Polki, Bruchsal, Germany

maelle Posted Mar 24, 2009, 6:08 pm	My list of travel - Tatterdemalion in Finland
maelle Posted Mar 26, 2009, 5:07 pm	Polki is playing at home
maelle Posted Mar 28, 2009, 3:50 pm	Yesterday, I have recu a card of Finland. I would like very much seeing this country! Today, it is raining a lot, we are going to stay has the house!
maelle Posted Apr 2, 2009, 6:28 pm	On Tuesday, I went outside, it was beautiful, the sun shone. I receive also a beautiful postcard of Australia Now, I am on the way towards Germany, at Rikeh.
RikeH Posted Apr 4, 2009, 1:03 pm	Hi Mummy, today I arrived at Rikes home. It is nice here - I already met two other ToyVoyagers called Miily and Carlisle And it is amazing - I am not the only duck. There are two others here - but I am much smaller. Can you see me between the older ones?  After meetings the other Toys I visited the garden.
RikeH Posted Apr 6, 2009, 2:07 pm	Hi, today we were on the playground. It was a lot of fun to ride the horse. At the beginning I was scared of the slide, but then I loved it and couldn't stop.
RikeH Posted Apr 9, 2009, 8:55 am	We were in Hamburg - the second biggest city in Germany. Look, we were a little group and had a lot of fun ! On the Alster - a lake in the middle of Hamburg, I saw real ducks.  Then I played in the trees - can you see me? They are as yellow as I am ! This is the townhall - very big and beautiful. After it, we visited the port - with many big ships !
RikeH Posted Apr 9, 2009, 9:00 am	It was time to say good-bye to HolgiHH. He starts his journey today - and he will go to you - Mum. I am sure, that you will have a nice time together. He is such a nice little donkey !!! We all were a little sad, that he left, but that is the life of TVs.
RikeH Posted Apr 11, 2009, 8:08 pm	Hi Mum, we were in a nice park. With a big sea - I saw ducks in it !  And there were nice trees and flowers. It was a wonderful afternoon ! Happy Easter !
RikeH Posted Apr 13, 2009, 5:56 pm	Today it is Easter - and I meet the Easter Bunny... and some of his friends. We all get a chocolate egg ... then we search Easter Eggs in the Garden and after it, we have a nice cake. It is a funny day. I LOVE Easter !!!
RikeH Posted Apr 16, 2009, 4:26 pm	We made a trip with the bike and Rike showed us her village. It is nice and has some old buildings. This is the old school.... and the church - it is beautiful. After it we went to a little lake, but there were no ducks. We had a nice sunny tour. Will write more soon.
RikeH Posted Apr 26, 2009, 11:10 am	Today Super Grover arrived here. We all were very excited and showed him our nicest tree in the garden. Then we celebrated his arrival with a cake.
RikeH Posted Apr 26, 2009, 11:43 am	Hi Mum, today was a great day. We went to Bad Segeberg, there is a big lake - and Rike told us, that ducks are living there. You know, that I have the dream to be photographed with real ducks - although I am a real duck, I think.  First we sat in front of a nice fountain.  Then we visited the church. After that we walked to the lake.  There is a monument of an indian - can you see it? And then I met some friendly ducks. It was so amazing, Mum. I am very happy now!
RikeH Posted Apr 27, 2009, 7:14 pm	Hi Mum, we started our trip to Helgoland. Helgoland is a German island in the North Sea. Well known for the healthy air. We went there with a Caramaran, called Halunder Jet. You see me in front of it, and then all of us inside the ship. It was fun ! In the afternoon we made a walk on the island – to visit the famous cliffs. On these cliffs are many birds. The one, that stands alone is called ‘lange Anna’. After the walk, we all relaxed in the sun…. And in the evening we relaxed at home.
RikeH Posted Apr 28, 2009, 10:01 am	We went to the pier, and took some photos there. We have a new friend now – called BineHH. She lived on the island, but decided to become a TV, too. Then the ship came. After it we visited the city – maybe only a village, but with colorful houses. The beach is beautiful here – we saw some seals. They were very loud. The lighthouse is wonderful. What a nice day. In the evening we had a party, to welcome BineHH.
RikeH Posted Apr 28, 2009, 10:04 am	Today we had to leave Helgoland, but we had time to make a walk. We played in a buoy. In these cabins people changed their swimsuits many years ago. Can you find me on the photo? On the way back in the Catamaran we had fun looking out of the windows. We saw ships and a nice part of Hamburg, called Blankenese. Rike told us, that the rich people live there. It was a wonderful trip - we had a lot of fun together ! Greetings Polki
RikeH Posted Apr 28, 2009, 10:43 am	Today Carlisle and PinkyHH left us for new adventures. Good luck to both of you ! In the afternoon a new TV arrived, she ist called Cassandra and a very friendly girl.
RikeH Posted Apr 30, 2009, 1:24 pm	We visited a small City called Bad Oldesloe. Rike went to school there, years ago. It has nice houses and a beautiful river. There is the townhall behind the fountain.
