chillaxing in Esslingen

Esslingen's a small town on the outskirts of Stuttgart situated within the Neckar Valley and surrounded by vineyards. Thus this area is especially famous for its wines and champaigns. A charming small town which still has most of its pre-war buildings intact; not destroyed by Allied bombings like most other German cities because it was occupied by the US soldiers.

Here was where I spent a relaxing weekend two weeks ago. No hardcore travelling or sightseeing, just chilling out with the guys. Gab studies at the FHS in Esslingen and was kind enough to accomodate me and 2 other friends, Derrick and Zhifeng, from London. Yibin interns at Mahle near Esslingen and lives down the road from Gab. Met up with Xinli who interns in Stuttgart and Siwei (who seems to be everywhere in Germany). Since it was my second time in Stuttgart, it wasn't necessary visiting the tourist sites all over again. But if you love cars, the DaimlerChrysler museum is a must see. Stuttgart is home to Mercedes Benz and Porshe but I wouldn't recommend the Porshe museum to anyone. Overall, I guess it was a pretty good time to recuperate after a really draining last week at work.


A view from on top the city wall, overlooking Esslingen; cathedral and vineyard slopes


Me and Gab with yet another typical bahnhof pict.


As you approach Esslingen by train, it's difficult to miss out this really obvious phallic symbol with an appropriate name to it! According to Gab, it's one of the chimneys coming out of a pub-district called 'Dick'; something like Chijmes in Singapore.


The long climb up to the city wall.


Zhifeng, Derrick and me with the view of the Altstadt (old part of the city) in the background


3am: Gab's kitchen - After a guy's night of poker and beer, we had a girly cookover! My beer-sausage recipe got the thumbs-up from the guys.