Stuttgart, Germany - 18th August 2009
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we travelled to Stuttgart today. We got here by plane from Duesseldorf. We are visiting Katja's friend fam-united. Her husband picked us up here at Stuttgart Airport and we drove to Bruchsal than.
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Posted Aug 21, 2009, 6:39 pm
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somewhere, Germany - 19th August 2009
By: olgamaus
We are on our way to Heidelsheim now. We stopped the car here to show you the beautiful landscape.
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Posted Aug 21, 2009, 9:51 pm
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Michaelsberg, Untergrombach, Germany - 19th August 2009
By: olgamaus
In the evening we went to Michaelsberg, which is a hill in the district Untergrombach, about 270 m high. A chapel was built there in 14th century, the one you can find there nowadays was built in the 1740 years. Michaelsberg is a pilgrimaga site.
This area is one of the first nature protection areas. It is a landmark at the Upper-Rhine.
We went here for having dinner in a nice prestaurant. After we ordered our meals, we took a look around.
Here you can see the restaurant and on the left side part of the chapel.
This is the chapel.
We had a fantastic overview from Michaelsberg.
Than we returned to the restaurant.
Dinner is coming - yummy!
What is looking like the left-over of a storm-flood are delicious Maultaschen (muzzle bags), a Swabian (Baden-Württemberg) specialty food, consisting of an outer layer of pasta dough with a filling traditionally made of minced meat, spinach, bread crumbs and onions and flavored with various spices. Because Katja is a veggie, she ordered Maultaschen with a spinach-an-leek-filling, with onions and topped with melted cheese.
It's wonderful, I can tell you
In this region they also make a lot of wonderful beer. We had a large beer in a stein.
As you can see it was already getting dark than, so we went to the edge of the hill once more to enjoy the sunset.
Bye for today
Mister_Right
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Posted Aug 22, 2009, 8:27 am
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Bruchsal, Germany - 19th August 2009
By: olgamaus
When we came home Petra's kids had filled the pool. Katja made a paper boat for us, so we could take a boat ride in the pool.
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Posted Aug 22, 2009, 11:06 am
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Solingen, Germany - 23rd August 2009
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
today we made a long walk again. Katja showed us Schloss Burg, a medieval castle in the neighbour city Solingen. We walked there through the environment of Remscheid.
We walked through one of the valleys, several creeks are running here.
You can find steep rocks along the path.
We reached Solingen-Unterburg than, a really old district.
We had to walk uphill to reach the castle, which is situated high upon a hill above the River Wupper.
Behind the trees you can see the castle, still some time to walk.
We went to this outlook pavilion.
Wow! What a wonderful view! In the valley you can see Solingen-Unterburg.
the ceiling of the pavilion is painted with the crests of the surrounding cities. The one with the lion and the sickle is the one of Remscheid.
Finally we reached the castle.
Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" )
About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard.
In Thirty Years War (17th century) many parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.
In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft. For example someone makes soap, another makes brushes, then you can buy things that were used by knights for the kids, like swords and helmets.
The following photos were taken in the courtyard.
This monument is showing Count Engelberg II von Berg.
Here all sorts of wine are sold, especially wine made of fruits like apples, red currants, blackberries and more.
We also visited a shop where wool is sold. The shopkeeper was working at her spinning-wheel.
Katja bought double pointed knitting needles here, made of rosewood.
If you don't want to walk to the castle, you can use the ropeway. Here you can see how steep this slope is.
We walked home than.
We had to cross River Wupper, which is flowing through Solingen-Unterburg.
We also walked underneath Germany's highest railway bridge, Muengsten Bridge. It is 107 m high.
My feet are aching and I am sooo tired ...
Bye
Mister_Right
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Posted Aug 24, 2009, 2:48 pm
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Duesseldorf, Germany - 2nd September 2009
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we visited Düsseldorf today.
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is situated on the River Rhine, and is renowned for its many events and also for its fashion and trade fairs. We went here by train and started our trip at MediaHafen (Media Harbour), a former harbour which is now a modern business quarter.
First we saw an interesting building called "Stadttor" (city gate).
This is the old harbour, now a modern business quarter with a lot of interesting buildings.
We walked towards River Rhine than.
There is a bridge overspanning the inner harbour. From here you have a great overview.
From here you can also take a good photo of Rheinturm (Rhine Tower), a telecommunication tower with a rotating restaurant behind the windows.
Katja showed us the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the parliament.
Finally we walked towards the old town of Düsseldorf, along River Rhine Promenade.
Close to the city the promenade is full of bars.
We saw that one of the excursion boats was just coming home. It should start its tour about 10 minutes later, so we decided to make a boat trip. The trip was supposed to last for about 90 minutes.
From here I had a look at the Altstadt (old town). The Düsseldorfer Altstadt is known as the longest bar in the world (»längste Theke der Welt«), because the small old town has more than 300 bars and discotheques.
We were off than, downstream first.
In the meantime the boat made a turn and was going upstream.
We went into town than.
This is part of the Altstadt with its many bars and pubs.
We enjoyed a Altbier here, a special beer which is only brewn in this region.
Next I will show you the old city hall, situated in the old town.
We bought some postcards and a funny fridge magnet.
This is the famous Königsallee, a shopping street where you can find exclusive clothings, jewels,shoes and other accessoires.
We were already on our way back home when I saw this monument showing one of the former German Emperors.
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Posted Sep 2, 2009, 9:55 pm
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Wuppertal, Germany - 17th September 2009
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we made a trip to Wuppertal, which is the neighbour town of Remscheid, famous for the worldwide one and only Monorail Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn). Wuppertal is the largest city of the region "Bergisches Land" with about 355.000 inhabitants.
We met Katja's friend BlackCat here. BlackCat had tickets for a concert in the evening, it will take place in a stone pit. The main act is Razorlight, the German band Kilians will be performing first.
But it was only afternoon and so we took a walk around the city.
Here is a first photo taken from the bus station with a first view across the city centre.
When you enter the city centre the first thing to see is the Schwebebahn.
The trains are coming in and out every five minutes. Barney was here also the first time, he arrived at Katja's home just today. He was as amazed as me to see such a funny train.
The suspension railway travels along a route about 13 kilometres long, about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper and approximately 8 m above the city streets. At one point the railway even crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes.
We walked into the city centre than. Here we are in front of one of the shopping malls.
We took a group photograph here, next to a funny fountain. I am sitting here with my new friends Pinkz, Nippy, Barney and the TVs which are travelling with BlackCat.
In the shopping mall they have an exhibition showing desert animals. Katja soon found her favourite. It is not a reptile but a furry one.
A sand rat. Katja loves rats, she is keeping pet rats herself.
The next photo is showing the city hall with a market place and a large fountain in front of it.
We walked along the pedestrian area than.
I saw this funny statue here. It's name is "A new day at work". I have never see you doing a handstand before going to work, Mummy. Katja says she would also be going to work with doing it every morning.
"Luisenviertel" is a pretty quarter with lots of bars and restaurants.
We decided to walk along river Wupper for a while.
So here is the Schwebebahn again ...
This is one of the most modern stopping points.
We went inside the train station to have a look at the incoming trains.
The boy at the window was making jokes for us
The Schwebebahn is crossing the streets at some points.
We reached a quarter where the worldwide known chemical industry concern Bayer is situated. Pharmaceuticals are produced here.
We decided to take a ride with the Schwebebahn to get to the concert.
We were waiting for our train.
The concertgoers cannot get to the stone pit themselves, they will be taken there by shuttle bus.
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Posted Sep 19, 2009, 10:38 am
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