Posted Oct 27, 2011, 2:53 pm
Furthermore I can't wait to get started. Pics will be added soon.
Cheers,
Graham
Posted Nov 3, 2011, 8:27 pm
I was relaxing in my warm, cosy bed, until she came and said I have to get up for this picture. She laid a "Kinderriegel" next to me, to show, how small I am.
Tomorrow, I will start my first trip - to Bochum, Starlight Express. There I will meet a guy also called Graham... Mummy said that so I hope she didn't lie. Isn't that exciting?! I really can't wait. Hope that it doesn't rain tomorrow so that I can take tons of pictures, just for you!
Cheers,
Graham
Posted Nov 4, 2011, 10:01 pm
Our journey started at 3.39 pm at the station in Ratingen, where we had to go onto track 2.
After about 7 minutes later I took the train to Essen mainstation, where I had my own seat.
We had to change the train in Essen, after we got to Bochum. But what did we do in Bochum? We / I went to the stage door of the musical Starlight Express.
Acutally it was quite interesting. We found some bricks and one brick just said that I should be for Dustin and Greaseball?!? What is a Dustin and what a Greaseball?!? And another said "Gemüsenüdelauflauf"
At first I sat there all alone! Everybody was talking to another and I? I hadn't anyone to talk to.
But then Cosy came around and finally I had another ToyVoyager to talk to
As you see, I also got a "Yogurette". It's a certain type of chocolate.
At the end we went in front of the foyer. It was the first time that I saw such a huge theatre.
And I really tried to hold their logo. But that was hard.
After that try I turned around and guess what I saw?!? Yeah a real old steam train! Isn't that exciting?
My host mummy showed me then the guy who plays the steam train in Starlight Express. Can you imagine that? A guy playing a train? Strange, isnt it?
It was an amazing day and I really can't wait what the future brings!
But now I'm really tired.
Read you,
Graham
Posted Nov 6, 2011, 1:14 pm
At first, my host mummy Nat told me that she has to translate an English text and I told her to help her. But then she showed me the text it wasn't English... Well, it was English, but not that kind of English I'm used to read. It was - well, what did she say? - Old English (English that is spoken from 400 - 1100)
But she said that it doesn't matter if I can't translate it. She also needed to learn the vocabulary and that wouldn't be the text I had to work on. So she showed me another one. But even this text I couldn't really understand, although it wasn't old English. She told me that this one is written in Middle English (spoken from 1100 - 1500). It's acutally closer to our English. She added that she also has big problems in translating this text, so I looked up some vocabulary
But it wasn't a big help so we both gave up and just read the text she has to read until next lesson. I helped to highlight important words and phrases.
Afterwards she wanted to thank me and so I got the change to meet new friends, who always stays that my host mummys appartment. Acutally there were tons of koalas but there were too many people on this picture so I just show you the important ones.
Then she got a call by her mummy where we both went to. She said that her mummy would have some real animals, like two ferrets and a cat. So I really wanted to have photos with them. But I only got one of both ferrets and the cat.
My hosts mummy sister is also thinking about sending one of her stuffed animals around the world and so I should talk to him. At first I didn't really like him.
But after a while I really started to like him. We had a good talk and yeah, maybe he's also about travelling the world and maybe we see us again in another country. That would be fun and I really hope I will.
Then it got dark and Nat, my host mummy told me, that we have to leave. So we went home, where she read a story.. Just for me. But first, I had to choose a book. That was hard, as she has sooo many. Here's just me with a couple of her books
I layed down in bed, where I met a bear, called Cam. At first, I was really afraid but she said that she would take care of me. That was soo nice and then I fell asleep.
Posted Nov 7, 2011, 6:28 pm
First we had to walk a hill up. It was hard as I wasn't used to it until now. There we saw a man made of stone sitting a around and drinking something like a beer. Nat told me, that he's called Leo and the artist, who made this figure, lives in the house next door. Nevertheless I had to talk a picture with it.
Then we went until the end of the hill and I saw a church. Nat explained that it's the catholic one and the oldest in Ratingen. Unbelievable. But it should be older than 1,000 years. Can you imagine it? It doesn't look like that.
We turned around and I had a look down at the hill we just went. It really looks like a typical village and I really love these old frame houses my host is also living in (even if you don't see it anymore)
Afterwards she showed me the other church in the village. This one is just about turning 100 years upcoming year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a picture having it in the background as there were soooooo many people who just came out.
