Travelog for: Matcha

Today the weather was nice again, so I decided to go on a sightseeing tour in Bruchsal.
At first we walked to the church St.Peter. On our way we passed by this relief.






In front of a kindergarden I found this nice mosaic.




The church is next to the graveyard. To walk through the graveyard is very difficult for older people, who have problems, because the ways are rather steep.




Opposite the church you see these two statues.






Around the church you find some of Bruchsal's oldest streets and houses. Bruchsal was first named in 996, but it surely is older than that. The first settlement was around year 640 in the area of this St. Peter. During World War II. Bruchsal was nearly completely destroyed, so you only find a few old houses nowadays.




This is an old restaurant with a nice beer garden.




The river Saalbach flows through Bruchsal. It's usually abou 30cm high.










We came to this interesting building and my host told me, that it was the former slaughterhouse. Nowadays there is a supermarket and a restaurant.










Then we walked back to river Saalbach.




We found a beautiful caterpillar on the way.




Big clouds are coming - will they bring more rain again?










We finished our round and now we nearly stand at the same place, where at first we read, how high the river Saalbach was. We saw these two beautiful houses there.






Here is a part, where the river is divided in two parts, one of it is called Annabach. There is a small barrage between them.




We walked over a small bridge next to the barrage.








On our way back home we had to cross the river once more. We are sorry, that we cut Nepomuk's head.






Württemberger Straße is one of the oldest streets of Bruchsal. You still can find some really old houses here.




Now we are back home nearly. This is also a street with old houses. It is called Friedhofstraße, because it leads to the graveyard, what means Friedhof in German.




We took this photo while standing at the same place just turning around. In the far you can see that big house with the special roof? We will go there now.




The house is called Santa Maria. You can read about it on the sign.

You've seen the dark clouds  in my last update? Today I will show you our little river Saalbach again. It was half past 11, when we took these photos. The river usually is about 30 cm high and now it is 140cm
I will not write much and just show some photos.

At eight o'clock p.m. it was like this. The water was much higher. Maybe you remember some places where we had been on 30th May or in the morning of today.















The way with the little bridge, which leads to the small island, was closed now.









I'm still behind the barrier, because it was much safer there.



We took this photo standing on the bridge - hard to believe, that it was only a few hours ago, that we walked along the way under the bridge (maybe you remember the photo?)

I had the chance to go to school today and learn more about the federal state Baden-Württemberg. Bruchsal is a town in Baden-Württemberg.

Parts of river Rhine flow through Baden-Württemberg. It is the longest river in Germany with about 1,232 kilometres (766 miles).




There are also parts of Limes. A limes was a border defence or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.




There are many people in Baden-Württemberg, who love Sports. Some of them even took part in Olympic Games. On pupil told us more about them.




Schwetzingen is a German town situated in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Heidelberg and 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Mannheim. It was mentioned as "Suezzingen" for the first time in 766, recorded in the late twelfth-century Codex Aureus of Lorsch, but there are already traces of settlement from the Stone Age. Schwetzingen Castle is the city's most famous landmark. Its gardens are also notable, as there are elements of French Baroque and the English garden style.




Ulm is situated on the River Danube and was founded around 850. 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.




Bruchsal is situated at the border to the hilly region of Kraichgau and Rhineland Planes.




Of course we can't forget the Black Forest, when we talk about Baden-Württemberg. There are the Southern and Northern Black Forest. In the south part you find the highest mountain of Baden-Württemberg is Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft).




Typical for the Black Forest are the Black Forest Houses.




Mannheim is situated at the rivers Rhine and Neckar. It is the second or third largest city of Baden-Württemberg. Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that its streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, leading to its nickname "die Quadratestadt" ("city of the squares"). The eighteenth century Mannheim Palace, former home of the Prince-elector of the Palatinate, now houses the University of Mannheim.

The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm, a water tower just east of the city centre.

Mannheim is the starting and finishing point of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.




Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee ("upper lake"), the Untersee ("lower lake"), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.

The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps. Specifically, its shorelines lie in the German federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg




One girl even needed two posters to show so many interesting places of Swabian Jura. It is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km (140 mi) from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km (25 to 43 mi) in width. It is named after the region of Swabia.






Stuttgart is the main city of Baden-Württemberg and the largest city, too, with a population of 613,392. (2011) Stuttgart is spread across a variety of hills (some of them vineyards), valleys and parks – unusual for a German city and often a source of surprise to visitors who primarily associate the city with its industrial reputation as the 'cradle of the automobile'.

