Travelog for: Kara

Today we decided to bake a rhubarb cake. Our host allowed us to do it all alone without her help. So please take a look at the recipe. We explain it step by step:

At first we had to find a place - we are quite a few



Of course we aren't all traveling. Some of us are here as active toyvoyagers, but many of us are guests, who decided to stay here as long as the owners don't find time to get in contact with our host. And of course some of us live here, but we all have one thing in common - we are toyvoyagers.
At next we had to get the eggs. We need six eggs for the cake.




It was Sausi Karl's job to beat the eggs.






Then one of us - don't know who - added 50g sugar for each egg, so it was 300 g sugar. It's quite a lot, we know.




Madam Miff added one packet of vanilla sugar to the dough.






Of course we had to beat the dough again, but we couldn't handle the camera while beating the dough.
Matcha and Ted added 300g flour and one packet of baking powder.






Then we had to stir the dough again until it was fluffy.




Melek helped




and Nathalie




Then Matcha prepared the dish for the dough. We baked without bottom on a foil.




Nathalie was still busy stiring the dough.




And the she filled it in the dish.




Then we all were sitting there and waiting for the cake to get baken in the oven. Man it was boring at first. But we didn't expect, that half an hour can be such a short time, when so many tvs are together.






After this break we had to prepare the rhubarb, because we wanted to fill the cake with rhubarb cream.






Little Dragon helped to skin it.








And Matcha helped to cut it in pieces.




Billy helped Matcha to stay on the pot during cutting the rhubarb pieces.










Then we had to prepare some ingrediences for the cream. We needed two packets of vanilly pudding powder, one egg white and one yolk. We had to stir the egg white.




Before adding the stirred egg white, we had to add the pudding powder. We had added a little bit of water to it and shook it until it was smooth. Then we added the pudding powder to the cooked rhubarb. We also added the yolk.




Then Louis the Rat added the stirred egg white and gently folded it in.






Finally we cut the cake in two layers and filled the cream on the first and then on the second layer and put the last layer on top of it.

Today we drove to Ulm. Ulm is a city in Baden-Württemberg,  located at the border of Swabian Jura to Bavaria and was founded around 850, but the oldest traceable settlement of the Ulm area began in the early Neolithic period, around 5000 BC. . Ulm lies at the point where the rivers Blau and Iller join the Danube.
Internationally, Ulm is primarily known for having the church with the tallest steeple in the world, the Gothic minster (Ulm Minster, German: Ulmer Münster) and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

The Minster is a Lutheran church. Although sometimes referred to as Ulm Cathedral because of its great size, the church is not a cathedral as it has never been the seat of a bishop.

It is the tallest church in the world, and the 4th tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.5 metres (530 ft) and containing 768 steps. From the top level at 143 m (469 ft) there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze. The final stairwell to the top (known as the third Gallery) is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person.

We had a wonderful view around, but the weather was not as nice as we would have liked it. It even started to drop. (wikipedia)







Here you see the river Danube. The houses in my back belong to the so called Fischerviertel (fishermen's quarter), where we will go later. The houses on the other side of the river belong to the Bavarian city Neu-Ulm.

Today we drove to Blaubeuren. Blaubeuren has about 12 000 inhabitants. At first we visited the Blaubeuren Abbey, which was a house of the Benedictine Order. The monastery was founded in 1085.
I love the halbtimbered houses.







I'm sorry, but there was only a bit of battery left in my host's camera, so we had to safe it for the next place and couldn't take a photo inside the abbey. I'm also sorry, but there is no photo with me and the second halftimbered house - it was too blurry. Nevertheless I wanted to show you this beautiful house, that's why there is one with Tsukumo.

The Blautopf (German for Blue Pot; "blau" means blue, "topf" means pot) is a spring that serves as the source of the river Blau in the karst landscape on the Swabian Jura's southern edge.

Numerous legends and folk tales refer to the Blautopf. Its characteristic colour was explained by the account that every day someone would pour a vat of ink into the Blautopf. Another myth stated that every time someone tried to measure the Blautopf's depth with a leaden sounding line, a water nix stole the sounding line. Therefore, it was not possible to determine the depth of the Blautopf.