RikeH Posted Apr 30, 2009, 1:25 pm	In the afternoon a new TV called Murph arrived. He is very funny - and we talked until deep in the night.
RikeH Posted Apr 30, 2009, 1:29 pm	Hi Mum, yesterday Miily left us, to went home to her Mum. And today I will start to my next adventure. But I am happy, because BineHH will come with me. So we can spend more time together, and the trip to Japan will be funny. I really liked the time here in Germany. Bye Polki
JaymeC Posted May 26, 2009, 1:23 am	Dear Mommy, I was a bit confused when I came out of my envelope. I thought I'd be at the post office, but instead we were at the airport! I thought my travels were over for a little while! But my new host Jayme quickly explained that we were just there to see her grandfather off as he had been in town visiting.  I was a bit relieved that I'd get to see Okinawa. Here we are with Jayme's son looking down at the inside of the airport. We went down the stairs then so that Jayme's children could ride on some toys, the train was lots of fun. They also had lots of stores here in case you'd forgotten any souveniers to take home. Finally we went outside to see some planes. It was very neat. We got to watch a few take off and Jayme's children had fun running around pretending to be airplanes. On the way home we stopped by one of the playgrounds. We found another train! Here is the playground, it was nice to stretch some after being in that envelope for so long. I'm sorry it took so long to update, we've been helping Jayme a lot as she was sick, but we have another update coming soon and then hopefully we can get out (or stay in!) and do something fun! Polki
JaymeC Posted May 27, 2009, 6:17 am	Dear Mommy, Its been very, very rainy. And a bit hectic as Jayme's boys keep wanting to play! Today the weather cleared up for a few minutes, so we headed to the pool for awhile! Here I am next to the pool. See that slide in the background? Jayme's 2 year old went down it and came out head first, it was really funny. Me and the other toys rested for awhile on the towel. Next to us is Jayme's husband being silly. And here we are by the baby pools. They're small ones for the toddlers, very nice. Hopefully we'll go do more fun stuff soon! The weather forcast says rainy, but we're all crossing our fingers it will be wrong Polki
JaymeC Posted Jun 3, 2009, 11:01 am	Dear Mommy, We've had no end to bad luck here! First it was rainy, rainy, rainy. The sun came out and Jayme thought it was very lucky as she and her husband had a date scheduled that day to go ziplining, but then Jayme hurt her back while she was ziplining and has been trying to lay down and give it rest since.  She's still hurting a bit, but can get up and move around much more easily now.  Then the rain started again. Agh! Would we never escape the house? We did get out to go watch Night at the Museum 2, which was a very funny movie!  Unfortunately pictures don't work well in a movie theatre And then finally we woke up one day... and we could almost see the sun through the clouds! Jayme said it was as close to a sunny day as we were going to get, and the kids needed some exercise so out we went. We ended up at Kurashiki Dam. Here you can see it from the top. We went on down to get a closer look. The children liked playing in the water here, its only about knee deep on an adult so they can splash and play and its not very dangerous. They also like climbing up and down the little rock waterfall. Its a very popular place in the summer to cool down. Here we are sitting on some rocks in the water. After awhile we retreated back to the shore. Usually Jayme says they'd sit here and have a picnic, but unfortunately the clouds came back. We're all hoping the sun comes out to play for a longer time this weekend so we can do something fun! More updates soon, Polki
JaymeC Posted Jun 11, 2009, 11:17 pm	Dear Mommy, Jayme was feeling a bit better so off to the pool we went... when she said pool I figured we were going back to the other one we'd gone to, but this one is apparently at a resort here on Okinawa. The resorts will allow you to come in and use their facilities for a day if you buy a day pass. I wondered how nice it could really be, but then when we arrived I was surprised! Of course our first stop was the locker room. From there off we went to the outdoor pool. It was lots of fun watching the kids splash and have fun. Then a surprise... there's another pool?! This one was inside, and had two water slides to boot! It was very shallow at the bottom of the slides, so mostly young kids went down. It was very funny to watch their faces when they hit the water. We went back to the outside pool and took a small break. At this point Jayme said the kids were getting hungry and it was sadly time to leave so we started making our way toward the exit. We did get to see the beach on the way, though we didn't stop there. Maybe next time? We also got to see some neat Shisas near the exit. Shisa's are the guardians of Okinawa and you can find them on most homes and businesses. In fact, even Jayme's apartment has some. This one was very neat since it was playing an eisa drum. More updates soon, Polki
JaymeC Posted Jun 17, 2009, 6:35 am	Dear Mommy, We were so excited! We woke up and finally there was some sun, so off we went to the playground near Jayme's house. All this rain has at least been good for the flowers, aren't they pretty? We had lots of fun at the playground. We were so worn out we got home and went to rest for awhile. We were going to go back out that afternoon, but oh no... this is what we woke up to. Its really getting a bit ridiculous. All this rain! Jayme says she wishes we'd just have a typhoon or two and get the rain over with. We were all just sitting around wondering what to do when all of a sudden we heard some barking. We went to investigate and found this very loud little pup over on the DVD shelf near the X-Files dvds. Hm... He was very insistent asking what the date was and how long he'd been gone and where the aliens were. Huh?! He said he'd gone to find the aliens at Roswell, NM and been abducted and wound up on some strange planet called eBay, tagless and lost. Then a few minutes ago he'd woken up and found himself here. Silly little pup, must be hallucinating. Maybe we can have some fun around the house since there's not much to do out of it.. Polki
