Travelog for: Tiplitaps

Before leaving my host said I "must" see Kaufinger/Neuhauser street (one of Germany's largest shopping streets), Marienplatz with the Munich townhall (and glockenspiel).

I am leaving München today to visit fam-united. It was a nice stay.

Today I arrived at my new host's home. Petra welcomed me and then I had a rest. I think, we will go on a trip tomorrow.

Bye, Tiplitaps

Today we drove to Cologne. Petra's husband had to be there for a Trade Fair and Petra met olgamaus.

Here is some information about Cologne (wikipedia):


"Cologne (English pronunciation: /kəˈloʊn/, German: Köln [kœln], Kölsch: Kölle [ˈkœɫə]) is Germany's fourth-largest city (after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich), and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.

Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) is one of Europe's oldest and largest universities.

Cologne is a major cultural centre of the Rhineland and has a vibrant arts scene. Cologne is home to more than 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. Exhibitions range from local ancient Roman archeological sites to contemporary graphics and sculpture. The Cologne Trade Fair hosts a number of trade shows such as Art Cologne, imm Cologne, Gamescom and the Photokina."


Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's most famous monument and the Cologne residents' most respected landmark. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi. Residents of Cologne sometimes refer to the cathedral as "the eternal construction site" (Dauerbaustelle).








Cologne Central Station: On an average day, about 280,000 travellers frequent the station, making it fifth busiest station in Germany.




Then we walked down to the Rhine.




We turned around and took a look back to the cathedral.




Here's the Hohenzollern Bridge.




Great St. Martin Churchis a Romanesque Catholic church. Its foundations (circa 960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel, built on what was then an island in the Rhine. The church was badly damaged in World War II, with restoration work completed in 1985.




We then walked around the Imhoff-Chocolate Museum. 








We took a look back to the Hohenzollern Bridge, cathedral and Great St. Martin.




The museum is run by the Schokoladenmuseum Köln GmbH. Since March 2006, the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli has been its partner in producing exhibits. Prior to that the partner was the Cologne chocolate producer Stollwerck, and the museum was formerly known as the Imhoff-Stollwerck-Museum.

On this photo you can see, how high the water was in 1995 and you can see, where we took the photo with the chocolate girl, where we stand for the view back to the churches and bridge. The yellow line shows the way we walked around the museum and the green line the way, where we came from.




Inside the museum we saw all the machines which are necessary to make delicious chocolate.














There is a real chocolate fountain! We all got wafers dipped into melted chocolate. Yummy!




This equestrian statue shows Frederick William III of Prussia. You can see here, who else is on the base of the statue.




The Heumarkt is beside the Alter Markt the biggest place in Cologne historic city.




There are several small breweries in Cologne. This one is located at the Heumarkt.




Another brewery in the small streets of the historic city.




It started to rain and we walked back to the cathedral. We entered it and it was so so dark inside, that we had problems to take nice photos. So please excuse the quality.




There was a nice mosaic on the floor. 




So this was the last photo of Cologne and we drove back to Bruchsal again.

Today I had a chance to have a glance on the church tower and other houses of the palace area. I have to go there, I'm sure, that Petra will show me the palace.




The house with the tower is the county court.

I still have to do some homework, although the envelope is still waiting for me. I have to learn more about Baden-Württemberg.




This is the coat of arms of Baden-Württemberg. Bruchsal is located in the Baden part.




It has borders to France (F), Switzerland (S). The brown part is the black forest and the green the Rhine valley.




Bruchsal is located at the edge of Rhine valley to Kraichgau hill country. In line 16 they asked for the word "Kraichgau".




I learnt some new words, but I had to learn too, that the dialect is really different in the regions of Baden-Württemberg. But some words I already heard in my hosts' family:
erlickere - to discover
Gutsel - candy

For the word "öbber" they say "ewwer" and it means somebody. Rubbelig is rough. Strange words! All the other words are from other regions, which can mean, that in the towns next to Bruchsal they say these words, who knows.




This is the Baden-Song:




The pupils at Petra's school worked on a project about Baden-Württemberg and here are their posters. I read all of them.



Karlsruhe is the main city of the Baden part.
















Stuttgart is the main city of Baden-Württemberg.






The Wilhelma is the zoo in Stuttgart.





111










A part of the Rhine also flows through Baden.

