Wusch, Tuuri, Finland

AnjaM Posted Apr 18, 2009, 10:11 pm	How I became a Toy Voyager Hi folks, I am Wusch, a small green frog. I live in Gütersloh with Mommy Katja and Daddy Jens, and all my life I had been content to stay at home and enjoy myself. especially with my friend Garry the duck Then over Easter, Katja's friend Anja came to visit, and she brought a rat called Twix. Holy Maloney, what a partying, beer drinking fellow that is!  He told us of a place called Remscheid and a place called Frankfurt and of travelling on a fast ICE train while eating a sandwich as big as he is. Wow!  He said that this is possible when you are a toy voyager. So Garry the duck and I decided to become toy voyagers ourselves! Mommy and Daddy said this is ok  So Anja offered to host us, and Garry and Twix and I are now travelling together! And the fun has already started.... You'll see!  Best regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted Apr 18, 2009, 10:52 pm	A Day in the City Hi folks, as soon as I had become a Toy Voyager, the adventure started: Katja, Jens and Anja took me, Garry and Twix shopping! First we went to a place called Hornbach, a home improvement store. They have everything for the house - building materials, bathroom fixtures, paint etc. and even plants. This is what we came for: plants for the balcony. They have such lovely plants, we felt as if we were in a beautiful park. They even had T-Shirts, but they were not in our size, unfortunately After the home improvement store, we went downtown and Anja took a good swig from a bottle of lemonade, it was a very warm day We got to see some nice houses That day, it was market day, so we went to the market. They had everything - fruit, vegetables, German asparagus (German people eat the white version), dried fruit, nuts, and even socks and household goods. When we got home, we unpacked all our purchases and then we had a nice dinner of Wurstebrei (also called Stippgrütze, a Gütersloh specialty made of ground meat, spices and a kind of grain. It is usually eaten with potatoes) Oh, and Anja bought a new purse, big enough to hold us toy voyagers!!!  It was on sale in the city, and we find it very comfortable! What an exciting day! Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted Apr 21, 2009, 10:31 pm	Handkäs mit Musik Hi Mommy, best regards from Oberursel near Frankfurt in the state of Hessen! Today, Anja introduced me and the two other toy voyagers staying here to a real specialty from the state of Hessen: Handkäs mit Musik!  This literally translates into "hand cheese with music". Weird, but you'll see... Anja was too lazy to make it herself, so she bought it packaged: When you unpack it, you find three big slices of a cheese that smells like ... sorry ... old socks  and a small cup of vinegar and oil dressing with onions You pour the dressing and the onions onto the cheese and then you eat it all, usually with bread and butter and you drink apple wine or beer with it. Looks weird, but it is quite tasty!  And "hand cheese with music" means: the cheese is so small you can take it in your hand... and after you eat all the onions, you will "make some music" sooner or later. Hessian regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted Apr 22, 2009, 10:03 pm	A new guest: Sweetsy! Hi Mommy, today, a small padded envelope arrived, and Anja got all excited. "Here comes a new Toy Voyager, a new guest in my house!" she said to us, "his name is Sweetsy and he is soo cute!" Sweetsy? Hm... I always like sweets! Twix even sniffed the envelope, and Garry and I crowded around it, too. Anja opened up the envelope, and out came Sweetsy! He really is cute, so we gave him a warm welcome. He shared with us the goodies that he brought, and we treated him to some Twix bars. He also brought a nice picture postcard of a railroad bridge close to Remscheid, where his former host Katja lives, and a "warning" from Katja that he will help us decimate the baking ingredients in the house  What a nice guy! I think we'll have lots of fun!  Happy regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted Apr 28, 2009, 11:20 pm	A new guest: Harold Giraffe! Hi Mommy, we got all excited today: another toy voyager arrived! Anja carried up a small envelope to the apartment when she came home from work. Of course, we all shouted: "Who's that, Anja? Another toy voyager to keep us company? Open it up, open it up!" "Hold your horses!" Anja said, "I have to open the envelope gently, don't want to scare the little guy!" Then the envelope was opened, and out came Harold Giraffe! Here you can see Harold taking a first glance at us: Sweetsy the gingerbread man, Twix the rat, myself and Garry the duck:  We all got a snack of Twix bars (Twix the rat's favorite snacks) and then