Kallmuenz is only a small municipality located near Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany but also a beautiful place. This is true especially if you love nature. You see in the picture here that Red building, that is the old Rathaus or Municipal Hall. You can also see in the photo the castle ruins of Kallmuenz. I was already on the castle one time. We had a great time as we went walking the other Sunday here..cool place!

We went walking last Sunday in Hohenfels. The weather was very nice with sunshine and cool wind. I still have to wear a wind breaker jacket to avoid getting when I sweat. I am lazy to go walking but my husband forced me to go with him. I guess it was a great idea because I was again with the nature and don't need to take HGH. As we went walking, I saw a lot of flowers, trees and plants that already bear flowers of different colors.

You see that yellow flowers in the background, those are the wild Loewenzahn Blumen or the Dandelion flowers. The other white flowers are the Magnolia. This is the beauty of Hohenfels..a very nice surroundings and nature. I love it here. This is my new home in Germany! have a blessed day to all!

Visit this time the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. We had a trip in Cologne last June 2007. It was only a short trip but a very nice one. Cologne is known for its historical Cathedral being one of its famous landmark. We had a tour guide as we visited this city which gave us more information especially the Cathedral. find below a little info about Cologne.

The picture on the side was taken by a friend as we visited Cologne. Cologne is truly very rich in history. find below a little info about Cologne Cathedral.



Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria) is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is renowned as a monument of Christianity, of Gothic architecture and of the faith and perseverance of the people of the city in which it stands. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The cathedral is a World Heritage Site, being one of the best-known architectural monuments in Germany, and Cologne's most famous landmark, described by UNESCO as an "exceptional work of human creative genius".[1] Cologne Cathedral is one of the world's largest churches, being the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surpassed by the single spire of Ulm Cathedral, completed ten years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world.

The choir of Cologne Cathedral, measured between the piers, also holds the distinction of having the largest height to width ratio of any Medieval church, 3.6:1, exceeding even Beauvais Cathedral which has a slightly higher vault.

Construction of the Gothic church began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete – a period of over six hundred years. It is 144.5 metres long, 86.5 m wide and its two towers are 157 m tall.

Cologne Cathedral, despite having been left incomplete during the medieval period, eventually became unified as "a masterpiece of exceptional intrinsic value" and "a powerful testimony to the strength and persistence of Christian belief in medieval and modern Europe", as was befitting a worship-place of the Holy Roman Emperor and the traditional shrine of the Three Kings. for more infos visit this url, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral

How many times, I have been to Nuernberg? I can't exactly remember! sorry guys. Nuremberg as it is called in English or Nuernberg which is written as Nürnberg in German is a city in the German state of Bavaria. I always go in this city if I feel bored sometimes. Nuernberg is a great place for shopping. They got everything here. I also go here if there are big sales in different shops like summer sale of winter sale. I also love to go to the festivals here especially the so-called Chriskindlemarkt or Christmas market in which this city is very famous all over the world. There are a lot of small stalls and kiosks that sells different stuffs during Chriskindlemarkt. One thing I noticed, they don't use barcode scanner. For any reason, I just don't know. have a great day to all..time to have a short break!

This was taken during the Oktoberfest last year in Munich. Afar is the Bavaria Statue that symbolized Munich in the state of Bavaria, Germany.. I also went up to that building near Bavaria Statue. You can see this statue if you visit the famous Oktoberfest. They are located in Theresienwiese where the Oktoberfest is held every year!

The weather was very friendly today. We had a blue sky and it was sunny. It was also windy which made it a little cold. I need to have wind breaker jacket so that I don't feel cold. Thanks goodness that I had one in our car. We went around walking in Hohenfels near the US Base until we decided to drove to Poellenraid, a place near Hohenfels. The photo you can see here with the trees background is located near Gate 5 of the US Base. We should go walking inside the forest here but since it is wet and muddy, we decided to find another place in Poellenraid.

See that blue sky in the second photo, very beautiful background! I love nature that's why I also love the place where we live now. It was truly a beautiful day spending with nature!

You can already start to see these colored Easter eggs sold in German grocery shops or supermarkets as early as the start of the year. Having Easter eggs on the table during Easter season is already a a culture and tradition in Germany. Some people especially the children are helping to color eggs which are use for games or simply for eating during Easter season. Instead of coloring cooked eggs, I rather buy it every week in the grocery shop for use as consumption. I guess I need appetite suppressants to lose calories from eggs that I ate during Easter season! See these beautifully colored eggs in the photo? I even took this photo which served as offering inside our church.

