Posted Mar 20, 2011, 6:19 pm
my name is GustavHH and I am just new in this thing. Yesterday I sat in my garden in Zingst, when I heard two guys talking in the next tree.
I called them and they came onto my tree.
They told me about their life - and it sounds exciting! Well - I want to try it, too. I had no time to ask RikeH - she seems to be the one who organize the travels. So I climbed into the car, when they left today.
In Sülfeld I walked through the garden - a nice sunny place.
I found the other ToyVoyagers inside - sitting on a big armchair. First I was a little shy.
But then I jumped to the others and talked about my plans.
I asked RikeH - and as you see - I am a ToyVoyager now.
Would you love to host me? I would love to see a lot of the world.
Love
GustavHH
Posted Mar 27, 2011, 6:58 pm
good news - I am invited. And I will travel to a country far away from my home - to Chile. Has anyone ever been there?
I said good-bye to Dicker Kumpel and Inuk.
Now I will jump into my envelope - and hopefully my journey will be a fast one.
Love
GustavHH
Posted Apr 14, 2011, 8:29 pm
As soon as I got out of the envelope, these two guys, Cassiopeia and Pepita came to welcome me
They said I'm going to like Chile 
I gave Leslie the postcard I brought for her and she really liked it!
Then I took a look around and these weird things on a shelf caught my attention inmediately. Leslie told me she bought them in Bolivia. The biggest monolith symbolizes the cosmos vision of the Tiwanaku culture. See mom? I'm already learning new stuff, feel proud of me!
Oh, by the way, Cassiopeia is a yellow ToyVoyager
which means "mission accomplished"!
I will do more updates soon
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Apr 18, 2011, 6:08 pm
but she wasn't in her best mood, so I better left her alone. 
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 4:38 am
Today we visited the catholic Schoenstatt Sanctuary. It is a very beautiful and quiet place surrounded by a small forest, it was really nice!
I saw monkey puzzles (araucarias), they are the national tree of Chile!
People come here to ask favors to Virgin Mary, and when they're granted, they nail wooden boards on the trees around, thanking her.
I signed the visitors book! I was the first visitor from Germany
Posted Apr 28, 2011, 3:48 pm
Autumn is here and the trees are losing their leaves, but the good thing is that this year La Niña Phenomenon is in Chile, so the weather is way nicer than any other normal year
And the last thing I saw was this poster of the movie ''03:34 Earthquake in Chile'' which is about the earthquake 8.8 on the Richter scale, in February 2010.
Leslie was in a city very near the epicenter when it happened, and she told me it was QUITE STRONG AND SCARY.
I hope it won't happen again, at least when I'm here! 
Posted May 3, 2011, 5:49 pm
First we walked through the waterfront.
There was a submarine!!
On the way there was a market of sea food and veggies. I saw "chupones, chancle, castañas"... and some more weird stuff...
There was someone selling mapuche jewelry! They are made of silver, and are very expensive. The biggest one is the ''trapelakucha'', only mapuche women with high status in their community wear them.
Then we headed back to the watefront to take a tour through the river
This restaurant is actually floating on the water!
Here we go!!
We stopped at the ruins of an old house. The tour guide told us that it is said to be haunted
...Haunted or not, the view was wonderful!
Then, when the sun was already down and the wind very cold, we headed to our last stop, an old church.
And at the end, what's best than a good dinner
Posted May 9, 2011, 6:37 pm
We had been trying to come since about a month ago, but the weather wouldn't allow it... But finally we are here!
The view from the deck is very beautiful!
A little later we started walking to "Agua de las niñas" beach. To get there you have to cross the hill or take a boat, but we wanted to walk and see the views from the path.
Mushrooms!
there are lots of them in this time of the year!
We also found copihues
they are very hard to find wild, because they only grow in deep forests and ravines, in fact, this one was hanging on the edge of a ravine, so it was quite hard to take this photo
From up the hill we could see this other beach called "Ronca".
And finally we got to "Agua de las niñas" beach, its name means something like "water of girls" beacuse the sea has very little depth there, so there's no danger for little kids to swim.
After the long walk we enjoyed a nice beer
Later, back home, I saw a huge quartz rock in the garden and some flowers. It was a very nice day!
Posted May 12, 2011, 7:56 pm
As I told you, Queule is a fishing village, so the waterfront is filled with old wooden docks and fishing boats.
Just in case, it's always good to know what to do in case of a tsunami!
Then we went to buy some mussels ("choros" in spanish)
I'm glad to see how fresh they are. The seller went to pick them up from the water!! This is so different to all I'm used to!
I played around a little bit while he was there!
Then, back home, the garden and its colorful flowers are always nice to see
I learned that these red flowers are from a plant called "chilco"
And this big white one is called "hortencia"
Posted May 17, 2011, 5:01 am
The view from the hill when we were getting there was amazing!
This seaweed is called "cochayuyo", it's eatable but stinks, so I didn't feel like trying it.
Posted May 21, 2011, 5:40 am
The weather was nice so we took a walk next to the river.
This rock is called Lion Rock because it looks like one!!
This is a view of Queule, it's a very small and quiet town, I liked it a lot!!
Posted May 28, 2011, 6:17 am
This is an indio pícaro, you can read more about it in wikipedia, because I don't feel like describing its use myself..
When we got out, there was a protest going on in the streets!!
and there you can see the mapuche flag as well (the one with blue, green and red)
And then we went to see what was left in another steet after a parade that took place there earlier. Sadly I missed it...
These coats of arms are made of flowers!
Posted Jun 6, 2011, 9:10 pm
I liked Chile a lot!
I'm already on my way home!
Bye bye!
Posted Jun 8, 2011, 10:04 pm
I arrived in Belgium!
It's much colder here than it was in Chile, but luckily I didn't get wet in yesterday's storm.
Because I couldn't go out to explore today, I explored the house where I'll be staying. I also met some of the other inhabitants.
This is Indi, she was very happy to meet me. She's really sweet, but I didn't dare come too close yet because she looked like she wanted to lick me - I don't think I'm ready for that kind of relationship, haha!
This here is Marcel, he's a little weird. I wanted to go say hi and become friends, but he wasn't very talkative. I tried to make friendly conversation and asked "what are you doing here?", but he didn't want to answer that question ... Odd. Maybe he's just a little shy ...?
(Can you understand the text? It's Dutch.)
My host-mum is very busy right now, she has to study for exams. She told me I could help her with studying. I looked through her books but there were so many letters! Pff, I got a little tired from reading so much.
My host-mum says she's going to her university city Leuven on Friday, and she's going to take me with her so I can go explore.
Posted Jun 11, 2011, 7:49 pm
Hi!
Here I am again!
Today my host-mum had to go to her university city to hand in a paper and to bring some books to the library, and she took me with her. She had to be very quick though since she's very busy right now, so she couldn't give me an elaborate tour of Leuven, but I still got to see some interesting places.
First we drove our bike to the village centre to catch a bus. This is the church, I was checking the time on the tower clock ... 10am, that means that we were in time for our bus, luckily!
Here I am on the bus. My host-mum says there's only one public bus company in the whole of Flanders, so all the buses look kinda the same. The interior is blue-greyish with yellow accents, so my colour went well with the colours of the bus!
When we got off the bus I saw the Saint-Peter's church. It's a gothic church that they started building in 1400, but they worked on it for many many years. I tought it looked kinda odd without a tower, but my host-mum explained that they originally wanted to build three huge towers (150 meters and 120 meters high) but that the plans weren't made well so the towers would collapse if they built them ...
This is the Main Market of Leuven. In Dutch it's called 'Grote markt' which means 'big market', but it isn't very big ... Maybe that's because Leuven isn't a big city either. The building behind me is the Town Hall. It looked very impressive, it has a lot of statues standing on it (236 to be precise).
We had to hurry on, luckily my host-mum knows a lot of shortcuts. Leuven is often called a 'student city' because of the prominence of the Catholic University of Leuven. The buildings of the university are spread everywhere throughout the center of the city, so if you know them, you can walk through them and use them as shortcuts to get from one place to another. This is the faculty building of the law students.
We made it to the building where my host-mum had to deliver her paper and the library books. My host-mum studies at the faculty of Arts, so the building is called the 'Arts House' and the garden where it's located is called the 'Arts garden'. Inside the building were a lot of students who were getting ready for oral exams.
After delivering the paper we went into a bookstore because my host-mum needed a book about Greek religion. She couldn't find it at first so I helped her look for it ...
Then it was time to return home so my host-mum could continue studying. We went to the train & bus station to take the bus. I would say I'd have liked to stay and look around some more, but as you can see the weather was turning really bad ... It started pouring not long after that, so I was happy to be dry at home.
Posted Jun 17, 2011, 5:46 pm
Posted Jul 4, 2011, 2:20 pm
Now the exams are over and she took me to a real music festival!
The festival is called Rock Werchter, and it's Belgium's biggest (or at least most well-known) music festival. It's held every year at the beginning of the summer and it's really close to my host-mum's house (she lives in the village next to Werchter). She had a ticket for Sunday so she took me with her. Werchter is a tiny village, but now there were so many people there!
This was the line-up of all the bands that would be playing. Do you know any of them, mum? I listened to all of them. We watched the main stage until Grinderman and then we went to a smaller stage in a tent called the Pyramid Marquee to watch the bands who played there.
This was at the beginning of the day when I was watching a band called 'All Time Low' whilst enjoying the warm sun near the back of the festival site. I couldn't really see the artists on the stage but I could hear the music, they weren't bad!
One of the more well-known bands that evening were the Kaiser Chiefs, do you know them mum? Do you like them? They have some famous songs so I was happy I got to see them up close. Do you know their song 'Ruby'? Everyone was singing really loud when they played that!
I had a lot of fun going to a music festival. Now I have to prepare because I'll be leaving for Disneyland Paris in a couple of days.
Posted Aug 2, 2011, 12:01 pm
It's been a long while since I last updated my Travelog, I'm sorry! Now it's almost time for me to travel on to my next host, but first I'll tell you about my trip to Disneyland in Paris!
This is me on the high-speed train from Brussels to Disneyland. It's called TGV which stands for "train à grande vitesse". We stopped at the Parisian airport Charles De Gaulle where the train broke down so we had to get on another train to get to Disneyland.
I had so much fun that I almost forgot to take pictures. I visited both the regular Disney park and the Walt Disney Studios park. I went on a lot of nice and exciting attractions, like Space Mountain and the Rock'nRollercoaster! I had never been in a looping before, but it was a lot of fun!
This is me before my host's favourite attraction, the Tower of Terror in Walt Disney Studios. We went on it 6 times in 3 days! I liked it as well, it was a very exciting attraction.
This was also in the Walt Disney Studios, by a statue of mister Walt Disney himself and of course his most well-known creation: Mickey Mouse.
I also saw a lot of famous Disney characters during my stay: Aladdin, Woody, Cruella deVille, Ariël, etc. Before leaving the park I saw Minnie Mouse! She was giving out autographs, but there was a very very long line of children waiting so I couldn't get one.
Unfortunately, my host mum's camera broke down after our trip to Disneyland. She also took me to see the Belgian coast and last weekend I visited a themepark called the Efteling, which is in the Netherlands. But I can't show any pictures of that ...
Posted Sep 29, 2011, 3:48 am
Posted Sep 29, 2011, 3:51 am
Posted Sep 29, 2011, 3:53 am
Posted Sep 29, 2011, 3:55 am
Posted Sep 30, 2011, 5:11 am
Posted Sep 30, 2011, 5:15 am
Posted Oct 2, 2011, 12:29 am
Posted Oct 2, 2011, 12:31 am
Posted Oct 3, 2011, 5:48 am
Posted Oct 4, 2011, 4:03 am
Posted Oct 5, 2011, 1:17 am
Posted Oct 6, 2011, 3:39 am
Posted Oct 7, 2011, 2:44 am
Posted Oct 7, 2011, 2:44 am
Posted Oct 9, 2011, 5:12 am
Posted Oct 10, 2011, 5:02 am
Posted Oct 10, 2011, 5:05 am
Posted Oct 12, 2011, 5:21 am
Posted Oct 12, 2011, 5:22 am
Posted Oct 13, 2011, 4:38 am
Posted Oct 14, 2011, 5:46 am
Posted Oct 16, 2011, 3:05 am
Posted Oct 16, 2011, 3:08 am
Posted Oct 17, 2011, 4:55 am
Posted Oct 19, 2011, 4:52 am
Posted Oct 20, 2011, 4:06 am
Posted Oct 21, 2011, 1:27 pm
Posted Oct 22, 2011, 6:35 am
GustavHH spent the day reading Squish, Tsubasa Chronicles, and Bleach
Posted Oct 24, 2011, 4:31 am
Posted Oct 25, 2011, 4:02 am
Posted Oct 27, 2011, 3:26 am
Posted Oct 27, 2011, 3:27 am
Posted Oct 28, 2011, 5:00 am
Posted Oct 28, 2011, 5:01 am
Posted Nov 5, 2011, 9:07 am
all in all i´m happy to be in germany again and in the next hours my new-host-mum will upload some pictures.
(P.S. if she finds the cable from her digi cam ......)
love and miss you , your GustavHH
Posted Nov 5, 2011, 9:47 am
it was dark inside the envelope
but Wauzii is nice and took away my frightenings
yess i´m in germany
I´m very habby to be here
Posted Nov 6, 2011, 8:32 am
yesterday was an exciting day .
In the midday we went shopping with a friend of my host-mum and we shot many pictures of cologne.
First we were waiting for the train because it´s to full in the city of cologne to drive with the car. so we went on train and it was fun many people looked at me and smiled
there were interesting things and people in the citiy but the amazings thing i saw was the Cologne Cathedral
it was a great fun .
