Fiona Yenien, Bruchsal, Germany

kcrawfish Posted Jan 17, 2011, 1:53 am	Hi everyone! It's been a quiet foggy day with Jack the cat, Zoe and my new friend Bally.  We played some games.  One really big kitty, Anakin, wanted to play with us.  But Koko had her own toy to play with.  Bally even found an empty tissue box to play with.  We're all going to Aunt Mina's tomorrow, but only I am going to stay with Auntie and go skiing.  By the time I get home, Jack and Zoe will be off on their adventures ... but I'll see them again soon!  ~Fi
kcrawfish Posted Jan 18, 2011, 2:46 am	Finally we go somewhere!    South on 99 to little Lodi, the "Zinfandel Capital of the World."  We visited Junior Bear and helped him choose photographs for his travelog.  I think I have a good eye for this sort of thing really.  ~Fi
kcrawfish Posted Jan 18, 2011, 3:55 am	Hi everyone! Lodi is pretty interesting and has nice vineyards.  But now it's time to say goodbye to Jack the cat and Zoe who will be on their first voyages soon, too. Mom handed me over to Aunt Mina to go to the mountains.  I hope I get to ski! See you on the slopes?!!  ~Fiona P.S.  And when I get back, it's off to Germany!!
kcrawfish Posted Jan 24, 2011, 2:57 pm	Quote: Hi Mom!  I am here in Lake Tahoe about to have an exciting adventure with Aunt Mina:  skiing!  This is the Heavenly gondola  which will take me up to 9600 feet above sea level.  But, before I  boarded the gondola, I met this really nice brown bear in the Village. In the last photo, I am marveling at the gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe, California.  Oooh!  It's starting to get a little chilly! Wow!  It sure is pretty up here!  I wish Junior Bear could join us.  ~Fi
kcrawfish Posted Feb 3, 2011, 12:43 am	I'm back in Lodi resting after my invigorating ski trip.  I'll soon be off to Germany!  I plan to bring a chocolate with me to snack on for my journey and two Valentine's chocolates to give to my host.  I'm so excited!
Junior Bear Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:07 pm	Hi Mom! I've had a great time in Lodi and South Lake Tahoe! I'm off to Germany!  Thanks for the snackers! Hugs & Love, Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 9, 2011, 8:06 pm	Hi Mummy, I arrived in Germany today. I was not the only ToyVoyager here, Clifford also came here today. My host Katja Levi, Squirt, Herlinde and Fimbo_Fimble gave us a warm welcome. Clifford even brought a friend with him to Germany who maybe will stay here or maybe will also travel. I gave the chocolate hearts to Katja, her daughter and her son. They really liked them As the weather was fantastic we took a long walk in the afternoon. Katja loves to walk in the forests, so we walked out of the city centre towards one of the surrounding valleys. We had to walk downhill for some time because the city centre of Remscheid is situated on a hill. We saw a sports ground on our way, here usually soccer is played. Katja showed us this beautiful Patrician villa, built in the late 1780 years. It once was the house of a rich factory owner, nowadays a museum is situated in this lovely building. Here I saw that Remscheid is surrounded by valleys and forests. In the background you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal. We nearly reached the bottom of the valley. Here you can see typical houses of this region. You can find many half-timbered houses or those which are covered with slate. Also typical are those green shutters. This is not really typical for this region Remscheid is an old industrial town, about 780 years old. Tools are produced here since middle ages. Here you can see one of the old factory buildings, you can often find them close to housing areas. This is the bottom of the valley, on the right side of the street there is a creek flowing, it is marking the border between Remscheid and Wuppertal. Katja told us that than we had to walk uphill again. On this slope of the valley we walked through a forest. We reached a house than where alpacas are kept. Unfortunately they were on a meadow a bit more apart from the fence. Here at least some signs showed them. One of them was born in August 2010, I would have loved to met the baby. Here you can see the whole alpaca family. alpacas are llamas like me. And here you can see baby Frieda. Isn't she cute? We walked through a small hamlet than, here I also saw nice old houses. We walked through a rural district than, with large meadows. Can you see the two towers in the background? This is the city centre with the tower of the city hall and a water tower. We started our trip there and will have to walk back there. What a lovely spot with so many animals. This really was an exhausting trip on my first day here. We all will relax in the evening, doing almost nothing. Love Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 13, 2011, 9:37 pm	Hi Mummy, today we planned to take a walk with Katja's friend and her dog. She is living in another district of Remscheid, we had to get there by bus. On our way to the bus I saw a little bit more of the vicinity of my current home. Katja told us that the city centre of Remscheid was nearly destroyed in WW II, but the part where we are living stayed nearly intact. So there are many nice old houses in our neighbourhood. This is the city hall, it's tower is 48 m high, you can see it from the neighbour cities. At the bus stop at the city hall we missed the bus only a few minutes, so it would take nearly half an hour before the next one will come, so we decided to walk a bit to another bus stop. We waited here for our bus. The ADAC is the German equivalent to the AAA in the USA.
olgamaus Posted Feb 13, 2011, 9:50 pm	We went to Wuppertal, to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas. A terrible storm in 2007 destroyed large parts of the forests in this region. Here you can see that young trees were planted here. They were packed into those plastic shields to protect them from damage caused by game animals . On these signs you can find information about this area. It will be renatured in the coming years. A lot of people come here with their dogs to let them run and play. Because it is very windy here there are also some people with their kites. In the background you can see a housing area in Wuppertal, famous for its exquisite villas built by factory owners. I must admit that it is quite cold here, not as warm as in Califonia! Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 17, 2011, 7:44 pm	Hi Mummy, today we took a short walk in the city centre in Katja's lunch break. As she is working close to the city hall, this was our first stop. There is a large place in front of the city hall, there you can find a pillar with the heraldic animal of Remscheid on top, a lion. # Here is also another entrance of the shopping mall. We had only a few minutes, so we did not get too far. Here is another part of the shopping mall. Finally we saw the water tower,  the one I could see on my first trip here.
olgamaus Posted Feb 17, 2011, 7:50 pm	In the evening I met the pets - really wild creatures! This is Shiva, a ferret girl. She is hiding there ... Here is another of three fuzzies - Zaehnchen. Katja told me that she loves to empty drawers. There is even a third one, but she is already looking for her dinner. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 20, 2011, 7:14 pm	Hi Mummy, we went to a nearby forest today to take a walk in the afternoon. I saw nesting boxes for several birds. We saw an outlook point in the forest. Of course we were curious what we would see here. You can see a small part of Muengsten bridge here, Germany's highest railway bridge. Katja told us that 15 years ago, when all the trees in the foreground were still smaller, you were able to see more of the bridge. Some time later we arrived another outlook point. From here we had a better look to the bridge. It is refurbished at the moment, no trains will cross this bridge until at least April 2011. Muengsten bridge is overspanning the valley of the river Wupper, it is 107 m high, built in early 20th century. It is connecting Remscheid with the neighbour city Solingen. [img][/img] On our way back we saw this relay station. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 22, 2011, 7:58 pm	one of Katja's friends invited us to take a walk in the neighbour city Solingen. Katja told us that we would see a medieval castle there. So Katja and the four of us went with Karin. We started our trip in Solingen-Burg, one of the oldest districts of Solingen. We could already see the castle, it is called Schloss Burg. Can you see how old this house is? Schloss Burg was originally built in early 12th century by one of the early reigns of this region. It is situated high above the valley of the river Wupper on a really steep hill. In the following years it was destroyed some times and always rebuilt and enlarged. Nowadays there is a museum in the castle itself. You can visit the courtyard everytime you like. On the following photos you can see the outside facilities. You can find several shops and restaurants here. This statue is showing count Engelbert II, one of the earliest reigns. We left the castle ground than to take a walk in the forest. We could still see the castle here. We reached an outlook pavilion. From here we had a fantastic overlook to the valley of the river Wupper. You can see it down there, running through the district Unterburg. Later we reached a dam, there are many dams in this region. Nearly all of them are used for drinking water, so the surroundings are always a nature protection area. On our way back to the car we reached a rural area. This sawmill is also situated here. What an interesting trip! Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Feb 23, 2011, 11:09 am	Hi Mummy, today we had the chance to see a little bit more of the city centre. First Katja showed us the public library. Next we had to cross the central bus station. In the background of the next picture you can see a district which is really close to  a woodland area. Katja told us that she'd often takes a walk there with her brother-in-law and his dog. Someone sprayed red hearts to this boring concrete wall. Here is the beginning of the shopping street. It is really cold here, more than -5°C. I think I'd need something warm to wear if I don't want to catch a cold. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Mar 6, 2011, 8:50 am	Hi Mummy, another ToyVoyager arrived today, it's Sampson, also from the USA. In the afternoon we went to take a walk because the weather was so nice. Katja told us that nobody knows how long this weather will last. We went to Hasten, downhill through the municipal park. We reached Hasten than. We saw this garden center, already selling spring flowers. Katja told us that we would pick up a friend who wanted to walk with us. Can you see the rangy landscape? Katja's friend is living in a housing area with mostly one family homes. More lovely landscape around ... This was a lovely trip, but it is cold here! About 0°C. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Mar 6, 2011, 9:02 am	Hi Mummy, today we met Katja's friend and  her dog Pepe again to take a walk. Thankfully dogs have to take a walk in the forest every day ... We went to the outskirts of Lennep, another district of Remscheid, also with woodland and rural areas around. We reached a dam, not a drinking water dam like most of them here in this region. You can swim here, dive, canoe or sail. We saw some farms on our way. Any llamas  here? No, only sheep .... Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Mar 9, 2011, 8:25 pm	Hi Mummy, on this wonderful day we could not resist to pick up a friend from her work place and walk for about two and a half hours. Starting from this business area we reached the forest within a few minutes. This is a lovely place to live. For a few minutes out path was following the A1 motorway. We rested in a valley with a small creek running through. Only a few more weeks and everything will be green here! Than we had to climb out of the valley to walk through a housing area... ... only to cross a street and walk downhill towards another valley This cat was not in a mood for playing. Oh, that's not good ... a digger on our path! We had to climb along the slope to get past this building site. These are blooming willows with their soft catkins. Here is another business area, situated at a creek. From here we had to walk uphill towards the city centre and our home. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Mar 20, 2011, 5:29 pm	Hi Mummy, today we made a trip to the neighbour city Wuppertal to take a long walk. In Wuppertal they have a walking- and cycling trail built on a closed railway track, it is called "Sambatrasse". Is is beginning in Wuppertal-Cronenberg and is leading to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, about 10 km long. We walked a short part of it in Cronenberg. Here one of the old trains is parked. From a bridge we had a fantastic overview. In the background you can see the city centre of Remscheid, situated on a hill, with its two characteristic towers of the city hall and the water tower. In Cronenberg we walked through the town center. Cronenberg is an old district with lovely old houses. Springtime is coming! An arboretum is situated here, a collection of trees. I was eager to see the trees of North America, so we walked along the trail showing those trees. You can find information panels here, telling details about the different trees. This for example is a Lawson's Cypress, also called Port Orford-cedar (although it is not a cedar). Katja called ma a smart-aleck These are Sequoias. It felt like being home a little bit. We also found some pieces of artwork here in the forest, like those carved owls. At the end of our tour we found a map, showing the hole, vast arboretum area. We followed the pink line. When we walked back home, we saw more signs of springtime in the gardens. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Mar 28, 2011, 6:09 pm	Hi Mummy, I wanted to try  to meet the alpacas I have seen on my very first walk here one more time. First we picked up a friend and went together. Again we walked through lovely rural areas. Deep in the valley you can find old factory buildings. It was here where industrialization began in late middle ages. Soon we reached the estate where the alpacas are living. I could see them! We tried our best to tempt them to come to the fence. Unfortunately they did not come. Good-bye, alpacas! Katja's friend knew that there were more alpacas or llamas, but we would have to walk for at least an hour to get there. I did not care how long it took, I wanted to meet relatives! Finally I saw them. When we reached the estate we asked the owner who was there if we could see the alpacas. They were llamas, he told us. He opened the stable and they all came out, curious to see who was visiting them. I met five real llamas! I was so happy that Katja was talking with the owner for some time, so I could spend more time with the llamas. They talked about their food, if they were kept as farm animals or just for fun (yes, they are kept just for fun because the owner likes them so muchj) The owner told Katja, that sometimes he would take a walk in the forest with one or two llamas. I'm sure Katja would like to do that also There were also three horses and two dogs. Than I had to say good-bye to my new friends. Did I already told you that our way back home took us another 40 minutes, mostly uphill? Katja does everything for her guest Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Apr 3, 2011, 11:43 am	Hi Mummy, today we had wonderful spring weather. Katja told me that we would take a walk with two friends and later will have lunch. Katja and her friend invited the third lady to a sushi lunch as a birthday present. We went to Luettringhausen, one of several districts in Remscheid. It is an old district, so Katja showed me lovely old houses there. First we walked along one of two churches in the small city centre. We found a replication of an historic mail box from the 1880's years. It is still in use nowadays. From here we took a walk to a nearby valley. Look, spring is coming!!! In the forest the soil is partly covered with anemones. There are also a few houses in the valley. You can find a lot of those half-timbered houses here, they are typical for the "Bergisches Land", like this region is called. We even saw deers - they were rushed by a tractor- We went back through the city centre. Than it was lunch time! Katja told me that later we would visit an historic industrial site. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Apr 3, 2011, 11:46 am	Like I already told you we visited an historic industrial site in the afternoon, the Wülfing Museum. We visited an Easter market here. This place once was a cloth mill, situated at the River Wupper in Radevormwald-Dahlerau. This company was founded in 1674 A.D. in Lennep, nowadays a district of Remscheid. Companies like this usually were established close to rivers because the machines were run by water wheels. Later the factory was one of the first one which was run by electricty which was gained from water turbines, steam engines and power transmission by line shaft. Today the whole complex is under monument protection. Today still people are living in those old dwellings, the museum is situated here and other parts are still used by different companies. Here you can see a model of the whole complex, embedded in the surrounding landscape. We went back to Katja's friend than to spend the rest of this wonderful day relaxing in the garden. Bye
olgamaus Posted Apr 14, 2011, 8:29 pm	Hi Mummy, in the afternoon we took a walk along the "Route of Tools" (Trasse des Werkzeugs), which was built from a closed railway track to a lane for pedestrians and cyclists. It was built on a former track from the central station to the district Hasten, leading along many industrial sites. Because mostly tools are produced here and the lane was sponsored by local tool producing companies, it was called "Route of Tools". The first photo was taken not far from my current home. You can see the local court in the middle of the background. We entered the lane close to my home, here at those old factory buildings. Looking to the left side there are those industrial sites, looking to the right side there are woodland areas. There are distance data painted to the ground. From here you have to walk 2 km to the central station. Oh dear, this old bridge does not inspire much confidence among! We found large signs showing the company logos of some of the sponsoring companies as well as the coat of arms of Remscheid. Due to back light we could not take a better photo, that's how the signs are looking. We than reached a part of the lane without any industrial sites, only dwellings around. We went back home than, again walking uphill. Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Apr 17, 2011, 11:11 am	Hi Mummy, today we went out once more with Katja's friend and her dog to Scharpenacken, where we already were last week. Today we made a side trip to a nearby country park, Vorwerk-Park. This park was built in early 20th century by the founder of a business company as a private park on his own estate, as a garden for his villa. Even a stone pit was comprised into the park, planted with rhododendrons. You can find some natural pools here, fed by a creek which is flowing in the valley. The villa itself and the oldest part of the park were already built in 1895. In 2001 the park was sanified and opened for the public. Here we were on top of the stone pit with its pond. Although it is only April, the azalea are already blooming. Have a look at this beautiful red beech! What a lovely park! Bye Fiona
olgamaus Posted Apr 18, 2011, 4:21 pm	Hi Mummy today it was time to say good-bye to Germany and all my friends here! I had a great time here and now I'm looking foreward to explore the Netherlands. Katja told me that it should be a fast trip, not even 300 km to travel. Love Fiona
kcrawfish Posted May 25, 2011, 4:34 pm	(plotting the map for her brief layover with after4ever before visiting Leslie  )
Leslie Posted Jul 17, 2011, 3:37 am	Woohoo, I'm in Chile mom! the trip took so long, I was so happy to get out of the tight envelope! As soon as I got my head out of the envelope I saw Timothy III.  who was waiting to greet me, he told me I was just on time because we are going on a trip to the north! I told him I didn't bring a backpack to carry my supplies, but he said Leslie had everything set for us  how exciting! We were ready early, but we had to wait for Leslie, since she said she needed to get some stuff done before leaving. We were so anxious and she was taking so long!  When Leslie was almost ready Thimothy suggested that we could go ahead, at least to the garden and wait for her there. But when we were opening the door we heard a voice saying "wait for me!"... It was a pelican asking us not to leave him behind, he introduced himself as Wilson, a resident toy living here at Leslie's house. He said he's coming too  Great! more toys, more fun  And then finally we left! You'll see more pictures later
Leslie Posted Jul 20, 2011, 7:04 am	Hey mom! We are in La Serena city, in the north! Even closer to where my ancestors are from The weather is much nicer here than in Temuco, and we are next to the sea  Today we visited a japanese garden called Kokoro No Niwa, Leslie told me it means Heart Garden. Look at the sign... It's in japanese and spanish! how was I supposed to know the meaning! Have you seen Timothy!?? A lemon!  Leslie was talking about how nice it looks hanging on the tree but all I could think was how would it taste in one of my salads... WOW look at that! They're huge! ...and orange!  Ohh... black necked swans! how beautiful!  I'm loving this city mom! I think you would like it too
Leslie Posted Jul 25, 2011, 5:14 pm	I found some lost pictures of the road from Santiago to La Serena  The weather was lovely for 7 hours of drive. That night we had traveled from Temuco to Santiago which was 8 hours long, but traveling is never enough for me  Windmills!  This is the highest bridge in Chile! I saw it, but, can you see me?? I'm there mom!  We had traveled so much that we were tired, it was nap time! Look at Los Andes mountain range back there! The Region of Coquimbo (where La Serena is), is also called region of transversal valleys, because there are many mountain cords orientated from the mountain range to the sea. Back there you can see one of the mountains! This means we are already near La Serena!
Leslie Posted Jul 27, 2011, 9:32 pm	We went around exploring La Serena and not far from where we are staying there was the main and oldest square of the city. Around the square there was this beautiful and very old church, Santo Domingo, I loved its dome!  To the other side, there was this other cathedral called La Serena, it was beautiful too  I found this tree with these weird fruits, are they custard apples? I'm not sure  Later we headed to a traditional restaurant and I found this chili plant! How cute  And there were also some other lovely flowers  I tried a mini lemmon pie, it was yummy!  And then Timothy and I tried papaya candies!  I liked it  There are so many papaya things here!
Leslie Posted Jul 28, 2011, 9:02 pm	Next to La Serena there is another city, Coquimbo. Yesterday we went to a fortress there. I heard it was built in 1865 to defend Coquimbo in the war with Spain back then but I also heard a leyend about a pirate and a buried treasure , so Timothy and I were more interested in walking around it, who knows if we find something!  Ahh... what a nice view from here  Can you see the pelicans!? They were not really social guys so they didn't want to come closer...  See? We were serious about looking for the treasure, even though climbing those huge stairs was hell... WOW! those thorns must really hurt!  Look what a nice spot I found!! I recorded a little video for you to see the birds and their nice flight!  I loved the shape of these rocks!! Look! baby cactuses on the rock! Then we enjoyed a saw a beautiful sunset. There was no clue of the treasure, but the landscapes we got to see were more than enough  It was a wonderful day!
Leslie Posted Aug 3, 2011, 1:46 am	We are here at the Bus Terminal waiting for our bus, to go to Pisco Elqui, the most famous town of the Elqui Valley, the most famous valley, and the place with the clearest sky in the world!!  There were these cool mosaics on the walls showing famous things from the La Serena and Elqui Valley Maybe I'll see some of that soon!! We heard our bus was here! So we hurried... we didn't want to be late! Of course we had to do the queue like everyone else... Look at this vineyard and the huge moutains back there! And we arrived in Pisco Elqui! This is the church of the town. ...and there was a very nice fountain in the main square, right in front of the church. It was lunch time, we were so hungry... So we went to the first restaurant we found!  In the afternoon the sky still had its intense blue colour... Mom!! I'm seeing the clearest sky in the world!!!  We are going to spend the night here in the Pisco Elqui Tomorrow we'll visit another town of the valley.
Leslie Posted Aug 4, 2011, 1:02 am	The night was cold but beautiful, I'd never seen so many stars in my life!  In the morning we woke up and headed to Montegrande, another town in the valley. This is the main church... and look at the bright blue sky! Ohh so nice  Leslie told us this is Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.  She was raised here in Montegrande, even though she was born in another town of the valley. Later we went to Vicuña, which is where Gabriela Mistral was born. Leslie said there's a museum dedicated to her, I hope we can go there! Look at this tower! It's called Bauer Tower and it was before used as the municipality of Vicuña, but now I think it's just a turistic attraction. I found a map of the valley!  Maybe it's to small to see it clearly in the picture, but there you can see three of the observatories around here. I told you this is the clearest sky in the world  And this is a map of Vicuña, which is not big at all as you can see. Oh by the way, there is the museum! We entered the museum but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside  It was lunch time, we were told about a very old colonial house working as a restaurant, so we went there and had a big plate of "chilean locos"  which was enough to have us both full. We found this is the orange paradise! There are thousands of oranges growing everywhere, just like grapes and avocado!! In the afternoon we walked around the town. Look at this! It's Gabriela's face coming out of the ground  Of course we had to stop and take some time to play hide and seek around this cool tree...  In a shop they were selling Gabriela's poems, Leslie read some for me, they were nice.  Ohh, these things were so interesting! They're andean saxophones! I even got to hear them played!  ...And this is another instrument, which name I can't remember...  And that was our trip to the valley  In the afternoon we went back to La Serena.
Leslie Posted Aug 6, 2011, 5:09 am	We are now in Coquimbo again, the city next to La Serena. We heard there was a muslim mosque somewhere up in a hill, and went looking for it  We found it, but sadly it was closed due to some reparations so we couldn't go in  Still beautiful from outside though  Then we headed to the top of another hill where this famous "Third Millenium Cross" is. Leslie told us it's 83 metres tall and the tallest monument in South America!  Up there you can see some squares... well... they are windows! Leslie said we are going up there! So cool, but so vertiginous! This is the view to the sea And to the city and the gulf... It was already late, and like always, we were hungry  We had some chinese food today. A yummy mongolian beef with rice and wantan. And of course some lovely soft drinks... And later we were so tired and full so we went back to our hotel to rest
Leslie Posted Aug 8, 2011, 10:23 pm	Today's our last day in La Serena, tomorrow we are going back to stormy and cold Temuco...  We made plans to go to the beach, and when were almost there I saw that lighthouse... I think I've seen it somewhere before but I can't remember where... Do you know where? Ohh yeah, it was one of the mosaics in the bus terminal!! Cool~~ There were many white shells on the sand But I liked these pointy ones  Then we relaxed after the tiring walk to the beach. Timothy fell asleep, but I was aware of working in my tan, 15 minutes per side  Then when he woke up and I was ready, we saw a nice restaurant nearby  And they had a surf school right there too! Ahhh... what a nice way to spend our last afternoon here
Leslie Posted Aug 11, 2011, 9:21 pm	It was time to come back to the south and even though we liked the north a lot, we haven't explored Temuco yet! So we packed our stuff and off we went! I thought we were in a bus, not in the Delorean!!  Are we time traveling!!??  Remember Wilson? We became good friends even though he didn't want to be in our pictures because he said he isn'an official Toyvoyager... See how the weather started to change as we headed south  The sky turned all gray, and the photos wouldn't look so nice, so Timothy and I took a nap. It was like that for the rest of the day until we got to Santiago at night. Then we caught another bus to Temuco. It was about 15 hours of traveling!