JaymeC Posted Jun 17, 2009, 6:39 am	Dear Mommy, This rain just won't let up! Yesh. We decided to have some fun inside the house, since we couldn't really go out. We started calmly enough reading a book But that wasn't really energetic enough, too much energy! We need to get out soon. So we decided to go for a drive. After we ran over the 3rd little people we gave up on that though and decided another nice calm activity would be better. So we sat in and decided to try to do a puzzle. Geez these pieces are tiny. No luck... so we went investigating to find another example of a puzzle and found this finished one waiting to be hung up Much more interesting than the halfway completed one we tried. I hope the rain lets up so we can do something interesting soon! Polki
JaymeC Posted Jun 25, 2009, 6:44 am	Dear Mommy, We were very busy for a few days. First our host's husband had to prepare for some special training and we all were helping him pack. He had to pack up all his gear and put it into water tight packing, including extra clothes and what not. First he had to do swim qualifying with all of his gear on, that's a lot to carry while swimming!  Then he had to go into a contraption that's like the inside of a helicopter and escape blindfolded. We weren't able to go and get pictures, but our host showed us this so we knew what he was up to. Then of course he had to get out and call Jayme and tell her he was okay because she was quite worried! Since Jayme wanted a bit of a distraction we went off to the zoo for a bit. Its a very small zoo without too many animals, but it was nice to get out a bit and the weather behaved! They had a viewer here we went to check out Then we realized we didn't need one. They were having a dodgeball tournament at the zoo. How interesting! We also got to check out a few statues of animals, and I was beginning to wonder if we'd get to see any animals! Finally we got to the animals exhibits. They were very anxious, it must've been about feeding time. We got home to a surprise, Jayme's husband was home safe and sound and just a little wetter for his training. He also had a surprise. He had stopped by the mail on the way home.. and come home with a gift he'd ordered awhile ago for Jayme. Isn't it neat? Its a e-reader made by amazon. Jayme loves reading, and now she can download books whenever she wants. We had some fun checking it out. Finally, since it was Father's Day in the US we had a bit of a celebration. We had some cake And the children gave their daddy a nice little poem with their handprints and footprints. More adventures soon I'm sure, Polki
olgamaus Posted Jul 14, 2009, 8:41 pm	Hi Mummy, I arrived in Germany today. You will see more of me tomorrow. Love Polki
olgamaus Posted Jul 16, 2009, 11:22 am	Hi Mummy, we went to Wuppertal today. Wuppertal is one of the neighbour cities. Katja had to buy a few things at Hornbach, her favourite DIY-store. She had to make a new interior for her large rat cage. Afterwards we went to the Botanical Garden. Wuppertal is situated, like the name already says, at the river Wupper, along a deep valley with the city centre in the valley itself, large parts on the steep slopes of the valley. You can find the Botanical Garden on a very high point, overlooking the city centre in the valley. In 1890 it was a school garden first. Later, in 1908 a textile industrialist built his country house here, the "Eller'sche Villa". Later the Elisenturm Elisen Tower) was also built here, which is now the focal point of the garden. Since 1929 it is a municipal garden, open daily. This is the Elisenturm. First we entered the tower and enjoyed the fantastic overview. Here you can see the new greenhouses, they were built in 2006. We went to the greenhouses than. Here you can see plants from the warmer parts of the world, like palms. We went into the garden than. I saw lots of pretty flowers and interesting trees, also the former country house. I saw these pretty flowers, their colour fitting perfectly to my beak This bed is showing typical plants of a moor area, also insect-eating plants. Here we are sitting in front of a thistle. I also saw a plant with vast leafs. I used one of the leafs as a swing, together with UrselHH. Back home we helped to install the new things to the rat cage. I will show it to you soon. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Jul 24, 2009, 11:53 pm	Hi Mummy, we took a walk in the outskirts of Remscheid today. It was raining in the morning, also in the early afternoon. Later the sun came out and went out to meet Katja's friend Birgit. We walked through the municipal park to the district Hasten, which is one of the oldest districts of Remscheid. Here you can find many of the typical houses with green shutters. The houses are usually timber-framed houses, often partly or completely covered with slate. Here you can see that a lot of green is around the town. We reached Morsbach (Morsbach creek) in the valley. Here you still can find many old factory buildings. This part of the town is called "Westen", which simply means "West". From here we went into the rural areas of Remscheid. Really rural In the background you can see the city centre of Remscheid, situated on a hill. You can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower. We went home than and watched TV in the evening. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Jul 26, 2009, 10:29 am	Hi Mummy, we have baked bread today. It was really easy. All you need is 750 g wheat flour about 400 ml warm water 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt 1 1/2 packages dry yeast 1 tablespoon of olive oil Baking: 35 - 40 minutes, 220°C First we mixed flour and yeast, than we added the other ingredients and kneaded the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough was covered than with a cloth. It had to rise for about 30 minutes. We shaped two loafs of bread. The loafs of bread had to rise once more for half an hour under a cloth. Than we brushed them with a mixture of water and olive oil. We put rosemary on one loaf of bread. They were ready for the oven than. The breads had to bake for 35 minutes. Finished! Our selfmade bread was really delicious! Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 1, 2009, 3:50 pm	Hi Mummy, we took a long walk today. We went to Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge. We walked along a railway track for a while. We went through a small district than with pretty houses, partly old houses, partly new houses. That's looking great! We came a little bit closer than ... We walked downhill for a while and reached River Wupper. Do you know this board game? It's Nine Men's Morris, engraved into a rock. We crossed River Wupper here. We walked through a forrest again, uphill and downhill. Finally we reached Muengsten Bridge. Muengsten Bridge is made of steel. It is 107 m high and spans the valley of river Wupper, which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour town Solingen. The bridge is 465 m long and was completed in 1897 A.D. A leisure park was built underneath the bridge a few years ago. You can relax on the lawns, play in the water and they have playgrounds for the kids. You can cross River Wupper with a ferry here. I must admit that we went home by bus. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 9, 2009, 3:09 pm	Hi Mummy, we helped Katja to bake muffins today. They are not sweet muffins, but savoury muffins with chives. We want to eat them for dinner with a salad of green beans and something with tomatoes. Katja found a receipe in a cooking book. We had to mix 250 g flour with 2 tsp. baking powder and 1 tsp. salt in a bowl. In another bowl we mixed 200 ml milk, 80 ml oil and one large egg. Then the flour had to mixed with the liquid ingredients. Finally we added the chopped chives and filled the dough into cups with those paper things you use for baking muffins. After baking for about 25 - 30 minutes /200°C they were ready. They are really looking good. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 15, 2009, 8:51 pm	Hi Mummy, Katja took a walk today to meet her friend Kerstin. Roo and I went with her.  We wanted to meet Kerstin in a valley halfway between the city centre and Kerstin's  home. A wonderful outlook, isn't it? We were walking through allotment gardens. We walked further downhill. This road is so steep that trucks are not allowed here. We crossed a creek  here. We did not see any ducks but goose instead. Those signs are showing walking and jogging routes. I saw those pretty flowers. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 21, 2009, 6:33 pm	Hi Mummy, we travelled to Stuttgart today. We got here by plane from Duesseldorf. We are visiting Katja's friend fam-united. Her husband picked us up here at Stuttgart Airport and we drove to Bruchsal than.
olgamaus Posted Aug 21, 2009, 8:11 pm	Hi Mummy, we arrived at Bruchsal after an hour. Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, about  20 km Northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg. We met Katja's friend here. Soon we took a walk. Soon we reached he most significant church in Bruchsal, St. Peters Church, where the last of the Bishops of Speyer were laid to rest. I had a good overview over this street with old houses from here. We went to the city centre than and took a look at some pretty old houses. River Saalbach is running through Bruchsal. This river is an Eastern feeding river to River Rhine. On our tour through the city we came back to the church, this time from the rear side, where you can find a graveyard. We went home than for a while, because it was too hot outside. In the evening we went out once more and went to Belvedere, which was originally designed as a Manor for fun and games, to which a shooting house was added for use in the shooting competitions often held by the Court. Belvedere is situated high above the city centre. We had a great overview across the city from here. Here you can see me with those ToyVoyagers hosted by olgamaus and those hosted by fam-united. Penny-Bo and Carlisle went with us to Bruchsal, but they are now hosted by Petra. That's all for today. Bye Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 21, 2009, 9:25 pm	Hi Mummy, in the morning we visited an Asian garden in Münzesheim. This garden belongs to a therapy center for alcohol and drug addicts. This garden is one of the most impressive Asian gardens in Europe. All buildings and works of art are made by patients of the therapy center based on antique models. The garden is about 5.000 m² large, it is open for patients and visitors. First we saw a pond with water lilies. It was surrounded by a fence with pretty little sculputres sitting on the balustrade. Almost everything is made of ceramics; the benches, figures, statues and more. We entered the "Blue Grotto" than. It is a small round room, which is almost completely blue inside. The ceiling is made of blue glass bottles, which were put into the concrete with their bottoms to the outside, the walls are covered with blue tiles and the floor also. Have a look ... Here you can see the bottles. Daylight is coming into the grotto through those bottles and creates a surreal atmosphere. In a surrounding wall there are holes with special stones from all parts of the world. Volcanic rock, flintstone, a piece of Berlin Wall and more. Here we found a piece of rock from Grand Canyon. I saw a lot of ducks on the handmade floortiles. On an island in a pond you can find a cafe. Of course you can find a wooden red bridge here. I really like this garden. When we went back to the car we realied that there was also a little zoo. I met an Indian runner duck here. I also saw more ducks.
olgamaus Posted Aug 21, 2009, 9:55 pm	We are on our way to Heidelsheim now. We stopped the car here to show you the beautiful landscape.
