Travelog for: Bluto

After a few minutes drive by car we arrived at the Großer Arbersee - big Arbersee. Großer Arbersee is a lake at an elevation of 935 m, its surface area is 7.7 ha. It's about 10 000 years old. At its west side the water surface is covered by about 2 hectare swinging grass. Over thousands of years these swinging grass islands reached a thickness of between 1 and 3 meters. So much about information, now I just want to show you some photos. I really enjoyed to walk around the lake.






Here you see the swinging grass islands.







View to the Großer Arber and to the edge between swinging grass and water surface.

Back at the hotel we all were really tired, but also much too excited. We saw a thunderstorm coming and we all had been really afraid of it, but our hosts wanted to sit on the balcony and told us to relax a bit on the balustrade. The thunderstorm wasn't that bad, but of course we had to go inside, when it began to rain.

Today the weather wasn't that bad, but it was rather cold in the morning. We wanted to see some animals in the Bayerwald Tierpark Lohberg. It's a 10 hectare area with a 1,5 km long circular path. Many pictures and texts inform about lifestyle of many animals.

Here you should see a bird - I've seen it




This is a compound for wolves. I've seen some young wolves under the tree, where you see the arrow.

When we had been to the other places the other days, we found many interesting folders. One of it showed the Baumkronenweg - treetop path- in Neuschönau. As for today the forecast hadn't been too bad, we hoped, that we could have a good view over the landscape there. We had to drive about one hour, but we had a good chat in our Rucksack - backpack. Then we had to walk to the path. Every now and then we had to read about the trees and animals, which live there.






At first the path wasn't that high. The path starts with the height of 8m, and ascends up to 25m. The real highlight of the path is the tree tower  with a total height of 44m.  Within the tree tower you will find three trees, so you can experience the whole life of tree, from the root to the top!
From the top of the tower you have an absolut fantastic panoramic view over the beautiful landscape of the Bavarian Forest, over the moutains and the wounderful dales.

It is very cold and rainy today, so we had to think about the activity a lot, because we had no chance to go outside so much. After going too our books and folders, Saphira asked us, if we could drive to Furth im Wald to visit the Erste deutsche Drachenmuseum - the first German Dragon museum. Of course we were hooked by this idea and so were our hosts. It's sad, that the museum was so crowded, that we nearly had no chance to take photos. It was a bit better in the city museum and then on the tower of the museum we were alone - nobody else did want to go outside in the rain and wind to take photos, but I think, that the photo there isn't that bad.
Furth im Wald is a town in the District of Cham, in Bavaria, Germany, near the Czech border. It is situated in the Bavarian Forest, 16 km northeast of Cham, and 17 km southwest of Domažlice.

After a rest at the hotel we drove to Zwiesel.

At first we bought some beer at this brewery.




Then we drove to the Zwiesel glass shop and took a look at the big glass pyramid.





We took all these photos from inside the car, because it was raining so heavily.

On our way to Engelsdorf we passed Neurandsberg again, but this time we stopped there to take a look at the Pilgrimage Church Our holy mother and at the ruin of castle Neurandsberg.
Neurandsberg is a suburb of Rattenberg just like Engelsdorf. The ruin of the castle is very small, there is only a bit left. The area is used as a place for special nature plants. You can't go inside, because everything is full of plants.
The church is late baroque, built from 1698 to 1700.

We are waiting for our host's husband, who gets some money from the savings bank.

It seems to be habit of Germans, that they drive to neighbour countries, if they are close to the border, just to get some more petrol or diesel for their cars. Usually it is just much cheaper there than in Germany. I thought, that we could go and see more of Austria, but the weather wasn't that great, so we decided to stay in Passau, Germany, for this day.

At first we drove to Mariahilf, so called Mary help. It is a pilgrimage church and you have a nice view over Passau from this place. Here you can read more about the history.







Here you see the cathedral of Passau, where we will go at next.





