Vyšehrad Park,a weekend in Prague (26-27 August)

Prague  is one of my favorite cities in middle Europe , somewhere you can see much of history. I have been in this city four times , in different seasons and every time it has something new to surprise me. This time I had the chance to see the city , not from the eyes of a tourist, but from the eyes of a local person who showed me around, where i could never find by myself.  I send  my appreciation to the one and the only, Asar Quita ,who has the kind heart of an angel , and showed me this hidden park from tourists’ eyes.

 Vyšehrad Park,

This beautiful concealed part of the beautiful city Prague,  is located on a hill over the Vltava River . Walking around the park, we  can see a complete panorama  of the city, from the famous Prague Cathedral  to   the V tower, which will be the highest residential tower in  Czech Republic .

what I understood this time , by looking at the city from the   hill, is that most of the  houses’s roofs are covered by orange tiles. that gives  a unique  perspective to the city. They are everywhere between us and the world outside to the cathedral , to the river, to the city center , to the world outside the park.

There are many things to see in the park itself, among them is the  Vyšehrad Cemetery where is the  last resting  house for the body of many  composers,  sculptors, writers, artists, politicians and scientists mainly  from Czech Republic.

Walking further , stands the Basilica of St. Peter and St Paul, founded   by the Czech King Vratislav II in in 1070-1080 .

Here  is one of the  best place to relax and  meditate on the sound of the Basilica’s bell on a week day evening where all tourists are going to the city center , so better to be this way that they do not discover here .

 

 

 

Ammerschwihr,kaysersberg, and Riquewihr

Leaving Strasbourg toward Colamr by train . it takes around half an hour to reach the station. there I wait my friend who is picking me up and we go  further into Alsace. Thanks to Tibo who invited me to spend some days with him and his parents in their very beautiful house with a wonderful atmosphere of a lovely family in Ammerschwihr .

living for some years in the city of Munich, I have already forgotten how friendly and  people in smaller cities and village can be.  meeting his family reminds me of the time i was still child and visiting some of my own family members in a small village in the eastern part of Iran. where people has just one face ,invite you their own home and share with you their food with their kindness in their heart.

TIbo’s family  has their own garden in the house and their own farm , which gives them many sorts of fresh vegetables .

The very perfect place for a fresh breakfast

 

 

on the Evening Tibo drove me around to the neighbor city of Kaysersberg, which has been announce the France’s favorite town in 2017 .

On the way I  could  see the grape farms where  all the grape trees stand on a very perfect order, like  soldiers on an army, yes wine soldiers, the soldiers of joy and happiness on the land of Alsace.

 

 

passing the grape yards , we entered a city i could not believe my eyes, it was just the most colorful city i have ever seen . I do not know why, but it reminded me of Alice in wonderland .

the first street seen in Kaysersberg

Leaving Kaysersberg to the next city Riqquewihr , which in its own nature is nothing less than Kaysersberg . the city  with itscolorful houses also stands in front of grape yards.

grape farm Riquewihr

 

 

Thanks to my dear friend Tibo,and his family ,  who made this nice trip to this beautiful cities in Alsace possible for me.

 

Strasbourg

One  of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life is Strasbourg. The city is on the boarder of France and Germany.  Actually you can travel from France , Strasbourg, to the German city of Kehl by a tram and it costs only 1.7 Euro in one direction.

you can find people who speaks German as well.

a night,,a tram a city or maybe two.

I had only one day to see this city, so I decided to walk around and  inhale the beauty of the city on a sunny day in August.

walking from where I stay the first thing i saw was a long wall on a wide rive, Ill. getting closer to the wall , I understood it is barrage Vauban , a bridge made on 17th Century.

Barrage Vauban

But the interesting part of the walk started after climbing the bridge, where you can see the historical part of the city starts.

Here are some pictures of my day in Strasbourg :

 

last but not least  is the Cathedral , with its astonishing Gothic architecture, standing on the center of the city.

Starsbourg Cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral_ Left corner

The next day, i will continue my way to Ammerschwihr , a very nice village near Colmar.

 

 

Short trip to Stuttgart

one of the cities on the way of Neckar river is Stuttgart.  The city  is located in a valley between two mountain ranges Swabian Alps (Jura) , and Black Forest .  I needed around 2 hours from Munich to Stuttgart by train .

Arriving on the train central station of Stuttgart, I  could see the tree-pointed star on the top of the tower of the station, which means , in my view, welcome to the city of the Mercedes Benz .

Stuttgart Central Station ( Hauptbahnhof) _picture from internet .

Walking away from the central station, there I found myself in a big square , stuttgart königsplatz, with the status . you can read about this square  here.

stuttgart königsplatz

where i stay is not far from the Central Station , I need  is a Ubahn ticket and Ubahn Number 15 to Eugensplatz, where there is Galateabrunnen  , with the status of Nymph “a mythological spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations.” ( Internet) .

Eugensplatz Stuttgart_ Picture from : http://www.lightsniper.de/eugensplatz-stuttgart/

Just  some meters away from the Nymph status there is a Pharmacy  which sells alternative medicines , depending on what you need. Actually this Pharmacy is small cafe with friendly staff , called Apotheke.

Stuttgart_Eugensplatz_cafe Apotheke

Walking on the street I  could feel that the time for the main election in Germany is close. I do not know much about the German parties and their goals but I could relate easily with what is written on this poster :

Among different museums in the city, there is one which is standing as one of the strangest museum I have ever heard about, but come on, we are in Germany, so why should not have the most famous animal here its own museum ? I think you could guess it right what museum I  mean “schweinemuseum” , in English Pig museum , which in this moment is ranked No.28 on TripAdvisor among 151 attractions in Stuttgart.

Beside that, there are  Mercedes Benz museum and Porsche museum  in the city.

when you are an engineer every big structure made of Iron attracts  you. therefore when i saw  the 42-meter-high tower that stands on a simple sphere in the middle of the Killesberg Hill park, i just moved toward that like a piece of metal that is pulled to a magnet. from the top of the tower there is a 360-degree view of the city. on the top, I could also feel the movements of tower when people are walking on that.

the tower in Killesberg Hill Park

when you work 8 hours a day on different projects all related to Rail Vehicles, you cannot miss whatever related to trains in your holiday. therefore I checked the Stuttgart cable car “Standseilbahn ” in german first. This cable car starts on the top of the Südheimer Platz station and ends on the Degerloch forest cemetery. the cable car first operation was in 1929 , and travels around 540 mm length in 90 m height difference, in a short trip around 3 minutes.

 

It was a short summary of my short trip to Stuttgart on 14th to 15th August, the next day morning I would go toward Strasbourg.