Today we enjoyed the sunny weather and went on a walk to some nice places of Bruchsal.
Bruchsal was first named in 976, but it surely is older than that.

Here we are in a street, where you still can see some old houses. About 80% of Bruchsal was destroyed during World War II., so you can't see many really old houses.




The baroque palace of Bruchsal is one of the most beautiful baroque palaces of Germany. In the park you can find statues of the four elements fire, water, air and earth and four statues of the four seasons. Here you see summer.




It is the only episcopal Baroque residence on the Upper Rhine. The foundation stone was laid in 1722 by Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn, Prince Bishop of Speyer, who made the palace the centre of his absolutist dominion. Read more here.



After being almost completely destroyed in the final days of World War II, the main tract was painstakingly reconstructed according to the original design and work was completed in 1975, including the magnificent dome, Marble Hall and Prince's Hall. The staircase designed by Balthasar Neumann is considered to be an architectural tour-de-force and has been described as the "finest staircase in the world".

Here you see the church tower and the backside of the church St. Damian and Hugo.




From this place you have a good view to many different buildings as named on the photo.




This is the front of the palace with the main entrance. On the right is the building with the chamber music hall and on the left is the church. On this photo you can't see them.




We just turned around and took a photo of the county court and the fountain called Amalienbrunnen or Schnecklesbrunnen, how they say in Bruchsal, because there sit many snakes on the fountain edge.




Then we drove to the Andreasstaffel. You have a perfect view over Bruchsal from this place.



Sorry, that this photo is so bad, but the sun was already really low and we had no chance to get a better photo.








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. Today, the Belvedere is used as a venue for concerts and theatre productions.

Today we were invited to celebrate our host uncle's 80th birthday. We celebrated at a Greek Restaurant close to the Rhine. In the early afternoon we went on a walk to have a view on the Rhine. Both, the Rhine and the Neckar flow through Mannheim. Mannheim is a nice city, Petra told me, but she had no time to show more than the Rhine.

Hello mommy!

Today happily my first update from saxony and the beautiful Oberlausitz. I arrived here last saturday, but sadly LadyButterfly wasn't at home over easter. But on monday I heard noise out of the mailbox and and I was took out of it. The first time, LadyButterfly told me later, a TV wasn't took out of it's envelope not at her home.

The first daylight I saw was at Eibau on a car park in the middle of a wood. LadyButterfly told me, we will do a little walk through the wood and I will learn something about saxonian legends or I should better say legends of the Oberlausitz.

Oh I almost forgot! The wood belongs to a mountain called Kottmar. There are some some sights as you can see on the picture.
(LadyButterfly helped me with climbing the sign... otherwise I hadn't managed it on my own!  )



The wood and the spring of the Spree are a reservation, because of the much beech trees around the Spree spring. So this one of three springs of the Spree is also called "Buchenborn".



This is the "Buchenborn"! The memorial for fallen german soldiers was build 1921 and renewed in 1957.
Can you find me on the picture?



I was sitting on the cairn in the middle of the spring! There was not much water, so I was able to sit on the place where the springs comes out in the summer.



Just a few meters away from the spring I found a funny stone on the ground. It looks like a person, I thought!



I was almost right with my thought! Because this stone is part of the first legend around the Kottmar and the Oberlausitz!
This is what I found on a sign!

The legend of the Spreespring

Here, where today the Spree rises, where long time ago mossy rocks and huge flowermeadow . This was also the kingdom of the gnom Gerbod. Many little elfes protected the water of Kottmar and annoyed Gerbod with their singing. But when the gnom laughed the elfes ran away forever. Gerbod was so upset, he throw a spear to southwest. It drilled into the ground and a new spring came out of the hole. The water flows to the Spree and next to this new spring, the village Gersdorf was build.

The stone is Gerbod who is still in the wood of the Kottmar!



Maybe it's a bit hard to see for you, mommy, but this is the course of the Spree from it's beginning here at the Kottmar until Berlin.



Here I saw the very young Spree! 



The next legend I found was about the wolveholes!

The legend of the wolveholes

In the early centurys the Kottmar was a huge wood with dark holes, where bears and wolves lived. The villagers were terrorized by them, they threaten human and animals. So the people dig holes everywhere around the Kottmar and put rods on it to hunt the beasts.
On this way the people killed the wolves and bears and lived safe in their villages.



And this is one of the wolveholes!