In the afternoon we went to a birthdayparty where lots of mentally handicapped people were around. Unfortunately my mummy wasn't really allowed to take pictures so I'm happy I got this one with the cake.
In the evening I already had to go into the envelope as I'm going to the Netherlands right now. I had to go into it so early as it was the first thing to do the next morning. Right before going to university. But I was happy to be with her and maybe I will return for a longer period again.
Goodbye and read you out of the Netherlands
Posted Nov 10, 2011, 8:51 am
I arrived savely at Cyn's Place in Holland!! My welcome was very warm, cause i was welcomed by BlueBunny and Hippa. They are really nice to me!!
I brought a nice postcard and some candy with me! Cyn really liked it! She was really surprised!!
After that i told Cyn that i'm tired of my journey, so she made a cozy and warm bed for me!
Tomorrow i will have a relaxing day, Cyn has to work and i will take a look at her office!!!
Miss you mummy!!
Love, Graham
Posted Nov 10, 2011, 9:35 am
Today started so great!!! Hippa & Bluebunny woke me up, and after that i played a game on the Ipad with my host Cyn!!
And Cyn told me, that i can come with her to her work! She works in Castricum on a travelagency, so there is a lot to see!!
I really like lions!!!!
The look like big pussycats!
I also was playing hide and seek in a huge tree, can you find me mummy?
They also allready have a small Christmas Tree at the office, so i played a bit in it.
Cyn also wanted to show around where i am exactly.. I'm now in the Netherlands.. Well known as your neighbours!
And mummy, i was a bit scared aswell today.. Cyn showed me to those big cat... I was so afraid that he would eat me, but i'm glad he didnt.. I could even pose with him for the photo!! Cool isn't it?
The rest of the day i have to wait at Cyn's work.. after that we will go to her school, so it will be a long day!!
Bye mummy, miss you!
Posted Nov 14, 2011, 12:55 pm
Today we've been to Bocholt Germany!! We went shopping over there, so i was back at where i came from!!
We left Alkmaar at 07.15am, and we arrived at Bocholt at 09.30am or something.. So we made a long trip!!
We have been shopping a lot, Cyn loves to shop in Germany because the cosmetics are so cheap over there!!
And there was also allready a bit christmas decoration, i loved that!
For lunch we had Thai Noodles, have you ever tried them mummy? They are soooo nice!!!
After all we have been till 7pm in Bocholt, and it was nice to shop, take a look around, and also Cyn let us rest a bit, and play a bit!
It was a nice but long day, so i came home and slept a long time!!!
Bye now mummy, miss you!
Posted Nov 14, 2011, 12:57 pm
Today we didn't do a lot of things.. We went shopping for some Christmas Decoration, and Cyn made a lovely white/silver/pink decoration.
What do you think mum? Pretty nice isn't it?
Love,
Graham!
Posted Dec 24, 2011, 8:27 pm
today I arrvived in Liechtenstein. My journey was very excausting, but now I'm happy to be here.
I was very happy to came out of the envelope.
Binle told me, that she's very happy, to see me and she showed me my house were I can live for the next weeks.
Tomorrow I can celebrate Christmas with her and her family. Now I'm very tired and I have to go to sleep. Good night mum.
Posted Dec 25, 2011, 9:33 am
Today it was very exciting, because it's Christmas Eve. Binle decorated the Christmas tree and I helped her with the balls and lights.
After that we went to the cinema in Hohenems in Austria. It was the first time, that I went to IMAX and it was fantastic. We watched "Puss in Boots" and it was very funny. I had my own chair in the IMAX and the popcorn was great.
After the movie we went home and ate dinner. Mmmmh. Then we go to the other room with the Christmas tree and it looked so beautiful.
After that I was very tired and I went to my house to sleep.
Posted Dec 26, 2011, 10:47 am
Maybe we go tomorrow to see some sights in Liechtenstein. The weather here is beautiful, blue sky and the sun shines into the winterwonderland.
Miss you mum.
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 12:45 pm
today I went to Schaan with Binle and her friend to the Black Pearl Bar. There were some funny sculptures and I saw the Liechtensteiner beer "Krona". But Binle told me, that this beer makes headache.
Miss you mum.
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 12:55 pm
Today we were for breakfast in Feldkirch in Austria, that's near of the customs to Liechtenstein. We ate an American breakfast and it was great, just a litte bit to much.
After that Binle went to the travel agency to book her vacations in the summer. She needed a lot of time and so I made a nap in her bag.
Bye, Graham.
Posted Jan 4, 2012, 1:05 pm
this week I'm in Bischofszell. That's the village where Binle lives under the week. At the weekend she lives in Liechtenstein.