Leslie Posted Aug 17, 2011, 10:58 pm	We drove to a town near Llaima vocano called Cherquenco, it which was very small and windy... There was a hose with these nice carvings in the garden.
Leslie Posted Aug 23, 2011, 11:16 pm	Hi mum! Today Leslie said she had a suprise for us!  She took us to a something that looked like a warehouse from outside... is this really the surprise? I thought  ... But then someone opened it, and we realized it was a hangar!!  And then I looked to my side and we were right next to the airport runway!! A pilot-looking guy took out the red plane and started getting it ready. I asked Leslie where are we going and she said to Puerto Montt, a city in the south!    What better way to explore than from the air!?  While the pilot was preparing some stuff, we played around the plane  Look at me! I'm flying! Now I'm a pilot  And Timothy is my copilot! Then we were told to sit and put our seat belts on because we were about to take off!  There you can see Llaima volcano! The one I saw from Cherquenco the other day! Ohh everything looks so beautiful from up here!  Can you see the lake between those mountains? Back there is the eruption of Puyehue volcano! It's erupting since June 4, and the ash cloud went around the world more than twice!! Entering a very turbulent thick cloud! That's Llanquihue lake down there, it's huge!! And that's Osorno volcano!... Chile has so many volcanoes!! That is Puerto Varas. Leslie said it's a small but very beautiful city! And this is finally out destination city: Puerto Montt  Tomorrow we'll explore around by foot... or air, who knows Kisses! Fi
Leslie Posted Aug 25, 2011, 12:26 am	Hi mum! Today Leslie and I had a suprise birthday party for Timothy!  He is 1 year old now  It was a wonderful day! Love, Fi
Leslie Posted Aug 26, 2011, 4:44 am	Mum! We are so lucky, we got to fly today again!!  This time we flew around Puerto Montt to see the beautiful shore and Andes mountain range  Look at the mountain range back there!  Back to Puerto Montt... What a cool day mum!
Leslie Posted Aug 27, 2011, 10:06 pm	Hola mamá ¿cómo estás?  see? I'm learning spanish  Today we went to Angelmó, a famous port with many seafood restaurants and markets. There were some nice stained glass windows! Then we entered the market, looking for a restaurant  Look at all that weird seafood!  Huge monsters!  Help! We finally found the restaurant we were looking for  We ordered "empanadas" (chilean typical food) While we were waiting I noticed the interesting carvings on the tables... And some nice stuff by the window  Yummy!
Leslie Posted Aug 29, 2011, 9:04 pm	This is my entry for Klubwerks' photo story contest  _________________________________________________________________________
Leslie Posted Sep 1, 2011, 11:50 pm	It was time to fly back to Temuco. The sky was a little cloudy near Puerto Montt, but as we came closer to Temuco it was cloudier and everything looked gray... Remember Llanquihue lake? back there is Osorno volcano, but it was covered by clouds... Leslie said that cloud looked like an elephant! Do you think so? Back there is Temuco! Can you see it?? And look what was waiting for us at home when we arrived!!  The postcard that Ranil sent to Leslie  She liked it a lot!  And the other postcard came from Kirin who is in Finland! Kisses! Fi
Leslie Posted Sep 8, 2011, 3:22 am	Hi Mum! We have been in Temuco for almost a week already, but the weather has been horrible and we couldn't go out until today, finally! We visited a museum about different native chilean races. I learned about mapuches and onas, and some other ones whose names I can't remember  This is it, a big old house. The museum section was in the basement. We were welcomed on the ground floor by these ladies, nice outfits by the way! I saw a kultrún!, it's a mapuche drum made of leather... very cool. Then we went to the basement, where the real cool stuff is!  Wow! I don't know about you mum, but I don't particularly fancy these shoes... I liked this paiting of mapuche people gathered around a totem! There you can see someone playing a kultrún as well! And that's it. I really enjoyed today!  ah, there was also a funny guy in the garden! Bye!  Fi
Leslie Posted Sep 12, 2011, 8:20 pm	Hi mum! Look what arrived today!  The giant postcard that you sent Leslie!  She says thank youuu!!
Leslie Posted Sep 14, 2011, 8:42 pm	Hey mum! Another toyvoyager joined us today!  Timothy and I helped to get her out of the envelope. Her name is Petunia and she's from Finland  And something else came in the mail today, this lovely postcard from Ranil, written in spanish!! How cool is that!  Love, Fi
Leslie Posted Sep 16, 2011, 5:22 am	Hola mamá! As you may know, the independence day of Chile is on September 18, so everything is already decorated and you can hear cuecas everywhere. Today we went to a mall and look what a nice decoration!  Then we had some cheesecake to give Petunia a proper welcome I heard that we might be traveling somewhere tomorrow, but Leslie hasn't told us anything yet...  Nos vemos! Fi
Leslie Posted Sep 21, 2011, 6:42 am	Leslie told us we'll travel tonight to spend the national day in Puerto Montt tomorrow! We helped hanging a big flag in the garden and got a little patriotic as you can see  Bye! Fi
Leslie Posted Sep 22, 2011, 4:58 am	Hi mum!  Today is the independence day!  We slept on a bus last night and woke up in Puerto Montt today in the morning!  This is the view from the house we are staying at! Very very beautiful, don't you think so!? But we didn't spend the day here, we went to a beautiful lake called Todos los Santos, to celebrate eating skewers On our way we saw Calbuco volcano, which looks more like a big mountain to me, but it is a volcano, at least that's what Leslie said... Leslie said that when Osorno volcano is near, it means we are near Todos los Santos lake too, so judging according to the volcano we must be quite near! Here it is!!  Look at the beautiful mountains back there! By the way, we are standing on volcanic rocks  We went to a picnic table right there in the lakeside and helped with the skewers! Mmm! Yummy!!  I'm not so sure about being a vegetarian anymore... Later we went to the Petrohué waterfalls which are the river mouth of Todos los Santos lake. We were surrounded by these huge mountains, it was very beautiful! I really enjoyed this independence day even if we didn't get to see any national traditional stuff!  Bye Fiona
Leslie Posted Sep 23, 2011, 4:43 am	Hello Mum! Today we wanted to see the city where we are, so we got ready to go on a little city tour!  First we went to a high viewpoint where we could see all the gulf and a part of the city... there was an extremely cold wind up there!! Then we went to the main square which is by waterfront! in fact all the city centre is by the waterfront! It's very nice! There were three flags, a chilean one in the middle and two of Puerto Montt. I liked this monument very much. It shows the arrival of the settlers to the south of Chile. Next to the sqare there was this nice church with a huge dome made of copper! We sat to rest for a little while on a bench with a nice mosaic in the backrest And I found this nice fish mosaic in another bench! Then we kept walking through the waterfront... This very big monument is called "sentados frente al mar". This couple is very famous and they even have their own song!! Then we headed to the port area, where all the fishing boats and some ferries were. There were some stands selling seafood... This crab caught my attention!  Then we went back home... What a nice day we had! But we weren't tired enough to let it end already...
Leslie Posted Sep 23, 2011, 5:09 am	Later in the night we went to Puerto Varas, a very touristic and beautiful city, famous for its casino and church  and guess what... I went to both!  First I wasn't very lucky... ...Still not so much... But then I won quite a big amount!  But I wanted to give some to Leslie to thank her for her hospitality, and spend the rest with Timothy and Petunia!  I'm having a very good time here! Fiona
Leslie Posted Sep 26, 2011, 6:21 am	Hi Mum! Today was a really exciting day! you'll see why!  After lunch I was taking a rest when Leslie told me to get in the car because she was going to take me to a special place... I asked where, but she didn't answer and said it was a surprise. We drove down a beautiful road by Llanquihue lake, the one I saw from the plane last time, remember?  After about one hour, we got to a parcel called Bellavista (beautiful view) where there was, as you can see, a really beautiful view! The volcano looked so amazing! I moved a little to take a look at the volcano from a slightly different angle, but look what I saw instead!! Llamas!!  Of course I felt an urgent need to go talk to them! And so I did!  I mean, I tried, but first they didn't hear me... they seemed too concentrated chewing grass... But then one heard me!  but she said "where are you?, I hear you but I can't see you!  " "Down here!" I said! She asked me "what happened to you, why are you so small!?" So I told her I am "voyager-sized"  "Voyager? what's that?" she asked. So I explained it to her and told her about my adventures around the world. She seemed fascinated with my stories! Then she took me to meet her friend... And she also wanted to hear everything about my journeys!  So we talked for a long long time, until they said they were sorry but had to go to ruminate...  There were other nice animals around too, like emus, sheep and cute lambs  but they were behind a fence so I couldn't get so close... Although the emu was close, so I went to talk to him  And we had a small talk, then he left... What a day mum! Love, Fi
Leslie Posted Oct 1, 2011, 5:38 am	Hi Mum! Today we went to a little town called Calbuco which is half on an island and half on the continent. On our way we stopped at this lagoon. Leslie said that many birds from far away come here to breed and this is the season when you can see them! We could hear a lot of birds singing very loud, it was very relaxing!  Then we went closer to the water to see if we could see any baby bird or an egg... ...But we didn't see any  All the birds went away as we approached... Then we kept driving to Calbuco and on our way we did some stops to take photos  You can see Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes back there! There were some sheep and lambs in a farm by the road How cute! A cow crossed the street right in front of us!! she didn't even mind our car! gosh! And then we got to Calbuco finally! Here I am crossing the bridge that joins the continent with the island. This is the main square, back there is the main church, there is a very nice view from up here! This is the view from the square, pretty nuce huh?  Bye for now! Your Fiona
Leslie Posted Oct 4, 2011, 5:21 am	Hi mum! The day to go back to Temuco arrived! In the morning we packed our stuff and after lunch we took our bus for our 6-hours drive through the green roads of the south of Chile  . We traveled on the front seats of the upper level of a double decker bus  Fiona
Leslie Posted Oct 7, 2011, 3:58 am	Hi mum! Even though the independence day was a few weeks ago, today we wanted to cook traditional food, so Leslie suggested empanadas!  First we cooked the "pino" which is a mixture of beef, onions, garlic, olives, egg, salt and oregano. Then we prepared the dough, cut it in pieces, filled them with the "pino" and fried them, and that's it! we are done! We took the liberty of cooking some of our size, so they were easier for us to eat  We also had "digüeñes" for salad, which are orange mushrooms that grow on some trees in this time of the year, they taste very good with vinegar and coriander!  Love, Fiona
Leslie Posted Oct 8, 2011, 4:01 am	Hello mum! Today we had a beautiful day of spring, it was completely sunny and warm. Since the spring started the weather has changed drastically! Now its so much nicer!  And plus, all the trees are blooming... they're so beautiful! Many hugs! Fi
Leslie Posted Oct 14, 2011, 8:05 pm	Hi mum! Hope you are fine! The weather has been a little crazy over here, one day it was very cold and rainy and the next day we have sun and heat again!  Yesterday we drove about 1 hour to a town called Cunco. There was a museum (which was closed  ) but in the garden there were some Mapuche totems, very cool stuff!  Also in the garden there was this "ruca" a traditional mapuche house, of course they're not used nowadays anymore... I also learned that most of them have cone shape and their doors made of straw... so this is a pretty luxurious one  . Here we are standing on a volcanic rock  There were lots of them everywhere because Cunco is near a Llaima volcano. Then we drove a little south... Until we got to this lake called Colico. Then we started looking for places where to sit and rest watching the sunset!  This trunk seemed pretty comfortable  How beautiful!  After the sun set it started to get very cold and the mosquitoes were buzzing around, so we hurried back to the car and drove back home to Temuco. It was a very nice day! Bye! Fi
Leslie Posted Oct 18, 2011, 2:07 am	Hi mum! Today the sky was blue and there was a nice temperature! Ideal to go out and take pictures... but we did none of that, instead we went to the centre and it wasn't even a city tour....  we just went quickly to some borring offices and that was it!  ... Although in one of the offices there was a nice mural showing two snakes. Leslie said they're called "Trentren & Caicai" and they are from a Mapuche leyend about the creation of the world!  Interesting! Have a nice week! Love, Your Fiona
