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Stuttgart Night Pass
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40th Cray User Group ConferenceCalculating EnginesJune 15 - 19, 1998
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1 OverviewA varied and exceptional cultural program is a matter of course in an industrial city of international reputation offering a high quality of life. Stuttgart, in fact, has even more to offer. We have tried to compose some "input" for you on how to plan for your precious evenings within our city. You will find guidelines on how to select restaurants, bars, cafes, and bistros. There is a plethora of suggestions on how to enjoy the culture of Stuttgart by either visiting art galleries, museums, theaters, the opera house, musicals, and the very many live performances that are just there.
You will certainly enjoy our regional cuisine, in addition to that inspired by our French neighbors and by the vast Italian minority in our city. You will find our famous wines to be a pleasure, let alone the best ones coming from the most renown French wine areas, as well as the Italian Piemont and the Toscany. The following list — in alphabetical order — is for the insatiable of you. Please also note that there are quite a few more places in section 3 of this Night Pass where you might have a fancy dinner.
If you happen not to be insatiable, just sort of want to make up your mind for what could be best, we recommend a visit of the Markthalle at Dorotheenstraße 4. You can immerse yourself in the world of exotic odors. International specialties, spices, fruit, fish, meat and flowers are offered here. Just walk through the market stands and get tuned in, and then look for a seat in the restaurant on the second floor. Need a present ? We recommend to leave the restaurant inside towards Merz & Benzing. This will open up your eyes, definitely. Take your chance to step out onto the balcony and enjoy the fantastic view of the Old Castle. There are more stores (nearly as beautiful) around the market place, Karls-Passage, Schwaben-Zentrum, Eberhardstraße, Kˆnigstraße and the Calwer Passage, of course. The Magazin on Lautenschlagerstraße 16 — that’s quite a challenge; if you have time, get there!! The list we have presented is by no means exhaustive. There are many, many more good restaurants in Stuttgart. If you missed the steak houses e.g., you will find several ones on Kronprinzstraße.
The Stuttgart Nightlife is confined to a relatively small area. With most places being right within the center of town, you might decide to leave your car in a garage — and walk through the night or take a few hops on the U- and S-Bahn. If you drive, please be aware of the following: German beers are stronger than English or American brands. The wines are at least as strong and tasty. The nights tend to be much longer. The permissible blood alcohol level for drivers has been lowered to 0.5 o/oo. As a Californian citizen you do not need to smoke inside your car. Many of the locations mentioned here will allow you to have a cigar(ette) inside and/or outside. Even though "Stoccarda" is considered to be the most Northern Italian city (the InterCity trains to Italy leave every hour from the main station), you are still in Germany. The genuine Stuttgarters are very friendly and enjoy people coming from foreign countries. In case you feel weak about your German (what most visitors do in Stuttgart, including myself, because they cannot master the very distinct, noble local dialect) you may use the conference languange throughout the town.
A most recent center is the area around the Hans-im-Glück Brunnen between Eberhardstraße and Rathaus. There are rather diverse gastronomical offerings available here. It may be hard to get a table or even a seat during warm summer nights.
Just around the corner the Rathaus quarter continues into the Swabian Center which offers an attractive selection of merchandise and will add some highlights to your list of live music performance.
The Calwer Straße does provide you with a very elegant and historic environment. In Calwer Passage, one of the most enchanting of its kind in Germany, the weather doesn’t matter. It is built similarly to the iron structures of the 19th century and is the site of exclusive retail shops. You may want to just take a stroll through the arcades or sit down in one of the many bistros or outside restaurants. You will find everything from exquisite Italian cuisine, regional and Bavarian style restaurants, micro breweries, ... down to international fast food.
There are yet a few more interesting locations in close vicinity to the Calwer Straße:
Stuttgart’s most modern square, surrounded by elegant banks and traditional buildings extends itself along both sides of the Friedrichstraße. The Friedrichsbau Cabaret is here; the House of Commerce and the birthplace of the University of Stuttgart are close by. Please don’t forget to have a look at the world’s first television broadcasting tower from here.
Not quite in walking distance but still within reach of U- and S-Bahn or bus, there are a few locations which attract a large audience over time mostly due to live music performances or interesting cultural presentations.
If you did open up your eyes, well, do you know what we mean? Your conference hotel is a rather wealthy "biosphere" of its own. Now that we have sent everybody out to town, you might actually want to recreate yourself at the hotel’s piano bar, one of the finest ones Stuttgart has to offer. We’re going to order GIN AND TONIC. What kind of beverage is this? Don’t look at us, ask the barista! "The source of gin and tonic is the British Army. Time: the 1800’s. The Far East. Impetus: malaria. In an age where the only remedy was quinine, gin helped the bitter medicine go down. In time, quinine was given with carbonated water, citric fruit and sugar. By the 1920’s quinine was out, gin was in, and gin and tonic became one of the world’s most popular cocktails." What other drinks do they have? Looking at the amount of bottles, there must be thousands. No matter how good you are, all that you cannot afford! Just relax and wait for the town coming to YOUR place.
