Welcome to the second day of my #2025europeantour.  The day prior I had arrived in Munich, and like the BMW enthusiast and owner for 20 years that I am, I went straight to the BMW Welt and Museum for a return visit.  But long before I was a BMW fan, I loved Porsche.  My first German car was a white 1987 944 that I owned in college.  The last time I was in Germany 12 years ago was when I first visited the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.  It remains my favorite car museum in the world.  So the second day of  this trip to Europe, I headed to the Munich train station to catch a train to Stuttgart so I could make a return visit to this fantastic destination for Porsche fans.

 

I booked early enough that the price to reserve a seat in first class on this train was pretty reasonable so I decided to splurge:

There was absolutely no one else in the first class car with me – perhaps because this was on a Sunday.  But it provided me a great opportunity to spend the next two hours of the trip from Munich to Stuttgart editing photos from the day before.

Upon arrival to Stuttgart. I took a taxi to my hotel – the Moxy:

This would be my first time experiencing the Moxy hotel chain owned by Marriott.  It is one of the more economical chains in the Marriott portfolio and given that I would only be in Stuttgart for a day to visit the museum, I wasn’t looking for anything fancy –  just something strategically located between the museum and the train station.  The room was small even by European standards, but it did offer a nice view:

After getting situated in the room I grabbed another taxi and headed to the Porsche Museum:

It’s directly across the street from one of Porsche’s main factories in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and a final assembly points for the 911 as well as the 718 Cayman/Boxster, and electric Taycan.  Their main R&D facility as well as their corporate headquarters is also located in this complex.  A dramatic Porsche sculpture sits in front of the complex that’s called “Inspiration 911” – a new addition since my previous visit:

The sculpture wasn’t there during my last visit 12 years ago and neither was the Porsche dealership I visited which was directly adjacent to the portion museum.

As a long time, BMW enthusiast and owner, it’s painful to admit, but the Porsche Museum building is much nicer than its BMW counterpart in Munich and makes for a much more pleasant experience.  This is particularly true if you’re a photographer like myself because the Porsche Museum interior is extremely well lit and the vehicles are well spaced – I never had to wait more than a couple of minutes to get a clean shot of a car without too many people in the frame.  In museums like the BMW and Porsche museums, large backpacks can be prohibited.  So instead of a backpack, I simply wore my SCOTTeVEST travel vest, which easily carried m Canon G7 X, and my Osmo Pocket 3.  I also wore my Fujifim X100vI around my neck.  Here are some pictures of my favorite cars inside the museum:

As a former 944 owner I was pleased to see that the model was well represented in the museum:

This his convertible 944 had a Burgundy leather interior that was quite similar to the interior on my old 944 from college:

If you were a red blooded, Gen X male you probably had a poster of a Porsche 959 in your bedroom at some point.  The 959 remains my favorite Porsche of all times.

This is a special version of the Porsche Macan.  I was encouraged to see one in the museum as I’m strongly considering it as my next car.

A race version of the venerable 944 with the classic telephone dial wheels just like my old car:

There was an opportunity to get a free photo of yourself sitting inside a Porsche Boxster.  Not only do they hand you a print of the photo, but they email you the electronic version:

I spent a very satisfying several hours through the museum and photographing the wonderful exhibits.  Afterwards, I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel and looked for an option for dinner:

I found a fusion Asian restaurant just a couple of blocks from the hotel that was recommended called Min Min:

it was both a delightful and healthy meal:

I could not have asked for a better second day of my #2025europeantour.  Great weather. A fantastic train ride.  And hours spent in the Mecca for Porsche enthusiasts.  Next stop?  Paris!