Travelog for: Alex_Kitty

This is my second and last day in Cologne. So it was time for some sightseeing.

First we visited the most famous sight: the Cathedral!
Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is a Roman Catholic cathedral. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. The cathedral is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people and 5 Toyvoyagers a day.

The construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.25 m (283.0 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires. Its two huge spires give it the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church.



Then we had a view over their famous river: the Rhine. It is a European river and the second longest river in Central and Western Europe. It is about 1,230 km (760 mi) in length.


This is the Hohenzollern Bridge which is crossing the river Rhine. It is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany. But that's not the reason why it is famous. Most interesting thing is the decorations! Since 2008 people have placed love padlocks on the fence between the footpath and the railway lines.


Meow & purr
Alex

This morning we left Cologne and went back home.
We really enjoyed our big journey!
Last thing to do here was saying goodbye to our nice host in Cologne. My brother Sean offered us a bed and did the lovely sightseeing tour.

Meow & purr
Alex

We are on tour again!

This time we went to the Harz mountains. Ok, we stopped a little bit before in a city called Halberstadt. No time for sightseeing, just some hiking. Mommy wanted to get a special stamp in her hiking book so we had to join her!
We went to a tower called Belvedere which was built in 1782.


From here we could see the highest mountain of the Harz: Brocken. Can you see it behind me between the trees? There was still some snow on the top.


And this is Halberstadt. It is famous for its sausages.


Meow & purr
Alex

We had some spare time left and went to the Alaris Butterfly Park in Wittenberg. It is one of the biggest butterfly parks in Germany. Its size is about 1000m² and you can find 140 different kind of butterflies.
We went here, because Squab is planning to fly to Canada. He heard of butterflies flying long distances from Canada to Mexico. So he told Sofia to have a small talk with her relatives about useful information.
It was really hot in this area! Too hot for a cute kitty like me! I decided to wait outside the hall. My fur even started to curl and I looked like a cat from the far east!

Meow & purr
Alex

Today we visited a flew market in Ferropolis, which is also called "the city of iron". We weren't interested in the market, we preferred to see the area. Ferropolis is an open museum of old huge industrial machines. It's an open air museum which contains machines from the mid-twentieth century. They can measure to 30 meters high, 120 meters long and weigh up to 1980 tons. Moreover, the area is used for several events like opera or music festivals like the Melt! Festival. These events seats up to 25000 people!
There are five big machines and everyone has its own name: Mad Max, Medusa, Gemini, Big Wheel and Mosquito.

This is Mosquito:


Mad Max on the left and Medusa in front of me:


This is the highest of all: Big Wheel.


I wasn't interested to climb up on Gemini. Not again! I did this so often. Mr. Shaun and Sofia really had fun to go there. Later I told them some more interesting things about that area, but I think they didn't realize it... Pffff....

Meow & purr
Alex

Today we went to Leipzig, the biggest city in Saxony. Sad, all shops were closed, so we went for dinner.
After that we visited the St. Nicholas Church which has long been one of the most famous in Leipzig, and rose to national fame in 1989 with the Monday Demonstrations when it became the centre of peaceful revolt against communist rule. The church was built in about 1165 around the same time Leipzig was founded. It is named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers, and is situated in the very heart of the city at the intersection of two then important trade roads, the Via Regia and Via Imperii. It is built partially in the Romanesque style but was extended and enlarged in the early 16th century with a more Gothic style. In 1794 the interior was remodeled by German architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe in the neoclassical style. The church has been a Protestant seat since 1539 after the Protestant Reformation, but the Catholic Church is allowed to use it too.

Meow & purr
Alex

And we are still in Leipzig. Today we went to the Botanical Garden...for some shopping! There was a cacti fair! All of us were allowed to do what we wanted!

I just walked around a bit, seaching for a nice place for a nap!


Meow & purr
Alex

We visited the Biosphäre Potsdam with a size of 7,000 m². It is an indoor tropical botanical garden located in Potsdam.

The garden contains approximately 20,000 tropical plants representing about 350 species, including orchids, epiphytes, and trees about 14 metres in height, including a palm grove and mangrove swamp. It also includes tropical crops, a waterfall, two lakes, and various types of tropical wildlife, including iguanas, snakes, spiders, frogs, geckos and pheasants, as well as a butterfly house containing about 30 butterfly species.

Meow & purr
Alex

We went to Potsdam again for some sightseeing.

First we went to the Russian colony of Alexandrowka, a small enclave of Russian architecture built in 1825 for a group of Russian immigrants. It's also including an Orthodox chapel. Since 1999, the colony has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's such a peaceful area and I really like it.


The next stop was in the two-street Dutch Quarter, an ensemble of buildings that is unique in Europe. It has about 150 houses built of red bricks in the Dutch style. It was built between 1734 and 1742 under the direction of Jan Bouman to be used by Dutch artisans and craftsmen who had been invited to settle here by King Frederick Wilhelm I.