Our trip to Trier last January 2008 was a good one. We rode in a train from Landstuhl to Trier with a cheap Wochenende Ticket or weekend ticket which is good for 5 adult persons. Trier is a city that is full of history. It claims to be the oldest city in Germany. Please read more below for more info! I'm really very sleepy now! Good night and have a great weekend!

"Trier (French: Trèves; Luxembourgish: Tréier; Latin: Augusta Treverorum) is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC. Trier is not the only city claiming to be Germany's oldest, but it is the only one that bases this assertion on having the longest history as a city, as opposed to a mere settlement or army camp. It is also one of the few cities in Europe that have been capitals of the Roman Empire.

Trier lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of ruddy sandstone in the west of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, near the German border with Luxembourg and within the important Mosel wine-growing region.

Trier is the oldest seat of a Christian bishop north of the Alps. In the Middle Ages, the Archbishop of Trier was an important ecclesiastical prince, as the Archbishopric of Trier controlled land from the French border to the Rhine. He was also one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

With an approximate population of 100,000, Trier was until 2005 ranked fourth alongside Kaiserslautern among the state's largest cities, after Mainz, Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Koblenz. The nearest large cities in Germany are Saarbrücken, some 80 km southeast, and Koblenz, about 100 km northeast. The closest city to Trier is the capital of Luxembourg, some 50 km to the southwest.

Trier is home to the University of Trier, the administration of the Trier-Saarburg district and the seat of the ADD (Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion), which until 1999 was the borough authority of Trier. It is one of the five "central places" of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Along with Luxembourg, Metz and Saarbrücken, fellow constituent members of the QuattroPole union of cities, it also forms a central place of the greater region encompassing Saar-Lor-Lux (Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg), Rhineland-Palatinate and Wallonia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trier

"Better Late than Never", as what one of my favorite quote says! I spent a great Easter last Sunday with my husband. We plan to have a cruise at Donau or Danube River but we indeed up walking in Kallmuenz. The reason was, we woke-up late and we didn't catch up the cruise anymore. It was a great weather last Sunday, the reason why a lot of people also went walking in this place. Kallmuenz has two rivers namely Vils and Naab. We also went inside their old Church named St. Michael. Again, I was fascinated by the beautiful frescoes or paintings on the ceilings of the Church.

Kallmuenz is a small but beautiful town located near Regensburg. It is around 15-20 minutes drive from where we live. I guess if I go walking in this place everyday, I don't need to take phenphedrine to wash away my excess fat..hehehe...have a nice day guys! feel free to visit my other sites for more updates!

p.s. the beautiful views of the castle in Kallmuenz, Germany..thanks to mein Schatz for the photos!

I know that it is still too early to talk about one of the world's greatest feast, the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. I was there for the first time last year. It was a great experience, believe me! Even I did not drink a single drop of beer which most visitors do, drink till you drop but I still enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching all the busy people around especially inside the huge beer tents. The one that you see in the photo is only one of the many tents in the Oktoberfest. Would you believe that this tent named Schützen-Festhalle with Löwenbräu brewery can host around 4,400 guests inside its tent. The biggest tent,Winzerer Fähndl with Paulaner brewery can host around 8,450 guest and visitors inside its tent and 2,450 guests outside its tent. That is around 11,000 people! Can you imagine that? if you want to party in the Oktoberfest this year, you better book your hotel and place inside one of the tents. For your information this year feast will start on September 19 to October 4, 2009..I'll see you there!

ETYMOLOGY OF EASTER from Anglo-Saxon and German

The modern English term Easter developed from Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre or Eoaster, which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to Eostur-monath, a month of the Germanic calendar attested by Bede as named after the goddess Ēostre of Anglo-Saxon paganism.[8] Bede notes that Eostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April, and that feasts held her in honor during Ēostur-monath had died out by the time of his writing, replaced with the Christian custom of Easter.[9] Using comparative linguistic evidence from continental Germanic sources, the 19th century scholar Jacob Grimm proposed the existence of an equivalent form of Eostre among the pre-Christian beliefs of the continental Germanic peoples, whose name he reconstructed as *Ostara.