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2009, 7:20 am	We went to Heidelsheim than. Here we saw an old standpost. We saw pretty old houses here. Here you can see the city gate. The next photo is showing the Katzenturm "(cat tower). It was the home of the warder. It was built in 14th century at the highest point of the town. It was the warder's job to watch the town and warn the people if there was a fire or enemimes coming. This is one of the churches here.
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2009, 8:14 am	In the evening we went to Michaelsberg, which is a hill in the district Untergrombach, about 270 m high. A chapel was built there in 14th century, the one you can find there nowadays was built in the 1740 years. Michaelsberg is a pilgrimaga site. This area is one of the first nature protection areas. It is a landmark at the Upper-Rhine. We went here for having dinner in a nice prestaurant. After we ordered our meals, we took a look around. Here you can see the restaurant and on the left side part of the chapel. This is the chapel. We had a fantastic overview from Michaelsberg. Than we returned to the restaurant. Dinner is coming - yummy! What is looking like the left-over of a storm-flood are delicious Maultaschen (muzzle bags), a Swabian (Baden-Württemberg) specialty food, consisting of an outer layer of pasta dough with a filling traditionally made of minced meat, spinach, bread crumbs and onions and flavored with various spices. Because Katja is a veggie, she ordered Maultaschen with a spinach-an-leek-filling, with onions and topped with melted cheese. It's wonderful, I can tell you In this region they also make a lot of wonderful beer. We had a large beer in a stein. As you can see it was already getting dark than, so we went to the edge of the hill once more to enjoy the sunset. That's all for today Polki
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2009, 10:47 am	Hi Mummy, it's our last day here  with Katja and fam-united. So we went into town to visit the baroque castle. We went there through the city centre. In this pretty buiding the local tax office is situated. We reached the castle than. Sorry, it is called "Château", which really sounds better. The Château of Bruchsal was built in the baroque style of the mid 18th century starting around 1720 and served as the official residence of the bishops of Speyer. Its center was a three-winged building. In World War II the Château was badly damaged as a result of the aerial bombings aimed at Bruchsal and burned out completely. The large central part of the building was reconstructed (well into the 1970s) as a museum. In the park we saw fountains and statues. There are four statues symbolizing the four seasons. This is the statue for autumn. Another four statues are symbols for the four elements. As a water bird I was interested in the one which stands for water. FoxForce decided to come with us. We was staying with fam-united for some time. Now it's time for him to move to another place. All ToyVoyagers which visited Bruchsal today were sitting on this tree. We went back home than. It was so hot that it was hard to bear. On our way home we walked through another park. Here we saw the old keep of a medieval castle. We also saw this statue here. Is is a symbol for international understanding. We hurried home than. We had to pack our things and lunch was waiting for us. In the afternoon we have to get back to the airport.
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2009, 11:07 am	When we came home Petra's kids had filled the pool. Katja made a paper boat for us, so we could take a boat ride in the pool.
olgamaus Posted Aug 22, 2009, 8:10 pm	In the afternoon we went to Stuttgart airport to fly home again. From the roof of the car park we could see the famous Bosch-Parkhaus (Bosch-car park). It spans across the motorway A8. The car park has space for 4200 vehicles on five stories. The logo is the second largest illuminated sign in the world and the biggest logo in the world after the unlit Hollywood Sign. We went to the airport than, checked in and went to the visitors terrace. From here we could see some planes landing and starting. On the visitors platform they have an exibition of old planes and helicopters. We had a look at them. At 17:15 it was time to go to our gate than. From Duesseldorf we went home by train. Bye Polki
AnjaM Posted Sep 6, 2009, 10:18 pm	Nice breakfast with frosted flakes! Hi Mommy, today, Anja and we had a very nice breakfast. Lots of little packages with cereal, and even some frosted flakes! Ooooh, that stuff was good!  Hugs Polki
AnjaM Posted Sep 6, 2009, 10:25 pm	I arrive at Anja's house and find new friends! Hi Mommy, today, I arrived at Anja's house in Oberursel, close to Frankfurt, Germany. I was met by Terry the Tiger, Bree and Ninni. They very much liked the nice postcard I brought from Olgamaus in Remscheid, and the delicious snack Olgamaus packed for us, which we all shared. Then I got to sit in the Anja-cup, where most of Anja's TV guests get to sit when they arrive.  The other TVs told me a lot  about Anja's "boys" and the nice medieval festivals. Can't wait to see what we will do next! Hugs Polki
AnjaM Posted Sep 13, 2009, 10:09 pm	Medieval Market in Dreieichenhain Hi Mommy, today, Anja had visitors, and we all went to the medieval market in Dreieichenhain. This is Anja's hobby, and Terry has told me a lot about seeing all kinds of medieval markets with Anja. First, we had a big breakfast Then we drove to Dreieichenhain, which is only about 30 minutes drive. There, we admired some lovely wall paintings in the castle restaurant As this guy allowed us to share his table, but not his food we ordered some food ourselves: a nice Haxe (grilled leg of pork) with Sauerkraut and bread Aaaah, delicious!!!  No wonder this is the national dish of southern Germany  Then we wandered around the old castle ruins and we even went underground to the Trolls and Dragons market in the castle cellar There, Anja found a lovely dragon that she carried around on her shoulder Um, did I tell you that Anja loves dragons?  We also bought some nice medieval music at a stall and wandered around the market until it got dark What a lovely day!  Hugs Polki