I found a new friend. Her name is Ella the owl.
And I found a little palmtree, where I can climb all the time.
At the weekend Binle promised me, that we go to the capital city of Liechtenstein named Vaduz.
Miss you mum!
Posted Jan 21, 2012, 10:13 am
yesterday a new TV arrived at Binle's home. His name is Zebi and we have a lot of fun.
Miss you mum!
Posted Jan 21, 2012, 10:19 am
today it is snowing.
Posted Jan 21, 2012, 1:27 pm
today we went to Vaduz to see the "Schloss Vaduz" and the old and new "Regierungsgebäude" in Vaduz.
It was very cold because of the wind, but Zebi and I were very excitied.
Miss you mum.
Posted Jan 28, 2012, 10:43 am
Yesterday a new TV arrived at Binle's.
It's name is Vanilla. We have a lot of fun together.
Today Binles showed us where Liechtenstein exactly is. It is a verrrry tiny country between Switzerland and Austria. The capitol city is Vaduz.
Binle told me, that I have to leave her and Liechtenstein.
I'm very sad but also very excited to see my new destination. Next week it is so far.
Bye. Miss you!
Posted Feb 6, 2012, 2:43 pm
So today I have to leave Liechtenstein. It's very cold here and I'm very excited. Binle told me that my new destination is Italy.
I hope there's a little bit more pleasant temprature than here.
So I have also leave my new friends Vanilla, Zebi and Malia. It was very funny with you and I hope we see each other anywhere again.
Miss you.
Posted Feb 21, 2012, 1:55 pm
I'm arrived in Italy! Since I was quite hungry my host cooked me a typial dish of Milan: "risotto".
Now I'm ready to start a new adventure!
Love,
Graham
Posted Feb 23, 2012, 4:44 pm
this is the "fashion week" in Milan! All the most important Italian and foreign stylists presents their new dresses! The black tent behind me is where you can follow one of the fashion shows (they are really a lot!) and it's inside the court of the Sforzesco Castle, a Medieval Castle in the center of Milan. I'm a bit excited!
Bye,
Graham
Posted Feb 25, 2012, 3:53 pm
Posted Mar 5, 2012, 9:51 am
it seems that spring is arriving, today is a lovely warm day and I'm going out for a walk!
Love,
Graham
Posted May 4, 2012, 8:07 am
I'm back again!!!
Posted May 7, 2012, 2:37 pm
today I'm in the main square of Milan, in front of the Royal Palace and the Cathedral called Duomo. On the top of the Cathedral there is the gold "Madonna" which is the symbol of the town.
Bye,
Graham
Posted May 12, 2012, 8:14 pm
I've a new TV friend who is just arrived in Italy, her name is YoYo, she looks really friendly! Today I'm taking her to the park, I think we'll became good friends!
Love,
Graham
Posted May 13, 2012, 10:47 am
today it's windy and it rains so I decided to sit down in a bar drinking a "marocchino", made with coffee, milk and chocolate!
Have a nice day,
Graham
Posted May 13, 2012, 4:48 pm
Posted May 14, 2012, 1:49 pm
my new friend YoYo and I have decided to cook something Italian, what's better than a dish of pasta?
Here we are, selecting all the ingredients we need:
- tomato and grillaed aubergines
- a few onion and garlic
- pasta
firs of all we put onion and garlic in a pan, then we add vegetables.
We put our pasta in a pot full of boiling water and we wait a few minutes.
Now we can enjoy our meal!
Love,
Graham
Posted May 15, 2012, 11:21 am
today Im quite hungry and this big pizza is what I need!
Bye,
Graham
Posted May 27, 2012, 5:01 pm
my TV friends and I had a bad adventure: we were going to an international exposition of roses when we broken the tyre of our car...unfortunately we were not able to repair it even if we did our best!
Posted May 30, 2012, 1:34 pm
after working at the car's tyre I was so dirty that I needed a bath!
Love,
Graham
Posted Jun 8, 2012, 10:32 am
here we are et the International Exposition of Roses, I can't say which is the rose I like best..they look so beautiful and the scent in the air is so good!
Posted Jun 21, 2012, 3:22 pm
do you have the same hot temperature we're having here? I'd love to take a bath!
Love,
Graham
Posted Jun 22, 2012, 1:33 pm
my friend YoYo and I are to the Lake of Como, in a small town called Varenna! We're a bit hungry so we decided to have a break before starting our walk!
