During World War II, the Allies dropped 142,000 bombs on Stuttgart, destroying 39,125 buildings. Needless to say, with some sporadic exceptions here and there, it doesn’t have much of an Old Town anymore. I stepped off the train from Frankfurt and emerged from the very sturdy hauptbahnhof onto a newish and heavily congested pedestrian zone: Saturday Christmas shopping was in full gear. But this was just an ordinary shopping area. Once I arrived at the Christmas market, the number of people seemed to have quadrupled. Welcome to one of the largest Christmas markets in Europe. Read more >