Posted Aug 4, 2011, 7:41 pm
My name is Lily and I used to be Lucky Lily.
I lived in the department store Harrods, in London. Had a great time there! Kids came along, other cats came to visit, I had similar friends to 'hang' out with...
Until this Dutch chick took me with her to Holland.
I had to change my name from Lucky Lily to Unlucky Lily.
I think you can understand why...
While helping her at her job, I pinned a needle right through my hand!!! Ouch...
We had some tea, but mine was wayyyy too hot!!! I burned my sweet lips pretty bad.
At the copy shop, I got my hand stuck in the printer. Wowwww, that hurts!
On my way out of the bathroom, my tail got stuck! Oh no! My tail is very badly broken!
Please, someone, rescue me from this horrible woman and help me find my luck!!!
Posted Aug 4, 2011, 7:57 pm
Me on a first aid kitt, think she got the hint?
Well, she did. She repaired my tail, made a nice wrap around it and, smart as she is (yeah, right...) she embroided my ID on it, in case I do get out of this terrible dog-infested household!
Seriously! Somebody rescue me!
She's leaving on a small trip and she takes her two little dogs with her. The dogs hate cats!!
I need help!!!
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 10:54 pm
Dad wanted to visit Bronkhorst, Hollands smallest city, with only 157 people living there.
There is a Dickens museum, but we didn't go inside.
We all went with a little ferry over the river IJssel. I was very scared!
Here we are waiting for the ferry. I hate this!!! I know we are going to drown!!!
Driving to get on the ferry.
On the ferry, it was sooooo cool, but scary too!
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 10:56 pm
Here I am with Henk the Cow, posing on a hay stack.
On the background you see the skyline of Zutphen.
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 10:58 pm
Unfortunally, it started to rain very bad!
We did see a lot of nests, and a lot of Storks!
Here I am in front of a meadow with 18 stork.
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 11:02 pm
These dogs are ready to kill me!!!
This is Gaio, he's a DT from Portugal. He tossed me around like I'm some kind of toy!
And this is Bruno. He's a DT too, but from Spain. He stays with my host to learn about family life. One day he will go to his final family, but nobody finds him interesting yet.
No wonder, he's chocking me to death!!!!
(however, my host says Bruno is a very lovely dog and I have nothing to fear)
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 11:06 pm
Luckily, my host gave me something to drink. A beer, made in that area.
I liiiiiiiiiiked it!!!!
Cheers! Till next time!!!
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 11:10 pm
I could here a funny noise coming out of a white bag.
Henk the Cow made it worse by climbing on my head!
What is this???
Oh, it's really fluffy!
It's Thea the Sheep, nice to meet you!
Posted Aug 13, 2011, 11:46 pm
Here I am with a pretty rare butterfly, the Jersey Tiger.
How lucky am I???
But my luck changed... all the tv's got their picture taken with beautifull flowers, I only found the nettle.
Then we sat on a bench.
But beneath me, the bench cracked and I fell thru!
Could somebody make sure I get out of this unlucky town?
Posted Aug 14, 2011, 6:23 pm
Here I am, enjoying the sun. Aaaaaaah.....
But wait... It has been so wet these weeks, now is a good time to go exploring!
Let's feed the fish! There are a lot of koi's in this pond. We don't know how many, since one of them became a mom. But we think there are about 12 baby koi's and we know there are 9 big koi's.
And here some more big ones. We couldn't find the little ones, they are still hiding.
Hmmm... funny smelling plant...
An apple tree with... yes... 2 whole apples! No apple pie this year, I guess.
Look closely.... We've got a blueberry too!
A beautiful trompet shaped flower.
We saw a little koi swimming! Let's look closer...
In the meantime, Gaio, the DT, is eating fish food out of the water. Strange dog!!!
A lovely waterplant. It is in a little basket that is floating in the pond as an island.
Guus is coming up to take a look at us. He is named after Guus Hiddink.