Bye,
Graham
Posted Jul 27, 2012, 2:06 pm
I'm to the swimming pool with my TV friends Finn and Creamsheep!
Love,
Graham
Posted Aug 21, 2012, 7:18 am
Posted Aug 24, 2012, 8:07 pm
I am relaxing at the swimming pool of the hotel with Finn...bye!!!
Posted Oct 8, 2012, 2:08 pm
my TV friends and I have prepared a birthday cake for our host. She was so glad!!!
Bye,
Graham
Posted Nov 5, 2012, 4:26 pm
I'm leaving for Spain!
Bye bye Italy!!!
Posted Nov 11, 2012, 11:01 pm
I arrived in Granada, Spain!.
I heard bear noises so I was a bit afraid of coming our of my post package
But when I did I just saw a very nice ToyVoyager called Sir James
So we went out for a walk in the city
Sir James and my hosts say that Spain is normally very sunny but these weeks it will rain a lot, and that it's good for the trees.
Here Sir James is showing me the nice and centric Constitution Avenue.
It has several statues of famous people from Granada. Here we are with the world famous poet Federico Garcia Lorca:
There were many flowers all around the city:
In the junction of the Constitution Avenue and the main "Gran Via" street there's a big Spanish flag, there are also many pretty and historical buildings.
Here in the background you can see the arch that is Puerta de Elvira
It was built in the 11th century and is one of the oldest buildings in Granada.
Well that's it for today.
Love,
Graham
Posted Nov 21, 2012, 10:36 pm
Today we received a new toy voyager, his name is Elliot!
And we started helping our hosts with the Christmas decorations, specially the Christmas Tree.
We helped to assemble the tree, it was a bit tricky since you have to look for a number and color in order to know where every branch goes.
We also played with the tree's lights and decoration.
And this is the final result: we loved it!!!
Love, Graham.
Posted Nov 30, 2012, 9:32 pm
Today we took a little walk in the north part of the city, here are some pics. Today's weather was really nice, and the trees were really pretty since they are changing colors.
As you can see the city has a lot of pomegranates everywhere! (Granada is the name of the fruit in Spanish and also the name of the city).
We also visited the city's bullring.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
Love, Graham.
Posted Dec 2, 2012, 5:17 pm
Tonight we went out for a walk in the city. On the way we stopped at an outdoor gym and had some fun with the machines:
In the south of the city there's a cool roundabout with a helicopter!
and as I've told you before, there's a lot of pomegranates all over the city, here's one on a new lightpost:
Here I am in another park playing like a little kid:
Something that is very iconic in Spain is the store chain called "El Corte Inglés", and they put up a nice light and music show outside of their downtown store for Christmas.
Here we all are in front of the Fuente de las Batallas:
Around it there was a nice handicrafts market:
And this is the city's main post office:
and a nice hotel in front of it:
There is a very centric square called the Bib-Rambla, this is its main fountain:
Inside a nice crepe store there was this mirror, the sign says "Que guapo estás" which means something like "You're really handsome!":
And this is the Granada Cathedral:
Here I am on top of a donkey's ear in front of the Cathedral's bell tower:
And that wasn't the only animal I rode tonight, here I am grabbing a bull by its horn!:
It was a lot of fun to go out at night!
Love,
Graham
Posted Dec 17, 2012, 12:42 pm
Today we went out for some tea. Granada has a lot of Arab influence, and in the Arabic neighborhood there are a lot of places were you can go and have a tea and smoke with a hookah.
Elliot had a big coffee with whipped cream and I had a mango tea, it was delicious!.
XOXO, Graham.
Posted Jan 19, 2013, 8:18 pm
Today we went out for a walk around Granada again, the weather was a bit rainy but it was still very nice and not so cold.Here we are by the river that is still a bit dry and muddy, the trees had many different colors
This fountain is called "Fuente de las Granadas" because of the very big pomegranates in the middle:
It is in the "Paseo de la Bomba" which is a promenade were they sometimes do parades or special events. Right now there is an art instalation with many big and wiggly metal tubes:
We also stopped by the Town Hall again
And we visited the Federico Garcia Lorca park, which is named after a very important Spanish poet.
There were still some flowers left from spring and many different types of trees
and in the night the main fountain changed it's colors, it was very pretty.
Love,
Graham
Posted Jan 19, 2013, 8:24 pm
Here I am at the Barajas airport in Madrid, it is very pretty and colorful as you can see:
The flight I took was very long, and the day seem to last a lot more than normal.
After a long time only seeing clouds and water out the window I spotted land!