AnjaM Posted Sep 20, 2009, 9:34 pm	There be dragons!  Hi Mommy, today, a large package arrived for Anja. Of course, we all crowded around it. Another TV? We got out the scissors to help Anja cut it open. "Please leave that alone!" Anja said, "you'll just cut yourselves!" And then she cut her thumb with the scissors trying to cut open the package My goodness, the curses that woman knows!  Unfortunately, she won't permit me to repeat them here  She should just let us TVs open the package! When the package was finally open, we all wanted to see what was in it. Another TV? Yaaaaaah, dragons!!!!  More and more dragons came out of that package and we were quite afraid. Except for Terry, that is. But then, of course, he is a tiger. What a dangerous place!  Dragons and tigers and rats, oh my dragons and tigers and rats, oh my  The dragons were quite nice to us, though and some of them just went perfectly with Ninni's coloring, don't you think? Anja was all happy with these new additions to her dragon collection  And as long as the dragons don't bite us, we don't mind them  Hugs Polki[/b
AnjaM Posted Oct 25, 2009, 7:20 pm	Percy arrives Hi Mommy, today, Percy arrived at Anja's house. Anja said that he came all the way from Japan! So, of course, we all crowded around him, to see what a Japanese Toy Voyager looks like and to welcome him. We all admired the lovely postcard he brought from Japan (Japan! Wow! Even Anja was impressed!  ), and we all shared the Snickers bars that he brought. Percy said that he likes to visit Haunted places. Well, Anja had bought all kinds of weird stuff in the last few days. And I mean: WEIRD!!!!  Anja said to us that she will be hosting a big Halloween party for a lot of people on Saturday. Then Percy looked all frightened. Tee hee hee, so much for being bold and liking to visit Haunted Places!  Well, I am looking forward to the party!  I LOVE haunted places!  Snickering regards Polki
AnjaM Posted Nov 21, 2009, 12:30 am	Terry is leaving for Russia!!! Hi Mommy, today, Terry got all excited: Anja said he is leaving for Russia! Moscow area to be exact! WOW!!! So, Anja got a Russian doll for his going away picture and she kept singing a song "Moskau, Moskau, wirf die Gläser an die Wand, Russland ist ein schönes Land, ha ha ha ha ha - hey!" What the heck????  So she translated for us: "Moscow, Moscow throw the glasses at the wall Russia is a nice place for all ha ha ha ha ha - hey!" Still: what the heck?  So she played us an old song which was popular when she was a young girl: Moskau Moskau Ah, well, we are kinda glad we live today!  So, we all waved goodbye to Terry, singing "Moskau, Moskau..." Hugs Polki
AnjaM Posted Nov 21, 2009, 1:10 am	Halloween Party at Anja's House!!! Hi Mommy, today, Anja had guests over for a big Halloween party. Yes, I know, Halloween is in one week, but she always celebrates the October Meeting of the Frankfurt Pet Rat Owners Group with a big Halloween party at her house. Halloween AND rat owners?  Sounds scary somehow....  First, we helped Anja decorate the house. First, the front door Then, the hallway Look at this sticker of rats coming out of the floor! It looks so real! Then, we hung up all kinds of ghastly stuff the kitchen door the doors "the brain" of the family the picture gallery the cobwebs (even the picture of Anja looks quite scary here!) the pumpkin candles the witch and this guy in the cage who hollers "let me out of here!!!" when you press his belly When the guests arrived, we had to sit still in a corner, because the whole house was full of people. But we still got a good luck at the yukky-looking Halloween food that was being served (Anja made some, and the guests brought some). chopped off fingers dead fingers with pus blood pudding with eyes toenail cake rats plague macaroni salad blood punch two rat cakes But the very greatest surprise of the day was ... ta daaa... the Puking Pumpkin!!!! All of a sudden, we got a big scare! The Grim Reaper came in through the window!!! But when we gave him a plate full of yukky-looking Halloween food, he decided not to kill us, after all!  What a relief!  So we could continue to have a good time. Which we certainly did!  What a nice party!!!! And the food LOOKED yukky, but it certainly tasted great!  Hugs Polki
fam-united Posted May 20, 2011, 1:34 pm	SURPRISE! SURPRISE! Hi Mum, I'm here in Germany with fam-united now. AnjaM had a really really bad time last year and she is so sorry, that she didn't get in contact with you and tell you about it and that she didn't send me home to you. I can tell you, that we tried everything to make her smile again, but until today she's still not all herself again. This week she felt the stength to send me on to my new host in Bruchsal. I'm looking forward to some more updates with her before I will travel on to my next destination. Greetings, Polki
fam-united Posted May 27, 2011, 5:11 pm	Hi Mum, after we arrived at Petra's host the other tvs were very happy to welcome us. Our first wish was to take a bath, so we all ran to the bathroom. Here you see us from left to right: Louis the rat, Nippy, Percy, Bree and me Nippy thought, that it would be enough to clean one ear But then she fell head over into the bath. I loved to swim in the water. We asked Petra, if she never needs a towel after having a bath and she ran to wrap us in the towel quickly. Because it was warm and sunny, we asked our host, if she could bring us to the balcony. We lied down on a table in the sun - more or less.
