Elle, Alpnachstad, Switzerland

yumi Posted Jun 29, 2007, 10:14 pm	Hello. My name is Elle. I just received an id number and registered now! I haven't been outside of yumi's house before. Can't wait to starting my adventure!!
yumi Posted Aug 7, 2007, 2:08 pm	I have been waiting at Yumi's house for starting my journey for a while. Finally, I was sent to Florazoom in France today. My Europe tour has started now!! I'm really looking forward to meeting new people and toyvoyagers.
Florazoom Posted Aug 15, 2007, 9:33 am	Hi ! I'm fine ! I arrived in Arles yesterday. I'll give some news soon !!!
Florazoom Posted Aug 15, 2007, 9:19 pm	Today I cooked raspberries & chocolate pie ! Florazoom doesn't like raspberries but his boyfriend adore this fruits... Anyway, I like too and it was an exciting afternoon in the kitchen ! To make 6 little tarts: -1 tart pastry -300g of dark chocolate -200g of whipping cream -40g of butter -3 eggs (only the yellow part) -beautifull raspberries Bake the pastry in 6 small pans in the oven at 180°C or 356°F, with beans inside (to prevent the rising up) during 15minutes. Take off the beans and put back in the oven for 15 others minutes. Leave aside out the oven, the tarts have to be cool. Heat up the whipping cream in a casserole to make it hot but not too much ! Break the chocolate up. Take it in the hot cream, mix. Add the butter, mix. Add the eggs, mix. Pour on the tarts. Put on the fridge for 2 hours. Before to serve, add the raspberries on. **And we have an happy Ellephant !**
Florazoom Posted Aug 17, 2007, 8:15 am	I didn't see the city for the moment, I came to Florazoom's parents and I made Turtle-rinding !!! I ate a lot of biscuits too...
Mood Posted Oct 8, 2007, 10:54 am	Elle arrived today in St Orens ... Her travel was good. She has now discovered her new house. Of course she has been welcomed by Romeo the cat of the house who never had seen such a lovely elephant before!!!!
Mood Posted Oct 8, 2007, 11:14 am	Back from Gaillac, Mood took me to some friend's house for a pizza rugby evening ... ... to see the very big event of the year -> the french rugby team beat the All Black !!!!!! 20 to 18 ... not a big score, but a real feat as it seemed that the All Black team was unbeatable !! As you may see on the picture, the score was 10 to zero for the All Black, after only 25 minutes ... and everybody was anxious, and then, the french woke up and scored 2 tries thanks, notably, to Micha lak !!! I was afraid to get bored, but it was really funny to see Mood and her friends so enthousiastic to the match...
Mood Posted Oct 8, 2007, 4:57 pm	pffffffiouuuuuuuuuuuu ... Here I am back from a real marathon day !! I think that today, I have visited the four corners of Toulouse! I saw many things, buildings, people, but also these strange giant fowls : I was a bit scared (have you seen this big one?) But Mood explained me they weren't real : in fact it's an exhibition about the rugby french (strange) mascot : the French cockerel Indeed, Toulouse is one of the town that host the Rugby world cup, and  you cn't ignore it !! Rugby is everywhere!!! Fortunately, the weather was great, it looked like summer holidays. I find that people are very cool and friendly. So we went for a walk along the Garonne river Here I am in front of the Ramier Island where you can see many migratory birds and behind me is the Prairie des Filtres (Filter meadow) where all the rugby world cup matches are broadcasted on a giant screen... and the people !!!! (it was the France/ Georgie match) I was very curious to see closer so Mood took me there... We walked through the Tounis Embankement In the background is the Pont Neuf (new bridge) (the oldest of the town in fact) then here we are on the Prairie des Filtres : there was lots of people watching the match !!! Look at the man on the left with his Michalak tee-shirt And on the screen you can see a pile of  rugbymen : this is what they call the scrummage! (strange sport???) Anyway, I really loved this part of the town where you can spend time looking at the flyboat or sunbathing ... but today it was a rugbymen invasion, so we turned back to the Pont Neuf On the way I had a quick glance at this binoculars and then we have decided to take a drink to the Place du Capitole ... we went past the Hotel d'Assezat (Assezat mansion) here is the yard nice isn't it? Then we took the St Rome street that leads to the Capitole... here is an old half-timbered house and here is the Place du Capitole (the townhall) There is a big poster to support Toulouse's candidature as the next 2013 cultural capital city... I have visited the townhall : here are the beautiful stairs that lead to the Salle des illustres (illustrious room) where many weddings are celebrated (by the way Mood told m about a very good looking Elephonse ...???) You can see the red armchairs
Mood Posted Oct 8, 2007, 6:15 pm	Then we wandered threw the different street ... Here I am in the Alsace-Lorraine street (one of the main streets of the town, with many shops) with typical façades of the Haussmann era (Second Empire) I have spotted this chocolate shop that belongs to a very famous french pastry cook Yves Thuriès!!!! (yum yummmm) Then we went past the famous "Galeries Lafayette" (Lafayette department store) (Mood wanted to go inside to illustrate the french expression : un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine but unofrtunately, it was closed as we were sunday ... Have you seen this inscription? I don't know how to interpret it??? Anyway ... On our way back to the Capitole I stopped a while in front of this sculpture I really love it don't you ?????? And at last, after this long walk a good capuccino on a coffee pavement Place du Capitole and again : a rugby poster !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mood Posted Oct 8, 2007, 6:31 pm	The visit goes on ... to the Jacobins church... Founded in the XIIIth and XIVth centuries and built entirely of brick "it is a true gem of Languedoc Gothic art" Very severe and imposing don't you think? and very high too!! Have you seen the gargouilles The interior is very impressive !! Look at this "palmier" (palmtree) vault with 22 ribs supporting the roof of the polygonal choir. It rises up to 28 m!!! The church also contains St Thomas d'Aquin relics and here is the cloister, with its succession of gracious arches and the refectory, in which an exhibition was mounted Indeed, it's the seventh Printemps de Septembre festival (about contemporary art) and it shows "The Hamsterwheel project". .. I have to say that Mood and I were very doubtful in front of some strange pieces ?? But, I enjoyed this one!
