Train Wash

Did you ever wonder how trains are being cleaned? No, not by hand anymore... the trains are driven through devices similar to car washs.
I was lucky to take this picture just as one of the nice trains was cleaned here.

Pink Kitty

I saw little pink kitty and her friends in a decoration shop the other day, and just couldn't resist to take a picture of her.
I thought she looks really French with her little barett and her whole stylish looks. Oh là là!!!

Beam of Light

Since I didn't post a picture yesterday, I'll present you the last picture taken at the Katholikentag today.
They had a great light installation there, three green laser beams were connecting three churches in Saarbrücken representing the Catholic Trinity.
This is the view from the castle where you can see one of the beams piercing the sky.

Indonesia Earthquake

Due to the Indonesian earthquake today, many DailyBloggers decided not to post a picture of our city today to remember the many people who died...

Dancing in the Street

The Katholikentag had another highlight today: Paulo Axé's Capoeira school had a demonstration in Bahnhofstrasse (our main shopping street).
My best friend learns this Brasilian "martial dance" there too, so here's a picture of him doing one of the fancy moves... The group of around 30 people performed for two hours, doing several rodas, maculele and samba.
I'll put more pictures on MoonSoleil's Picture Blog, so watch out for those, too!

African Spirit

There was an African band playing on the Eine-Welt-Bühne (One-World-Stage) of the Katholikentag.
Unfortunately, I don't know their name, but they were quite good. I loved their colourful costumes and dances, so I stayed for some time to listen to them...

Inside a Tent

Probably the most colourful tent that was put up at the Katholikentag here, is the tent of the Habibi Café Saarbrücken, that brings you closer to the Arab culture.
Young catholics can go into this tent, take off their shoes and enjoy a nice water pipe while listening to the information given by the staff.
As you can see on the picture, some of the youngsters don't listen THAT closely anymore (it's a young guy laying there, with one of the Turkish red hats in his hands)... so I'd be really interested what exactly is in the hookahs... =)

Tent Town

Today, the Katholikentag 2006 (Catholics Day 2006) started, and turned Saarbrücken into a tent town.
They put up hundreds of small tents (most of them are about 2x2 metres) where different religious groups give information to interested visitors.
The gathering will be held until Sunday, so more pictures will follow in the next days.

PS: Sorry I'm late posting, but my internet connection was down yeterday... =(

Gargoyle

Oh, looking up is sooo worth it...
I know many people who miss sights not looking up (including me some weeks ago), but blogging for the DailyPhoto makes you look out for new things and other perspectives, so when I was downtown I discovered this cool gargoyle on top of a house on Kaiserstrasse. There's a twin brother of it on the other corner, too. =)

Downtown View

This is a view from the castle over the not-that-pictoresque area of Saarbrücken.
First of all, you can see the motorway that runs along the bank of the river Saar (soon, this will be changed, the motorway will be in a tunnel then). It's not just too noisy to be that integrated into the town, it's also flooded at least once a year.
Also, you can see lots of buildings that seem to derive from the 50s or later. From what I have heard, many parts of Saarbücken were destroyed in WWII, which explains those ugly giants.
But at least there are many trees in the city and nice woods on the hills that surround the area.

Fat Boys

After the miserable day yesterday, I made up for it by visiting the Saarbrücken castle gardens today, where I had an encounter with these little guys.
I'm not really into those Rubens-esque statues, so I had a little laugh when I saw one of them riding an eagle (that looks like it doesn't really know what's going on) while holding a cup over his head (aha, drunkard), while the other one obviously tries to sexually harass him... =)

House Arrest

Oh my, it was really raining cats and dogs today.
Just as I wanted to go and take a nice Daily Picture, the rain was pouring down like crazy, it even hailed big ice-balls.
So this is a picture of my backyard that I took undaunted by death... =)

Lonely Diner

This is an American Diner in our big cinema complex "CineStar".
I watched a movie with my best friend, and since it was the late show, the diner was already closed when our movie was finished...
It looked just like a scene from a 50s movie, what do you think?

"The very hungry Caterpillar"

After all the "big pictures" so far, I thought I'd switch the scale today...

I had an encounter with this cute green caterpillar, and was reminded of the book by Eric Carle (It's called "Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt" in German). Oh, sweet childhood memories!

I saved it during a bus trip downtown, and let it run over my hand during the ride. When I got out of the bus I let it crawl on a big tree, let's hope it'll be a beautiful butterfly one day. =)

Sunbathing...

This pretty girl is taking a sunbath in front of the university building for business studies.
She's pretty heavy (even if she doesn't look it) since she's made of bronze. The statue is called "Die Sitzende" (The sitting girl), she was made by Otto Zewe.
She's been sitting there for decades now, so I guess her lectures must be really boring! =)

Resistance!

Oh, when I saw this poor creature next to his beautiful neighbor in bloom, I really felt sorry for him.
The little guy obviously suffered from am act of beautification, or maybe just the German preciseness... When we cut a tree, we do it efficiently, accurate and proper (and by doing this we don't have to come back to do it again in the next years - ha!).
I was glad he survived this mean attempt and shows his resitance by growing green leaves again! Viva la Revolution!

Wind Gauge

I went up the top floor of the parking area of the shopping center "Saargalerie" today, and found this pretty wind gauge on top. I liked the gauge against the nice sky, so I thought I should show you this today. =)

Marathon Day

Saarbrücken hosted its first marathon today.
More than 2000 runners took part in this big event following the track along the two banks of the river Saar and around the St. Johanner Markt, our market square (the picture was taken there).

I was there because a friend of mine was participating too, and guess what? He was 11th in the senior category (Haha, he's not even 40!!!).

Guarded...

This is the Saarbrücken synagogue at Beethovenplatz.
As you can see, 9/11 even had impact our little town here. Since then, the building is watched 24/7.
They used to have a team of two police officers guarding it, for a while now there's this big police bus standing in front of it.
(Even though I don't think there was an incident...)

3 in 1 Entrance

I found this weird house entrance yesterday very close to Landwehrplatz as well.

It looks run-down (the door, the hand-written number) and funky (the blue tiles) and classic (the nice pillars and cool stones) at once, that made me think it's worth an entry. =)