This gave us a lot of opportunities to find out what was wrong with our robots before the real competition began. We found out that are mechanical and electrical systems were quite robust, while our software system was the weakest link of the three.

In the downtime, we were taken on a tour of the nearby Eichbaum Brewery. The tour was quite difficult to follow because it was pretty much all in German. Even though I had learned some German, it was still quite difficult for me to follow.

I had been to Mannheim before and both times I went to Mannheim before this time, I had a very negative experience. The first time, I got food poisoning (I still remember which restaurant it was), and the second time, my friends and I waited at the Mannheim train station for 4 hours for a train to Berlin with a scheduled departure time of 12am.

Having had lived in Germany before meant I recognized a lot of brands like food chains, department stores, cell phone companies, etc. Because of that, my teammates often asked me different things about Germany such as how German phone plans worked and how to sign up for a plan. I explained it to them and even asked the cashier at the supermarket who didn’t speak English about phone plans.

On another day, we were also taken on a tour to the nearby city of Heidelberg. I had also been here before and vaguely knew my way around. We hiked up to the castle again, but we were there in the evening so the inside of the castle was closed by the time we arrived, so we just went as high as we could.

After spending a few days in Mannheim, all three of the teams organized transportation together to Eindhoven, where the real competition would begin. The workshop allowed us to see what our robots were capable of and what we could improve on early, so that we would be better prepared for the real thing.

Link to photo album here

Here, I visited the places that I used to frequent and I still have very fond memories here. It’s like going home again after a long time, but the difference here is that this was never my real home, but a temporary one. It’s really hard to explain. I definitely still have an emotional attachment here.

Of course, I went back to probably Stuttgart’s most recognizable landmark: Schlossplatz. I spent a lot of time here just chilling with my intern friends after work.

As I walked around the city, all the streets looked pretty much the same as I remembered. There wasn’t anything super different. I guess that was to be expected.

I remembered that we always bought donairs from the same shop and so when I went back, I did the same. It tasted just like I remembered.

I also went to Schlosspark to see if the people camping there were still there. When I was in Stuttgart in 2011, there was a huge group of people camping there in protest against clearing the trees in the area for a railway station construction project (Stuttgart 21). But I guess these people were kicked out – and the trees are gone too.

Before, everyone had their tents set up here. They even strapped teddy bears around trees to prevent people from cutting them down. This was probably the biggest change that I saw in the city.

Later that day, I had dinner with one of my intern friends that I met while at Bosch, and we ate at our group of friends’ favourite place: Sophie’s Brauhaus. The most unique thing about this restaurant that is really different from what people do in North America is that this restaurant brews their own beer. They have the best Hefeweizen I’ve ever had and of course, that’s what I ordered.

For dinner, I had Spätzle with Lentils, something I ate all the time when I was living here. The Bosch cafeteria often had this for lunch. My friend had Maultaschen, which can be thought of as a giant dumpling, but German style or very large ravioli. All of this was quite nostalgic for me.

After dinner, we walked around the city some more to see what had changed until my train arrived. After waiting for a train that was delayed for about an hour, I managed to finally make my way to Mannheim, just in time to meet my friends for the RoboCup Workshop we would have with the other two German teams in the international RoboCup competition.

Link to photo album here

After learning from a colleague that a factory outlet existed in Metzingen, I organized a trip there with a few of my friends from Bosch. I was told that this place would have lots of brand name items at really reduced prices. I guess that is similar to the factory outlets in the United States. But even at the reduced prices, the items are still quite pricey. I suppose that this is good for people who really want their brand name clothes. Unfortunately, I only bought a t-shirt since I couldn’t find anything else I liked here. But a friend of mine did manage to buy a pair of shoes for 35 euro when its original price was 180 euro.

Not satisfied with my shopping experience in Metzingen, I decided to continue shopping in Stuttgart. The people that I were with were pretty much done shopping for the day, so I went on my own. Going places alone just gives me so much freedom. It feels quite nice. Being tired already from walking so much in Metzingen, I finished shopping in Stuttgart an hour and a half later. On my way home, I found something that I had been searching for for the past little while.

I found a place that serves Chinese Dim Sum and Hot Pot. This is like a taste of home. Looks like I’m going to have to go here soon, even if it is quite expensive for a restaurant (14 euro). Judging from the restaurant’s banner, it doesn’t look like westernized Chinese food either! Fantastic surprise for me.

In addition to the Königsbau, and the Neue Schloss that I visited and wrote about in Part I, I also visited the a church known as the Stiftskirche.  The history of this church extends to well over 1000 years, starting from its roots in the 10th and 11th century.  However, much of the church’s original features were lost due to the church’s near destruction from Allied bombing raids near the end of World War II.

The church’s clock tower and entrance

Looking up the clock tower

The rear of the church

Since the restoration of the church in the 50’s, it’s interior features historical as well as modern elements.

Interior of the church

Statues of the Counts of Württemberg

Before entering the main atrium of the church, there was a display that told the story of the history of this church.  Unfortunately, it was all in German, so I could not understand.

Before actually doing any sightseeing, our landlady had discovered a mistake to our residence permit that we completed the day before at the Rathaus (town hall) in Gerlingen, so our trip to go back there to get it fixed. The next thing we had to do was apply for something called an “Aufenthaltstitel” at the Landratsamt (literally translates to District Office) in Ludwigsburg. Trying to get to where we wanted would be impossible if we didn’t have a map to guide us. On the way there we came across some interesting sights.

A Church in Ludwigsburg

Looks like Government Offices of Some Sort

Inside the Landratsamt, we knew exactly which room we needed to go and who we needed to see. When we got there, we ran into a slight problem: the person we needed to see didn’t speak English. Neither of us spoke German. We ended up using a pay phone to call our supervisor to see what we could do. Luckily, he managed to help us complete our paperwork there by talking to the people at the office over the phone.

While they were looking at our passports, my supervisor and the person working at the office had a long conversation about the visa that we acquired in Canada. Although, I can’t speak German, I was able to catch some words in their conversation and looked it up in the German translator on my phone. I caught two words. One word meant “peculiar” and the other word meant “circumstance”. Juxtaposing these words did not make our situation look good. If we failed to complete the paperwork at the Landratsamt, we could not legally start our internship until we get the proper papers. Luckily, everything went well. That was a relief.

Since it was only noon when we finished in Ludwigsburg, we decided to go to the city center of Stuttgart. Unfortunately, our lack of familiarity with the city’s metro led to us taking the wrong train. It took us further away from our destination. After looking a bunch of transit maps, we took the correct train to Stuttgart after a 25 minute wait.

Typical Train Station in the Stuttgart Region

Upon arriving at the city center, we were greeted by sights of very distinct architecture. Many of these buildings had been around for hundreds of years.

The Outside of the Train Station

The Königsbau, Now a Mall, Was the Former Home to the Stuttgart Stock Exchange

das Neue Schloss (The New Castle), Home to Many Kings of Württemberg

The castle here is slightly different than before since Allied bombing during World War II destroyed just about the entire castle.

We pretty much wandered around town to see as many of the cool attractions as we could. Part II to come soon!