Der Schloss und der Wildpark

If you look at the map of Karlsruhe, you'll see pretty clearly that the whole city was designed around the schloss, this orderly monument to the German nation-building process. We got into a big argument with Monika when she translated 'schloss' as 'castle'. Our American reactions were all the same: "That's not a castle! I've seen castles in England, and that's not a castle!" Finally they tried 'palace' -- and that seems like a better translation for this distinctly imposing building.
The schloss also anchors the large park that takes up the northern half of Karlsruhe. This was a gorgeous building in the park that's now a cafe and restaurant (in the summer).
	The 'Wildpark' is wild only in comparison to the carefully manicured gardens near the schloss. The park is immaculate, with either paved or dirt trails running through it every twenty meters or so. It's clearly not old-growth (there probably isn't any in Europe anymore!) but the ground is nevertheless almost clear of underbrush.
One of the bigger trees I saw in the Wildpark, nicely backlit.

The Stadion

	In one corner of the park there's a sparkling new soccer stadium, clearly where the of-great-interest football-and-I-don't-mean-the-NFL games are played.
The stadium's very well-designed and neat-looking, but I thought the truly cool part was the kid's swing horses down in the area right next to the field...