Rothenburg, but it wasn't at all what we expected. In fact, it didn't look the least bit touristy (we couldn't even find a village square), and my mother-in-law, who had been there before, didn't see anything that looked familiar. Turns out, we'd gone to the wrong Rothenburg. The one we wanted was actually Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Not easily deterred, we drove three more hours to the real Rothenburg, and the fact that I'm including it on the list of favorites shows that it was worth all those hours in the car (although I think Mike's mom, who had white knuckles from Mike's driving on the autobahn, would disagree).

4. The best ice cream I've ever eaten in my life

While in (the real) Rothenburg, we got ice cream (not an unusual occurrence--I made it my business to try out the ice cream pretty much everywhere). Because of the high quantity of ice cream we ate on this trip, I'm sure you will realize the magnitude of claiming this as the best ice cream of my life, but it was. I was expecting it to be soft serve, but it wasn't just soft, and it wasn't just creamy. The only word I can think to describe it with is silky. We had something that came close in Norway, but it was vanilla, and the Rothenburg cone was lemon, so it got the edge. (If you're ever in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, check it out--that's a photo of it up there.)

5. Feeling at home in Frankfurt

One of the great things about this trip was just spending time with Mike's parents: shopping at the nearby grocery store, going on their favorite walks (my mother-in-law: the cemetery; my father-in-law: the park overlooking Frankfurt (pictured above)), meeting their friends, playing games at their house, and chatting over a homemade dinner. Now when they write about the things they're doing, we can picture it because we've been there. I was sad to leave.

6. Frankfurt market

It had the same charm as Pike's Place in Seattle but was smaller and cleaner and didn't have any fish throwing going on (which makes it sound nothing like Pike's Place, but Mike and I both agreed it reminded us of it). We wish we'd made the time to go back later in the week and do more exploring (and more buying).

7. Window boxes

Every house, every hotel, every little shop in big cities and small villages has window boxes, literally overflowing with gorgeous flowers. You would have thought I'd have gotten used to it by the end of our trip, but I still found myself snapping all the pictures all the time because they just made me so happy. I'm ready to hop on the window box train . . . anyone else with me?

8. Stuttgart Library

I really only had one thing on my Germany bucket list: visit the Stuttgart Library. I'll probably save most of the details (and pictures) for its own post (because where else can you devote an entire post to a library than on a book blog?), but just know this: It was incredible.

9. Cute alleyways

I'm sure dark, scary alleyways do exist in Germany (but that's not the kind of thing I generally seek out when I'm traveling), but every one that I saw looked like this: clean and bright with a cobblestone path and adorable doors and (of course) more window boxes.

10. Spending time with Rachel and Micah (and little Benji)

During our first year of marriage, Mike and I were fortunate enough to be in the same ward as Mike's cousin, Rachel, and her husband, Micah. During that time, they became some of our dearest friends. And the great thing about being related to your friends is it's easier to stay in close contact even when you live thousands of miles away from each other. Earlier this year, Rachel called us and asked, "Hey, do you guys want to go on a trip together this summer?" And we said, "Well, we're going to Germany, but if you want to come with us, we would love it." And what do you know? They did! It was so much fun talking to each other for hours, playing games in the evenings, and going on adventures together (and their one-year-old baby was a total traveling champ). I'm so glad our memories from Germany will always have Rachel and Micah in them.

Stay tuned because our top ten from Norway is still to come!