Tsukumo, coming, home

WingedWolf Posted Nov 10, 2012, 11:42 am	Look what we found in the mail today! I was so excited to open it! ♥ It was a new TV called Zed Dog, he's so fluffy and cute! I gave him a hug <3 Later we shared some cookies for breakfast, they were so delicious! *___* I'm sure we will have a great time together! See you, Tsukumo
WingedWolf Posted Nov 13, 2012, 11:55 am	Wow, tonight when mommy and Zed Dog came back from the An Cafe concert in Munich they gave me that cool band shirt and bag! I was so happy that they thought about me  The goodies look so awesome! ♥ Bye, Tsukumo
WingedWolf Posted Nov 13, 2012, 12:02 pm	Yesterday was the beginning of the carnival season and also St. Martin's Day so me and Zed Dog got this delicious "Martinshörnchen" in the shape of a goose. Yummy ♥ XOXO, Tsukumo
WingedWolf Posted Nov 27, 2012, 12:39 pm	Today I went to the nearby woods with Zed Dog and mommy. It's her favorite place because there are seldom any people and it's a wonderful way to relax and think.  We're sitting on bridge parapet here Beautiful green field. Can you see me? ^_^ I like the view! You can see a part of Mantel in the background (the small houses). We took a short break on our way up the hill ^_^ Sitting on trees  This is where the woods begin. We found a few apples but they didn't look very tasty We also found a bird house, an abandoned deerstand and a pile of chestnuts. Another short rest in the woods. I was sitting on Zed Dog's head but he's a strong dog so he didn't mind The hearts mommy found when she went outside with Isidore the other day were still here. So cute! ♥ Hugs, Tsukumo
WingedWolf Posted Jan 29, 2013, 5:53 pm	Hey there, Brook came home today We helped him to get out of the envelope and gave him a biiiiiig hig  He brought a postcard from Italy, too! Later we helped him to climb back in the envelope because he's already travelling on to a new host. Huh, so busy but it was nice to see him save and sound again even if it was only for a short time. Love, Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Feb 11, 2013, 5:30 pm	Hi Mummy, I arrived at my new host's home today. My host Katja and ToyVoyager Paula gave me a warm welcome. My adventure started after having lunch when Katja said that we would take a walk and visit a riding stable with a friend. Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Feb 12, 2013, 8:22 am	Like Katja told us we went to a riding stable in the afternoon. One of her friends and her daughter are riding there, but today Angela went with us on a walk and let her daughter do all the work The riding stable is in Hueckeswagen, a small town surrounded by rural areas about 20 km apart from Remscheid, in the region "Oberbergisches Land". I met a lot of farm animals here. Horses, of course I also said hello to three cows. Cats and dogs were strolling around and I also went to the chicken. We took a walk than around an upstream temporary dam of river Wupper. We only had to walk a few minutes to get there. There are lots of hiking trails following this route. We crossed the dam here and walked back. This is the view towards the city of Hueckeswagen. We had a short rest and enjoyed the lovely landscape around before we had to walk uphill to the stable. We helped to feed the horses and went back home. It is also cold here, not only at home in Mantel Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Feb 19, 2013, 11:14 am	Hi Mummy, today the weather became much better unexpectedly. Of course we went out for a walk. We went to the neighbour city Wuppertal, to the district Cronenberg. It is an historic district with many old factory buildings. Here you can also find those lovely old houses like in Remscheid. Katja told us that we would walk to a  nearby woodland area. Most of the  snow already melted away. Soon we reached the forest, a very special one: An arboretum, Staatsforst Burgholz An arboretum is a collection of trees, sort of a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study. We went to "Staatsforst Burgholz", a woodland area which is situated in both urban area of Wuppertal and also the urban area of Solingen. When World War II was over, there were nearly all trees felled for rebuilding of destroyed city areas and also as firewood. Searching for fast-growing forest species trees from foreign counties were planted than in this area to study their growth in local weather conditions. Plants from North America, South America, Asia and Europe were planted. There are several walking paths through the arboretum. We decided to walk along a path showing trees of Northern America. The soil is partly covered with soft moss. Finally we walked through the sequoia tree area. Walking back we saw this historic train, situated on the "Sambatrasse", a former railway track,  now a walking trail. After enjoying so much sunshine we were very lazy in the afternoon, visiting a friend and having coffee. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Feb 25, 2013, 3:49 pm	Hi Mummy, we took a walk today in the forest with Katja and her broter-in-law. Remscheid is surrounded by forests, valleys and rural areas. Here you can see the city centre of Remscheid in the background, while we were walking through a district in the south of the municipal area. Soon we reached a forest. We walked downhill until we reached the sole of the valley. Of course a creek is running through the valley. You can also find some fish ponds along the creek, they are all frozen now. We had a lot of fun in the snow Our walk took nearly two and a half hour Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Feb 26, 2013, 1:27 pm	Hi Mummy, when Katja had her lunch break we took a walk in the city centre of Remscheid. Tsukumo accompanied us. First she showed us the city hall. The original city hall was nearly destroyed in World War II and rebuilt afterwards, in a