Posted Mar 24, 2008, 4:56 pm
My travel plan:
dj2008
Pandamao
RikeH
olgamaus
McFloozy
eurydike
home
kessalia
plans:
smaug
MorgenSter
Posted Mar 24, 2008, 5:43 pm
This was the place we had to sit down at first, because Petra had to get everything prepared.
Then everyone was allowed to hold the stirrer for a while. Wow, I think, if Petra wouldn't had been there to help me, it could have been really dangerous for me. I had been trembling from head to toe.
Then I wanted to help to stir the flour under the dough.
While we waited for the cake get ready in the oven, we wanted to walk into the garden to take a look at the flowers there.
This is the basket, in which Petra carries us around, when she takes us to other places in her house. She says, it is the only way to carry so many toyvoyagers. If you wonder about the amount of toyvoyagers, that are here right now: Petra just started to find several hosts in Asia, Africa and South America. And now she activated many toyvoyagers and of course she wants to make some updates, before they start their travels. It is really exciting to hear about the places, which they plan to visit soon and even more exciting for me, because I'm part of it.
Finally the cake was ready - ok, not really ready, I suppose. Petra talked something about butter cream and chocolate icing. So I will see, how the cake looks like later.
Posted Apr 20, 2008, 9:04 am
Posted Aug 9, 2009, 8:54 pm
Posted Aug 9, 2009, 8:56 pm
Two zoomed photos without me:
Posted Oct 6, 2009, 9:54 pm
Posted Oct 6, 2009, 10:14 pm
Posted Oct 6, 2009, 10:26 pm
Posted Oct 6, 2009, 10:34 pm
Posted Oct 9, 2009, 10:41 pm
There are a lot of plants on the balcony, even tomatoe plants. We picked some of them.
Posted Oct 19, 2009, 9:29 pm
I have decided to move on and will visit Sülfeld as the next stop.
Bye,
Cilly
Posted Oct 27, 2009, 8:45 pm
I arrived in RikeHs home! And it was just the right time, because the others wanted to go with lanterns in the evening. First I said hello to all of them.
We had a big discussion, which lantern we wanted.
The big moon?
or the beautiful flowers?
We all loved the sun, too.
We didn’t know what to do, so we took all of them with us.
Here you can see me – with a flash....
But this was really great – to see the lantern in the dark!
We walked and we sang great songs – what a nice evening!
Love you Mum
yours Cilly
Posted Oct 28, 2009, 7:31 pm
RikeH showed me the nature around Sülfeld
First we met brown cows...
...later black ones.
They didn’t seem to be very interested in me, so I played in a colourful tree.
Hm – are here many owls?
At the end I relaxed in the sun – I love the autumn colours!
Love
Cilly
Posted Oct 28, 2009, 8:00 pm
We visited Bad Oldesloe – a small town near to Sülfeld. RikeH went to school there – many years ago...
There is a nice island..
...and a beautiful river.
I made some horseback-riding.
But it was a crazy horse!
No problem, mum, I am okay – what an adventure!
Here is another part of the river – with troubled water.
We had to wait for a receipt at the doctor’s. But it was not boring – you know, Toyvoyagers can talk and talk and talk....
The last think we saw, before we drove home was the town hall.
Greetings
Cilly
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 12:07 pm
The weather was awful this week-end, so we decided to play billiards. First Dicker Kumpel and the billiards-hippo showed us, how to play. It looks easy, but it is very difficult.
So we asked a lot of questions.
Dicker Kumpel began.
Then it was my turn. First I watched where the balls were.
I tried it out – it was fun!
After playing for a while we explored the room. It seems that a horse lived and worked here years ago.
At the end I tried to call you – but we didn’t know your number.
Love
Cilly
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 9:36 pm
Then I continue to walk and ended at Marienplatz.
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 9:39 pm
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 9:48 pm
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 9:48 pm
Posted Nov 2, 2009, 9:51 pm
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 8:43 pm
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 8:55 pm
Posted Nov 3, 2009, 9:13 pm
Posted Nov 4, 2009, 8:36 pm
Posted Nov 4, 2009, 9:02 pm
Posted Nov 7, 2009, 2:12 pm
Today we will have a party – it is RikeH’s birthday. First we looked at her gifts. Then we sang a wonderful song for her.
These flowers are so beautiful!
When we helped RikeH to prepare everything for the evening we heard the bell. Who can this be? Dicker Kumpel opened the door. Another Bunny!!! He was so happy and gave her a warm welcome. She is called Co Co Rabbit and is from the UK.
He introduced her to us – and we talked a lot.
Then we decorated the table – this is the way TVs would eat…
And this is the way, humans like to do it. They don’t sit on the table – this is strange.
We had fun behind the happy birthday sign.
The last thing this morning was to prepare the dessert. It looks yummy, doesn’t it? But it was very cold in this place.
In the afternoon RikeHs Mum Hummel invited all of us to have a delicious cake. It looks great – and tasted great!
In the evening we had a great party and ate a lot. But first we had some Champagne.
We went to the table and ate so much. I didn’t know, what to eat first.
Here are the desserts – now we were allowed to eat it.
Some more snacks...
First we looked into the camera for the photo....
...but after it – we ate everything!!!
Well Mum, it was funny – I hope to be on a birthday party soon.
Yours
Cilly
Posted Nov 15, 2009, 9:45 pm
it was really early today, when RikeH came and invited us to come with her.
We get up and took a train. It was very dark outside.
So I decided to take another nap.
RikeH worked a lot – then we had the lunch break and walked around the Alster -a nice lake in the centre of Hamburg. There are small boats on it, they are beautiful.
There were some geese.
Two photos with all of us.
We found a funny monument with angels.
Another boat on the Alster.
Here I am on the other side of the lake.
This is the townhall – it is beautiful.
RikeH had to work in the afternoon – after the work we drove back to Sülfeld and had a stop in the train station.
Look – it is decorated for Christmas – Christmas seems to be wonderful.
Back in the train I looked out of the window – it is dark again. Working seems to be hard. I prefer to be a ToyVoyager.
Love Cilly
Posted Nov 16, 2009, 9:01 pm
today Lucan arrived in Germany. We gave him a warm welcome.
Because the weather was nice – no rain today – we made a walk around Sülfeld. First we stopped at a big tractor.
Look, there is a beautiful big tree.
We went over a bridge and had nice views to both sides of it.
We found the last summer-flowers!
Later we wanted to do some sports. We saw a soccer field and played it. I was the goalkeeper. Can you see me?
At the end we all played in the goal.
On our way home we saw another interesting building with a beautiful sign on it.
It was a very nice walk!
Greetings
Cilly
Posted Nov 21, 2009, 7:07 pm
we will explore something new today. It is called WORK – it must be fun, because RikeH went to this
place very often. We started to Hamburg early in the morning.
Then RikeH showed us the place, where she works. There were some friendly toys. I think the one with the red hairs looked really funny.
Look I worked a lot and was a big help !
We had delicious lunch...
and then something nice to drink. I loved the flowers on the table.
In the evening we went home – using the Tube.
We had a last stop at the fuel station and discussed to buy a new car for us.
I want to have a Ferrari, Mum. And Christmas is coming...
Working seems to be not so much fun, I don't understand, why people are doing it.
Love
Cilly
Posted Dec 1, 2009, 9:42 pm
we will make a nice trip this week-end. RikeH told us, that we will go to a sporting event, but we don't know which one.
We drove to a nice place called Bad Laer – and this is the hotel, where we stayed in.
This is the church next to it.
In the evening we drank a delicious cocktail. I am so curious where we will go to tomorrow.
Yours
Cilly
Posted Dec 3, 2009, 8:26 pm
Look, where we were. Do you see the sign – 180. Yes, we went to see Darts – the German Darts Championship. There were many people and it was fun. First you can see us on the 180-sign. You have to put it in the air, if the player scores 3 times the triple 20 – worth 180.
We had a great place and were able to see the players on the stage.
In the break we went around and ate delicious things. You can see another view of the place.
In the end Phil Taylor won – he is the best player in the world and my new hero!
Greetings Cilly
Posted Dec 3, 2009, 8:30 pm
On our way back we made a stop in Porta Westfalica and visited the the monument of Kaiser Wilhelm.
Here we had a closer look.
He – and we – had a great view over the River Weser – it was a wonderful place.
It was a great week-end. I will become a Darts-Player soon.
Love
Cilly
Posted Dec 6, 2009, 10:39 am
what a great day today – believe it or not – Mandy Sheep arrived and told me much about what happened at home. I really hope that you all feel better now!!!
I am so happy to meet another of your ToyVoyagers here.
I introduced Mandy to Dicker Kumpel.
But now it is time to me to leave. I had such a great time with RikeH, Dicker Kumpel and all the other TVs.
First I said good-bye to Dicker Kumpel.
Then all the others gave me a big hug,
Now I am on my way to Olgamaus.
Love Cilly
Posted Dec 12, 2009, 6:06 pm
I arrived in Remscheid today. I was welcomed by Wieka, Cyryl and Murph. Unfortunately it is raining, so we did not take a walk outside.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Dec 12, 2009, 6:17 pm
today the weather was a little bit better than the days before, at least it was not raining.
We took a walk with Katja's friend Kerstin and her dog Pepe. We went to Wuppertal, Scharpenacken, which is a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes, until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas.
Here you can always find people with their dogs. The dogs can run here and play with each other.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Dec 13, 2009, 7:57 pm
today the weather was fantastic, so we couldn't wait to go outside.
First we went to the municipal park which is only a few minutes to walk from my current home. I saw nice old houses in the vicinity.
Katja told us that you can only take photos of this church in winter when all the leaves have fallen down, in summer it is hidden behind the trees.
Soon we reached the park. Here they have a pond where ducks and turtles are living.
An observatory is also situated here.
This street is leading to the park, they have wonderful houses here.
Remscheid is situated on top of a hill, about 365 m high.
We went to the district "Hasten" than, one of the oldest districts of the city.
In this Patrician villa built in late 18th century a museum is situated.
We took a group photograph in front of this beautiful house. You can see Murph, Cyryl and Wieka with me.
The German Tool Museum is also situated in this complex.
In this district you can find industrial buildings and dwellings close together.
In this part of the district the old houses are built close to each other with very narrow lanes.
Those houses are typical for this region: Covered with slate and green shutters. You can also often find half-timbered houses, also with green shutters.
We walked downhill until we reached the bottom of the valley, where a creek is running.
From here we had to walk the whole way back uphill.
Today I have seen that Remscheid is a nice town, when there is no rain.
Later I relaxed with Cyryl on the windowsill.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Dec 19, 2009, 8:00 pm
the bad weather has come to an end - we have snow now and it is really cold, about -15°C.
In the morning we went to the farmer's market to buy some bread rolls. On our way to the market we had a look at the pond in the municipal park.
It looks so pretty!
Later we went with Katja's brother-in-law to buy a Christmas tree. We did not only buy it, we even wanted to fell it by ourselves. We went to a farm where Christmas trees are sold.
We had to drive further into a forest. There you can fell the tree you like.
Playing in the snow was fun!
Katja's brother-in-law chose his tree. He has brought a large saw with him ...
We had to choose our tree than. Katja did not want such a large tree. Soon we found one.
Here our tree is packed into a net.
We drove back to the farm than to pay for the trees. In the meantime we had a look at the farm. They also have horses here.
They also have a booth here where they sell currywurst, wafers and hot drinks.
When we were home again Katja took us to the attic to have a look out of the rooflight. In the background you can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower.
It is so cold that I went in immediately.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 4, 2010, 5:01 pm
I'm wishing you a very happy holiday.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 4, 2010, 7:02 pm
we were invited by Katja's sister-in-law to celebrate New Year's Eve.
First we had raclette for dinner with several sorts of cheese, potatoes, other vegetables and so on. It was delicious.
Later we played a nice board game: Cluedo.
I'm pretty sure you know this game: You have to find out who murded the victim, Dr. Schwarz in the German version. You also have to find out which weapon was used and in which room the offence was committed. We had a lot of fun playing this game.
Almost midnight ...
Happy New Year!
We went outside and enjoyed the fireworks.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 7, 2010, 4:55 pm
we took a walk today in one of the valleys which are surrounding Remscheid.
These are the outskirts of Remscheid.
We rested here for a while.
We came to a small creek in the valley.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 7, 2010, 4:59 pm
we took the ferrets out into the garden today.
This is Brighty, sniffing at my ear.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 7, 2010, 5:31 pm
today the weather is great, so we took a walk through the city.
The ice-skating rink in front of the city hall will be removed tomorrow - they will have problems to melt 15 cm ice
These pretty houses are a restaurant with a beer garden and a gallery.
This is the central bus station.
This is one of the churches in the city centre.
Here the shopping street is beginning.
From here you can see the central station area. On the left side there is the new built station and large industrial plants.
We walked to the Werkzeugtrasse (Route of Tools) than. This route is a lane for pedestrians and cyclists, built on a closed railway track. It is about 5 km long, leading from the central station to the district Hasten. The building of this route was sponsored by local tool producing companies - that's why it is called Route of Tools.
