lost_vampire Posted Jul 5, 2015, 5:04 pm |
these Pictures are from June 1st - June 20th
all Pics of my first adventures, can u find on my travel blog... because, the pics are to large for the upload. xo Taylor |
lost_vampire Posted Jul 5, 2015, 5:06 pm |
Today, i was at the 27th Thunderdome Internationals V8-Drivers
it was amazing xo Taylor |
lost_vampire Posted Jul 5, 2015, 5:09 pm |
Today we was at the Body World...
so amazing...and creepy... xo Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 16, 2015, 12:54 pm |
Hi Mum,
my host Katja found me in her mailbox today - this was a rather short trip There is also another ToyVoyager, Mishuta from Ukraine. Katja is saying Thank you for the cute crocheted flower. We found the perfect place for it. Later we went to the city for the first time. Wuppertal is - like the name says - built in and around the valley of river Wupper. You have rather steep slopes on both sides of the valley. Katja is living on the Southern slope, close to the central station and the city centre of Elberfeld, the largest district of Wuppertal. You can find stairs for pedestrians everywhere to make it easier to get down or uphill. The first picture was taken at the top of nearby stairs (here is even an elevator) with a good overview across the city. The skeleton of the Schwebebahn is also lying underneath our position. Wuppertal has more than 340.000 inhabitants and is known as the greenest of all German large towns. You can see parks and woodlands everywhere in and around the city. The Schwebebahn is one of the most important attractions of Wuppertal. This is one of 20 stations, built in a modern style. The track is mostly following river Wupper, only in the West of Wuppertal it is leaving the river bed and follows streets, it is even crossing the motorway A46. This is the famous playhouse. We strolled around the city for a while, walking towards the court centre. Here you can see the Schwebebahn station "Landgericht", rebuilt in its original historic style some years ago. You can find the local court, the district court, prosecution and the local labour court here. This is the main street along the valley axis, the B7. A few hundred meters apart it is a giant building site. The whole street area in front of the central station will be renovated until summer 2017, probably the largest building site within this area. When we walked back home, Katja took a zoomed picture from a higher point with a great overview. Almost home ... Bye for now Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 18, 2015, 1:55 pm |
Hi Mum,
I met the pets today. I head something splashing ... and saw the ferrets playing in the living room. Four ferret girls are living here. Shiva and Zaehnchen are already old ladies, 6,5 and 7 years old, and Molly and Lotte are much younger, almost 2 years old. Lotte and Molly are the ones who like to plash in the water (really soon there is NO water in the little basin) The ferrets picked some treats from us. This is Zaehnchen, the oldest ferret. Zaehnchen is sooo cute As it was rather hot today, we took the dog out later in the evening. We took a bus to some point on the Northern slope of the valley and walked home from there. First stop were two of the most important landmarks of Wuppertal, a water tower and a telecommunications tower. This is the water tower, visible from many places in the city because of its location on top of the Northern slope. It was built in 1927 and is 43 m tall. People are calling it "Atadösken". It reminded people of the packing of a formerly well known abrasive powder which was called "Ata". Next stop was the communications tower in the vicinity of the water tower. We walked through a housing area and entered a forest. The forest led into a lovely landscape park. From here we had to walk downhill for more than 6 km and came back home in the late evening. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 22, 2015, 12:32 pm |
Hi Mommy,
today we met one of Katja's friends and her dog and took a walk together. We also took our neighbour's dog Jule with us. We went to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas. These are the dogs, Pepe on the left and Jule on the right side. They are really good friends. All those green spaces need a bit maintenance. Here you can see the living lawn mowers A sheepherder is keeping his herd of sheep here. Every day they are wrangled to another lawn to keep the grass short. We also found this lawn with fruit trees, probably most them apple trees. This was another lovely trip Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 23, 2015, 7:16 am |
Hi Mum,
we visited the Botanical Garden today. It is located on a ridge in the bottom of Wupper valley. You can reach it from the city centre within a few minutes walking, also from my current home. This ridge is called "Hardt", it contains a lovely landscape park, the Botanical Garden, severeal playgrounds and an open air theatre. We went through the park first. Soon the entrance area of the Botanical garden was reached. The garden dates to 1890 when a botanical school garden was first created on a smaller terrain. Between 1908-1910 it relocated to today's site, the Villa of a textile manufactor named Eller, a former country house which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings. Elise Tower was built in 1838 A.D. as the garden's focal point. This is the villa, containing a nice café, and Elise Tower. I saw a pond with water plants. These are Angel's trumpets, originally from South America. Angel's trumpets are beautiful flowers, but extremely poisonous. Do you know this plant? It is tobacco. This is a bog garden with carnivorous plants. Elise Tower has a twin - an insect hotel built in a similar style. Blooming flowers everywhere! Here the villa once more. The villa is decorated with lots of beautiful mosaic. You can also find greenhouses with different kinds of plants here. It was too warm to have a look inside. Maybe another time, Katja promised. On some days you can climb to the outlook platform of Elise Tower. There is even a wedding chamber, marrying on Elise Tower is very popular here in Wuppertal. Katja had planned to meet a former colleague and friend in the city, so we set out on our way back. We stopped once more at an outlook point with a good view across the city in the valley. This is a church close to the park. Katja even showed us a part of the large building site in the city. Cheers! Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 23, 2015, 5:33 pm |
