Travelog for: Honeymooners

On our way home we drove to Stuttgart and visited the Mercedes Benz Museum. It was the best thing to do with this rainy weather.
The Mercedes-Benz Museum is an automobile museum in Stuttgart, Germany. It covers the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand and the brands associated with it. Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of Daimler AG.




That would have been a nice car for our wedding.




With this bus we would have been able to carry all our guests.



But maybe we would have prefered this one. It really looks great.




Or maybe this one???



Team touring coach 1974







After hours in this museum we really were tired and drove home again. It was a great weekend.

Greetings,
the Honeymooners

Today we were invited to a birthday party. We had some delicious dishes as you can see.



Later we enjoyed the view down on Bruchsal.

For Christmas we had the same meal as every year in this family:
chicken fricassee, pie-crust and corn salad.



Later we celebrated the birth of Jesus, our Christkind.

We went on a walk and passed the church St. Peter.

On the opposite of the church you can see these statues.




The Saalbach is a river, that flows through Bruchsal. Last year it had really high water, but this year had been too less rain, so it is lower than 30 cm.








We asked our host to take this nice photo of us. You can see the baroque church St. Peter in the far. Our hosts live close to this church.




We walked over the Nepumuk bridge.

On 6th January each year my hosts celebrate Epiphany, what the call "Heilige drei Könige" - holy three kings. On two days children walk from house to house dressed as three kings and star carrier. They sing and ask for money for poor children. They don't only receive money, but also a lot of sweets. The sweets are for the children, who walk as star singers, that's what these three kings and star carrier are called. They bring the money and sweets to the parish hall. There they give the money away to the man, who takes care for the donation.
After dinner on the second evening the star singers receive a bag full of sweets. You can see the bags here.

Oh, I forgot: There are also bags for donation to the children's home and market, where poor people can buy things they need.

In the evening we sat next to the small crib under the Christmas tree. It is the crib with which one can play. There is another drib, a wooden crib, but it is forbidden to play with this one. Did our host really think, that we would play with the figures? She didn't let us even close to the other crib.








Usually the Christmas tree is in the living room from23rd or 24th December until 6th January (including) or latest until Maria Lichtmess, which is celebrated on 2nd February. Many people put the tree up sooner now, but that isn't really a German tradition.

It was the second day of star singers and in the evening all three children of our hosts came home with a bag full of sweets. They like to sort them on the floor and exchange those they like and don't like, so that everyone has more things they like. Of course they eat those sweets not in one or two months. They sometimes need nearly a whole year, although they sometimes give away some sweets too.




Today isn't only Epiphany, but also my host's husband birthday. So we had guests in the evening, who enjoyed a tasty potatoe soup.

Today we wanted to take some nice photos, but when we climbed out of the car, we had to realize, that it was a too cold wind. Maybe you can see it in our faces.
So we only took this one photo of the church in Stettfeld, Baden-Württemberg.

I don't know, what my hosts did during the last four weeks, but they did nothing together with me. Today they decided to go on a walk and they took me with them.

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.

Today we were really excited, because we were allowed to visit all those places, where newly wed couples go to take wonderful photos.
                           
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.




Then we walked down to the baroque palace and passed by the county court and its nice fountain, which is called Amalienbrunnen or snail fountain.

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.