If it's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium - 11/18/08

If it's Tuesday, This Must be....Karlsruhe!  Umm, where?  Karlsruhe.  That apparent whistlestop west of Stuttgart, Germany...a stone's throw from the Rhine River, and north of Strasbourg, France.  Tiny little place.  Or so it would seem.  But what seems is not always so.  Follow me and see.

As I said, Karlsruhe is in Germany.  I traveled there by train...one of my 10 stops in 3 days (actually, I stopped in Frankfurt and Stuttgart twice each). 

It is a pretty small town I think, though it seems to keep going as I walked through it.  One of the first places I came across was a little zoo.  I didn't stop in the zoo, but there was a small walking bridge that crossed over part of it.

For some reason these two elephants turned their rather large backsides toward me.  Hmmpph.

Ah, unperturbed I continued on into the town to find this beautiful fountain in front of the ornately decorated church.  Look close over the entranceway.  And look close at the fountain.

A little further ahead was this really interesting fountain.  It reminded me of the famous Manneken pis in Brussels (look closely and you'll see why).

Water is going and coming from everywhere.  On the back side there is this girl shooting water into the dog.

I was actually quite lucky to be able to take these photos of the fountain.  On my way back a couple of hours later there was a guy there pressure washing it and had it all blocked off. 

Continuing on (and this was largely a straight walk once I got past the zoo) I came across this neat little center village area, complete with a flower market.  Oh, and this interesting pyramid.  I have to say that was a bit of a surprise (this is Germany, after all).

I also found this cool church nestled amongst the trees.  One of the dozens of churches I went in that weekend.

A few steps further (from the pyramid) and whoa.  Okay, the small town wasn't that small anymore.  First, check out these signs - there were about 12 or so of them, each with a different saying (and none of which I could read). 

I'm sure beyond the signs you noticed a little statue...okay, not so little.  Another look without the signs to distract you from the big house.

Okay, maybe it's not just a big house.  Maybe it's a castle (or perhaps a mansion).

I didn't even count the windows.  Figuring two or three window to a room.  Wow.

Unfortunately it was kind of closed.  Inside I got a glimpse of a museum (closed) and the interior (closed).  So I strolled back outside for one last close up.

And then I looked at my watch.  Darn, missed another train.  I think I spent the weekend missing trains and changing plans.  That's part of why I ended up finding a hotel in Cologne on the way back.  Ah, but it was fun.

That's all for this week.  Hope you'll come back next week and every week.  Who knows where I'll end up next.

Featured in If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium, International Travel (Here and Abroad), and Gather It All and Share It With Your Friends.