Furchtlos und Treu

Wow, what does that title mean? And what does it have to do with your post?

Excellent questions, hypothetical reader. And you shall receive answers, in due time. This post will be about my trip to Stuttgart. If you remembered that I've already been to Stuttgart, very good. Extra points for you...showoff.

This is Schauspielhaus, which means Playhouse. It was built by Vokart, Pläcking and Perlia between 1959 and 1962.

"Movement" by Bertoni. (You mean the frozen dinner brand that upsets all those Italian chefs in the commercials?) No, that's Bertoli. (Oh...) Shhh. I'm blogging here. (Sorry.) Don't apologize. It makes you look weak. I learned that from Gibbs.

Some statues. Chillin' by the pool.

Frederich Schiller. Not sure what he did, or why he's important. But he wears a toga.

A man-made pond of some kind, and across the pond is the Kunstgebäude, the House of Art.

This is the Opernhaus. Just guess what it means.

Give up? It means Opera House.

Here's the atrium of the opera house. It didn't look like I could go any further in without buying a ticket to an opera, so this is the only picture I got inside.

Here's a sweet-looking fountain outside the Neues Schloss, the New Palace.

And here's a close-up of the eagle on top.

Here's the New Palace. I think this is the back. Time for a history/geography lesson. Ulm (where I am) and Stuttgart are both in the Federal Land (similar to a state) called Baden-Württemberg. This region used to be a state in the Holy Roman Empire called Württemberg, and then became its own kingdom. Kings of Württemberg used to live in this palace. Now it is used by the government of Baden-Württemberg.

This sculpture marks the spot where King Wilhelm II...no, it's just a weird tree sculpture. I don't think it has any significance, besides looking cool.

Haha. Speaking of King Wilhelm II, this is his former residence. Now it's a library.

This is Landtag, the State Parliament. It looks so small.

This is one of five statues outside the House of Art. This one's Diana von Gabu.

And here's Hebe von Thorwaldsen.

And Venus von Arles.

I don't know who this one is.

Here's Venus Callipigos.

And finally, Discobolus.

Now I'm looking into Schoßplatz, the heart of the city.

Here's the other side (front?) of the New Palace. Quite impressive, eh?

A closer view. Check out all those statues.

And this is the Jubilee Column. There's a statue of the goddess Concordia on top.

Haha, one letter away from being a Mork & Mindy reference. Oh, by the way, did you notice that earlier I said there were five statues outside the House of Art, but there were actually six? If so, you get points.

Castle! (ABC show about a mystery novelist who helps the police solve crimes?) No, it's a... just... no. It's the Old Palace, and it now holds the Württemberg State Museum. Admission was free today, so I went in. I probably would have paid if I'd had to.

You went back and counted those statues, didn't you?

Some stained glass that was on display.

And some more stained glass!

Below are some of the  Crown Jewels. (The all-male a cappella group at IIT?) Not quite.

Turtle!

Weapons! And that big thing...

Das chessboard.

These were carved by Andy Dufresne. Do you get the reference? These were carved by Andy Dufresne. In Shawhank prison. How about now?

Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king.
Note: this is not the last Lord of the Rings reference I will make. I'm in a castle, after all.

More swords. And daggers too. Is that really curvy dagger practical? Maybe. Is it cool? Definitely!

These spoons are sweet. They use shells, and attach them to handles.

Speaking of shells... This is pretty cool.
That ends the Crown Jewels exhibit. Onward!

In the courtyard, there is a horse. On the horse, there is a man. In his hand, there is a sword.
This caption brought to you by Theodore Geisel.

More of the courtyard.

Woohoo! I love a good spiral staircase.

And downstairs, I found a collection of clocks. Check it out...

Did I mention I'm in a castle???

Navigation stuff.

Astronomy stuff. Or astrology. Or both?

One of the many clocks on display here.

Not sure what this is. It looks vaguely like a crossbow. There was a word on the panel behind it that I was going to translate when I got back, but it turned out to be illegible in the picture.

Time for some beautiful gold clocks.

Ostrich and Badger. Why? I don't know. Oh, I was originally going to take a picture of every clock, until I realized...

There are a lot of clocks here!

Ooh, this one looks like a monstrance.

Oh, Monstranzuhr. That means Monstrance.

I'm not exactly sure how this clock works, but I'm pretty sure the clock slowly rolling down that incline does something. Pretty creative.
And that's the end of the clock exhibit. Again, I say: Onward!

This is the what the castle looked like when it was first built. No, I'm kidding. There's a section in the museum about the history of the region, and this was in the Stone Age section.

Some Stone Age pots.

Alas, poor Yorick.

An arrow. I took the picture at such an angle to line it up with the drawing behind. And make it look like this kid is holding the arrow completely the wrong way. Haha, silly kid.

At first, I thought these were Stone Age era people, and I was surprised. But then I realized I'm a fool.

And now we move on to the Bronze Age. Yes! Now I can upgrade my Town Center! (Age of Empires reference.)

More swords!

In the Bronze Age, children were born with two Adam's apples (left), but the second one would usually disappear by age 7 (right).

Bronze Age pots.

Um... I don't know.

"Faramir, I'm going to a council in Rivendell. Which horn of Gondor should I take?"
"Well, you'll want to travel light, so take one of the smaller ones, Boromir. Wow, I said travel light! Why are you taking that huge shield?"
"I like it."
"Well, make sure you actually use it. I wouldn't want you to get stuck full of arrows."

So I left the Bronze Age and went down another spiral stairway into a mine. A mine!
Boromir: "That's no mine..."

"...it's a tomb!"

The Royal Tomb, to be exact.

Then I checked out the glass collection.

More glass.

Ooh look, it's John the Baptist: The Beer Stein!

Look at the lower right corner of the reflection. Something's missing! Somebody call Clouseau.

These elevators were not part of the original castle design.

I think there was some kind of kids' event going on. There were employees scattered around who were dressed up in costume, like this guy.

I left the castle and went to look at Stiftskirche, the Collegiate Church. Apparently it's a symbol of historical Stuttgart.

Wait a sec. Look closely at that baby near the head of the coffin.

Aaahhh!!! NO HEAD!!!

(I left the church, btw.) Not sure what this is, but it looks cool.

Ooh, pretty. I'm approaching the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Stuttgart State Gallery, one of the most important art museums in Europe.

It's a pretty cool building.

I love the juxtaposition of old and modern styles here. And yes, I took this picture specifically so I could use the word 'juxtaposition' in the caption. Juxtaposition.

I went into the museum. Admission is free on Saturdays, so that was awesome. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside, so I didn't get any pictures. So you'll have to take my word for it: it was pretty cool.

Here's a really cool fountain on Königstraße, the main street in Stuttgart.

That there was my best attempt to get a picture of the outside of this church. When I get far enough away to fit the church in the picture, there are trees in the way. Now for the interior of the church.

Wooden kneelers. Hard core!

Well, that about wraps it up. (Wait, Matt, what about the title of your post? You never explained it.) Oh yeah, here's a picture of a hat I bought in the castle for my godfather.

I guess that's the symbol of the kingdom of Württemberg. And the motto, Furchtlos und Treu, which means Fearless and Faithful.

Okay, until next time, Tchüs!