Once more we went for a walk through Bruchsal, because I still haven't seen some places here.

At first we walked through the Buergerpark. This park was created at the end of the 1980s when the city centre was re-designed and the Bürgerzentrum (community centre) built. There are two memorials to the Nazi victims; a third embodies international understanding, drawing upon Bruchsal’s town twinnings.






Here you see the tower of the ancient castle.




This is a reminder for the Nazi Victims.











Huttenstraße is one of the few streets with really old houses.




After a few minutes we reached our destination: The baroque palace of Bruchsal.
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".

Today, the palace is home to the Town Museum as well as the German Museum of Musical Automata.
The Chamber Music Hall provides the impressive setting for the Bruchsaler Schlosskonzerte.

On the right side you see the tower of the palace church, which is not next to the church, but at the end of a hallway, which leads to the church.




I'm standing in front of the backside of the palace.






There are four halberds as guards to the palace garden.



The palace garden, arranged symmetrically along the axis of the main tract, was originally viewed as an outdoor extension of the living spaces inside the palace with the plants serving as a living building material. The garden was intended to reflect the power and glory of its owner, which explains the extravagant fountains and sculptures. Work started on the upper garden in 1721 at the same time as the palace. From 1760, the garden was gradually transformed into a landscaped park following the English model yet without abandoning the basic Baroque structure. Today, the palace garden continues to provide an atmospheric setting for open-air concerts and the Bruchsal Summer Festival of Music and Drama.

Take part in an guided tour through the Palace Sonderführung,
visit an Open-Air-Concert or the Summer Theatre of Bruchsal Badischen Landesbühne.

At one crossing in the garden you find four statues of the four seasons. This statue is summer.




At another crossing I've seen the four statues of four elements: water, fire, earth and wind. This statue is fire.




View back to the palace.




I found a nice place to sit down a bit in the rosegarden.




Then we walked down the alley of chestnut trees.




On the right side of the left building I found a sun dial.






We walked through a gate to go to the front part of the palace.




Even Mozart was here with his father a long long time ago.




The building in the middle is the county court.




The building on the left side is the church and you can see the tower behind it. Sadly the church isn't baroque anymore. The costs were just too high to rebuilt it the way it was.




We leave the palace, but not the palace area.




Adjoining the outbuildings on the northern periphery of the palace is the Damianstor, a gatehouse featuring a low central archway flanked by two low side wings that secures the palace grounds to the north. Happily, it was escaped significant damage on 1 March 1945 and still provides a striking entrance to the palace grounds and the town centre. The upper rooms in the gatehouse were used as a prison at one time. The two entrances at the sides are later 19th century additions.

Today, the local art society "Das Damianstor" stages various exhibitions of contemporary art in the sections of the building directly above the gate arch.




I read about the palace - there's a lot more text in German than in English.




I'm looking at the county court.




This fountain is in front of the county court. It is called Amalienbrunnen.

Then we walked  to the "Stadtgarten", which is a park with another beautiful baroque building called the Belvedere.






This fountain is called Ferdinand-Keller-Brunnen.




My hosts and I love this lime tree.




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.

Behind the trees you maybe see a part of the Belvedere. There were many people around training for a play, so we didn't want to take photos there




This street leads along the Stadtgarten and you have a nice view over Bruchsal's houses from there. The large tower you see on the left is the only remnant of the ancient castle.






The green roof belongs to a part of the older people's house. In the far you can see the two towers of St. Peter.






The yellow-white house also is part of the older people's house. In the far on the left you see a grey building. It is the private grammer school St. Paulusheim, which belongs to padres of the Pallotti order. All houses between here and St. Paulusheim belong to the older people's house.






We were standing next to this building, while we took the photos before.




Then we walked downstairs and I found this Pieta.




Looking the way up again I could see the Wingerthaeusle, which was mentioned on the sign before.




Between two buildings of the older people's house I found this carillon, which plays once every day.




Here we are standing next to the grammar school St. Paulusheim, which I mentioned before.




We walked down the stairs again to go back to Huttenstraße. The house on the right still belongs to the older people's house. It is really large.






On the foot of the stair I found this sign, where I read more about St. Paulusheim.




Then we walked along Klostergasse, which is a small street with nice old houses. There was a sign about Ceratiten on a wall of a house. The lower part of this house's facade was built with limestone, which included ceratites, a type of ammonoid fossils.






