We live on a one-way street. This is great for us for a lot of reasons: 1) there's little traffic and little noise. 2) Half of the street is parking spots where we can nose in. This allows for a lot more cars, and helps alleviate the crowded parking situation around here.
We rent a covered, reserved parking space around the corner behind a grocery store for about $100 per month. This is rolled into our rent and is therefore covered by our housing allowance. But, if we can get a spot, we park in one of the spaces in front of our apartment. In order to do so correctly, we needed to obtain a neighborhood parking pass. And this was something I was going to have to do unaided!
I set out this morning for the local city hall. I figured I'd do my best to use what German I knew (darn little) and rely on the fact that most Stuttgartians speak at least a little English. In a fit of what I will immodestly call GENIUS I snapped a picture of the parking pass I wanted on the dashboard of a neighbors car using my cell phone. I figured if nothing else, I could show them the picture of what I was seeking.
I made my way to the local Rathaus (city hall) and walked up to the information desk. "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" I asked? This is a formality. Everyone in Stuttgart replies "Yes, just a little" and then proceeds to converse as if they were fellow Americans. However, the man at the information desk looked up and me and said "Nein". Awesome. Okay. I steeled myself and carried on to the point that my German failed me "I would like a....." um... Light Bulb! I pulled out my phone, showed him the picture and he smiled. "AH! Ein Parkpass" (really? The German word for parking pass is Parkpass?). He directed me to another building and kindly circled the words for what I assume are the offices I should seek.
Off I went to the annex and followed the signs with the words the kind man had circled for me. Ahead of me walked an older couple who were apparently headed to the same office as I was. I slowed so as not to overtake them and smilingly followed them into the door with some of those circled words written on the outside of it. The man was startled when I took followed him through the open door. I smiled as kindly as I knew how and pressed myself against the back wall - to allow them as much privacy at the counter as possible.
The man looked at me again over his shoulder, this time with annoyance. I smiled again, and wondered what I could have done to offend him. We all stood silently and waited for the counter person to see us.
She approached and asked (in German) "Are you all together?" to which we all answered "Nein". She then snapped up her chin, looked at me and said what I gathered to be "Get out". Embarrassed and bewildered, I slid back out the door and sat at some chairs posted on the other side. Only then did I notice a little indicator light above the door. It appears that whatever takes place in that office is done privately, and there is a red light/green light set up outside which lets the people outside know if someone else is already inside attending to this private business.
In time the couple left, staring at me as the walked past. The light turned green and I stepped inside. The woman there tried to speak English with me and discovered that I was in the wrong office anyways. She pointed me in the right direction and that sad little detour was soon a thing of the past as I went back to the business of trying to get my parkpass.
Finally in the right place, the process was easy (although at one point I signed something that was entirely in German, and had no idea what it actually said). I asked the lady behind the counter if she could copy it for me so I could take it home and attempt to translate it. (I later discovered that I had pledged, among other things, that I did not have an assigned parking space anywhere else in the neighborhood. Whoops!). I got my little green card and buried it in the corner of my windshield. Hopefully the meter maid won't notice that the license plate number on the pass is for our Honda, and not for the rental car we're parking instead these days!
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