Travelling abroad (Augsburg)

People began to travel ages ago. The very first travellers were explorers who went on trips to find wealth, fame or something else. Their journeys were very dangerous but still people keep on going to the unknown lands.

Nowadays there are a lot of companies, which can organize your tour, or voyage wherever you like. They will take care about your tickets and make all the reservations needed. If you don’t speak the language of the country you’ll be given interpreters.

The scientific and technological progress of the 20-th century has allowed people to overcome time and distance, to cover in the twinkle of an eye the vast expanse of our planet. The whole world is open now. The limits and frontiers of the previous period have stopped to exist.

We can choose any place on the planet and go there on business or for holiday. We can go to the place of our destination by sea, by air. We can travel by train.

If you want to get somewhere as quickly as possible the best way is to travel by plane. It is better to book tickets in advance. On the appointed day you go to the airport by car. Soon you'll board the big air-liner and it will carry you to new lands. When on the plane you may look about. In front of you in the cockpit you'll see a pilot and his crew. Some of the passengers are reclining in comfortable armchairs. There is a kitchenette in the rear part of the plane where the stewardesses are cooking. Presently we take off and in a few minutes the voice informs us about the altitude we are flying. Sometimes it is possible to see the land. It is like a geographical map. Our plane is due to arrive in eight hours. Time passes quickly. The plane arrives at the airport in time.

Those who live in the country like to find themselves in large cities with their shops, cinemas, crowds of people. City-dwellers usually like a quiet holiday by the sea or in the mountains with nothing to do but walking and bathing, lazying in the sun. Most travelers and holiday makers take a camera with them and take pictures of everything that interests them - beautiful views of waterfalls, forests, unusual plants and animals. These photos will remind them of the happy time of holiday.

Now I live in Augsburg (Germany). I'm Au-pair girl. I like to live there, because it's a very nice place, and you can see averything you want. 1year it's a good time to visit not only Germany, but other places. My "FAMILY" in Germany is good, and makes everything the best for me. As for Augsburg, it is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a University town(German: 'Universitätsstadt') and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population exceeding 264,000 citizens. After Neuss and Trier, Augsburg is Germany's third oldest city.
Augsburg is the only German city with its own legal holiday, the Peace of Augsburg, celebrated on August 8 of every year. This gives Augsburg more legal holidays than any other region or city in Germany.

On 25 August 1615, the foundation stone of the building was laid by then StadtbaumeisterElias Holl. The exterior of the building was completed in March 1620, and the interior in 1624. Technologically, the Augsburger Rathaus was a pioneering performance; upon its completion it was the first building in the world with more than six storeys. The rigid elegance of the large stonework was similar to Florence, the cultural and financial capital of Northern Italy, with which the city gladly compared itself. The self-image of the Free Imperial City of Augsburg is represented by two conspicuous ornaments on the large gable at the front of the building: the first is the Reichsadler, or Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, representing the town's importance; the second is the large copper pine cone, orZirbelnuss, which is the symbol of Augsburg.

The view of the Rathaus was almost completely blocked by the stock exchange building built in 1828, until British bombing on the night of 25 February 1944 destroyed the latter. The removal of the remains of the stock exchange in the 1960s finally made it possible to view the Rathaus properly from the town square.

The Goldener Saal, or Golden Hall, is the most impressive of the Rathaus's rooms, and one of the most important cultural monuments of the late German Renaissance. The Hall covers an area of 552 square metres (5,940 sq ft) with a ceiling height of 14 metres (46 ft), and is richly adorned with large doorways, magnificent murals and a coffered ceiling. The interior of the Hall was designed by Johann Matthias Kager, and was not completed until 1643 (the rest of the building was completed in 1624).

The Hall was badly damaged by bombing during the war. When the Rathaus was restored after the war, the Goldener Saal was not repaired to its original state, but left with a wooden ceiling, small doors and white plastered walls. It was used until the 1980s as an exhibition space. In the early 1980s, the council decided to renovate the Goldener Saal for the upcoming 2000th anniversary of the city in 1985. The room was redecorated according to historical drawings and photographs, starting with the basic reconstruction of the coffered ceiling, together with the painted ceilings, the floor and the doors. On 9 January 1985, the Hall was re-opened close to its former glory. Supported by numerous donations and the active interest of Augsburg, the murals and extensive gold jewellery that had once decorated the Hall were reinstated over subsequent years, and the hall was reopened a second time in 1996.

Augsburg-is the city- home to a DEL (first-division) ice hockey team, the Augsburger Panther. The original club, AEV, was formed in 1878, the oldest German ice sport club and regularly draws around 4000 spectators, quite reasonable for German ice hockey. Home games are played at the Curt Frenzel Stadion: not truly an indoor rink as the sides are open, though a new stadium is in the process of planning.

After Germany I want to visit such places as: Great Britain, France, Italy. I saw, that it's very interesting to be in different places and to see something new...