The railway crossing gates were closed right now ...
A train is crossing the street.
Close to the railway station you can find many industrial buildings along this route.
You can find signs showing the logos of some of the sponsoring companies.
This is the former slaughterhouse, the building complex is under monument protection. Today smaller companies and offices are situated here.
You can also find some dilapidated factory buildings here.
We left the Route of Tools here because it is only a few minutes to walk to our home.
Katja told us that this was only about half of the whole distance. Maybe we will see the rest soon.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 12, 2010, 9:26 am
we took a walk today through the snow-covered landscape. We went to Scharpenacken in Wuppertal, where we have been already in December. Again we went with Katja's friend Kerstin and her dog.
On those open spaces the wind is blowing heavily.
When we went back to the car it already was twilight.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 12, 2010, 9:48 am
we went to Cologne today. First we had to appompany Katja's daughter to the airport. She went on a class trip to Prague in the Czech Republic today.
Afterwards we went to the city centre. When you leave the train station the first thing you see is .
Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church, seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and is under the administration of the archdiocese of Cologne. The cathedral is a World Heritage Site.
Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete; a period of over 600 years. The cathedral is he largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and one of the world's largest churches. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world. Its medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship of the Holy Roman Emperor.
It is so large that you cannot take any good photo from here.
We went to the shopping streets than. Here you can see the old brewhouse of \"Früh\", one of many \"Kölsch\"-breweries here.
From Neumarkt we saw Sankt Aposteln, a Roman basilica.
Close to the basilica you can find a statue of Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Carnival season started on November, 11th. The residents of Cologne love carnival
This is Neumarkt. Can you see the large ice cream cone on one of the buildings?
This is one of the most famous buildings in the shopping street, the \"whale\" of Peek & Cloppenburg. You can see more of it [url=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltstadthaus_(Köln)]here.
We went to the old town than. You can find old houses here which were built in 13th century. Not all of them, of course, but the old town still has this medieval character with its narrow lanes.
The remains of the old town are close to the river Rhine.
Opposite of those buildings there is the jetty of one of the excursion boats.
We walked along the rivr bank until we reached the old harbour. Nowadays several companies settled here and you can find extraordinarily expensive appartements here.
Two museums are also situated here on the Rhine peninsula, the Imhoff Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff Chocolate museum) and the Deutsches Sport- and Olympia Museum (German sports- and olympics museum).
Those large buildings are partly still under construction.
We walked back to the city centre than.
From here you can see more Cologne Cathedral .
We went back to the train station and went home.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 14, 2010, 12:42 pm
we took a walk today in the outlying districts of Remscheid. We saw this fantastic "snowcat".
We walked through some rural districts.
In the distance you can see the city centre with its two towers: the city hall and the water tower.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 26, 2010, 3:21 pm
we visited the neighbour city Wuppertal today. Katja met a friend to take a walk. She said that the forrests are still covered with ice on the ground, so you cannot walk comfortly there. So she decided to visit Wuppertal.
We went there by bus and got off the bus in the city centre with its shopping streets.
The name of the city Wuppetal is made up of two words: "Wupper" is the river which is runing through the city and "Tal" means valley. This city was built in the valley of the river Wupper. On the next photo you can see how steep it is going uphill.
Before climbing out of the valley we needed refreshments.
Than we went uphill ....
Most parts of the city were built in 19th century. For pedestrians more than 500 stairs were built in the steep slopes to connect the streets. We walked up and down some of them today.
We walked to the "Nordstadt", one of many districts, where we saw lots of pretty art-nouveau-houses.
We walked back downhill through a small park.
We walked to another quarter than, "Briller Viertel" where the rich factory owners built their mansions, mostly in 19th and early 20th century.
We took those stairs to walk back to the valley. These stairs are under monument protection, like many of them.
When we walked back to the bus station we walked through a street called "Bärenstraße" (Bear Street). Walter even found a "Löwenstraße" (Lion Street).
We went home by bus than.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 26, 2010, 3:29 pm
a new guest arrived today, Ragamuffin from the Netherlands. She loves all sorts of sweets. She came right in time because Katja had planned to bake a nut cake today. I already promised to help. Of course little bears who like sweet things, also helped.
We needed 4 eggs, melted butter, wheat flour with baking powder, sugar, ground nuts, dark chocolate and a cup of cold coffee.
We had to mix the dry ingredients and the "wet" ingredients ...
... than we had to mix both together ...
... and to fill it into the baking pan.
It had to stay in the oven for about an hour.
Hmmmm, it smelled delicious from the oven!
Ready!
Yummy!
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 30, 2010, 9:31 am
is has been snowing two days and nights now and it is still snowing. When Katja finished work we went out to buy some things.
The tower of the city hall is almost invisible now.
The shopping street ...
The entrance of the shopping mall ...
... and the street which is leading to the bus station.
When we came home it seemed to be almost dark in the kitchen. Can you guess why? The kitchen is a room under the eaves. Because there are tons of snow on the roof, the window also is covered with snow.
We opened the window carefully ...
Than I helped Katja to push the snow away from the window.
But it was kind of useless. New snow was coming down the roof. (I although like it
)
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 31, 2010, 11:27 am
we took a walk in the forrest today. We went with Katja's brother-in-law and dog Berti.
I have been here before - it's the Route of Tools.
We had to walk for a while to reach the forrest.
Everything is white.
Even the sun came out, but only for a short moment.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Jan 31, 2010, 5:44 pm
we took almost the same walk like yesterday, but today we walked a bit longer. We came along a cemetary and a grove of honour. This is a memorial for soldiers of Remscheid which died in World War I.
You have to walk some stairs to get there.
You can see walls in a round with engraved stones in the middle. You can read the name of each soldier, the date of death and the place where he was killed in action.
We all had a dismal feeling that so many - mostly young - men of this town died in this war.
To forget those sorrows we played in the wonderful snow.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Feb 7, 2010, 9:21 pm
we went to Essen today to visit an exhibition and an art museum. Essen is a a city in the central part of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia. For the year 2010, Essen is the European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr Area.
We went there with Katja's friend Erika. We went to Essen by train.
We have a new guest here - BineHH, the red shore crab, arrived this week.
First we went to a church in the district Frohnhausen. A friend of Erika has an exhibition here together with another artist. We had to take another train to get there. The train station is looking funny - like someone toppled the staircase.
Here we are.
This part of the church is a so called "Notkirche". I'm sorry but we did not find a translation for this word.
We went to the city centre afterwards to have lunch, so we took a walk though the shopping streets. Here you can see the cathedral in the middle of the city centre.
On a central space they have a skating rink and this downhill ramp. Here you can dash downhill with a large rubber tire.
Seems to be great fun
Than we took a bus to the Museum Folkwang, a major collection of 19th and 20th century art. Its new building was opened a few days ago.
As almost always it was not allowed to take photos inside the museum. We have seen paintings and photographs, space installation and placards in a special exhibition. It was very interesting, but also somehow straining.
It was a very interesting trip.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Feb 20, 2010, 11:18 am
we visited a friend today in another district of Remscheid. This district is called Luettringhausen, a district with a historical urban centre.
Here we were waiting for the bus.
We decided to take a walk with the dog. We had to walk through the city centre first to get to a nice valley.
Soon we reached the valley, with meadows and forrests.
We even saw some houses in the middle of nowhere.
I met some sheep here.
It is still snowing.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Feb 20, 2010, 11:24 am
today we took another walk in one of the valley which are surrounding the municipal area. We walked along the creed "Morsbach", which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal.
Here is a frozen pond.
We came through a small hamlet.
This is the creek "Morsbach".
Later the sun came out.
To get home we had to walk uphill for ages.
Bye
Cilly
Posted Feb 27, 2010, 8:03 pm
we baked a delicious cake today, a cake with curd-filling and tangerines. Baking a cake is always a good idea
Soon we gathered all the ingredients which we needed for the cake, a cake with curd-filling and tangerines. That sound really good.
For the dough we need margarine, sugar, eggs and wheat flour with some baking powder. The filling is made of curd, eggs, sugar, a little bit oil and milk and vanilla sugar, and of course canned tangerines.
I put the tangerines into a strainer and saved the juice.
First we made the dough and put it into the baking pan.
For the filling we had to mix curd, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar, oil, milk and finally beaten egg whites.
The tangerines were put on top of the filling.
The cake had to bake than for about 50 minutes. It was almost ready than.
Finally the cake was covered with "Tortenguss" .
Than we enjoyed the cake. It is really delicious and refreshing.
If you would also like to try this cake you can find the full receipe here .
Bye
Cilly
Posted Feb 28, 2010, 5:01 pm
the weather was much better today so we took a walk in the forest. Katja was picked up by her friend Kerstin, who brought her dog Pepe with her. We parked the car on a parking site for hikers at one of the outer limits of Remscheid's municipal area.
From here we crossed the district "Unterburg" which belongs to the neighbour city Solingen. It is a very old district, situated at the river Wupper.
We walked down a really steep and narrow road to reach the valley.
A large tree was cut down recently.
Soon we reached the river Wupper. Due to snow melting it has high-water.
We followed a path along the river, uphill and downhill.
We crossed the river at t his bridge.
Close to a café we found snowdrops.
Now we followed a path on this side of the river. Again it went uphill and downhill. Here we saw high rocks.
Snow water is running down the hills everywhere.
A large bridge came in sight: Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge.
Finally we reached the bottom of the valley with the bridge.
Muengsten Bridge is made of steel. It is 107 m high and spans the valley of river Wupper, which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour town Solingen.
The bridge is 465 m long and was completed in 1897 A.D.
A leisure park was built underneath the bridge a few years ago. You can relax on the lawns, play in the water and they have playgrounds for the kids.
Wolle found some snow remains in front of a building. She wanted to play with us in the snow, but we all are completely fed up with snow.
We walked until we reached another bridge, we crossed the river here once more. In the background you can see a cute little outlook pavilion. Katja told us that we would walk along this pavilion later.
Here we are!
We rested in front of this waterfall (also snow water) for a while.
Once more we walked underneath Muengsten Bridge, this time on the slope of the valley.
When we were on our way back to the car, the sun came out.
The sunshine does so good to me
Bye
Cilly
Posted May 4, 2010, 7:43 am
Posted May 18, 2010, 1:47 pm
I am in America! When I opened my eyes, I was so happy to meet Chuckle. He is so friendly, and I think we are going to have a very good time together.
The first thing we did was to visit a statue of a Native American. The statue is called the Menotomy Indian Hunter. It is very beautiful. He seemed like a gentle soul. I got to sit in his hand.
There is a nice picture of this statue on Wikipedia, but I'm not in their picture.
We walked around Arlington center a little bit, and we found some other statues. I had never seen an American Eagle, so I begged to have my picture taken with this one!
We found some other statues there, near the flag pole. I sat with the Native American Indian for a few minutes, while Chuckle was reading with the colonial folk.
We stopped to hide in the flowers. Chuckle is so much fun!
I got here just in time! McFloozy is going on a road trip tomorrow to Poughkeepsie, NY, and she said we could come too! I can't wait.
Bye for now.
Posted May 21, 2010, 8:30 pm
I went to college!! It was so wonderful. Here I am on my way to the library at Vassar College! It is a beautiful campus, with amazing trees and flowers.
Well, we were busy loading boxes into a truck, and it was raining, so we didn't walk around too much. But it was exciting and I felt really really smart!
Posted May 21, 2010, 8:42 pm
We finished putting everything from the dorm room into our cargo van. I watched the cars go by as we did this. It was pretty comfortable.
After that was finished, and it took a while, we went to a place called Walkway Across The Hudson. It is an amazing pedestrian bridge (and for runners, and bicycles too).
I got to walk all the way across. It was really windy and beautiful. Chuckle went with me, and we sat on the edge. He is so cute. He held my hand so I wouldn't blow away.
Before we left, we took pictures on the gate.
Posted Jun 5, 2010, 3:56 am
I got to look at the Blackberry, which has a GPS inside it. I wanted to eat it because I love blackberries, but it isn't edible.
I had fun with Palette. We watched the crew play Pooh Sticks. I think Palette is pretty cute, but not as cute as Chuckle!
We walked around in the conservation land. Here is a trail map. I know exactly where we are. See the arrow? That's where we are!
I got to climb around in the trees. This one was pretty comfortable.
In one of the geocaches, we found a dinosaur. His name is Hank2. I guess Hank1 got lost. Anyway, I was very pleased to meet Hank2.
After we finished walking around, we went home and had some nice cold drinks. Geocaching is fun. Maybe we could try that at home when I come back!
Posted Jun 6, 2010, 2:52 am
It's a warm sunny day here. There was a thunderstorm, with lightning. I'm having a good time. I'll write more later. Bye for now.
Posted Jun 27, 2010, 4:25 pm
First, I had a lesson in Spanish on how to escape a rip tide.
Then, we saw an enormous Pink Panther, and I had my picture taken with MrCoolHH!
We liked looking at the amazing sand sculptures. Each one uses 10 tons of imported sand. Let's see, there are 10 sculptures, each is 10 tons.... [doing math in my head]... that is a LOT of sand!