The entry to the Blauhöhle lies at a depth of about 18 metres (approximately 60 ft). Therefore, access is restricted to experienced and well-trained divers. The size of the Blautopf depends greatly on the level of rainfall, though it never entirely dries out. The Blautopf is the second largest spring in Germany, after the Aachtopf.

he water's blue color is the result of chemical properties of limestone densely distributed in the water.

We only could take one "bunch" photo due to the battery problem and because it started to rain.

Geislingen an der Steige is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name relates to its location "on the climb" (an der steige) of a trade route over the Swabian Jura mountain range.
Helfenstein Castle represents the remnants of the fortified castle (burg) Helfenstein of the counts of Helfenstein. During the peak of their power the Helfenstein family ruled Heidenheim, Blaubeuren, Wiesensteig and Sigmaringen.

We really enjoyed the view over Geislingen and the hills.




View from the castle to Ödenturm.










Here am I in front of the Ödenturm.




From here we had a nice view to Helfenstein castle.

Today we were invited to go on a trip with our host and her friend. They wanted to walk the way, that they planned to walk together with their teacher colleagues. We needed two hours for the walk along the river Rhine. The Rhine is the twelth longerst river in Europe and the longest river in Germany. The part, where we walked, belongs to the Upper Rhine. The "Upper Rhine" is one of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz. The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876, but you still can see the arms of the old river.








We were still on the right side of the river, but you already can see the towers of the Speyer cathedral.

Speyer (formerly known as Spires in English) is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
Speyer is dominated by the Speyer Cathedral, a number of churches and the Altpörtel (old gate). In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman emperors and German kings.

Together with my host and toyvoyager friends I drove to Bad Wildbad to attend a further training in English communication. It was really fun and we all learnt a lot - even I did.
It was a bit sad, that my host had a sore throat and so she didn't want to go on long walks through the town.

The next day we attented a lesson about Michelle Obama's life and helped to write down all the numbers we've heard, while our trainer read the text. On the photo you see our trainer's little helper, the white teddy, but I forgot his name.




I'm really sorry, that I'm not on this photo. I fell down, but my host did realize it too late.

The Belvedere on the edge of the "Stadtgarten" was built by Leonhard Stahl in 1756 as a hunting lodge for Prince Bishop Franz Christoph von Hutten. The location was chosen so that the lodge would command an unspoiled view of the palace, town and Rhine rift valley beyond.

Especially worthy of note are the two towers, each of which has a viewing platform topped with a Chinese-style baldachin – an example of the fashion for chinoiserie prevalent at that time. Today, the Belvedere is used as a venue for concerts and theatre productions.






In the background you see a grammar school, which is in the building of the former reservoir.

We passed the Damianstor (Damian's gate). Nowadays it houses art exhibitions.




Then we walked into the front garden of the baroque palace and took a photo standing in front of the back entrance of the church. You can see the county court, the prison tower and the Damianstor.




Just enjoy the photos around the palace. We think it is one of the most beautiful baroque palaces at least in Germany.










There are statues of the four seasons. This is summer.






And there are four statues, which show the four elements: water, fire, earth and air. This statue is water.




Close to the palace garden you still can find some of Bruchsal's oldest houses.






This street is close to the citizen park. There are also some beautiful old houses here. About 80% of Bruchsal was destroyed during World War II and so was the biggest part of the palace too. The palace was rebuilt during the 70th. So we really were  happy to see, that there are still some of the old houses.




Next to the tower of the ancient castle they built the citizen centre and park.



Today I visited two parks, but they were rather small: the palace garden and the citizen park. Maybe together they count for one?

Today we were invited to join our host and some of her teacher colleagues at a trip to Hauenstein. They stayed there over night, because they wanted to hike through the wood there. The weather seemed like, hm - will it rain or not???



Later that day we had a really good view over the Palatinate Mountains.






We also took some group photos there.








We had to walk along narrow and steep paths.

Our farewell photos at the Paddelweiher with Zottel, the headmaster.