Leslie Posted Oct 22, 2011, 7:06 pm	Hello mum! We came to relax to Leslie's summerhouse!  It's in a small fishing village called Queule which is surrounded by beautiful hills and beaches! This is the view from the highway while getting there! There you can see the river mouth of Queule river and the whole peninsula. There is a lighthouse in its end, but it's small so you can't see it in the picture. We passed through a field full of infinite callas  so we made a stop to see them closer and smell them! Then we got to the house!  The first thing that caught my attention were the plants in the garden! I'd never seen this one! It's called nalca (Chilean rhubarb) and it's very big! This is its flower. I was told that some people eat their stems with salt! Leslie told me she once tried it but didn't like it at all! And she didn't let me try it either, she said she wouldn´t break her plants' stems.  The nalca was surrounded by some very nice forget-me-nots. These are the flowers of a plant called chilco. They're the hummingbirds' favourite meal!  I liked its fern bud, very nice! I really like spring! I don't know why new year isn't in spring... I think it sould be... Since nature begins its cycle every spring, don't you think so too, mum? These wild flowers smell very good! I don't know their name though... There was a big quartz rock in the garden as well! It was found in one of the hills near here!  Then it was lunch time, we were very hungry after the drive! our salad today was cochayuyo (a seaweed) with some onion and coriander. It tasted a little like digüeñes!  Then after lunch we decided to go to the beach! To get there we had to walk for about 40 minutes up and down the hills! The weather wasn't so nice so we didn't take our swimming suits... From up the hill we could see Ronca beach. The word ronca means "snore" and the beach is called like that because of the loud sound of its waves! They really do sound loud! Look at this! There was a giant root by the road! very impressive! I liked to walk and balance on the branches, they  reminded me of the inside of an anthill, and we are the ants!  Then we got to the beach we were walking to! Agua de las niñas beach, which means "water of the girls" in Spanish, what a funny name! I think its called like that because of the shallow depth of the ocean here, which makes it very safe for kids. There was a big rock full of holes everywhere! Do you know what might have caused them? Maybe the aliens!  ...or just the erosion.  We moved through the rocks... and I realized that we were standing on seaweed! There was a big cave, but it looked a little creepy inside so we didn't want to go in!  I wrote a little message on the sand  Then I found manta ray eggs! There were lots of them everywhere!  How cool! This is not just any rock... this used to be the stair in the entrance of a summerhouse before the tsunami of 1960!  Queule was totally destroyed and later rebuilded nearby, which is where it is now. How do I look as a sailor?  I met a crab, but we wasn't friendly at all! He bit be! You should have seen what he did to poor Petunia!! Later we walked back home... it was a very nice day! I learned to be more careful with some animals, specially crabs!  Kisses! Fi
Leslie Posted Oct 25, 2011, 10:01 pm	Hi mummy! So as soon as I woke up I went to the deck to see the lovely view and breathe some fresh air from the sea! It's a good thing that today the weather was so much better than yesterday!  Then me and the others went down to the waterfront to see the fishing boats and the birds from closer. There were some fishermen on a boat cutting fish and feeding the birds, so there were pelicans and seagulls flying over our heads with fish guts in their peaks!  There are many old wooden docks here... some of them are so old that seem like they're about to fall down!!  There you can see the main concrete dock. Not all of the boats were in good conditions either... there were some really old ones!  We walked to a view point called El Tope. What a view!!  Behind me is Los pinos island. The beach is called La herradura (the horseshoe) because of its shape and it's 9 kilometers long!  That's Queule! see? It's a very small town. Nice and quiet  In 2010 there was an earthquake and a tsunami in Chile, but nothing really bad happened here in Queule, just a few docks and boats were destroyed, thankfully the wave wasn't so big here! Here there's a video filmed from the summerhouse that day (It doesn't contain the finest language...) This little dock, for example, was destroyed and rebuilt later. Can you guess the name of this rock? A clue, it's the king of the jungle ...king of the jungle with some trees on his back! These sheep weren't so friendly... they didn't show their best side to the photo...  Bye for now! Fiona
Leslie Posted Oct 26, 2011, 7:12 pm	Hey mum! Yesterday was our last day in Queule! After lunch we had to pack, and when we were done, we were had some free time to do whatever we like, so we decided to go to a beach we hadn't been to before! It's called Cheuque. The waves here are big and noisy as you can see! well... you can only see they're big, but trust me, they're loud! There are giant rocks in the sea where no humans can reach, perfect home for seagulls and other birds to nest Between all these rocks there was plenty of sea life from starfish and sea snails -no crawfish, sadly- to some trapped fish from the last high tide! We spent some time playing with the shells, they made perfect sun hats! How do I look? Do you know what it is?? It's cochayuyo! The seaweed I ate the other day! Though... don't ask me what this one smelled like! Believe me, you don't want to know! And this is my last picture from Queule. Now we are in Temuco again... Not so much fun. Kisses Fi
Leslie Posted Oct 28, 2011, 5:37 pm	Hey mum! This time we had more free time in the centre than last time, so we went to the main square of the city. This is the most important monument in Temuco. It shows Mapuches with drums and spears and spanish conquerors with rifles and other guns Mum! Look what this guy did to me! I believe I know now why it's said that mapuches aren't so nice!  Right next to the square is one of the tallest buildings of the city and the main church. Not like I haven't seen them before...  Outside the church there were a lot of priests! I wonder what they were up to! Maybe they heard there are toyvoyagers in town and wanted to see us!  See you mum! Love, Fiona
Leslie Posted Nov 3, 2011, 12:48 am	Hey mum! We went to spend the long weekend in Queule again!  Do you remember Ronca beach? We walked through the hills for about 30 minutes until we got up here, it was very windy, but the view was beaaautiful! The beach is very long and we walked next to the sea foam and the weaves How relaxing! See the hill behind me? That's where we got here from! Look at this poor tree! I told you it's windy here, didn't I? There was a fire here some years ago... but as you can see nature is recovering very nice  Then we saw the foggy sunset and walked back home  See you! Fiona
Leslie Posted Nov 6, 2011, 4:52 am	Hey mum! Today in the afternoon we went to the top of a mountain eating our halloween treats and watching the awesome view! What a day!  Fi
Leslie Posted Nov 10, 2011, 4:01 pm	Hi all! I've been trying to fulfill one of my life missions for some time already and here is what I got! The photos aren't so nice not just because of the bad lighting...but because we had to them at a ninja speed because it's forbidden to take photos inside of the supermarkets and I surely don't want to be deported from here! Good thing that no one saw me Sorry about the -many- photos with alcohol... don't think I'm becoming an alcoholic mum! trust me! I was there just for photographic purposes  I liked this lanscape! Chilean mountains, of course  This map reminded me of the map to the lost city treasure  remember that? What a patriotic wine! I like the cat, lol  Pisco! Peruvians say they created it, chileans say they did! Who should I believe?? ...Moving on to a "drier" section... Look at those prices! Thank god they're not dollars!  Chile, the land of chilies!  "Visit a grocery store in Asia, Europe, So. America & Oceania (1 of 4)"
Leslie Posted Nov 12, 2011, 5:03 am	Hi mum, Today we said good bye to my good friend Timothy, he's going home! Petunia and I gave him a good bye kiss!  I'm going to miss him, he had been here with me for so long and we had so many adventures together! See you! Fiona
Leslie Posted Nov 12, 2011, 9:00 pm	Thank you mum for this beautiful postcard! It arrived today and Leslie and I loved it!
Leslie Posted Nov 17, 2011, 9:18 pm	Hello mum! Today I visited the most important hill in Temuco, Ñielol hill. Some people say that Ñielol hill is an extinct volcano I hope it isn't, because I definitely would not like to see it active since it's right next to the city! We went up (by car - we were feeling a little lazy) to the main viewpoint from where we could see a big part of Temuco! A little close there were this four very tall Mapuche totems!  They are called "chemamulls" In the middle there is a "canelo" tree, a sacred tree for Mapuche people.  Near there was a poor fallen one, he was too old and was kind of rotten  Then we moved to a lower viewpoint from where we could see a little more of the city to the west. Do you see the closest roof? That's a small natural museum In the museum there was an embalmed condor! It is the national bird of Chile and also the largest flying bird in the world!! It has a wingspan of about 3.2 m (10.5 ft) and can live up to 100 years! What an amazing bird! This is a south american rodent called Coipo, it's like a mix between a beaver and a rat, a giant rat This is a map of the 9th region of Chile, "La Araucanía" which where I am now. I learned that just in La Araucanía there are 7 volcanoes! And in Chile, more than 2,900!!! which is the 15% of all the volcanoes in the world This is a "piñón" which contains hundreds of seeds of Araucaria tree (monkey puzzle), the national tree of Chile  And some ugly vulture... I hope you liked the photos! See you mum! Fiona
Leslie Posted Nov 25, 2011, 1:19 am	Hi mum! How are you? We came to Puerto Montt once again but for a very short time and even though Leslie didn't have much free time to take us out, we managed to go on a little tour through the waterfront from the centre to the famous Angelmó port The sea breeze felt lovely on my face! This sea lion seemed almost trained! He didn't stop posing and swimming around for us! In the Angelmó port there is a big craft market where tourists from all over the world arrive in fancy cruices to buy souvenirs So I couldn't be the exception I'd like to have one of these beanies in my size I wonder how would I look? These three guys weren't so handsome but they were friendly enough to let me take a photo with them! I found these mysterious Moais from Easter Island on a shelf! These jewels are made of a rare semi precious stone called Lapislazuli that is only found in Chile and Afghanistan Look what I found! I lapislazuli llama! This nice couple borrowed me a woollen beanie How do I look?? Late at night we went up to a viewpoint to see the light of the city! Very nice!  ...And the next day we came back to Temuco. I had fun! Many kisses! Fiona
Leslie Posted Dec 8, 2011, 2:30 pm	Hi mum! How are you? I know it's been a long time... sorry about that! We were on a trip, a very nice trip! But you'll see photos of that later, now I want to show you a trip we made to the Andes mountain range and a small town called Lonquimay the other day On the drive we stopped more than a few times to admire the beautiful landscapes by the road, so we took quite long to get to the mountain range But that's what trips are for, aren't they? This bridge is very very old! But don't worry, I didn't cross it! I'm standing here on a new bridge built next to the old one I really liked these high mountains as a background! Look mum! A suspension bridge! And I was brave enough to cross it! Aren't you proud?? It moved a lot and it was somewhat scary, but I'm sure it wasn't me the one who moved it the most! After all I'm quite fit and my weight isn't enough to move such a thing! I think it was Leslie who did little earthquakes in every step This is beautiful waterfall is called "the falls of the princess" I think it's amazing how so much water falls and falls and doesn't run out! I would like to swim here, but the water was really freezing! ...Another river... As you can see there are a lot of rivers coming from the mountain range to the ocean in this zone... a lot. There were thousands of lupines by the road! Some were pink, purple, yellow and even blue! Here we started going up the Andes mountain range! Even though it's spring, up here it still seemed like winter! The view was amazing! And I should mention as well that it was rather freezing! We kept going up and up until we found snow! Snow in spring! So we went to play!! But just for a short time... none of us wanted to catch a cold! Everytime Leslie stopped to take pictures we would run back to the snow We found what looked like a baby Araucaria and went running to climb it, but Leslie said that this one must be about 50 years old or more! So I guess these ones must be about a thousand years old! After crossing a part of the mountain range we got to Lonquimay! There was nothing interesting as it a small town, but in the main square I found these two nice sculptures of Mapuche people We were very close to the border with Argentina! These signs say Argentina to the left and Chile to the right! I would have liked to turn left and take a sneak peek in Argentina, but for that we would have to cross the entire Andes mountain range... so we just turned right and started returning home. On the road back to Temuco we crossed the longest tunnel in South America! Túnel las Raices - The Roots Tunnel. It's 4,527 meters long! There was a moment when we could see nothing at all! The entrance had already dissapeared and we still couldn't see the end! It was a fantastic day! Many hugs from the sunny Chile! Fiona
