Lisianne Posted Apr 17, 2012, 7:59 pm |
I am GWËNELLE
My mum ask me a few weeks ago if I want to travel the world. I say YES but am I not to small? It seems no, and so I'm nearby ready to go! But where? Did anybody know ??? Since today I have my ID , I be checked and ... what now!!! Here you can see me few weeks ago when mum's first TV's come in our house to be host. They tell me so much about travel that I want to try it on my own |
Lisianne Posted Apr 17, 2012, 8:06 pm |
Did this cute TV really took a picture from me my big sister and my little brother???
CHEECE |
Lisianne Posted Apr 20, 2012, 9:20 am |
Today we went quick to Echternach in the park, when we were there it start raining
This is the only picture I could take! |
Lisianne Posted Apr 20, 2012, 9:23 am |
back in Waldbillig it continue to rain,
so we decide to complete a part of my friend Mush's life mission we played Monopoly ... and let him win |
Lisianne Posted Apr 26, 2012, 1:20 pm |
Today is the day,
I'm going to travel. My mum told me that my parcel is ready ... ... I have to say good bye to all my friends to Telie, Mush, ThomasHH and also to my best friend Horizon! I jump in my envelope, and up we go |
emmakko Posted Apr 27, 2012, 1:01 pm |
Hi mum!
I just want to tell you that I have arrived safely! The weather hasn't been so beautiful today so I have spent this day by relaxing inside the house. It's a bit quiet here as my host is studying for her Russian exam. Kasurinen asked me to tell you that he will come soon! |
emmakko Posted Apr 27, 2012, 1:08 pm |
Today Kasurinen and I were decorating Kasurinen's journey book. First I showed him my journey book:
Then we started decorating his book. Look what Kasurinen gave me! A tiny Finnish flag! I can add it to my journey book so that everyone can see where I have been. |
emmakko Posted May 6, 2012, 1:25 pm |
I'm now in Hämeenlinna, a small town where my host's parents and sister live. This is my first Friday in Finland and I just heard that for many Finns Friday is the "sauna day". They think it's relaxing to sit in a small, hot room and throw water to hot stones. I had thought that I would just lie on the sofa and watch Finnish tv-programmes while the crazy Finns are bathing in the sauna, but I was so wrong...
Mum, help me!!! "the heart of the sauna": |
emmakko Posted May 6, 2012, 1:48 pm |
Today was a warm and sunny day (the warmest day of this spring) so my host took me and her sister's TV Konsta to see the historical part of Hämeenlinna.
Häme castle is the most famous sight in Hämeenlinna. It was built at the end of the 13th century. Today the castle is a tourist sight and a museum but can you imagine, this castle has also been a prison! The castle is located by the lake Vanajavesi. The park that is located by the castle is so nice and many people come here to walk, relax or enjoy the view. Also the prison museum and the artillery museum of Hämeenlinna are located next to the Häme castle. As they aren't so girly sights we decided to not visit them. But we took a couple of photos of the artillery museum anyway. The weather was so fine that Konsta and I just decided to sit on the bench and enjoy the sunshine. |
emmakko Posted May 6, 2012, 2:06 pm |
Sports!
Today my host and her sister took us toyvoyagers to play their favourite game, disc golf! Disc golf has become a popular game here in Finland during the past few years. The idea is to throw a disc at a target. Most disc golf parks are located in the forest as they have so many forests here! The disc golf target looks like this: Throwing the disc... I found it! The forest was full of these beautiful small flowers: A group photo of all the toyvoyagers who were playing disc golf: Me, Barnabas (currently hosted by my host's sister) and Konsta (the TV of my host's sister) |
emmakko Posted May 20, 2012, 5:03 pm |
Hi mum!
This morning Emma told me that today is going to be a special day and that we will have many things to do. First I helped Emma with vacuum cleaning... ... And then we placed old newspapers all over the house. I was wondering if this is a Finnish tradition or something. Those Finns do all kinds of weird things, I have noticed. Maybe they are going to have some kind of newspaper party? When the house was clean and the floors were covered with newspapers Emma introduced me to this colourful guy. He was so colourful and I was sure that he will be one of the guests of the newspaper party. When Emma's mum came home from work we went to the car and drove a loooong way... And when we came back home we had got a new family member, a miniature schnauzer called Pyytti! She is so small and pretty, isn't she? By the way, I realized quite fast why we had placed newspapers on the floors... Möksö was a bit confused at first. She is so used to be the baby of the house The proud big sister: |
emmakko Posted May 28, 2012, 3:33 pm |
Greetings from Finland again!
