Travelog for: Snegovik

Petra asked Pebbels, Ted, Curly and me, whether we would like to join her and visit the third graders. She told us, that she teaches them, how to weave. They try to make a pincushion shaped like a ladybug - ladybird, when it is ready.

I think, I forgot to tell something about the history of Bruchsal.
Bruchsal was first named in 976 A.D., but since a few weeks we know, that it must be even older than this. They found something next to a church and realized that this is really old. I had been very curious to get to know more about this, but the weather was so terrible, that we had no chance to go there.
So you only see the most interesting places here. Petra was in a hurry, so the photos aren't that great she says.
Here you see the backsite of the palace and a part of the palace garden. The palace was nearly completely destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt around 1973.

Because the weather was much better than the days before, we drove to Untergrombach, which is one of the suburbs of Bruchsal. The Michaelsberg, a small hill - only 296m high, belongs to Untergrombach. You have a wonderful view over the Rhine valley and if the weather is very very good, you can see the Palatine Mountains in the far.
3500 - 2600 BC first signs of humans had been found on this place, the "Michelsberg culture".

This view shows a part of Bruchsal, which is at the border between Rhine Valley and Kraichgau.




The quarry pond belongs to Untergrombach, which you see on this photo. This is the best view to see the Palatine Mountains on the horizon, but today we had no luck.




You see another part of Untergrombach. You see, that it is also to the border of the Kraichgau.






This nice chapel is called Michaelskapelle and it is on top of the Michaelsberg. Petra told me, that there are many couples, that want to marry in this chapel.




Here you see so-called "Steinriegel" (field clearance cairn), made by people working on their fields a long long time ago. They threw the big stones from their fields to the border of the neighbour's field, so that in the middle all stones were accumulated. Many animals and flowers love this gaunt places and that's why a few weeks ago, people cleaned the Steinriegel from all the earth, that came between the stone during the many many years and from all the other plants, that love to grow in earth.




Another word I learned is "Magerrasen" (neglected grassland), which is typical for the Michaelsberg. The town you see is Untergrombach.




The Michaelsberg is nature reserve area, I'm sure, you already realized this too. There are beautiful rare flowers and animals.

I had a really great day today. The sun was shining and it was really warm. Now I believe, that it is springtime.
Petra woke up early and told us to get ready to for a walk. We were very curious and excited of course. First we bought some bread rolls for breakfast (only a few bakeries or open on Sundays) and then we brought Ralf to work (normally he doesn't work on Sundays).

And then we drove in the car for about 15 minutes. We sat in the rucksack and you can believe me, it wasn't the best way to travel.

After we walked a little bit, we found this sign:



It told us the rules, how we had to behave at this place.

Oh, you surely want to know, where we were. There is a small Japanese Garden not far away from Bruchsal in Münzesheim, which Petra was told, that it is really pretty. She never had been there before, but now she wanted to go there together with us.

So now look at the photos and enjoy!



















I saw a part of the Berlin Wall:




This building was very interesting, especielly the ceiling, which was made of white and blue bottles.

It's my last day here in Germany and Petra thought, that I should see this nice small park from where you have a beautiful view over Bruchsal too.

Here you see the Belvedere, which was a hunting lodge a long long time ago. It's a place for open air theatre and several other festivals during summer.


Not far away I saw this fountain.


I just love the beautiful trees in this park.






Just going out of the park you come to the place with this nice view over Bruchsal.
From left to right you see the tower of the old castle, the tower of the City Church Unsere liebe Frau and the tower of the Lutherkirche. The flat roof in front of us is a part of the new older people house.


Just turning a bit to the left site we see the towers of the baroque church St. Peter, which isn't far from Petra's home.


Here you see the rest of the older people house, also the white building behind the ones with the flat roofs belongs to these houses. The grey building in the far is a grammar school called St. Paulusheim. It is a house, that was founded by patres of the Pallotti order and still some patres live there and also are teachers at the school.



So now it is time to say goodbye to Germany.

Yay!!  I arrived safe and sound in South Africa.  I am quite lucky as we are going into winter,  so it is not that hot anymore ( I won't melt) .....thus we had to go enjoy some of the last rays summer has to offer....

We went to Gordon's bay, which is a small little seaside town not to far from Stellenbosch.

Looking for presents....

That looks like a good place to take a nap...

Staring of into the sunset before we hit the road again...

Cape Town....here we come!!!! (in the back you can see Table Mountain)

Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway to take a ride to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.

Oh Jippeeee,  my host mum decided to take me with her to the Good food and Wind Show at the Cape Town Convention Centre seeing as I am such a big lover of nice food.....

There were many exibitors with lots of different tasty types of different foods and wines....the Pesto's were some of my favourites...oh and the beer too!

Had a lovely ladies brunch today...not really sure why, but the food was yummie enough...

Uncle Samie's little shop...one of the oldest shops in Stellenbosch.  At the moment it is more of a tourist attraction,  but fun enough....I wonder what is inside??

Some springbok skins...and some very strange animals....luckily there are some sweets and funny foods too.
One of my favourites was the Wilson toffee's.