Welcome to a little " excursion " trough my Country
 
With a surface area of 35,751 square kilometres
and around 10.3 million inhabitants,
Baden-Württemberg is the third biggest of the 16 German federal states.
On average, the population per square kilometre is 288,
in comparison to 228 for the whole of the Federal
 Republic.
Baden-Württemberg is one of the most economically powerful of
 the German Federal States.
The craftsmen's trades enjoy a strongposition in Baden-Württemberg,
and a number of internationally
 operating companies have grown up here from the modest workshop.
Two names in particular spring to mind in connection:
Bosch and Mercedes.
Baden-Württemberg is known as the "State of inventors" (around
 one third of all German patent applications originate from
Baden-Württemberg). It is one of the German states with the most universities,
which boast sophisticated research institutes and centres
 of internationally recognized basic research.
Southwest Germany was once a classical emigration country.
After its liberation from Turkish rule,
in the 18th century thousands
 followed the call of Austrian Empress Maria Theresia and her
 successor Joseph II to move to Hungary and the Danube lands,
and during the time of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great there was
an emigration movement to Russia.
Finally,
hundreds of thousands emigrated to America in the 18th century.
It was not the search for
adventure which motivated them, but need, hunger and economic serfdom.
After World War II, Southwest Germany became a popular
 immigration destination due to its growing economic strength.
The first wave was formed by refugees fleeing from the German territories
in the east and the descendants of German emigrants
from the countries of Southeast Europe.
Statisticians have calculated that
 between 1952 and 1992 alone, around 20 million people crossed
 the state border:
11 million moved into the state during this period,
 while 8.4 million left it - a sign of the fluidity of our society.
Today, some 1.2 million immigrants live in Baden-Württemberg.
State History :
 
In April, 1992, Baden-Württemberg celebrated its 40th birthday.
Today, it is difficult to imagine that this vivacious,
highly efficient
 state was born chiefly as the result of a process of sober reasoning.
the creation of Baden-Württemberg was unique in many regards:
Today, the state is the only example in Germany of a new formation
determined by a ballot of the population.
 
The effective impetus towards the creation of the state in Germany's
 Southwest came from the separation carried out under the allied
  occupation after 1945:
The territory in the Southwest corner of Germany
was divided into three without consideration for the
  previously existing structure,
or for geographical, economic or social
zones of occupation ran right through the centre of Baden and
Württemberg along the Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm Autobahn.
The two old states of Baden and Württemberg
as well as Prussian Hohenzollern had existed,
after all, for almost 150 years.
The idea of
fusing Baden and Württemberg was not a new one.
It had been considered by a number of politicians both in the 19th and also at
the beginning of the 20th century.
Theodor Heuss, a
died-in-the-wool Württemberger and the first President of the
Federal Republic of Germany,
had suggested a merger of
Baden and Württemberg as long ago as 1919 in a speech held in Stuttgart.
The decision was taken on December 9, 1951.
The majority in each of the three regions
North Württemberg, South Württemberg and
North Baden
voted in favour of the Germany's new Southwest state.
Only in South Baden was the majority in favour of retaining the
existing boundaries.
 
  
 
   Baden-Württemberg as a tourist destination
Baden-Württemberg welcomes more guests every year
than it
 has inhabitants:
Well over ten million visitors make the trip to
Germany's Southwest every year.
It takes second place as a
 tourist destination among Germany's Federal States with 40
million overnight stays per annum,
and the number has been
steadily growing for a number of years.
At least one in five ofall visitors come from abroad,
primarily from the USA and Holland.
Next in terms of quantity are the Swiss, the British,
the French and the Italians.
Thousands of guests even flock tothe Neckar,
Rhine and Lake Constance every year from as farafield as Japan.
Over eight million guest come from other
regions of the Federal Republic.
 