Leslie Posted Dec 14, 2011, 3:08 pm	Hi mum and everybody else! Days here have been sunny and the temperatures raising quite fast, bordering the 30ºC these last days. I hope you are not freezing yourself back at home mum! I would like to send you some chilean warmth if I could! On one of those very rare cloudy days we went to a small town called Puerto Domínguez on the shore of Lake Budi, the only salt water lake in South America! There were big sculptures of people, like this mapuche guy riding a horse... ...or Augusto Winter, a poet. Back there, behind the big fisherman, you can see the lake! This is it! Lake Budi, the only salt water lake in South America There was a lovely family of black necked swans swimming around! They had 7 babies, but most of them were resting under their parents' warm wings A little later we went up to a small cemetery with a nice view to the lake Many many old and not so old tombs had one of Leslie's lastnames written, she told me it is because she's descendant of the Spanish guys who came to conquer this area back in the colonial times Now the sun is shining outside so me and the others are going to go out to play Many hugs! Fi
Leslie Posted Dec 20, 2011, 7:37 pm	Hola! Today we went to the main craftmarket of Temuco to see some Mapuche handicrafts. There were many strange musical instruments, clothes and souvenirs... I had already seen these mapuche drums, kultrún, somewhere, remember?? These are "trapelakuchas", jewel pieces made of silver worn only by mapuche women who have important ranges in their community. They are very heavy! Then we went to a shopping mall and saw a magnificent giant christmas tree! The whole place had christmas decoration and they were playing christmas carols in spanish, it was a lovely atmosphere! When we came back home we sat in front of the christmas tree to admire the lights listening to christmas carols It's really nice! I hope you're having a beautiful christmas season mum! Love, Fi
Leslie Posted Dec 23, 2011, 3:06 pm	Hohoho! Today we were at home doing nothing productive... Chrissi and Sweet Mimi were reading a book while Bobi, Petunia and I were folding origami animals ...When we heard someone coming! It was Pato wearing a Santa costume and bringing something! It was a christmas tree and a bag of presents! But he didn't bring any decoration for the tree... so I thought of something... Chrissi, Petunia and I went to the big tree to stea... I mean borrow some. Petunia climbed up some presents and got to the lower branches where she found some fantastic little bells! Then she would give them to Chrissi and Chrissi to me... When we had enough for our tree we walked back, trying not to leave evidence behind! The others were certainly happy to see our load! We hung the decorations on the tree while Pato was singing christmas carols to cheer us When we were done, we added just a little details. I hung a bell on the wall, Leslie gave us a little manger to place under the tree, and Chrissi found a Santa figure that Zandy sent us! And here it is!! Our own christmas tree! I can't wait until christmas! And I wonder what's inside Pato's bag! Hugs! Fiona
Leslie Posted Dec 28, 2011, 4:00 pm	Hohoho! Merry Christmas from a 30ºC christmas day! On Christmas eve, in the afternoon we had a lovely dinner with the family, the sun was still shining outside as you can see, since it's one of the longest days in the year! Then, when we were done eating, we went to check our tree to see if Santa had passed, and yes! There were presents under our tree! We euphorically opened them...! There were candies and chocolate for everyone! And we enjoyed them until we could eat no more! I hope you had a beautiful christmas too mum! Kisses! Fi
Leslie Posted Jan 4, 2012, 1:49 pm	HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE TOYVOYAGERS AND THEIR FAMILIES and of couse, my mum ! We came to celebrate to the beautiful fishing village of Queule once again On the evening of the 31st we made a BBQ with longanizas But as a good llama, I was more into the peas and tomatoes At midnight it was time for "3... 2... 1...!!" As you can see we had a very good time and we stayed up late in the deck watching little fireworks and people playing with sparklers. Our neighbors had good loud music, so we also danced a little The next day when we woke up (which wasn't precisely early...) the sun was shining and the sky was all blue so Pato and I went to the valcony to see the nice view and breathe some fresh sea breeze Later after lunch we walked to one of the beaches nearby, well, not so near, about 40 minutes walking up and down the hills But I have no problem with walking, it's good excersise to prepare my body for the beach season In the beach I found this little dunes, which looked like ruins from an old civilization! They inspired us all to build a sand castle and play! Mimi, Chrissi and Petunia were the trapped ladies locked by a dragon while brave Bobi and I came to rescue them crossing the dangerous suspension bridge! It was a very fun day! I wish you a very happy 2012 mum! And as they say in spanish... FELÍZ AÑO NUEVO!
Leslie Posted Jan 12, 2012, 12:08 am	Happy birthday to meeee... ♫ ♪ ♫!! Today as it is my birthday the guys had me a surprise party with a giant cake and a candle! Mimi was holding a present which I couldn't stop looking sideways... They sung the happy birthday song As soon as I blew the candle we pushed the cake away and it was time for my presents! Mimi gave me the one she was holding, she said it's from all the toyvoyagers. And Leslie gave me one a little bigger... I opened the first one... It's a keychain!! But wait a minute... It's a llama keychain!! And then I opened the one from Leslie... ohh... it's a postcard... "Antartica"? why? I think it's you mum the one who likes the antartic better... but well. As soon as the party was over I grabbed an envelope, some stamps and borrowed a pen, of course, with a frog, and wrote your address... Can you keep my gifts until I'm back home? But hey! don't forget they're mine! See ya!
Leslie Posted Jan 13, 2012, 2:09 am	Hello everybody! We started a journey to northern lands We slept on a bus for 8 hours and woke up in Santiago, the capital of Chile! But we didn't see anything there because we got off the bus and inmediately got into another one to keep going north Another 7 hours north! The hills near Santiago have different vegetation than back south in Temuco... it starts getting more desertic, there is less vegetation here and you can even see cactus on the hills! Then, after about 4 hours on the second bus we started seeing the sea! The bus made a stop to stretch everyone's legs in a little Town called Los Vilos. There was literally nothing to see there but one single cactus, so Leslie, desperate to get me good photos, made me stand on it and pose!!! And after a total of 15 hours on buses, we got to La Serena! Mum, don't surprised if you find my butt a little flat when I come back home... This is why. But traveling is never a pain, so as soon as we got there we left our baggage in the hostal and started walking a long long street that leads to the bech There were many monuments along, but I specially found this one interesting, they are 2 condors (the national bird, remember?) hunting a poor rabbit! I hope Sweet Mimi didn't see it Then there were no more sculptures but road, just many blocks of road to the beach... surrounded by nice palm trees And then, finally, after walking about 18 blocks we got to the beach! we were starting to feel tired but as soon as we saw the sea, it took all our tiredness away! The first thing we saw when we got to the beach was this nice lighthouse, which I had already seen... which is the most known icon of La Serena We stayed here the whole afternoon relaxing after so much traveling and walking... See you soon mum! Fiona
Leslie Posted Jan 19, 2012, 1:27 am	Hi mum! Another sunny day here in La Serena! In fact most of the days are sunny here and fantastically it only rains a few days a year! In the morning ("morning" in holidays never means earlier than 9 am here ...) we went walking to the centre, wich is just a few block away from our hostal and we found this church called Santo Domingo which was built in the year 1700 and something... Inside it was cold and they had nice music playing which gave a nice and calm feeling Just across the street we found the main square, it's rather small but nice. There was a nice tree of trumpet flowers (floripondio), they were so big, even bigger than me! Just across the street there was this big cathedral, Catedral de la Serena. It was built around the 1800s and it's the biggest and main cathedral of the city. We were lucky to find it almost empty because there was a big "no photos" sign I didn't mean to be disrespectful but such a nice construction must be photographed, right? Next to us there was another tourist with his camera under his jacket, taking photos whenever he thought no one was looking! of course he never imagined there was a little toyvoyager llama watching him from between the big pillars! haha! In the walls there were many images of different saints. Then we went out to the street again... Haven't I told you mum that in La Serena most of the constructions keep a colonial style? In the centre, for example, they can't build anything bigger than 4 floors height, and most of the contructions have tile roofs Anyway, we were walking in the street and found quite a nice building, but it belonged to some court or something like that so we were just trying to sneak near the door, but a nice guard found us and invited us inside to take photos! Inside the building there was a beautiful patio! Then out in the street again we found this cool tile bench where we sat to rest for a while I was distracted looking around and talking with the others when Leslie got us all into a cab... ...and took us to the Japanese garden! As I had already been here before, I let the others have preference with the camera I just got this nice grupal shot. Nice isn't it? It was quite a fun day! I hope you're having fun back at home too, mum! See you soon! Fi
Leslie Posted Feb 14, 2012, 8:46 pm	Hello hello! The photos you're going to see now mum are from the day we went to Coquimbo, the city next to La Serena, only 10 minutes away When we walked there we walked for a while through the coast where all the fishing boats were... back there you can see the desertic hills! There was a sculpture showing St Peter. Then we went up to the highest point in the city. And here is the Third Millenium Cross... I had already been here once before, remember?? We went up by an elevator... And this is the wonderful view from up there! Last time I came it was cloudy. Now the sky was blue and the photos look nicer Under the cross there was a small cathedral and a religious museum but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside grrr... I saw some of John Paul's belongings, like clothes, chairs and other things... And I saw Michelangelo's La Pietà! And this I was allowed to take a photo with! After the Cross, we went to a fortress used to fight the pirates back in the day! And I had been here once before too... What a beautiful cactus flower! I'll write again soon! Bye byeee
Leslie Posted Feb 18, 2012, 7:59 pm	Hi mum! how are you? We came to the Elqui Valley, do you remember it? It's the place with the clearest sky in the world! This time I saw and learned some new things... Can you believe there is a whole town under this river!? One day in 1996 the inhabitants of Gualliguaica town were told they had to leave their houses because a dam was going to be built there and the next day their whole town was under water! It was rebuilt nearby but there are people still sad about it, specially old people who lived all their lives in their original town... I feel sorry for them! Last time I was here it was winter and the valley was all brown and with no signs of life, now on summer it was all green and beautiful! Do you like it? I do! A little later, when we were eating in an open air restaurant in a small town in the valley, next to our table there was a cactus... And guess what ... Leslie made me stand on it, again! She said her excuse this time was the funny name of this cactus... although I think it's pretty lame! One of these days I'll put a cactus branch on her seat... let's see if she likes it! Anyway, it's called "mother in law's cushion" (cojín de la suegra) I'm quite sure it was made by a mean man! And that's about all the new things I saw on this trip I'll write again soon! Bye! PS: my feet still hurt!
Leslie Posted Feb 20, 2012, 3:14 am	Hola mamá! Our days in La Serena came to end, but before we left I climbed a tree to pack some cherries for our 15 hour trip There were plenty of them in our hostel backyard! There were some birds standing on the higher branches staring at me with a face of saying "hey! don't steal our fruits!" but I just ignored them and kept picking There was also a thornless cactus which I liked very much Back in the south we did not stay in Temuco but came to Queule right away to navigate! As you can see the sky wasn't blue but it feels nice to cool down after so many days in the desertic north! The boat had a cool name! And after hours rowing through the river and the sea we were hungry so went to have our meal. At home they were waiting for us with some yummy goldenberry jam And here's the goldenberry itself! Kisses from your sailor llama Fi
Leslie Posted Feb 25, 2012, 5:40 pm	There are so many carnivals going on around the world and here we have nothing! It's unfair! ...so we decided to do something about it... Our own carnival!! We weren't quite sure wether to do it the brazilian way, or more venetian... so we decided to do a mix, or own carnival style This is what I gathered for a costume, how do I look? I know it's not as fancy as the ones that the samba dancers wear in Rio, or the elegant costumes from Venice, but it'll do for now Then we all gathered on our colorful costumes to let the party begin! We lit some candles and Ducky, who was wearing a more tropical style, started to play some music so we all started to dance! Pato is a great dancer! Then I danced with Ducky, this time the music was slower. Our carnival was very variated! It was a lot of fun! and Chrissi did a great job with the guitar! Our carnival was awesome! At the very level of Venice and Brazil I dare to say See you mum I'm having a lot of fun here! Bye bye!