more modern style. Its  tower is 48 m high. We went through the shopping mall ... ... towards the public library. There we looked for some DVDs and books, mostly thriller. We continued our city exploration. Here is the central bus station. This place is called "Markt", yes, there was the farmers market taking place today . You can also see one of the churches in the city centre. The shopping street ... We reached the main entrance of the shopping mall than. We had to buy a few things for dinner and return to "our" work place than Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 5, 2013, 10:09 am	Hi Mummy, although the weather was bad we took a long walk today in the outskirts of Remscheid. Even Katja's son accompanied us. We went to one of  the nearby valleys. The first signs of spring were visible. We reachend an interesting place, hiden in the forest - an historic hammer mill. Iron and steel were produced here since 15th century. A large millwheel was lying on the ground. We rested here for a while. Later we explored the estate. This is the rear side of the house. Katja told us that there was also a little pond with a weir. Currently the pond was nearly empty. We left the valley than and walked uphill towards the city centre of Remscheid. The snow nearly melted away last week. We walked through lovely hamlets. We also crossed on of the largest valleys, the one where industrialisation began in middle ages. Still nowadays a lot of companies are working here. From here we had to walk uphill for about half an hour to get back to the city centre on top of its hill. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 14, 2013, 7:57 am	Hi Mummy, last week we thought spring would come. But now it is snowing again. Nontheless I went with Gian TheFrog and Katja out later to buy a few things. In this quarter many lovely old houses survived World War II. Can you see the yellow house with the slate covered roof? It is the local court, there is also a large new annex . We went through an area with some historical industrial sites. This is the former slaughterhouse, situated at the "Route of  Tools" (Trasse des Werkzeugs), a closed railway track which is now a lane for pedestrians and cyclists, following the old track for about 5 km. There is even interesting artwork along the track, but many of it is now covered by the snow. Bye for today Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 14, 2013, 8:10 am	Hi Mummy, there is still snow, but at least it is a wonderful day with sunshine. We went to the district Luettringhausen to pick up Katja's daughter for a longer walk. Luettringhausen is one of the historic districts of Remscheid. Soon we went into the forest. We are planning to walk to Lennep, also an historic district. We reached a valley with a creek running through. Here in the valley we found an estate with lots of animals, also sheep. They are cameroon sheep. The sheep were curious if we brought food, but we did not have any. We found the remains of an old weir. We followed the path through the valley. There are even a few houses in the valley. When we left the valley and walked towards Lennep we saw the inner city of Luettringhausen in the background. To get to Lennep we followed a main road for some time until we reached the historical inner city. Here you can find lovely narrow lanes and those typical houses. This is the market place. Later we went home by bus. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 28, 2013, 8:01 am	Hi Mummy, this week most of the snow melted away. We all hope that spring will come soon! We took a walk to Germany's highest railway bridge, Muengsten Bridge. This railway bridge is connecting Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen, overspanning the valley of river Wupper. It took us a 40 minutes walk until we could have a first look at the bridge. We followed a hiking trail which is coming close to the bridge, but we intended to cross the river and walk on the other side of the valley. Very obviously we are still having winter We crossed the river and followed the hiking path, like the river meandering along the steep slope of the valely. Muengsten Bridge was built of steel, completed in 1907. It is about 480 m long and 107 m tall. There are extensive repair works going on in the last few years, and there will be more this year from April till at least October. Some years ago a leisure park was created under the bridge. You can find lawns here for relaxing, a crazy golf course, a restaurant, snack bars, a kiosk and playgrounds for kids. When we get home, we will have to wash our trousers and clean the shoes - the paths in the forest were incredibly muddy Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 28, 2013, 9:53 am	Hi Mummy, today we celebrates my friend Paula's birthday. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Mar 28, 2013, 10:15 am	Hi Mummy, today it was time to say good-bye to my friends here in Remscheid. I will travel to Paula's Mummy now to join the Big German Round Robin 2013. That sounds great! Bye Tsukumo
Shilo Posted Apr 2, 2013, 9:18 pm	Hello Mum. Today I arrived at Bochum. I could hear a lot of voices outside of my envelope. I couldn’t wait to get out seeing who will be there. When it finally opened I could see a lot of TVs who were waiting. There were Snowball, Angel, Peppi Pooh, Misslucy, Hoppsi, TezTez, Gwen Jolie and Cassiopeia. They all hugged me to welcome me here in Bochum. It was amazing to be welcomed by so many new friends. After that I showed the others what I had brought with me Because we were so many TVs here at the moment and some of us will travel on the next days we had the idea to take a group picture together. And Snowball took a picture with me for her memory album. The weather was better than the last days so we planned to take a walk outside. We visited a small park near our home.
