A walk around the city of Stuttgart on a bright, chilly, sunny day. 
Yesterday was officially the start of spring and although it didn’t feel like spring (try “still winter but posing as spring”), we went out to enjoy some sunshine. It turned out most of the Stuttgarters had the same idea.
On a completely unrelated note, Old Bridge used to be one of our favorite places for gelato but after they hiked up their price (€1.80 for one scoop? Are you kidding?), we just don’t feel it’s worth it. We now prefer Kaiserbau in Marienplatz or the La Fenice Eis Cafe in the Koenigsbau Passagen.
There were so many people out. And while some were wearing really light jumpers and no socks, people like me were still in their thick winter coats and sneakers. Because hey, it may be spring, but the wind was pretty strong.
I haven’t been to the ballet for a while, and I’m planning to change that before it gets really difficult for me to enjoy. The company isn’t playing Onegin which is my favorite, but Romeo and Juliet will be perfect too. And of course any John Cranko piece will do for me. If you haven’t seen the Stuttgart Ballet perform, you’re missing out. I did an interview with one of the principal dancers Kang Hyo-jung (not related to Kang Sue-jin) a few months back for an article. Beautiful dancer with strong yet gentle heart.
Gelato from the La Fenice Eis Cafe in the Koenigsbau Passagen. It was good!
After walking around for about two hours, we needed a break, which means cake and coffee. I wanted to go to Kaiserbau but it was another 20 minute walk and so Grand Cafe Planie it was. To start with, I was never a big fan of the place for a couple of reasons: the staff are always so busy and not really friendly, the place is so packed with people you need to wait quite a bit for a seat and your order to come through and while there are a lot of different cakes to choose from, it’s tricky to find one that is really, really good. But then they have variety, so that’s fair, I guess.
On the other hand, it’s big, has a lot of seats, the outdoor seating arrangements are nice during the warm months and again, they have a big selection of cakes. However, the past Sunday was so busy, some people just left after waiting for about 30 minutes for their drinks. Maybe avoid the weekends, but then that’s when you really go out for a cake and coffee, so in the end, the fault would be on Cafe Planie. Sorry.
The cakes were ok, but not extraordinary. The cheese cake was even a bit disappointing (too light, not rich and creamy at all, did you use enough butter?) but I blame Kaiserbau for this. If you want some good, (heavy), buttery, cheesy cheese cake in Stuttgart, head to Kaiserbau.
All photos by rachelsanghee. March, 2016.