Travelog for: Ceryni

When we came home today, a new TV was already waiting for us! It's Jadzia Tam!

And at the same time we had to say goodbye to Moony. He is leaving to a new address already. We're sad to see him go...

Last weekend we went to a friend of our host in a town called Almere in the middle of the country. We didn't take too many pictures there, since we mainly watched television and relaxed there, but I do have some pictures to show you

This is me yet again on a Dutch train. The houses you see behind me are in Amsterdam.



Since it was really warm weather all weekend long, we sat outside in the garden. The mother of our host's friend had just cleaned up the garden and had taken away all the weeds, so don't you think it looks pretty?


Here we pose together with the dog that lives there. Her name is Buffie. Yes, as in the Vampire Slayer. Now, this was not a vampire slayer, she was pretty sweet, but she did look at us like she wanted to eat us. And apparently that's what she usually does to her toys

Since it was really warm all weekend long, we lay down in this comfy chair for a little while. The sun had already gone away, but it was still pretty nice like this


And because it was so warm, we got to share an icecream! It was vanilla icecream with strawberry sauce.

We met this giant Dora in the guestroom where we slept. And do you know what's so great about her? She speaks English! She teaches all the little Dutch children how to speak English. "Let's go!"

Today was another exciting day. Do we get any rest around here? We went to Leiden today. Our host had some errands to run there and we tagged along. I had already been here, but we did see some things that I hadn't seen last time. We went by bus and this was the first statue we saw once we arrived. A statue of Rembrandt!

Right behind the statue of Rembrandt was this nice building. Inside the building is a secondary school.

This was at the other side of the street.


Here I am in front of the Pieterskerk. Unfortunately lots of construction men were working on this building, so we couldn't get a better picture than this, if we wanted a picture without scaffolding. Do you see the picture with the two keys over the door? That's the coat of arms of Leiden.


This is all of us on a cache, a real geocache. This is where we left the travelbug that was sent to our host via Postcrossing. Our host had found this cache last year, so she walked straight to it, without a GPS this time.





Just look at these houses. They're so typically Dutch.







And then there was a surprise when we got home. Two new TVs were waiting for us! Their names are Resi and Chipper.

Last weekend we went camping. Our host was a First Aid volunteer at an event called 'Castlefest'. Our host didn't have much time to take a lot of pictures, but she took some, so you can see where we've been. Since we were camping at the location, this is everything we had to bring. Luckily we went by car this time.

On the first day we met this cute thermos. It was strange. I think this penguin would prefer cold drinks, but he contained coffee!

These weapons are used in LARP, which stands for Live Action Role Play. These swords are covered in foam so that they don't hurt if you get hit by them.

This horse looks so cool!

This construction is a 'stool of witches'. Here you can be tested whether or not you are a witch.

In the First Aid tent we met this nice couple. They look pretty cool, right?




He is really scary! You can't even see his face!

Girls playing the harp.

Some other girls with a large weapon.

This tree had a man in it! Or was it a treant? I don't know exactly what it was, but he had this really dark grumbly voice.

The Wickerman statue was burnt on Saturday evening. Unfortunately we weren't there at that moment, because we had to stay in the First Aid tent.

These helmets and weapons were for sale.

I think this man was hung there as a warning for others. It looked pretty frightening to me!

The polar man and this dog looked pretty good together, but the man was only posing with the dog.



People dressed in the most splendid outfits.

Suddenly we heard this loud roaring outside of the First Aid tent. What could it be? Oh no, it was a real dragon! But our host told us that this was a trained dragon and it was safe to pose with him. Well, I didn't feel too comfortable so close to him.





And now we're back home, safe in Leidschendam again, far away from knights, goblins and dragons. Phew, I think I'm gonna need some rest to recover from this weekend.

Today I left the Netherlands. I have been here for a very long time and I have seen many things. I have been to London, Amsterdam, Leiden, Ommen, Lisse and Almere. That's quite a journey for one TV!


Yolanda found it especially hard to say goodbye to me. She became quite attached to me and I to her.


Now I am on my way back home! Here I come, mom!

Hello there!
Sorry for just writing now but I have been very busy since I arrived back home safely.
Thanks a lot to my hosts, I had a real great time with you!
Perhaps I will go on another trip soon, I hope it very much!

Bye,
Ceryni

Hello!
I am very happy that I can continue my travels. I will start to Michele in the USA tomorrow! I hope I will have a quick and quiet trip!

Bye,
Ceryni

Hi Mom! I arrived in New York this afternoon. I'm off to take a nap so I'll update again later.