Mood Posted Oct 9, 2007, 2:22 pm	Youhouuuuu !!! I'm just coming back from the Super fête of St Michel there were many rounds about like this one with my friend Dumbo and very good ice creams too !!! I met Barthelemy (Mistigree's new Toyvoyager) who invited me to the ghost train As you can see, I wasn't very reassured!! But in fact, we laughed like whales!!! It wasn't frightening at all... Then I have tried to catch these toyvyagers that were stucked in this window But they said they didn't want to travel so I left them ... and went to the big wheel .. woaouuhh it was wonderful !!!
Mood Posted Oct 11, 2007, 6:56 pm	Tonight, Mood took me to the cinema (Utopia) ... We had an appointment with Mistigree to see "Control" a film about Ian Curtis (Joy Division singer) I found this film very depressing... but Mood enjoyed it !!! (of course, she was one of the millions Joy division fans when she was younger) and you know what ? When we came back home, she was anxious to get out her old records and we HAD to listen to them !!!!!) (I tried discreetly to close my ears!!!!) She was completely excited as she was remembering her past ... while I was yawning and struggling against sleep!! Then she suggested a game : find the intruder among her antique collection! (at 3:00 in the morning!!!!) _________________________ Before the cinema, waiting for Mistigree, we went to another art gallery to see another Printemps de Septembre exhibition: I let you enjoy... The problem is that, there are no explanations, so Mood and I really found it quite incomprehensible as we don't know anything about contemporary art?? These sculptures are made by Elise Florenty and Rémy Jacquier, two young french artists As we may have understood (but are not really sure) it shows the inner ear ....
Mood Posted Oct 11, 2007, 9:22 pm	Hello again!!! Just one word to tell yoy how excited I am : tonight we are going to listen to a concert from the fabulous french band : Bumcello Do you know the french singer M ??? (if not, take care, he's wonderful!!!!) In fact, Bumcello is the name of his musicians (Vincent Segal and Cyril Atef), and tonight they invite the french flutist jazzman Magic Malik. It should be great promised Mood... I'll tell you ... __________________ Indeed !!! it WAS fantastic !!!!! They played about 2 hours ... and I really enjoyed them!!! They are so funny (look at the last pictures), and seem to get so happy playing together !!! It sometimes sounds like the music we can hear in old tv series like The Persuaders (Amicalement Vôtre in France) or like Lalo Shiffrin music... (because of the sound of the flute) mixed with oriental sounds and percussions ... really great!!!!
Mood Posted Oct 15, 2007, 6:45 pm	As you might know : French rugby team lost its 1/2 final against the english one ... everybody here is very disappointed... So, to forget this real drama, Mood and I went to the Japanese garden... Yum yummm, I really enjoyed these bamboo leaf it reminded me of my home in Japan with my dear Yumi !!! In fact this garden celebrates its 20th birthday It's quite nice (even if it has nothing to do with a real japanese garden). There are lanterns... ... and a tea house And I also met Taïsen Deshimarü ( a great zen master) who remains zen in every circumstances ... as you can see on the picture below!!!