we told each other stories of our travels until Anja sent us to bed. Aren't we a nice group? Harold is cute, isn't he? And he has travelled so far already!!! I think we'll still do a little talking in bed  Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted Apr 29, 2009, 10:58 pm	German white wine: Riesling Hi Mommy, this evening, Anja had a friend over, and they opened a bottle of wine. It was Riesling, a nice German white wine, not too dry and not too sweet, and just perfect with a meal or to drink chilled on a warm evening. The two ladies seemed to enjoy it, so of course, we wanted a sip, too. Ah, quite tasty!!! Wow, Mommy, let me tell you, we toy voyagers are not used to alcohol, so when we had finished our small glass, it made us very very tipsy!  So Anja fixed us up with some Alka Seltzer and told us to stay off the booze  Well, let's see about that  After all, we've heard Anja talking about apple wine, a specialty of the German state of Hessen.... Well, Mommy, you sure sent me to the right place to party!  Tipsy regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 4, 2009, 9:09 pm	Medieval Fair and Market at the Ronneburg Hi Mommy, today, Anja went to visit friends for a long weekend (1st of May weekend). The friends live in Gelnhausen, approx. 40 km east of Frankfurt. Anja and her friends visited a medieval fair and market at the Ronneburg, and they took us TVs along. Quote: Ronneburg History Although built about 1230, the castle’s towers, battlements and walls are still intact. Situated on a hilltop, the tall tower makes a landmark seen for miles. The castle is associated with Count Zinzendorf in 1736, founder of the Moravian brotherhood, which later established religious colonies in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The weather was  beautiful,  the rapeseed was blossoming everywhere, and soon we saw the castle Ronneburg Anja and her friends scared us poor TVs, threatening to lock us in the stocks  , but then they took us along after all. There were a lot of booths selling nice things and of course there was a campfire and food and drink A lot of people were dressed up in medieval clothes. Some of them looked scary at first, but they were all quite nice!  We wandered around, enjoying the view and the fair and the shows, and of course the ladies did some shopping  I wanted a beautiful dress, too, like many ladies were wearing, but Anja said it would not fit me After the last show, we went home, but Anja said we would return the next day. Wow, we were all excited! Because with all the shopping and browsing and enjoying the shows, we had not even been INSIDE the castle yet!  Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 4, 2009, 9:32 pm	Ronneburg, medieval fair and market - and the inside of the castle! Hi Mommy, like Anja promised, she and her friends took us back to the Ronneburg today, because we did so much shopping and browsing and partying yesterday that we did not even get to see the inside of the castle  Of course, we were all eager to see the inside of the castle! But first, there were other interesting things to see. Close to the parking lot, there were some people hanggliding. Boah, this would scare the living daylights out of me!!! Then, in front of the entrance, there was a guy with a "quad", one of these 4-wheel recreational vehicles. This would be more my case, and that is what my furry friends said, too  Anja and her friends were also really interested! Of course, we got to ride it, too!  Neat!!!! But now on to the castle!!! Excited regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 9, 2009, 11:19 am	Ronneburg - the inside of the castle! (finally  ) Hi Mommy, now we finally got to see the inside of the castle! And it was really exciting! In the castle gate, they sold swords and tiny toys, just about the size of me There were some really nice people, all dressed up in medieval clothes and then we finally got to see all the historical stuff! An old piece of armor a smithy and the smith's tools a spinning wheel, where you make wool an old cannon a perfect fit, isn't it?  