Shilo Posted Apr 2, 2013, 10:05 pm	Happy Easter Mum. Today the weather was so nice that we went outside to search some spring flowers and with some luck the Easter bunny Look I really found some flowers and some Easter eggs. While we were walking around we saw a small playground. We took the chance and played a bit. When we got back home, we noticed that the Easter bunny was here and that he was hiding some Easter eggs into the living room. We were really good in searching and at the end we had found a lot of eggs. Happy Easter to everybody!
MA_17 Posted May 24, 2013, 10:17 pm	Hello Mommy, I arrived at my new hosts home. Ok, I arrived at a train station. While waiting at the station for somebody to pick me up I enjoyed the sun and met another TV who was also waiting. His name is Mr. Stanley and he arrived back from his journey. After a while we saw a pink cabriolet... Landroval, Troot and Alex jumped out of the car and welcomed us. We put all our stuff into the trunk of the car. We had so much sweets, magnets and big postcards, the trunk was even full! We jumped into the car and Crawfish brought us home. We were too many TVs so Alex had to use his own vehicle. Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted May 27, 2013, 10:29 pm	Hello Mommy, we did a short trip to the Muldestausee. It's the water reservoir of the river Mulde. It's an old abandoned open pit. Then we met a really big eagle (and lots of other big birds). Can you see me on top of these birds? Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 4:39 pm	Hello Mommy, we did a journey to the capital of Saxony-Anhalt: Magdeburg. It is one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. We had just 1,5 hours for a short walk. The first we saw in Magdeburg was The Green Citadel. A large, pink building of a modern architectural style designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and completed in 2005. There were trees on the building! One of Magdeburg's most impressive buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice with a height of 104 m (341.21 ft), making it the highest church building of eastern Germany. The area around the cathedral was also very interesting... In this park we found a monument of Kaiser Wilhelm I. This is the river Elbe. It's bigger than it should be. I heard a flood is coming! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 7:24 pm	Hello Mommy, we did a little trip by car just to watch the countryside! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 10:24 pm	Hey Mommy, no more updates for this week! I'm sure you watched the news and noticed about the flood in East Germany! There's water everywhere. The village where I stay is safe, but lots of villages around us are full of water. No places where we could go! But have a look at Crawfish's update of today! As she can swim she checked the water. We weren't allowed to go. Too dangerous! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 12, 2013, 8:41 pm	Hello Mommy, how are you? We did a sightseeing tour in the capital of Germany: Berlin! We started at the famous tv tower "Fernsehturm". It was constructed between 1965 and 1969 and with its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The tower is part of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT). This is the Red City Hall, the town hall of Berlin. It is located near Alexanderplatz and is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the landmark building dates from the facade design with red clinker bricks. The City Hall was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the north Italian High Renaissance. Then we visited the St. Nicholas' Church, the best-known building of the quarter Nicholas' Quarter which is the reconstructed historical heart of Berlin. It is the oldest church in town and it was built between 1220 and 1230. The last place we visited was the Berlin Cathedral which is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin. It was built in the 15th century. The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. That's all for now. See you soon! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 12, 2013, 9:04 pm	Today it was really warm outside so me and the other toyvoyagers enjoyed the day at a small lake. Just relaxing... Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 18, 2013, 10:02 pm	Hello Mommy, we did a little tour by car. Can you imagine that the people living in some of these houses have been evacuated just one week ago?! Look, I show you a picture taken without me just one week ago... ...and this is the same street today!!! Love you! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 21, 2013, 12:21 am	Hello Mommy, today the weather was perfect for a tour on bike! We visited the elevated dump of the village. It wasn't easy to go up that hill! But it was worth it! First I just saw the high wind wheels! Then I turned around and had a great view! It was better than you can see on the picture. We could see the next city which is about 50 kilometers away! Amazing! On our way back home we also found a geocache! This box was big enough for a toyvoyager! Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 21, 2013, 12:44 am	It's sunny. It's warm. Time to chill. Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jun 26, 2013, 10:35 am	Hello Mom, we did another tiny biking tour. First we stopped on a tiny river. On the other side there were some interesting birds... After biking for some more minutes we found this cute tiny waterfall. From there we crossed a lovely wooden bridge... ...and reached a nice lake. Here we relaxed for a while. Yours Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2013, 10:13 pm	Hello Mommy, today I visited the park of Wörlitz, which is a part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. While my host was taking part on a bike tour we Toyvoyagers decided to visit the park. The central Wörlitzer Park lies adjacent to the small town of Wörlitz at an anabranch of the Elbe river. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. Most buildings were designed by Erdmannsdorff, while the gardens were laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck. The gardens are protected from floods of the Elbe river in the north by a dam which is also a belt-walk offering numerous views along the park's sight lines. Wörlitz Palace finished in 1773, residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible. Louise had her private home in the adjacent Graues Haus (Grey House). At the eastern rim of the palace's garden stands the Wörlitz Synagogue built in 1790 as a rotunda modelled after the ancient "Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. The Neo-Gothic St Peter's Church in the west with its 66 m (217 ft) tall steeple was finished in 1809. The philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the aesthetic of Johann Joachim Winckelmann underlie the design of the park. Wörlitz Lake featured an island atop which was a model of Mount Vesuvius. The duke would stage fireworks that seemed to issue from an erupting volcano to entertain his guests. At the foot of the mountain on the island was a building intended to suggest William Hamilton's home at Pompeii. Few years ago my host worked as a tour guide in the castle and the park. This is the most famous building, the palace. We walked along the beautiful lake... We found old stones. This is the church. You can already see it when you're still 10km away from the city! There are lots of flowers, trees, stones... This stone is a volcano and it is called "Vesuv" like the famous one in Itlay! It was a really nice day. Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jul 10, 2013, 8:06 pm	Hello Mommy, the weather was beautiful so we decided to walk around a bit. First we found a nice square with some flowers. Then we walked to the famous Tiergarten. It is, with its 210 hectares (520 acres), the largest urban park of Berlin. After a while we found the Victory Column. It is a major tourist attraction to the city of Berlin. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy". I killed a lion!!! NO!!! I didn't! I just found the sleepy kitty near the Victory Column. He was purring the whole time. Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jul 13, 2013, 10:29 pm	Hello Mommy, we did a tour by bike. First we went through the garden of a castle and found a really nice building. Then we found the river Spree. Berlin has also lots of channels so we decided to follow one of them to go home. Your little Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jul 17, 2013, 8:56 pm	Hello Mommy, today the bell rang. We opened the door and welcomed 2 new toyvoyagers called Nathalie and Big foot. We all cuddled them. Then both showed us their souvenirs. Yours Tsukumo
MA_17 Posted Jul 20, 2013, 10:02 pm	Today I left the others. See ya soon.
fam-united Posted Aug 24, 2013, 5:29 pm	Today I arrived at my new host's place. They are really busy here it seems. Will we do something special in the afternoon? I will tell you more later. Bye, Tsukumo
fam-united Posted Aug 24, 2013, 5:35 pm	In the afternoon we drove to Ötigheim. Freilichtbühne Ötigheim is an open-air theatre in Baden-Württemberg. We were there to see "Heidi", which was really nice. Nevertheless we sat too far away to take more photos.