Mood Posted Oct 21, 2007, 5:17 pm	Here I am in Gaillac (about 70 km from Toulouse) a town known for its famous vineyards... in the Tarn region But in fact, we went there because of its Books festival as you can see on this beautiful poster (made by Nathalie Novi, a french illustrator) As you can see I was her model !!!! Nice isn't it ??? It's quite a nice town, close to the river Tarn Behind me is the St Etienne Chapelle
Mood Posted Oct 21, 2007, 5:56 pm	Well ... I'm a bit sad because today is one of my last day with Mood before I join Tess ... So I wandered once again in Toulouse, and bought a small souvenir of the town (a medal of the Town by the Paris monnay): We took some tea near the Dalbade church in the quartier des Carmes
Mood Posted Oct 22, 2007, 3:50 pm	Well .. It's time to go .. I've just finished to write some notes in my travelbook and say Good Bye to Mood ... I'm on my way for new adventures !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you soon!!!
Tess Posted Nov 2, 2007, 10:01 am	Elle arrived  Today a sweet elephant arrived from France. Her name is Elle and she is originally from Japan. She was glad to get to meet the welcoming committee meaning our youngest dog and a stuffed cat that happened to be present.
Tess Posted Nov 2, 2007, 10:04 am	Later on we made a group picture to make sure she met the  strange but kind elephants in our house in the Netherlands. Elle sends her love to Mood and Yumi and wanted to say she is well and exciting to be here. {{Elle}} we welcome you Dutch Elephants A ssociation
Tess Posted Nov 2, 2007, 10:09 am	Maybe this week Elle is able to meet a mini Miffy because we have a little visitor who happens to have a little Miffy with him...Elle is very excited to hear this . Miffy is called Nijntje in our country , because the guy that originally  created the books and cartoon with the pictures of Miffy is a Dutch artist . He celebrated his 81 birthday this week
fam-united Posted Feb 11, 2008, 7:34 pm	Hi mum, I'm here in Bruchsal now. The first one I met besides my hosts, of course, was Chocolate Moose. It is a funny moose, just jumped on my back and I was a little shocked at first. But I think, we two will have a lot of fun. Petra will take me to her school tomorrow and she will show me "her" room. She didn't tell me anything more about it. I think, Chocolate Moose will join us.
fam-united Posted Feb 23, 2008, 10:20 pm	Today we were in Petra's school. I saw the children cutting out princesses and robbers. They were very busy walking to the board, because in front of it, we had all the pieces of cloth. Look at their work, I like it. I asked Petra to take a photo of the classroom too, while the pupils were in the longer break outside in the schoolyard.
fam-united Posted Feb 23, 2008, 10:29 pm	Two days later we were at her school again. We saw the room, where she stores the paper for paper handicrafts at her school. It is her job to order this paper and to buy new paper, before there is only too little of it here. It is also a room for other stuff, that you need in a school, but I didn't look at that
fam-united Posted Feb 23, 2008, 10:41 pm	In the morning we were at school again. I don't know, but maybe Petra wants us to sign up at her school??? I'm not sure, if I like this, but right now it is ok. Here you see the teacher's room, which is much too small for so many teachers. That's what Petra says, because I didn't see another teacher except her. When we arrived at home again, new guests had arrived too. Pandamao and Petra called it a group tour, because all three came in one package from Munich to Bruchsal: Amara Anthea, (Playmo)Bill and Fusco. Let's see, what we will do together. I'm sure, we will have fun. Too sad, that Petra has no time to do something with us until it's weekend.
fam-united Posted Feb 23, 2008, 11:06 pm	Since our new friends are here, it is raining and so we were happy, that Petra found a new handicraft, that is called Kumihimo. She ordered it from a catalog and I asked her, whether I can try it. I'm not so sure, whether I will be great at Kumihimo, but the result looks great, if you know, how to do it.
fam-united Posted Feb 28, 2008, 8:25 pm	Sabrina and her friend Cara wanted to spend some time with us today. Here you see me in house at a playground. Of course Chocolate Moose suddenly jumped on my back again. We are great friends now and I know, I will miss this little chocolate moose
fam-united Posted Feb 29, 2008, 9:00 pm	The next day Petra thought, that it is a good idea to show us a part of the palace garden, but we only had a little time and we still hope for better weather. So you only see me with the backside of the palace. The second photo shows the jailhouse ahead. It is a very interesting building, but hard to take photos of it, that's what Petra told me. There are "famous" murderers in this prison, what made me really feel unwell for a moment. The last photo shows a private grammar school, which was founded by patres of the Pallotti order. In the far you see the baroque church St. Peter
fam-united Posted Mar 1, 2008, 10:11 am	Today was a wonderful day. Petra told me, that we will drive to Mannheim to visit the Planetarium and see a show there. Unhappily she wasn't allowed to take photos in the hall, so you see me only with the Planetarium in my back.
fam-united Posted Mar 7, 2008, 2:20 pm	Tomorrow we will go to a birthday party. So I helped Petra to bake a biscuit cake. The whole family loves it, because it is easy to make and really tasty with the butter cream layers.