The castle yard and another stocks  the castle kitchen where we got to taste some spiced wine (delicious!) some nice furniture and wall hangings and even a picture of the count! In the castle, there was even an apothecary's store and a chapel We all loved the miniatures of daily life in the middle ages! and the miniature of the great castle fire of the 17th century After so much history, we just needed a break!!! So we wandered in the castle gardens, admiring a peacock doing some more shopping and meeting beautiful ladies in self made costumes who even did a dance for us! Well, not for us alone... but we enjoyed it very much! On the way back to the car, we even saw an old wooden trailer Wow, what a day!!! We went straight to bed when we got back! But it sure was worth it! Hugs and kisses Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 9, 2009, 11:49 pm	Medieval Market in Oppenheim Hi Mommy, today, Anja and her friends went to another medieval market - this time in Oppenheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate. The first thing we saw was a booth selling gingerbread! Our little friend Sweetsy was in heaven! And - would you believe it - he ate the whole piece of gingerbread all by himself!!! Look at the smile on his face! This was a lovely market, and we saw many nice things: placques made of stone (Anja bought the dragon that is hanging on the wall) knights the size of us and many dragons Would you believe Anja actually fed me to a dragon????  But thank goodness the dragon was not hungry!  So we could go on to enjoy the sights. Musicians a medieval tent city where many people actually stayed the weekend a demonstration of the weapons of the time a lady playing the harp a shield with nordic writing and a suit of chainmail. Would you believe such a suit of chainmail consists of about 36.000 rings??? And it takes one person two weeks to make, if he has lots of practice. Then we had some nice food. Stuffed pork roast with garlic sauce, a salad and a roll - and a drink called "Radler", which is a mixture of beer and Sprite. Quite tasty! Later on, it started to rain, so we all had to stay in Anja's rucksack. This was nice and dry, but of course we could not see anything... What a lovely day! Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 12, 2009, 7:23 pm	A Day in the Taunus Dear Mommy, today, Anja and her friends took us to the Taunus, a beautiful wooded area a little north of Frankfurt. It was a beautiful spring day, and I really enjoyed the lovely nature of the Taunus. First, we went to Hattenbacher Weiher, a bathing lake near Wehrheim in the Taunus. Of course, it was too cold to bathe, but we enjoyed our stay nevertheless. This is Sara, the daughter of Anja's friend Angelina. Sara fell in love with us TVs immediately, and she found the nicest places for us to enjoy the lovely nature and to have our picture taken. It was so lovely there! The sun was shining, the grass was green, and flowers and blossoms were everywhere! Ah, what joy to sit in these beautiful flowers and enjoy the sun! How nice to enjoy the blossoming trees and then cool down in the shade After a nice rest in the midst of the lovely flowers, it was time to go on, because we were going to have a barbeque and still had to do some shopping. Tell you more soon! Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 12, 2009, 9:09 pm	A Barbecue in the Taunus Hi Mommy, after our lovely time at the Hattenbacher Weiher lake, we drove on, because we were going to have a barbecue, also in the Taunus. I went shopping for all of us and then we went on to a farm where we rested (again  ) on a comfortable tree and on a real haystack Then we carefully watched the preparation of the food and then it was time for dinner!!! After we ate all the food - and left just a little for Anja and her friends - it was time to go home, and Anja drove us home on a real German Autobahn! What a lovely, sunny, exciting day! Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 15, 2009, 9:41 pm	A Lazy Day Hi Mommy, today was beautiful sunshine, and we all spent the day on Anja's balcony, enjoying the lovely weather. This is the view from the kitchen window and this is the view from the balcony on a lovely spring day You can see the Messeturm (exhibition tower) of the skyline of Frankfurt in the distance. Now, can you find the Messeturm on the picture above the one taken with the zoom? Hint: you need very good eyes, and you have to remember the two tall buildings...  Here we are enjoying a snack on the lawn chair and poking our nose into Anja's book Anja said she felt like a real "daughter of the sun" enjoying a rest on the lawnchair with her book. But she would not let us take any pictures of her....  Sunny regards Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 15, 2009, 10:23 pm	A Going Away Party for Twix - and Happy Birthday Daddy!!! Hi Mommy, Anja said that Twix, her very first Toy Voyager guest, would soon travel to Maelle in Belgium, so we all threw a going away party for him. Anja got us some real Hessian and Southern German specialties for the party: Apple wine, the Hessian special drink and Laugenbrötchen (lye rolls). OK, lye rolls sounds disgusting, and the dough is really dipped in food-grade lye, but these are really really tasty! Lye Pretzel recipe Quote: Two stories about the lye bath, told by Peter Mangold, have one thing in common, that the lye dunking was accidental, but the results were so good that the innovation became commonplace. One story is that the bakery's cat knocked them into a vat and there was no time to make a new batch, another story claims that the lye water was mistaken for sugar water and brushed onto the pretzels. Source However that may be, once the rolls or pretzels are baked, they are safe to eat, and they are delicious. Of course, the apple wine was tasty, too  After our dinner, we had a big surprise for Twix. We had bought him a piece of strawberry cake! Being a nice guy, he insisted on sharing it with us What a lovely party!  