It has been a warm and sunny day here in Hämeenlinna. Well, I have learnt that when a Finn says that the weather is warm, it doesn't mean that the weather is truly warm In the morning helped my host mum to write a letter to her penfriend who lives in Belarus, and after that we wrote some postcards. My host mum is a postcrosser, too! Later in the afternoon we were sitting in the garden and enjoying the nice weather. My host mum was crocheting. Her goal is to crochet 80 small pieces that are all different and make a blanket. In the middle of the garden there is a small plum tree that is almost as old as my host mum! I also saw a tiny red cottage in the garden and wanted to take a look at it. My host mum told me that she and her sister used to play in the cottage when they were small. These days they are a bit too big to play in the tiny cottage but they have wanted to keep the cottage as it is. Isn't the cottage lovely?! |
emmakko Posted May 28, 2012, 3:47 pm |
Hello!
The final of the Eurovision song contest will be held this night. My host mum and her sister bought sweets and made small flags because they think it's interesting to watch the contest. My country is not participating at all and Finland is not participating in the final so we made other flags. We're ready! |
emmakko Posted May 28, 2012, 4:25 pm |
Today we have had a typical summer day here: it has been raining. My host mum had planned to take me to Aulanko park today, and as we are not made of sugar we decided to go there despite the rain.
Aulanko is a park that is tried to be kept as natural as possible. It means for example that they don't fall any trees there and it's not ok to pick flowers there. This forest we visited doesn't look like a typical Finnish forest. It was an exciting place and we were sure that if there are trolls or fairies living in Aulanko, they are definitely living here! Can you see me? Believe it or not, but this place is located less than 2 km away from the centre of the town! We left the amazing forest and went to the Aulanko tower to see some Hämeenlinna views. Who said Finland is the land of forests? The tower: In the tower. This place could also be from a fairy tale! I'm the ghost of Aulanko! We also had with us the ToyVoyagers that my host mum's sister is hosting right now: Last but not least we went to see a bear statue that is located near the tower. Mum help! The bear is eating me!! The stairs to the bear statue were soooo long. 321 steps, we think! |
emmakko Posted Jun 3, 2012, 3:08 pm |
Hi again!
Today we visited Tampere because we had heard that someone is waiting for us there! Welcome to Finland, Suny! As you can see, we have already become friends. We thought we are so small that we need only one seat, and we also decided that we are so small that we don't need to buy a ticket |
emmakko Posted Jun 3, 2012, 3:58 pm |
The weather has been cloudy and boring the whole day and no one had anything special to do, so my host mum took me and Suny to an exciting place called Varikonniemi. This place has a long history: it was inhabited already in the Iron Age, in the 19th century there was a sawmill in Varikonniemi and these days it's a popular place for walking, running, biking and just enjoying the exciting place.
There is lots of forest in Varikonniemi, and there are lots of old ruins in the forest! My host mum wasn't sure, but she thinks they are the ruins of the sawmill. The whole forest was full of these things! You may think that this place is located somewhere in the middle of the forest... Actually, the centre of the town is on the other side of the lake so this place is almost in the middle of this town! We found this weird mosaic decoration in the middle of the ruins and wondered what it is but later we heard that the local artists have made art for Varikonniemi to make this place more beautiful. Unfortunately this mosaic decoration was the only piece of art we found. Old stairs: Studying the list of different plants and trees of this area: We found a tree that is so huge that none of us has seen a tree of that size before! Can you see me? Suddenly it started raining heavily. We are safe but our host mum got soaking wet. She was a bit too big to crawl under the under the bench. Old windows: I know this place! Isn't it weird that it was raining on our side of the lake but the sun was shining on the other side? I wasn't brave enough to go swimming today but I tried how cold the water is. Cold! From Finland with love |
emmakko Posted Jun 28, 2012, 5:25 pm |
Today we made a day trip to a small town called Iittala. My host mum had heard that there would be a postcard event there. She is a postcrosser and very interested in postcards. Unfortunately the postcard event was meant for those postcard fans who like old and used postcards. Luckily there were other nice things to see in Iittala.
This is the place where the postcard event was held: We also visited the glass museum of Iittala: What makes the glass museum interesting is that many Finns have these same glass products at home. Me and Suny next to the guestbook of the glass museum: There was some kind of summer happening in Iittala. Also a band was playing, but no one was listening. My host mum hasn't forgot that I have a mission here in Finland! She thought that we would find an Inge Löök postcard in the postcard event, but there weren't such postcards, but then we found this lovely little shop and... ... mum, this is for you! (I hope I didn't spoil the surprise!) Before we left Iittala we also saw this spooky head: It was a nice afternoon in Iittala! Now it's time to eat a banana (Suny's choice, I think) and drive back to Hämeenlinna! |
emmakko Posted Jun 28, 2012, 5:48 pm |
Hi mum!