fam-united Posted Aug 25, 2013, 12:12 pm	Today we drove to Ulm. Ulm is a city in Baden-Württemberg,  located at the border of Swabian Jura to Bavaria and was founded around 850, but the oldest traceable settlement of the Ulm area began in the early Neolithic period, around 5000 BC. . Ulm lies at the point where the rivers Blau and Iller join the Danube. Internationally, Ulm is primarily known for having the church with the tallest steeple in the world, the Gothic minster (Ulm Minster, German: Ulmer Münster) and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein. The Minster is a Lutheran church. Although sometimes referred to as Ulm Cathedral because of its great size, the church is not a cathedral as it has never been the seat of a bishop. It is the tallest church in the world, and the 4th tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.5 metres (530 ft) and containing 768 steps. From the top level at 143 m (469 ft) there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze. The final stairwell to the top (known as the third Gallery) is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person. We had a wonderful view around, but the weather was not as nice as we would have liked it. It even started to drop. (wikipedia) Here you see the river Danube. The houses in my back belong to the so called Fischerviertel (fishermen's quarter), where we will go later. The houses on the other side of the river belong to the Bavarian city Neu-Ulm. The Rathaus (Town Hall), built in 1370, featuring some brilliantly-coloured murals dating from the mid-16th century. On the gable is an astronomical clock dating from 1520. Restored after serious damage in 1944. I've seen this nice fountain next to the town hall. There are many nice houses. I tried to find more information about this house without success. In the Fischerviertel you find a house named "Schiefes Haus" (crooked house), a 16th-century house today used as a hotel. It is really crooked. The river Blau (first photo) flows through Fischerviertel into river Danube (second photo).
fam-united Posted Aug 25, 2013, 2:20 pm	Today we drove to Blaubeuren. Blaubeuren has about 12 000 inhabitants. At first we visited the Blaubeuren Abbey, which was a house of the Benedictine Order. The monastery was founded in 1085. I love the halbtimbered houses. I'm sorry, but there was only a bit of battery left in my host's camera, so we had to safe it for the next place and couldn't take a photo inside the abbey.
fam-united Posted Aug 25, 2013, 2:50 pm	The Blautopf (German for Blue Pot; "blau" means blue, "topf" means pot) is a spring that serves as the source of the river Blau in the karst landscape on the Swabian Jura's southern edge. Numerous legends and folk tales refer to the Blautopf. Its characteristic colour was explained by the account that every day someone would pour a vat of ink into the Blautopf. Another myth stated that every time someone tried to measure the Blautopf's depth with a leaden sounding line, a water nix stole the sounding line. Therefore, it was not possible to determine the depth of the Blautopf. The entry to the Blauhöhle lies at a depth of about 18 metres (approximately 60 ft). Therefore, access is restricted to experienced and well-trained divers. The size of the Blautopf depends greatly on the level of rainfall, though it never entirely dries out. The Blautopf is the second largest spring in Germany, after the Aachtopf. he water's blue color is the result of chemical properties of limestone densely distributed in the water. We only could take one "bunch" photo due to the battery problem and because it started to rain. Near the Blautopf is a hammermill fed by the water of the spring.
fam-united Posted Aug 25, 2013, 3:08 pm	On our way back to Blaustein we had to drive through a bad thunderstorm and we even had to sit in the car in front of the house for half an hour, because the weather was so bad. But in the evening the sun was shining again and we decided to go on a little walk through Blaustein. This is a Szeklertor, a gate which was a present by a partner city of Blaustein. This is the river Blau again. I still think, that it shimmers blue sometimes. There is a small hill in the middle of the town, where we had a nice view around the town.
fam-united Posted Aug 25, 2013, 4:35 pm	Geislingen an der Steige is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The name relates to its location "on the climb" (an der steige) of a trade route over the Swabian Jura mountain range. Helfenstein Castle represents the remnants of the fortified castle (burg) Helfenstein of the counts of Helfenstein. During the peak of their power the Helfenstein family ruled Heidenheim, Blaubeuren, Wiesensteig and Sigmaringen. We really enjoyed the view over Geislingen and the hills. View from the castle to Ödenturm. Here I am in front of the Ödenturm. From here we had a nice view to Helfenstein castle.