I like this doorknocker.




Here we see the river Saalbach again.




Only a few minutes to walk now and we are back home.

Freilichtbühne Ötigheim is an open-air theatre in Baden-Württemberg. We were there to see "Schwarzwaldmädel", which was really nice. Nevertheless we sat too far away to take more photos.

Hello mum,

Today I arrived at the home of Murph and his friend GustavHH. They helped me out of my envelope.







Both prepared a small welcome party for me.







Murph had a special surprise for me. We had Sushi. But Murph and GustavHH didn’t know how to use the chopsticks.



I showed it.



But it was too difficult for both.



So we all used our fingers. It was faster and we had so much fun!





I arrived in time for their holiday.



The flat looked beautiful.



We will have a nice time here.



Many greetings

Matcha

Hello mum,

It was my first trip during the holiday – and I took this train.



Can you imagine where I went to? Not now? But maybe now?



Right – I was on the highest mountain of Northern Germany: the Brocken. First we visited the garden on the Brocken.



Even here there were blooming flowers.





I absolutely wanted to show you two photos of the train? Didn’t it look wonderful?





We had sunny weather – and had a great view. This is the direction to Torfhaus.



This tower was really high.



A funny sign – it seems that witches are dancing here.



Now you can see the place for sky jumping.



A bug destroys many of the spruces here – they looked scary, don’t they?



This was another famous building on the Brocken.



Then it was time to drive home. This loco will pull our train back into the valley.



What a wonderful trip!

Until soon

Matcha

Hello mum,

Today I went to the rosarium in Sangerhausen.







It is the biggest collection of roses of the world!





These are water lilies!



We definitely wanted to have a photo with this funny character.



More roses



And other beautiful flowers, too.



A wonderful fountain.



And surely more and more roses! You cannot imagine the wonderful smell here. 






We needed a short rest.



Roses are really beautiful!



… but not as beautiful as this lady… 



So many roses, such a good smell…



Let’s see, what we will do next

Yours

Matcha

Hello mum,

Today I want to show you the village where we are on holiday. This is the animal of the emblem.



I really loved this spring.



There were very old and big spruces in the forest. We wanted to see it.



What a disappointment. The old trees died.



In the spa garden we found a beautiful pond.



There were many fishes in it. Can you see it?



Isn’t this small river beautiful?



On the pond there were many water lilies.



At the end we found a mushroom, although it was very dry here.



Greetings

Matcha

Hello Mum,

I spend a great time here at the moment. But unfortunately the internet doesn't work.

Today I met some relatives - and they gave us the opportunity to upload one photo.

See me with Uncle Erwin, Aunt Traute, Murph and GustavHH.

More (and nicer) updates will follow next week. I have so many nice photos to show you.

Love
Matcha

Hello mum,

Today we took a trip into the forest.



There were many blooming wild orchids.





Here you can see an orchid at close range.



What a beautiful forest.



Have you ever seen a brown fly agaric? It really exists!



We took a rest at this hut.



Maybe you know this plant – it was the wild thyme.



Until soon

Matcha

Hello mum,

Wow, we found the paradise for TVs! Everything is in our size here. We could have a wonderful life in this house.



This is an old prison.



A beautiful church.



Another beautiful house! Should we live here?



This church is build from wood. Very beautiful!



These colorful pillars stood in the middle of the TV-Country.



Even the Brocken is here!



Another church 



And we have a train station, too.



A very big church…



We have a wonderful view of the Brocken at this house. Maybe we should move into it?



Supermarkets are here, too.



We can visit witches with this cable car.



Well – we have to work in this quarry…



… to have enough money for our new home! 



Goodbye mum, I will stay here!

Matcha

Hello mum,

Ok, we didn’t stay in the ‚Kleiner Harz‘…    Our last planned trip was too amazing – we didn’t want to miss it. We went to the place where the witches dance.



On our way to it we saw this great Climbing Park.





But we had no time for it! We wanted to take the cable car!



We took this cable car to the ‚Hexentanzplatz‘.



We saw funny sculptures. First the devil!



What should this be?



Eventuallly we saw a witch. She is a very famous witch.



We enjoyed this wonderful view during our walk around the Hexentanzplatz.



Then we had to go home.



This cable car took us back into the valley.



Wow, how exciting!



A view out of the window of the gondola!



And see this! The Gondola’s floor is out of glass! Great!



Tomorrow we have to go home. Our holiday here will be finished.

Until soon

Matcha