Posted Nov 6, 2011, 8:42 am
and i had an hangover
i did many funny things , but my host-mum took care of me
so as we were at home i fall into sleep directly
i love you mum good night
Posted Nov 6, 2011, 8:48 am
How are you ? i´m a little bit tired but my host-mum says" nur der rühe Vogel fängt den Wurm " so i needed to stand up.
but it was funny first i snuggled with the host-dog an slept another hour
and then we heared music and danced .
it was a funny morning .
Posted Nov 7, 2011, 9:36 pm
Today wasn´t so exciting .
My host mum had her first day at school after the autum break and so I slept long and had a slow start into the day but she was fast at home and we went out and made a small walk just for thinink
After that we learned a lot for school much about mathematics and spanish and i learned how to speak see :
Te quiero y espero de usted!
in love your GustavHH
Posted Nov 8, 2011, 9:32 pm
today was a day full of stress !
In the morning we overslept and we needed to hush to drive to school.
Then we wrote an spanish test an it was hard work .
after school we went home and as we arrived home we needed to drive to the cologne arcarden and get an new game for our PS3 ( call of duty modernwarfare 3 ) but as we were home w played with the host-dog.
Then in the evening we drove to the fitness studio for our workout .
After the fitness we needed to drive back to school and help to bring chairs away so we don´t have to go to school on a saturday .
All in all i´m sooooo tired >.<
So i miss you but i´m having a great time
in love your smiling GustavHH :*
Posted Nov 9, 2011, 9:46 pm
Today was a crazy day .
In the morning we went to school and wrote a math classtest ( I was so tired )
then we had a great time in religion and other clases .
As we came home my host-parents brought us a present . This was so exciting .
And the surprise was big (two meanings) it was a big blue dog .
He´s so nice and we played a lot .
Then in the evening we made dinner it was a lot of fun
so today i got a new and leraned to cook .
Posted Nov 12, 2011, 2:21 pm
My host mum can´t upload photos because her digi cam wa stolen
but I´m okay
But she bought a new one and today´s evening were going to have an pyjama party with friends an we will take a lot of photos
we´re sooo sorry for the pictures because they were so great !!
but I love you :*
Posted Nov 14, 2011, 9:56 pm
Here I am how are you ??
yaiih today i got a new friend , his name is Hannibal and he is also a ToyVoyager and we had a lot of fun today
First I showed Hannibal the school of my host.mum and the we went home and made some pictures with "doggie" how Hannibal is calling him .
In the evening we made three cakes becaus my host mum needed to do for her English Lk course . that was such a fun and action that I´m sooo tiered and Hannibal and I will go to
Goood night ! <3
Posted Nov 17, 2011, 4:28 pm
i love you see u later
Posted Nov 17, 2011, 10:04 pm
I need to say that the people were very nice and i hadd funny lessons
We started with an english lessen were i told who i am and what i´m doing it was great
the third and fourth lessons were math but we couldn´t take fotos because the teacher is verry very strict and i think he hates all students in the world ...
but than we had break and i ate my breakfast yummy
the next lessons were geographie and i sat on the world
and our lat two lessons were history whre we made a "meinungsdarstellunsplakat" hehehe the teacher was verry funny and nice
all the day Hannibal was with me and so i could talk to him and i sat oat the pencilcase
enjoy the fotos
:*:*:*
Posted Dec 6, 2011, 8:49 pm
my host-mum knows that she forgot to upload a lot .
so here arepictures from the second advent
lights
Posted Apr 4, 2012, 2:57 pm
Posted Apr 17, 2012, 9:17 am
There I am, I could tell that I have travelled for a long time now. I was in Belgium, Chile and USA . I told a lot of storys.
And there is Bärndt. Bärndt is quite new on the road.
...and the funny little monkeys Mooky and Kurt. Hessen-Leo will leave us again next week, for his coming adventures.
Barnabas, Noisys new TV is collecting his first travelogs and want to explore the world, and Fanti belongs to SuSi89, Noisys daughter.
The other elefant is called Jethro, he will be the new stay-at- home- TV.
I don't know who has seen this projekt, but we all found it a funny thing to do.
It is called 30 days - 30 cups.
Here are the first photos:
Stripes...
...from christmas...
...Moin-Moin...
...TV-sized...
...than we wanted to build a tower...
Posted Apr 18, 2012, 4:36 pm
I took the chance to ride an - noooo, two elefants
...aaaand the cup of the day
Posted Apr 25, 2012, 7:21 pm
...and the chicken and the rooster...
Look, some of the baby chicken are yellow, just like me! And some are looking like little wildpigs :-)
I took the eggs into the basket
and this is Noisy's dog Noisy :-)
Posted Apr 26, 2012, 9:04 pm
Noisy has told me that you want to take a TV from her to a holiday in Finland. I am a little bit sad, that I couldn't come with you
I have asked all the plushies here in the house who would like to tavel with you, so look, here are your canditates:
This is Coconut, a little dragon...
...another little dragon, very greeeeeen, he is a little bit obliviously, he really forgot his own name *shakemyhead*
...this could be a good partner for Dicker Kumpel, he is looking like his little brother
...
...this is Fanti, a very curious guy. He belongs to SuSi89, Noisy's daughter.
...and finally Little Miss Sunshine, yellow as me, soooo cute <3
Tomorrow I will check them all for heart and kidney if one is the right travel-guest for you and Dicker Kumpel.
So please check my travelog tomorrow in the evening!
Posted May 11, 2012, 5:32 pm
Posted May 11, 2012, 6:13 pm
Can you see Little Miss Sunshine? I really like her...
this yellow seeds we want to plant in the garden
we found this funny sign, it shows allways the right way
...and...
Posted May 11, 2012, 7:22 pm
our cup of today is blue
Posted May 11, 2012, 7:39 pm
We took 12 eggs from her chicken
and put the yellow of the eggs in a big bowl.
Than we sifted the powdered sugar and a little bit vanillesugar.
Than we must mix it looooong time to be very creamy.
Now we poured in the Cognac and the whipped cream.
After that we put the bowl into the refrigerator for about 2 hours , than we could have a nip ( uiuiui) and poured it into little bottles.
Mom, I will send one of it to Dicker Kumpel, okay?
Posted May 13, 2012, 7:27 pm
Posted May 13, 2012, 7:34 pm
Posted May 13, 2012, 7:46 pm
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted May 23, 2012, 8:02 am
I was stuck in the mail system for a while but now I've safely arrived in Heidelberg. A friendly orange bear named Coco Presley welcomed me and showed me around the apartment.
First I had a look out of the window and was happy to see so much green.
A cat was sleeping on the sofa. We introduced ourselves to each other. Her name is Shelley. There's another cat living here but I haven't met it yet.
At last I explored the balcony. Unfortunately there's no sun at the moment but that will hopefully change soon.
Okay, looks all right here, so I'm going to stay for a while.
Bye,
Gustav
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted May 26, 2012, 11:15 pm
I've almost passed home but there was no time to stop and say hello. Well, and now I'm a bit north of you at the Danish Baltic Sea Coast. We only arrived in the late afternoon but have already taken a walk along the beach, saw the ferry to the island of Aaro and the lighthouse at the port of Aarosund.
Bye,
Gustav
Posted May 29, 2012, 8:12 pm
I have found some pictures I haven't shown to you until now.
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted May 30, 2012, 9:30 pm
The weather has become quite cold and windy here (it's probably just the same at home) but that doesn't keep me from exploring our surroundings. Here are some more pictures from the village in Haderslev community where we're staying, the port and the coast.
Lots of love,
Gustav
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted Jun 18, 2012, 12:09 am
Today we took a walk in the fields and vineyards around the suburb of Rohrbach. Here are my photos:
Bye,
Gustav
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted Jun 24, 2012, 4:44 pm
Today I strolled along the river Neckar and through the Botanical Garden.
Love,
Gustav
nuriayasmin70@gmail.com
Posted Jun 26, 2012, 11:15 pm
Just a quick note to tell you that I'm leaving Heidelberg tomorrow and am looking forward to meeting my new host in Essen. Keep fine.
Gustav
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:22 pm
I arrived at my new host's home. I crawled out of my box and waited. The other tvs found my box and wondered why it was empty.
Then they heard me laughing. They turned around and saw me. I got a lovely welcome.
GustavHH
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:40 pm
today we went to the river Mulde. It is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, a left tributary of the river Elbe and 124 km in length.
In August 2002 a flood caused severe damage! All places we were at these pictures were flooded in 2002, too!
GustavHH
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:49 pm
We all hugged him.
Then he crawled into his envelope and left to Thuringia. Have fun little bird!
GustavHH
Posted Sep 25, 2012, 10:53 pm
Crawfish found her perfect profession (except driving a car): pianist!
She played all kind of songs the whole day while we were listening to her. I liked it!
Your
GustavHH
Posted Sep 29, 2012, 10:18 pm
we visited a small lake called "Sachsenburg" today. It is an abandoned coal mine which was flooded by domestic water.
GustavHH
Posted Oct 3, 2012, 10:30 am
we did a sightseeing tour through the neighbor village. The city is called Gräfenhainichen and it had its first documentary mention in 1254. The first printing shop was set up in 1874. As of 1890, brown coal was being mined in Gräfenhainichen, first underground, and then in strip mines.
As it is a city they also have lots of horses all around the city. Can you see the white one behind me?
I wanted to fulfill a life mission and I wanted to be really close to the horses, but the horses seem to be no friends of pictures.
We found one of the 3 wind mills of the city. This one is from the 19th century and worked until 1963.
This is the only little pond in the city. It's called Vorstadtteich (in English "suburban pond" ). There are lots of ducks.
This is the ruin of the old castle. It was built in the 12th/13th century on the ruin of an older castle. It was destroyed in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War by the Swedes. No one ever rebuilt it. We couldn't go inside, it's only open when the open air theater is used for festivals.
This is the town hall. It was built between 1695-1699.
There are 2 towers in Gräfenhainichen. This is the upper city tower. It was reconstructed in 1448 with some other fortifications. It was also used as a jail for a while. There's also a lower city tower, but we couldn't take a picture.
Next to the upper city tower we found a long piece of the old city wall.
This is the highest building of the city - the Protestant church "Sankt Marien". It was also destroyed by the Swedes in 1637, but it was rebuilt from 1658 to 1666. The tower was built in 1867/68. The church got its origins in the Romanesque and Gothic.
The water tower was built in 1927. The bubble design was the idea of a classmate of my host!
One of the sons of the city is Paul Gerhardt. We visited the Paul-Gerhardt-House which was built from 1907 to 1909. It serves as a places of public assembly for the Protestants.
Another son of the city is Johann Gottfried Galle. He was the first person to view the planet Neptune in 1846! This is the Galle monument which was built in 1977 for all his work.
The last famous person of the city is Hugo Winckler, but we couldn't find anything about him.
Your GustavHH
Posted Oct 4, 2012, 9:40 pm
today little Sunny left. We all cuddled her.
Then she crawled into her envelope. Her next stop is Finland.
GustavHH
Posted Oct 6, 2012, 11:00 pm
time for a road trip!
We went to the Mosigkau castle. The castle is one of the few Rococo palaces in Central Germany, resembling Sanssouci at Potsdam, which had been designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. It was built between 1752 and 1757 for Anna Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau, the daughter of Prince Leopold I. The ensemble includes an orangery and an art collection of Flemish Baroque painting, stemming from Duke John George's II union with the House of Orange-Nassau, that features works by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.
Around the castle we found a lovely garden and some sheep. Isn't it a lovely place?!
Castle 1 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
On our way back to the car I heard some horses. I left the others to search for the animals. And I found a horse show! Mommy, did I fulfill my life mission?
GustavHH
Posted Oct 6, 2012, 11:08 pm
today we went to another castle.
John George (1748-1811), a younger brother of Duke Leopold III, had the Georgium Castle erected from 1780 by Erdmannsdorff. Located in a riparian woodland in the north of Dessau, the palace features an English garden with several monuments. Today the Georgium hosts the Anhalt collection of art, including works by Albrecht Dürer - especially an old master print of his Melencolia I - and Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Castle 2 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
GustavHH
Posted Oct 10, 2012, 8:23 pm
today we went to another castle. It's the Wörlitz Palace and it was finished in 1773. This palace was the residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt. It was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible.
Castle 3 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Ouh, Mommy told me that I fulfilled my horse life mission. I'm so proud of myself!
Your GustavHH
Posted Oct 10, 2012, 9:02 pm
We all cuddled him. Later he told us about his adventures.
GustavHH
Posted Oct 12, 2012, 3:22 pm
once again on tour...
We visited the Oranienbaum Palace which was finished in 1683 as the summer residence of Henriette Catharina, where she retired after the death of her husband in 1693. The rich furnishing includes leather wallpapers and a dining room equipped with Delft tiles. From 1780 on Duke Leopold III had the palace and the park rebuilt in a Chinese style, according to the theories of Sir William Chambers, with several arch bridges, a tea house and a pagoda. In 1811, the orangery was built, with 175 m (574 ft) in length one of the largest in Europe, which still serves to protect a wide collection of citrus plants. Oranienbaum Palace together with the park and the geometrical settlement conception forms one of the few original Dutch Baroque town layouts in Germany. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, has been there in 2004 and 2012!
Castle 4 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
GustavHH
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:24 pm
today when we went to our tour we found a crocodile in the forest! We were a little bit afraid, but as we noticed it was a nice guy!
That lovely guy lives near the ruin of a house which is called Swedish house.
And there's nothing else! Just lots of grass and some trees.
After a while we found the Luisium castle. It was a gift from Duke Leopold III to his wife Louise and it was built from 1774 in a plain Neoclassical style as a country home according to plans by Erdmannsdorff with adjacent gardens, pastures and a stud farm. Leopold died at the castle on August 9, 1817 from the consequences of a riding accident. It's the smallest of all castles we saw!
To the area around the house belongs a so called snake house.
And this castle has an orangery!
Castle 5 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:39 pm
We found a pumpkin, took a knife and a spoon and started to make a really spooky face. But what the hell is Alex doing with this stick?
When it was dark we put a candle into the pumpkin. Ouh spooky!
