At the Mercedes-Benz Museum, I saw a photo of a housing development that I remembered studying in Design History class: the Weissenhof Estate. I'd forgotten it was in Stuttgart! So I went online to check out the place, called to verify that they were open (since it was Monday, and also the May 1 holiday), and hurried to take the train and bus back over to the west side of town.

The Weissenhof Estate was a model development by the city of Stuttgart planned by Mies van der Rohe, and designed to experiment with new models of housing. It was an image of this townhouse complex designed by J.J.P. Oud that made me suddenly remember the slides in Design History class.

After visiting the Porsche Museum, it was time to head back to the Stuttgart Hauptbanhof to catch the S-bahn to Neckar Park - basically clear on the other side of town. I only had time at Hauptbanhof to pick up a sandwich and pastry in the station, to eat while waiting for the next train.

Unlike the Porsche Museum with its advantageous location adjacent to the station, you do have to walk about 15 minutes from the station to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. It's fairly well signposted, though.

On the other hand, like the Porsche Museum, there's a vanity roundabout sculpture next to the museum. While the Porsche Museum had Porsches mounted on top of three tall posts, the Mercedes-Benz version is a more subtle, extruded 3-pointed star.

When I was looking for a destination around Europe to spend my May 1, International Labor Day, long weekend, I decided to combine Strasbourg, with its charming village feeling, and Stuttgart, known for being the industrial home of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.

Just after waking up, I hopped on the S-Bahn from Hauptbanhof to Neuwirtshaus/Porscheplatz station. The museum is right there, adjacent to the train tracks.

I was impressed with the service as soon as I walked up to the ticket counter. The attendant proactively asked me if I had taken public transit to the museum. Indeed I had, and upon showing my transit day pass, I learned that I got half-price admission, paying €4 instead of €8! This discount wasn't published anywhere on the website, so it was a very pleasant surprise!