Travelog for: xiaoxia

Hello, I'm Xiaoxia, this is my Chinese name. I think I am pretty lion, haha. To travel abroad, is a wonderful and beautiful thing.

Please send a pm to my mom, if you are able to host me. Any country will be love, especially in London, because the Olympic Games. Thank you very much!

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August 3th, 2012, now here is 13:55
Today I am very happy and excited, because this week I will go to travel to Germany . My mom and grandma to take some photos for me: our life. In my mom's room, she is an artist! I also want to be an artist.... lion!





My mom's Chinese traditional musical instruments:" Erhu" and "Xun". I also like playing the guitar.







And my grandma's Violin!


Also, I want to learn to do the cake! haha.



" Play " is a happy thing!




I also like to think about some things.


And friends to play "hide and seek"? But...now I must say goodbye to my friends, began to travel. I will miss them, miss my mom and grandmother very much.





See ya!!!

Today my mom and grandma, take me to the post office. Begin my trip to Germany, I was very excited and happy! My mom also send to host mom a packet of specialty food here, I like to eat it. And some postcards, in other envelope. Thank you very much!

Go!


I love the flowers and plants!


At the post office.


Goodbye, mom and grandma! Goodbye, my friends!


開心!!!

Dear Mom,

I arrived in Bruchsal right after my host came back from Sweden. Now I'm sitting here knowing, that she has only a little time for me. I'm somehow disappointed, but I hope to see some places of Bruchsal and show you the beautiful palace.

Best wishes,

xiaoxia

When we were at home again, we needed some time to relax, because it was a long travel. But today we had to go to Karlsruhe.

Karlsruhe is the third largest city of Baden-Württemberg, near the Franco-German border.

Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city-states. The town surrounding the Palace became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) whose decisions have the force of a law in many cases, and the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof), the highest court of appeals in matters of civil law and criminal law. It therefore considers itself the home of justice in Germany, a role taken over from Leipzig after 1945.

Washington's city planner, had been given the plans of Karlsruhe (among numerous other European cities) as an inspiration.


At first we visited the Bothnical Garden.

The Karlsruhe Palace (Schloss) is an interesting piece of architecture; the adjacent Schlossgarten includes the Botanical Garden with a palm, cactus and orchid house, and walking paths through the woods to the north.

The Turmberg (German: "Tower Hill") is a hill (elevation: 256 m) located in Durlach, a suburb of Karlsruhe in Germany. It is home to a castle ruin.

The Turmberg can be reached by the Turmbergbahn, a funicular railway. The original railway used water to weight the rail cars, but now it is run on electric.
wikipedia


This is written on the sign:
This tower is the remain of the ancient castle, which was built by Count von Hohenberg during the 1100s, extended during the 1200s and destroyed by Konrad von Lichtenberg, bishop of Strasbourg in 1279 A.D.
This tower was built between 1230 A.D. and 1250 A.D.

If the weather is nice you have a view to the Black Forest

to Karlsruhe and theRhine Valley, the Palatinate Mountains and Alsace

to the Kraichgau (Bruchsal is located at the edge of Rhine Valley to Kraichgau)

A view to Durlach.

We took a look back to the tower.

I really waited for this day. I wished to see more of Bruchsal and finally we went out to go to the sightseeing places.

Bruchsal has about 42 000 inhabitants, if you also count those in the five suburbs, which are Heidelsheim, Helmsheim, Untergrombach, Obergrombach and Büchenau. It was first mentioned in 796 A.D., but there had been an older settlement. 80 % of Bruchsal had been destroyed during World War II. on 1rst of March 1945. So you hardly find really old places.

Here you see the tower of the old part of Bruchsal's hospital. In the building you find different doctors. The hospital is in a newer part.

Just turning on your heels you can see the interesting building of Bruchsal's prison. The prison, constructed ca. 1848, is nicknamed the Cafe with Eight Corners or "Cafe Achteck". Today it is a high security institution and predominantly houses individuals convicted of violent crimes and convicted terrorists, such as members of the Red Army Faction.

Schloss Bruchsal is one of the most beautiful Baroque palaces in Germany and 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.
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".

Back part of the palace, first photo with the tower of the church St. Damian and Hugo, which sadly isn't baroque anymore.

There are many statues in the palace garden. Four of them show the four seasons. This one is summer.