Ok, we had Russian style and Dutch style, what was next? French style!

We visited the Sanssouci Park! It is the most popular attraction in Potsdam  2 km (1 mi) west of the city centre. In 1744 King Frederick the Great ordered the construction of a residence here, where he could live sans souci ("without worries", in the French spoken at the court).


First I wanted to send a postcard to all of my friends, but then I decided that you'd prefer a picture of me in front of the palace and the terraces.


Enjoy the pictures!

Meow & purr
Alex

It's me again!

We went to the Harz mountains for some hiking!
When we arrived to a small villages we jumped into an old train and traveled for about half an hour. When we went out of the train we were standing on the top of the world! Ok, it was just the top of the Harz mountains.
The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of Northern Germany. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. Ok, this must be one of the few days without fog!
The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils and I'm sure we saw some behind some trees.
There's a weather station on the Brocken peak which hosts a museum.


When we walked down the hill we found a path straight into the forest. Of course, we followed it. We walked and walked and walked and then there was the end! Somewhere in the forest. We turned and went back.


After walking 8km we were so hungry and realized that we didn't have anything to eat! Luckily we found some tasty blueberries. Yummy!


Meow & purr
Alex

Today we wanted to do a long walk at a lake, but unfortunately it started to rain heavy when we arrived. So we took just one picture within a small rain break!.
This is the Great Goitzsche Lake. It is a former coal mine which was flooded with the water of the river Mulde.
Its size today is 13,32 km² and the deepest point is 48m.
Maybe I can go back when the weather is a bit better.

Meow & purr
Alex

Our mission for today was a landing Antonov! In the early morning we went to an air base close to us. We heard that an Antonov AN-124 'Ruslan' is landing there for the first time.
The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. The An-124 remains the largest military transport aircraft in the world! Up to 150 tonnes of cargo can be carried in a military An-124.
Damn we had to wait for so long as the plane was delayed. But then we saw it close to us, flying really slow, passing nearly the half of the landing runway, falling down from heaven and stopped immediately. We never saw a plane landing that way! WOW!
It had a military helicopter inside its stomach which it carried back "home" from an exhibition in Washington DC. We didn't see the helicopter. A few minutes after the landing we went on by car...
Next stop: Airport Leipzig-Halle (LEJ).

Just a short time after the landing at the air base the Antonov started again and flew to Leipzig to get some service. Both airports are just about 70km away from each other, so it does not need as much time as we needed. But luckily we managed to arrive in time!
While waiting at LEJ we saw another AN-124. Can you see it next to that grey building?

Meow & purr
Alex

We did a journey to a city called Halle. It is an economic and educational center in eastern Germany. The University of Halle-Wittenberg is the biggest university in Saxony-Anhalt and one of the oldest universities in Germany. Together with Leipzig, Halle is the heart of the Central German Metropolitan Region. There are about 230000 inhabitants and the river Saale runs through the whole city. It is also called "City of the 5 towers".

Mommy told us a nice place where we could find a really nice panoramic view!

Behind me you can see Halle-Trotha which is the northern part of the city.


This is the center! Somewhere in the middle of the picture you can see the market church of St. Mary, which has four steeples. The two western octagonal ones are called Blue Towers because of their dark blue slate roofing. The other two Hausmannstürme are connected by a bridge and on this bridge was the city's fire watch. The church owns the original death-mask of Martin Luther. At the market square you can also find the Red Tower. Originally it was built as campanile of the older St. Mary's Church between 1418 and 1503. The Red Tower and the steeples of St. Mary's Church forms the five towers marking the city’s skyline.


Meow & purr
Alex

We used the day to visit Gondwanaland!
It's a 16.500 sqm tropical hall in the zoo of Leipzig. It was hot inside! About 25°C and a humidity of 65-100%. While we walked through the hall for hours we saw 100 different kind of animals, like sloths, monkeys, hippos etc... and more than 17.000 plants! This was so amazing that we missed visiting the rest of the zoo.

Meow & purr
Alex

We went to Lutherstadt Wittenberg today for a few hours. Mommy had to go to an exhibition of Lucas Cranach the Younger with her pupils. He's an old friend of Crawfish! It was a bit too boring for us Toyvoyagers so we decided to take a short walk through the city.

We first visited the market square. The white building on the left is the ancient town hall and in front of it you can see the statue of the famous Martin Luther. On the right you can see the Stadtkirche (Town and Parish Church of St. Mary's). The first mention of the church dates to 1187. Originally it was a wooden church.


Then we went to the Schlosskirche which is so much more famous then the Stadtkirche! All Saints' Church is a Lutheran church. It is the site where the Ninety-Five Theses were posted by Martin Luther on 31 October 1517, the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation. We couldn't visit the Theses, the church is in re-construction, it has to look perfect in 2017 when the event becomes 500 years!
Mommy told us that it is possible to walk to the top of the church. Sadly we didn't have enough time.


Meow & purr
Alex