The white building on top of the left hill is Veste Oberhaus, which you will see later again.

St. Stephan's Cathedral, or "Dom St. Stephan" in German, is a baroque church from 1688 in Passau, Germany. It is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Passau and the main church of his diocese. Take a look at the link, if you want to see a nice photo of the whole church


Over time, the Passau Cathedral has acquired the largest organ outside of the United States. It is also the largest cathedral organ in the world. The organ currently has 17,774 pipes and 233 registers, all of which can be played with the five-manual general console in the gallery. wikipedia

Veste Oberhaus is a fortress that was founded in 1219 and, for most of its time, served as the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau, Germany.
Veste Oberhaus

The building is located on the mountain crest (St.Georgsberg) between the Danube and the Ilz rivers and dominates the city of Passau.

If you see well, you maybe can see the three rivers Ilz (only a small part, but the darkest and cleanest river of them), then the Danube and at last the Inn, which is the broadest river and brown.






Here you only see the Inn, but the Danube is behind the trees in front of us.




On the other side you see a white building. This is the pilgrimage church Mariahilf, where we were at first.

On our way home to Bruchsal we stopped at Regensburg. It is a beautiful old town, really interesting. The medieval center of Regensburg is Unesco World Cultural Heritage.
It is located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers.


The first settlements in Regensburg date to the Stone Age. The Celtic name Radasbona was the oldest name given to a settlement near the present city. Around AD 90 the Romans built a small "cohort-fort" in what would now be the suburbs.


The Regensburg Cathedral (German: Kathedrale St. Peter or Regensburger Dom), dedicated to St Peter, is the most important church and landmark of the city Regensburg, Germany. It is the seat of the Catholic diocese of Regensburg. The church is the prime example of Gothic architecture in southern Germany. It is also the home of the Regensburger Domspatzen ("cathedral sparrows"), a choir rich in tradition. wikipedia




It was so dark in the cathedral, that we only could take a photo without me.

When you walk through the medival part of Regensburg you come through very narrow streets. You hardly can see the sky and my host told me, that it is rather difficult to take nice photos there. Nevertheless it is really interesting and there are many beautiful houses.

We're not completely sure, but we think, that the white next to the light yellow house is the house where Oskar Schindler lived for about five years.




We took a photo of the sign there.  Oskar Schindler helped to save about 1200 Jews during Nazi time. He lived in Regensburg from November 1945 to May 1950, at first in this house and later he moved to another place.




Wealthy patrician families competed against each other to see who would be able to build the highest tower of the city. In 1260, the Goldener Turm (golden tower) was built on Wahlenstraße. In the Baumburger Turm (tower) is the Dampfnudel bakery.




In the centre of the Old City, on the way from the Kohlenmarkt to the Haidplatz, the Rathausplatz stretches between the narrow streets. In this central market the people of Regensburg erected the building complex of today’s “Old Rathaus” from the 13th century on. In the course of the centuries it has been added to and altered again and again.








Then we walked on to another narrow street.




The Stone Bridge spans the Danube with 16 arches and connects the Regensburg Old Town with Stadtamhof - which is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.




The Salt Warehouse, built from 1616 to 1620, stands in the immediate vicinity of the Stone Bridge and still bears witness today to the active salt trade. The city of Regensburg spent three years giving it an extensive restoration. The rooms with their majestic oak boards and pillars are today a popular location for the most varied events.

Herpa, or Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH, is a German manufacturer of die-cast model aircraft under the Herpa Wings trademark and plastic car models under the Herpa Cars & Trucks  trademark. The mainstay of Herpa Wings is in the 1/500 scale, although models are also produced in the 1/400, 1/200, and 1/1000 scales as well. Herpa Cars & Trucks are mainly produced in the 1/87 scale, although 1/120 and 1/160 scales are also offered.

Herpa also produces magazines for car & truck enthusiasts and model aircraft enthusiasts, known as Der Maßstab and WingsWorld respectively.