I have seen many beautiful places here in Hämeenlinna. Today Emma took me and Suny to a less beautiful place in Hämeenlinna. My host mum loves ski jumping. She watches all the ski jumping competitions and have even tried ski jumping. So, she took us to the ski jumping hill of Hämeenlinna. The hill is old and it hasn't been used since 1994. When the hill was built the ski jumpers didn't wear ski jumping suits but a jumper and the jumps weren't as long as these days. So, the hill of Hämeenlinna isn't meant for "modern" ski jumping and it had to be closed. As no one is taking care of the hill it's in a really bad condition these days. Ilona's TV's Fredrik and Barnabas were also with us. Judging the style of this hill: No entry. The door is locked because the hill is in a dangerous condition, and because some people like to throw bikes, tv's etc. from the top of the tower... Despite of the closed ski jumping hill they still do sports here in Hämeenlinna: |
emmakko Posted Jun 30, 2012, 3:54 pm |
It's time to say goodbye to Finland soon. Emma told me that she will take me to the post office tomorrow because I'll travel to Germany! As today was my last day here in Finland we decided to have a small goodbye party.
At the end there were quite many guests participating in my party! And they all wanted to give me a hug! Suny... Joesy who arrived on Monday... ... the fireman and the policeman (I'm so lucky!) Later in the evening Barnabas and Fredrik came back home. When they heard that we had had a party they got sad, so we decided to have another party with ToyVoyagers only! Now it's time to say goodbye to Finland. Germany, here I come! |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 4, 2012, 7:04 am |
hello mommy. how are you? hope you are well!
after a long and quite uncomfortable journey i finally arrived in berlin yesterday. i wasn't aware that the baltic sea could be so rough. i was welcomed by some nice blue elephants, a big yellow pig, a rabbit and a sheep. i had to tell them everything i have seen and done on my travels so far. they have been very curious. bye bye mommy, more in the next days. kisses, gwënelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 6, 2012, 10:05 pm |
hello mommy.
today i was sitting with my new friends here and we were discussing about what to do this weekend. suddenly the two big elephants brought a heavy parcel. they placed it right in the middle. then we opened it. inside was a little fluffy bunny. he introduced himself as kuzma from russia. hey, another toyvoyager and he brought chocolat from switzerland where he was staying before. we talked the whole evening. bye bye mommy, many kisses from gwënelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 7, 2012, 5:18 pm |
hello mommy!
today i decided to go to the city centre by train. oh, here it came. first stop was potsdamer platz, a very new and modern business and shopping district with malls, cinemas and a musical theatre. next stop was near a huge television tower. but first i visited the ruin of an old church. then i had a small snack in an asia shop. i had a snack called MAMA. i don't no what it was. What i know is, that i will never ever taste something like this again. BUAAAARGH! in a small backyard i met kuzma, one of the other voyagers at my host's home. we decided to do the city walk together: this spree river. in the background you see the television tower at alexander square. there we would go. beer advertisment: "berlin, you are so wonderfull". and here we were: berlin, alexander square with the large tv-tower. do you know what television means in english? it is ar looking. thus it is a far looking tower. funny, hah? and this world time clock. going around it you can see what's the time in every place in the world. kuzma showed me the time in his home town: moskau is german for moscow. then i wanted to show kuzma the time in luxembourg. but it was not listed on the clock. it is in the same time zone as oslo and amsterdam. this is alexander square with a department store and high rise park in hotel. this is the fountain of peace of the peoples of the world. poooo, what a name. as you see, people like to come to this fountain and sit on it together peacefully. other side of alexander square. this is far looking tower again. hoooo, how long it is! and then we came to the red town hall, the seat of the senate of berlin. it is named after its red bricks. behind it we found some old houses. they are some left overs of ancient times. and we have also seen saint nicolai's church. it started to rain heavily, so we decided to go home. bye bye mommy, many kisses from gwënelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 9, 2012, 6:19 am |
hello mommy!