A few steps away I found this beautiful face of a woman. Around her head three candles.



And her face was on a coffin of stone.



This is
The legend of the crystal coffin on the Kottmar

In the wood of the Kottmar near Kottmarsdorf and not far away from Löbau, you can find in the early morning a entry, which should have doors many times ago. Deep in the rock behind these doors, sometimes they still open today, there should lay a beautiful girl named Mirinda in a crystal coffin.
The only sign that she lays here are three little flames, you can still see today where the entrance to the coffin is.

A little bit strange, maybe I should discover if this legend is true?



Hey you wouldn't believe it, mommy, but when I walk through the wood I found a easter egg! The easterbunny hasn't forgot me, I was so happy about it!



The last legend I found was that one...
The stonecross at the vineyard

A northwest offshoot of the Kottmar is the vineyard between Kottmarsdorf and Obercunnersdorf.
Here was long time ago a stonecross, but it was damaged when the streets were build.
On this place should many times ago a villager of Obercunnersdorf been murdered by a hussite.



The cross was build for the poor villager!
Can you find me?



On the way back to the car I found a overturned tree. Many trees got damaged by the last winter LadyButterfly told me, because there was very much snow and the trees weren't thick enough to hold the snow.
Can you also find me on this picture, mommy?



Yeah I sat on the tree!



After that day outside we had a piece of cake and a hot chocolate and a coffee in a cafe, befor we drove home. I was happy my time in the little envelope and the mailbox ended!

Love
Tiplitaps

Heyho mommy! 

Today was a day with much hard work. We drove to Wehrsdorf, a little village quiet near the border to the Czech Republic. There will be LadyButterflys new home and today me and Fiete helped her with painting the walls in the new flat.



The colour wasn't out decision, but we did our best painting the sleeping-room wall liliac. It was very hard work, but together we managed it.



And because we did such good work, we really earn us a break with newspaper and a snack.



After the work we drove to the farm of LadyButterflys boyfriend. It's just a small farm and there are living just a view animals, but I had the chance to see something very special.



Luna, the housecat got babys just a few days ago. The catbabys are still very small and have still closed eyes. They are so cute and so cuddly, oh and they are the brothers and sisters of LadyButterflys cat.
I even had the chance to make a photo only with the babys. It was funny, they are just a little bit bigger then me.



Today was also the day of animals, so LadyButterfly took me with her to the stable, where I saw real cows.
The white one is LadyButterflys favourite cow, because she was the first cow, she saw as a calf. LadyButterfly was very proud when the family decided that she can give her the name. So LadyButterfly named her Ella.



Two thirsty cows! 
The brown one in the back is Christl. She was named that way, because she was born on christmas.



Eye in eye with Ella and Christl and I must be honest... I was a little bit affraid of that big animals, but they are very nice.



Mommy? Have you ever played hide and seek in the hay?
I can tell you it is soooooooooo funny!
Can you find me?



Here I am! 



It was a funny day, but I'm happy to go to bed now... I'm sooooo tired! 

Love
Tiplitaps

Hi mommy!

Today was a very unfriendly and rainy day! I'm very happy to be at home, drinking a hot chocolate and musn't go out anymore. But in the morning we had the chance (and also the weather... for the last time) to visit Kottmarsdorf and its windmill.



This type of windmill is called "Bockwindmühle" and it is the most famous type in germany and the netherlands.
The windmill of Kottmarsdorf was build in 1843 and worked for exactly 100 years. Today it is still used, but only for showgrinding and showrotating.
Sadly it wasn't open today so I can't watch the inside of the mill.

The back of the windmill.



The wooden gears are still working!



I'm sitting on the millstone.



Hehe ok that was funny! LadyButterfly can speak and understand the dialect of the Oberlausitz. Most of the time she has no problem with it, but reading this sign is hard for her. Until now, she can't understand it, but she is still thinking about.



And I also found some more informations.



Befor we left Kottmarsdorf... me and Fiete made a picture on the "Ruhebänk'l" where we took a rest.



I hope we will have better weather the next days!

Love
Tiplitaps

Hello mom! 

It is getting serious with LadyButterflys move! The flat is getting empty more and more and it became a little bit stressfull. So I decided to help LadyButterfly a little bit, with storing all the stuff into the boxes.



