Travelog for: Ramses

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!



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

I've arrived in Sweden!    I'm a bit exhausted from the trip, but I'm very excited too! I relaxed for a bit on my new host-mums balcony. I accidently sat in a flower pot with citrus tyme, so now my behind smells like lemon, haha! 

I've made a new friend!  This is Pixie the cat, and she lives with my host-mum and my host-dad. Pixie and I get a long really great, I'm looking forward to getting to now her better! 
Also, my host-mum told me that the next couple of days will be a bit hectic here since all of their three kids are having their birthdays this upcoming weekend, and there will be lots of guests and stuff, so unfortunately, we won't be able to go out that much. But my host-mum has promised me that we'll do lots of fun things after the weekend!  And besides, I think I really need a few days just to relax. 
Here is a picture of my new friend Pixie and me! 

What a weekend! I had so much fun, there was a lot of guests and celebrating, since we celebrated 3 birthdays here at my host-mum's. And I had soooo much cake, it was great! )
And today I was at a dinner party, since it was my host-mum's mothers birthday. I had loads of good food, but I'll tell you all about that tomorrow, and show photos too.

Here I am at the dinner party I attended yesterday, at my host-mum's mother's birthday.  We hade such great food and a great time!

I'm learning how to scrapbook! My host-mum Anna is really into scrapbooking, and she has showed me how.  It was really fun! I had no idea how creative I could be! 

I'm off!  Tomorrow my host-mum is going away for almost a week, and she's taking me with her, yay!  She's bringing her camera too, so we can take pics of stuff we do together.
I'll update my travelog when I get back! 

Here I am at a picnic!  We're at a place called Omberg, which is a place where a lot of animals and plants are protected by law, so I thought this was a perfect place for me and my friend Shaggy Bear.