Even Bruno, the other DT from Spain, is helping us look for a small fish.
Gaio is squeeking, he wants to play with us.
A purple wisteria, no flowers...
And Ami, the second Spanish DT.
That's it for now.
Good news for me, I'm planning a tour!!!
Posted Aug 16, 2011, 9:33 pm
Looks good...
I looked at some old pictures as well. Back to memory lane!
First time ferry ride... That was scary!
Auch... yes, my "unluck"-spell...
My mom had to talk to me, she said... I'm not happY!
Because of my bad luck, she arranged a little trip to Germany, she says I will be very lucky there. But... I don't want to go!!!
Wééééééééééh!!!!
Thea the Sheep and Henk the Cow told me they had to stay some more, but soon will travel too. And they told me they envy me. Well, take my place, why don't you?
After some discussion, they convinced me it was for my best.
So I stepped in the envelope...
Yuck! It's not as comfortable as my bed!
I know, it's a short trip... Okay, here I go....!
See you soon on toyvoyagers.com!!!
Germany (and lot's of luck): here I come!!!!
Posted Aug 24, 2011, 8:11 pm
I arrived in Remscheid, Germany, today. I was welcomed by my first host Katja and three other ToyVoyagers. They are April from Australia, Henrik from Finland and Jango from the USA.
I am tired from my journey so I will go to bed early.
Bye
(un)Lucky Lily
Posted Aug 27, 2011, 8:17 pm
we took a short walk to the public library today. Remscheid seems to be a nice place. The first photos were taken close to my current home.
Soon we reached the shopping street. Here you can see the entrance area of the shopping mall.
Here is the public library.
We took four DVDs with us and went back home, it already looked like rain again.
Back home I saw something which made my heart beat faster. A scratching post - this means there must be another cat!
I also found cat toys, so where is the cat?
A furry something came sidling out of the tunnel ... not a cat, but at least not a dog. What might this be?
Another one was sitting on the scratching post ... this one was of a darker colour.
It is an extremely curious animal.
Katja told me that there were ferrets, three of them are living here. Ferrets are predators like me, they like to play with cat toys and they climb scratching posts - they must be friends
They were waiting for their dinner, raw chicken intestines - yummy!
Let's see if they will behave good.
Bye
(un)Lucky Lily
Posted Sep 4, 2011, 8:36 am
today we took an exciting walk along the "Route of Tools", a closed railways track for freight trains which was built to a lane for pedestrians and cyclists. It is about 5 km long, following the former railway track from the main station in the city centre to the district Hasten. It leads you through business areas as well as to dilapidated factory buildings and also along housing areas.
We started our trip at the nearest point from home. Here you can see several signs, showing the coat of arms of Remscheid and also some with the company logos of the sponsoring companies.
The building of this route was sponsored by local companies, mostly tool producing companies. At some places along the route you can find such information signs.
Looks like hard work
We found those patterns on the ground. They were stamped with wrenches.
We walked along a housing area, no more hard work in sight.
There are distance data painted to the ground. 3 km to walk from here to the main station.
Dwellings and company buildings are close together.
Do you know those berries? It's common sea-buckthorn. Katja told me that the berries are extremely sour, but also extremely healthy.
We rested on this bench for a while. It was built from a giant screw clamp.
You can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal here.
We left the Route of Tools here and went to the post office and than home. On our way home we stopped at the house of Katja's sister-in-law. She returned from her vacations in the Netherlands a few days ago.
While she was on vacation Katja took care of the garden and their pet, a tortoise. She brought a cheese and a mustard sauce for Katja with her.
Yummy! Cheese with onions and garlic
Bye
Lily
Posted Sep 4, 2011, 8:49 am
when Katja came home from work in the early evening we asked if we could make a walk because the weather was really nice. So we took a short walk to the municipal park.
The first photo was taken close to my current home. This part of the city was not destroyed in World War II, so you can find a lot of pretty old houses.