olgamaus Posted Oct 5, 2013, 8:10 pm	Hi Mummy, the TV trail took me back to Remscheid, where I have already been in winter Two TVs, OleOrangescarf and nosyblue, another sheep, gave me a warm welcome. Of course my host Katja was also happy to see me. Katja told me that there were even more guests, but she did not know where they were hiding. In the afternoon we took a walk to the municpal park OleOrangescarf, accompanied us. From my current home it is only a few minutes walk to get there. Katja told us that you can often find allotment areas at the steep slopes of the city centre hill. This is not the municpaö park, but a small park which is situated opposite of the police headquarter. OleOrangescarf told me that these flowers were also growing in his Mummy's garden. We reached the municipal park than with the observatory and a reservoir in the entrance area. There is a pond in the park, ducks and turtles are living here. The municpal park is mostly a landscape park with old trees. There is also a more open area with this momorial dedicated to the dead of several wars in 18th and 19th century. There were still a few flowers blooming. Behind the fence there is another allotment area. In the background you can see the district Hasten lying in the sun. What a lovely sunny day! Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Oct 11, 2013, 3:45 pm	Hi Mummy, Hi Mummy, today I took part in a very special event: A ToyVoyagers meeting! Hostmum Katja met Strunki and mcdaniels at Strunki's home. There were 17 ToyVoyagers! There was a welcome sign for each "TV-Family". I came here with Kirin, Lamikins,nosyblue,RockyRaccoon, OleOrangescarf and KoalaMimi . We met Sargent Froggo,*Nick*,UrselHH,Laika,Gozer,Hase,Charlotte,HelmutBluepant,TheWotWots and Elmar. Strunki prepared a present for every guest Have a look - a neck kerchief, a scented candle, yummy chocolate and a lollipop. The ladies were starving, so we helped Strunki to finish the prepared lunch - spaghetti with vegetables. We explored the garden than. There is even a pond. Here is the whole flock of ToyVoyagers Finally there was a fantastic party with candy, chocolate and other delicacies,also a yummy liquor, Killepitsch. Maybe we enjoyed too much of this Killepitsch, a liquor delicacy based on herbs. Really weird things happened ... there was something wrong with my dress! Time to say goodbye! Love Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Oct 11, 2013, 4:48 pm	Hi Mummy, today we went to Winterberg in the Hochsauerland district, about 150 km apart from Remscheid. Winterberg is a famous winter sport resort. First we had to visit a family member in a hospital where we met more plushy visitors We also visited the nearby city centre. Although it was a Sunday most of the shops were open. Afterwards we to Kappe which is part of the Rothaar mountains. Here you can find the Winterberg bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track. They have to work hard on this construction site to have everything finished when the first snow will fall. You can use this funny thing to intensify the sounds of the forest. They are already preparing the pistes, they were covered with straw to keep the grass from growing further. There is also a nature trail on the mountain with the cute squirrel as mascot, sometimes we crossed it. There is also an area for mountain bikers with different downhill tracks in different levels of difficulty. Crossing wild pigs?! I do not hope so! This is the bobsleigh track. We even found a bobsleigh! Goodbye Winterberg! Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Oct 21, 2013, 3:43 pm	Hi Mummy, today it is a warm and sunny day. Katja promised to take me and one or two more guests on a walk. rSG Leo, the mascot of the local radio station, and Frederik, at iny mouse, came with us. Just in front of my current home there is a small park. Katja told us that she has planned a trip to the outskirts of Remscheid. The city centre of Remscheid is situated on a hill. To get to the outskirts in the North of Remscheid we had to cross a valley. It took us about 25 minutes to reach it. Than we had to walk uphill, through a woodland area. Soon the landscape changed to a more rural area with smaller farm houses, barns, fields and meadows. Can you see those towers in the background? This is the city centre of Remscheid with the tower of the city hall and the nearby water tower. We reached a smaller hamlet, called Grund, than. To get back home we had to cross the valley another time. This time we walked along a calm street with the creek next to it. There are a few houses in the valley, those houses covered with slate and the traditional green shutters. Walking towards the centre of the district Hasten we found a lot of industrial sites, partly even historic ones, between dwellings. A museum is situated in this Patrician villa, built in late 18th century. This is Hasten, one of the historic districts. Back home Katja told us that we would make a special trip tomorrow ... Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Oct 23, 2013, 2:19 pm	Hi Mummy, we visited a fantastic place today - the Bergische Museumsbahnen, a heritage tram museum. It is situated in the neighbour city Wuppertal and is operating its own tram line which was a regular tram line within Wuppertal until 1969. The museum line begins about 50 m east of the Kohlfurth bridge. Here one of 200 penguins taking part in the Pinguinale, which was taking place in 2006 to celebrate the 125th anniversy of Wuppertal Zoo. 200 penguins were painted by kids and artists. Nowadays you can find then all over the city area. At Kohlfurth bridge a penguin lady, dressed like a porter, is placed. This is the museum area with the depot and its outdoor facilities. Some trams was parked on the track outside the depot. You can find all kinds of historic rail vehicles here and also a model railway. We had a look at the depot than. So many trams! Actually there were no tram journeys for visitors today, but a very nice member of the staff liked the idea of Toyvoyagers so much that we were allowed to enter a tram and join a test run. This tram is originally from the 1920s years. This is the driver's cabin. Inside the tram ... The original line is winding its way through a woodland area to the district Cronenberg. We really enjoyed the trip through the forest. The route has a height difference of about 150 metres. Poor Kirin fell from the window sill. Each trip took about 15 minutes. Back in the museum area we had a look at the coat of arms of Wuppertal. A lion with a double tail is the heraldic animal. This is the tram line's time schedule. We went back to the car, but had a last look at river Wupper first. From here we drove to Cronenberg to take a walk in the Arboretum Burgholz. I remember that I have been here in winter this year, it was very interesting. We decided to walk along a path showing trees of Northern America. This is a coast redwood tree with its characteristic bark. These are the tiny cones of these western hemlocks. We reached a part of the forest which was rather dark, the trees were so dense. Giant sequoias! Our trip ended here and we went back home, enjoyed coffee and waffles there. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Nov 3, 2013, 4:10 pm	Hi Mummy, had had a fantastic Halloween party in the evening. We invited Strunki and all her guests to visit us. Our hosts prepared a lot of squirmy food for us. But first I have to show you my frightening costume. I am sure that the other TVs will be frightened to death We were all looking really scary Soon our guests arrived. We were nearly starving, so first we entered the buffet. There were ghosts, a fearsome head with an open brain, looking like fruit salad, dentures with horrible carnassials, sore eyeballs in sanies ... green glib with dead vampires ... Here is a group photograph of all those ghosts and mummies What a party! Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Nov 9, 2013, 10:53 am	Hi Mummy, we had horrible weather this week, no chance to visit any places. Today we helped to cook a delicious risotto, a vegetarian receipe with leek and mushroom. You also need an onion, a bit of garlic, olive oil, butter, vegetable stock, white wine, Emmenthal cheese, Parmesan cheese and of course this special rice, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Vegetables and cheese were already prepared ... ...while the rice had to boil. In the end all the ingridients were added to the rice. Yummy! Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Nov 11, 2013, 4:36 pm	Hi Mummy, we celebrated my birthday! I had my own birthday cake and all the TVs were singing for me. Katja even had a birthday gift for me. Look, I got a bag. Bye Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Nov 17, 2013, 12:05 pm	Hi Mummy, we visited Wuppertal today. Wuppertal is one of the neighbour cities of Remscheid, located in and around the valley of river Wupper.  With about 350.000 inhabitants Wuppertal is the largest city of the Bergisches Land. We went there by bus and started our trip close to the city centre. Here you can see the beautiful historical concert hall. From here we walked downhill towards the city centre. This tall building is a very characteristic one, visible from lots of places in the city. This building was even mirrored in a glass facade. One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (Schwebebahn), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. There are 20 stations, each of them built in another style. There are modern ones and also historic ones. All the trains are standing still because there was an accident about four weeks ago. Here you can see the track going into one of the stations. Ooohhh, a shop for us girls! Katja told us that we would visit a park than. On our way to get there we rested for a while and enjoyed the sunshine. In the background you can see the centre of justice with all court buildings. This is the district court and another station, this one was rebuilt in its original historic style last year. Than we walked uphill to a large area on a ridge, called "Hardtberg". Here you can find a fantastic landscape park. But first we had a good overview across the city. Those greenhouses and the tower in the background are part of the botanical garden which is also situated on Hardthöhe. We strolled through the large park. Isn't this a lovely view? --- This is a memorial for the dead of WW I. We decided to walk back to the city than. The beautiful city hall is hidden under a scaffolding. There is a large advertisement on it, this movie "King Ping" was made in Wuppertal. We walked through the shopping streets and later we went home by bus. Bye Tsukumo
fam-united Posted Nov 23, 2013, 5:46 pm	Today we went on a walk through Bruchsal. Bruchsal was first named in 976, but there are places, where people settled down before this date. It was in Bruchsal, where in 996 the word „ostarrichi“ was first mentioned in a document - it was the word for Österreich (Austria). Here is the baroque church St. Peter, of which I will show a closer view later. Inside it is baroque too. It is really nice. Bruchsal was destroyed to 80% during World War II., but in this part of Bruchsal you still can see some nice old houses. The river Saalbach flows through Bruchsal. We like to watch, how high the river is. Today it is about 30 centimetres. This is the building of the former slaughterhouse. Here we walked along the river Saalbach. We came back to the place were we looked for the depth of the river. There are some nice houses too. Behind the church St.Peter is the graveyard of Bruchsal. I will show you more pictures of the church later.
