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Büdingen is home to one of the best preserved medieval cities in Germany. In the old city the wall is completely intact, and the baronial family still lives in the small castle inside the old city walls. The former moat is drained, however, and is a grassy field in the summer.

Vaihingen is a nice quiet suburb of Stuttgart, with part of the university and one of the American military bases (Patch Barracks) on its outskirts. The weekly market in the courthouse square is small but packed, and makes for more pleasant shopping than the Kaufland grocery store across the street in the Schwabengalerie, a multi-story mall.

The landscape surrounding Vaihingen is, as you can see in the photo above, a beautiful asset to the area, with lots of walking paths that can take you out into the country or into the city itself. (Warning: walking from the Vaihingen campus to Stuttgart Mitte takes 1-1/2 hours or better. Be forewarned.) :)

My first few days in Stuttgart were during the last week of Weindorf. It’s basically an excuse to eat good German festival food and drink the local wines — Stuttgart is surrounded by vinyards. It’s much less touristy than the fests at Bad Canstatt, and takes place annually from mid-August to early September.

A miniature village of food and wine vendors is built in and around the Schillerplatz in the heart of the city, a mere minutes’ walk from the main train and subway station. The buildings are a bit rustic looking (moreso than the Weihnachtsmarkt) but comfortable and warm, protecting against the fall chill that creeps into the air in the evenings during this time of year.

The food is delicious, as are the wines, and the atmosphere is a lively one. It takes a while in the evenings before the drinking songs start (more slowly than at beer-centric fests), but sitting in a quiet corner listening to the locals chatter on in their Swabian dialect is an experience I want to have again and again.