fam-united Posted Mar 7, 2008, 3:54 pm	I had a little sightseeing tour through Bruchsal today. Petra showed me the palace again and told me a little bit about the history of Bruchsal. Bruchsal was first named in 976 A.D, although the oldest settlement was discovered dated back to 640 A.D.. located near to the St. Peterskirche. Since then Bruchsal had been a place for Kings to visit and for Prince Bishops to live.  In 1rst March 1945 during the second world war about 1000 people lost their lifes. The inner city and baroque palace were destroyed and the palace was rebuilt during the 70th. palace backside church tower of the catholic church St.Damian and Hugo, which was also baroque until 1945, but was rebuilt rather modestly. The part with the three dormers is the church. On the left side you see the gate St. Damianstor, next to it you see the big red tower of the jailhouse. The building on the right side is the county court. While the palace is in the flat area of Bruchsal, which belongs to the Rhine valley, the Belvedere is at the edge to the Kraichgau. It was a former hunting lodge and is now used as theatre platform during summer. Close to it a few clubs celebrate garten parties in summer too. My hosts like to go there, when there is a party of a choir, in which some members of their families are singing. Next to the Belvedere is the oldest grammar school of Bruchsal, which uses the Stadtgarten, the park next to the Belvedere, as a school yard. Only a few stairs down from the place before, Petra showed me some views over Bruchsal. I just will try to remember the towers names, because I think, I forgot everything else. The tower on the left side is the old tower of the old castle of Bruchsal, which is called Bergfried. I remember, that there is the Bügerzentrum, where citizens meet for cultural events and where also is a restaurant. Then you see the tower of the city church, which is in the inner city, where the market place is located. And at last you see the Lutherkirche, which is one of the two evangelic churches of Bruchsal. On this photo you see the two towers of the baroque church St. Peter. And maybe you see a big building right under the crane. This building is called Sancta Maria and it is close to where I live right now. Next to me you see the older people houses, a new one with the orange colour and the roof in the right corner and the white building behind it is the old part. Behind this white building you see the grey building of St. Paulusheim, which is a private catholic grammar school, only open for Christian pupils, because they do many religious things in their free time. Now I'm in front of St. Peter. It is only a few metres from my hosts home to go. Petra told me, that this church is also baroque inside, but mostly it is closed. Standing nearer to the church I had this view to the grey building of St. Paulusheim again. Another view to St. Peter. I'm on the area of the graveyard right now. The graveyard is a very silent place with a wonderful view over Bruchsal, but it is hard for older people to walk there, because it always goes up and down. Maybe you remember, that I mentioned Sancta Maria. This building with its nice garden is on the left side of the photo. The left tower is the City church tower and the other tower is the one of St. Damian and Hugo.
fam-united Posted Mar 8, 2008, 10:46 am	Because the weather was much better than the days before, Petra took us to her school, where we had to wait for her in the car for hours. Then she drove to Untergrombach, which is one of the suburbs of Bruchsal. The Michaelsberg, a small hill - only 296m high, belongs to Untergrombach. You have a wonderful view over the Rhine valley and if the weather is very very good, you can see the Palatine Mountains in the far. 3500 - 2600 BC first signs of humans had been found on this place, the "Michelsberg culture". Here you see a part of Bruchsal . The quarry pond belongs to Untergrombach, which you see on this photo. This is the best view to see the Palatine Mountains on the horizon, but today we had no luck. You see another part of Untergrombach. You see, that it is also to the border of the Kraichgau, just the same as Bruchsal. This nice chapel is called Michaelskapelle and it is on top of the Michaelsberg. Petra told me, that there are many couples, that want to marry in this chapel. Here you see so-called "Steinriegel" (field clearance cairn), made by people working on their fields a long long time ago. They threw the big stones from their fields to the border of the neighbour's field, so that in the middle all stones were accumulated. Many animals and flowers love this gaunt places and that's why a few weeks ago, people cleaned the Steinriegel from all the earth, that came between the stone during the many many years and from all the other plants, that love to grow in earh. Another word I learned is "Magerrasen" (neglected grassland), which is typical for the Michaelsberg. Here we are still standing at the same place like before with view back to the chapel. You see the "Magerrasen". The Michaelsberg is nature reserve area, I'm sure, you already realized this too. Soon there will be beautiful seldom flowers and animals. We all wanted to go into the chapel and take some photos there too. It is nice baroque, not too many paintings or golden things.
fam-united Posted Mar 16, 2008, 3:10 pm	Today we had to say Goodbye to some of our friends: Lucky Bunny travels to India, Mocke, a really new toyvoyager, travels to England and Chocolate Moose will stay at the German border to the Netherlands and I travel to Munich now.
Pandamao Posted Mar 22, 2008, 3:22 pm	Hello Yumi, I have arrived in Munich. It is cold and windy but I hope spring will come soon.