fam-united Posted May 29, 2011, 11:51 am	Hi Mum, today nothing really interesting happened, but this evening Petra's son called me to take a look out of the window and get some photos taken there. I'm sorry, but we had to zoom some views, so you can see more of the sky. We thought, we would get some rain, but nothing happened. It is still much too dry.
fam-united Posted May 29, 2011, 1:23 pm	Hi Mum, Petra and her husband will get spoiled by her children - it's mother and father day present. And of course we will get spoiled too For breakfast we had bread rolls, jam, honey, chocolate plates and a special treat called Einäpfchen. It was made of ham cubes and egg. I also ate a croissant and drank some green tea and orange juice. Let's see, what I will eat for lunch Bye, Polki
fam-united Posted Jun 7, 2011, 9:14 pm	Later we had lunch. The kids made some special appetizer and then noodles, salad, pork loin in lemon sauce. As dessert we had banana and vanilla ice cream. You see, that the dessert was my favourite
fam-united Posted Aug 19, 2011, 7:47 pm	Today we took a photo of nearly all tvs, which stay here right now. There are several tvs of our host: Aaron, Robinson, Schnuffi, Scotty, Cassiopeia and Simba Leon. Then there are the regular guests: BarryO, Bubo, Henry, Sanji, Tuffy, NiliHH, Jack, Chuckle, WillyW. All the others are tvs, which stayed with hosts, who had some problems and no chance to send them on to their owners or the next host, including me. It is the biggest amount of toyvoyagers I ever had around me
fam-united Posted Aug 20, 2011, 5:41 pm	Today the weather is nice - finally. So we had a chance to go out and take a look at the sightseeing places of Bruchsal. Bruchsal was first named in 976, but there are places even older than that. Bruchsal is famous for its beautiful baroque palace, for asparagus and for traffic jams on the autobahn. Here you see the Damian Gate, which is the entrance to the palace area. You can see art exhibitions there every now and then. We crossed the street and walked to the fountain in front of the county court. Such a pity, that my host forgot to take a photo of the county court, but you can see it on another photo. Here you can read a about the fountain: We crossed the street again and walked into the palace front garden. At first we took a photo of a sign: Here you can see from left to right: the building with the chamber music hall, the tower of Damian Gate, the little piece of the tower of the jailhouse, then the tree. At next there are two more buildings, which belong to the palace area, between both is the street, which we crossed before. Then the higher building on the right side is the county court. And you can see the little gate, through which we walked into the front garden. We walked into the church to take a look at old photos. You can see, that the palace was destroyed during World War II. They rebuilt the area, but the church inside is modern nowadays. In the second last photo you can see a little gate, which leads from the front part to the back part of the palace. We walked through it and took a photo of the backside of the church and the church tower. There are some fountains on the backside of the palace. Each year there are open air concerts and it's a place for nice wedding photos. Around Christmas there is a second Christmas market at that place, too. Four guards with halberts are at the line between the fountain part and the palace garden. We walked to the little pond, where usually you can find many ducks. At two crossings of the main way you can find a statue at each corner. This crossing shows the four elements water, fire, earth, air. Here you see the fire statue. This crossing shows the four seasons winter, spring, summer, autumn. This statue is summer. We left the palace area and drove to the backside of the hospital. There is a parking place and we stopped to take two photos: one shows the old hospital building with its nice little tower and the other shows the jailhouse. Then we drove to the Belvedere, which was built as a hunting lodge for Prince Bishop Franz Christoph von Hutten. Next to the Belvedere and Stadtgarten there is a place, where you have a great view over Bruchsal. You can see the two towers of the baroque church St. Peter, which is close to my host's house. In the street right in front of me you can see some of the oldest houses of Bruchsal. 80 % of Bruchsal was destroyed during the war, so mostly you only see houses built from 1945 to today. The buildings in front of me and the white one on the left side belong to the older people's house. Then there is the private catholic grammer school called St. Paulusheim - the big grey building in the far left side. This nice house also is next to the Belvedere. Nowadays it belongs to a hotel.
fam-united Posted Aug 24, 2011, 6:13 pm	Today we drove to Münzesheim to visit the Japanese Garden, which belongs to the therapy centre against alcohol and other dependencies. All buildings and works of art are made by patients of the therapy center based on antique models. The garden is about 5.000 m² large, it is open for patients and visitors. You will see a roof made of blue bottles, put into the concrete with there bottom to the outside - it's an interesting room, fascinating. Wall and floor are covered with blue tiles. So now just enjoy the photos. I hope, you like the group photos Two more group photos in the blue room. More group photos in the pavillon.