In back of the sculptures, some had more detail. We discovered a peacock. We took our group photo here.
Jeff, Chuckle, MrCoolHH, and ME!
Then we went for a sandwich at Cascade Seas, and we took some silly pictures.
I liked watching children go down the twisty water slide. It looked a little scary though, and VERY wet!
As we were walking back to the car, we saw a PIRATE! Yikes!
It was a very fun day. I am tired now.
Posted Sep 4, 2010, 9:55 pm
Posted Sep 26, 2010, 9:52 am
Posted Sep 26, 2010, 11:36 am
Bye, Cilly
Posted Oct 2, 2010, 2:46 pm
Posted Oct 13, 2010, 9:00 am
It was a good ride in a car. I was looking how fast the trip was going
And I enjoyed this great day in the wood
It was a sunny but cold weather ... the best weather for me
I was hungry but I just could see the final.. and... we didnt stop
So the trip was really amazing. It was so cool to search all this boxes and then to find them JUCHUUUUUUUUU
I was better than Sam White ... but don´t say it to Sam White
Do you see the geocache???
And we could enjoy a bit the weather. One cache we were sitting on a brigde and said to the host we need to take a break and the host should search for the geocache
She didn´t find.
The best geocache we found was in a bunker. It was dark and we couldnt see anything. I was a bit afraid, but don´t tell this anybody
But we found it
After this pretty trip I said to my host that I´m so hungry, I´ll eat her, if she won´t stop on a restaurant for me.
She was driving a little bit too fast I think
Posted Oct 18, 2010, 6:59 pm
We (Sam White, BeePooh and me) gone into the city.
I didnt know that I like shopping.. but I think I do
First of all we visited "Toris 44" , the jewellery. It is the shop of the aunt and uncle of my host.
Mommy ... what do you like ???
After that expression we went to a big swedish furniture center. Do you know that????
I love it and I knew that my host bought something.. But she said she won´t
It was a special day and I was a little bit afraid to see all the big animals ... Mönchengladbach seems to be a dangerous town. Now I know where all the extincted animals are... they aren´t extincted they are still alive...
I really was afraid to sit on all these animals but my host said.. "come on, it´s for your family"
We also visited the library
At least we had a diner in the garden. The sun was shining and I felt good
Posted Nov 6, 2010, 1:21 pm
This is the river Neckar.
And here you see the famous water tower of Mannheim. It was built between 1886 and 1889. It is 60 mtr. high and has a diameter of 19 mtr.
Posted Nov 6, 2010, 2:24 pm
Posted Dec 16, 2010, 5:00 pm
I couldn´t use the PC because my host had her final exams and that´s why you didn´t hear from me such a long time.
She passed her exams really good and so she gave me the PC today to write you.
I was celebrating Halloween but it was so loud and there were so much people that I stayed in the bag. I was really afraid but we made a picture before we gone and you see me with my bag.
It was a little bit bigger then me.
I saw a cow on another experience. We visited a geocache and my new friend is a toy-cow. So I also wanted to see a real cow.
I also visited the guinea pigs of my host. I love them...
They are called Mürfel, Toffifee and Kolja.
I love being in the nature and I think geocaching is my new hobby
It is really important to make nice breaks
So, now we hope to get better weather ...
Take care
Huges
Cilly
Posted Mar 6, 2011, 7:30 pm
It was rather cold and already gettin dark outside, so the photos aren't that brilliant, but try to enjoy the photos.
Posted Mar 7, 2011, 10:38 am
Then we have to prepare the table for the guests. We want to eat the selfmade muffins, but our host didn't allow us to bite into a single one
Posted Mar 13, 2011, 5:22 pm
We decided to take a "Krusti" and I cut it in two halves.
Now we had to decide, which marmelade - jam- we wanted to have on the bread roll halves or if we would like honey from Australia or hazelnut cream. The most jam is selfmade by our host's husband.
We chose Australian honey.
Posted Mar 19, 2011, 6:28 pm
Posted Mar 19, 2011, 6:37 pm
Maybe you know the "Nibelungenlied", if not here's a copy of an wikipedia article:
In the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, Sîfrit (Siegfried) is a prince of Xanten who is later revealed to have a heroic background including killing a dragon and winning lands and an immense fortune from a pair of brothers. From bathing in the dragon's blood, he is invulnerable except for a spot on his back where a leaf adhered to his skin. Determined to marry Kriemhild, the sister of King Gunther of the Burgundians, he assists Gunther in wooing Brünhild, queen of Iceland, using his cloak of invisibility to enable Gunther to beat the phenomenally strong queen at javelin throwing, boulder tossing, and the long jump. He also single-handedly conquers Nibelungenland to provide troops in case Brünhild tries to kill Gunther and his kin. Finally married to Kriemhild, he then wrestles Brünhild into submission, again invisible, so that Gunther can consummate his marriage. He gives Kriemhilt Brünhild's ring and belt. After some years, the two queens quarrel over precedence and Kriemhild shows Brünhild the ring and belt and calls her Siegfried's concubine. Siegfried and Gunther make peace but Gunther's courtier Hagen von Tronje plots to kill Siegfried and Gunther and his brothers go along with the plan. Hagen has Kriemhild place a cross on the spot on Siegfried's back where he is vulnerable, and spears him when he is drinking from a stream on a hunting trip, thus fulfilling a prophecy that whomever Kriemhild marries will die violently. He throws Siegfried's treasure into the Rhine so that Kriemhild cannot raise an army. The second half of the epic concerns her revenge.
Read more at wikipedia
Posted Mar 19, 2011, 6:56 pm
Posted Mar 19, 2011, 7:16 pm
Posted Apr 1, 2011, 1:54 pm
This is a toy train, which was on its way to its new owner - by train. It had an accident then and so it never reached his destination but now is a part of the museum.
Posted Apr 1, 2011, 8:32 pm
But at first we had a look at some beautiful halftimbered houses of Plochingen.
Here you see Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who was an Austrian artist.
In 1985 two architects of Plochingen planned to build a residential and business house as circular building with inner yard.
There are 62 flats, 16 commercial units. The area is about 1,5 hectare. 1992 the city got in contact with Friedensreich Hundertwasser and he actually liked to create the facade of the inner yard. He liked that the viewer of the inner yard would only have Hundertwasser around him and the sky above - an own Hundertwasser-world. (I found this on this website: http://www.plochingen.de/servlet/PB/menu/1211981_l1/index.html )
My host's husband took a photo of us and Petra
Posted Apr 2, 2011, 7:50 am
(I'm sorry, that I'm not on this photo, but it was a bit difficult to take a photo of this building with us while driving by, but I wanted to show you this interesting building)
Because my hosts already had been at the Märklin museum several times, they decided to go to the Porsche Museum, an automotive museum in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart. You surely know Porsche, don't you? To read more about the museum, please go to wikipedia or to the Porsche museum website. Petra said, that she just doesn't know enough about cars to tell you each name of the cars we took photos of, nevertheless we all like these cars
Okay, there are some really really old Porsche cars.
This Porsche was created for an Arabian prince with his emblem instead of the Porsche emblem on the wheel and even with golden exhaust pipe.
And here's a special Australian Porsche for the 50th anniversary of Porsche. I'm not sure, if you can read more on this photo, but I hope, you can.
Posted Apr 17, 2011, 7:29 pm
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 7:51 am
There is a sundial at one building.
The chestnut alley is getting green again.
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 8:19 am
today I learn how to bake a sponge cake. At first my host took five eggs. Bubo thought, that these are his eggs for breading and at first he was really confused, nearly shocked, but then she told him, that these are eggs of chicken. He thought, that's okay somehow.
Jack the cat tried to chase him away.
Then the two dogs - Travelling Tuffy and Henry the Adventure Hound - came to help Bubo and barked at Jack.
They were really successful
After that Petra told us to sit at our place and not play with meal.
After stirring the eggs Chuckle weighed the sugar: 350g - for each egg 50g. We also added a bit Vanilla sugar. And then stirred it again until it was very fluffy.
At last had to add 250g flour and baking powder. I helped to gently fold it under the dough.
Then the doorbell rang and a new toyvoyager arrived just in time, when the cake was in the oven: Miffy for the Netherlands.
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 10:22 am
We also walked through nice loess hollow-ways.
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 10:29 am
Then we had to cut the cake in two layers and fill it with the rhubarb cream.
We only decorated it with a bit powder sugar on the top layer.
Posted Apr 26, 2011, 9:45 am
Posted Apr 26, 2011, 6:41 pm
At first we need 1kg white flour, dried yeast, 600g water, 25gr margarine (if you don't have a cooked potato - and we had no) and 25gr salt. We had to leave the yeast dough alone for a longer while until it looked like this.
Then we rubbed the dish with margarine and powdered it with flour.
Posted Apr 27, 2011, 8:47 am
At first we had to read the recipe. It is the one in the middle, although they used gooseberries there.
Then we started to prepare the dough.
We had to cook the rhubarb.
The pot seems to be a bit small
Another pot for custard.
Then we had to fill the baking dish with the short pastry.
In the afternoon at our host's parents home we were allowed to eat a piece of our cake. It didn't look that well this time, because the whipped egg whites was just too flat.
They also had another cake, but it wasn't selfmade.
In the evening we ate some coloured Easter eggs.
Posted May 1, 2011, 2:11 pm
On our way home we saw this cross.
Next to the new apostolic church we looked down on Bruchsal.
After only a few footsteps more we saw the backside of the building called Sancta Maria.
Posted May 1, 2011, 3:24 pm
We saw so many people on the road, who tried to see the lucky couple.
We saw many people in interesting uniforms.
This couple was interesting too. The boy-tvs took a look at David Beckham and the girl-tvs on his wife with her funny hat.
Oh, who is coming here? We're excited.
It's William and his brother Harry. They really look good - that's what the girl-tvs say
The queen and her husband and prince Charles and his wife are coming too.
Oh, exciting, exciting. Here's the bride. Who sees her dress first?
How cute! These little girls and boys and the bride's sister on the way to the church.
The bride arrived at the church finally. We want to see the dress!
Oh, how beautiful!
William and Harry
The church is really big and the way very long. They even put trees in the church.
It is 12pm plus some minutes and finally Williama and Kate are together in front of the priest.
Here they say their marriage promise.
He gives her the ring. We learnt, that in Great Britain it isn't unusual, that only the bride wears a ring as sign of her marriage.
They sind "Jerusalem".
Then they played a fanfare especially composed for the wedding.
Here they all sing "God safe the queen".
Then they all walk out of the church. Take a look at the train.
What a joy, when they walk out of the church door.
The weather is fine, that's why the climb in an open carriage.
That's the queen and her husband in a closed carriage. It was scary, when they climbed in it.
Finally William and Kate arrive at the palace,
while others are still on the way.
It was fascinating to see how disciplined those thousands of people walking behind the police until they finally arrived at the palace too.
Finally the royal family shows up on the balcony.
We are waiting for the kiss and then there were two kissed, but we missed the second.
At last the royal air force flew over the Buckingham palace.
Posted May 1, 2011, 5:15 pm
We took this photo next to the house. What a nice view!
These cows belong to the farm.
Here's the Black Forest House. The typical Black Forest farmhouse - also referred to as a Black Forest house – has been built in this form for hundreds of years. You will find it mainly in the central and southern Black Forest. Here you can read more about those houses.
The left and middle house you can see belong to the farm were we were today.
All buildings except the one on the top belong to the farm. Maybe you see, that there are some clouds - a little thunder came, but it avoided the house so we were able to sit outside and drink coffee and eat cakes.
Before we drove home, we played a while at the water. But then some more clouds came and we had to hurry, because this time the thunderstorm reached our place too. We were lucky to sit in the car, before it started.
Posted May 2, 2011, 1:45 pm
There is a medieval tower, the Katzenturm, next to their house. You can read more about Heidelsheim here.
Posted May 10, 2011, 4:38 pm
Posted May 13, 2011, 6:26 pm
We didn't walk through the farm, but drove with a little sort of train. The engine didn't work well at first, so we had to climb out of the waggons and go a few steps, but then everything was fine again. It took us about 2 1/2 hours for a way you normally need 1 1/2 hour. We were really tired, when we climbed into our car to drive home again - another 2 1/2 hours drive. Nevertheless it was a great day.
We zoomed, so you can see the ostrichs better.
Face to face - okay, you don't see me, but we looked in each others eyes.
Posted May 14, 2011, 4:15 pm
We are at my "grandparents" home to have lunch together. We will eat asparagus, Schnitzel in breadcrumbs, potatoes, mayonnaise and sauce hollandaise. Yummy, yummy!
Did I tell you, that Bruchsal and surroundings are famous for asparagus?
We've seen some blackbird babies, but it was just impossible to take photos of us with them, so here is just a photo of them.
At home again Petra's husband bought some icecream - yummy again.
Posted May 14, 2011, 6:19 pm
there's such a beautiful weather today, that we toyvoyagers asked our host to take us with her and her daughter, while her daughter delivered a magazine called Konradsblatt.
This was the last stop, before we drove home again.