We went to Miami, USA!!
Here I am with my buddies in Miami Beach having a coconut under fantastic weather!
It was very nice!
More pictures to come,
Love,
Graham
Posted Jan 20, 2013, 4:37 pm
Today we went to a supermarket to get some food for the holiday celebrations
As you can see there were many decorations on sale:
In Florida there are many water ways with pretty birds and fountains in them:
It also has a lot of swamps
problem is, there are many animals there, here we are wrestling a big alligator with another small one on it's head!
hehe, just kidding, we played around a lot today.
And the weather was very nice... look at me, at a pool in December!
It was very nice and relaxing!
Don't think we forgot about the holidays! look at all the pretty decorations
Love,
Graham
Posted Jan 25, 2013, 9:44 pm
Today, we travelled again!
Here we are in a highway on our way to Downtown Miami!
Look at all the big skyscrappers
we're almost there!
hmmm... where shall we go?
In downtown Miami they have a train that is free to ride, it's called the Metro Mover, and here is it's station at "Calle Ocho" a very famous latino street.
At this intersection we saw a trolley car, which is really just a free tourist bus. Sadly today we could not go on it.
Look at all the really tall buildings, there were many of them all over, and each one different and very modern-looking.
While walking around we saw this big human torso at the entrance of a gym, look, Sir James says he's also as strong as the statue... he's so funny.
Oh well, today we also left Miami... here I am at the airport... woah, wait, Mexico City?
hehe, just kidding... here we are at the Barajas airport in Madrid where they still had some holiday decorations. It was a very long flight but I slept most of the way.
And back to the flamenco of Spain, Andalucia, and specially Granada!
Love,
Graham
Posted Feb 13, 2013, 7:33 pm
Today we went to Sierra Nevada mountain which is really close to Granada, only half an hour away. There was a lot of snow and it was really cold. Here's a picture of me at 3000 m, you can see the clouds below us and you can also see a huge radiotelescope! It was awesome.
Cheers,
Graham.
Posted Feb 13, 2013, 8:12 pm
Today we had Tacos for lunch!!! We prepared the tacos with meat, cheese and a spicy sauce!!! It was really fun, here's a pic.
Love, Graham.
Posted Mar 13, 2013, 12:29 pm
Sorry I haven't updated my travelog so often lately. But just so you know I have behaved very good and I'm eating well.
Here I am eating some tiny hamburguers we made:
And here I am in a famous place for Churros called Café Futbol that has been open since 1922.
And finally, here we are making some cupcakes!
Look, I'm small enough to BE one of the cupcakes!
They were very yummy, although they were bigger than me!
Love, Graham.
Posted Mar 18, 2013, 10:30 am
Just a quick post to show you a couple of statues we saw.
They are of the catholic kings that conquered Granada and funded Colombus' expedition.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon:
And Queen Isabella I of Castile:
I saw them in this nice building from the year AD 1525 called Hospital Real:
Love,
Graham
Posted Apr 26, 2013, 12:48 pm
Sorry I has taken me so long to make this post, my hosts have been very busy and they hope that they can soon keep up with the travelogs. As for me, I have been having fun, and here's a post that from two months ago.
Anyways, guess where I am:
In the snow! It snowed really hard, my hosts say this only happens once every 3 or 4 years in Granada.
The city looked very pretty:
And since it was a holiday in Granada (Day of Andalucia) we went to the science museum, here I am with a nice mister called Albert Einstein:
This is a mock-up of the museum:
It's so big that we didn't have enough time to see it all in one morning!
this is a Foucault pendulum, you can see that it turns throughout the day which is proof that the Earth is turning.
Here we all are on top of a wind turbine:
We look so small! and there are even larger wind turbines.
As you can see the weather was very nice
Just perfect for a workshop on birds of prey, here you can see on the left a white owl:
They took several birds out and had them fly around even between the people in the crowd.
And in the end they even let us get close to them and ask questions, but I was a bit worried because the trainer said they use little toy like me to train the birds to attack!
He had a vicious look!
There was a room dedicated to the human brain, it was very interesting:
Here is an artistic representation on the importance of each area of the human body for the brain:
Look at me on top of this cristal ball:
and this are all the veins of a human arm:
They are a lot!