A varied and exceptional cultural program is a matter of course in an industrial city of international reputation offering a high quality of life. Stuttgart, in fact, has even more to offer: A famous ballet company and a wide variety of museums, theaters, cabarets and concert halls. In the South of Stuttgart yet another attraction: a large hotel complex integrating musical halls, high-quality movie theaters, fancy restaurants and cafes, and the Stuttgart Casino — alltogether constituting a piece of the Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Stuttgart State Theater, being the home of ballet, opera and drama in Stuttgart and one of the largest of its kind in Germany, is ranked highly among its European counterparts. The "Grosses Haus" is the venue for many well-known operas and is particularly popular among ballet fans. Stuttgarters love their ballet company, which enjoyed much international acclaim under the directorship of the late John Cranko. During the second week of June, while you are at the Stuttgart CUG, you will have a chance to attend the following performances: 14. 6.: König Roger. Opera in three acts by Karol Szymanowski 15. 6.: Falstaff. Opera in tre atti by Guiseppe Verdi (in Italian) 16. 6.: Alcina. Dramma per musica in tre atti by Georg Friedrich Händel (in Italian) 17. 6.: Stuttgart Ballet: Schwanensee. Music by Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowski 18. 6.: Stuttgart Ballet: Schwanensee. Hommage a John Cranko 19. 6.: Hänsel und Gretel. Fairy-tale opera in three acts by Engelbert Humperdinck Ticket sales right within the "Grosses Haus", Tel. (0711) 20 20 90.
If you happen to know some German, the Stuttgart theaters will have something to offer for everyone. The "Kleines Haus" is predominantly the setting for stage plays. The Chamber Theater or "Kammertheater" and the "Theater im Depot" are the center of a lively private theater scene offering performances of all kind. In addition to these, there is the "Altes Schauspielhaus", "Kommödie im Marquardt", "Theater der Altstadt", tri-bühne", "Renitenz-Theater", as well as numerous companies performing plays in the local dialect, puppet theaters, anthroposophic and mime companies — the list ist endless.
The music culture in the Baden-Württemberg capital is shaped by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk, the State Orchestra of the Stuttgart State Theater, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the internationally renowned Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Thanks to its Summer Academy and International Music Festival, the International Bach Academy enjoys an excellent reputation throughout the world. With more than 200 choirs, including the famous Helmuth Rilling’s Gächinger Kantorei, the Südfunk choir, the Stuttgart Chamber Choir and the nationally acclaimed Hymnus boys’ choir, Stuttgart is well deserving of its name as the choir capital of Germany. Modern music is also well represented in Stuttgart with events such as the Jazz festival or the major rock and pop concerts in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle as well as the annual "New Music" festival.
What about museums in Stuttgart? First and foremost is the State Gallery. Major exhibitions and extensive collections, such as 19th and 20th century European painting, have earned it an excellent reputation worldwide. The Stuttgart City Gallery, housed in the Kunstgebäude at the Schlossplatz, has achieved extensive recognition through its spectacular exhibitions such as the "Otto-Dix Retrospective" collection in 1991. Other significant addresses in the Stuttgart museum world include the Württemberg State Museum in the "Altes Schloss" (Old Castle), the State Natural History Museum, the Linden Museum (ethnology) and the "Museum am Löwentor" with its celebrated prehistoric findings from Southwest Germany.
Stuttgart also has quite something to offer in the line of entertainment including the "Musical Hall", the "Variété" in the Friedrichsbau and the Planetarium. The SI Center at the Landhauskreuzung in Möhringen does provide a lot of entertainment, like the 1800-seat musical theaters "Miss Saigon" and "Die Schöne und das Biest". You may get detailed information by calling the info-line at Plieninger Straße 100, Tel. (0)711-724019. The greatest experience at the SI Center, however, will be the Stuttgart Casino. Now, come on: looking at the most treacherous field of high performance computing you’re dealing with, there must be at least some gamblers amongst you CUG guys. Casinos here are so different. I like class not glitz. ( I am NOT a gambling person). For what it is worth here is my input — this must be positive; how can we do this ! "An evening in the Stuttgart Casino" would be an elegant evening filled with laughter, and excitement. Join the elegantly clad locals around the Baccara table or is Roulette your game? These are only two of the many tables that are awaiting you. Or try your hand out on a variety of slot machines. In any case whatever your pleasure it is sure to be a night to remember and an evening of entertainment and enjoyment; here at the Stuttgart Casino. " LET THE GAMES BEGIN ". Disclaimer
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