KARLSRUHE - A young city in the heart of Europe ( Part 1)

It's quite funny that my sentiments toward Karlsruhe changed over time. About 5 months ago, when I knew that I would spend the first year in KIT, my immediate thought was that I should have written an email to the coordinator with a thousand reasons to change for another university in Sweden or in Italy. I don’t wanna live in the city where it’s crazily busy, crowded and loud, but the middle of nowhere would really suck. :D. Actually I had no choice and was slowly accepting the fact that I had to spend my first year in Europe here. But my mind has changed quickly. After having spent a few weeks, I come to a conclusion that I don't know anything before spending time living in this city. Yahooooey, it's just the right place for me. I have everything I need here: peace, safety, nature, no crime and sunshine. The quality of life is high and perfect for someone from one of the four Communist countries left in the world.

There is only one thing I dislike is that Karlsruhe is not a tourist city. It's often known as the "fan city" because there is a palace at the centre and 32 streets radiating out from it like the sun rays. But the palace's architecture itself lacks in impressiveness and luxury. It just seems friendly and open. North of the Schloss is a large park ( Schlossgarten) where people can walk, go on a picnic, play Frisbee, badminton or just lay out in the sun ( to get good tan? :P). I love walking alone in that garden on a sunny day, seeing the faces of people and trying to guess their feeling if they're happy or not. I simply feel cool and relaxing. But I know that the winter is coming and cold, rainy days sometimes get me down :(.

In front of the castle

The Schlossgarten

Markplatz is the central square. There is a Pyramid in front of the town hall on the Marlplatz. It's the symbol of this city and also the grave of its founder - Karl Wilhelm. However, I'm not sure if he feels comfortable in heaven because his grave is next to the public toilet. :(. You can get the main street - Kaiserstrasse - just 1 minute from Marlplatz and easily can find many shops and restaurants on both sides of the street. Because I didn't bring enough warm clothes from Vietnam, I had tough time walking along Kaiserstr. to find anything that fit me. :D. I wonder if I have any special characteristic that distinguishes me from hundred of Asian girls here. Hahaha

Markplatz

The Pyramid - The Symbol of Karlsruhe ???

A part of the town hall on Markplatz

I looked contented, right?

Maybe the next time I should visit the art museums here, especially the Centre for Art and Media Technology (ZKM).....

... Nobody can tell where in the world you will be. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves ...

P/S: I love this picture. She looked so peaceful . And this is one note my Vietnamese friend received from her boyfriend:

"......Heute im Bus hab ich eine ältere Frau gesehen und ich vermutete, dass sie Vietnamesin sein müsste (wegen der Nase ;) ) Sie hatte Salt'n'Pepper-Graue Haare. Und ich dachte mir, dass sieht echt gut aus und wünschte mir, dass ich noch so lange mit dir zusammen bin, dich auch so zu sehen (Dann fiel mir, dass du aus Eitelkeit vermutlich deine Haar)..."

It's so touching, right?