Pandamao Posted Mar 22, 2008, 4:14 pm	Today I went for a little walk and saw the German museum (Science and Technic museum). It is built on a little island in the Isar river.
Pandamao Posted Mar 24, 2008, 11:14 pm	HAPPY EASTER! Today it's Easter Monday and Pandamao went to this little town in the Oberpfalz to see her dad and she took me along. We walked along the street and wondered what was going on in that little park opposite. When we came closer we saw that it was an "Easter fountain". In this part of Bavaria it's the custom to decorate the fountains with Easter eggs. There must be hundreds or thousands of eggs here. They really look beautiful.
Pandamao Posted Mar 28, 2008, 10:49 pm	I did some more sight-seeing today and went to the area where the Hofbräuhaus is located. The first photo shows the Orlando House and then I pose in the front of the nearby Hofbräuhaus. It is a huuuuuuuge beerhall. I also met some local bears. We had a nice conversation about TVs and traveling the world but the Bavarian bears did not want to join. Seems, that they would miss their Sunday morning beer Stammtisch (regulars' table) at the Hofbräuhaus too much.
Pandamao Posted Mar 28, 2008, 11:41 pm	Then I took a look at the "Alter Hof", which was the first residence of the Wittelsbach dynasty, built in the 13th century.
Pandamao Posted Apr 30, 2008, 9:25 pm	I took a tour to Feldafing at the Starnberger See (Starnberg Lake). First I had to cross the golf course - in the background you can see the lake. Then I helped my host to pick some bear's garlic which grows there wild.
Pandamao Posted Apr 30, 2008, 9:51 pm	I took a nice walk along the lake side (Starnberger See). The sun was shining, it was a beautiful spring day and I could even see the Alpes.
Pandamao Posted Apr 30, 2008, 10:13 pm	I helped my host with her shopping - the shops are just around the corner at the Gärtnerplatz with a beautiful opera house.
Pandamao Posted May 6, 2008, 10:39 pm	As it was a nice spring day we all went out for a walk to Türkenfeld. It's about 45 minutes with the train outside of Munich. The colours of the tree leaves are beautiful, you only find this colour in spring time.
Pandamao Posted May 6, 2008, 10:58 pm	Our host is very interested in herbs so we helped her to search for them. We found lots of blooming wild violets and helped our host to pick them because she wanted to make sirup of them. If we would not have helped her she surely would have needed a long time to fill the small container. Later we also found woodruff which will be dried and used for tea and food flavouring.
Pandamao Posted May 7, 2008, 9:52 pm	We went out for another walk to pick herbs at Türkenfeld. We found chickweed, deadnettle, chervil and lots of other herbs.
Pandamao Posted May 7, 2008, 10:27 pm	Yesterday we had sorrel soup for dinner (delicious!!) and today we used the herbs for chickweed salad, then deadnettle lasagna and wild herb quiche ... I could not resist and tried every single dish. For the quiche I helped to collect more than 10 herbs: chickweed, deadnettle, silverweed, yarrow, sorrel, stinging nettle, dandelion, meadow sweet, ribwort, beech leaves, daisies, chervil, violet leaves .... I think that's about all of them. And all of the dishes were really tasting great.
Pandamao Posted May 9, 2008, 11:08 pm	I'm leaving to learn more about Finland!
Delenna Posted May 19, 2008, 7:33 am	Elle has arrived safely to Porvoo, Finland! She will soon enjoy the fresh air and sights, just wait...
Delenna Posted May 20, 2008, 7:58 pm	Here I am, by the Baltic Sea! You can't see an open sea view as there's a lot of archipelago around. This is a very interesting part of the archipelago as the creator of Moomin spent her summers here, on one of the island. This has to be why Moominpappa loves the sea so much!
Delenna Posted May 22, 2008, 7:51 am	Konnichiwa! Today I visited the Suomenlinna fortress in Helsinki. Suomenlinna is a sea fortress made up of a series of fortification works (on 8 small islands), so it is not a single fortress building. It's also a suburb of Helsinki so regular peopple live there in regular houses. They even have a kindergarden, a store, library - and a prison! In the first photos I'm leaving the dock in Helsinki City and approaching Suomenlinna. You can also see the ferry we took (me, my host and a bunch of tv's). The views are amazing don't you think? Especially the ones we saw while walking on the wall. I'm glad the weather was this good! I saw a few cannons and the subrarine named Vesikko that was used in the II World War. In the 3rd last photo there's the King’s Gate which is a symbol of Suomenlinna. It was built in 1753-54 as a parade gate for the fortress. It's really huge! You could see it better from further away, but we couldn't do it as further away meant the Baltic Sea! In the 2nd last photo is the tomb of Augustin Ehrensvärd (1710-1772), founder of the fortress. And in the last photo I'm on my way back to Helsinki City! I loved this trip!