We also saw many large animals:
and in this tree we could see how each ring represents a year and how many of those years are the maximum lifespan of different species:
There was also a section about science in Al-Andalus, that was the name of the Andalucia Region of Spain when it was ruled by an Arab Kingdom. Here I am with an astrolabe, which is a tool for telling where the stars are and what time and place of the Earth you're in:
And there was also a big exposition on puppets, these were about 5 meters tall:
As was this puppet of T-Rex:
These nice fluorescent ones were about my size:
And here is where the puppet maker works
We also saw a workshop on electricity where we saw some big and loud lightning bolts!
We went into a butterfly house and saw butterflies hatching out of their cocoons!
And we also got to see them flying around and standing all around, there were many different ones from all over the World:
There was also a big pond with turtles and very big fish:
if you look closely here you can see something more than twigs:
there are actually stick bugs there! they blend in very well, there's one right behind the orange fish.
Finally before leaving we met with Mr. Charles Darwin and his turtle, he asked me many questions and wrote about me in his book of migratory species!
It was a great day, I had a lot of fun with my friends.
Love,
Graham
Posted May 5, 2013, 3:29 pm
Today I decided to post some random pictures from the last few months.
Here are a couple of pictures from back in february when we went to the famous Cafe Futbol and had some churros:
Look at my big churro smile:
Here I am on a lookout point south of Granada where you can see the city, some of the suburbs and a new mall called the Serrallo Plaza:
Here I am in Granada's train station:
We also went to a nice camping place called Llano de la Perdiz:
And finally, look at the pretty rainbow we saw:
Love,
Graham
Posted May 7, 2013, 8:13 am
Today we went for a quick trip to Madrid!
Here I am the city's main square, Plaza Mayor:
And this is Plaza del Sol, which is where a lot of protests happen as well as where they celebrate New Year's Eve:
There you can also see the symbolic starting point of the Spanish roads, kilometer 0:
And a statue of Madrid's icon, the bear and the "madroño" tree:
Finally I also got to ride the city's metro:
Hasta luego,
Graham
Posted May 8, 2013, 11:50 am
It was very pretty, the nice spring weather has made everything green and flowery:
The place was very big and had many bridges and arches:
Inside a church they had a nice structure that they use in the Holy Week processions, to carry the church's Virgin Mary, this one has many ornaments that are like the Alhambra's interior:
This is called the Gate of Wine (or Puerta del Vino in Spanish):
And here's a view of the Albaicín:
There were many gardens all throughout the Alhambra:
We also visited the Carlos V palace which is the newest part of the Alhambra:
Look at this grand staircase:
and the amazingly large open center:
The acoustics in the middle are so nice that it is often the site of concerts.
And in the end we had lunch in a very nice patio:
We even had some company.
It was very nice, we had a great day.
Love,
Graham
Posted May 25, 2013, 5:21 pm
This weekend it was the Fiesta de las Cruces (Festival of the Crosses) here in Granada, in which many people compete in setting up patios, plazas and showcases with typical items and crosses made up of roses.
It is a beautiful festivity:
And of course while walking around town I could help but pose again with the Alhambra as a background:
And also take in the beautiful views of the city:
We visited many of the winning installations:
There was several open air flamenco events, and for the kids they left an open stage so they could all dance, it was very fun!
The local football team here recently joined the first division league (the world famous "La Liga" where the Barca and Real Madrid play) and has managed to barely stay in this category for the last two years, so some fans built this cross to see if it helps them:
And here I am with many other crosses:
Sadly they were already taking some of them down by the time we got to them, there were just so many!:
And this last one is from the local university's visitor center:
(that's the University's coat of arms made in black and white stones on the ground).
Love,
Graham
Posted May 26, 2013, 8:11 pm
With the weather getting warmer we decided to take a nice relaxing bath:
I was a bit afraid of the water at first
But when I finally got in it was really nice and warm
Love,
A cleaner Graham
Posted May 29, 2013, 8:34 am
Don't think that I forgot, my hosts just haven't been able to help me write this travelog until today, but I remembered very well:
Happy Mothers' day! Here in Spain it is celebrated a week earlier, but I remembered you very much while we visited:
Seville!
I got distracted in this picture, but here I am with the Giralda, which is right now the Cathedral's bell tower but was built as the minaret for the mosque in the XII century:
This is the side of the Cathedral:
It is huge!, in fact it is the third biggest church in the World.
I really liked this view, the cubic tree, the large pedestrian street with trolley car tracks and the weird building on the right:
Right beside this is the City Hall:
There are many churches all throughout the city:
And look at this weird structure!
It is called Metropol Parasol and is a wooden structure made to look like giant mushrooms, which some say that is the largest wooden structure of the World!
The view from above is beautiful!