It must be the special charm of what the Germans fondly term
the "Ländle"
or "little state" that draws so many visitors every year.
In Baden-Württemberg, tourists discover a microcosm
of
all the different types of German landscape,
from mountains to lakes,
the biggest and most famous of which is
LakeConstance,
also known as the "Swabian Sea".
The BlackForest and Lake Constance,
the Hohenlohe plain,
SwabianAlb and Allgäu region, the Tauber and Neckar valleys,
theSwabian Forest and the Madonna Landscape,
Upper Swabia
and the Odenwald Forest with its scenic mountain route,
not to mention the many castles, fortresses, gardens,
monasteries and carefully restored old city centres:
All these are invaluable assets
which make this one of Germany's most attractive tourist destinations.
The Black Forest Association and Swabian Alb Association
are responsible for laying over half of the approximately
60,000 km of footpaths
which cut through some of the most
beautiful scenic landscapes in the country.
Baden-Württemberg
also boasts some 1200 kilometres of cycle paths and a numberof scenic tourist routes:
The Black Forest offers a highland and a lowland route,
a spa andoute which show this famous region to its best advantage.
The Mountain Rout takes in Heidelberg,
whose romantic corners and alleyways
have provided fond memories for many foreign visitors.
Over 50 castles and palaces lie along the Castle Route,
which starts in Mannheim.  castles
The Wine Route in Baden leads from Baden-Baden
to the charming Kaiserstuhl and Markgräfle Land regions.
The Swabian Alb Route, Swabian Wine Route,
Staufen Route, Idyllic Route, Romantic Route
and the Upper Swabian Baroque Route
- there are no end of beauty spots-
and places of interest waiting
to be discovered along these well-trodden paths.
And those of a literary turn can follow the
tracks of
Mörike, Hesse, Schiller, Kerner and Schubart along
the Swabian Poets' Route.
 
But Baden-Württemberg is not just a state for the lovers of the
great outdoors.
More than 900 major museums,
open-air museums and theatres
offer plenty of material for discovery. Museen
The Baroque churches of the Beuron Monastery and at Birnau,
the Romanesque churches on the Lake Constance
island of Reichenau
and the Lorch monastery dating back to the Staufen dynasty
are all well worth a visit.
Baden-Württemberg alsooffers not only individual buildings
but whole city centres which
are of outstanding historic interest.
Examples include
Schwäbisch Gmünd, Freiburg with its Cathedral Square,
Heidelberg, Ludwigsburg, Bad Wimpfen, Meersburg,
Tübingen or Ulm to mention just a few
.
 
With its over 60 state-recognized therapeutic spas and climatic resorts,
Baden-Württemberg also offers the widest choice of
amenities to those seeking healthy relaxation or convalescence.
Thermal and mineral baths,
mud and peat baths,
climatic air and Kneipp spas -
all these can be had in
Baden-Württemberg.
And to help pass the time while convalescing,
everywhere around the State there are music
festivals and other events offered in plenty all the year round,
including plenty of opportunity for sporting activity.
Another
important annual event guaranteed full of colour and life is the
Swabian-Alemannian shrovetide festival.
Not to mention the second biggest
"Volksfest "
in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstadt
Let me close this Excursion trough my Country with :
 
the Hymn of my Wuerttemberg
 
 
 
 
1.Many German princes once gathered in the Kaisersaal in
   Worms to pay tribute to the riches and the worth of their
   own domains.
2 ."Glorious" said the Prince of Saxony "is my land and my
    power. The deep, dark shafts of its mountains bring forth
    silver."
3 ."See the sumptuous plenty of my land" said the Prince from
    the Rhine. "Golden harvests in the valleys, noble wines from
    its sunny slopes."
4 ."Mighty cities and rich monasteries", said Ludwig, King of
    Bavaria "make my land as rich in treasures as yours."
5 .Eberhard the bearded King of Württemberg said "Mine is a
    land of small towns and its mountains bring forth no silver"
.
6 ."But it conceals a greater treasure: No matter how big the
     forest, I can lay my head in perfect trust on the lap of any of
     my subjects."
7 ."Bearded King", cried out the Lord of Saxony, the King of
     Bavaria and the Lord of the Rhine, "Yours is truly the richest
     land of all!"
 

Elfi 1998