The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
February 15 - Stuttgart
All good things must end, so we bid farewell to Rothenburg and took the back roads to Stuttgart, about an hour and a half drive. Stuttgart is the largest city in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg and quite a culture shock after the time warp of Rothenburg. The hotel is right across the street from the main train station and pretty much in the center of the downtown action.
The main project today is to appear at a press conference in connection with Intergastra, the hospitality industry trade fair that I speak at tomorrow. Finding the show was a bit of an adventure. The hotel sent us to the wrong place initially, but after a few frantic inquiries and another cab ride, we made it to the press conference in time.
My program was sponsored by Coca-Cola, distributed in this part of Germany through a company called Gefako. I am also here under the aupices of Fizzz, a hospitality industry trade magazine. The press conference was an opportunity for these two entities to explain what they were up to at the show and to introduce me to the press. Despite what I am told was some haphazard work by my interpreter (she got most of the words but totally missed the meaning of what I was saying) we got through the event.
After attending an award ceremony for the annual restaurant innovation awards sponsored by Gefako and Fizz, we headed off to dinner with Florian Beckmann, a colleague who is translating some of my books into German. Since the first prize winner for innovation was located in Stuttgart, we figured that was the place we should be for dinner. It was quite an adventure.
Click here for a look at the day's activities
Click here for the restaurant news of the day
© 2004 Restaurant Doctor