Part 1 of Our Journey in Germany — Images of Stuttgart & Tübingen
1. Mercedes Benz & Porsche — The Rich History of Cars in Stuttgart
This first image here is uof the Mercedes Benz T80 that has been planned \ to break the world record of the fastest land speed ever recorded by a vehicle. However, due to WW2, even though the model had been planned out as you can see here with the prototype, the project was never finished and instead now lays in this museum today. The T80 was designed by Ferdinand Porsche(!!) and was planned to have 3,000 horsepower, 6 wheels, and a top speed of around 450mph. The engine was designed as a derivative of the DB-601 aircraft engine, and of course was going to be very powerful in order to try and break this record. It is very interesting to consider that there are projects like this that aim to accomplish great feats, but are only not done because outside and external factors can get in the way. It is absolutely crazy to think about the power that this car was planned to have, not only in today’s terms, but even crazier to believe that this was something planned to be done in the late-1930s. It boggles my mind how this could even be done at the time, but it shows just how special Ferdinand Porsche was in the designs that he worked with and the things he was able to accomplish in his journey as an automaker.
The second image here is of the Porsche Typ 64, which is considered to be the first automobile from the Porsche company. The interesting part about this one here is that just like the first image, it is only a prototype and not a finished model. Porsche does not have a working Typ 64 in their collection which they mentioned during the tour, and they believed that since they had a prototype that was all they needed. Ferdinand Porsche made some absolutely outstanding designs, and just like the one above they of course look almost identical in materials as they were created during the same time period. Porsche believed they should not pay the cost to get a Typ 64 as they are very hard to find and with the prototype it fulfills the hole in their collection that they need to be able to tell the history of this car. After taking the picture of the first prototype of the T80 at Mercedes Benz, I knew I had to take a picture of this one as well to show off the outstanding design work that has been done not only during this time period but over decades and decades by these two companies, and especially Ferdinand Porsche.
2. Stuttgart 21 — The Unfinished Mega-Project
The first image here is of the outside of what will become the passenger central of the Stuttgart 21 station. It is ironic to see the amount of work completed of what is supposed to be a station opening up in 2025, which myself and others find very hard to believe after seeing what we saw during the tour. Not only are there still countless worksites setup aboveground here, the pillars are not done, none of the landscaping or groundwork is done, and there is still another whole building that needs to be put on top of the passenger central as the welcoming building before entering the terminal which greets you at the tracks. By first doing the drone tour inside and then going outside to look at what the real construction site looked like, it truly amazed me to see how stark the differences truly were, and how much more needed to be done. Especially with the inside and outside of the project being as incomplete as it is, it is truly unique to see how open the Stuttgart government has been with allowing people to see exactly what is going on and to get honest opinions (even from the tour guide!) on the state of the project. The tour guide had no issue letting us know she thought it was more like 2027 when it would open, and did not try to hide it at all.
The second image here shows the area underneath the first area, also very incomplete in its current state. Some of the concrete pillars have been filled, but the glass area above the ‘sunlights’ have not been completed whatsoever, and look very incomplete in its state. The amount of in-process work going on even after almost 10 years of building is mind-boggling! The image like the first one is also visually appealing, and it is unique to see a mega-project like this, with an over $11B cost, still in process. It was eye-opening to learn about the whole construction process through our incredible tour guide, guiding us through all of the different engineering problems that had to be figured out to make this project come to light. New engineering methods had to be used to create the concrete pillars in that shape, pipes and tubing all throughout the tunnels to pump water out as the ground fills with water and to prevent flooding, multiple pre-stressed bridges throughout to hold the passenger terminal and the tracks, along with many other problems that have been engineered to make this project work. All around, this project is very unique and very impressive when you think and hear about what has been done to make it happen, but it won’t really reach that point until it is opened, as of right now, it is just a project with ever-rising costs that does not look very close to being polished off.
3. Tübingen — The City with Two Sides
The first image here is of the trailer park area of Tübingen, which is very different than the rest of the city, and very interesting overall. It is unique how accepting the city is to people living in trailers, making them a part of their communities as well, and actually encouraging and accepting them into their communities by giving them their own space to live. Our tour guide explained to us how it used to be illegal to live in trailers, but Tübingen eventually decided it was better to try and integrate them with society and give them their own areas to park their trailers, and to ultimately have them be a part of the community as well. Some people do not just do it because they are poor, but because they actually enjoy this way of life, and was very interesting to see the two ways of life both with what we see as a way of life with a normal house, etc., contrasted to the trailer park way of living in such close proximity to each other. I also thought about the concept of the two sides of the city, with the French quarter, trailer park area, and this neighborhood being very different from the picturesque hillside and stores of the university area part of the city. To me, it puts the city into almost two different sides or perspectives from what we saw yesterday, and this was very unique to me. This concept is very cool when contrasting the types of people across a city and how different they can be, but how similar they can also be when living in the same general areas with the same communities all amongst one another.
The second image for Tübingen is the “Lillifee statt AfD” graffiti that was in an area that was actually dedicated to making graffiti legal, to give artists an area to come and express themselves. This was another interesting concept that is unique to Tübingen and shows the types of artist individuals that live in and around the area. There are many that are eager to express their artist perspectives, political views, and to get messages across to the world and their communities, but have to resort to doing it illegally most of the time to get this done. It is a very unique change that has been made by the city here to allow this to be done, and is something that I am a fan of. Ultimately the city is a very artsy, unique, and cool place, and these images are just a part of it.