Ok it was a bit difficult, because I'm just a little turtle and all the other stuff was so big. But nevertheless... I did my best and together with Fiete and LadyButterfly we packed some boxes.



After bringing the boxes into the car, we drove to the new flat, but we made a little stop in Neusalza-Spremberg, where LadyButterfly wanted to show me a house called "Reiterhaus"!



This house was build in 1660 and is the oldest "Umgebindehouse" in the Oberlausitz. Soon I will tell you exactly what a Umgebindehouse is and I will show you another one. But for now I can tell you... you will see these houses only in the Oberlausitz!
The house was used as a farmers house, but now it is a museum and memorial.



Sadly we hadn't much time, so we can't go in! It was a very busy day!

I hope you doing well mommy!
I miss you much!

Love
Tiplitaps

Hey mommy!

It's time I show you the "Town of the thousand towers" as the town Bautzen is called. It is the capitol of the Oberlausitz and as LadyButterfly told me, one of the beautifullest towns in the world!
It was very nice the day we drove to Bautzen and the weather was very sunny!

Our first stop was at the Reichenturm, one of the main towers of Bautzen. It was build in the 14th or 15th century and it is 56 m high. As you can see the tower is a little bit awry. Thats because the top of the tower was to heavy for the grounding. When you went all the stairs up you can see inside the tower a solder.



Another tower of Bautzen belongs to the town hall. It was build during many centurys, but the first town hall was build in 1213. The tower is 54 m high. It is one of the beautifullest town halls of the region.



Right behind the town hall is the Dom the kathedral of Bautzen. This church is very, very special... not only because it has a kink in the middle. Inside of the church is are two churches, the catholic and the  evangelic. The Dom was build in the year 1213 and is the oldest simultaneously church in germany.



Just in front of the church it the Bautzener Senfladen. Bautzen is very famous for his mustard and mommy, if you are the next time in the supermarket just try the Bautzener mustard.



And behind these gate, the treasure of the Dom is hide.



This is the Schlossstraße and in the back you can see the Ortenburg, the center of Bautzen. It was grounded in the year 928 and the all the walls have a special legend. They should build of flour, water, eggs and stones, but I think this is really only a legend!



Ok now I will tell you a very strange story, mommy!
You see the two heads under the window?
That should be a monk and a nun, they felt in love with each other and for their punishment, they where build in the wall.
Uhhhhhh strange, isn't it?



And this is the center building of the Ortenburg. Today it is a court yard.



This is the Rietschgiebel from the sculptor Ernst Rietschel and was was finished 1840. Today it is a part of the theatre of Bautzen.



This is one of three watertowers of Bautzen!



A ruin next to the watertower. LadyButterfly is a little bit embrassed, but she don't know what this ruin is! She tried to find it out, but hasn't found the right signs.



Back home Fiete and me tried the Bautzener mustard!



Love
Tiplitaps

Hello Mommy,
i send you some greetings from Bonn.
Yesterday it was very interesting: my host takes me to a "Nightwatcher" Tour through Bonn. Therefor i send you some pictures from Bonn, so you can have a first look to Bonn.
A little view to one of three Rhine Bridges...


In the background you can see the two towers of Bonn: the "DHL Tower"(highest tower in North-Rhine Westphalia) and the "Langer Eugen", the headquarter of the United Nation.


Here you can see the administration building of the University of Bonn. There are over 32.000 student learning at this University....


This is the old city-hall of Bonn. It was buit in 1737. Today, it is only used for representation of the lord mayor.


This is a view of the market place of Bonn...


At last a view at the pedestrian area of Bonn....it's nice...



So, you see it is dark...i go to bed now...
*kisses*
Tiplitaps

Hello Mummy!
Sorry for the long time without a update...my host had some trouble...
But now, i'am back again.
It was a misty weather today, so i walk around in the near area...
I visit the volunteer fire brigade of my host...can you see me? 


Look, i have my own helmet now. Isn't it awsome??





After that, i went on top of the "Kreuzberg", where you have a wonderful view to my hosts hometown and normally you can see the "Kölner Dom". But the weather isn't good for this...


But there is an old chapell on the top of the hil. It was build over 400 years ago...and there is an replica of the "Scala Santa" of Rome.
It was build from Balthasar Neumann and year for year there comes many christians on "Karfreitag", to climb the stairway on their knees to pray to god.
The rest of the year, you can't use this stairway.




Love, Tiplitaps