And I ate a big piece of strawberry cake in your honor, too, Daddy! Happy Birthday!  Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 27, 2009, 10:18 pm	Terry is coming - and we are leaving Hi Mommy, today, a new toy voyager arrived at Anja's house: Terry the Tiger! What a bit guy!!! We were a little scared of him at first, but he told us he does not eat other TV's.  What a relief! I did not survive the dragons to be eaten by a tiger!  Here we are all together: Harold Giraffe, myself, Terry, Garry and Sweetsy (from left to right) And then it was time for Garry and me to leave Germany. Anja says we are going to Hong Kong next! WOW!!!!! So all the other TV's waved goodbye to us Hong Kong, wow!  I'm so excited! I am glad Garry is traveling with me, because that sure is far away! Hugs Wusch Oh, Anja says she will make some updates later, because there are still some adventures to tell
AnjaM Posted May 27, 2009, 11:09 pm	A Trip Around the World Hi Mommy, tooday, Anja took us on a trip around the world!  First, we took the S-Bahn (subway) from Oberursel-Stierstadt, where Anja lives. This is a map of the public transportation system in Frankfurt. Sure looks confusing, don't you think? We got out at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station). and Anja bought a nice sandwich. Look at all this tasty food! Then we finally got to see the train, an ICE (Inter City Express). This thing goes over 300 km (160 miles) an hour!!!  Looks like a rocket, don't you think? It is very nice and comfortable inside, and I shared a seat with the other TVs When the train started moving, Anja unwrapped her sandwich, and we all had chicken sandwich and coffee This sure is a nice way to pass the time!  We got a glance of Cologne on the way and of the countryside flying by Finally, the train stopped, and we all got out.  What the heck was this? We were in China!  We had come to a place called Kota Radja!  It had a very nice city wall but it was guarded by a terrible dragon, who tried to eat me!  (Will you please tell Anja to stop feeding me to dragons all the time!  ) Thank goodness a nice Buddha rescued me! And he allowed me to see the city and the beautiful flowers We even got to play with a lion! It sure was exciting in China, but I was still a little scared of this hungry dragon, so I didn't mind it when we left. But then we got out of the frying pan, and into the fire. Because next we went to India, to the Temple of Rats!  Ooooh, look at the nasty rats guarding the place!!! They scared the living daylights out of me, but they told me they don't eat TVs. What a relief! The other rats there were much nicer! We found a band of rats that played music for us and finally we had fun and played games with some funny rats What an exciting day!!! All around the world in just one day!!!  .... Well Mommy, I must admit I told a fib: we did not go to China and India at all, but instead to Anja's friend Ratta in Hagen, where we played with Ratta's rat collection and visited a Chinese restaurant  But it was a fun day nevertheless!  Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted May 28, 2009, 9:29 pm	My Home is My Castle Hi Mommy, today, Anja received a large package. Inside was the most beautiful castle I have ever seen! How considerate of Anja! After taking us to all these nice medieval markets, she buys us a castle of our own!  There was something else in the package too: a toy rat! Ah well, we'll share our castle with him, it's big enough after all.  But what is this? A REAL rat?  He enters the castle like it's his property - and he starts sniffing us!  And here come two more rats! My goodness, an invasion of rats!!! Take up the drawbridge and fill the moat with crocodiles!!!  Too late... Help, the rats have taken over the castle!!!!  They are attacking! They are attacking! Survived the dragons to be eaten by giant rats! Help!!! Oooooh, I hear the cavallery in the distance! And the rats are leaving!! We are saved!!!  Hurray!!!  ............... "Cavallery, my foot!" Anja laughs. "I just called my boys to dinner! After all, it is their new castle that you are playing with, so of course they want to take a look!"  What? Anja keeps giant rats as pets, calls them "my boys" and buys them a castle?  This sure is a weird place you sent me to!  But exciting.... Hugs Wusch