Then we turned the pumpkin and saw what Alex did with the stick. Really cool!
GustavHH
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:57 pm
So we did what we had to do! Packing everything important into our car.
We need something to eat and drink and plates, of course. Günther said we should take some of the pirate gold with us. Maybe we have to pay something. I am sure we need the canvas chair, if the sun will shine. We also need our skateboards and our driving lesson cars to cruise around.
Everything has to fit into the car!
We fixed the canvas chair and some boards on the car, there was no other free space. And fixed one of the little cruisers behind the car. As there are only 5 guys allowed in the car Rudy has to sit on the cruiser behind the car!
Holidays we are coming!
GustavHH
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 9:47 pm
finally BlackCat has the time to write the updates with me. There are just 4 from my time here and she is really sorry about that. But I hope you'll like them no matter what.
On the 2nd of July we went into the city centre of Essen and had a look around.
This is the "Lichtburg". A really old cinema.
Just a view.
This is the Kennedyplatz. Here you can find the Christmas market in December, the ice skating ring from January to March and other nice things all around the year. This time it was empty.
Love,
Gustav
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 9:49 pm
today we went to the fun fair. BlackCat had her little cousin as a visitor and she wanted to go to the fun fair.
This somehow doesn't look like fun at all.
I liked this one.
Bumper cars
It was a nice walk and it was nice to see something else.
Love,
Gustav
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 9:52 pm
today we went to the Arena Auf Schalke - the stadion where FC Schalke 04 is playing. We had a short stop there, so we didn't take much photos, but I have 2 for you!
It was nice and sunny.
Love,
Gustav
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 9:55 pm
this is my last update from my time at BlackCat. She is really sorry that there aren't more - but with an operation and a lot of stress she didn't have the time for us. And when she went away it was usually for shopping or DVD evenings with friends where we didn't want to join her.
So this is my last update. We went to the castle ruin Altendorf today. It was really nice there. But look yourself.
That is a field right at the bus stop. I loved the view.
I really had a nice time with BlackCat, even without a lot updates.
Love,
Gustav
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 11:16 pm
I arrived in Cologne, the fourth-largest city of Germany! It is located on both sides of the Rhine River.
First I went to the Cologne Cathedral (officially High Cathedral of St. Peter). It is a Roman Catholic church and the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.
Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. The work restarted in the 19th century and was completed in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest facade of any church in the world.
This is the City Hall and it is Germany's oldest city hall with a documented history spanning some 900 years.
The ancient cigarette factory houses now the bureau of vital statistics of Cologne.
I found these lovely houses in the historic center of the city. Aren't they cute?!
Behind these houses you can see the Great Saint Martin Church. It is a Romanesque Catholic church and its foundations (circa 960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel.
The Rhine is a river that flows from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands and is the twelfth longest river in Europe, at about 1,233 km (766 mi). It's huge!
This is the chocolate museum. But it's Monday so it is closed.
GustavHH
Posted Oct 21, 2012, 12:39 pm
I made it to another country!
I'm now in Amsterdam, the largest city and capital of the Netherlands.
First we visited the Amsterdam Centraal, the central train station of the city. It is also one of the main railway hubs of the Netherlands and is used by 250,000 passengers a day! It first opened in 1889 and was designed by Pierre Cuypers and A. L. van Gendt.
This building is a big shopping center. It's located on the opposite of the palace. As the palace isn't really beautiful, we decided to take a picture of this house!
I really like the design of all these houses! And they are all very old.
GustavHH
Posted Oct 21, 2012, 8:12 pm
before going back to Germany we did a stop over next to the North Sea.
We enjoyed the sunset at the beach. It was really windy, look at the waves!
GustavHH
Posted Oct 24, 2012, 8:32 pm
we are back to Cologne!
Today we had a look over the city from a really high building.
Can you see the big famous Cathedral? And the bridge over the river Rhine. It's the famous one with all these love locks.
Look, there is the famous Lanxess arena.
Later we went to the Rhine. The water is really cold!
Tomorrow we are going back home.
Your little GustavHH
Posted Oct 27, 2012, 7:58 pm
It is Petunia from Finland who arrived while we were on holidays. We gave her a lovely welcome hug.
Posted Oct 28, 2012, 6:28 pm
time for hiking!
We walked wand walked wand walked... and finally arrived near a lake.
Isn't it beautiful? But we couldn't stay here, we had to go on.
Can you see the wind engine? This is where we want to go.
Finally arrived!
This wind engine is huge!
And there are so many more!
We had a wonderful view. Lots of forests. But far far away we could see the highest building of Leipzig!
Can you see the little chimney at the horizon? Normally it's a really high chimney! But now it looks so small!
While we were walking around and enjoying our view our host found some "Slippery Jack" mushrooms. When we were home she cooked the mushrooms for us! So yummy!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 2:56 pm
have a look to this beautiful sunset!
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 4:31 pm
I visited the famous tv tower "Fernsehturm". It was constructed between 1965 and 1969 and with its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The tower is part of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT).
GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 4:52 pm
we were hard workers today! We helped our host in the garden.
Petunia dug a hole with a really big spade.
Then we put some seeds of zinnia flowers in the hole.
Petunia closed the hole and I raked the terra. Now we hope the flowers will bloom next year.
GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:04 pm
Alex left a bag of sweets for us on the table. We all were really excited about it! The sweets are called "Knusperflocken" (crunchy flakes). These are made of rye crispbread with milk chocolate.
Alex gave all of us a plate and put one flake for each of us on it.
Mmmmmhhhh...
We all were munching the sweets so fast. It was so delicious!
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:14 pm
the sun was shining so we decided to go by car through the neighbor villages. Look how green the lawn is. And the trees are losing their leaves...that's autumn!
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:21 pm
we went back to the garden today. There we found some mushrooms!
We picked them up with the spade as we had no knife.
Then we found some more mushrooms and picked them up, too.
Look how many mushrooms we found. We are not sure if these are eatable. No one of us was clench enough to try them.
GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:41 pm
It was really interesting to watch other animals traveling around the world, like we do!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:47 pm
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 8:22 pm
Alex told us about a weird dream he had when he noticed his dream became true.
He introduced his became-true-dream as "Oops".
I'm confused!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 4, 2012, 8:17 pm
We all cuddled them a lot.
Then they climbed into their envelopes and left the house. We'll miss these guys!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 4, 2012, 8:41 pm
today I visited the most well-known landmark of Berlin and Germany, the Brandenburg Gate.
From there I did a short walk to the German Bundestag which is located in the Reichstag Building. The centrepiece of the building is the generously glazed chamber that is crowned by the dome. A funnel with panes of mirror glass reflects the daylight from above into the chamber.
Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery"(Bundeskanzleramt). The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 7, 2012, 9:18 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
I hope you have a wonderful day and may Dicker Kumpel party a lot with you!
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 7, 2012, 9:32 pm
this evening we arrived in Dresden, the capital city of the Free State of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border.
Behind me you can see the main railway station.
We don't stay here for long so there's only this picture. Anyway I hope you like it.
GustavHH
Posted Nov 8, 2012, 7:21 pm
today it was windy and rainy, but we did a sightseeing trip to the Bastei. It is a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. The Bastei has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years.
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 11, 2012, 8:54 pm
another day without sun, but it didn't rain!
We visited Königstein Fortress which is a hilltop fortress near Dresden. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the table hill of the same name.
The 9.5 hectare rock plateau rises 240 metres above the Elbe and has over 50 buildings, some over 400 years old, that bear witness to the military and civilian life in the fortress. The rampart run of the fortress is 1,800 metres long with walls up to 42 metres high and steep sandstone faces. In the centre of the site is a 152.5 metre deep well, which is the deepest in Saxony and second deepest well in Europe.
The fortress was used as a state prison for centuries.
We found an old gun!
And we had a wonderful view of the river Elbe.
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 15, 2012, 6:54 pm
today we got a package. We thought a new ToyVoyager arrived.
We opened the envelope.
Inside we found another envelope.
We were so excited that we crawled into the second envelope to find out what or who arrived.
It wasn't a new TV.
But it was a package full of M&M sweets! These are some special Halloween candies which we got from somebody in the US. We tried them and yep, these are some of the most delicious sweets ever!
Your sweet GustavHH
Posted Nov 15, 2012, 9:28 pm
today we enjoyed a beautiful day of autumn in the sun. The trees are so colorful! I hope you had the same wonderful weather!
Posted Nov 15, 2012, 9:56 pm
the weather is still beautiful, so we decided to do a little tour by car!
These villages have crazy names like Priorau, Schierau or Möst!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 17, 2012, 12:06 am
we did a spooky sightseeing tour. In reality it looked more spooky than on the pictures.
It's just 4.30pm and it is nearly dark outside!
Berlin Cathedral is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church. It has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop.
This is the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), a gallery showing a collection of Neoclassical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork, part of the Berlin National Gallery, which in turn is part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It is the original building of the National Gallery, whose holdings are now housed in several additional buildings. It is situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.
As it is an island there's water around. The river Spree runs on both sides of the museums!
Your GustavHH
Posted Nov 20, 2012, 11:16 pm
today Alex' private bodyguard Oops arrived on the back of a turtle!
She told us her name is Cassiopeia. We gave her a warm welcome.
She showed us her card and told us that Oops found her in front of our house. The postman let her down there and in case of so much fog she couldn't see anything. Oops helped her to find us!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 21, 2012, 9:42 pm
we did a short stop-over in a small village which is surrounded by lots of water!
I just wanted to show you how foggy the world is. It would look more beautiful if the sun would shine.
GustavHH
Posted Nov 29, 2012, 6:24 pm
one day with nice weather and we decided to cruise around by car. It's a good way to see all the small neighborhoods.
GustavHH
Posted Dec 3, 2012, 6:07 pm
today we went to the park to see the first snow.
While we were sitting on a bench we noticed someone starring at us.
We had a closer look. Yep, someone was watching us!
We went down to that guy. He told us his name is Alberto. He arrived from Finland and when he did a short stopover in the snow he froze on the ground!
As we are nice guys we decided to take him home. He was allowed to sit on the back of Cassiopeia.
GustavHH
Posted Dec 4, 2012, 7:36 pm
today I learnt how to successfully do a TimTam Slam.
TimTam is a brand of chocolate biscuit currently manufactured in Australia. A TimTam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. The TimTam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage through a TimTam.
You need a TimTam and some coffee or hot chocolate.
First you have to bite off one corner...
Then you have to bite off the opposite corner...
Now use the TimTam as a straw. In case of the hot drink the inside chocolate starts to melt. Stuff the entire TimTam in your mouth once you feel the hot beverage touch your tongue through the TimTam. You have to be fast in putting it in your mouth or else it may break off into your drink!
My host had to help me holding the TimTam-straw.
Mommy, this is so delicious! You have to try this at home!
GustavHH
Posted Dec 5, 2012, 7:37 pm
Today I wanted to know what German Christmas markets are...
Look what I found. This doesn't look like Christmas. That's strange!
But then I found something really Christmas look like! The air was smelling so sweet and delicious! Christmas music everywhere and tons of lights!
Berlin
GustavHH
Posted Dec 10, 2012, 7:21 pm
this is the famous tv tower "Fernsehturm". It was constructed between 1965 and 1969 and with its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The tower is part of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT).
You can see that the weather today is not perfect for visiting it.
When it was dark we found two big snowmen! The snowman in the back got a high of 14m (45.93 ft.)!
Your GustavHH
Posted Dec 19, 2012, 8:45 pm
Alex got a lovely Christmas card from his brother Mr. Casanova. Isn't it cute?
Alex also got some Christmas cookies from his sister Peaches!
This little kitty shared his cookies with us. These were delicious!!!
GustavHH
Posted Dec 24, 2012, 7:25 pm
we found some time to bake some cookies.
First we had to read what we need...
We needed some good butter first.
We hope that 4g too much are not too bad.
Then we added one egg. Yes, just one!
We also added the flour.
From all the ingredients we made a dough. It looks good.
We made little balls and pushed a little hole in it.
We had to fill the holes with marmelade! Then we put it into the oven.
While the cookies were in the oven we used some more dough to make some other cookies. We rolled out the dough.
Because we couldn't find a cookie cutter we used a glass to cut the dough.
We put these cookies into the oven, too. When these were ready we put some marmelade on one cookie and added another one. These are delicious!
And this is the result of the first cookies we made. The best cookies in town!
GustavHH
Posted Dec 25, 2012, 10:51 pm
it's getting dark really early the day. Anyway, I hope you like my pictures.
The Humboldt University of Berlin is one of Berlin's oldest universities, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin.
This is the Central Station. It is the main railway station in Berlin. 1,800 trains call at the station per day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000! From here you can do non-stop travels to Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Novosibirsk (Russia) or Astana (Kazakhstan).
Can you see the Christmas tree inside the station?
This is the street where I'm living at the moment. It's in the center of Berlin.
Your
GustavHH
Posted Dec 25, 2012, 11:06 pm
Sorry, we didn't have time for sightseeing.
GustavHH
Posted Dec 28, 2012, 7:54 pm
I'm wishing you a merry Christmas!
Normaly everybody gets the presents on 24th December in Germany, except us!
We had to wait until the next day.
But then we dressed ourselves with some lovely hats and waited under the little Christmas tree.
Then each one of us was allowed to pick the very own present from the tree!
Look, we all got lovely scarfs from Santa!
GustavHH
Posted Jan 2, 2013, 3:12 pm
Fireworks everywhere!
Posted Jan 8, 2013, 11:34 am
We wanted to do a walk in the nature, but no chance! It's raining and raining and raining!
So we decided to do a little trip by car to Berlin and back. We started in the morning and arrived back home when it was dark already.
GustavHH
Posted Jan 10, 2013, 10:08 pm
it is still raining outside! I can't believe it!
This morning I jumped into the bag of my host. I thought I'll see something interesting, but she just went to work.