Delenna Posted May 22, 2008, 8:01 am	After the trip to Suomenlinna fortress I got to see some sights in "mainland Helsinki". Here's the Presidential Palace. Did you know that the president of Finland is a woman? She's the first female president in Finland! Then there's the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral. Looks very interesting! And that white, big church is The Cathedral. The Cathedral is also a very well known sight of Helsinki, I believe it's on almost every postcard there is from Helsinki! I also met a reindeer, Santa Claus' little helper. And a couple that welcomed me to Finland - they were very quiet though, maybe they were very shy. The last picture is a regular street view on my way to the busstation. Ah, what a day...
Delenna Posted May 25, 2008, 11:34 am	May I introduce you: the Finnish sauna. It's a heated room where you throw water on hot stones to get the room even more heated (preferably 60-80 degrees Celcius) and humid if it's a good sauna. I was told it relaxes your muscles and opens your skin pores. People take a shower before going there - and after it. And in the middle. Every house has one here. In high houses there's one sauna in the basement/first floor and people make reservations for it. My host is thrilled that she has a sauna of their own. They go there every Friday, at least.
Delenna Posted May 25, 2008, 11:37 am	Today we held a birthday party for my host's daughter. She turned 4 and had this dog cake (my host made the design up herself). I helped with the whipped cream too!
Delenna Posted May 26, 2008, 7:31 am	My host wanted me to accomplish a task while I'm visiting here so she taught me about recycling! First you put all the different trash into different boxes/trashcans. Here we're separating paper into a box and put batteries into another box. My host also puts cardboard into one place (did you know that you can fit several empty milk cardboard boxes into one empty milk cardboard box - saves space!) and glass into one. There's also a trashcan in every new apartment for separating biological waste (food) from the rest.
Delenna Posted May 26, 2008, 7:42 am	When our boxes and cans are full we take the separated trash outside, into this garbage roof ('jätekatos' in Finnish). On the wall there's instructions what you can put in the containers and what not. There are different containers for different waste. Green in for paper, blue is for cardboard, brown is for biological and balck is for the rest that can't be put into the others. The colors are the same everywhere where they have this sort of containers. Hmmm... someone has stuffed a cardboard pizza box into the black one and not into the blue cardboard container! Hey, I'm learning already
Delenna Posted May 26, 2008, 7:53 am	This is another type of garbage container. They aren't that small really, they go all the way down in the ground. There you can take glass, metal and the waste you can't put anywhere else. There's also a smaller container on the side of one of these where you can put the batteries. At a certain time a big garbage truck comes and takes the waste from the containers and drives them into different places. As much as possible is re-used or actually re-made into things.
Delenna Posted May 26, 2008, 7:59 am	One more stop in my lessons to learn about recycling: on the shore (which I visited some time ago) there's containers for accumulators (bigger "batteries"), paint cans, mixed waste and "closed waste". Hmm, I wonder what "closed waste" means... These are for the boatmen (and boat women may I add). They can leave their boat garbage here and don't have to go further looking for containers.
Delenna Posted May 28, 2008, 6:07 pm	Just needed to show you this watering can!
Delenna Posted May 29, 2008, 1:08 pm	Here I am looking at the Old Town of Porvoo. Porvoo is the second oldest city in Finland and the Old Town is its most welknown sight. There are many narrow gobble stone streets and a few not so narrow with many small shops. One shop sells toys made of wood, tin, fabrick - basically anything else but plastic toys. They have that Moomin house on the window and they change the view several times a year; during winter there's winter Moomin scene, during Easter it's Easter theme etc. In the last picture there's the old market square where they still have events every now and then.
Delenna Posted May 29, 2008, 1:16 pm	We continued our walk towards the Porvoo River. There's the oldest bridge. Behind it you can see the Castle Hill - without a castle though. There used to be a castle/fortress hundreds of years ago, now you can only see a lot of trees and the castle moats. It's a great place to play Robin Hood my host told me! In the second photo there are the old, red shore houses that used to be warehouses - and some still are but some are also living quarters. That boat makes one big contrast there don't you think. The third photo gives a glimpse to the Cathedral. The roof was burnt by arson 2 years ago and it's still being rebuilt! We continued our walk back on another street. I saw the Finnish flag and some Finnish design!
Delenna Posted May 29, 2008, 1:28 pm	We walked from the Old Town along the river line and here the River is again. There on the other side are the newer versions of the shore houses (they're close to each other, the old and the new, just on opposite shores) which are all regular houses. There are quite few boats on the river - and a few bar/restaurant/cafes. It's a popular place in the summer, people like to sit there and have a drink. The park is the "Runeberg's Park". He is the national poet and his statue is in the middle of the park. On the other side of the park there's the busstation and the market place, the new one. They're the city center here. Now I think I'd know mymay  round this town
Delenna Posted Jun 1, 2008, 7:07 pm	Here I am at the Helsinki Main Railway Station, starting my weekend holiday in Tampere!
