Shopping and Dining in Stuttgart

Lori long since decided that she needed a Dirndle (the traditional Bavarian dress worn by women at beer fests), so we made an evening of it and went shopping in downtown Stuttgart.  We were really amazed about how alive and active the city was.  There were thousands of people shopping, eating ice cream, carrying around their various beers, and just wandering around.  They had even set up a temporary skateboard ramp:

                                                                   

We stopped to have dinner at an incredibly busy restaurant with 80% of their seating outside.  Our German is still terrible, so we essentially did an "eenie meenie miney mo" and pointed at something.  I ended up with some tasty maultaschen (essentially German style ravioli), while Lori had a nice pork loin steak.  It worked out :-)

Apparently, there's some type of festival, concert, or show going on downtown.  Tonight, it was an animated film festival.  They set up a huge screen in the centralized park and people sat on benches, blankets, and the grass watching with beers in hand.

As for the dirndle?  She found one!  More pictures to come...