Posted May 21, 2011, 6:25 pm
today I watched the Eurovision Song Contest. Here's Lena from Germany singing "Taken by a stranger". All my hosts like this song and we too.
IHere is the group from Iceland,
these men are from Ireland
and the one from Sweden - cute, isn't he?
Countdown for voting
Estonia
Greece
Russia
France
Italy - we liked them too
Switzerland - much too less points for her
United Kingdom
Moldavia - crazy hats
Germany
Romania
Austria
Azerbaijan - it belongs to the European radio community or something - not sure about the right word for it. They won the Contest this year.
Estonia
Iceland
Serbia - it reminded our host of the seventies
Georgia
The tv hosts Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab
Between the songs they showed little movies of people of the song contest countries, who live in Germany. On this photo they are all together.
The motto of the show was "Feel your heart beat"
Anke Engelke also was host of the show.
She did a good job - the other two also did really well.
Stefan Raab at his best - making music
12 points goes
to Malta - we had such a fun hearing, that most people say goes to, even if there are more than one point - and you can't give one point.
It is so late now and we are so tired, that we will fall in our bed now - we only have one bed for the toyvoyagers here, although there are so many at this home.
Posted May 21, 2011, 6:34 pm
Posted May 29, 2011, 11:44 am
Posted Jun 2, 2011, 6:02 pm
I arrived here in Grand haven while Mel and her toys were on a weekend vacation, so Mel's mom let me out of my envelope. I got a happy greeting from everyone as soon as they got back though!
This is the house I am staying in. It is in a very nice quiet neighborhood in a small town.
The whole street is very nice, and good for walking in.
This play yard belongs to Mel's neighbors, but she says I may still play on it later! I can also see the big river in the background.
We went to the grocery to get photo prints and also lunch! Which we are going to enjoy now, before Mel has to go to work. She says I may go with her, but Vanilla warned me it might be busy and thus Ml will not have time for me much in between all of the sick and hurt people. I will promise to be good and more patient than the patients.
Posted Jun 6, 2011, 8:49 pm
Then there were fresh strawberries and raspberries for dessert! I chose a big red strawberry!
There were a few other people at the beach, but not as many as there will be later in the summer.
The lighthouse and pier looked closer than this picture makes it look! We could see people walking along it.
The lake was very calm, so Mel let us go closer to the water.
Vanilla and I went to the water to build a sand castle for bears!
But then Riin and Eri came with some shells they had collected so they decorated our castle for us!
Then Buzz Bluejay said that no castle was complete without a flag, so he added a feather from a gull that he had found in the sand.
We had a pretty castle! But then Horatio saw it, and said that dragons attack castles, and he wrecked it, jumping on it!
Eri started to cry and Horatio felt bad, so he and Vanilla gave her hugs to calm her down. Buzz didn't cry though, he got mad and bit Horatio's tail! Horatio got a lesson on manners from Mel on the way home.
As we were leaving, we saw a photo shoot with models, having their picture taken on the beach! I wonder what the photos are for, if they are for a famous magazine. That would be neat!
Posted Jun 12, 2011, 11:13 pm
This man had made bark huts and brought many items to show, including wool blankets and tomahawks.
A shepard came and brought his sheep and dogs, to show us how the dogs worked with the sheep. His wife also had a place selling wool and sheep's milk soaps. People could pet the sheep if they were careful.
Then we heard gunfire! We ran over to the field and saw that a band of Indians and a group of British soldiers had bumped into each other, and negotiations hadn't gone well.
It was part of the show! We sat down to watch. A lot of other people did too, including Mel's friend Shannon, who held Amanda.
I guess the talks weren't going well at all, because before long, they were shooting at each other!
Then some French soldiers, who were allied with the Indians, got involved! They came up from the river and went to talk to the British under a parlay flag.
But that didn't go well either, and next thing we knew the French had joined in the fight! More Britsh soldiers came in, too!
The British even brought in artillery. Well, one cannon.
The French and Indians tried to hold on, but finally they started to move back to the river.
After all of the shooting stopped, the field was covered in bodies and the British held the field. But then someone blew a whistle and everyone who had gotten shot, got up and walked off! These men came over and explained to us that this was how a meeting between the sides might have gone. Also how both sides would have concidered this a win! The British because they gained the land, and the French because they killed more men than they had lost.
When the battle was done we shopped a bit more, though we didn't buy anything. Then we went for lunch, and then, because it was such a nice day, drove along the downtown riverside. Mel stopped and let us see this old steam train, that is parked here in town to teach the tourists. You can see the ruins of the old water tower in the background.
We had a fun day with Mel off work!
Posted Jun 29, 2011, 2:59 am
Hello mom! We have a new friend visiting us here at Mel's house, Einstein Pig! Since he loves to learn new things and is quite the intellectual, Mel took us all to the nature center at Hoffmaster State Park, in nearby Muskegon. It had a lot of information for us to learn about sand dunes!
Here is a map of all of the places along Lake Michigan with lots of dunes. The dot for were we are is about in the middle.
Mel fails at rotating photos, sorry. This is an ant lion statue! They are actually very tiny things. I would not want to sit on this if it was real!
Downstairs there were many displays of the animals that live in the dunes. All of the stuffed specimins are animals that were found by rangers already killed or injured, or were taken off of poachers by state park rangers. (Mel knows this because she used to work there and got asked a lot.)
This garter snake is not stuffed, he is alive! He is used to being handled and helps teach kids that snakes are not scary and slimey things. I found him quite freindly!
Outisde this big window, which is three stories tall, is a view of one of the dunes and also a wildlife feeding and viewing station. We saw birds, and squirells, and a few frogs who lived in the pond.
We went for a short walk in the woods later, after Mel bought lots of postcards in the gift shop. This is a short handicapped accessible trail that was built when Mel worked here. At the top is a platform with more learning materials to read.
Here we are reading about Mt Baldy, the big sand dune that we could see from the visitor's center. The woods were full of birds and small animals and very peaceful! Mel says we will probably go for a much longer walk in the dunes sometime later. I can't wait!
Posted Jul 5, 2011, 2:40 am
Hello mum! It was fun to spend Independence Day in America! We had an eventful day, though not many photos to show for it. Mel and her mom helped to thwart a shoplifter and called 911 for someones lost camping gear blocking the highway, though! *L*
We only went downtown with the tourists to take her nephew Tyler some dinner, and there ere SO many people in town for the fireworks. Mel's migraine and lack of love for tourists have us staying home to watch from here, though. We don't mind much, we found more fun way to celebrate! It started when Mel realized we had two Brits, and two Americans visiting, and a German too... She couldn't resist....
We toyvoyagers present to you all the story of the American Revolution (as Mel remembers it from school)!!!
At first, the people in what would be America were mostly British and fine with that.
But over time, the distance and other problems made the colonists more and more upset with the British ruling them, and the Army had to keep order more and more often.
Finally the colonist just felt SO misunderstood and put-upon that they decided they could take care of their own people better, and they told Britain to go away and leave them alone! This happened around the Fourth of July, which is why that day was picked for the holiday.
Well, the British king didn't like that at all, so he sent more Army over to keep the noisy colonists in line and protect the loyal ones, and to protect his interests there. So there were two sides, and the advantages went back and forth a bit.
The British were spending a lot to fight that far from home, and the war didn't end nearly as quickly and neatly as they'd hoped, so they called in backups - Mercenaries from Germany, the Hessians!
The British sent the Hessians after the rebel Americans, and things looked pretty bad for the colonist's independence plans!
But luckily America could pull in some back-up too, they sent men over to Europe to convince England's old foe the French to come in on their side! (Einstein enjoyed playing Franklin very much)
So the French and the Americans turned and won back some momentum against the English and Germans.
There was still a lot of fighting and hardships on both sides and many soldiers lost, but finally the British started to lose steam, as the money and distance made things harder and harder.
In the end the English king was forced to leave the rebels to themselves, at least for a while. Most of the armies that were left were called home or sent to Canada.
And the leaders of the United States were free to make their own government, for better or worse. And they did, and today is the day they celebrate taking that stand against the king (by not working, waving flags, having picnics, and being far too loud.)
(The French mostly went home, but a lot of the Hessians stayed, and we don't blame them.)
The End! Starring:
The English Troops! Quentin Ducky & Alex_Lion from the UK!
The American Troops! Vanilla & Einstein Pig from the USA!
The Hessian! Cilly from Germany!
The French! Uhh... they don't have names yet, they are Buzz's evil cousins or something. But we needed more toys.
From Mel's room!
It is getting dark, so we will probably go out on the porch soon and see the big fireworks! Happy 4th everyone, however you celebrate it!
Posted Jul 15, 2011, 9:03 pm
We sat on the beach enjoying the sunset while everyone else went swimming.
When they were done and drying off, we got to play with Madison for a little while! Look at all of those seagulls in the background! Some kids were having fun running at them and making them all fly.
Posted Aug 1, 2011, 6:58 pm
On Sunday, we took Mel's niece Madison and her cousin Krista down to Battle Creek (where all of the breakfast cereal comes from, we saw the factories for Kellogg and Post cereals on our drive!) for the Silver Leaf Renn Faire! Madison had gone before, but it the first trip for Krista and for us!
Quentin Ducky and Alex_Lion posed with the girls and these funny performers from a magic show! Then we went to see a funny Pirate show. They did some tricks too!
Then we posed with what we THOUGHT was a brave knight, but it was just some armour! The knight must have decided it was too hot and left it there! See me there with the girls? Aren't we all pretty?
Then we danced to a celtic group, The Rogues! They were very good, but we got tired long before the girls did!
All the way home we all played while Mel drove. It was a fun fun day!
Posted Aug 6, 2011, 11:50 pm
We picked Tyler up, had a good dinner, and a good night's sleep. The next day was the museum, which was more to my liking than the skate park, for sure!
We started with a t-rex!
There was a whole hall full of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals!
This is a model of a mastadon that was found right near where we were standing!
We all settled in to watch a show in the planetarium, about the wonders of the world. I made sure I got a good seat!
Later after the show we watched this big globe go around and and talked about all of the placed we'd been and were all we wanted to still go. I said "Everywhere!"
In another part of the museum, we learned about the native cultures of North America.
I think they were very talented artists, I learned a lot!
Posted Aug 14, 2011, 10:24 pm
Saturday the highlight was the kids parade and costume contest! Mel and Madison were in it. Weren't the kids all so cute? Mel took second place for adults - I will tell you a secret though, there were only three ladies competing.
There were pirates and people in great costumes everywhere!
We sat and watched some shows! These ladies danced with fire!
I would never do that!
This man was a fun minstrel. He had some good songs and also funny ones.
This is Eva, one of Mel's writing friends. She was a very pretty pirate!
Mel chatted with friends and shopped, she bought Raven a new eye patch since he lost his Saturday, and some yummy scurvy-fighting rootbeer! These belly dancers were performing as we left. They were very pretty!
The festival was hosted by the local library. The library was a nice place to rest after the fun of the festival, while the kids were looking for books.
Mel says summer is almost over here in Michigan, but there is still plenty of fun things for us to do. Yippee!
Posted Aug 29, 2011, 4:51 pm
We wandered through some shops which had historical costume supplies and other interesting things. The boys were talking about uniforms while us girls admired the hoop skirts and hats. We took a break at a lovely flower bed while they were admiring guns an knives. Boys.
We also saw some of the security for the event, sheriff deputies on horses, to fit with the theme!
The big event of the day was a reenactment of the Battle of Bethel Church which happened in Virginia in June of 1861.
The Union troops lined up right in front of us!
Then they marched over the hill to attack the southern troops. There were canons also, that were really loud.
We missed a lot of the battle because it happened over that hill, but all of the good seats were taken.
The Union troops were attacking a fortified Rebel position with half as many men.
Despite having the advantage of numbers, the Union ended up having to retreat, mostly because of confusion between units, it seems. At one point in the real battle, some of the Union troops were shooting at each other!
Here the Union is trying to regroup for one last charge, but it didn't succeed and they retreated all the way back to the city. The Rebels only lost one soldier in the fight.
On the way out, Mel walked over to another part of the park to see if the big fountain was running, for BineHH, but it wasn't.
But we did find a 9-11 memorial with an actual part of one of the World Trade Center buildings. We decided it would be a good place for group shot!
Posted Sep 13, 2011, 2:21 am
Posted Sep 29, 2011, 1:08 am
We left from Mel's home in Grand Haven early in the morning. By lunchtime we were at the border! We stopped for lunch in Port Huron, and then went looking for a certain park that Mel had heard about. The waterfront there, on the St Clair River, was very nice! That's Canada on the other side of the river!
Mel found the park she was looking for farther upstream. It was mostly a stop for Einstein but the rest of us enjoyed it too! Look Mum, I am posing with Thomas Edison, the great inventor! He spent some of his childhood here in Port Huron.
Then we crossed over the border into Canada. Vanilla had done it before and told us not to worry. Then we rode along the whole way through that part of Ontario to Niagara Falls, in a heavy rain! Mel had to drive the whole way and was tired by the time we got back over the border. Then her Mom took over and got us to Rochester, New York, for our first night's hotel.