Delenna Posted Jun 1, 2008, 7:10 pm	On the way to Tampere I saw a few cities, one being Hämeenlinna. Ok, I didn't visit the city but I did see some of the sights from the train!
Delenna Posted Jun 1, 2008, 7:13 pm	And finally: Tampere! I could see my next day destination from the window: the Näsinneula Tower... But now I need to rest with my travel companions, we have a busy day tommorow.
Delenna Posted Jun 1, 2008, 7:30 pm	Let the adventure begin! I'm now in Tampere a city about 2h drive away from Porvoo. The train from Helsinki also took about 2h. We spent a whole day in the Särkänniemi Adventure Park! I could see some of the rides but we didn't go on many as we were there with kids. I did go on a car ride with the 4 year old (the 2nd photo)! I also saw the dolphin show in the most northern dolphinarium of the world! The dolphins were very skillfull! Later I got to go on Näsinneula Tower which I mentioned earlier. It's the tallest observation tower in the Nordic countries. The top of the tower stands at a height of 168 metres but we were at 124 metres (by the way: the lifts travel at a speed of 6 metres per second). It's like half way to Eiffel Tower  The views were quite amazing from up there!
Delenna Posted Jun 1, 2008, 7:47 pm	The next day: before heading back home we visited the Moominvalley of the Tampere Art Museum. On the way there we saw this nice church - we tried to find information on it in the Tampere tourism website but we didn't have any luck - or rather my host got lazy    Anyway, the Moominvalley Museum is situated in the same building as the library (see 2nd photo). We weren't allowed to take photos in the Moominvalley exhibitions but we could take a few in the first hallway and in the "event room" where that game was (I'm on the game with Roo and Alfie Langer). There you can see some of the original works of Tove Jansson, the creator of Moomin. We did visit the next door Moomin shop too, but took pics only on the outside. Would I be a fashionable elephant if I was wearing Moomin clothes? There was a bicycle event nearby: I saw this car with a light on the roof driving fast - and a bike trying to catch it! Later we saw some more of the city center and biking event - and the Moomin! I really met a real Moomin! What a great way to end a trip to a country  So this was my visit to Finland, my next destination will be the UK! Sayonara!
Delenna Posted Jun 2, 2008, 5:46 pm	I've now started my journey towards the UK! Thank you Finland! Domo arigato gozaimasu!
Deborah Posted Jun 14, 2008, 10:57 pm	When I arrived in London I was greeted by Travel Ted (who, I must say, was looking very handsome indeed). He told me that once I’d freshened up from my journey he had a lovely surprise for me.
Deborah Posted Jun 14, 2008, 11:06 pm	It was a very lovely surprise indeed. Travel Ted had arranged for a photo shoot to help me complete my mission to become a fashionable elephant.
Deborah Posted Jun 15, 2008, 8:08 pm	Watching TV in the evening I had no idea of the peril I was in as Travel Ted’s unwelcome guest, Greedy, crept up behind me with an elephant-sized meal in mind. It was very lucky that Travel Ted arrived just in time to save me. Afterwards he put his arm round me, which made me feel all warm inside. My hero!
Deborah Posted Jun 16, 2008, 9:14 pm	Today I went sightseeing in central London. Unfortunately I had to go on my own because Travel Ted was grounded as a punishment for kicking Greedy. This is apparently unacceptable behaviour irrespective of how naughty Greedy was. The sun was shining and I had a nice day anyway. First I went to Trafalgar Square where I saw Nelson’s Column and the famous lions. There were lots of boys climbing on the lions but they were very big and I was a bit scared of them so I kept my distance. Next I crossed the Golden Jubilee footbridge across the river Thames. From there I had a good view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament as well as all the river boats. Finally I had my picture taken in front of the big wheel called the London Eye.
Deborah Posted Jun 29, 2008, 10:28 am	Travel Ted is so kind that he has helped me to complete another mission by taking me on an aeroplane. He even told me a story about Dumbo the flying elephant to stop me from being scared.
Deborah Posted Jun 29, 2008, 10:32 am	Two hours later we arrived in Italy, but this is just the beginning of the journey as our hotel is in Switzerland.
Deborah Posted Jun 29, 2008, 10:39 am	Lugano is very pretty. We walked a long way through the gardens at the edge of the lake. We saw an enormous fountain and met a funny looking rhino.
Deborah Posted Jul 1, 2008, 9:50 pm	Locarno is nice too. I liked to sit on the hotel balcony and watch the world go by.
Deborah Posted Jul 1, 2008, 9:52 pm	Today we had a big adventure. On the slopes of a nearby mountain we visited the sanctuary of Madonna del Sasso. A monk told us all about how difficult it was to carry all the stones and materials up there in order to build and even today there is no road. We got there by funicular.