And finally, right beside the river Guadalquivir I saw the Torre del Oro:
It was a very sunny and hot day, but I was very happy to get to know Seville!
Cheers,
Graham
Posted May 31, 2013, 12:11 pm
This week is Granada's Fair week! So we went to the city's fairgrounds.
There were many people in very beautiful horse carriages and typical dresses.
There are many places to eat, dance flamenco, listen to live music:
And there are also many mechanical attractions
It was rather fun and festive!
Cheers,
Graham
Posted Jun 2, 2013, 1:23 pm
Today was the Tarasca's parade here in Granada. This is a very important part of the Corpus Christi celebrations.
The Tarasca is a symbol of beauty winning against the ugliness. To symbolize this, a mannequin is dressed by a designer with a dress that is supposed to set the fashion trend for the next season. A professional also puts on her make up every year.
So here she is on top of the dragon that symbolizes the ugliness:
The whole parade is very festive, several bands play music and people dressed up with big heads (or "cabezones") go around bumping the little kids of the public in the head with an air balloon.
Since we were in the city center we went to see another famous Granada Corpus Christi tradition, the Carocas, these are drawings accompanied by a funny verse that is related to some news of the year.
This one is of a paraglider that got stuck in some power lines:
Afterwards we went to the Casa de los tiros, which used to be part of a defensive wall protecting the city. It's called that way due to the rifles that still stick out the upper floor windows.
Look, inside was an old version of the Tarasca's dragon from the early 1900s.:
And to end it all, here's a very pretty view of the Alhambra:
Love,
Graham
Posted Jun 30, 2013, 10:10 pm
Today we went back to the Alhambra!
As you can see it has many beautiful ponds and gardens:
This part is the Patio de la Acequía in the Generalife, which was the summer house of the sultans and kings:
And legend says that in this patio, in the XV century, a member of the Abencerrages family was seen having an affair with a member of the Royal Family, with that tree in the background being the only witness to the true identity of the lover.
Since only the family was identified all of the main members of the clan were killed in the Sala de Abencerrajes.
Here's the same patio as seen from above with me and my Toy Voyager friends:
The hand rails of these stairs have water running through them, they're very relaxing.
And this is a view of the Patio de la Acequía from above:
This is a doorway inside the seven floors tower, which is normally closed to public access but it was open this month.
Inside we saw some old dungeons:
So many beautiful gardens all around!
The place is filled with beautiful Arab architecture:
Besides the many pretty palaces and gardens, the Alhambra was a very well built military stronghold:
Here you can see the interior of the military section of the Alhambra, known as the Alcazaba:
Here I am with my friends enjoying a little rest in the sunlight with a view of the Albaycín
The view of the city center from there is beautiful:
And of course of the Albaycín:
We climbed to the highest building in the Alhambra and Granada, the Torre de la Vela:
In case you're wondering those are: the EU, Andalucía, Spain and Granada flags from left to right.
This is the Alcazaba from above:
The Justice door is a very big and heavily fortified entry into the Alhambra:
And finally the Pillar of Carlos V, this is a fountain built in the XVI century and that is somewhat hidden.
The Alhambra is amazing!
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 1, 2013, 9:56 pm
Guess what?
I'm on the road:
Or should I say on the air?
Here I am in the Málaga airport:
Any ideas were I'm headed off to?
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 10, 2013, 4:21 am
If you guessed that I was going to an archipielago in the coast of Africa, you were right!
Here I am leaving the Tenerife Norte airport:
And here I am with my friends getting ready to get into a salt-water pool:
The views in the island are amazing!
And the sea is cristal clear.
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 13, 2013, 6:05 pm
Check out how cute I look with my good friends:
We went out on a night to the city center, here we are at 100 montaditos pub:
It's a very nice franchise here in Spain were you can eat a large variety of small sandwiches for very little money.
And here's a pretty colonial style church:
We walked by the port:
I'm a bit scared of Charly though, sometimes he smells me and says "mmm, chicken":
But I'm ok, here I'm going to take the tram:
We got to seat behind all the controls:
It was a fun night out,
Love,
Graham.
Posted Jul 20, 2013, 1:32 pm
Today we went to a very nice salt water pool called Parque Maritimo, it was very relaxing:
The park is very large and beautiful and was designed by an architect called Cesar Manrique.
A lot of people were having fun and enjoying the water and Sun.
And from the park you could see a beautiful theater designed by famous Spanish architect Calatrava. Also a small black castle and the beautiful crystal clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
We had a very fun day at the pool.