The hotel was okay, and we got up early the next morning for more exploring! We went for breakfast, then since we were already closest to downtown, we went to see the Great Falls. They are right in the heart of town, since the city used the waterfall to power mills and factories as it was being built.
Then we went to see a huge mansion and gardens, that used to belong to george Eastman. He is the man who invented Kodak film, and it made him very rich!
This is his conservatory. It had a lot of plants and trophy animals he had shot on safari. Nobears luckily! At least not in the rooms we were allowed in. Whew!
This is the library. He was a world traveller, and I am too!
Then we followed along with a volunteer who was doing a tour of the gardens. I learned a lot about the plants!
We had two more stops that day - it was a very full day of sight-seeing! One that Mel took us to see was the Erie Canal! have you heard of it, Mom? This is one of the locks, that raise and lower ships along the way.
We stayed that night in Geneva, New York, but got there just before bed time. Many more adventures were planned for the next day! I'll post those later, promise!
Posted Nov 15, 2011, 3:38 pm
On Friday of our vacation, we woke up early and drove all the way down Seneca Lake to the town of Watkins Glen, to visit Watkins Glen State Park. Mel brought out the big camera equipment and Mom carried us n a bag so we didn't get wet an dirty. The day was gray and kinda chilly, but Mel said those were good days for shooting waterfalls.
This is the Entrance falls. We were planning to walk all the way up this narrow gorge, because there are falls all along the way! First we went into a small cave, and then over that bridge.
This was the tallest waterfall in the park. We walked right behind it! It was kind of wet but worth it!
After a very long hike with lots and lots of stairs, we took a flatter path back to the car. Then we had a good lunch and headed to Corning, New York, to visit the Corning Glass Museum.
First though, we got lost and ended up stuck in construction in Elmira. The good part there was seeing where Mark Twain is buried. We found it by accident!
But we finally got to the museum after finding a very pretty road in the right direction. The museum was so much better than even we expected!
It was all about glass, but who knew glass could be so fascinating?
This man is making a glass turtle for a little girl. She suggested it and they picked her drawing to challenge the glass artist with. We could see the whole process!
Then we went to see the displays of glass artwork. Wow! They had things I never would have expected to see out of glass. All of us toys had different things we wanted our photos with, if you want to see more. I loved the Tiffany windows best!
Look at this! Even the table it is sitting on is made of glass. Who has that much time??
By the time we left there, we were VERY tired and sick of walking! So we got a quick dinner and drove all the way back to the hotel and crashed for a good night's sleep! But more plans for the next day were already made....
Posted Nov 15, 2011, 3:46 pm
And there was! Seneca Falls is famous for being where the first Women's Rights Convention was held, and where a lot of the women who led that movement met to plan. So it is the home of the Nation Women' Hall of Fame and the Women's Rights National Park. We went to both!
This is me in the Hall of Fame. Each poster on the wall is an American woman who made a big contribution to the world. They are raising money to move to a bigger building soon so they won't be so crowded!
In the National Park, we wandered through the exhibits. This one we thought was funny! You could look through and see yourself in a mirror as whatever you wanted to be. I chose to be an Astronaut! I think all of our choices fit us very well! Willy W. is a carpenter, Vanilla is a park ranger, Einstein is a doctor and Alex_Lion is a fireman! Good fits for us all!
I asked Mel for this photo of Sojourner Truth. She was such a brave lady!
Mel also bought TONS of postcards there. Her postcrossing friends will enjoy them! But then it was time to move on, because there was a living history event in another town in the afternoon, and you know how Mel loves those!
So we were off to the Ganondagan Historical Site which was a Seneca village long ago. The tribe still owns the land and use it to teach about their history. Today they were holding an all day event! The biggest was a reenactment of the explored LaSalle coming to ask the Seneca for help in his explorations of the Great Lakes.
We explored a longhouse, but it was so full of people, and smokey, that we didn't stay to take many photos.
I got one though!
Finally it was time for the reenactment, and we got seats on the lawn.
I learned a lot, and liked the costumes.
We had an ok dinner that night, but then got a NICE hotel room with a pool! So it was a fun day overall. The next day we would start home, but we had two days to get there, so there was still plenty to see and do!
Posted Nov 15, 2011, 3:51 pm
It was a long drive through the park from the east side, but well worth it! A very pretty valley and a nice drive.
Then when we got to the falls, wow! There were three, upper, middle and lower. Any of them would have been a sight to see on their own! This is the upper falls.
The middle falls were my favorite, but Mel couldn't find any good way to get us in the pics.
Mel let us stop at a tiny beach so that we could see Lake Erie.
We drove through Erie and saw the Oliver Hazard Perry statue, but Alex_Lion is the only on who had the energy to go out to get a photo. We stayed in a very cheap hotel that night to make up for the fancy one the night before. And then it was just driving home to Michigan, but since we had all day, we took all day! *L*
Here is the lighthouse at Marblehead, Ohio. From behind the lighthouse you can see across Sandusky Bay to see Cedar Point, a huge amusement park! I saw it, but the day was so gray and blah that I didn't take many photos. We did climb around on the rocks for a bit though. They are really marble, of course, and have fossil corals in them if you know what to look for.
We also stopped at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, but didn't see much for wildlife. It's not migration season for the birds yet, which is their biggest reason for being there.
Then it was home, though really late! We slept most of the way back through Michigan, I admit.
Posted Nov 15, 2011, 3:57 pm
I explored the set and the props, and so many of the stars wanted to pose with me! I felt like a celebrity! Well, maybe I am - I bet that none of the people here are so well traveled as I am!
Posted Nov 28, 2011, 7:37 pm
There was SO MUCH FOOD!
And now, I am off to Norway for the holidays! I have a pretty red envelope, so be on the look out for me!
See you soon!
Posted Dec 3, 2011, 10:52 am
Today i arrived in Norway!
It was very windy, i could hear it from inside the mailbox
Someone (i think it must have been my host's dad, picked me out of there, and i was lying on the table for hours!!!
Finally, in the afternoon, the package i was lying in, got opened, and i saw my hostess for the first time, it was GREAT to get out of there!
She told me it was too bad she didnt get to open the package earier that day, cause then i would have been able to come along on GEOCACHING, they had been out for hours, while i was lying on that table
But she is out often, so she said i would get the chance to tag along another time
My first day and evening in Norway has been very relaxing, it wasnt as cold as i had expected, and NO SNOW
But in the end of the night, when we went to bed, it was -10C, that was COLD!
But my hostess told me, it will get colder!
My hostess had company, a friend of hers was here, and after they had eaten, they had a Matrix Marathon
I fell asleep before the 3rd movie ended, but the others kept it going untill 01:30!!!
Crazy Norwegians
But it was a very nice evening, and i like it so far, as soon as we have the time, i will write you more from this very strange country
Love, Cilly.
Posted Dec 3, 2011, 11:16 am
I don't have much to tell you, but my hostess wanted to take some pictures and put them out there for you anyway
She is going to work today, so we dont have time to do much, so we are now just relaxing before she is leaving!
She is playing some farmer game on Facebook, im not too impressed, they dont even have bears in the game
Its warmer again today, now its about 1,5C outside, very windy again, and its raining, its really grey and boring
Im looking forward to the snooooooow!
Cilly
PS: You won't believe this, but 10 minutes after we took the last picture...IT STARTED TO SNOW!!!! Hahahahaha
WOW! My wish came true!
So happy!!!
Posted Dec 3, 2011, 11:22 am
SNOW!
Posted Dec 4, 2011, 9:08 pm
Today we went christmas shopping with my host's mom!
The snow that came yesterday dissapeared right away, so the christmas spirit was a little far gone...
But the mall was pretty, with lights, trees, christmas songs and...lots and lots of people!!!
We went to 2 different shopping malls, one is in Jessheim, thats close to the Gardermoen Airport, we found a few things there, but went further after a while.
Then we ended up in Strømmen, near Lillestrøm, where we sat down to have a meal, we chose a traditional Norwegian christmas meal, even tho its not christmas yet
We also visited my host's little sister, she works in the mall!
It was ALOT of walking, and talking and in and out of shops, i got really tired, even tho i was in the handbag!
But when we finally got home (its an 1 1/2 hour long drive from the mall, to where im now), we lit the fire so it would be warm and yummy, and then we sat down by the computer to write to you
I think i will go to bed early tonight, im beat!
Hugs, Cilly
Posted Dec 5, 2011, 8:55 pm
(Me in Sweden!)
Today we went Geocaching!
Thats looking for treasure outside, with a GPS!
You decide where you want to go, upload the geocaches (treasures) to your GPS, and then you drive or walk to them, with the coordinates you have on your GPS!
(Me in the car, on our way to a cache!)
When you find one, you have to be careful that nobody sees you, its kind of secret, or else people who don't play, might find the treasure, and maybe throw it away or destroy it, has happened.
A treasure, or geocache, is usually a plastic box, or it could be an old film canister or anything actually, as long as its water tight.
Inside this box it always has to havea log book or paper, and a pen.
If the treasure is big enough, it can contain trading items for the kids.
(Me sitting inside one of the geocaches we found, this one was a REGULAR cache, the size is very nice for trading items!)
The logbook or paper is there, for you to sign with your online name, this is the proof that you have actually been to the sight, and found the geocache.
If you don't sign the book or paper, the owner might delete your online log later, because you can't proove you have been there.
(This picture was taken outside Græsmark Church, the cache we found here was behind that information table there!)
(And the size of it, was THIS small!!! It was really difficult to see!)
We also went to a place to have some quick food, and then we continiued the geocaching.
Started snowing while we were driving, but its still not much!
We found a total of 13 Geocaches today, but it got dark after 15:30, so we didnt take any more pictures, it was cold aswell, and the snow got inside all the clothes...
But it was a fun trip, and i have been to SWEDEN!
Love, Cilly
Posted Dec 11, 2011, 2:01 pm
Today we have been wrapping some christmas presents, it was really nice, and fun!
It has finally started snowing, and im starting to feel the christmas mood.
We have also cleaned the house, and put out christmas things, and nice table clothes and such!
Can't wait for the 24th!!!
Then all of the presents will be opened!!!
Cilly
Posted Dec 11, 2011, 2:07 pm
The hostes had her birthday the 7th of December, and had invited close friends and family to a little party here today
I got to help a little, but she was really stressed out, so we had little time to wake pictures while we were cooking!
We made little sossages in bread, mini meatballs, salmon, scrambeled eggs, boiled eggs, salty meat, different veggies for the dip, different cheeses and crackers...
And for dessert, it as a CHOCOLATE FONDUE FOUNTAIN!
With different fruits to dip in it, and other yummie stuff!
Some people even dipped CHEESE in the chocolate!
I have said it before, and i'll say it again, those Norwegians are crazy!!!
But it was a lovely evening, lots of laughter and fun, and good food
Cilly
Posted Dec 30, 2011, 5:05 pm
It has been very busy here lately, thats why i havent written anything yet, my host has been working, working and working some more, then there was Christmas, a very nice and relaxing day, BUT we forgot to take pictures!!!
My hostess was helping her friend with making the food, and after the food, the kids were constantly naging about opening the presents, so we totally forgot...
BUT i had a very nice day tho, and got to try the Norwegian christmasfood RIBBE, and also PINNEKJØTT, it was GREAT!
Today we left for Elverum and Hamar, we left at 9:30, as it is a 2 hour drive from here!
The plan was to go geocaching on our way there, and then visit my hostess Dad, and eat some nice dinner together!
It was already getting dark when we arrived in Hamar, but you can see me here, outside the Vikingskipet!
Ofcourse there was a cache there, and we found it!
Isn't it cool with the camo tape?
We decided to go inside the hall, it only costed 40 Kroner per person, and 0 Kroner per TV!
Just inside the door, we saw this, it was lots of paintings, made by school children for the Olympics in '94
My hostess told me, she also joined a contest when she was little, with a drawing. She got chosen with her drawing, and it was hanging in one of the hotels where the athleets were staying, pretty cool huh?
We could see a few people scating, the outer ring was for long distance and serious training, and in the middle, they had two squares, one for fun scating, and one for icehockey and such
She made a VIDEO OF ME IN THE VIKINGSKIPET aswell, check it out!
You can feel the excitement when you are inside the ship, its HUGE and pretty!!!
This is Mjøsa, the biggest lake in Norway, it starts in Lillehammer, and goes all the way down to Eidsvoll.
The deepest is abour 450m, and thats close to Hamar, the Vikingskip lies next to Mjøsa.
A real Vikingship, inside the Vikingship
Some infor about the Olympic Hall
And see...i was THIS close to Johann Olav Koss!!!
Well...his handwriting...
But it was close
Here you can see the kids scating in the middle, and how BIG the Hall is
The entrance
Me posing in the cold
Some more info about Mjøsa
Outside the Hall, up in a tower, we had a very nice vieuw, it was dark tho, but you can see the brige towards Stange here, it was pretty
Then we had dinner, it was very nice!
Had a GREAT day!
Bye!
Cilly
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 2:59 pm
We have another TV in the house!