When she finished I noticed that the rain stopped, so I asked her to take some pictures on our way back home!
Berlin by night looks interesting...even the metro-stairs.
GustavHH
Posted Jan 16, 2013, 10:05 pm
May she have fun with her new host!
Posted Jan 21, 2013, 7:44 pm
finally some snow. We took our sleighs and where looking for a little hill. But we couldn't find any.
GustavHH
Posted Jan 22, 2013, 4:39 pm
finally we had enough snow to have lots of fun outside!
First we found some footprints. We think it was a marten.
Then we found a hill where we could use a sleigh.
It's high! I think this will be fun!
I was the first to use the sleigh. I was really fast!
So much fun!
Your
GustavHH
Posted Jan 23, 2013, 6:51 pm
Then we gave him some sweets for his journey.
Maybe I'll see him again one day.
GustavHH
Posted Jan 24, 2013, 7:51 pm
I think we need a while to arrive, I decided to walk!
Goodbye dudes, hope to see you all again!
GustavHH
Posted Feb 8, 2013, 8:03 pm
My last host should have told me that it was a long way from Berlin to Sülfeld! We had snow all the time.
But after some days we saw this sign – and I told Nayeli that we were close to my home.
Some minutes later we found the sign of Sülfeld!
A short stop next to the church of Sülfeld.
Then we arrived – and Dicker Kumpel opened the door for us.
He gave us a warm welcome and I met some of my brothers and sisters – and some guests.
yours
GustavHH
Posted Mar 31, 2013, 5:26 pm
I am so excited. I will travel on the Big German RR 2013.
Today I started it. I said goodbye to Dicker Kumpel.
You will read from me soon!
yours
GustavHH
Posted Apr 14, 2013, 6:57 pm
I have just arrived in Chemnitz.
KleinerKobaer and I only changed places...
He goes on the RR 2013 and I will stay with BlueTeddy on a holiday trip.
Your GustavHH
Posted Apr 15, 2013, 2:15 pm
I´m here at the North-Sea. We are in a youth hostel in Tönning an we visited the "Eidersperrwerk". It controls the water in the Eider. There are very big floodgates.
Can you see me at the picture???
In some days we will visited Sylt and I´m very excited!!!
Your GustavHH
Posted Apr 15, 2013, 2:31 pm
now I am on Sylt. It is an very nice island in the North-Sea.
We have a lot of fun, but the water is too cold for bathing and so we climbed up the figures you can see on the photo.
We´re going to travel to the Netherlands soon...
GustavHH
Posted May 1, 2013, 7:10 pm
we´re in an "Center Parc" and it´s very funny. First I saw a big Sign...
And I climbed on it. Who can see me?
After this I tried to play "Minigolf", but I always stopped the ball...
Next to the "Minigolf" is a big adventure house, called Jungle Dome and in there it is hot and wet and there are nice plants.
After this beatiful day I had to sleep very long, because I was very tired...
Posted May 9, 2013, 1:38 pm
today I arrived at HoBi’s home.
Murph opened my envelope and helped me out.
And then - as a welcome gift - this…
What a wonderful day
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted May 9, 2013, 4:07 pm
today I´ll go on my next traveling.
I hope I´ll have a good journey.
Good bye!
Posted May 15, 2013, 5:57 pm
Today we searched St. Georg’s mushrooms. But look, what we found – morels. First we found a half-free morel.
Then a very big one…
We saw scaly polypore, too.
And so many orchids…
The morels played hide and seek with us. Can you see it?
Here it was.
Playing hide and seek was so much fun. We won and found all morels.
At the end we found 4 small St. Georg’s mushrooms. It won’t enough to eat for all of us.
However it was a wonderful day in the forest.
At home we said goodbye to Freya. She started her first journey today.
Have a safe trip, Freya!
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted May 22, 2013, 5:36 pm
Today I visited a beautiful nature reserve. Didn’t it look great?
There were many different wild orchids. I show you the most beautiful flowers.
There were orchids with green blooms.
Wow – this one was big!
All over the meadow there were snowdrop windflowers.
This flower is really rare in Lower-Saxony. You only find it in a few nature reserves. Do you know it? It is the lady’s slipper orchid.
We wanted urgently a photo with this group of orchids.
On the way back to our car we met these friendly guys.
Cows or sheep were needed to care for the nature reserves.
What a wonderful place.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted May 26, 2013, 6:01 pm
The weather was not so great today. Nevertheless we decided to take a walk. Wasn’t that the perfect camouflage for me? I love this color!
You surely know this plant. It blooms all over the forest now.
There were many St. Georg’s mushrooms at the moment, too.
The bear’s garlic blooms.
And we still found a big old morel.
This plant looked really funny. The wild arum is very poisonous.
This looks great – doesn’t it? I am such a beautiful guy.
Greetings
GustavHH
Posted Jun 1, 2013, 10:07 am
Today Murph and I and visited Dicker Kumpel and his guests.
When we arrived in the living room BineHH, PieksiHH and TobiHH sat on the table and told us that they had a surprise for all of us.
Of course we went into the room – we love surprises.
They had drinks, muffins and more delicious things to eat for all of us.
A party – this is great!
I found a great place between Murph and GustavHH.
Cheers!
Then it was time to eat.
I had a yummy muffin and a delicious burger.
Later this evening we all had fun and sang wonderful ToyVoyager-songs.
It was a wonderful evening!
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Jun 7, 2013, 5:06 pm
we went into the forest and wanted to find a rare mushroom. But what a shock!
One of the most beautiful forests of Murph. It looked so awful.
We were afraid that we wouldn't find the mushroom. But we were lucky. Here it was: the violet crown cup. Unfortunately ours were white.
Probably it was the fault of the rain. There were many streams in the forest where never where water before.
Another mushroom! Great color, wasn't it? It is very yummy, but our mushroom was too old. He has a funny name: chicken of the woods.
I love this colour.
Mum – haven't I found a beautiful umbrella?
The day in the forest was wonderful. But what a tragedy! Unfortunately many forests look like this at the moment.
Who knows how long we will see mushrooms and trees here?
Many greetings
GustavHH
Posted Jun 9, 2013, 5:07 pm
today I took a look at the hometown of Murph.
It is only a small town, but it has a big church.
This river flew through the whole city.
There are 2 big salines in the spa gardens. The people used it to produce salt in the past.
This is the famous place of Murph. It is called Summstein – you sit inside of it and bumble. Then the whole body prickles. Very funny!
Next to the Summstein you see the colorful pigeonry, but I didn’t see pigeons.
I really loved this beautiful fountain.
There were many flowers in the park.
They opened a golf-course here. It is an 18-hole-adventure golf course.
Bad Salzdetfurth is a really nice city. I hope that I will show you more of it.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jun 16, 2013, 2:12 pm
Today we searched rare butterflies. They should fly next to this river.
There were many of these windows. They should show beautiful views. Hm, this one is not really nice, is it?
But I really loved these beautiful flowers.
We continued our walk along the river.
Another Lily – really beautiful too, isn’t it?
There were some rare butterflies on these wild violets. We saw them, but they didn’t want to have a photo with us. They didn’t sat long enough on the flowers for a good photo.
But it was a wonderful walk along the river.
Many greetings
GustavHH
Posted Jun 21, 2013, 4:28 pm
Today I went to a beautiful park.
Behind me you can see the castle.
There was a small pavilion in the park.
The owners of the castle is the family von Cramm. In the Past the famous tennis player Freiherr Gottfried von Cramm lived here.
These old tomb slabs were impressive.
A beautiful lake belongs to the park, too
.
Let’s see, what more we can find here.
The Castle at close range.
Surely a lot of friends of Stoker are living here.
These old bonnets look funny, don’t they?
Wow, what a beautiful park!
I would love to live in this Castle!
Sincerely yours
GustavHH
Posted Jun 30, 2013, 4:09 pm
today we visited a big dam in the Harz Mountains.
Surely we found a lot of beautiful flowers and some mushrooms during our walk. This was the purple foxglove.
And king boletes.
The strawberries were ready for eating. They were so yummy!
A wonderful view over the Innerste. I showed the river earlier in my travel log.
This was a flower that I never saw before: the red helleborine.
Another mushroom
: the hazel bolete
I don’t know this flower, but it was beautiful.
The lake was really large!
Love
GustavHH
Posted Jul 5, 2013, 4:47 pm
another day in the forest
. We found king boletes.
And another flower: herb robert. Mum, don’t you have it in your garden, too?
Wow! Chanterelles! Many people love these mushrooms.
This small river is really cute, isn’t it?
Much more king boletes! We were so sorry that we forgot our baskets
.
This scrub is blooming all over the forest now: the black elder.
This mushroom is very yumma, but sadly I don’t know the English name for it.
What a wonderful day in the forest.
Next weekend we will go on holidays. We are so excited. Hopefully we will have internet, because I want to show you my photos soon.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jul 17, 2013, 2:00 pm
Today a new guest arrived. Let’s have a look who is in the envelope.
It was Matcha, a frog from Japan.
We had prepared a welcome-party for Matcha. First we had a chilly beer.
Then we had a special surprise for Matcha. We had Sushi. But how should we eat with chopsticks?
Matcha showed us how to use it.
It was too difficult for us, so we used our fingers.
It was yummy!
We are on holiday – let’s have a look at our holiday flat.
Nice friends in the garden.
We feel fine here!
Many greetings
GustavHH
Posted Jul 17, 2013, 3:31 pm
It was my first trip during the holiday – and I took this train.
Can you imagine where I went to? Not now? But maybe now?
Right – I was on the highest mountain of Northern Germany: the Brocken. First we visited the garden on the Brocken.
Even here there were blooming flowers.
I absolutely wanted to show you two photos of the train? Didn’t it look wonderful?
We had sunny weather – and had a great view. This is the direction to Torfhaus.
This tower was really high.
A funny sign – it seems that witches are dancing here.
Now you can see the place for sky jumping.
A bug destroys many of the spruces here – they looked scary, don’t they?
This was another famous building on the Brocken.
Then it was time to drive home. This loco will pull our train back into the valley.
What a wonderful trip!
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jul 18, 2013, 4:21 pm
Today I went to the rosarium in Sangerhausen.
It is the biggest collection of roses of the world!
These are water lilies!
We definitely wanted to have a photo with this funny character.
More roses
And other beautiful flowers, too.
A wonderful fountain.
And surely more and more roses! You cannot imagine the wonderful smell here.
We needed a short rest.
Roses are really beautiful!
… but not as beautiful as this lady…
So many roses, such a good smell…
Let’s see, what we will do next
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Jul 18, 2013, 5:41 pm
Today I want to show you the village where we are on holiday. This is the animal of the emblem.
I really loved this spring.
There were very old and big spruces in the forest. We wanted to see it.
What a disappointment. The old trees died.
In the spa garden we found a beautiful pond.
There were many fishes in it. Can you see it?
Isn’t this small river beautiful?
On the pond there were many water lilies.
At the end we found a mushroom, although it was very dry here.
Greetings
GustavHH
Posted Jul 19, 2013, 4:38 pm
Today we took a trip into the forest.
There were many blooming wild orchids.
Here you can see an orchid at close range.
What a beautiful forest.
Have you ever seen a brown fly agaric? It really exists!
We took a rest at this hut.
Maybe you know this plant – it was the wild thyme.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jul 20, 2013, 2:59 pm
Wow, we found the paradise for TVs! Everything is in our size here. We could have a wonderful life in this house.
This is an old prison.
A beautiful church.
Another beautiful house! Should we live here?
This church is build from wood. Very beautiful!
These colorful pillars stood in the middle of the TV-Country.
Even the Brocken is here!
Another church
And we have a train station, too.
A very big church…
We have a wonderful view of the Brocken at this house. Maybe we should move into it?
Supermarkets are here, too.
Hey Mum, this is my home. Do you know the name of these trees?
Correct! Zuckerhut
We can visit witches with this cable car.
Well – we have to work in this quarry…
… to have enough money for our new home!
Goodbye mum, I will stay here!
GustavHH
Posted Jul 22, 2013, 3:26 pm
Ok, we didn’t stay in the ‚Kleiner Harz‘…
Our last planned trip was too amazing – we didn’t want to miss it. We went to the place where the witches dance.
On our way to it we saw this great Climbing Park.
But we had no time for it! We wanted to take the cable car!
We took this cable car to the ‚Hexentanzplatz‘.
We saw funny sculptures. First the devil!
What should this be?
Eventuallly we saw a witch. She is a very famous witch.
We enjoyed this wonderful view during our walk around the Hexentanzplatz.
Then we had to go home.
This cable car took us back into the valley.
Wow, how exciting!
A view out of the window of the gondola!
And see this! The Gondola’s floor is out of glass! Great!
Tomorrow we have to go home. Our holiday here will be finished.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 8:04 am
Today I had to say goodbye to Murph and Matcha.
I had a great time with Murph. Now I am looking forward to Bavaria. Hopefully I will have a short trip.
Until soon
GustavHH
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 5:59 pm
today I arrived at my new host's home and was greeted by Cheney, Isidore and Sherlock
Hugs,
GustavHH
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 6:21 pm
waaaaaaah it's so hot these days!!! Me, Sherlock and Cheney decided to bathe outside in the sun!
So we sat in the garden and read some books on the kindle. So relaxing!
Love,
GustavHH
Posted Jul 28, 2013, 1:46 pm
I went outside with host-mum, Cheney, Sherlock and Isidore again because the weather was just perfect!!! *____*
Hugs,
GustavHH
Posted Aug 6, 2013, 4:45 pm
it's still suuuuuper duber hot outside and host-mum decided to go to a nice and cool sea with us today!
Hugs,
Gustav
Posted Aug 17, 2013, 12:22 pm
Hugs,
GustavHH
Posted Aug 23, 2013, 6:53 pm
the mornings are getting colder now but the weather is still nice in the afternoon. We went to Admira Park today! *___*
Hugs,
GustavHH
Posted Sep 17, 2013, 6:57 pm
today we went to see St. Moritz Church in Mantel. It's only a small building but really neat! If you are interested in it's history you can read about it -> here
This is the side view and the yard!