AnjaM Posted Jun 4, 2009, 8:33 pm	Leaving for Hong Kong! Hi Mommy, today was the last day at Anja's house for Garry and me. Anja has adopted two new little baby rats: Jacky (creme with white) and Joey (creme color), and they came to kiss us goodbye. Then Anja put us in an envelope, and off we went to Hong Kong! We sure hope the trip won't be long! Hugs Wusch
Wombat Posted Jun 21, 2009, 4:38 pm	Hello Mommy, It was a sunny day today....the weather was so nice and Sophia took me and Garry out for a DIM SUM lunch today  We arrived in a very tradition and well known restaurant here in Central, Hong Kong.....Um...very authentic  We played with the fishy in the tank while we were waiting to be seated...... See mommy The fishy all looking at the camera too!!!! Of course, tea is always the perfect companion for a dim sum brunch.... We had....the Shrimp Dumpings..... Pan Fried Noodle with Fish Filet..... And ended with some nice Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake, and Steamed Buns...... YUMMY  Miss you Wusch and Garry
Wombat Posted Jul 2, 2009, 3:58 pm	Hello Mummy, Sophia brought me and Garry to a party last Saturday We are starving....let's see if there are anything to eat.....[img]null[/img] We had some breads....they are nice  It was a nice party.... This was what we had.... Here came the appetizer.... Then the main course.....Garry got the fish filet and I got steak....YUMMY And the dessert is fantastic  Mango with ice-cream..... We love Hong Kong....so many good food  Hugs, Garry and Wusch
Wombat Posted Jul 26, 2009, 12:50 pm	Hi Mommy, Tomorrow will be my last day in Hong Kong....and Sophia brought me with her to work today  Sophia needs to wake up early and catch the 7:30 bus near her apartment complex....here we were waiting..... Then we both get inside the bus....it's a double deck bus  The bus driver said I can skip the fare because I am tiny...... The journey is around 45 minutes.....then we take off and arrived in Shatin.....place where Sophia works. She usually have her breakfast at the McDonalds.....and we had the usual.... One thing special is that they got a McDonald coffee shop inside a McDonald.. ...Where sophia told me they were good.....reasonable price with the starbuck quality~ Sophia took off around 7:00 pm....and there was a short walk between the building she works and the subway station....and we took some picture there....and in the station too..... Opps....needed to get my ticket this time  Then the subway took us all the way home..... Miss you, Mommy  I will be off to Finland with Garry tomorrow.....Wish us all the best  Wusch
SiniMusta Posted Aug 7, 2009, 8:23 am	Hello mummy! We have arrived safely to Finland Our host Sini has some plans for what to do, but you'll see it later. So I'll write you news soon, mom! Bye!
SiniMusta Posted Aug 17, 2009, 6:53 pm	Hello mom! Yesterday we helped Sini to do her homework. She has quite a huge pile of schoolbooks! This time she had to do maths and Spanish. We started with the maths exercises. We were allowed to use a calculator. After hard work with the calculations we decided to have a break! We went downstairs and found this nice applepie. We added some vanilla dressing. Or should I say a lot of it It was really tasty and delicious. Then we had to finish the homework and did the Spanish verb exercise. It was a great day! Bye mummy! Adiós!
SiniMusta Posted Aug 30, 2009, 1:00 pm	Hello mummy!  On Friday night we had a toy-party! We had fancy dresses and other toys that live here had brought in a disco-light and some punch Here we are. And here are the other toys. There was music playing and we danced with it. Then we drank the punch with 2 other toys. It wasn't too strong, these toys were just typical Finns, they drank too much and... well... They weren't in a very good condition... We had a lot of fun with all the others, dancing all the night Here is a picture taken in the next morning. Bye mom!
SiniMusta Posted Sep 26, 2009, 4:31 pm	Hello mom! It's been quite a long time since the last news, sorry! Our host is having her final exams in school so she has been really busy. Luckily the exams will be over next week, so she'll have more time for us again. Two weeks ago we visited Finland's biggest village store. Here's its website [url]w w w . t u u r i . f i[/url] We drove there by car, here's a picture of us on the way. When we arrived to Tuuri, at first we saw this huge horseshoe! The store looks like a castle from outside. And the inside wasn't bad either. Actually there is also a hotel in the building and this is the reception of it. We had fun on that trip We will write more news soon! Bye mom!

Back