Saying welcome to Fiete!
Just on time for the New Years celebration!
Cilly
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 3:11 pm
This is me on the table in the livingroom, its all ready for the big feast
It was fun to see the balloons and stuff, almost looked like a birthday party, the birth day of a new year!
The turkey looked lovely, and i was allowed to pose infront of it, they started carving it in the kitchen already, reading the ox for instructions, to do it right
The turkey on the table, its all set, and it looked very nice!
Mmmm...and it was YUMMIE!
HAPPY NEW YEAAAAAR!!!
In the evening we were talking, watching TV, playing cards, eating candy, and just spending good time together.
It was very nice, and fun, alltho my team did not win
Fiete and me, watching the others play cards
The fireworks were very nice, had a good vieuw from the balcony, but did not get any good fotos out of it tho
But the new year was celebrated, and i had a very nice time!
Love, yours Cilly
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 3:12 pm
Its not too much tho, i have been told i has been more...too bad
Cil
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 3:20 pm
When we left, and were driving home again, we saw the most beautiful sunset, it was breathtaking, and we had to stop and take pictures!
What do you say, isnt that amazing?
Love, Cilly
Posted Jan 8, 2012, 9:08 pm
Fiete, Eloy and me by the meter, can you see it?
It was -13,9C
Cilly
Posted Jan 8, 2012, 9:11 pm
Playing some Sims Castaway!
It was FUN!
Still is ;-)
Cilly
Posted Jan 8, 2012, 9:28 pm
The sun was shining, pretty blue sky, only -7C outside, and new fresh snow was lying on the ground, can't sit inside all day then!
(Not even to imagine you are on an Island with your Sim...)
This is the local church, its very pretty, don't you think?
It's an old church, all made of wood, originally from 1886.
It has seats for 340 people.
The first church was built in 1863, and had 200 seats, it got torn down in 1883.
The 28th January 1948, the roof of the church fell down because of the massive snow that had come down, only the tower and the back of it was still standing.
The church was rebuilt again, and was ready in 1950.
This is the local store, its a little more expencive than other shops, like in bigger towns, but you can buy what you need!
Funny thing is, if you look real good, they actually managed to write the name of the village wrong on the shop, you see it?
Its supposed to be Grue Finnskog
We walked up this hill, to the local school, and ski path, we saw the man on the snowscooter drive past us, and decided to have a look, see it they were preparing the ski paths!!!
This is the ski path, he is driving as the pictures is taken, you can see only one path so far, so they are preparing the ski season, finally its enough snow!
Then we walked through the forrest, and you wont believe how pretty it was with the sun and the snow, it was surely a winter wonderland!
Walked over a very small water, its called Rotna.
It wasnt all frozen tho.
This is a GAPAHUK, you can sleep in it in the summer, when its wartm enough, have camp fire outside, its very nice!
Hiiiii!!!
Has really enjoyed the walk, after an hour, i started to feel the cold, and it was already -10C when we got home!
At this moment, its -19,2C, its very clear, and the moon is shining and making it very light outside, very pretty
Love, Cilly
Posted Jan 15, 2012, 1:58 pm
Its only about 10-15 minutes driving from where im staying, and since they were going to buy some food in the local store there, they decided to bring us along, to take some tourist pictures!
Here you can see the really old separation of Sweden and Norway, and as you can see, there is a boarder here, they call it the TREE BOARDER, because they have cut down the trees for several meters, so you can see where it is.
Thats how they in the old days saw where Sweden and Norway was!
You can even see it on the other side of the lake here, i think its awsome to see!
In Norway, looking at sweden...
In Sweden, looking at Norway
Cilly
Posted Jan 16, 2012, 8:39 pm
It can get cold in Norway, and best thing to keep you warm is...wood!
Lots of wood, and we got to help.
They had gotten wood from a friend who has his own forrest, and it had to be carried upstairs.
Its a lot of work, and as you can see, we helped, and were very good at it
As the wood was very wet, we had to build it up, and then it can dry for a while, before we can use it
Clly
Posted Feb 20, 2012, 10:33 am
Today we have been outside, Ragnhild showed us the different skiis they have!
In the really old ones, you just used your own normal shoes, the bindings went around the shoes, very practical, cause you didnt need special shoes for skiing!
In the 80's they had something called the "Rat Trap", you used special shoes, with 3 holes under the front of the shoe, and those you put onto the binding where it was 3 pointy things, and then you locked the binding, and it was stuck.
Later on they got more modern, and now you just click your shoe onto the lock of the binding, the shoe has a little metal bar on the front, and that one you click onto the binding of the skii.
Very easy!
Here i am on a little trip we had with the car, its a lake behind me, and its been so cold, the ice has "grown" out of the lake, around the rocks there, hope you can see it, it was really a funny sight!
All of us together
Cilly
Posted Feb 20, 2012, 10:35 am
Today we have been to OSLO!
I have been to the capital of Norway!
My hostess were meeting up with a friend who were visiting from The Netherlands, and we spend the whole day in Oslo, it was lots to see!
And here are some pictures!
All of us in Ragnhilds bag, in the car, on our way to the bus!
It was 45 minutes driving to Kongsvinger, where the bus would drive us further to Oslo.
Here we are on the bus, it was a 1 1/2 hour drive by bus...
But we were looking outside, and played some games, and time went fast!
Here we are at the bus stop Rød, thats where you could change busses to go to Gardermoen airport!
We arrived Oslo at 10:30, it was raining a little all day, but not too much.
Oslo is called the tiger city, and this statue was a gift to the city, for its 1000 year cekebrating being a city!
Its right outside the train station, at the beginning of the Karl Johan street, THE shopping street in Oslo, and the street u to the royal castle.
This is us, outside the national theater!
We even found a Geocache here!
We were inside the church in Oslo, but didnt take any pictures, cause it was not allowed to use flash.
They were repeating for a concert aswell, so we didnt want to disturp.
On the walls they have a little exebition, pictures from the tragedy in Oslo 22 July 2011
Hostes started to cry, so we left again...
Inside a shopping mall, we saw this little statue, do you know it?
Its the little mermaid that they also have in Denmark, in København!
So i feel i almost been there aswell
hehe
At the end of the day, we went to the Opera house in Oslo...
Its really big, and a little weird, and it costed a lot of money aswell!
Had a great day, and hope you like the pictures!!!
Having a good time in Norway, but am very excited where to go next
Love,
Cilly
Posted Mar 5, 2012, 7:03 pm
Today i arrived at my new host. I was a bit scared, because i heard some loud noises and a purring outside my envelope. I think there were other TVs who arrived today,too...
So i was waiting until my envelope got opened. Then the light came in and i looked into a little mouse-face
There were 6 TVs and two cats who welcomed me...
Hihihihi... hello everybody, my name is Cilly.
Wotan, the orange dog and Häppie_Sheep, the sheep with a blue shirt arrived some minutes before me. So that's why it was so loud
What a big Hello! Three TVs arrived. Hihihi.
Time to calm down, so we sat with Cami at the window and had a look outside...
More later.
Love
Cilly
Posted Mar 11, 2012, 6:47 pm
The weather outside isn't very good as you can see and my hostmom is still hurting, so we couldn't do some excursion.
But we found some fat balls and a peanut-bar for birds.
But you know, two cats are living here and i think they would be very happy if we place the bird feed right on the balcony..
I think it's better to put them into the garden. Out of range from Eloy and Cami. Hihihi
So let's go downstairs...
That's the garden!
We found the first place where a fat ball was already placed. But as you can see, it's empty. So we replace the old one and put right there a new one.
Misslucy took the old one and Häppie_Sheep placed a new fat ball on the tree.
Then i found the second place, where we can put the peanut-bar.
There are still some peanuts inside the old one.
So i placed the new peanut-bar on another branch.
Misslucy and Häppie_Sheep found a tree that seems to be perfect for the next fat ball.
Waaahh, this is very high..
Misslucy placed the fat ball on a branch.
And then i helped them to come back down safely
Misslucy, you first!
Okay, it's just a little bit..
Got you!
Happie_Sheep, now you.. 1,2,3.. jump!
Got you!
and we were all back on the grass without getting hurt.
Okay, there's only one fat ball left. Where can we place this last one?
Hmm, this tree is a good place! Oh, and there is another empty fat ball, so the birds know this place to find some food
Häppie_Sheep grabed the old one, while Misslucy and i placed the new fat ball on a branch.
Wow, this thing is heavy!
Misslucy: "Come on Cilly, lift it up!"
Cilly: "Wooaa.. it's not that easy!"
Misslucy: "Go, go, go! You'll make it!"
Okay, she got it!
And finally she put it on the branch..
Done!
That was hard work!
Time to relax. Oh look! Some Crocuses! Spring is coming closer!
That was a nice day. I miss you mommy and i hope you had a great weekend, too.
Kisses
Cilly
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:26 pm
Today we're going on an over night trip with Eustachia. And guess what.. we visited Fritzlar! The hometown of Misslucy's mommy. So, Misslucy was very happy and we beged her to show us this nice town.
This is a small shopping-street
The market place is very beautiful with his frame houses...
And that's the St. Peter's dome of fritzlar.
And finally a group photograph
This tall guy is Bonifatius, the founder of Fritzlar.
Oh, it's time to visit the next town!
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:30 pm
In the evening we arrived at our Hotel (Landhotel zur Krone) in Dransfeld, so hello from Lower Saxony
This is our room:
It is not that pretty, but it wasn't very expensive
Waaah, what's that? The washing basin is broken..
Omg, and the mirror, too...
Eeehh... Time for light evening meal!
Later we read this magazine "In touch".
Hahaha, we are three girls, so that's the perfect magazine for us... Some news about celebrities, the latest gossip, and some suggestions how to dress up.
Omg, poor Angelina. Everyone is laughing at her...
Before we went to bed, we took a look at www.toyvoyagers.com.
What else?
Time to sleep!
Good night mommy
Good night Häppie_Sheep, good night Misslucy.
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:32 pm
We slept very well, that we didn't hear the alarm-clock. Oops!
A quick look outside, how the weather is today..
Then we drove to Göttingen. This is one of the shopping street, but nono.. we were not shopping! Eustachia was here for work, and while she was making her job, we walk around and took some pictures
Unfortunately the St. Jacobi church will be restore, so it's not sooo nice to take a picture of it.. Eeehh, whatever.
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:34 pm
And we were in a shopping street again
The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the sun!
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:35 pm
Same procedure as in every city.. Eustachia was working and we took some pictures..
This is the St. Servatius church
As you can see on the clearblue sky, the weather was sooo nice!
There in the background is the city hall.
I really don't know what these two people doing there.. but it looks funny
We relaxed at a bench and enjoyed the sun again... That's nice!
In the background you can see the St. Cyriakus church
..but we prefered to play at the playground, instead of visiting the church
Time to move on...
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:37 pm
And great landscapes, where farmer are working on the field..
Spring is coming! Or is it already here?
That was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. We saw so many places. These two days were so great!
Kisses
Cilly
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 8:51 pm
Today the weather was great, so i went outside at the balcony and played with Cami and Eloy, Eustachia's cats
This is Cami! Isn't she beautiful? Don't let yourself be fooled by her insane glance.. she is very very lovely!
And this is Eloy
Eloy! Paws off the camera!
Hihi *kiss*
Pink_Bear is right, they are very nice!
Posted Mar 23, 2012, 9:02 pm
He was here for a few months and i think it was a bit hard for him to go.
Goodbye Pink_Bear, take care and have a lot of fun with your upcoming journeys. *hug*
Bye byeee
There he jumps into his envelope...
Posted Apr 1, 2012, 10:35 am
Today we said goodbye to Mimi and George.
This is their first travel to a host, so i cuddled them and wished them all the best on their upcoming journeys.
Bye bye Mimi and George *wave*
Posted Apr 7, 2012, 3:51 pm
Today we went to UPS (United Parcel Service) in Gießen to retrieve a packet.
Yeah, we got it!
Let's open it...
Uuuhh.. how exciting.. wat is it there inside?..
Oh! I can feel it.. it seems to be a little box...
Just a moment...
Phew! Here it is!
It is a box with perfumed tealight candles.
And they smell soooooo delicious. They smell like mango-tangerine.
Yummy
Bye bye
Cilly
Posted Apr 8, 2012, 4:37 pm
Today we said goodbye to Häppie_Sheep.
She's going to continue her journey at the German ToyVoyager Trail. I will miss her.
Farewell Häppie_Sheep!
Posted Apr 8, 2012, 4:44 pm
Easter is coming closer! So we decided to visit our hostmoms sister and to color some eastereggs.
This sort of color is called Muschelglanz, which means seashell glossiness.
Well, they do not look like a seashell but they do look very nice!
We also got "easter stamps" to decorate the eggs with a stamp.
First we tested the stamps at a paper. That was fun!
And then we coloured some eggs with cold water pastel colours..
And here are the results:
That was a great day and i had so much fun with Wacky-Z and *Paul*.
I hope you like the photos.
Bye Bye
Cilly
Posted Apr 8, 2012, 4:49 pm
Posted Apr 14, 2012, 3:15 pm
Today we welcomed a new guest!
