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March 5, 2011 – Boblingen is a town south of Germany. It is physically continuous to Sindelfingen which hosts the first biggest Mercedes Benz Factory covering almost ¾ of the Sindelfingen town.

I personally chose Boblingen over Sindelfingen as a base camp due to the good reviews and easy transport access to the HP Boblingen site.

Boblingen is a very peaceful city and you can see a lot of Mercedes Cars and Porsche. Even buses, cargo trucks and garbage trucks are Mercedes. Amazing. It’s the land of the the Mercedes.

Almost 27% of population here works for Daimler (Mercedes-Benz).


I walked around Boblingen to get familiar with the German weather, scout the transport option and food options. I was also able to take note how to go to the HP office without riding a cab.

Around town

I would describe Boblingen town it would be a small hill-full, peaceful, quiet and friendly town with a lot of Mercedes and Porsche cars.


I had requested for an American breakfast with sausage, egg and bread. They provided me with what I need but in very big serving. The first impression I got from the Germans is that they eat BIG amounts. I also noted that the sausage is quite salty in my tongue. I’m still new to the taste and just ate what I have, typical explorer.


It was a sunny day but the temperature was 5 degrees Celsius. Over breakfast I have met a new friend and assistant in the hotel. Our conversation:
“I’m happy it’s sunny and going to be warm today.” I said.
Mrs. Heike replied “Yes me too. It is around 5 degrees. I had to turn on the heater.”
“Ah…” My jaws just dropped and smiled.


I started my walk point with explore strategy of a 4 quadrant by 4 block square with the Hotel Bohler as my center. I was able to explore the town center, the town park, some churches near the main streets, the cathedral on top of the hill, the very beautiful cemetery, pretty row houses, the art museum, the butcher museum, the city hall, take Boblingen, Boblingen train station, City mall and shopping center, and Peasant war museum.


The streets were like a big display area of Mercedes Benz and Porsche cars. As a Filipino it amazes me as only millionaires get to afford a Mercedes in my country! Haha!

Churches and Cemetery
They have very simple and quite churches yet elegant. I was lost in the north part of town and there is a cemetery where they recognize their people with murals, stones and flower arrangements. I was able to find my way with the help of street map guides.




Town center, clock tower and city hall
Hotel Bohler is just 200 meters away from the town center. It hosts a tall clock tower that you can see anywhere on Boblingen. There is a small city hall in front of the tower and a square with shops along with the butcher and art museum.



Butcher museum
Boblingen is considered to be one of the most prominent providers of meat for Germany. The butcher museum or Fleischer museum (Fleis means “meat”) is a museum that displays the tools, products, process and other informational items on how different forms of meat is processed (Not onsite of course)




Art Museum
The art museum features Tomi Ungerer, a famous artist in Germany who’s works focus on integrating objects that he sees into material objects of nature or manmade images. This is very cool if you ask me. It’s very simple art. Tomi discovered an effective way to form a new art of pieces of existing materials in social media like papers, magazines and other objects.




Peasant war museum
This museum displays the history of the peasant revolution in Germany where many peasants fought their way to freedom from a tyrant. They used pitch forks head on to try and defend their city from gunned soldiers.An example is a display of peasant and butcher knives.


City mall and shopping district
In the southwest of town you will see a big portion of building that sells almost everything. There is also a 1 euro store that I love to visit.



The city park and lake
The city park is where Germans celebrate their festivities. They setup rallies and tents here for parties. Along the city park is a big lake where rowing and boating is a common activity.


The train station
The Boblingen train station connects the city to the station nearest to the HP office and every part of central Europe. I love the train system in Europe and they do not ask for fare. “Guilt system”


Hotel Bohler (Boblingen) to HP Office (Herrenberg)…


Quite frankly I did not know that transport is free by the hotel and I did not ask. Damn. On the bright side I got the full experience and more covered ground.LOL

1. Walk from the hotel to the main road
2. Walk from the main road through the shopping district to the Train station
3. Ride the train station for 2 Euros from Boblingen station to Hulb station
4. From HULB station walk to the other side.
5. Climb the hill and pass up to the Philips factory
6. Walk through Herrenberg road until you cross one of the main highway road!
7. See a first big open parking space. NO, THAT IS NOT THE HP OFFICE! :-)
8. See another big open parking space with a brown building with HP logo. YES THAT is HP office. :-)

I followed this route every day to go to the office. During my first day it took me 1.5 hour to get to the office due to being lost and asking other people for directions. This is when I created my 3 rule in travelling: GET A TAXI ON A FIRST BUSINESS TRAVEL DAY NO MATTER WHAT. :-)



Lesson:
If you have a friend going to HP Boblingen that does not know how to drive, please ask him to take a cab. It’s convenient and free! :) A cab will cost you 10 Euros and chargeable to corp or hotel.

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