... and here you can see me standing in front of the church.
You can also get a glimpse of the history on this photo
There's even a little memorial place not far from the church.
On our way back home me and Cheney came by some berries and saw this really funny road sign!
Love,
GustavHH
Posted Oct 1, 2013, 4:16 pm
today I arrived at my hosts home.
Me and Phog, who arrived at the same time, jumped out of the box.
The others welcomed us. I'm happy to meet my friend Alex again!
Gustav
Posted Oct 2, 2013, 6:56 pm
We were playing outside, just like Toyvoyagers do. We had a lot of fun...
Anyway, they are going to send you the bill...
I hope you still love me!
Your little Gustav
(Pictures taken "before" and "after" having fun!
)
Before:
After:
Posted Oct 7, 2013, 12:02 am
I was just kidding, you won't get a bill... I hope!
Let me tell ya the whole story!
We jumped into the car for... guess what... a roadtrip!
But it was only a short one. We used the freeway just to come to the next exit, because lots of other streets were closed. Our destination for today was Vockerode, a small village with about 1500 inhabitants. And they own an old power station which is closed since 1998.
What do we want here? And what are all these people doing here? We did the same like all of them: taking pictures of the 2 last chimneys, each 100m tall.
At 11 o'clock sharp there were 2 really loud explosions, followed by 2 little earthquakes and LOTS of dust! After a few minutes we could see clearly what happened! The chimneys were gone!
Later we were informed that people used about 90kg explosive materials and 900 detonators.
This pic was taken by our host!
Everybody was a bit sad, because these 2 chimneys were some typical landmarks for the village. You could see them on the freeway long time before arrival. We couldn't take any pictures during the explosion, but a good video can be seen here.
After a while we were allowed to go to the chimneys and have a closer look.
On our way back we just had eyes for the power station and where everything happened. All of us still shocked from the explosions and the earthquakes!
...when we noticed we weren't driving on a street. Holy crap!
We never noticed before some tracks here.
Woah and what a tiny and beautiful train! And yes, the train isn't longer than you can see in the pic. Just a few cm of it cut off in the pic.
Your Gustav
Posted Oct 9, 2013, 8:00 pm
Posted Oct 9, 2013, 8:13 pm
today we found some seeds. We decided to grow them!
First we needed a box with some soil.
We "cut" the soil into single pieces and gave them numbers. Then we placed lots of seeds in it. All seeds were cacti and succulents.
At least we placed the seed box in a plastic bag, filled it with some water and closed it. Now we have a tiny greenhouse for the seeds. Lets see if they are going to grow!
PS: We are going on holidays SOON!
Gustav
Posted Oct 9, 2013, 9:03 pm
as I promised: we made a trip!
Yesterday we traveled through whole Germany to Cologne, the biggest city at the river Rhine!
After that long journey we were too tired and just slept the whole evening.
But today...
We woke up really late, so the first we needed was something delicious to eat!
We started at the famous Hohenzollern Bridge, which is crossing the Rhine. It is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany. People have placed love padlocks on the fence between the sidewalk and the tracks! Still amazing!
Mommy, we should go here and place a padlock for us.
Then it was time to see the most famous sight of the city: the Cologne Cathedral! It is a Roman Catholic church. It is also the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5m (474 ft) long, 86.5m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest façade of any church in the world.
We had a wonderful warm and sunny day, but we had to go back home in the evening.
I'M BACK TO COLOGNE WITH MA_17!!!
Never thought we'll be there together again.
Your Gustav
Posted Oct 14, 2013, 7:33 pm
Hey Baby, I'm back! Do you remember me? I think so!
(I'm sure the TV-tower remembers me!)
Today we made a tour around the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) which is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin.
The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. It was built in the 15th century.
Isn't this a pretty view of the river Spree, the TV-tower and the Bode Museum at the Museum Island?!
Hugs
Gustav
Posted Oct 14, 2013, 7:41 pm
Posted Oct 23, 2013, 9:13 pm
we used that beautiful day to enjoy our lives close to the water.
First we went to the Spandau Ship Canal.
Then we went to lake Plötzensee. Sad it was too cold to swim in it.
Your Gustav
Posted Oct 25, 2013, 11:25 pm
guess what! We went to the forest to find some mushrooms. I think I know a lot about mushrooms, because I always read my brother's best friend Murph's blog. He's famous for his knowledge about mushrooms.
We found some lovely mushrooms, but I told the others not to eat them. I wasn't sure about the poison. So we just watched them.
The next mushroom was so beautiful. It had the same color like lovely cakes have. So we decided that it is eatable. It was delicious! I'd really like to tell you about that mushroom, but nobody knows the name. After our meal the others all started smiling like me...that explains a lot
Yours
Gouustaaaääf
Posted Oct 26, 2013, 8:47 pm
do you remember my update with all the seeds? Well, the seeds grow up!
Have a look!!!
Gustav
Posted Oct 30, 2013, 10:17 pm
He got a big group hug.
Then we opened the window and Landroval spread his wings and flew away. I hope he knows the right way back home!
Gustav
Posted Oct 30, 2013, 10:36 pm
we made a short trip to a nearby city called Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It is famous for Martin Luther who nailed his 95 theses on the doors of All Saints' Church ( "castle church" ) in 1517.
It was already getting dark when we arrived so we could only take a picture on the market place.
The white building on the left is the Town hall. In front of it you can see the Luther Memorial.
The church is the Town and Parish Church of St. Mary's. It is the civic church of the city. The reformers Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen preached there and the building also saw the first celebration of the mass in German rather than Latin and the first ever distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation - it is thus considered the mother-church of the Protestant Reformation. Since 1996 it has been a World Heritage Site!
Your Gustav
Posted Nov 14, 2013, 10:01 pm
Today it's Halloween! Whoohoooo...
We all were so excited
... until our host told us that we're not celebrating. Instead of eating too many sweets we could do some sports!
We jumped on the bike and started, but after 1km our butts started to hurt! We thought this could be our chance to go back and be able to celebrate, but... no mercy!
We passed forests, fields, lakes etc... Ok, the landscape was really beautiful, but after 30km we asked our host to go back!
I think I can't sit for the next few days. Damn you muscle ache!
GustavHH
Posted Nov 14, 2013, 10:15 pm
Can you image what the security wanted to do with us? They wanted to scan us! Hell! If they do they would see us naked! NOBODY wants to see a Toyvoyager naked!
As it is already dark outside we didn't take any more pictures today...
Posted Nov 16, 2013, 9:41 pm
guess what! I made it to LONDON!
I heard when you go to London you have to use the underground, because the London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world. So I did!
First I visited the famous Big Ben. This is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster. The four clock dials are 180 feet (54.9 m) above ground. Wow!
And of course, we also saw the Palace of Westminster which is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The tower you can see in my picture is called Victoria Tower.
Then we went to a circus. We were so excited to see many animals and maybe a clown, but what we saw was something totally different!
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.
And there were lots of illuminated signs, gosh!
From there we went to another close public space and tourist attraction: Trafalgar Square. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art.
That's enough of rain for today! Let's see what we're going to see tomorrow...
Your little Gustav
Posted Nov 20, 2013, 8:41 pm
we spent another day in London. And this time it didn't rain!
So we used the time to visit more famous sights!
First we visited "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress", more commonly known as the Tower of London. It is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in the center of London. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle encloses an area of almost 12 acres (4.9 ha) with a further 6 acres (2.4 ha) around the Tower of London constituting the Tower Liberties – land under the direct influence of the castle and cleared for military reasons.
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom.
It's length is 346 km (215 mi).
The building on the left is called "The Shard". It is an 87-storey skyscraper. Standing approximately 306 metres (1,004 ft) high, the Shard is currently the tallest building in the European Union.
The Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London. It was built from 1886 to 1894. It's total length is 244 metres (801 ft).
We also visited St Paul's Cathedral. It sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world.
And of course we went to meet the Queen! This is Buckingham Palace. It is the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch. Unfortunately the Queen didn't have time for tea.
Tomorrow we're going back to Germany!
Gustav
Posted Nov 27, 2013, 7:59 pm
just wanted to let you know that we're back to Berlin.
It's already cold outside, but our host decided that we need some fresh air. So we did a walk through the Tiergarten...
Brrr...
Gustav
Posted Nov 27, 2013, 8:11 pm
today me and Alex had a chat about our adventures and what I'm going to do next. We were sitting in his living room. He already decorated it for Christmas...lovely!
So tomorrow I'm going to leave to my next host.
Your
Gustav
Posted Dec 1, 2013, 10:07 pm
as you know I'm leaving today, so we all hugged.
Then I went to the famous Berlin "magical black hole" where I'm leaving through. Now you will say it is only a Christmas mug, but it isn't...
I sat down on that hole while the others were singing a goodbye song.
...and... *kaboumbzzzzzztsch* There was a light and I was gone. Now I'm in something like a black room, just waiting for the door to open at my new destination. I hope they have the same magical black hole like I used in Berlin!
outta space ∞
Gustav
Posted Dec 2, 2013, 3:45 pm
Hello! Heeelllllllooooo! Can anyone hear me??!!
Something must have gone wrong ... it is loud here and dark ... and WET!!!
Swimmies??!! I don't have swimmies!!! What now?
There is a weird sound and it is still wet!
Heeelp!!!
Now it seems that this whereever-I'm-in-thing was slowing down ...
Finally it was quiet ... and still sort of wet.
Does anyone know what happened to me? There is a grid ... maybe this is an underwater prison? Let's see... it feels like sitting in the magic black hole in Berlin, just the other way round. Now I know what happened: Someput put the magic black hole into the dishwasher!!!
Someone took me out of this machine.
Soon I was surrounded by curious ToyVoyagers.
All these guys and my new host Katja gave me a warm welcome. They told me that already on Saturday a parcel arrived with some goodies because only yellow ToyVoyagers are able to travel via magic black holes, but not candy, postcards or teabags.
Now I'll have to recover from this nerve-wrecking journey.
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Dec 8, 2013, 8:31 pm
today Katja met her friends for their weekly knitting round. We enjoyed eggnogg, the kind of eggnogg people are prefering in the North of Germany, with white wine and eggs.
Yummy!
Don't worry, we only had one of them, or maybe two? I think two of them, but definitely not more.
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Dec 8, 2013, 8:40 pm
today we helped Katja to make christmas cookies. She found a receipe for cookies with orange and chocolate. This sounds good.
These are the ingredients:
Butter, sugar, wheat flour and baking powder, orange peel and icing sugar, egg white, chocolate icing and orange juice for the icing.
From this we had to make the dough. Unfortunately it did not work with the electric mixer.
The dough had to rest for at least half an hour in the fridge.
After rolling it out the dough had to be cut into rectangles and baked.
After cooling down the cookies were decorated with white sugar icing and chocolate.
They are tasting really good
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Dec 8, 2013, 8:47 pm
today it is the second Sunday in advent.
Katja and her daughter were busy making more cookies today. We were only allowed to have a look when the cookies were completed (yesterday we made a mess helping in the kitchen
).
These cookies are looking funny, they are showing neither christmas trees nor stars, hearts or what people usually are baking.
Pot leafes!
They did not only bake pot leafes, but also stars, hearts, socks, mittens and what people usually are baking
And they made terrible mess in the kitchen.
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Dec 12, 2013, 7:55 pm
I went with Katja to her work place. In our lunch break we had to buy a few things, so we went outside, Kirin, Katja and I. We started our short trip on the market place in front of the city hall. A skating rink is built up here.
High on its pillar you can find the heraldic animal of Remscheid, a lion. A smaller christmas market is situated here.
This year there is even a ferris wheel in the pedestrian area.
When we walked down the shopping street Katja showed us the entrance area of the shopping mall.
This is the public library.
Here you can see one of several churches in the city centre. We had to walk downhill to the station next.
We went shopping in a shopping mall close to the station. We did not have much time because we had to return to work at 2:00 p.m.
Bye for now
GustavHH
Posted Dec 15, 2013, 2:55 pm
today a new guest arrived, DottyCroc from England.
In the afternoon we took a walk because Katja wanted to visit her Mum in a nearby hospital. Because the weather was quiete good we went there taking a loop way. DottyCroc accompanied us.
The first picture was taken close to my current home. There is a small park just in front of the housing complex.
Katja suggested that we would walk downhill towards the historic district Hasten. Not far from my current home there is a larger intersection.
Walking downhill we reached Hasten a few minutes later. Here we found beautiful older houses.
Some years ago a former track for freight trains was built to a lane for pedestrians and cyclists, following the original track. Remscheid is an industrial city, famous for its tool producing industry and also other metalworking. The freight train track was connecting the district Hasten with its industrial companies with the central station in the city centre. The track is about 4,5 km long. It is called "Trasse des Werkzeugs" (Route of tools) because it was sponsored by local companies which are producing tools. Along the track you can find information signs and those showing the logos of the sponsoring companies, all created in a rusty-looking style.
There are still industrial complexes along the track, but also different housing areas with both apartment builidngs as well as terraced houses.
It was rather misty outside, I'm afraid you cannot see that there are large woodland areas in the background.
Someone has a souvenir from the former railway track in his garden
We found a blooming hazel bush.
Here we found more of those logo signs.
This sign is showing the coat of arms of Remscheid with a lion with a double tail and a sickle.
The closer we were walking towards the city centre the more industrial complexes were found along the track. We found this recently made comic-graffito
We left the track than and walked to the hospital, this time uphill for some time
Bye for now
GustavHH
Posted Dec 25, 2013, 12:17 pm
we were expecting Katja's son and daughter for dinner. We had to wrap the presents before their arrival.
We had a calm evening with a great dinner. We had salmon with a mustard topping, savoy cabbage and potatoes.