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 24, 2013, 7:56 pm
Here I am back in the Tenerife North airport... and about to get into this airplane you see behind me:
It's one of the airplanes of the local airline called Binter, and it took us to La Palma!
We wanted to go very early in the morning to see the sunrise from the highest peak in the Island which is called Roque de los Muchachos:
Like all the peaks in the Canary Islands, they're dormant volcanoes, here you can see the crater during sunrise:
This mountain is home to many of the best telescopes in the World!, look how beautiful they look above the clouds during the sunrise:
And the air was so clear that you could see the shadow of the mountain on the clouds!
It was amazing how perfectly triangular the shape was.
After the sunrise we went to see some of the telescopes close up.
Here on the far right is the biggest optical telescope in the World!, the GTC:
And these big mirrors out in the open are called the MAGIC telescopes, they look for very high energy astronomical events:
Being above the clouds was very nice, and everything was very quiet. Simply amazing.
On the way down we stopped several times to see the island, it was very beautiful.
Here's a view of the main city, the port and on the background the airport.
What an amazing day this was!
Love,
Graham.
Posted Jul 31, 2013, 1:09 am
Today we went to another pool park, this one called Lago Martianez.
It is also a very large salt water pool designed by Cesar Manrique that uses volcanic rocks.
It's very nice to relax here in Tenerife with so many pools and beaches.
The park had many sculptures including these dried up tree trunks.
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 31, 2013, 2:03 am
There was a room with drawers for many insects and specially butterflies from around the world, look at the beautiful wings they have:
When we left we took a picture in front of the Concepcion Parish:
Love,
Graham
Posted Jul 31, 2013, 10:55 pm
It's a beautiful beach with white soft sand brought from the Sahara desert:
The water was crystal clear and very refreshing. And the scenery of the mountains and small boats was beautiful.
Love,
Graham
Posted Aug 1, 2013, 2:49 am
To start we went to the Roque de Garachico:
It is a small island that is a bird sanctuary were several protected species live and some migratory birds also stop by.
Then we went to the Punta Teno lighthouse, which is the westernmost point in the island.
To the left you can faintly see the Gomera island.
The water sea here in Tenerife is beautiful:
Afterwards we drove through the mountains and arrived to a small town called Santiago del Teide:
Apparently they had their local festivities during these days which are related to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage.
Then we went to the Costa Adeje where there are many large beaches and resorts:
It was very touristy.
Finally we stopped by the Cathedral of La Candelaria:
Where there are very large statues of the 9 Menceyes (or kings) that ruled the islands by the time the Spaniards invaded them.
We had a very fun day today and saw many places around the island.
Love,
Graham
Posted Aug 11, 2013, 3:51 pm
Here we are with the Teide on the background as well as the La Palma island:
After going through a dense pine forest we came into a desert that looked very much like the surface of Mars!
In fact they use this area to test robots that NASA and ESA will send to the Red Planet!.
We stopped for a drink, it is very important to drink a lot of fluids here in the desert, and the view was like that of an American cowboys movie.
Look at the weird structures the rocks make here:
Love,
Graham
Posted Aug 28, 2013, 11:57 pm
Today we got to ride in a submarine, and it was a yellow submarine!:
It was amazing and we got a big window all to ourselves. Here we are just below the sea level waiting to go down
Here I am at 30 meters below sea level:
We saw many fishes of many different types, even several stingrays.
They also explained to us that the red light from sunlight does not reach so far down, so that's why everything looked so blue and both my skin and eyes look green while my beak looks a lot darker than normal.
It was absolutely amazing!
Love,
Graham
Posted Sep 12, 2013, 4:55 pm
The indigenous people used to call these cliffs the Wall of Hell.
Posted Sep 16, 2013, 11:53 am
Today we went to Loro Parque, which is a famous Zoo in Tenerife,
there we got to see many animals, and it was so large we barely had any time to stop and take photos.
There were many parrots throughout the park since they have the largest sanctuary of these birds in the World.
There I saw a show with 7 Orca whales:
And another with sea lions:
It was a very fun day!
Love,
Graham
Posted Nov 2, 2013, 10:44 pm
But sadly a friend must leave us now. So good bye Charly, it was very nice knowing you and we hope to meet you again.
Bye bye
Posted Nov 2, 2013, 11:31 pm
And this time we saw the Nazrid palaces, which is the most beautiful section and for which you need a special entrance.
And here I am at the Ambassadors' room:
And of course we visited the courtyard of the lions:
And here I am outside the palace of Charles the V:
Cheers,
Graham