Wacky-Z opened the envelope and a white rat was inside!
She introduced herself as Gypsy
and we welcomed her.
Posted May 1, 2012, 2:15 pm
Today i did a roadtrip to Aschaffenburg with my hostmom Eustachia, and two other TVs: Gypsy and *Paul*.
Here are some impressions of the city
This is the railroad station
There in the background you can see the Johannisburg Castle.
It's coming closer!
It looks beautiful, we should visit it!
And here we are!
We had luck, today is a market. So we walked around and bought some sweets
This castle is soo beautiful!
It was erected between 1605 and 1614 by Georg Ridinger. Until 1803, it was the second residence of the prince bishop of Mainz. It is constructed of red sandstone. Red Sandstone is the typical building material of the area around Aschaffenburg.
But first of all.. let's have a little break and eat some sweets. We bought roasted almonds and chocolate popcorn. Yummy!
In the back you can see a little herb garden.
This view is so beautiful!
Time for a group photograph!
Here you can see the Main river.
But wow.. what is that there in the background.. semms to be a huuuuge play field.. woaaa, i wanna go right there!
Time for another break. Let's relax at a bench and enjoy the sun.
And hey, Eustachia brought us some merci chocolate.
And another group photograph with the Main river in the back.
There were some oarsman. Wow, they are fast!
I love this picture! The huge castle with the clearblue sky!
This is no drinking water! But a funny place to take a picture
And this is the view of the courtyard.
In front of the castle is a little park, to walk around or have a seat and relax.
A very nice place!
Bye bye Aschaffenburg...
Time to drive back homeward.
I hope you like the pictures. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.
Bye bye
Cilly
Posted May 1, 2012, 2:26 pm
Sorry for long time no update. But my hostmom had some stress, so we couldn't do any trips.
But today we visited a wild animal park
As we arrived, the rabbits and guinea pigs got their food. So there was some action!
These plushy little guys are called raccoon dog. Awww, they look sooo sweet!
Hello little donkey
Waaaah, mommy
you wouldn't believe what happened to *Paul* the next 5 minutes... He wants to cuddle a cute little donkey, he was shaking his ears and *Paul* felt right into the donkey bawn!
Eustachia was getting very nervous, because he was too far away to pick him up. But i think, for *Paul* it was fun!
She tried to touch him with a stick, but it was too short. Then she talked to the donkeys to nudge me that i can move closer to the fence. Hahaha.. and so it happened. One donkey went closer to *Paul*, looked at him and snuffled at him with his huge snout. Hihi, that looked ticklish
Then he picked *Paul* up with his mouth and throwed him nearby the fence.
Omg, i think for Eustachia it was hell on earth
This is *Paul* with the friendly donkey who helped him out of the bawn.
And this is the proof... donkey are not dumb, as everyone says. They are very clever and helpful
This funny guy with the beautiful eyes is a guanaco, some sort of camel.
Hello little goat!
In the end of our visit we were so hungry. So we decided to eat a pesto-pastry, some salat and a baked potato with curd cheese.
Yummy!
What an exciting day! We had so much fun.
Love
Cilly
Posted May 5, 2012, 4:17 pm
How sad! He really became a good friend of me. But now it's time for him to continue his travel.
Byebye Paul and take care of you!
Maybe we'll meet one day again
Posted May 19, 2012, 7:31 pm
Today was an exciting day! Purple Tentacle invited us to learn archery...
So first we went to the fields nearby our house.
And this is our target, there in the back. It is made of straw.
Hahaha, Purple Tentacle is a very funny guy. He wants to take on the world
And from his point of view we need to learn how to fight. Today with bow and arrow
Gypsy, Wacky-Z and me payed attention on what he said.
This is our bow. It is a horsemans bow.
Hahaha, look at him how he lift up his little arm, while talking to us
And these are the arrows.
And another loooong monologue about arrows and how to use them correctly...
Then he told us, that we have to strike the target right in the middle.. Who'd have thunk?
Gypsy was the first archer! But she didn't score.
Then she gave the bow to Wacky-Z. His shots were much better than hers.
Congrats, Wacky! That was a great job!
I was the next one.
Let's have a look at the target..
Oh noo, no one hit!
But the arrows are close to the target...
..and i shot the shack
hahaha
When i arrived at the group they welcomed me with applause and a "Heey Cilly! Well done!"
And now our master wanted to show us how to do that...
But he didn't scored..
Well, he shot the little shack, but not the straw target
Purple Tentacle: So my friends. As you can see, we have to practice! Then one day we score with every shot! We have to practice, practice, practice aaaand PRACTICE!
Cilly, Wacky-Z and Gypsy chorus: Yes, we will!
Hahaha, i think this is no job for a little girl like me. But, i said "yes we will!" to make Purple Tentacle happy. But don't tell him
After some more shots we enjoyed the sun..
..and relaxed a bit. Phew, archery is very exhausting!
Bye mommy
Yours
Cilly
Posted May 26, 2012, 2:03 pm
Today we did a little roadtrip with my hostmom Eustachia.
First we drove to Marburg.
And Eustachia bought some new stuff at an archery store.
Unfortunately we had no time to visit the city and take some photos. Maybe next time
Then we continued our travel to Frankenberg, and Biedenkopf...
Posted May 26, 2012, 2:10 pm
What a beautiful view over Biedenkopf!
As you can see, the crazy Purple Tentacle was here too. And.. it's just what i expected.. he wants to force the castle
To scale this castle wasn't that easy, but my purple friend was very motivated!
And so we tried to keep up with him.
Only one more step...
We just managed it! Phew.. that was hard!
Hmm, yes, now we had a better view..
But that wasn't enough for Purple Tentacle. He told us, that he wants to assault the tower too! Oh my god.. This guy is insane!
Here is some Information about the castle keep.
After some more steps we arrived at the top.
Woooow, this view is sooo great!
It was a bit stormy, so we have to cuddle up with everyone.
And finally Purple Tentacle wanted to capture the flag. Oh my goodness! Fortunately we could hold him back.
This is Biedenkopf. It looks much more beautiful from above
Time to step down...
.. with Purple Tentacle as our leader
That was a funny day!
I miss you mommy and wish you a nice weekend.
Greetings
Cilly
Posted May 26, 2012, 2:20 pm
She will continue her travel and her next stop is Berlin. She is very excited!
Everybody came to say goodbye.
Bye bye my beloved Gypsy! I will miss you so much! Take care!
Have a nice trip!
Cilly
Posted May 27, 2012, 3:04 pm
Today i was in Gießen at a shopping center.
We parked at the top of the parking garage and had a good view. You can see the Castle Gleiberg in the background.
Let's go shopping!
At the shopping mall was an exposition about the Stone Age. There were many animals and a sapient.
Aww, look at this cute little saber-toothed cat..
Oh cool, a tent...
waaahhhh...
uuh, that's better
time for a nap!
Let's move on..
Hmm, this guy is a bit scary, don't you think?
Do you like this hat? I love it!
Time for a tasyt and refreshing snack.. which one will i choose...
Spaghetti ice! Yummy
Later we went to "Fressnapf" to buy some food for Eustachia's cats Eloy and Cami and of course we watched the cute little animals at the store...
Awww, so cute!
Bye bye
Cilly
Posted Jun 8, 2012, 10:06 pm
Today we were in Erfurt. Eustachia was here for a conference and she asked us to come along with her.
This is our hotel room:
Yummy, some midnight snack
Posted Jun 8, 2012, 10:10 pm
This is our view outside the window..
eeehh.. not that pretty
but very green!
That's the hotel.
After Eustachias conference, we did a little sightseeing tour through Erfurt by car. Unfortunately we hadn't so much time, but it was enough to take some pictures of the city.
Here are some impressions of Erfurt.
On our way back home we passed a huge wind farm.
.. and some nice mountains with castles.. eeehh .. sorry for that bad photoshot.
That was a nice trip and we had a lot of fun together.
Best wishes
Cilly
Posted Jun 8, 2012, 10:15 pm
It's a grey dragon and he introduced himself as Ziggy Dragon. But what.. whaaaa.. what's that?
Another Wacky arrived!
Oh my god.. this is going to become very stressful..
But i think they'll have a loooooot of fun together. Hihi
Chorus:" It's Wacky! Zingooooz Man!"
Then we all welcomed Ziggy Dragon.
Purple Tentacle opended the second package.
He stared into the envelope and it seems the TV inside was a bit scared...
So, Wacky gave Purple Tentacle a push, smiled into the envelope and helped the TV to come out of it..
It is Fiete, a little cow.
Hello and welcome, Fiete.
Then we all read the postcard, Tamina (one of hostmoms TVs) send to us.
Posted Jun 8, 2012, 10:32 pm
I'm a bit sad, because we spend a very funny time together and he always made me smile.
Goodbye my funny yellow friend. I love you and i'll miss you so much. I wish you a nice travel and hope to see you again one day.
Byye Wackyyyy
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 4:26 pm
Today we're going on a trip to the Metalfest Austria!
But first we need to stop in Nuremberg, to buy shoes for hostmom and hostdad
This is the underground store in Nuremberg. They have a lot of shoes!
Oh my god.. what's that? Eeeehhh, this heel is a bit too high for a metal festival.. in my opinion...
Eustachia and hostdad bought this underground boots
So let's continue our travel to Austria!
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 4:41 pm
Haha Mining.. what a funny name
Here are some pictures from our journey to Mining:
It's coming closer...
Oh wow, here we are! There in the background is a tent from the festival square
First of all we pitched our tents and a pavilion. And we are lucky, it's not raining and the ground is dry. Perfect!
The beige one is our tent!
But ohoh.. take a look at the sky in the background..
Some minutes later it started raining, but everybody pitched his tent and we sat under the pavilion
so everything was fine!
In the evening we drank punch out of luminous glasses. Isn't that cool?
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 5:10 pm
So first we need to exchange our ticket for a festival wristbands at this shack. Oh mommy, do not wonder why i'm not at the picture. I took this photo of Purple Tentacle and we forgot to take a picture of me
There in the background is the merchandise, where you can buy festival stuff and t-shirts or sweater of your favorite band...
Here i'm watching the band "Powerwolf". They are a german Power metal band, created in 2003. They sound great!!! And i completed one of my life missions
Hihih, everybody is dressed in black!
I think i'm wearing the wrong clothes for this event...
Later that day we had a severe storm! It was raining, with hail, thunderbolt and it was sooo stormy.
I was at the tent with Eustachia and the other TVs as it start raining heavily and then turned into hail with a severe storm. We held the tent that it not will lift, but we had so many tent pegs, that nothing could happened
But i was a bit scared.
As we came out of the tent we heard many peoples jubilate all over the camping ground and had a feeling of relief that the storm is over.
Everyone of our Viennese friends was wet to the bones
and the pavilion was damaged.
The whole area around us was desolate!
Here you can see Purple Tentacle watching the hailstones..
And OH MY GOD! There is a little lake in front of the food stands
Later in the evening the presenter of the festival gave notice of a new storm coming up. So we decided to escape to into the cars if it comes back again. But fortunately we had only some raindrops.
Our tent was dry, so we slept well this night. But one tent of our friends was comepletely wet so they had to sleep in the cars
poor ones.
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 5:15 pm
We listened to some bands, drunk a lot and played drinking-dart. Hihihi.
The one with the fewest points has to drink!
Well, my throw wasn't that bad
So we had a lot of fun! And hey.. we still got a pavilion
Yeaah, without a roof, but even a pavilion
This is heavy metal!
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 5:20 pm
Nothing new for today. We listened to some bands, ate and drunk a lot.
Tomorrow is day of departure!
Your
Cilly
Posted Jun 15, 2012, 5:26 pm
We woke up too early in the morning. But we had to pack our things and drive back homewards.
As you can see, almost all our neighbours at the camping ground are already gone..
That was a nice trip and it was very interesting for me to visit a metal festival! We had so much fun and maybe i come back here one day
Bye bye Austria!
Cilly
Posted Jun 19, 2012, 10:24 pm
But i have a leaving present for my friends here. Let's see if they like it
Helloooooo! *rolling, rolling*
I have something for yoooouuuuu!
Today i have to leave you
, because my next host is waiting for me. I'm sad to leave you but i'm also happy to start into a new adventure!
I spend such a great time here with you and this is my leaving present for all of you. I hope you like it
This little shopping cart is for you! To do crazy things, races,.. whatever you want to do
Fiete: "First!"
Fiete, be careful!
Ziggy Dragon: "Oh yeah, this is sooo cool!"
Fiete, i think it's better for you to sit here in the front seat...
Oh my god, Purple Tentacle squeezes in, too
Purple Tentacle: "Get out of the way! Woohooo!"
Mr Pumba: "I will push it!"
Well, i think they like my present
Okay, enough for now. Please have a rest and sit here next to me.
This is a fortune cookie and i want to share it with you.
What does the future hold for us?
Small problems only disappear with a brave heart.
Great! This will be my credo for this year! And now, enjoy..
Finally i want a biiiiiiig hug from all of you together!