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2011, 6:22 pm	A thunderstorm is coming.
fam-united Posted Oct 8, 2011, 5:14 pm	Today we bake a cake for a birthday party, where we will go later. It is an apple cake, bottom and cover with the same dough. It is really yummy, but we had to work a lot to get all these apples cut into small pieces.
fam-united Posted Nov 6, 2011, 6:38 pm	Today is a special day for toyvoyagers.com. We've watched TV_TV from Galileo in German television. I've seen many famous other tvs at the beginning of the show and then there was TV_TV.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 10:21 am	I like this Christmas decoration on the window. It's on the same place each year. If you like it too and want the originals to cut them out for yourself, please send a note to Petra. It's a nice place for us toyvoyagers, too. It is warm and you can see everything that's going on on the street The first photo is without flash, just to show you, how dark it is outside although it is early midday. If Petra hasn't done a mistake, then there are 26 toyvoyagers sitting together. Some are her toyvoyagers, some her daughters and some are rescued toyvoyagers, which still are at her place and of course some are guests, who will move on again.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 11:04 am	After the big group photo session the guests finished the stars. Of course we other toyvoyagers were really curious and came to take a look at the beautiful stars. Later a group of starsingers visited our house, but we just had been too slow, so we aren't on this photo. Nevertheless we thougth, that it is a good idea to show you, how starsingers can look like. They don't carry one of our stars, though. They belong to the church region, were our hosts live, but our hosts go to another church, where they lived before. It's a bit complicated In the afternoon we all helped our Petra to bake two cakes. She told us, that tomorrow isn't only Epiphany, but also her husbands 50th birthday and that we will go to the parish hall and carry cakes with us. At first we baked a Hermann cake. It is a cake like a round robin, that's how it seems for me. Petra told us, that she received a part of the cake a few days ago and that she had to stir it and to feed it and that now it is ready to get baken. Of course we added some more stuff like flour, sugar, almonds, cinnamon, chocolate pieces. We read the recipe. Then we had to get some more dishes for the "kids" of this cake. We had been really busy. We also added some apple pieces. We wondered, if this dish would be big enough and decided, that it wasn't. So we took a star for the dough of Hermann.
fam-united Posted Apr 29, 2012, 3:54 pm	Finally I found time to read these two pages of two different newspapers of the week. The one is about Bruchsal asparagus. Bruchsal is famous for its asparagus fields and auctions. The other newspaper page is about the baroque palace of Bruchsal. I think, you have a good view to many different parts of the main building with the church tower, but still many houses are missing.
fam-united Posted Apr 30, 2012, 7:53 pm	We have typical April weather in Bruchsal. There is sunshine and the next moment there is hail and thunder and rain.
fam-united Posted Jul 21, 2013, 9:18 pm	Today we decided to bake a rhubarb cake. Our host allowed us to do it all alone without her help. So please take a look at the recipe. We explain it step by step: At first we had to find a place - we are quite a few Of course we aren't all traveling. Some of us are here as active toyvoyagers, but many of us are guests, who decided to stay here as long as the owners don't find time to get in contact with our host. And of course some of us live here, but we all have one thing in common - we are toyvoyagers. At next we had to get the eggs. We need six eggs for the cake. It was Sausi Karl's job to beat the eggs. Then one of us - don't know who - added 50g sugar for each egg, so it was 300 g sugar. It's quite a lot, we know. Madam Miff added one packet of vanilla sugar to the dough. Of course we had to beat the dough again, but we couldn't handle the camera while beating the dough. Matcha and Ted added 300g flour and one packet of baking powder. Then we had to stir the dough again until it was fluffy. Melek helped and Nathalie Then Matcha prepared the dish for the dough. We baked without bottom on a foil. Nathalie was still busy stiring the dough. And the she filled it in the dish. Then we all were sitting there and waiting for the cake to get baken in the oven. Man it was boring at first. But we didn't expect, that half an hour can be such a short time, when so many tvs are together. After this break we had to prepare the rhubarb, because we wanted to fill the cake with rhubarb cream. Little Dragon helped to skin it. And Matcha helped to cut it in pieces. Billy helped Matcha to stay on the pot during cutting the rhubarb pieces. Then we had to prepare some ingrediences for the cream. We needed two packets of vanilly pudding powder, one egg white and one yolk. We had to stir the egg white. Before adding the stirred egg white, we had to add the pudding powder. We had added a little bit of water to it and shook it until it was smooth. Then we added the pudding powder to the cooked rhubarb. We also added the yolk. Then Louis the Rat added the stirred egg white and gently folded it in. Finally we cut the cake in two layers and filled the cream on the first and then on the second layer and put the last layer on top of it.
fam-united Posted Feb 20, 2015, 6:56 pm	There will be a big event in this family this year: the wedding of one of the sons. Petra is happy, that she is allowed to bake the wedding cake. It will be a cake with strawberries and maybe some marzipan. She still doesn't know the other ingredients, so she has to try some cakes and find out the best version. And of course we are part of this. Here's the first cake - I can't remember the ingredients anymore, I'm sorry.

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