The implications of the goddess have resulted in scholarly theories about whether or not Eostre is an invention of Bede, theories connecting Eostre with records of Germanic folk custom (including hares and eggs), and as descendant of the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn through the etymology of her name. Grimm's reconstructed *Ostara has had some influence in modern popular culture. Modern German has Ostern, but otherwise, Germanic languages have generally borrowed the form pascha. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

You can always have cheap shopping to fit your budget. I thought all things before in Germany are all expensive. Now I already know where to go and when to shop for special items with special prices. Just the other week, we went to Zweibruecken to shop in the Designer Outlet. I found a lot of stuffs that are really very cheap. I bought some branded items as presence when I go home for vacation this year. For sure the recipients will be very happy.

Do you also love to go shopping? How about shopping online and look for weekly sale. Buy.com have it all. I just found a very cheap HP Mini Notebook for only $279.99. isn't very very cheap. The problem is, I don't know if they ship items in Europe. Or else I will request my sister in Las Vegas to buy for me. I also found some external hard drives with 1 terabyte memory for around $100.00..really very cheap compared here in Europe! Are you looking for anything? go to buy.com!

How many times I have been to Landstuhl already? I had a walk with a friend in this town once but we always passed this place when we visit everytime good friends in Ramstein, Miesenbach which is around thirty minutes drive from the city of Kaiserslautern. The photo first photo I got on the left side is the small chapel of the cemetery which is located at the back. The second photo is the Church in Landstuhl. Sad to say, we were not able to go inside because it was closed that time. Hopefully next time again. To give you more info of this municipality, please continue reading below.

Landstuhl is a municipality of over 9,000 people in southwestern Germany. It is part of the district of Kaiserslautern, in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the north-western edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 10 km west of Kaiserslautern.

It is perhaps best known in the United States of America because of the U.S. Army's medical installation. The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) post, is often the first stop for American casualties leaving the ongoing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ramstein Air Force Base is also located nearby.

The earliest traces of human settlement in Landstuhl are from 500 B.C. From the Celtic period is the “Heidenfels” (i.e heathen rock), which was a holy site even into Roman times. From the Roman period is a settlement from the 1st Century A.D.

In the 15th Century, the von Sickingen noble family assumed responsibility for Landstuhl and the surrounding area. The most famous member of this family was Franz von Sickingen. Franz von Sickingen built his castle in Landstuhl – Burg Nanstein (the most visible landmark in Landstuhl and the surrounding area) - into a dominating fortress. From this base he moved to expand his domains by conquering other parts of southwestern Germany.

After several defeats, von Sickingen withdrew to his castle and was besieged by Richard Greiffenklau, Archbishop of Trier, and the Counts of the Rhine and Hesse. During the bombardment of Nanstein, Franz von Sickingen was killed. The castle was later expanded by von Sickingen’s descendants, but it was destroyed by the French in 1689.

Landstuhl is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Landstuhl.

Landstuhl is also known for being the birthplace of Rob Thomas, the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, former German basketball player Shawn Bradley and LeVar Burton, an actor best known as Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation,Young Kunta Kinte/Toby in Roots, and the host of the PBS series Reading Rainbow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landstuhl

We were in Kaiserslautern last weekend for a bus trip to Paris, France. We don't have the chance to visit The Japanese Garden for the second time due to time constraints. At least we were there last June 2007. It was almost two years ago.

The Japanese Garden was opened in Kaiserslautern in April 2000 and belongs to the largest gardens of its kind in Europe. You can experience here the beauty of nature and can also take some rest and meditation. There are selected plants in this garden. Beautiful ponds, waterfalls, fishes, lantern lights and stone arrangements also create an atmosphere of the Far East where body and soul come to take some moments of rest.

If I have to go walking in this beautiful garden everyday, I believed I don't need Lipovox anymore! have fun viewing this site!

p.s. the photo above was taken last June 2007 during our visit to the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern or Ktown as called by the Americans

This a funny story. Two weeks ago, I read in the newspaper about a trip to Berlin, Germany. I have not been to Berlin yet. Berlin is one of the target cities I am planning to go to. Anyway, in the advertisement that I read, it says; "3 days 2 nights including hotel with breakfast buffet for only 29.00 Euros". Imagine for only 29.00 Euros for that trip! I can't let it go! After the time I read it I immediately called the number in the newspaper. I have not started to talk yet and only mentioned about "trip to Berlin". The lady who answered told me immediately like this, "Sorry Ma'am, that is a printing error. The correct cost of the trip is 129.00 Euros".

At least I asked and knew about it. It was an experience. I am still planning to have a trip to Berlin anytime this summer. I guess it is a better time to enjoy more the trip rather than in winter time. I'll see you later guys, I need to take a look about New York City hotel. I am planning to go here too next time! have a great day to all!