Leslie Posted Mar 1, 2012, 3:41 pm	Hi mum! This is your adventurer llama reporting from Bolivia! Yay! After more than 50 hours traveling, we got to the highest city in the world, Potosí! Here we are outside the customs office in the middle of the andean plateau at 3.695 m.a.s.l waiting for our turn... At this height you can already feel the lack of oxygen and it was cold and windy but we were all very happy to be there! And plus, Pato lent me one of his andean hats so I was warm After we crossed the border we kept going through the plateau... For hours the landscape outside the window was like this... There's an unbelievable amount of volcanoes up there!! I had never seen so many and so close to eachother! And after many many hours, we arrived to Potosí! the highest city in the world at 4060 m.a.s.l! As soon as we got to our hotel we dropped our baggage and went out running to explore! Of course, we only run a few meters and realized how much oxygen we were missing and how super tired and extremely exhausted we were feeling, so we just walked from that moment on, which is somewhat awkward for us who are all used to be running and jumping around I learned new things, so I want to teach them to you The first thing we saw was this old church called "Nuestra Señora de la Merced" It was built in 1555 when the spanish conquered Bolivia and forced the natives to build churches for a God they didn't even believe in... And just a few steps away, the main cathedral of the city! This is one of the most modern churches of the city, built in the 1800s. See? I told you I've been learning! The city centre and surrounding areas are overwhelmed by religious buildings! I learned that there are 36 beautiful churches along the city, all built in the conquest times, around the year 1500. This is the "compañía de Jesús" (jesus's company) tower. How beautiful! Look at all those details! And this is San Lorenzo church The natives were forced to build and build as slaves, and they were so angry to be building churches to God that they decided to add some of their beliefs' elements to the contrsuctions, even if it costed them their lives. Here you can see a sun and a moon in the corners, they represent the sun and moon deities that they worshipped. I admire how brave they were to add these details even if they knew the spanish would kill them for doing it! Then we went back to our hotel to recover oxygen! Tomorrow, city tour Stay tuned! Love from the highest city in the world! Your explorer, Fiona
Leslie Posted Mar 7, 2012, 5:21 pm	Hi mum! The sun raises here in Potosí and the city awaits to be discovered! so here we go! The first thing that caught my attention when we started walking were the very narrow streets! The tour guide lady told us it's because they were made for tumbrils in the past! Now it's difficult to drive cars through these streets!! We found a beautiful church, but couldn't take a better photo because the streets are so narrow! Then we made a little stop at the post office where Leslie kept talking about postcards and stamps but I was paying more attention to the old construction Then we came to this viewpoint where we could see a part of the city...  Back there is "cerro rico" (rich hill) that one day contained the mines with most silver in the world! But the tour guide told us it was all taken to Europe and the city was left very poor with no silver left... now they extract some other less important minerals from the hill... This city has a very sad history... Then we kept walking and went to Santa Terera church What a bell tower! And last but not least we went to see the most famous icon of Potosí, that rather ugly face behing me. This is the patio of the goverment palace and that face belongs to a guard that many years ago discovered some fraud going on with the city's money. Do you see how much I've learned mum! And here ended our tour What a day, mum! I'm very happy I got to visit this city, everything here is so different to Chile, and of course, to home! Many hugs and kisses for you! Fi
Leslie Posted Mar 15, 2012, 11:06 pm	Hi mum! I know it's been a long time since I updated here... but it's all Leslie's fault! she keps saying she's busy with her studies and all sort of excuses to not help me! But today we hid her books and won't give them back until she helps us update! These photos are from the wonderful, glorious day we visited the biggest salt flat in the world! After our stay in Potosí we took a bus to the town of Uyuni, and the next day we took our so awaited tour! First they took us to the "train cemetery", a place in the middle of nowhere with many many abandoned old trains! ...And then... They took us to the Uyuni salt flat! The world's largest salt flat at 10,582 Km²! We were all so excited to be there! This place is so amazing... and salty We are all very lucky guys, aren't we? Mum! It's all salt! Look mum! This is how they extract the salt! First they make these cones and then load them on tracks. Then we had to say good bye to the salt flat, but when we were going back to the Uyuni town we passed through a small town where I saw some typically dressed "cholitas" (bolivian aboriginal women)! There were many many women dressed like that everywhere, but they hate photos and don't like tourists very much so I couldn't take a photo of them before... Look at their houses!! ...This is so different to everything I had ever seen before... And well, then we returned to Uyuni town and washed all the salt away It was an amazing day!! Love, Your Fiona
Leslie Posted Mar 31, 2012, 9:50 pm	After our stay in Bolivia we came back to Chile through the Atacama desert and started heading to a little town in the middle of it! For hours all we saw out the window was sand... Did you know mum that this is the driest desert in the world!?? And here I am! This is San Pedro de Atacama, the little town in the middle of the desert that I told you about! As soon as we got off the bus we heard some music so we started following it and it led us to the main church! So we got closer to see what was going on... And found musicians and dancers wearing carnival costumes!! And they told me that there was a carnival about to start! Bobi and I found some masks ready to be worn by the dancers! This one is really scary! Then right next to me the musicians started playing and going into the church. The carnival was starting! Then some louder music started and many dancers appeared on the street! It was the carnival of "la virgen de la Candelaria" Look at those amazing costumes! wow! And how about these!! Later we talked to one of these dancers and he told us his costume weighs 50 kilos! and it represents the black slaves. These people seemed to be dressed up as llamas! But they were bears... hmm quite strange to see polar bears in the desert, don't you think so? After a while the dancers were all very tired, you can see it in their faces... they weren't wearing their masks anymore and not jumping as much as when they first started. It was terribly hot that day and I was wearing tons of sunscreen! Well, this is the desert after all! Mum, it was an amazing and unexpected day! We had no idea about the carnival and got here in perfect time! Ah, I almost forgot... After the carnival ended I went to visit some long lost cousins Lots of love! Fiona
Leslie Posted Apr 7, 2012, 7:33 pm	Hi dear mummy and audience! So, where was I? Oh I remember, San Pedro de Atacama! This was actually quite a while ago, but due to Leslie's laziness (she calls it "studies"...) I'm showing these photos just now. Here I am in the very middle of the Atacama desert! We took a very cool tour and they made us walk a lot under the hottest sun I've ever felt! But don't worry, I was wearing lots and lots of some powerful sunscreen We walked some meters and got to a high place where we could see the "Death Valley" Can you guess why it's called like that? I certainly would not like to be lost here... Then they took us in the tour van (which had cooled air, thank goodnes for that!) to another part of the desert, called "Moon Valley", why?, because it looks like the moon! There were some very strange formations on the rocks! Walking through the shadow felt very nice Then we crossed a cave! Mum! I'm in a cave in the Atacama desert! Could you possibly think of a more exotic place to be? The tour guide said we were going to go watch the sun set soon, but first we had to visit one of the most famous spots of the desert! This is it! The "Three Marys". They are called like that because they look like three women praying... well... that's what they say, but to me they just look like fingers, or sausages The tour guide told us that the left one was bigger, but some years ago a tourist climbed on it and broke it! Since then it's forbidden to touch them Then it was time to watch the sunset, so they took us to another part of the Moon Valley! ...The sun setting in the desert! It was really beautiful, all of us were so happy to be there enjoying the view together! What a day, mum! I'm so happy to have added the desert to my list of visited places! I really liked it! Many hugs and kisses! Love, Fi
Leslie Posted May 28, 2012, 7:43 pm	Hi mum! Again, I want to start by apologizing for the long time that's been since the last time I wrote to you... Life is very busy - Leslie says - but I don't think so... I see she just sits on her desk and opens her books... I dont see why she can't help me update instead of that! Meh... Remember our tour to the middle of the desert? Well, this is all the water we had to carry with us that day!! This day we moved to another city in the desert, Calama. But before taking the bus, we bought some supplies for the trip Some typical bolivian cereals! When we were on our way to take the bus, I heard something familiar, looked around and it was this llama calling me!   Whoa! She was big! Hihi she was very nice and let me climb up to her head to see how the world looks from up there! And gave me a ride of her back! But then we had to say good bye because I had a bus to catch! It was very nice meeting another of my long lost chilean cousins! Then we took our bus! Calama is about 2 hours away from San Pedro... two hours through the desert... not bad When we got to Calama we realized there was absolutely nothing to see there, it's a very borring city! so we decided to get out of the city and explore the desert around it! The first place we went to was this... They told us this is the place where some bodies were dynamited back in the dictatorship around 1973 and 1990... what a sad story! Now people started building a pet cemetery, but many of them aren't buried very deep, so it doesn't smell so good! Then we went to one of the most exciting places you could imagine mum!! A Pucará!!! A pre-columbian fortification built in the 12th century! It's overwhelming to be in a place with such history as this! Such little windows I could imagine the "atacameños" living here so long ago! Right next to the Pucará is Loa River, the longest river in Chile... It crosses the desert! Here you can see many rooms... Next to the pucará there is a very small town, and this is their church Look mum! I found a baby vicuña in the entrance of the pukará! The next day we took a but to a city by the sea called Antofagasta There I saw the ruins of Huanchaca. It was the place where they processed the metals coming from a bolivian mine in the past. The main square is very beautiful! And the pidgeons here are very friendly! Then we went to see one of the most famous chilean icons! "La portada de antofagasta"! It is very famous! And then we we went to spend some time at the beach collecting shells! These we liked the most! How do I look!? Look what Petunia and I found! a jellyfish! Don't worry mum, I didn't touch it Later that night we took a but back to the south, and a few days after that, I was announced that I'd be leaving Chile! I had a good bye party but accidentally all those photos were deleted I want you to know that I left safely... Good Bye CHILE!
fam-united Posted Jun 22, 2012, 1:50 pm	Hi Mum, I arrive in Bruchsal just the day, when Petra and her husband went on a day trip.
fam-united Posted Jun 22, 2012, 2:09 pm	Our first stop was at the Hundertwasser house in Darmstadt, which belongs to the state of Hessen. The house is called "Waldspirale", "forest spiral" in English. It is a residential building complex built in the 1990s. It was designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, planned and implemented by architect Heinz M. Springmann, and constructed by the Bauverein Darmstadt company. The building was completed in 2000 after Hundertwasser's death. It contains 105 apartments, a parking garage, a kiosk as well as a café and a bar. There are about 1000 windows and no two windows are the same. You see the typical elements of Hundertwasser's personal style attract attention: the gilded onion domes, the absence of straight lines and sharp corners, the multicoloured painting of the building in earth tones and the colourful ceramic columns. The inner courtyard contains a playground for the children of the residents and a small artificial lake.
fam-united Posted Jun 22, 2012, 3:06 pm	At next we drove to a place called "Mathildenhöhe". We all didn't know anything about this place, so we had to read about it. It's an artists colony and you can see some houses around the park, which were created by them. With about 180 metres it is the highest place of Darmstadt. There is a Russian Chapel built in 1897 and the Hochzeitsturm (wedding tower) built in 1906, which was created by one of those architecture artists, which I mentioned above. We climbed the tower and took some photos from the top floor, but I'm sorry, the photos are blurry. It was just a problem of the sun and the camera was still the small one. In 1833 they reshaped the garden in style of an English garden and the  plane trees are of this decade. The artists built their houses in Art Nouveau style between 1899 bis 1914.
fam-united Posted Jun 22, 2012, 7:46 pm	Finally it was time to drive to Frankfurt a.M., because we had to fetch my host's daughter there, who came with a flight from Athens, Greece. She was there with her class. We had no chance to see any planes, because we arrived to late to go outside on the terrace.
fam-united Posted Jun 22, 2012, 8:07 pm	Because my host and her children still had a break from school, they decided to go and have lunch at a restaurant outside of Bruchsal. I asked her to take some photos with me when we walked home again. As you can see here Bruchsal belongs to the rural district of Karlsruhe. Here's the backside of the house Santa Maria. I love this VW-Kaefer (Beetle). Do you know Herbie? Here is the front of Santa Maria. We found a sign and took a photo of it, so you can read some information about this house.
fam-united Posted Jun 23, 2012, 5:46 pm	We were on a trip again today and have seen many halftimbered houses on our way. I hope, you enjoy them. Rainrod is a town in Hessen, so I'm in another federal state of Germany. We drove to a landscape called Vogelsberg. This was the only place, where we had been able to stop next to the road to take a photo.
fam-united Posted Jun 23, 2012, 6:35 pm	We found some more halftimbered houses in Glauburg.
fam-united Posted Aug 6, 2012, 8:40 pm	I'm in Bavaria now Aschaffenburg. It is a city in northwest Bavaria and belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz for more than 800 year. The town is located on both sides of the River Main. The second river is the small Aschaff which flows in the western part of the town into the River Main. Schloss Johannisburg is a castle in Aschaffenburg that was erected between 1605 and 1614 by Georg Ridinger. Until 1803, it was the second residence of the prince bishop of Mainz. It is constructed of red sandstone, the typical building material of the area around Aschaffenburg. Schloss Johannisburg is one of the most important buildings of the Renaissance period in Germany. At the end of the 18th century, the interior was restructured in the style of classicism. (Sorry, I had a strange camera, but I wanted to add all photos)
fam-united Posted Aug 6, 2012, 9:32 pm	Our last stopp today we had in Miltenberg, which also is located in Bavaria. Worth seeing are the Mildenburg (the local castle), which you can see in the far the Hotel Zum Riesen (one of Germany’s oldest inns, if not the oldest) - you can see the "Zum Riesen" on the right side, the historical Old Town the historical marketplace the river Main and surely you can find many more interesting places here, but it got late, so we had to drive home again. The bridge and the tower were built in 1898. The bridge was destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1950. I met many swans on the river Main.