Deborah Posted Jul 1, 2008, 9:53 pm	We took a cable car further up the mountain, where it looked very pretty and Swiss (although the cavalry fort and ‘Indian camp’ was a bit of a surprise).
Deborah Posted Jul 1, 2008, 9:58 pm	Even after taking a long chair lift ride, we still had to climb a bit to get to the mountain’s peak. It was hot work in the midday sun but the views were super.
Deborah Posted Jul 1, 2008, 9:59 pm	Because Travel Ted is exceedingly fond of castles we went to see the 15th century Castello Visconteo. I can’t say I thought much of it personally as it looked rather gloomy and run down.
Deborah Posted Jul 6, 2008, 11:50 am	We took a beautiful train ride back across the border to Italy where we had lunch in the lakeside resort of Stresa. From there we could see Isola Bella, which we went to next.
Deborah Posted Jul 6, 2008, 11:51 am	Isola Bella is the most celebrated of the Borromean Islands. The guide book said that lots of famous people have been on holiday there, including Wagner, Stendhal, Byron and Goethe. In the picture you can see me in front of the impressive Palazzo, which is big enough to fill the little island almost from side to side. At the other end of the island are gardens landscaped into the shape of a ship!
swiss_sunshine Posted Jul 7, 2008, 7:41 pm	This morning I've arrived in Fribourg. I'm still in Switzerland but here they speak French and German while in Locarno and Lugano, the main language is italian! I haven't had a busy because I was tired. I met Mumble, I hope we'll be good friends!
swiss_sunshine Posted Jul 7, 2008, 7:50 pm	Just before we went for a walk around Sunshine's house. I've seen the ramparts of Fribourg and on the second picture it's me in front of Sunshine's home. She doesn't live in a chalet in the mountains!
swiss_sunshine Posted Jul 7, 2008, 7:53 pm	This is my last post because tomorrow I'm leaving Switzerland with Sunshine and Mumble and I go to........ Ahah I won't tell you. It's a suprise. You'll hear from me in about 10 days! See you!
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:03 pm	New York City!! I went to NYC with Mumble and Sunshine!! What an amazing week there. Here you can see Mumble and myself in the hotel room at Union Square.
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:07 pm	First of all I have to mention that there are not a lot of pictures of me in New York because I visited New York most of the time on my own and no one has invented the camera for toys yet... One there pictures you can see me and the Flatiron building and me in front of buildings south of Central Park. It's been soo nice walking in Central Park. So calm, so green... A dream!
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:11 pm	In New York we ate and drank. They have some good cocktails. We drank almost everyday coffes of Starbucks! Unlike in New York where you can find a Starbucks at each corner, there's no Starbucks in Fribourg... Cinamon Dolce Latte, Caramel Machiato. MIam!!
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:14 pm	We went on shopping in Chinatown!
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:16 pm	Walking in the streets, through the buildings was already a big adventure because there's sooooo high.
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:18 pm	Back in Switzerland... As we were missing Starbucks so much, we went to Bern, the swiss capital. This city is very close to Fribourg, only 25 minutes drive. It has about 150'000 inhabitants, the Berner (or Bernois in French).
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:20 pm	In Bern there are a lot of things to see, not only Starbucks! There are the house of the government or the "Palais Fédéral". The view from the terasse behind this building is amazing.
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:22 pm	Some other pictures of Bern: Chess Players, a place and the street with a view on the tower of the Berner Münster, the cathedral.
swiss_sunshine Posted Aug 5, 2008, 12:23 pm	My stay in Fribourg is almost over but before I want to visit this little town... Some more picture in a few days!
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 3:57 pm	Some pictures of Fribourg: the old part of the city with the swimming pool!
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 4:00 pm	Then I went to the Museum of Art where I saw interesting sculptures.
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 4:03 pm	The cathedrale Saint-Nicolas, the most beautiful cathedral of the world according to Sunshine... Near the city hall I met a group of spanish tourists!
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 4:06 pm	Just before leaving I spent an evening watching Sex & the city and eating swiss chocolate! What a great stay I had. Now I'm ready to keep on traveling!
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 4:08 pm	Fribourg by night from the nicest bar of the town.
swiss_sunshine Posted Sep 9, 2008, 4:14 pm	Oops I almost forgot the pictures of the evening in Basel. This city is swiss but it is situated right between France, Germany and Switzerland. It's a multicultural city where flows the Rhin. We spent some time sitting next to the river, watching the city.
annbear Posted Sep 29, 2008, 2:50 pm	Hi, here I am with annbear - but no updates for at least three weeks because I`m off travelling with annbear! Just as well I packed my trunk ho ho ho ho
annbear Posted Nov 1, 2008, 10:03 am	Well isn`t this nice. I like Switzerland. Maybe I should get a bell round my neck like the cows???

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