I would suggest Tübingen which is about 20 minutes south of Böblingen. Take the A81 to the A8 in the direction of Munich then take the B27 in the direction of Tübingen. Bebenhausen would also be another place close to Tübingen to see. Markopolko will no doubt post more info after I do.

http://tuebingen.de/en/1559.html

As much as I love the town of Tuebingen ( www.tuebingen.de ), I think spending a whole weekend there is excessive, we usually visit for a few hours, either during the week or on Saturday as all the interesting shops will be closed on Sunday. With its hilly cobblestone streets and interesting shops it is always a joy for us to visit. With a car well preserved medieval Bebenhausen Monastery (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de also OK by bus) can be visited; the Ritter SPORT chocolate factory in nearby Waldenbuch with its small museum of chocolate manufacture, the larger interesting art museum of art in the form of squares (their candy bar shape) some of which moves, and their salesroom for discounted candy; for two excellent fairytale-like castles Burg Hohenzollern by Hechingen ( www.burg-hohenzollern.com ) and Schloss Lichtenstein ( www.schloss-lichtenstein.de only in German); Hohenneuffen (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) the largest castle ruin of the Schwaebian Alb ( www.schwaebischealb.de ), a low limestone mountain range with excellent cliff-side scenery and lots of castles and caves). Nearby is Metzingen ( www.metzingen.de ) which is Germany's largest factory outlet center for some inexpensive shopping.

Of course, Sundays are a real problem anywhere in Germany for a weekend, and also almost any city in Germany the center can be explored in less than a half a day if museums, places of interest with entry, etc. are not visited.

Stuttgart ( www.stuttgart.de ) itself would best meet your needs. In 1-3 hours you can walk around and visit many of the central sights such as the Schlossplatz, the Old Palace with its lovely Renaissance courtyard, the New Palace, the Opera House, the Staatsgallerie, the Markthalle (market hall with sights and smells of gourmet foods from throughout the world), the Stiftskirche (church), etc.

There are many excellent museums such as the Mercedes Benz Museum which documents the over 120 year history of the automobile and this firm in the form of 160 vehicles. (Stuttgart is after all where the automobile was invented.) This museum is loved by all visitors irregardless of age or gender. The building itself is architecturally interesting, the time line along the wall as you spiral down between floors will have many world events you can relate to, and of course the cars are just lovely. The current Porsche Museum is much smaller with only about two dozen cars on display which would appeal mainly to Porsche and racing fans.

For art, there are three art galleries. The Museum am Loewentor has an excellent collection of the impressive local dinosaur and Ice Age mammal fossils, the 1/4 million year old skull of Steinheim man found nearby will be on display, as well as a nice amber collection with all kinds of creatures embedded in amber. There's a lot of other good museums.

Wilhelma ( www.wilhelma.de ) is Europe's largest combination zoo-botanical garden set amidst the nice Moorish architecture of this former palace. A lovely mixture of plants, animals and architecture which is nice to visit in any season or weather, one of the world's top zoos.

The mineral waters are western Euriope's largest and there are three large associated mineral baths. In the Leuze one you can swim in bubbly carbonated water.

The TV tower is the world's first modern TV tower completed in 1956, and it has a viewing platform.

The houses in Weissenhofsiedlung were designed by world-famous architects for a 1927 international architectural exhibition, and there is an associated museum.

If you stop in the tourist office on Koenigstrasse across from the train station you can get a lot of free or very inexpensive information about Stuttgart and its region. Among these are a nice booklet in English on three panoramic walks, and also a brochure/map (only in German but no problem) of the Wine Wander Way in the Uhlbach area of Stuttgart, with a route mapped through the vineyards, to the Wine Museum, and showing the wineries, Weinstube's and Besenwirthschaft's in this area. The latter is best done of a Saturday so the wineries will be open.

Stuttgart ballet is world reknown; the opera house Germany's opera house of the year 6 out of the last 10 years; and many excellent musical performances. Consider spending an evening doing one of these.

There's a lot more other things to see and do, but the above gives you a nice choice for a weekend. Oh, if you understand German, the two large musical theaters at the SI-Centrum are presenting Blue Man Group and Wicked.

Ludwigsburg ( www.ludwigsburg.de ) might be another good choice for a whole weekend. There is a crime and punishment museum which has a guillotine and also cells that you can enter. The Baroque palace (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ) is Germany's largest perfectly preserved (all original, not a 1950s rebuild) Baroque palace, "Swabian Versailles" with its tourable royal chambers (the best palace tour I've been on in Europe and also probably Europe's longest), four excellent museums (the fashion museum has lots of clothes from the 1700s), extensive gardens including a fairytale one (the pumpkin exhibition will also be on with Europe's largest pumpkins and squash, and sculptures- some of them quite large- made of these vegetables. The theme this year is extra-terrestrials), porcellan manufacture and sales (Ludwigsburg Porcellan celebrates their 250th anniversary this year), and two smaller associated palaces set near a deer park. It will take several days to see it all even without the pumpkin exhibition. I've visited at least four times and have yet to see everything.

Another excellent daytrip from Stuttgart is Esslingen ( www.esslingen.de ) with its well preserved medieval center.

So you see, you can travel less than 35km from Böblingen/Stuttgart and have an excellent time.

I should also mention that on Saturdays there is a nice flea market on Karlsplatz in Stuttgart's center, we usually try to visit it every weekend as they have some very nice items. I'm not sure, but that weekend may also be the large city flea market in central Stuttgart.

Thanks Mysticlad and marcopolko for all the suggestions. Next weekend is not happening now, but I will get to go later in the year and will follow you suggestions.