[Apr. 2025] After spending a much more fulfilling time than I expected at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, we wondered how to get back to the city.
We asked the friendly guy at the reception and found out that we could walk to the S-Bahn (suburban train) station.
Our plan for the afternoon was to go on an excursion to a town called Esslingen, so we thought we would first go back to the central station and ask for directions.
So we started walking in the direction we were told.
Unfortunately, the weather was bad that day, so we walked with our umbrellas open.
According to Google Maps, it was a 16-minute walk, but since I’m a slow walker, it took us at least 20 minutes.
And so we arrived at an unmanned station called Neckarpark.
There was a ticket machine and an electronic display board at the entrance, and when I looked up at the display board, I saw that Esslingen was listed.
This meant that we could go directly from here without going back to the central station.
This was lucky.
But we didn’t know which ticket we should buy.
There was no one there to ask.
Because Esslingen is in the suburbs, we decided to buy a one-day pass marked “Regional”.
It cost €27 for two people.
But when we got on the train, we found out it was only the third station, so we might have been able to get there with a cheaper ticket.
By the way, there are no ticket gates at Stuttgart stations, including this one.
This means that you can ride for free.
However, my husband looked it up and found out that if you are inspected and don’t have a ticket, you will be fined at least €60.
Furthermore, if you repeat the offense, you can be jailed for up to a year.
This is tough.
That’s why everyone buys tickets here.
German conductors are probably stern, so it’s probably impossible to dodge them.
This is off topic, but I want to talk about my experience in Italy.
There are a lot of immigrants on the suburban trains I use to and from Milan.
There are very few Italians (I’m an immigrant myself).
And these immigrants are mostly men and don’t have tickets.
If there’s a ticket inspection, you can pay on the spot even without a ticket, but immigrants are completely unconcerned and show their empty wallets.
Many of the conductors are women, and what can they do in front of immigrants with their strong bodies?
They just say, “Please get off at the next station.”
I see this kind of situation every day, but I hear that in some places, there are also murders by the passengers.
I feel like Italy is lax in enforcing the law.
Given the strictness of Stuttgart, I was surprised at how different the culture is, even though it’s only a one-hour flight away.
As an aside, the escalator at Marienplatz station, which we used many times, is the type that stops when there is no one there and starts moving when someone gets on.
And it’s a clever escalator that goes up or down depending on which side people get on from.