Hi Mum,

I'm back in Germany after a long stay in Canada. I will try to update as soon as possible, but right now my host is ill, nothing serious, but enough that she can't go on the computer for a longer time. She said, that she just wanted to let you know, that everything is fine.

Bye, Ceryni

Today evening my hosts had a dinner called "Würstchen im Schlafrock" (kilted sausages). My host wanted some fresh vegetables in it, but there was only one small piece of a tomato. They also had a beer called Rauchbier, so it was a very special dinner.

It is a time for baking cakes it seems. So here we are preparing a cake called Torta di Mandorle, a cake with many almonds.

Later we helped getting finished with decorating the house. There are so many nice little things to put up and maybe you will see more photos of everything later.

This is my hosts' favorite window decoration.




Here you see the advent calendar for our hosts' daughter. This year there are ships sailing on the sea.




There is a really frosty decoration in front of the entrance. I like it.








Finally here is the cake. It tastes great.





And here you see the decoration of the kitchen window.

It is the first day, that my host has time to bake some Christmas cookies. We were allowed to help her. Everyone had a special job to do. She put the Christmas CD into the CD player and we sang the songs together with her.

We start to prepare the dough for Husarenkrapferl and Vanillekipferl (crescent-shaped pastry or roll with vanilla) and Kokosmakronen (coconut macaroons) . I think, these are really funny names.

Today we have beautiful, but cold weather and we asked our host, if she would have time to show us some places in Bruchsal. She packed us in her rucksack. We still had about -12°C, what is rather cold in this region.


Bruchsal (orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle) is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km Northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.
Bruchsal is the largest city in the district of Karlsruhe and is known for being Europe's largest asparagus producer and one of the economic centers of the region of Karlsruhe


Bruchsal is located at the edge of the Upper Rhine River Plains and the Kraichgau along the Saalbach, which is a small tributary of the Rhine that joins it between Philippsburg and Oberhausen.
                                   
Ancient era and early Middle Ages
Excavations and artifacts that were discovered evidence a settlement existing on the Michelsberg (Untergrombach) as early as 4000 BC during the Neolithic. In the core of Bruchsal the oldest settlement discovered was dated back to 640 AD. It is located near the present Peterskirche, where I stay right now. The first mention of Bruchsal in official documents occurred in 976 when the King came to town. And during October of the year 980, Otto II and his Court stayed at the King's palace in Bruchsal for several days

1248 was the first time Bruchsal was referred to as a city and in 1278 St. Peters Church is mentioned for the first time. After extensive damage to both, the Palace and the Peterskirch were reconstructed in 1320. The Bergfried (an outlook and defensive tower bastion) was erected in 1358 and the city wall was completed in 1452. In 1460 the first coin was pressed in Bruchsal.


By April 24, 1711 Bruchsal had recovered sufficiently to play host to Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg Court in Vienna. Then in 1716 the Bishop of Speyer, Heinrich von Rollingen, moved his residence into the Bruchsal Palace. This move elevated the city's status to that of an official residence of the Diocese of Speyer. At the same time, Bruchsal became the seat of the "Vizedomamt", the most important office held by the Diocese on the West bank of the Rhine. In 1719 Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn became the new Bishop and after settling in he commissioned in (1722), among others, the new baroque château and the new Peters Church (from 1742). Both were built and, in part, designed by Balthasar Neumann. In the Bishop's honor, the Southern gate out of the château grounds is referred to as Damian's Gate to this day.


In the afternoon of March 1, 1945, Bruchsal was bombed. In addition to the 1,000 lives that perished that day, the entire inner city and the baroque château were destroyed. The baroque palace was rebuilt in the 70th.
   

That's enough of history now. I'm not sure, whether you want to read everything, but I thought, Petra should write a bit about Bruchsal's history. She used wikipedia and you will find more history and information there.

We went to see the palace. You see some small houses in front of the palace, which belong to the soon opened Christmas market. It is the back side of the palace.

   



The tower on the right side belongs to the catholic church St. Damian and Hugo.







There's a nice pond in the park, which is frozen right now.





There are statues, which show the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. And there are four statues showing the four elements water, fire, earth and wind.





There are some of the most beautiful and oldest houses of Bruchsal in Franz-Bläsi-Straße.

The Belvedere (Bruchsal) was originally designed as a Manor for fun and games, to which a shooting house was added for use in the shooting competitions often held by the Court. As time went by, the Manor was nicknamed Belvedere by the city's residents, as it enjoyed the best view of the city. The Belvedere is part of the City Gardens.




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