The bells of this church are waking me up every morning at 07:00 a.m.
Don't worry - the church was not burning
The last sun rays were producing this lovely pattern onto the church walls.
After a few minutes walking we reached the park. Here you can find a pond with ducks and probably abandoned turtles.
There is a concert shell in the part, here are the seatings.
This monument is dedicated to the dead of severals earlier wars before World War I.
We left the park and walked home.
I am living in this street at the moment
Bye for now
Lily
Posted Sep 4, 2011, 9:34 am
today we went to the neighbour city Solingen to take a walk and later having dinner in a restaurant.
We started our walk at the "Corkscrew Route" (Korkenziehertrasse). This is also a former railway track which was built to a lane like the Rote of Tools here in Remscheid. It is called "Korkenziehertrasse" because it is meandering through the city like a corkscrew.
The freight depots were here, now the buildings are used by artists, you can also find bars and cafés here.
The route is following the nowadays used railway track here in the city centre.
We found lots of graffiti along the route.
We returned to our starting point to have dinner. Katja's daughter is working in this restaurant as a cook. In summer the beer garden is opened and there is a fantastic barbeque with lots of salads, potatoes and so on.
Cheers!
Bye
Lily
Posted Oct 9, 2011, 11:34 am
in the morning the weather was looking like this .... really horrible!
In the afternoon we went to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas. Katja's friend and her large dog accompanied us. Of course I forewent this horrbile creature. (Katja said that the dog, Pepe, was a really dear thing, not chasing cats, but who knows?)
In the background you can see a housing area in Wuppertal, famous for its exquisite villas built by factory owners. (With this foggy weather the houses are not really visible, but they are there!)
They are using sheep as lawn mowers here
Hawthorn everywhere you look.
On these signs you can find information about this area. It will be renatured in the coming years.
Bye
Lily
Posted Oct 9, 2011, 11:37 am
today we helped to paint the kitchen walls. We were all wearing paper hats, so we could not become dirty if we were sloppy painters.
Bye
Lily
Posted Oct 9, 2011, 11:43 am
today we visited a medieval castle in the neighbour City Solingen, Schloss Burg, It is situated high upon a hill above the River Wupper.
This is the view from the street.
We went into the courtyard and found a lovely half-timbered part of the castle.
Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" )
About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard.
In Thirty Years War (17th century) large parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.
In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft, for example handmade brushes, brooms, soap, lovely yarns and wooden knitting needles, toys like swords and helmets and much more.
The round tower was the powder tower, it was restored about two years ago.
You can overlook the valley of the river Wupper from this high point.
We walked into the forest than. From here you can see how high above the valley level we were.
Later, when we walked through a hamlet called Höhrath we saw a sweet chestnut tree in one of the gardens.
In Höhrath you can find many livery stables.
Bye
Lily
Posted Oct 9, 2011, 11:45 am
our work in the kitchen is finished. Everything is at its place again.
Bye
Lily
Posted Oct 12, 2011, 9:45 am
since my last travelog entry we are having autumn here. Last week the weather felt like summer, but this week it changed to autumn. When we went outside it was rather cold and rainy.
First we went to Hasten, picking up Katja's friend Erika. Hasten is one of the oldest districts of the municipal area, with narrow lanes and old houses.
I met two cats at Erika's house, one of them still a kitten.
We went towards the forest than, we almost reached the valley of the Morsbach creek.
Along this creek you can find a lot of old industrial companies, this is where industrialization started in 13th century here. The creek was used to run water wheels.
We went into the forest than, straight uphill, leaving the valley. On the hill oposite of us you can see the city centre of Remscheid, with the two characteristic towers of the city hall and the water tower.
Suddenly the sun showed up!
Sunflowers!
From the open fields we had a great overlook.
Bye
Lily
Posted Nov 26, 2011, 9:54 am
I am on my home now after having a good time in Germany.
Love
Lily