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 3:56 pm	Today I met my host's pupils. They were on a rallye through the town and my host showed them the ancient tower of the old castle of Bruchsal. The castle keep is 38 metres high and was built in 1358 - making it the oldest surviving building in the town. In the far you can see buildings, which belong to the baroque palace. The tower belongs to the palace church. The high tower belongs to the church close to the market place. We call this church "Stadtkirche", city church. The roofs to our feet belong to the Buergerzentrum-  the citizen hall. The two towers in the far belong to the baroque church St. Peter, which is close to my host's home. You can also see trees of the citizen park. Here is still the citizen park and the grey building in the far is a catholic grammar school. It seems like an old castle too.
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 5:53 pm	Today we drove to Mannheim, but we only were there on a short visit, so we had no chance to see more than some high buildings and streets. We were in the fifth floor, rather high in my opion. My host's aunt has some nice flowers on her balcony. Here you see the television tower, a large strawberry field in Bruchsal and the church St. Paul in Bruchsal and the church St. Paul in Bruchsal.
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 6:10 pm	In the evening we watched a football match of the EM, UEFA European Football Championship.
fam-united Posted Sep 5, 2012, 1:40 pm	During the last weeks, my host sat in front of the computer and wrote many messages to send out IDs and answer questions. Did you hear of Galileo Big Pictures? Of course you did, because I started my career there. Then you know, why she had to do some work here Today she had to bake six quiche lorraine, all of them the size of three usually round cakes, and we had been happy to help her. Her husband celebrates a late 50th birthday party. One sort of quiche was with cheese, ham and eggs, the other sort was with cheese, salmon, onion and eggs. At first we had to read the recipe. Then Cassiopeia weighed 600gr flour. I added 300gr butter. Cassiopeia helped TV-TV to get some salt on a spoon. They needed one and a half teaspoon. SunnyHH had a lot of fun climbing on Mr.Zwie-Muellers head while he tried to get water on a spoon. He had to add 15 tablespoons of water to the dough. Then she had to stir the dough. My host said, that she hadn't been really a help doing it. Who knows why? Scotty made the dough on aluminium foil, because it had to rest in the fridge for two hours. Later Kari had to open 9 eggs for the stuffing. You see SunnyHH had some fun again, while someone mixed the eggs. In the measuring cup we have 3/4 l cream and 3 grains of salt. Someone also added 375gr cheese and 600gr cutted ham. I can tell you, it tasted really good. And for the salmon quiche we just replaced ham with salmon - some said, it was even better.
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2012, 6:08 pm	After a while we were so tired of working in the kitchen. We knew, that it was the opening night of the Olympic Games in London, so we sat in front of our hosts' tv and were really fascinated while watching it. Just take a look at a few impressions of this night.
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2012, 6:13 pm	Today we had to warm up the Quiche again before the guests arrived. Doesn't it look yummy?
fam-united Posted Oct 5, 2012, 8:21 pm	Today we drove to Angelbachtal. Angelbachtal is a municipality in Kraichgau, between Sinsheim and Bruchsal. The name Angelbachtal comes from the valley of the Waldangelbach, which flows through Kraichgau, and from the municipality of the same name. There live about 5000 people. Today we were here to go to the medieval market and meet Zandy, yosemite and takata there - and of course all the toyvoyagers, that travel with them. I learnt how to spin wool. A knight had to wear really heavy clothes. I think, it was a rather difficult time back in the Middle Age. We had a lot of fun sitting on a bench all together in front of the merry-go-round. Then we tried some ribbons. Do you think, it fits? We were really curious to learn more about the way, a monk makes a chain shirt. It takes 200 hours to finish one of them. At last we watched the knights tournament. I was so excited.
fam-united Posted Oct 7, 2012, 6:38 pm	We only knew since one week, that we will go on a holiday in Sweden and now it's the day to say goodbye to Bruchsal and sit in the car for hours. Here we were passing Hamburg harbour and driving in the Elbe tunnel. Sorry, it is a "bit" blurry. We've seen the Kiel Canal, but it was difficult to take a photo with it.
fam-united Posted Oct 7, 2012, 7:15 pm	Over night we stayed at a hostel. It was small, but we slept well. We had a lot of bags with us, so we hardly found a place to sit down. We were rather thirsty and happy, that we had some Coke to drink. We had to share it with the humans, though. We went on a small sightseeing tour: St. Nikolai-Church with the market place is the biggest church of Flensburg. It is a gothis hall church. They started to built this church in 1390 so it is rather old. The Holy Ghost Church is the main church building of the Danish church. It is also a gothic hall church, built in 1386. These sailing ships are for tourist tours.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:44 pm	I can't say how sad I am. My beloved KCrawfish isn't there anymore. I had to take some time to recover somehow from this shock, but I will go on traveling with my recent host as a very special toyvoyager for her from now on.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:45 pm	Update for August 17th Finally we are on the road again. The night was a bit uncomfortable for us, because we had to sleep in the bag. Now we are happy to see the bridges, which lead over the Great Belt and the Öresund. It was so foggy, that we rather could see the water. We had to pay for driving over the bridges.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:47 pm	update for August 18th Our house is in Bjoerkoeby, Djuvanaes and the lake is called Lillnoemmen. The weather is fine, so we decided to go out and see the lake and some horses, which belong to the farm, where we stay. We've seen many anthills there. This is our private little pier, where is also our private little boat. I hope to go out with the boat soon. Smaland seems to be a land of heather. I love it. While sitting here we watched some acrobatic flying, which they did for a wedding, that took place on the other side of the lake. We chatted a while, but then we felt really cold and decided to go back to the house. update for August 19th The Rumskullaeken (named after the town Rumskulla) or Kvilleken (named after the hamlet Norra Kvill) is a common oak [Quercus robur] close to the National Park Norra Kvill in Småland in Sweden. It is between 900 and over 1000 years old. With an extent of 13 to 14.75 meters in breast hight the Kvilleken is known as the oldest and biggest tree of Sweden and one of the oldest and biggest, if not the oldest and biggest oak of Europe. The trunk is half dead. These parts are fixed with ropes to the rest of the trunk. The area around the tree is fenced. The Kvilleken was first mentioned in year 1772 by Magnus Gabriel Craelius in his book Försök till ett landskaps beskrivning. (wikipedia, translated by me)
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:50 pm	update for August 19th You surely knew Michel aus Lönneberga, who originally was called Emil of Lönneberga. Astrid Lindgren began to write about him in 1963. Today we wanted to follow the way of Astrid Lindgren. Hässleby kyrka was built between 1857 and 1859. First there was a wooden church before the was an ancient stone church. This could have been the church, which Michel's (Emil)'s sister had seen from the top of the flagpole. In the book she said, that she could see the church of Mariannelund.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:52 pm	update for August 19th Then we drove to Katthult, where Emil/Michel lived. Katthults real name is Gibberyd and have been in the same familys possession since the 19th century. It was a normal swedish farm until 1970, when a production team went up and asked for a premission to record a film a the sight. Here I'm in the shed, where Michel/Emil carved his wooden figures. I would have liked to buy these books, but my host told me, that they are written in Swedish and that I don't understand Swedish. Did you know, that Emil was called Michel in Germany, because there was a book of Erich Kästner called Emil and the Detectives and they didn't want to mix up with the names? I'm sure, you would have loved to see this.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:56 pm	update for August 19th The Rumskullaeken (named after the town Rumskulla) or Kvilleken (named after the hamlet Norra Kvill) is a common oak [Quercus robur] close to the National Park Norra Kvill in Småland in Sweden. It is between 900 and over 1000 years old. With an extent of 13 to 14.75 meters in breast hight the Kvilleken is known as the oldest and biggest tree of Sweden and one of the oldest and biggest, if not the oldest and biggest oak of Europe. The trunk is half dead. These parts are fixed with ropes to the rest of the trunk. The area around the tree is fenced. The Kvilleken was first mentioned in year 1772 by Magnus Gabriel Craelius in his book Försök till ett landskaps beskrivning. (wikipedia, translated by me)
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:58 pm	update for 19th August Vimmerby is a city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 7,934 inhabitants in 2010. Vimmerby had its charter as early as the fourteenth century. The main street, Storgatan, still has the shape in which it was built in the medieval time. There are also many old wooden houses in the city. Vimmerby is currently a tourist attraction due to historical links with Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). When Astrid Lindgren wrote her books about the country boy Emil in Lönneberga she used much information from her own upbringing in the rural areas of Vimmerby. Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson was born here, at the farm at Näs in Vimmerby more than 100 years ago. Her father was tenant farmer at the rectory. This is where Astrid climbed in the "lemonade tree", played with her siblings, jumped in the hay and listened to stories in Kristin´s kitchen. Her childhood home is still intact. The house is open for guided tours all year round.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 7:59 pm	Update for August 20th On our way to shopping in Vetlanda we stopped at a resting place called Föreda. There was a small small island connected to the land over a bridge and we walked there to see it. The rest of the day we relaxed and didn't take photos of it.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:01 pm	update for August 21rst Today we drove to Växjö, which has a population of about 64,200, out of a municipal total of 83,000 inhabitants. In contrast to what was believed a century ago, there is no evidence of a special pre-Christian significance of the site. The pagan cultic center of Värend may have been located at Hov, a village nearby. Växjö got its city charter in 1342. Växjö Cathedral (Swedish: Växjö domkyrka) in the centre of Växjö, Sweden, is the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Växjö in the Church of Sweden. Saint Sigfrid allegedly lived and died in Växjö, and was buried in the cathedral at his death. At an outside wall of the cathedral we found this runestone. Then we drove to the Glasriket, what means Kingdom of Crystal, museum. Their history can be traced back to the 18th century at least. The glassworks have become part of the culture of Sweden. The sad thing for us was, that we had to wait in the car, while our hosts or family and the small tvs were allowed to go inside.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:02 pm	update for August 22nd This day stood under the sign of railway and trains. At first we visited the Nässjö railway museum(Nässjö Järnvägsmuseum), which has the focus on regional and national history of rail traffic. Nässjö was for a long time only a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point was the construction of the Swedish railway system. The southern main line railway, finished in 1864, passed through Nässjö. Later, other railways were inaugurated, whereby Nässjö, due to its geographical location in the country, became an important junction. Nässjö is the only city in Sweden, where still six differnet railroad lines meet.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:05 pm	update for August 23rd The Match Musem in Jönköping is the worlds only. It is located in the beautiful building that once was the first match factory in Jönköping. In the museum, living match history is told. Encounter the people and machines that built up the match industy and developed it into a global operation. Johan Edvard Lundström was born in 1815 in the town of Jönköping, Sweden. Johan Edvard is most of all recognized to have improved the safety match and made it possible to commercially exploit it. I will show you parts of the old way to produce match sticks. It was really hard work, which had harmful effects for health. Here we were in front of the museum. It had been raining again. We crossed this place and found a radio museum. We thougth, it would be a good idea to go inside and it was really interesting to see all the old radios, grammophones and more.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:06 pm	On our way home we visited the graveyard of Huskvarna.  The Huskvarna church was built in 1907/08. The church is built of wood in national romantic style, built in style of a stave church. The difference to old stave churches is, that they used the wood horizontal and not vertical.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:07 pm	Aneby is a locality and the seat of Aneby Municipality in Jönköping County, Sweden with 3,367 inhabitants in 2010. In the north of Aneby we saw the Stalpet waterfall, which is about 20 meters high.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:08 pm	update for August 24th Today we visited a small church in Nässjö. It is close to the camping site Lövhult and we had been lucky to get the key and be allowed to go inside the chapel. My photo was so blurry, that we only can show a photo of my friend Kari.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:09 pm	Later we walked around the lake called Runnerydsjön in Nässjö. We met a lot of geese there.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:10 pm	update for August 25th Today we decided to walk around the lake LillNömmen, which is the lake in front of our house. We had to walk about four hours and came back home very tired. The weather was mixed, but mostly dry. We only had the chance to take two photos, but I hope, you will enjoy them.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:11 pm	update for August 26th Ljungby is a city with 15,205 inhabitants in 2010. Much of the town centre was destroyed in a fire in 1953. The (at the time) modern style of the rebuilding characterized by e.g. Hotel Terazza remains controversial locally. In 1986, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton died in a bus accident close to Ljungby. There is a memorial stone by the Gyllene Rasten parking. We walked over a bridge, which leads over the river Lagan. Read, what we've read on two signs: We visited the Museum of Legends and had a lot of fun. It is very interesting and you shouldn't miss to go there, if you ever come to Ljunby. By the way: Some places are just too dangerous for someone like me, you will see.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:13 pm	We just had been at home for a few minutes, when it started raining cats and dogs. Brrrrr!