Bye for today
GustavHH
Posted Dec 25, 2013, 12:24 pm
Posted Dec 29, 2013, 8:07 pm
I met Katja's pets today. They are small, cute, cheeky and they have terrifying carnassial teeth.
Three ferrets are living here. These two were fighting just for fun. The third one was searching for the remote control of the TV, she loves to steal it
Look at all those Christmas cards we received from ToyVoyager members.
Love
GustavHH
Posted Dec 29, 2013, 8:55 pm
today we visited Germany's highest railway bridge, Muengsten Bridge.
Katja told me that Germany's highes railway bridge is connecting Remscheid with the neighbour city Solingen. We went there with Strunki and her guests.
This is Morsbach creek, flowing into nearby river Wupper.
Next we reached river Wupper. In the background you can see an outlook pavilion, Katja told us that we would see it again later.
This place is one of the touristic highlights of this region, so you can find information boards all along the way.
On this board the height of Muengsten Bridge is compared to other well known buildings like Cologne Cathedral or Berlin Cathedral. This picture is taken from an original historic postcard.
Do you believe in oracles? Here is one and only puddle oracle! I'm afraid it told us that the ugly weather will stay for the next days and that there was no winter in sight. No snow, no cold, nothing but rain.
Walking through the forest I found a comfortable hole in a tree.
Of course I also looked for interesting mushrooms and found these.
Later I found these tracks in the mud. Do you know them? Dog and deer, I would say.
Due to the rainfalls you can find lots of little waterfalls running down to the valley.
We reached the outlook pavilion than,the one we have seen when we started our trip. It was built around 1900 by a rich former citizen of Remscheid, August Diederichs. That's why it is called "Diederichstempel".
From here we had a first look to Muengsten Bridge. It is under construction works at the moment, no trains are crossing the bridge.
We found these weird things in the forest. Nobody knows what it is. They were made of something like concrete.
We all needed a little rest, I decided to sit in a tree and watch the river.
Along the path you can find several pieces of artwork, mostly engraved rocks like this one. A nine-men's morris!
Can you see this bridge in the background? Here we crossed the river to walk back along the opposite side of the valley.
Soon we reached Muengsten Bridge.
Muengsten Bridge was built of steel, completed in 1907. It is about 480 m long and 107 m tall. There are extensive repair works going on in the last few years and they are taking place at the moment. The bridge will be closed for several months. Some years ago a leisure park was built under the bridge. You can find lawns for relaxing here, a crazy golf course and playgrounds for the kids.
This was an interesting trip
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Dec 30, 2013, 3:57 pm
we visited a park in the neighbour city Wuppertal today, the Nordpark. This landscape park is situated in the district Barmen. It was founded in 1895. You can find a large game reserve here, a playground, a restaurant, a soccer ground, a halfpipe for skateboarders and lots of woodland areas.
When we drove to Wuppertal, we stopped at a place with a great overview across the city. Wuppertal is loacated in and around the river Wupper valley. It is the largest city in the region Bergisches Land. Wuppertal is a major industrial centre, but also known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, The touristic highlight is the Schwebebahn (suspension railway), unfortunately we did not see it today.
Soon we reached the park and started our trip at the playground area.
The park is situated at the slope of the valley, at this point high above the city.
We walked through the woods ...
This common beech must have toppled and been sawn recently.
We were so happy that the sun was shining.
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Jan 4, 2014, 5:28 pm
we went to Katja's sister-in-law's family today to celebrate the last day of the year. When we arrived, there already was everything prepared for dinner.
There were lots of cheese, sausage and cold meats, salad, smoked salmon, herring salad and different kinds of bread.
We all enjoyed a beer
Later we several board games, this one is called "Niagara". You have to collect gems of different colors while that river is really moving and it might happen that your boat is falling down the "waterfall" and your boat and the collected gems are gone.
At midnight we all had a glass of sparkling wine efore we went outside for the fireworks.
Happy New Year!
Thankfully it was not raining like it did the last two or three years.
Love
GustavHH
Posted Jan 9, 2014, 1:37 pm
today we took a walk in the outskirts of Remscheid to meet a friend. Katja's friend is living in the district Luettringhausen. Not far from my home you can already see the green outskirts.
In a valley we walked along a farm with cameroon sheep, chicken and geese.
There were some houses hidden in the valley, one of them this lovely half-timbered house.
In the meantime we met Katja's friend
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Jan 9, 2014, 2:18 pm
Hi Mummy,
today we had planned to take a walk on one of those former railway tracks. Yesterday RSG Leo and DottyCroc walked along the "Korkenziehertrasse" in Solingen, today Dutchy the Lion and I walked along the "Sambatrasse" in Wuppertal.
We started our exciting trip in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, where we took a ride on the Schwebebahn (suspension railway). We got onto the train and the train was following the street.
The suspension railway runs along a route of about 13 kilometres at a height of about 12 metres above the river Wupper and about 8 metres above the valley road.
At one point the railway crosses the A46 motorway.
We left the train at the statioin "Zoo". You can see that the Schwebebahn was no longer following the street.
From here we walked to the starting point of the "Sambatrasse". This track was following a twisty route through a large woodland area. The trains were swinging and rocking and people felt like dancing Samba
It's lenght is about 9 km.
The path is even traversing the nearby zoo, close to the tiger enclosure. Here you can find a funny sign:
Two tigers were strolling through that area in the background.
We followed the track into the forest.
We had to hurry because the was already going down.
This is a former station building, nowadays a small restaurant is located here.
In an allotment area we found many souvenirs from the fromer railway track.
There is also an incinerator at the track. With its rejected heat a public swimming pool is heated, it is open not only in summer, but 12 months a year.
When we reached the last kilometer of the track it was already nearly dark. On this sign you can find distance data for all the twin cities of Wuppertal.
This is my last picture, it was too dark than for further pics
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Jan 11, 2014, 6:10 pm
Katja told me that I would go to Australia next.
Australia sounds great!!!
I am travelling with Dutchy the Lion and we had to leave immediately because hopefully we will arive at our new destination in time to join a holiday trip.
We said good-bye to all our friends here.
Katja wrote a postcard to our next host and we were ready leave.
I hope we will arrive soon.
Bye
GustavHH
Posted Jan 24, 2014, 7:56 pm
I have travelled safe, but arrived to late to visit New Zealand
photos very soon!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
Posted Jan 26, 2014, 11:09 pm
I am good...I arrived safely with Dutchy
here I have met Little Squirt and MooseS they are going to tell us all about their travels to New Zealand....The Land of the Long White Cloud...Aotearoa...
More soon
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 1, 2014, 12:23 am
Today we took the dog for a walk in the park
we started next to the football oval....that is Australian Rules Football!
went over the creek
found an interesting tree
and this is the old part of the park, with the oak tree walk
Tupai went in to the creek for a swim
and here we are back by the footie oval, this sculpture was made from an old cypress tree and was carved with a chainsaw!
Later in the day we said goodbye to Little Squirt as he is off on his travels!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 7, 2014, 9:00 pm
This weekend we are off to the beach...
it is very hot and dry here now!
we went down to the beach in the afternoon for a swim
my own private swimming pool Mum!!
Off home for dinner now Mum
happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 10:45 pm
We have had a walk along the beach this morning
Very nice here Mum!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 10:49 pm
Back down the beach in the afternoon
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 10:57 pm
Heading back home...it is very dry here now.
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 11:03 pm
We are at a sewing night tonight and have found this interesting person...check out the hair!!
now we are ready for supper!!
YUM!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 11:05 pm
We are on our way to St Leonard's for the weekend
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 11:16 pm
It is very hot today so we are down at the beach where it is a little cooler
low tide now Mum
but still god for swimming
but we are off home now for dinner Mum, is after 6pm
Have a look at this Mum!! YUM!!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 11:22 pm
Taking the chowchow for a walk along the beach this morning
Later we had a little look at the opening of the Winter olympics
But the scary thing today Mum were the fires that were all around Victoria
very bad day here Mum, Sue's son has evacuated from home as the fires were heading to Gisborne, but the wind changed and they travelled in another direction.
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 14, 2014, 11:47 pm
This morning we have driven over to Queenscliff, it is just a bit further around the coast
this is the old ferry pier, lots of people fish from here now
way in the distance you can see the ferry to Tasmania leaving the Bay
here is the big white light house
this beach goes all the way around to Point Lonsdale where there is another light house
looking over the pier
and here is the only black light house in Australia..it is in the fort on the headland
here is part of the fort
it is still a working part of the defence force so we are not allowed inside.
Queenscliff has some lovely old buildings.
Now I am down on the beach heading to Point Lonsdale
I like it here Mum, very peaceful!!
Time to head home now for lunch!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 22, 2014, 7:01 am
Today we woke to a very smoky day
the smoke from the bush fires has come across the bay to us today.
it is like being in a smelly fog!!
we still took Tupai for a walk down to the beach.
heading home to Gisborne now Mum...still very smoky
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 22, 2014, 8:08 am
Today the sun rise looks different because of all the smoke in the air
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 22, 2014, 8:10 am
This morning the cockatoos came in for breakfast....they can't be fed too often otherwise they start to eat the wooden window frames instead!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 27, 2014, 7:16 am
Today we had a quick look at the market in between appointments, wasn't a full market today but there were lots of things to look at
Interesting use of pallets Mum!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 27, 2014, 7:46 am
Today Sue is at a sewing day at the Mill Rose shop in Ballan, so I am having a look around!
made some new friends Mum!
I'm the King of the Castle!! He he!!
Lots and lots of fabric Mum!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Feb 27, 2014, 7:47 am
Home day today and we are helping with sewing!
I met Cyril, he is a stay at home voyager
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 3, 2014, 5:58 am
We are at St Leonard's for the weekend
we took Tupai for and evening walk
we found a sand castle just my size Mum!!
and Tupai went in for a paddle!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 3, 2014, 6:06 am
When we took Tupai for a walk this morning, we saw a pelican
It is cloudy this morning but should be sunny later,
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 3, 2014, 6:17 am
This afternoon we sat out in the sun and watched planes flying around us, we think they were practising for an airshow
later when it got too hot we went inside and helped with some sewing!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 3, 2014, 6:23 am
Our last morning at the beach we go home to Gisborne this afternoon
Lovely here this morning Mum!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 5, 2014, 11:04 pm
Hope you are having an amazing holiday!!
Today we welcomed a new TV to the house
his name is Chalon and he is going on adventures with us!!
This evening we went to sewing group and had a wonderful supper, I didn't know what to choose first!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 16, 2014, 6:49 am
Today we are off on an adventure!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 16, 2014, 6:59 am
I am in New Zealand!! Only at the airport..we were late getting here so had to rush to get the connecting plane!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 16, 2014, 7:30 am
We have arrived - well we arrived last night but it was dark and not good for photos and I was very tired!!
But today we are in Apia!!!!
We have to do some grocery shopping but have come to the Information Centre to have a look at the cultural Village
this is a fale - a very common building on the island, this one is used for cooking, others are for living in and others are for the village meetings.
this is an out rigger canoe, we think it is used for fishing.
we are a long, long way from home here Mum!!
Later we went to the pool for a swim
It has been raining but it is still over 30deg C and with 85%humidity! I think I need to try a Samoan beer!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 22, 2014, 1:36 am
Today is a very wet and rainy day, but it is still hot! We had a look outside and later went to the pool,
Later the rain eased a little
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 23, 2014, 10:30 pm
Today we are going for a drive around the island here, out first stop is this pool, you can swim here and also feed the big fish that are swimming here too!
these are the fales you can sit in to get out of the sun
this is the sea behind the pool
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 23, 2014, 10:48 pm
We stopped for a look at this waterfall on the way, sadly the trees had covered most of the view!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 23, 2014, 11:00 pm
Our next stop was this waterfall, we had to walk through long grass, over a creek, through more long grass and then came out to this
Beautiful isn't it?
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 24, 2014, 6:55 am
Guess what? Yes another waterfall!!
Later in the day we called in at the Bahai'i Temple - it is set in lovely grounds, they have a service every Sunday and have readings from all the faiths
We were tired and ready for bed when we got home!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 29, 2014, 1:50 am
Today we have started off in Apia with a look at Robert Louis Stevenson's house...he lived here for 5 years and wrote 13 books here, he was much loved in Samoa. When he died the house was sold on to a German business man who was the Governor while the Germans occupied Samoa, next came the New Zealand Governor when the New Zealander's occupied Samoa and then it was sold to the Australian High Commissioner. The house sat empty for many years until it was renovated and now is a museum.
this is a carving of the last cannibalistic King of Samoa!!
part of the gardens
Later we drove to the turtle ponds, you can feed the turtles but we didn't know what they liked to eat!!
Later we had lunch by the sea side!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 30, 2014, 8:33 am
Today we are at the Cultural Village by the Information Centre - there is a live display today of life and culture in Samoa.
These men are preparing taro leaves into a cup and filling it with coconut milk, then it is wrapped in another leaf and ready to go in the fire.
here the men are scraping the taro to get the skin off before cooking
now the taro is going onto the hot rocks at the bottom of the umu - then it will be covered with leaves to keep the heat in while cooking.
the ladies here are making tapa cloth, they take the bark off a branch and work on it with a stone and water, it stretches and makes a piece of fabric which they dry, when it is dry they paint or stamp designs on it with wooden carved blocks the men have made.
finished tapa cloth.
And here is lunch!! Tuna fish, taro and taro leaves and coconut milk - the taro tastes like bread and the leaves and milk taste like spinach!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 30, 2014, 9:26 am
Today there isn't much happening apart from rain, so we thought we would try out Sue's headband from yesterday!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxoxx
Posted Mar 30, 2014, 9:31 am
Our last morning here and we are fabric shopping so Sue can make a quilt one day!
back at the Information Centre waiting for the shuttle
some nice flowers for you Mum!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Mar 31, 2014, 9:25 am
Firstly two photo's someone forgot to put up yesterday...
very necessary after a hot day Mum
Now we are on the plane back to Australia - in time to see the sun rise!! It is very early Mum
Down below us Mum is the island of Fiji, hard to see sadly
Here is the coast near Sydney
and here I am back at Melbourne Airport
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 8, 2014, 9:25 am
Today we helped Dutchy achieve a life mission!! And we had a really fun time!