Hi Mum,
Katja was invited to accompany a friend to Essen, to take a walk around Lake Baldeney. Essen is a city in the central part of the Ruhr Area, about 40 minutes to drive from Wuppertal. In Essen river Ruhr forms the Lake Baldeney reservoir. There are six reservoirs along river Ruhr, Lake Baldeney is the largest one of those six. The reservoir was built in the 1930s years. Many kinds of water sports are performed here like sailing, rowing and canoeing, motorboats are allowed and windsurfing. The length of the lake is 7,8 km, which means we had to walk almost 16 km to circle it. Here we crossed the lake. We saw ducks, swans and moorhen everywhere. There is a mansion in the background of my last picture. It is Villa Huegel. This mansion was built by the Krupp family of industrialists in 1873 as a residence. Nowadays you can find an art gallery and the historical archive of the Krupp family and company there. Here is a zoomed photo. We reached the opposite end of the reservoir with a large weir and sluice. This is river Ruhr, much smaller beyond the weir. A ship was coming towards the sluice, but if would have lasted at least half an hour to see it getting through, so we went back to the car instead. I am soooo tired now! Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Jul 26, 2015, 5:45 pm |
Hi Mum,
today we went to Wuppertal-Barmen by Schwebebahn to take a walk on the Nordbahntrasse, a former railway track. In Germany lots of no longer used railway tracks are re-built to lanes for pedestrians and cyclists. This one here was closed 1999. Here you can see me inside the station. A train was coming in on the opposite side. Soon we reached Barmen, the second largest district of Wuppertal. Here we had to walk a few minutes to reach the former railway track, uphill of course From a larger bridge you have a stunning overview across the valley. When the weather is as nice as today, usually lots of people are using this lane. Most of the railway tracks were removed, one stayed for handcar trips. We found information boards at a former station. There were pictures of the different states of use of this railway track. We found fondly created gardens along the route. We saw many different districts, some of the older parts and also "newer" housing areas. We left the track at this station in the Northern part of the city centre. A city festival is held this weekend. Yesterday Katja wanted to go out with a friend, having a cocktail or two. Due to a heavy storm lots of events were cancelled within whole North Rhine-Westphalia, also the city festival here was closed at the late afternoon. Today everything is fine again. We walked through "Nordstadt", a district with lots of preserved historic buildings. Urban gardening in the surroundings of a church In the city centre Katja showed me a large fountain on the space in front of the city hall - a copy of a similar fountain in Trient, Italy. It was donated to the city in 1895. The festival is called "Elberfelder Cocktail" - cocktails everywhere There also several stages, here a rock band was playing. We enjoyed a cocktail (yes, in broad daylight) and walked home. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Aug 23, 2015, 9:42 pm |
Hi Mum,
today we started the day really comfortably and were picked up by a friend to take a longer walk in the surroundings. The first picture was taken after 10 minutes walking, still close to the railway track. This was looking much better, those woodlands in the background Soon we reached the forest. Once more we had to walk uphill and were rewarded by a great overview across the city in the valley. Later we changed from the previous path to another one, also a former railway track. This one is leading across the zoo. We walked on a bridge across the tigers enclosure. Unfortunately we did not see one of them. There is a really funny sign We left this lane in the so called "Zoo Quarter", a housing area with lots of lovely mansions and villas (one of the most costly residental areas in Wuppertal). Hollyhocks were blooming everywhere. We walked towards the Schwebebahn. We came along an interesting building - the Stadion am Zoo, a stadium which was opened in 1924, it is under monument protection. From here we went home by Schwebebahn. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Aug 23, 2015, 9:49 pm |
Hi Mum,
today I accompanied Katja to her workplace in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, the most Western district. Katja is working in an IP law firm. We went there by Schwebebahn. School holidays are still going on, so the station was nearly empty. The Schwebebahn was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. Here you can see one of 20 stations along the 13,3 km long route. It is called Ohligsmuehle. Getting to Vohwinkel took us about 15 minutes. In the afternoon, after work, we took a short walk in Vohwinkel. The building with the tower is the city hall. One of the two terminal stops of the Schwebebahn is in Vohwinkel. The trains are changing their direction here and also can be detoured in a special garage for repair or maintenance works. In Vohwinkel the Schwebebahn is not following river Wupper, but the main street. We walked through some side streets then. Most houses are much smaller than those in Elberfeld, where I am living currently. Back on the main street. From here you can also see that there are lots of woodland areas surrounding the city. We went back to the Schwebebahn here, at the last station before the motorway is crossed. Katja told me that we would visit a friend in the evening, she is living in Remscheid, where Katja also lived until last year. |
olgamaus Posted Aug 23, 2015, 9:55 pm |
In the evening we went to the neighbour city Remscheid by bus and walked to Katja's friend. She is living in the city centre. Landmarks in the city centre are the water tower ...