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:14 pm	update for August 27th Today we enoyed a great day in Kalmar. Kalmar is a city in Småland in the south-east of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010. From the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, Kalmar was one of Sweden's most important cities. Between 1602 and 1913 it was the episcopal see of Kalmar Diocese, with a bishop, and the Kalmar Cathedral from 1702 is still a fine example of classicistic architecture. It became a fortified city, with the still mighty Kalmar Castle as the center. After the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Kalmar's importance diminished, until the industry sector was initiated in the 19th century. Geographically Kalmar is the main route to the island of Öland thanks to the Öland Bridge. Later we visited Krustenstiernska Garden and had a picknick there. The first thing, that you see of the garden, is a high wooden wall and closed doors. But at 11am the doors were opened and everyone is allowed to come in. There are many tables and chairs and you just can sit down and eat things, that you brought with you. After this rest we had a little sightseeing tour in Kalmar. We've seen the lighthouse and the cathedral inside and outside. Interesting for us to see was, that in Sweden it is common to have a special corner for children, where they can sit and play. Two plushy guys invited us to sit on their table and told us a lot about their life in the cathedral. Then we walked back to the parking place and had this wonderful view to the castle.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:15 pm	update for August 28th The weather is fine, so we decided to drive to Öland to visit the old castle in Borgholm and the new palace Solliden. At first we stopped at this place, but still aren't really knowing, what it is, because we don't understand Swedish. Then we arrived at Borgholm castle. We were there for nearly three hours and walked back and forth and took many photos. Because Solliden was still closed, we drove to the city then and enjoyed walking through the streets. Solliden Palace is the summer residence of the Swedish Royal Family. Queen Viktoria let it build from 1903 to 1906.  King Carl XVI. Gustaf inherited it as a four year old. The palace itself is closed, but during summer you can visit the palace garden, if the royal family isn't there. This is the playhouse, in which once a gardener lived with his whole family. This is the Italian Garden. We enjoyed sitting on this bench and imagined Crown Princess Viktoria comes to meet us. Then we drove to the coast on the east side. We've seen the big cross and the remains of a chapel. These are the remains of St. Brita's Chapel, the largest chapel in Öland. Although associated with St. Bridget (Brigitta) the chapel was the Celtic St. Brigida to begin with. The chapel was 27 metres long and 12 metres wide and it was probably built on account of the growning numbers of visitors attracted by the market here at Sikavarp. It was getting so cold and windy, that we hurried back into the car. Of course one sign we weren't allowed to miss while being in Sweden. See this one:
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:16 pm	update for August 29th Gränna is a small town with about 2,553 inhabitants in 2010. It was  founded in 1652 by Count Per Brahe. The town is situated at the foot of Gränna mountain and is characterized by its steep streets and old wooden houses. Gränna is known for its red and white polkagris (literally "polka pig" in Swedish) stick candy, also known as peppermint rock. The balloonist Salomon August Andrée, who died in an attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon, was born in Gränna. The Grenna Museum hosts an exhibition of the expedition together with a comprehensive collection of related objects and photos. A model of the castle of Visingsö Gränna is located at the edge of the lake Vättern, which we have to cross to come to the island called Visingsö.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:20 pm	Visingsö is an island in the southern half of the lake Vättern in Sweden. Visingsö lies 30 km north of the city Jönköping and 6 km west of Gränna from which two car ferries connects the island. The island is 14 km long and 3 km wide, with a total area of 24 km². According to legend, a giant named Vist created Visingsö by throwing a lump of soil into the lake so that his wife could use it to step over the lake. I took photos of the signs next to the castle, so it is easier to imagine, how it looked like and to get to know something about the history of the castle. I'm sorry, but I'm not included in these three photos. The second link is only in German, sorry. On a little walk we found this tower of a stave church next to a graveyard. Because we only had a little time on the island, we had to hurry to get back on the ferry then.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:22 pm	update for August 30th Today is the second last day in Sweden. So we all decided to do things, that we wanted to do. Everyone had one wish. One wish was to go on Lilla Nömmen with the boad. We had a lot of fun paddling on our "home"lake.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:23 pm	update for August 31rst In the early afternoon we left our Swedish house and started to drive home. We had decided to stay in Frederikssund in Denmark overnight. On our way to Frederikssund we had to drive through Copenhagen or København (Danish pronunciation: [kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn], which is the capital of Denmark and its most populous city, with an urban population of 1,213,822 (as of 1 January 2012) and a metropolitan population of 1,947,944 (as of 1 October 2012). We had a short stop at the railway station. Wow, this is a big city, really crowded and we all were happy, when we had been out of the city again. Nevertheless it seemed, that there are some nice places, which would be worth to see one day.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:24 pm	update for September 1rst We stayed over night at a motel in Frederikssund/Jaegerspris. It was a nice place. In the morning we had breakfast outside in front of our room.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:25 pm	update for September 1rst Today we visited the park around Jaegerspris castle, called Jaegerspris slot. Jægerspris is a town and a former municipality (Danish, kommune) in Region Hovedstaden. It lies in the northern part of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. A significant portion of the north end of Jægerspris is covered by forest. There are also stretches of sand and dunes along the municipality's western side. The town of Jægerspris has a population of 4,065 (1 January 2011) and lies 6 km. northwest of Frederikssund. The town was established ca. 1870 around Jægerspris Castle, which is surrounded by kilometres of hiking and biking trails in the Jægerspris forest.
fam-united Posted Dec 2, 2012, 8:29 pm	update for September 1rst We are back in Germany and stayed one night at a hotel called Stadtschänke. The hotel is in Walsrode and there are several nice places around Walsrode as there are the Rischmannshof Heath Museum, the Walsrode Bird Park and Lüneburg Heath. Nevertheless we only were in the hotel, had dinner and fell in our bed as you can see. We slept all night and then drove home to Bruchsal again. Oh, don't wonder about the little dirt on the pillow. It is no dirt, it is a piece of chocolate. One piece of chocolate for all of us. I'm sure, you can imagine, how it feels if you only receive chocolate as big as a flea, because we had to share it with our host, too.
fam-united Posted Jan 31, 2013, 3:07 pm	Our hosts received a present: An Anastatica. Anastatica is found in arid areas in the Middle East and Sahara Desert, including parts of North Africa and regions of Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, and Pakistan . After the rainy season, the plant dries up, dropping leaves and curling branches into a tight ball, and "hibernates". Within the ball, the fruits remain attached and closed, protecting the seeds and preventing them from being dispersed prematurely. The seeds are very hardy and can remain dormant for years. Wetted again in a later rainy season, the ball uncurls and the plant wakes up from its dormant state, which causes the capsular fruits open (dehisce) to disperse the seeds. Then we finished some other cookies called Staenglein. They are very yummy. On Holy Eve we had the family's traditional dinner: chicken fricassee in pasty with lamb's lettuce. Later we sat around the plate with cookies and sang Christmas carols under the Christmas tree. sorry, it was so dark, so the photos aren't that good and somehow the flashlight didn't work.
fam-united Posted Feb 17, 2013, 4:27 pm	We have our Silvester Dinner now. It's fondue with minced meat and different sauces and some other little food like cornichons and more. It way yummy.
fam-united Posted Feb 17, 2013, 5:45 pm	Finally it is time to welcome the New Year 2013. We watched the fireworks and our host's children made a special firework with sparklers for us. Then we went to bed, really tired.
fam-united Posted Feb 17, 2013, 6:31 pm	On January 6th is Epiphany. Children go out as the three kings and collect money for church and special needs. Many people offer them sweets. That's why they also carry bags with them to put the sweets, chocolate and other things like apricots and appels in it. Here you see some of the sweets the sons and daughter of our host brought home on 5th January. (This year they went on 4th and 5th). Maybe they will share them with us, who knows.
fam-united Posted Feb 18, 2013, 4:36 pm	Finally we have some snow, so we decided to go on a walk around the Kreuzbergsee in Tiefenbach. The lake was contured as recreational area in 1974 and it's magnitude is about 200.000 m². It is about 340 m long and 70 m broad.
fam-united Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:01 pm	The weather was so grey, that we had not really a chance to go out and see other places. It had snowed during the night - everything is white now. At least it isn't so dark outside now.
fam-united Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:25 pm	Today I joined my host on a trip to Blaustein. Her son studies at the university of Ulm and she visited him over the weekend. He has a nice view out of the window and today we had been really lucky, because the sun was shining.
fam-united Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:55 pm	Blaustein is a municipality in the district of Alb-Donau Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the Blau River, 6 km west of Ulm and has about 15,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1968 after the union of Ehrenstein and Klingenstein and some more municipalities joined. It is home to one or more prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements that are part of the Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site. View to Löwenfelsen in Ehrenstein The river Blau really shimmers blue sometimes. The name comes from the celtic name Blava. The blue colour comes from light scattering due to the high chalky spring water. River Blau is a left tributary to the Danube. It was so so cold, that we hurried home again after these two photos.
fam-united Posted Mar 29, 2013, 5:36 pm	The next day we joined our host's son and her on the way to the university and after we said goodbye to him, we walked back home. The way was rather steep and I had a lot of fun on the icy way. But you can see, that the sky was grey again. Back in Blaustein we walked through the Szeklertor, which is a present of the partner city Cernat in Romania. The Székelys derive their name from a Hungarian expression meaning "frontier guards" and were regarded as the finest warriors of medieval Transylvania, but it isn't completely proven.
fam-united Posted Jun 2, 2013, 9:33 am	Today I watched tv, because it was a special day. We followed the flight of former Pope Benedict XVI. out of the Vatican.
fam-united Posted Jun 2, 2013, 2:35 pm	Wow! We have another sunny day! I really had no chance to see the flowers in the garden behind the house until now, because the weather was that bad. I can't remember, that we had springweather like this before. All flowers are blooming at the same time and the trees got leaves within minutes it seems.
fam-united Posted Feb 20, 2015, 6:30 pm	There will be a big event in this family this year: the wedding of one of the sons. Petra is happy, that she is allowed to bake the wedding cake. It will be a cake with strawberries and maybe some marzipan. She still doesn't know the other ingredients, so she has to try some cakes and find out the best version. And of course we are part of this. Here's the first cake - I can't remember the ingredients anymore, I'm sorry.

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