Showing posts with label Castle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Castle. Show all posts

Friday, October 1, 2010

Photo Shoot

So my friend Shaunna from : Captivus was in need of some family pictures, so…
I volunteered to do the Photo shoot!
And since she is a funny chickita and her husband is a “smart…” I really had to go and try my best to get a few good pictures! Right?
And believe me… It isn’t easy with that dude!!Anyway… Love what I got at the end. Miss you Shaunna!!
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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Heidelberg Castle Illuminations

Miss Charm has the most beautiful view of Heidelberg. So needless to say that when she invite us to come for grill and view of the Fireworks display. We all jump and say: Oh YEAH!!!


If you haven't had the chance to go to one. There is one every month during the summer months. so check out the Heidelberg city website (tourist office) and you'll find the date.


Saturday, February 27, 2010

Schwetzingen Castle Garden Visit

This past week we have been bless with “spring” weather! Cloudy but concidering the fact that we didn’t see too much sun lately it was SUNNY!! So, of course I use this to open my windows everyday ALL day, instead of just a few minutes in the morning.

Then I recharged my camera battery and on Friday (since it was the only day of last week when I wasn’t busy) I took out!!
Camera in the bag & hat on my head. It was a pretty day, but lots of wind, so the clouds full of rain will come and go as fast as you could take refuge under a tree! LOL! BUT I did have a great time, I went to the Schwetzingen castle.

Here is a little info about the castle for those of you who one day will go around the garden, like I did!
Schwetzingen was the summer residence of the Electors Palatine Karl III Philip and Charles Theodore. It is situated in Schwetzingen, roughly equidistant from the electors' seats at Heidelberg and Mannheim, and is most notable for its spacious and ornate gardens. Other than these exceptionally well preserved gardens and the castle proper, the compound also features one of the few surviving theaters in the rococo style.


The Palace Garden
The Garden Complex was created in Schwetzingen based on the example of Versailles and is unequalled anywhere in Europe.
The Schwetzingen Palace garden consists of two parts:
• The Symmetrically designed French baroque Garden with the Arion fountain in the center and
• The English landscape garden, this lies around the large pond and its arced canals in planned naturalness.
The Baroque garden is divided into the parterre, hedge zone and forest section. An unusual feature in Schwetzingen is the circular parterre formed by the “Zirkelbauten” (Quarter-Circle Buildings) and the vine-covered galleries, which distinguishes it from all other of the period.
The Schwetzingen gardens, like all baroque gardens, are oriented on the center axis of the palace.

The main avenue is the reference point for all parts of the gardens. This idea embodies the concept of the absolute ruler: All parts of the estate are based on him; his glory shines like the sun over everything; his entire surroundings reflect his importance.

With his building and landscape architects Nicolas de Pigage and Friedrich Ludwig Sckell, Carl Theodor, with his love of art and the good things in life, realized a garden complex which shows the intellectual history and fashions stretching from the baroque to the enlightenment to the Romantic period:
• The gardens, with their use of antique mythology (e.g. in the Temple of Apollo and the figure of Arion on the dolphin), becomes a Baroque stage for courtly life.
• The reasonable rationalistic view of the Enlightenment is reflected in the geometry of the circular parterre.
• In accordance with the ideas of the Romantic period, the concept of the gardens approaches nature with its imitation of natural moods and landscaped areas.

In all ages a multitude of fountains, cascades, lakes, ponds and channels bring movement into the gardens. Statesmen, artists and scholars of the highest rank met at the Palatinate Summer residence in Schwetzingen for the purpose of enjoying the opera performances and the magnificent courtly life. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave concerts here and Voltaire was a guest here. Schwetzingen later irresistibly attracted Romantic Friedrich Holderlin and Freiherr Von Eichendorff.

The Mosque was built as a Garden Folly.

For those of you who want to see more pictures from that day, follow the link below. They are "sharing" so don't expect the qualities to be "Perfect". You know how to contact me if you want a print of it! LOL!
Schwetzingen Castle Blog ready

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg. Alsace, France

On the "long" weekend of November. We decided to go on a little road trip to Alsace. I offered my friend Vanessa and her family to come along. (To bad that we didn’t have more room in the car, cause we were wanted our friend Lucile to come too), but we will do it another time with her, even if we have to take 2 cars. Maybe in spring when the trees are having more green on them! ;-)
The day before when talking we were wanted to go see the “Citadelle de Bitche” but it was closed since the weekend before, so we left it to not going to get our mug shot in front of the sign that actually say “Bitche”! I guess another trip is necessary to get that done! ;-) Then we were going to go into one of the “bunker” of the “Ligne Maginot”, but spending 3 hours in a dark tunnel that only have military museum info, didn’t sound appealing to us girls. And we couldn’t fathom what the kids will say about it either?
So instead we typed in “Chateau de Koenigsbourg” in the GPS and followed the road to it. We stopped at a nice little “thai-Vietnamese” restaurant in the city not too far from the castle. And after a good meal, we all got in the car and went up the road!
What a beautiful view. The colors of fall were all over. It was just amazing. We arrived to our destination (as the GPS lady will put it) and knew that we wouldn’t regret it!
For those of you who want more info about the castle and the why and what about it. Here are some links that you can follow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_du_Haut-K%C5%93nigsbourg
http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en
Needless to say that we had the best time with our good friends. We took tones of pictures, since Vanessa is a mini copy of me (well in brunette, Vietnamese style, and very light version of me) but on the pictures taking, we are the same!! LOL!!
So here are a few slideshow of the best of the pictures!! Hope you enjoy it.


Click to play this Smilebox photobook: Haut-Koniesbourg Part I
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Click to play this Smilebox photobook: Haut-Koniesbourg Part II
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Click to play this Smilebox photobook: Haut-Koniesbourg PartIII
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As usual, if you have any questions you can send me a note or comment and if I know the answer… I might be able to tell you! (Or might not, I am not THAT smart, LOL)


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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Heidelberg Castle First Visit

Today, after a lot of work unpacking in the kitchen. Matt and I decided to go on a Bike Ride in Heidelberg. He was only wanted to go near the river, and come back. Our little tour ended up taking us to the Heidelberg Castle ground. And what a beautiful ground it is!
The colors and the textures of the Stones are amazing. I found it a paradise for me. I don’t know if Matt enjoyed staying behind watching me taking so many pictures.
But… you know me, I couldn’t help myself. So here they are… most of them at least. (Yes, there is more!) ;-) And by the by… If you don’t care about pictures, just skip this entry! Hehe!!
Hope you enjoy them. I sure enjoy taking them!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Heidelberg Castle Part I
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle PartII
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle Part III
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle Part IV
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle Part V
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle Part VI
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Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Castle Part VII
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We got home and finished the kitchen (one and only one box left in it!! For tomorrow) so… Maybe more pictures of what we did this weekend, between the living/computer area and the Kitchen we rock!! Well mostly Matt does!! ;-)
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