fam-united Posted Nov 23, 2013, 6:22 pm	Two days later the weather was nice again and so we decided to see some more places of Bruchsal. Here is the Bürgerpark (citizens' park) and a view to the community centre of Bruchsal. Next to this building you see the tower of the ancient castle. The tower is the only remaining part of this building. This is a street with some of the most beautiful old houses. Finally we came to the baroque palace. This is the tower of the church. On the left is the parish hall and the right building is a passageway, which leads to the church, which you see in the second picture. The Palace of the Speyer prince-bishops with more than 50 individual buildings. Built from 1722 under cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn, completed ca. 1760 by his successor, Cardinal Franz Christoph von Hutten. Amalienbrunnen (a fountain), designed in 1912 by Prof. Dr. Fritz Hirsch, is dedicated to Margravine Amalie von Baden (1754-1832), who after secularisation made the palace one of her domiciles when widowed. The palace was badly damaged during World War II. They rebuilt it and reopened it in 1975. They didn't rebuilt the inside of the church, though, and many people are disappointed, when they visit the baroque palace and want to see a baroque church too, but the costs would have been too high to built it the way it was. The left building is the main building of the palace. In the right part - opposite the church - is the chamber music hall. This is the backside of the church with church tower. We are on our way to the palace garden. Maybe you see the tops of the tents. There was no way to walk through the park as my hosts usually do. Do you see the sun dial? We walked through another gate to the frontside again. Did I tell you, that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father visited Bruchsal twice? We walked through the gate called Damianstor and left the palace area, which is a rather large area, I think. In the gate building you can visit art exhibitions. If you search for a place to eat a special meal, you can go to the restaurant Bären. It is rather expensive but if you look for something special it is really worth to go there.
fam-united Posted Nov 24, 2013, 11:05 am	Close to the palace area you pass by the prison of Bruchsal. It is a really interesting building at least from the outside. We went to the hospital. This is the oldest building of the hospital. Inside this building is a little chapel. It is very dark there, so it wasn't easy to take a nice photo with me. This is the parking place behind the hospital. From here you can see the backside of the building we were inside and another building, which belongs to the hospital. From the same place you can see the prison again. Here we are in the so called Stadtgarten, another park. The Belvedere on the edge of the "Stadtgarten" was built by Leonhard Stahl in 1756 as a hunting lodge for Prince Bishop Franz Christoph von Hutten. The location was chosen so that the lodge would command an unspoiled view of the palace, town and Rhine rift valley beyond. Especially worthy of note are the two towers, each of which has a viewing platform topped with a Chinese-style baldachin – an example of the fashion for chinoiserie prevalent at that time. Today, the Belvedere is used as a venue for concerts and theatre productions. From the top of Andreasstaffel, which leads up from Huttenstraße, you have a nice view over the roofs of Bruchsal. Here you see the roofs of houses, which belong to Huttenstraße, the tower of the ancient keep, the tower of the city church. The roofs in front of me belong to the older peoples' houses. In the far you can see the church St. Peter. Here you still can see the older peoples' houses and in the far you can see a grey building, which is next to the older people's houses. This grey building is a private catholic grammar school called St. Paulusheim. At the edge of the Stadtgarden you still can find some beautiful old houses. This is the catholic grammar school St. Paulusheim. The Klosterstraße is a street with old houses, too. Here we are in Engelsgasse, which led us back to the church St. Peter. In a small wall you still can see some very old crosses. The stairs leads to the graveyard. The Institute Sancta Maria was opened in 1908. Nowadays there still live some nuns and there is also a school for social pedagogy.
olgamaus Posted Nov 25, 2013, 5:35 pm	Hi Mummy, today we decided to take a walk at Wupper dam ( Wupper-Talsperre ). This dam is extremely large, you can not circle it when you just want to take a walk. Our track led us through a forest first. Finally we reached the lake. We rested for a while, sitting on those colored leaves. We went down to the lakefront. Later we found an information board with a map. We left the lake area than to walk back to the car, through a rural area this time. If only the weather had been better! Katja told me that I would travel home tomorrow. Although I love travelling I'll be happy to be home for a while. See you soon! Tsukumo
olgamaus Posted Nov 26, 2013, 1:35 pm	Hi Mummy, three TVs packed their things today, including me After having a good time and meeting nice other TVs I am on my home now. See you soon! Tsukumo

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