A visit from a college friend

The other day I had the opportunity to visit with one of my room mates from my time at BYU 17 years ago.  It seems amazing to me that I haven't seen this lady for 17 years.  Except for a few crinkles and maybe some gray hair, it was like there no time had passed.  We met at the Stuttgart main train station (the Hauptbahnhof) and walked around the Konigstrasse (Kings street) and the Schloss Platz (Palace Place) before getting on a short train ride to the Porsche Museum.  I had never been there before and so it was exciting for the both of us.  We were given headsets and a recorded guided tour in English that was manually operated by entering corresponding exhibit numbers. 

I learned, although perhaps I knew and then forgot, that Volkswagon was created by Porsche as a more affordable version for the people.  The Porsche factory/headquarters is in Stuttgart and that is why there is a horse as it's mascot.  Stuttgart, means "Stud garden" in German and was originally a market place for horses.  

Among the fun things I learned was that Porsche manufactured 120,000 tractors and you are not a true Porsche collector unless you have one.  One of the Porsches could theoretically drive on the ceiling because of how it was designed.  Another Porsche resemble a "fat pig" so they painted it pink and painted the parts of a pig on it.  It was fun to see Sally Porsche from the movie "Cars" complete with her pin striping tattoo.

At the very end of the tour, I got to sit in a nice cherry red Porsche.  Arnie thinks that one day he will get a Porsche.  Until then, I'll always have my picture :)

Rachel and I said farewell at the train station near a nice display of giant Rittersport chocolate (fake, of course).  Just like that chocolate, her visit was very sweet and I hope to see her again soon.