yesterday was an interesting day: we - kuzma and me - went to frankfurt on the oder. there we have met fanti and his friend hannibal. this is the old townhall. the tower of saint mary's church. here we stand by the river oder. on the other side is poland. this is saint nicolai's church. then we had the idea to cross the river ... ... and have a look in slubice in poland. view back to frankfurt. 60 km away from berlin, "the town of peace". later in the evening we went to kostrzyn in poland. it used to be a german town that was destroyed in the last world war. this is how it looked like. now: only some streets ... ... and left overs of buildings. this was very spooky. on out way back to berlin we stopped at these beautiful sun flowers. see you later mommy, your gwenelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 14, 2012, 9:59 am |
hello mommy!
yesterday we - kuzma and me - visited a real castle. it was the citadel of spandau, the best preserved renaissance fortress in germany. this is albrecht the bear, the first german marquis of brandenburg many many years ago. when lived here, this fortress wasn't even built. some parts of it lay in ruins. here they stored lots of counts, marquises and kings. they have got so old, that they were petrified. and now nobody knows were to put them. the citadel also had a secret little harbour. and a smith's workshop. this is the main tower of the citadel: julius's tower. we decided this was a good time and place for a pic nic. ok: plate is empty, let's move further. by the way: fanti and his friend hannibal were also here. look what we found: a pilory. an ancient punishment instrument: in the hole they put the hand of a delinquent, in the middle his head and in the right his foot. an uncomfortable position! good that we are too small for this. this was the sign to a little open air theatre. lovely greetings from berlin - your gwenelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 20, 2012, 10:13 pm |
hello mommy! hope you are well.
today we - kuzma and me - visited the government district of berlin. but first we went to brandenburg gate. this is berlin's most famous sight. the view towards east -far behind you can see the tv-tower at alexander square. reichstagsgebaeude, where the german parliament comes together. then we reached the modern main station. it has platforms underground ... ... a large shopping mall ... ... and platforms overground. what a huge station! let's move further. next to the station is spree river, the river that flows through berlin. what looks like a giant wshing machine there behind is the federal chancellory, the seat of the head of the german government. look what funny building we have found later: the former kongresshalle (conference hall) - now called the house of the cultures of the world. the, the, the ... berliners call it pregnant oyster, guess why! hey look! this cute little castle is bellevue castle, the seat of the federal president. yes, germany has a president as well. don't be afraid mommy, ths is not the way to our marriage. wedding is the name of a district in berlin. after a little five o'clock tea with mr. president we went further to victory column. later we arrived at culture forum. behind us you see the erlin philharmonic building. and here we found a modern quarter with shops, cinemas a musical theatre, hotels and office buildings of steel, concrete and glass. in the middle of the main street we have found stars like on sunset boulevard in hollywood - here with german movie stars. we found an empty star and thought it would be nice to be a star for some minutes! this has been an interesting city walk. lovely greetings from berlin - your gwenelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 22, 2012, 5:10 pm |
hello mommy!
yesterday we made a nice walk through the town centre of berlin. we started at berlin's most famous square: gendarmenmarkt. on the southern side lies the german church. in the centre is the concert house. on the northern side is the french church. it has been built after order of a prussian king, who wanted a church for the french huguenot refugees. we decided to climb the tower ... to have a spectactular view of the town. the square from above. after this we went to saint hedwig's cathedral - the prussian king had also built a church for the catholic people in lutheran prussia. here you can see the headquarters of humboldt university. we had to pass it by having a nice view of tv-tower at alexander square. later this afternoon we took part in a very exciting toyvoyagers' meeting. before the others arrived we enjoyed a cup of cappuccino. and then the others came: a shopping trolley full of monkeys ... then came a big yellow pig, two big blue and smaller elephants, sheep, hamsters, cats ... group photos this is us in the middle of the crowd. this is me! mommy, we have had a very good party - bye bye, your gwënelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 22, 2012, 7:04 pm |
hello mommy.
today we were in the district of charlottenburg. we started at the big townhall. charlottenburg was once the richest town in prussia, hence this big building. but there is something even larger: G G the palace of charlottenburg. it was built as a summer resindence for the kings and queens of prussia - then far away from the big town of berlin. the palace has a very nice park ... ... and this nice tea house "belvedere" (= good view) lovely greetings - gwënelle |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 29, 2012, 8:26 am |
hello mommy.
yesterday i have visited the longest remaining part of the berlin wall. since 1990 it is known and famous as the east side gallery. gwënelle loves you and will come back soon |
orangesunshine Posted Jul 31, 2012, 9:07 pm |
so, mommy. this morning it was time to depart home.
before i jumped back into my envelope i hugged everybody ... good bye kuzma. we have seen so many things together managed so many adventures. last group photo then i jumped into my envelope and was carried to the post office. mommy - i am coming! gwënelle |