The mission was to jump on a trampoline - something I wasn't very good at Mum!!
But I had a try!!
Can you see me Mum??
Later a sit was a nice day we had a look around outside,
some naked ladies Mum!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 11, 2014, 9:21 am
We are back at the beach for the weekend, the weather isn't so good but we had a walk on the beach this morning.
and Tupai had a swim
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 11, 2014, 10:40 am
Back down the beach this morning, there is a little more sunshine today.
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 11, 2014, 10:45 am
It is a much calmer day today
Oh Tupai has found an interesting smell to follow!!
Oh that is a bit close!!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 11, 2014, 11:01 am
Foggy day today
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 11, 2014, 11:22 am
Guess what?? Another foggy morning!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 7:34 am
Back at the beach for the weekend, the weather is looking good so far!
Someone is setting up for a wedding at the Yacht Club tonight, the cnadles will look great tonight by the water
very peaceful here Mum!
Guess who is swimming again Mum???
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 7:41 am
Another lovely day!
Having fun with Tupai
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 7:51 am
Our last morning walk for this visit
a special heart shaped sand bar for you Mum!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 8:24 am
we are back at the beach - this time Sue has a friend with her, she is nice but she has a little dog who thinks toys are for EATING!!!
So we are hiding in the travel bag a lot!!
We did come out to help prepare dinner
Someone forgot to take a photo before we ate Mum!! But the spaghetti was wonderful!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 8:29 am
Today we have visited an antiques centre - our lunch waiter!!
and lunch!! YUM!!
this is a huge place Mum and lots to look at!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 8:37 am
We are staying here the night before heading home to Gisborne tomorrow, can you see me??
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 14, 2014, 8:41 am
Sue is at a sewing day today - I am checking out the snacks!!
and the lunch!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 17, 2014, 8:28 am
Today was a beautiful day so we helped out in the garden
I was helping Dutchy with the sawing!!
Dutchy tried on the gardening gloves but I think they are a little too big!!
Later in the evening we had a little snack before Chalon attempted a life mission which was to sleep out in a tree!!
Dutchy and I went out to wish him good luck and a good nights sleep!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 17, 2014, 8:42 am
Well Chalon did really well.
We went out to see him this morning, he had been up but had gone back to his bed as it was a little cold! We had a big chat about his night in the tree!!
there is a little frost this morning Mum
Later we went to the park to take Yupai for a walk
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Apr 21, 2014, 3:43 am
Happy Easter!
We have had an Easter egg hunt in the garden this morning!
We think we might have found where Easter Bunny was going between bushes!
Later we took Tupai to the park
it is a very windy day today so lots of leaves are on the ground
and we had to be careful in this part of the park as the acorns are blowing down in the wind too! They hurt of they fall on your head!!
I found you a lovely bottle brush flower too Mum.
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 4, 2014, 3:57 am
Today is ANZAC Day and a public holiday, it is mainly a day when the people here remember the soldiers who landed at Gallipoli 99 years ago. We saw a march in the city, but it was too crowded for photos.
Here I am on a bridge overlooking the Yarra River, to the right are the rowing boat sheds and behind me the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) where cricket and Australian Rules Football is played. And sometimes there are music events.
St Paul's Cathedral
animation theatre at Federation Square
back by the Yarra River, the city buildings behind me.
and the Polly Woodside and old sailing ship.
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 4, 2014, 4:00 am
Today we are visiting a friend of Sue's and we are going on a walk - these pictures are on the side of the pathway.
On the way back we found an old horse trough - no horses though Mum!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 4, 2014, 4:23 am
This afternoon we are closer to the city and at a Japanese Restaurant called Wabi Sabi, we are here to learn origami!
Didn't we do well??
Love andhugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 4, 2014, 4:27 am
We got up to a frost this morning!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 6, 2014, 3:41 am
This morning Sue's husband heard on the radio that it was SNOWING in Hanginr Rock which is about 25 minutes up the freeway!!! So we leapt in the car and off we went. Sadly by the time we got there it was raining so no snow! Someone was
.
Anyway we got a photo of the Rock
and headed home
We took Tupai for a wander down the back of the block and look what we found!! I think there must have been fairies here!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:24 am
Today we went to the toy show to help MooseS achieve a life mission.
I think this skate board will be perfect for me Mum!!
I wanted to play with the play doh!!
I liked this Lego bike too!
and Mum I found a unicorn in a pink sparkly bag!!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:26 am
Today was a little sad as we had to say goodbye to MooseS as he is heading home to have a stay with his Mum.
We wished him a safe trip home!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:26 am
Heading off to the beach for the weekend!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:34 am
We are taking Tupai for a walk down near the Pier this afternoon
We found a shell tree!!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:36 am
Still at the beach!!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 6:44 am
We woke up to a different world this morning!
It isn't cold just foggy!!
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 15, 2014, 7:03 am
The WotWots have arrived home so we are off to have a big chat about their travels!
Love and hugs
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 22, 2014, 7:22 am
Today we have been at the blog meet up at the Rose Mill Quilt shop in Ballan.
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted May 22, 2014, 7:24 am
Today I said my goodbyes to everyone
Cyril
and all the other TV's here
I am off to Canada!!!
See you soon Mum
Happily yours
GustavHH
xxooxx
Posted Jan 6, 2015, 3:09 am
I am in Canada
! Today I felt a lot of action around my travelling quarters .
And when I came out I found a group of TVs welcoming me in Calgary
!
Of course, they wanted to hear everything about my adventures, so we spent the whole night up chatting
.
Posted Jan 11, 2015, 9:53 pm
today we went for a nice hike within Banff National Park
. First we walked a bit along Lake Minnewanka...
...before making our way up to the site of a former fire lookout, where the view was great
.
It was also cold and windy, so we chose to quickly move down and walk a bit on the lake shore.
Down there it was actually so nice that we decided to cap the day with a few hours of relax and sunbathing
.
Posted Jan 12, 2015, 12:14 am
today we went for another nice hike
. It must have been fairly early since the parking lot was empty when we left the car.
After a bit of walking we started having some nice view over the Rockies in the west
.
Eventually we reached the summit, where the view was great, but the clouds looked quite bad, and the wind was blasting cold too (so much for the first day of summer
), so we took some photos and headed back.
Posted Jan 12, 2015, 12:36 am
a new friend arrived today
. smaug brought home a little parcel...
...and when we opened it Stoker came out
!
Of course, we wanted to hear all about his travels, so he didn't have a chance to rest for a while
.
Posted Jan 19, 2015, 2:50 am
It seems it’s time to go on holiday
! Today, we closed our bags and got ready to drive to the airport .
Posted Jan 19, 2015, 3:21 am
Guess what, I was in Germany today
. We had a stopover in Frankfurt where one of smaug’s TV came over to say hello for a few hours. Of course there was lot of chatting involved .
Posted Jan 26, 2015, 3:17 am
I am in Italy
! Today we were a bit tired and jet lagged, so we got a lovely breakfast, where we met one of smaug's TV, Pepita , who is staying here for a bit...
...and then went back to sleep
.
Posted Jan 26, 2015, 3:51 am
today we went for a bike ride just out of town
. After a long climb we reached the top of the road to Monte Bondone, one of the hardest and more prestigious mountain of race when the Giro d'Italia comes around here, so we were very proud with our effort .
As we moved on the other side of the mountain we could see the Brenta dolomites...
...and the Adige Valley in the distance
.
Further on we could see another nice valley.
At that point we launched ourselves downhill
, so we decided that it was better for smaug to put away the camera and focus on the handlebar .
Posted Jan 29, 2015, 4:17 am
today we went for a nice hike in the Dolomites
. After a bit of walking in the trees we started having a nice view...
...although it looked like we had still quite a way to go to reach the top of this valley
.
Eventually we reached the highest point of the day, where the view was very "rocky"
, but unfortunately the weather seemed to be ready for turning wet.
As it happens we managed to cross all this plateau without getting drenched...
...and later we headed into this nicely U-shaped valley that took us back to the car
.
Posted Feb 2, 2015, 3:50 am
today the weather was not great, but it was warm
, so smaug took us for a little hike close to town. After a bit of walking we started having a nice view...
...and we had a glimpse of our destination: apparently we were aiming first for the peak on the right, and then we were going to follow the ridge heading left
.
From the summit the view was great in every direction
.
After following a bit of the ridge, we could even see a bit of Trento in the distance.
To give a bit of cultural tone to the trip
and in true commemoration spirit of the centenary of the start of WWI, sammino explained to us that those abandoned barracks next to my head were actually built when this corner of Italy was still part of the Austro-Hungarian empire .
Posted Feb 2, 2015, 4:10 am
We are soon heading back to Canada, so today it was time to say goodbye to Pepita and to all the other friends we met here in Italy
.
Posted Feb 3, 2015, 4:07 am
On the way back to Canada we had another long stopover in Frankfurt, so Orpheus and Sigfrido came to spend some time with us at the airport
. Luckily it was a lovely day, so we could stay outside chatting in the sun .
Posted Feb 8, 2015, 9:50 pm
today it was World Cup final day and with Germany in the final
, we got very excited in our little Deutsch expats colony . Luckily yesterday in Frankfurt we had managed to put our hands on smaug's wallet and acquire something appropriate for the occasion .
As the game was about to start the excitement grew even further...
...and it burst when Germany scored
...
...and lifted the cup
.
We decided to celebrate with whatever we could find
...and, of course, our hosts were more than happy to join in .
Posted Feb 8, 2015, 10:28 pm
today we went out for our first short hike since coming back to Canada
. After the usual walking under the cover of the trees, we come out at Baldy Pass where we had a nice view over the foothills .
Pressing on, we reached the summit of Midnight Peak, where the view was great in all directions
.
Interesting enough, sammino explained to us that it appears to be a tradition (a rather unpleasant one
) to get drenched, or nearly so, whenever smaug comes up here . Since those dark clouds seemed to herald the upcoming rain, we hastily moved down the mountain and luckily only got a bit wet .
Posted Feb 15, 2015, 6:40 pm
today we went over to the Rockies for a nice hike
. After the usual time spent in the trees, we started having a nice view over the Bow Valley...
...and some of the peaks surrounding us.
We also were able to look for the first time at our destination, which looked a bit more snowy than we expected for this time of the year
.
A bit later we reached a ridge just over this little lake...
...where the view opened up even more.
From here the peak did not seem that far away
.
So, with a final effort we reached the top, where the view was great in all directions
.
It was also bitter cold
, so we quickly moved down. On the way we noticed, with a bit of disappointment, that the sun had eventually decided to properly come out, warming the air and melting the snow on the top in the process .
At least we managed to take a final nice photo before heading back home
.
Posted Feb 23, 2015, 1:35 am
today we went again out to the mountains
. After a bit of walking we started having a nice view of Mt Glasgow, and the weather looked great too .
Later we headed up the narrow Nihahi Creek Valley...
...that soon became just a large gravel creek bed
.
Pushing on, we climbed halfway on the ridge heading to Mt Fullerton...
...where we noticed some very concerning clouds speeding toward us
.
So, instead of trying to reach the summit, we hastily performed an about turn and reached the safety of the valley bottom just before lightning started brightening up the afternoon
.
Posted Feb 23, 2015, 2:34 am
This weekend the weather was again gorgeous, so as usual we headed to the mountains
. sammino explained us that we were going to take a different route to reach a destination where he goes at least once a year . The first part of the day was the usual tedious slog through the forest, but soon we started having a nice view of the Bow Valley.
On the way we always had in sight the typical ridge used to reach Mt Allan, with the rock walls of Mt Lougheed behind it
...
...and of the summit of Mt Allan.
Still, before getting there we had to tackle the summit of Mt Collembola...
...and the false summit too
.
On the way we passed just over the Nakiska ski area, that hosted the alpine skiing competitions during the 1988 winter Olympics.
Eventually we reached the summit of Mt Allan
, from where we could look back at the last bit of the trail that we just followed...
...and where we took a final shot of the Bow Valley before starting to head back home.
Posted Mar 2, 2015, 12:02 am
Today the weather in town was quite nice
, although it turned out that in the mountains it was slightly different, and after walking a bit on the trail things did not look very promising.
By the time we reached our destination visibility was kind of limited
.
We decided to wait a bit hoping for the fog to clear up and helped us with some of the provisions in the backpack
.
As it happens things got even worse...
...so all we could do was pack up and go home
.
Posted Mar 2, 2015, 1:31 am
today we headed again to the mountains for a short walk. After a bit, we had nice views along the Elbow River valley
...
...and of Powderface Ridge, where we were engulfed by fog a week ago
.
Later we just spent the morning walking along this lovely ridge...
...all the time having a great view over the Rockies
.
Posted Mar 8, 2015, 2:46 am
guess what, today was another gorgeous day, and of course we went over to the mountains
. After a bit we emerged from the trees and started having a nice view.
It took a bit longer to eventually see our destination.
From the summit of Wind Ridge, which wasn't really that windy
, we could see Canmore in the distance...
...and rocky peaks all around us
.
We could also see the snow covered
peak of Mt Allan, where we were just a few weeks ago.
Before leaving the summit and heading back home we took a final look at the valley that we followed in the morning
.
Posted Mar 8, 2015, 3:08 am
look at that! You know what it is? Snow
! A full foot of heavy wet snow .
How cool is that
?! Well, smaug seemed very much unimpressed to say the least , so we have to keep our enthusiasm in check when he's around .
Posted Mar 16, 2015, 12:19 am
it has been only a few days since the snow storm, so today we decided to check the conditions of the trails around Calgary. Not surprisingly everything looked very white from the very start of the day
.