and the nearby city hall. There is a large open space in front of the city hall. Here you can find a tall pile with a lion on it, the heraldic animal of both Remscheid and Wuppertal. I found a funny sculpture: A boy with an umbrella (because it is raining very often here) and two dogs (one of them peeing ). Our way led us through the shopping street and the main entrance of the shopping mall. We bought some ice cream and reached our friend's house soon. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Aug 30, 2015, 9:23 pm |
Hi Mum,
today my host visited a flea market in the district Barmen. Of couse we got there by Schwebebahn. We walked through the pedestrian area towards the city hall, behind it was the flea market taking place. Wuppertal has nine twin cities in England, France, Israel, Slowakia, Poland, Nicaragua, Russia and Berlin-Schöneberg and Schwerin in the former German Democratic Republic - you can find them on this sign in front of the city hall. A beach party was taking place here! On the flea market it was too crowded to take pictures. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Aug 30, 2015, 9:35 pm |
Hi Mum,
today we took a long walk in the early evening. As almost always we took our neighbour's dog Jule with us, she also loves long walks. From my current home we have to walk uphill for some time to reach the forest. First we crossed a small park. Next stop was the company building of a local insurance company, an interesting building with a stunning overview across the city. We had to leave the forest. Next we crossed an allotment garden area which is located above the university. Another garden area ... Here you can find hiking paths going through these allotment gardens, so they are open for everyone to walk through. We crossed another lovely park, than we had to walk back home along the streets. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Sep 14, 2015, 8:58 pm |
Hi Mum,
today I met a lot of ToyVoyagers and their current hosts Strunki and BlackCat. We took a group photo close to the Schwebebahn station Zoo / Stadion. What an impressive bunch of ToyVoyagers Zoo?! Yes, we visited the Zoo. The zoo was founded in 1879. The sea lions were fed when visited their enclosure. A nice young man explained a lot around the sea lions. There even was a baby which was born this summer, a real cutie These are the emperor penguins, they are living here in the second largest enclosure within Europe. We also visited a house for birds with a specially designed hall, where freely flying birds (and also some butterflies) can be observed. This beautiful bird was really curius, it came closer and closer towards us. I also saw one of the butterflies. Can you spot it in the following picture? Do you know these animals? They are maras, large relatives of guinea pigs, also from South America. Katja is especially fond of meerkats, she just loves them. Unfortunately they were hiding somewhere in their enclosure, only one of them came by for a moment. A lot of animals was asleep because it was rather hot outside. We all were hungry and managed to find a restaurant. Afterwards the zoo was closing soon and we had to leave. Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Sep 14, 2015, 9:03 pm |
Hi Mum,
we had a few days with really ugly weather. Today we met a friend, took the neighbour's dog and took a walk in a nearby forest and also a park. We enjoyed the sunshine. Later we bought flowers for the balcony. Katja told me that it would be time to leave to another host, that I should have gone with BlackCat when we met in the zoo, but we just forgot that Bye Taylor |
olgamaus Posted Sep 17, 2015, 2:34 pm |
Hi Mum,
today it was time to leave Wuppertal. I hopped into my envelope and now I am travelling to Essen to visit BlackCat. There are also some souvenirs on the way home to you Love Taylor |