*cuddle*
*cuddle*
I will miss you so much! Thanks for the nice time here. I hope we'll meet one day again. *cuddle cuddle cuddle*
Okay,okay. Now you can play some more..
I'm happy that you like my present.
Look mommy, what Eustachia gave me for my upcoming travel. An ID-Card
(sorry for the bad picture quality, it's getting darker and darker and we're at the balcony )
Let's fill in!
I had a wonderful time here in Laubach. Thanks to all the TVs i met here and a special thank to Eustachia for hosting me
Bye bye
Cilly
Posted Jun 22, 2012, 1:09 pm
Finally I arrive here in Boksee, in the north of Germany.
Today it's very windy and I has to be careful not to fly away.
So here comes my first photo.
Oh, and not that I forget it: Today is the quarterfinal of the european soccer championship. And of course everyone here hope Gemany will win.
Posted Jun 25, 2012, 11:57 am
today we visit the center of Kiel.
The first picture shows the art museum from Kiel,
and the second shows the NDR (North German Radio/Television) stage, which is there every year during the Kiel week.
And on the third photo you can see the international market where you can eat foot from all over the world.
Bye for now
Cilly
Posted Jul 1, 2012, 5:47 pm
in the last days happen a lot things
and I totally forgot to upload the pictures I made at the end of the Kiel week, during the sailing regatta.
I made some photos at the beach and if you look in the background you can see the little ships.
Later I try to took a picture with all the flaggs of the regatta starter.
And in the end we visit the board, on which it says who won sailing in the olymic summer games 1972.
Your Cilly
Posted Jul 17, 2012, 12:36 pm
yesterday we visit the Balloon-festival.
There are 15 balloons starting at the same time and in the end there was a fantastic firework.
And after that we ate at a restaurant.
We had a lot of luck, cause the weather was fine.
Posted Aug 19, 2012, 4:45 pm
greetings from Denmark.
So I and my host-family spend our summerholidays at the North Sea.
We spend the hole day at the beach.
I send a postcard home and hope she arrives soon.
Your Cilly
Posted Oct 11, 2012, 5:47 pm
you remember the kiel week?
There I buy some souvenirs and today I send them
in a letter to you.
I hope they will arrive soon
Your Cilly
Posted Jan 31, 2013, 12:15 pm
we celebrate christmas with a small tree, but we decorate it very well.
It was a great evening with a delicious meal.
And I get a plate full of candys.
Posted Jan 31, 2013, 12:18 pm
today we arrived in Staberdorf on Fehmarn.
First we went to the beach, which is called Staberhuk.
I see a lot of very big rocks and a controll tower.
We go fising til it was dark.
Posted Jan 31, 2013, 12:21 pm
We're drive to the north beach of Fehmarn.
This beach is beautifuller I think, because here are less rocks
and more sand.
Posted Apr 14, 2013, 1:07 pm
After a not too long travel, I arrived happily in Vienna- just in time to take part in a weekend trip to a spa.
The other toyvoyagers were so happy that I joined them, that we started our holiday with a glass of wine. But we did not want to drink too much, as we wanted to make most of our spa experience. That's why we decided to go swimming and have as many baths as possible.
It was a really nice weekend trip, and now I'm already looking forward to see more of Vienna
Posted Apr 25, 2013, 6:40 am
Today we did something very special- but I won't tell you right now what it was, but only tell you what we did in the morning- and you have to guess what we did later
First we drove to Wiener Neustadt, which is a smallish city near Vienna. Once we had arrived at our destination, host mum gave us a map, and asked us to look up the way to Niederöblarn, which is in Styria.
Once we had done this, we went to another room, and it was all clear to me
Posted Apr 25, 2013, 6:46 am
I couldn'T believe it at first, but it all was true. We were in a room, with lots of planes, and one of them was ours for the day.
We were allowed to climb on it before we had to go to the fuel station, where we had another chance to get a good look at the plane.
I have to tell you- the insides of a plane look soooo confusing
there are so many different buttons and sticks and stuff...
Posted Apr 25, 2013, 6:55 am
First we passed lowlands, but since a large part of Austria are the Alps, we soon passed smallish mountains, and then bigger ones, then we flew into the Ennstal (you can see the river on the picture). The Ennstal is surrounded by really huge mountains, one of them (the last few pictures) is called the Grimmig- which reminded me of the Grimm fairy tales, which often take place in such a setting
Posted Apr 25, 2013, 7:01 am
After our walk we flew back home again, which was especially cool because it was less cloudy.
It was such a cool trip
Posted May 5, 2013, 12:46 pm
Today we decided to cook for ourselves- we didn't know what at first, but in the end settled for something healthy- namely chicken wraps with salsa
Therefore we had to cut meat, and then I had to get chili from the balcony (for the salsa). We mixed together the various ingredients for the dish, and fried them in the pan.
Then the only thing left to do was to put the wrap together and enjoy it- it was so yummy
Posted May 17, 2013, 12:30 pm
Each of us go a different colored paper, and then after folding it the right was for a skite, we could give it our own design.,
I wanted to do some more folding and so my skite got two extra sheets of paper, and turned out to be a quite nice lookin guy, don't you think?
i also like the other skites quite a lot, and hope we will be able to test them soon
Love, Cilly
Posted May 23, 2013, 7:20 pm
Today we went to the Steffl Kirtag. This is a fair around Austria's largest church, St. Stephen's cathedral. It is also a very old church- it was build in 1137!!!
But it wasn't finished- in fact it is not even finished today, because the second tower has never been completed
There is a Sage about why this is the case. Sagen are typical Austrian legends about buildings, statues, or other significant features in for example landscapes. Of course I wanted to know the story.
It goes like that:
A young architect was in love with the daughter of the man in charge of building St. Stephen's. The father wasn't too happy about this love, as the young architect was rather poor, and therefore not the best choice for his daughter to marry. That's why he gave him the task of completing the second tower, which had caused so many problems, that it seemed impossible, to ever complete it. So of course the young man was devastated. He went to a bar where he wanted to drink away his worries. There he met a strange guy, who told him, that he was able to help him, he would only have to make a pact with him. He was the devil.
The young man made the pact, which was that the devil would help him, as long as he didn'T speak the name of one of the saints. If he did, his sould would belong to the devil.
The tower was nearly completed when the architect was standing on the top of the almost finished towas and saw his love going into the church. He called her name in greeting- Maria- and that's when he fell off the tower.
That is such a cool story- yet it isn't quite true. Fact is that the style of the building went out of fashion during its long building phase. That is why it wasn't completed.
On our way home we went past a Heuriger- That's a typical Vienniese restaurant. It was visited by sooooooo many toys.
Love, Cilly
Posted Jun 3, 2013, 1:31 pm
You will never guess, where I've been for two days!( Well, you might do, as you've read the location of the entry.... )We've been to Thailand!!!!
It was only for a very short time, so there will ony be one entry about it. But even though it was for such a short time, I really loved it!
We went to the Memorial bridge- ok, we really wanted to go to Grand palace, the former residence of the king, but got out at the wrong station, and so we were at Memorial Bridge- there was a nice temple there though.
Because we were at the worng place, we were able to go to another temple, Wat Pho. What Pho is surrounded by four chedis (even though you only get a good look at two of them on the picture) The chedis resemble a bell, which is a lucky symbol in Thailand. In them there are the ashes of four former kings of Thailand.
the next few picture were taken at the Grand palace. It is build very beautifully with lots of statues, which are meant to protect it from bad spirits. Again you might notice, that on the roofs of the buildings there are lots of bells.
From our room we enjoyed the most stunning view above Bangkok. I really enjoyed this trip a lot.
Posted Jul 4, 2013, 1:02 pm
Today we went to Langenlois- or to be more exact, to a vineyard in Langenlois, namey the Loisium.
At the Loisium we met Fridolin the vineyard's mouse, who told us about the vineyard in front of the main building. This buillding is very interesting in itself, as it was build to mirror the seasons and the vineyard in front of it.
The vineyard is a young one. But it already is full with enough fruits to make wine from them- which means that it has to be older than five years, because it takes that long for the vine to carry fruit.
We crossed the vineyard to enter a very interesting building, which is the entrance to the cellars. There are symbols all over it. These symbols are meant to tell the history of wine in Austria.
Posted Jul 4, 2013, 1:12 pm
We also met the cellar cat, who is able to tell which barrel contains the best wine. This is the case because the best wine produces the most heat, while being in the barrel. As a result the barrel is warmer than the others, and the cat prefers it to the others.
We also had a look at how the barrels are produced. Unfortunately the guy who makes them wasn't there to explain anything in much detail, but we could nevertheless get a good impression of how much work it is.
We were also allowed to have a look around the former house of the "Winzer". It was really old, and really nice to look at.
Last, we tried to guess the smells and tastes of wine. Therefore we had to smell on bottles, and then guess what fruit or spice would smell like that. It was quite hard to do, but so much fun!
Love Cilly
Posted Jul 17, 2013, 1:09 pm
Currently we are so busy doing things, that we hardly find time to update- this also will be only a short one- then I'll have to go off again
The last days we had a blast in Linz, going swimming in a beautiful lake, and playing cards- it was so much fun
Then host mum told us that a surprise was waiting for us- I'm going to tell you more about it, in my next update
Love, Cilly
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 8:32 pm
Remeber that last time I wrote my entry, I mentioned a suprise?
Guess what- we were about to fly again!
And this time we were even going to fly to another country, namely to Slowenia, to go sightseeing for a day!
So we had to look at the flight map of Slowenia, in order not to fly into the airspace of Ljubljana city. (We were going to Portoroz, which is on the coast of slowenia.
Then we had to look for the shortest way to go from Vienna to Slowenia- of course we wanted a direct, which would mean that we would not have to fly past certain points, but go directly to Slowenia- but, because you can never be sure to actually get one, we had to look up our waypoints.
Then we fueled the plane- and up we went
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 8:48 pm
Well, the sightseeing from up above was not as impressive as the first time because we were not flying past any big mountains, but nevertheless we got good views of cities like Graz, and Ljubljana, and also some rivers.
I really was impressed by the view of Slowenia's coast- it looked so great!
Posted Jul 23, 2013, 8:51 pm
Piran is a really beautiful old city at Slowenia's coast, and when you are lucky (as we were) you can even look from Piran to Italy
I enjoyed myself so much this day, it really was something special
Love, Cilly
Posted Jul 26, 2013, 5:38 pm
Today we asked hostmum if we could spend the night at a place, that was likely to be haunted- you know we wanted to experience a really spooky night (especially because i do not believe in ghosts- but I expected I could play some nice tricks on the others
)
That's why when we sat in front of the fire, I asked the others if I should tell them a ghost story
Obviously, as mentioned before I do not believe in ghosts, but I quite like to scare my friends a bit with a good ghost story. What I did not see then, is that we were indeed surrounded by ghosts
Well, we did not see or hear the ghosts then, but what we heard was quite a funny noise- so of course we bravely went (well, behind Susy- just to make sure nothing would happen to her- she is such a small toyvoyager, and somebody needs to have her back
) to the source of the noise- a strange looking house- it was really quite frightening- but when we took a closer look, we were greeted by a. piglet- Andrea Piglet- another toyvoyager, who had chosen to camp there.
We immediately stopped our scary night out, in order to get a nice and cosy talk- it seems like a.piglet. is most likely to spend some time with us
It was quite an exciting experience!
Posted Aug 2, 2013, 1:33 pm
but let me not get ahead of myself....
We were staying near a river, as it was so hot. Actually we wanted to build a boat- but as Störte appeared we would not find the time anymore. We were really suprised when we saw him- a menacingly looking pirate on a raft?- it is simply not something you see every day
It looked like he was planning to rob us, but as he came closer he became very friendly, and now we're already good friends
Posted Aug 8, 2013, 8:38 pm
That is exactly why we went up the Rax today. The Rax is one of the highest mountains near Vienna.
It was so nice escaping the heat of the city, especially since today it was 40 degrees!
Furthermore we could enjoy the most wonderful view from up above (even though Andrea Piglet was a bit afraid of the height)
It really was a wonderful day!
Posted Sep 8, 2013, 2:41 pm
I am quite a bit late for my last entry of Vienna, because I've not been there for a week now, but neverthess I have to do it anyway. That is because of the most legendary goodbye party ever.
We were all supposed to dress up, and of course I had so many ideas what to dress up as
in the end I settled for a Mickey costume, and it turned out to be great. I was quite curious to see the ideas of the others- and they were all so great!!!! I really loved them.
Mr. Moose dressed up as Harry Potter (hilarious!), Störte dressed up as the mat hatter (genius), Susy dressed up as a lady bug (classy), Mr. Curious was Batman (he could really do that part in the next movie
), and Drescher was dressed upü as a flower
It was already so much fun, but then Störte even found us some bottles of rum and whiskey
I have no idea where he got it from, but I guess that'S pirate's secret well, so we had a nice party and then everyone fell asleep- except for me- and I was thinking, that this would be quite the perfect time to do some shots with me, and each toyvoyager I met- but I decorated them first I really think the pictures turned out great