As we approached the summit of Cox Hill smaug decided that he had enough of plodding through waist deep snow
and just let us take a few photos of the mountains before turning back. It looked like full winter .
Even the prairies in the distance where completely white
.
Posted Mar 16, 2015, 1:25 am
today we went for another hike, and just one week and less that 100 km away from where we went last week, conditions where a bit different
. After a bit we passed by this gully, but sammino explained that we were not going up there.
Later we found this lovely sofa and decided to rest and enjoy the sun chitchatting for a while
.
As we kept going we started seeing the southern part of the Rockwall
.
Further on we reached the gorgeous Floe Lake with its crown of rocky walls
.
A final effort took us up to Numa Pass. From there we could see the trail we had just followed,...
..., Floe Lake and Floe Peak,...
...and on the opposite side Numa Creek Valley...
...and the Rockwall heading north
.
What a day
!
Posted Mar 22, 2015, 1:06 am
although the weather wasn't exactly great, today we headed again to the mountains and spent the day passing by lakes
. The first one we found was Vista Lake...where, despite the encouraging name, the view was just OK .
Things improved once we reached Arnica Lake...
...and Upper Twin Lake, tucked under Storm Mountain
.
Finally we reached Lower Twin Lake, possibly the nicest of all the lakes with reached, although the weather did not really help in appreciating that.
Later on, we reached our destination, Gibbon Pass. Obviously that plaque is quite old, since Canada has been a metric country for a few decades
.
We took a quick look around the pass before jumping back in smaug's backpack just in time before the snow started to fall
.
Posted Mar 22, 2015, 2:20 am
There's been some more snow falling on the mountains, so today we checked out how deep it is
. It was soon obvious that white was going to be the main colour of the day .
At some point we passed by this lovely creek which is not fully frozen yet
.
Once we reached Healy Pass we had confirmation that winter is indeed here
.
Time to get the snow shoes out
.
Posted Mar 28, 2015, 10:37 pm
the weather is quite strange here: most of the snow seems to be gone
, so today we went to check how things are in the mountains. It looked like that around both Elbow and Little Elbow Valleys there was snow left only at the higher elevations.
On the other side, there was no trace of white whatsoever.
Maybe winter is not ready to come after all
.
Posted Mar 28, 2015, 10:55 pm
the snow is back
! Lot of it. Today we decided to go downstairs and play a bit .
On second thought, looking at the temperature, we decided that it was probably a good day to stay nice and comfortable at home
.
Posted Apr 5, 2015, 9:36 pm
it' been snowing again this week, but this morning the weather seemed inclined to improve
, so we went for a short hike. The atmosphere was great .
But by the time we reached the nicest viewpoint the day had turned really dark
, so we decided not to linger, took some photos and headed back.
Posted Apr 5, 2015, 10:02 pm
guess what? We are back in Italy
. smaug was so busy and so late in packing up that he even forgot to report our departure from Calgary yesterday . But today the gang of locals was as always ready to welcome us .
Posted Apr 5, 2015, 10:40 pm
after a few days of rest, today we went up to a nice view point on the side of the valley. The sun was warm, the sky was blue and the view was great
.
There was even a nice bench where we could sit and chat while enjoying the sun
.
Posted Apr 6, 2015, 12:44 am
the weather is quite spectacular, it's almost like summer
. So today we took advantage of the sun and went for another short hike near town. The view over the valley was great .
And so was the ridge that we followed...
...and the valley on the other side of the mountain
.
There was even a big metal map showing the direction of all the peaks that you can see from up here
.
Posted Apr 11, 2015, 10:22 pm
today some new guests arrived home. Orpheus, Pepita and Sigfrido came home to celebrate Christmas
.
Of, course, with so many TVs in one room, lot of chatting followed
.
Posted Apr 11, 2015, 10:41 pm
!
Tonight, as usual we celebrated Christmas eve
. Of course, as soon as the big people moved away from the table to deal with presents, we took control of proceedings in the dessert area .
Posted Apr 11, 2015, 11:15 pm
today we spent the day travelling around the German motorways
. It's not exactly exciting to just look out of the windshield for over 10 hours, but it was nice to be on home soil for a bit .
And tomorrow it sounds like it's going to be the same on the way back
.
Posted Apr 11, 2015, 11:42 pm
it's time to go back to Canada
, so today, before heading to the airport, we said goodbye to our friends who will stay in Italy a bit longer .
Posted Apr 26, 2015, 12:02 am
today the weather was great
. It was so warm that it felt almost like summer...almost , so we decided to pay a visit to the mountains. After the usual long bit of walking under trees we started having a nice view .
Going further up, the view opened on the Prairies in the distance,...
...and became great over the Rockies
.
At that point the wind was picking up and it didn't really feel like summer anymore
, so we hastily moved back under the protection of the trees.
Posted Apr 26, 2015, 12:15 am
today we gathered to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Lotta who is travelling back home to Germany
.
Posted Apr 26, 2015, 12:32 am
today we welcomed to Calgary two old friends, Orpheus and Sigfrido, who will stay a few days with us
.
And they brought some delicious gifts with them
.
Posted Apr 26, 2015, 1:26 am
the weather is not that good these days, so it's been a bit boring recently
. So today we decided that we were going spice up things by checking out Calgary's nightlife .
For whatever reason smaug was not inclined to let us go out by ourselves
, so we ended up organizing a little chess tournament. It was a real battle of minds...and, of course, I was the best .
After the tournament, instead of giving out prizes, sammino used a box to give us a lesson about Canadian wildlife
.
As it turned out, it was a box full of chocolate, so the day definitely finished on a high
.
Posted Apr 26, 2015, 1:50 am
today we took a short walk in Calgary
. Well, we just passed through a nice glass-covered mall ...
...and spent some time relaxing in these lovely indoor gardens
.
Later this evening it was time to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Orpheus and Sigfrido who are moving on to another destination in North America
.
Posted May 7, 2015, 4:34 am
after a few quiet days today we headed out again to the mountains
. The temperature when we reached the parking lot was far from ideal ...
...but the weather looked great so we marched on anyway. It had snowed recently, so everything looked very white
.
Moving on we reached a nice view spot where we enjoyed the view of a fairly frozen landscape.
As it happens we were getting frozen too
, so we encouraged smaug to hastily go back to the car.
Posted May 11, 2015, 3:28 am
today it was another gorgeous day so we headed west to the mountains again
. As usual, early in the day we only had the occasional nice view.
But, as we gained elevation, things improved
.
When we reached the highest point of the day the wind started really picking up, so we enjoyed the view which was spectacular in pretty much every direction
and then quickly dived for cover .
Posted May 18, 2015, 3:29 am
today it was really foggy
, be we tried our luck and went over to the mountains anyway. When we reached Barrier Lake things did not look great .
But, later on, the fog started to clear and we had some lovely view of the lake...
...and Kananaskis Valley
.
On the other side, the prairies were still covered by a thick fog.
Moving further up we reached a fire lookout, which at this time of the year is closed.
From there the view opened up over the Rockies to the west
.
Posted May 18, 2015, 3:51 am
today I said goodbye to my friends here and started travelling home
. Even better, I will not travel alone, but I will come together with Krystal .
Before I jumped in my travelling quarters, sammino gave me a big hug and wished me a safe journey
.
Posted Jun 20, 2015, 8:53 pm
Krystal and I arrived in Sülfeld and Dicker Kumpel welcomed us.
We show our card and the nice magnet.
It is great to be home again!
Love GustavHH
Posted Dec 9, 2015, 9:53 pm
I'm in Russia!)) I was given a warm welcome by the family and Dille, another toyvoy
Galiya apa says thanks for your little presents))
And I was quite on time for a healthy pie made from wholegrain flour with a filling from rice and pumpkin
It tasted surprisingly fine
So, Galiya apa started to take some pictures with me, but she will post them with a delay, she is sorry for that
Well, I am happy and content, hope you are too!
See you!
Gustav
Posted Dec 13, 2015, 1:41 pm
Today we went to the main post office to have a special stamp cancellation dedicated to the legends of the Soviet football. This series, as well as the others, is issued to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia. Kazan is one of the host cities!
Here we are on our way, past the "Black" lake, to the post office:
In the office itself:
Have a nice day there!))
Yours,
Gustav
Posted Dec 22, 2015, 3:59 pm
Today we went to one of the local fairs dedicated to New Year. This one was held in the exhibition complex called the Kazan Fair (http://www.expokazan.ru/news/segodnya-na-kazanskoj-yarmarke-otkrylas-novogodnyaya-yarmarka). It is not like the Christmas markets in Europe, of course, but it has it's own atmoshere for sure
We went there by trolleybus:
Me and the ticket
The gates to the exhibition:
Inside:
Galiya apa bought some presents for her relatives and some postcards too
By the way we decorated the New Year tree (see in the next update) Galiya apa and her family don't celebrate Christmas, but they celebrate New Year, I hope to participate in this event soon!
Bye-bye! Take care!
Gustav
Posted Dec 29, 2015, 7:53 pm
Today we went to the Kazan Kremlin to see a light show on its main tower! There were a lot of people, despite the cold and windy weather)
The square in front of the Kremlin:
The building in the background is the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan:
The show (I should say here that the natural colour of the Kremlin is white
)
A little glance at the inner part of the Kremlin:
And then we went to see the nearest New Year tree on the Black lake (there are about 40 of them around the city):
By the way this is the firtree we decorated with Galiya apa and her children
Wish you Merry Christmas (a belated one, sorry
) and a Happy New Year! May your life be full of wonders!
Yours,
Gustav
Posted Jan 4, 2016, 8:39 pm
We celebrated it in the village called Kyzyl Yeshler (a Tatar name and a Tatar village). Galiya apa's parents have a house there. We had a walk around the village, a New Year's tree, presents under it, small fireworks, a feast (looots of food really!), wishes to make when the clock was striking 12 times. I loved it all! Not all of these things you can see in my pictures, but I hope I will be able to show you a piece of this atmoshpere
Around the village. It was cold really (-20C), so we didn't walk far
Our place.
Hugs and kisses!
Gustav
Posted Jan 12, 2016, 3:39 pm
We went to a children's New Year party held in the Kamal Tatar State Academic theatre
There was a play first and then a celebration around the New Year tree
Under ground. Almost a miracle to see such an empty carriage
\
On our way. This sculpture is dedicated to G.Tukay's fairytale called "Shurale" (in Tatar mythology an evil spirit living in a forest)
The front of the theatre:
Inside:
Take care!
Gustav
Posted Jan 24, 2016, 10:22 pm
Galiya apa went to a meetup with her former classmates at the "Kazan" skiing resort that is not far from the city. We had great fun sliding down on tubes
Miss you!
Gustav
Posted Feb 13, 2016, 6:42 pm
We went to the Ice Town that had been made in front of the Puppet Theatre! There is some magic when everything around you is from ice, I should say
On our way to the Ice Town we went past the historical trams exposition:
And "the bench of the beloved ones"
And here is the town itself
And yes, we slid down this ice-hill
Winter is great!)))
Take care and see you soon (Galiya apa has told me that I return soon
)
Gustav
Posted Apr 30, 2016, 11:55 am
I just want to tell you that I am back home again. I had a great time with vunder.
If you want to host me, just send a message to my Mum – I am ready to travel again.
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Aug 9, 2016, 8:29 pm
In the afternoon we celebrated Dicker Kumpel’s birthday. We wished him a happy birthday and sang a song for him. He loved the couch that Murph gave him as a birthday present.
We played soccer, because it was EM!
It was fun. I was the goal-keeper.
Then we went on the swings…
…and into the sandbox.
I had a great place.
Then we sat in the sunshine and talked a lot.
Oups, nobody should see this – we took some drinks with us.
Cheers!
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Sep 21, 2016, 7:28 pm
Greetings from Italy. Look at these beautiful colors. I am in the Giardino dei Tarocchi, what a wonderful name – the garden of tarot.
Niki de Saint Phalle created nice sculptures here.
It was great – a dangerous dragon.
Can you see me? I was brave between all these skulls.
Everything was so colorful.
Oh – a couple in love.
I loved this woman in the fountain!
Then we were in the houses, where Niki lived at this time.
This bench was so funny.
It was very hot – but we continued our walk. We wanted to see the sculptures form different directions.
This face was interesting.
Yours
GustavHH
Posted Sep 27, 2016, 8:07 pm
Later that day we visited a small Italian town called Tarquinia. This was the town wall.
There were many beautiful houses in the town.
This was the town hall, I think.
Look, how they dry their clothes. It is so funny!
Love
GustavHH
Posted Nov 9, 2016, 10:21 am
I am in Australia at the moment. We went to an Island today - look, the ferry.
When we arrived on the Island, we took a Hop-on-Hop-off-Bus to Parker Point. The water looked like the Caribbean.
This part looked wonderful.
I went down so many stairs to the beach.
Can you see us?
It was so beautiful here.
Maybe I should do a holiday on the beach – but I don’t like water.
We walked to Little Salmon Bay. Funnily they have a kind of path for snorkeler in the ocean. With number under the water.
It was nice here, too.
I wanted to meet Quokkas here – this was the first one.
Surely they had a lighthouse on the highest point of the Island.
Our last stop was West End.
There were many New Zealand Fur Seals in the water.
They were funny and sportive.
A few hundred meters away is the Cape Vlamingh. Really beautiful.
The Fish Hook Bay was great, too.
A rock with a hole – it will be a blow hole when it is stormy.
We were ready with the bus tour – and started a Quokka Walk with a friendly old man. He told us something about the animals – and much more about trees, history and so on.
Quokkas love the fruits of this tree.
Look, there were some for a late lunch or an early dinner.
These lakes on the Island were interesting. They have a 6-9times higher saltiness as the ocean around the Island.
Hey – a very tall palm tree.
And another funny palm tree.
Then we met Quokkas again.
We were ready to go back to Fremantle, but the ferry was not here. Time for some photos of Thomson Bay.
The tour back to the mainland was funny – and very bumpy.
Yours
GustavHH