Travelog for: Wolle

Wolle's first big journey will be to England and to Germany. This time, she'll be traveling in a bag instead of a box B) . Wolle says "I was sent to her in a box, you know :rolleyes: I'm ready for adventure."

I got to meet a lot of wooly sheep in the Lake District. First we stayed at a rural university campus and there were sheep right nearby. Then we stayed at a bed and breakfast by Lake Windermere. As you can see, there are sheep right behind the house, across the street.

This is not a very good shot of me, but you get the idea

I got to visit Germany with my buddy Hobbes, but my keeper was too busy to take any pictures 
I'm glad I wasn't all alone and had Hobbes to keep me company. Sheep like to be around others, you know. 

Almost a month ago, we came back to Pasadena. Every day, I'm keeping an eye on my keeper  I'm sitting on the top of her computer screen so I have a perfect view.

Well, I've been in Australia for quite a while. I hear that soon we'll go back to California. My keeper is so pre-occupied with herself though, that I sit at home most of the time 
They could have taken me to the Sydney Opera House like where another toy voyager went.

Yippie, I've been introduced to another ToyVoyager today. His name is Thomas. He arrived here today in a nice red envelope. He traveled all the way from Canada. He told me that it was very cold in Canada. They had an ice storm when he left. He's enjoying sunny California already. The photo shows the two of us together.

Thomas and I took a little trip together. I heard that Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena is a part of Historic Route 66. Well, we saw a little part of it. It was more interesting than it looks on the pictures. There's an interesting craft store right there and next to it this motel that looks like it's from historic times when this was still a major highway. We have nice trees here that are green even in the middle of winter.

I've recently be invited to travel to visit another host. I was a little scared at first  but I have decided that I will take the risk to have an adventure. I've been sitting around long enough.

Who knows, maybe I'll go more places than I ever imagined. If you would like me to visit, let Swan know and she'll see what she can arrange.

Oh, I'm on my way. I'm glad, I'm going to Germany, because then I'll feel a little more at home. My original host speaks German, too.

As you can see, my traveling envelope ways "Handle with Care", so I hope I'll be treated nicely. At the post office today, when they put the "Air Mail" stamp on my envelope, it tickled my tummy.

See you soon

Hi Mummy,
after a really short journey I arrived in Germany today. When my host helped me to climb out of my envelope I was welcomed by four other ToyVoyagers. They are Cilly, Ragamuffin, Henry The Adventure Hound and BineHH.



I had a look out of the kitchen window to take a look outside. What a pity! The sun isn't shining.



My host Katja told me that they had a lot of snow during the last two months and that it is melting away now. Katja decided to bake a cake and have a coffee before.



Baking a cake is always a good idea    Soon we gathered all the ingredients which we needed for the cake, a cake with curd-filling and tangerines. That sound really good.

For the dough we need margarine, sugar, eggs and wheat flour with some baking powder. The filling is made of curd, eggs, sugar, a little bit oil and milk and vanilla sugar, and of course canned tangerines.



First we made the dough ...



... and put it into the baking pan.



For the filling we had to mix curd, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla sugar, oil, milk and finally beaten egg whites.





The tangerines were put on top of the filling.



The cake had to bake than for about 50 minutes. It was almost ready than.



Finally the cake was covered with something funny which is called "Tortenguss" in Germany. This is a white powder which has to be mixed with some sugar and than water or fruit juice. We mixed it with sugar and the tangerine juice from the can. Than this mixture had to boil up and than cool down for a minute or two. This funny guck was spread over the cake to make it look better and to prevent the tangerines from running dry on the cake surface.

Than we enjoyed the cake. It is really delicious and refreshing.

Bye for now
Wolle

Hi Mummy,
we had to go to the post office today. This was a chance to see a bit of the city centre. Unfortunately the sun isn't shining, it rather looks like rain.

A farmers market is held here on Thursday and Friday. You can buy vegetables and fruit, meat, poultry and fish, dairy products and flowers.



This is one of the churches in the city centre.





I climbed into Katja's bag than because it started to rain heavily.

Bye
Wolle

Hi Mummy,
the weather was much better today so we took a walk in the forest. Katja was picked up by her friend Kerstin, who brought her dog Pepe with her. We parked the car on a parking site for hikers at one of the outer limits of Remscheid's municipal area.

From here we crossed the district "Unterburg" which belongs to the neighbour city Solingen. It is a very old district, situated at the river Wupper.

We walked down a really steep and narrow road to reach the valley.



This church was built in the 1730's years.



A large tree was cut down recently.



Soon we reached the river Wupper. Due to snow melting it has high-water.



We followed a path along the river, uphill and downhill.



We crossed the river at t his bridge.



Close to a café we found snowdrops.



Now we followed a path on this side of the river. Again it went uphill and downhill. Here we saw high rocks.



Snow water is running down the hills everywhere.



A large bridge came in sight: Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge.







Finally we reached the bottom of the valley with the 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.

I found some snow remains in front of a building!



I invited the other ToyVoyagers to play with me in the snow, but they all said that they'd be fed up with snow. They wanted no more wet feet and wet fur. What a pity!

We walked until we reached another bridge, we crossed the river here once more. In the background you can see a cute little outlook pavilion. Katja told us that we would walk along this pavilion later.



Here we are!



We rested in front of this waterfall (also snow water) for a while.



Once more we walked underneath Muengsten Bridge, this time on the slope of the valley.



When we were on our way back to the car, the sun came out.



Once more Muengsten Bridge was visible in the distance.



The sunshine does so good to me 



Bye
Wolle

Hi Mummy,
we had fantastic weather today. On our way home we took a few photos. The first one was taken in the city centre, close to Katja's work place.



The next photo was taken in the vicinity of my current home. I am living in a part of the city which was not destroyedin World War II.



At the moment I am living in a pretty art-nouveau-house,built in 1904 A.D. We'll take a photo next time.

When we came home we saw that a new ToyVoyager arrived today. It is Wendy from China.



Later, when I was sitting in the living room, I met Katja's pets. She is keeping two ferret ladies. This one is Brighty.



Bye for today
Wolle

Hi Mummy,
the weather is great here at the moment - but it is cold! It was so nice at the weekend but now it is about freezing point.

Katja showed us around in her lunch break.

First I'll show you the city  hall.



There is a large space in front of it, the farmer's market is here twice a week.



Here on this space you can find a pillar with a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.



This is one of the entrances of the shopping mall.



Here you can see the central bus station.





This lorry is a present from Remscheid's twin city Wansbeck in England.



From this bridge I can see the bus station once more.







Here is a little park in the middle of the city.



We walked to another district than, to Hasten,which is one of the oldest districts of the municipal area. Here you can see many of the typical "Bergische Häuser" (hosues of this region). They are often covered with slate or they are also often half-timbered houses.







This is an elementary school.







This park belongs to a museum site. The Patrician villa in the background contains a museum and you can also find the "German Tool Museum" here. Im Remscheid tools are produced since middle ages.

In the garden you can find some large machines.





Remscheid is surrounded by large forests with deep valleys.



Than we had to return to work, but this time we took the bus to get back to the city centre.

Bye
Wolle

Hi Mummy,
you won't believe what I have seen when I looked out of the window in the morning.



S N O W!

Of course I want to play in the snow, but I'm sure I'll freeze to death outside. The other ToyVoyagers thought that I won't freeze because I'd be a living scarf.

A scarf? This is a great idea!

Yesterday I saw something interesting lying on the table in the living room.



Maybe this is supposed to be a scarf.



No, it seems to be a sleeping bag for me. Katja told me that this is a sock. What a pity! It is far too large for me.

Than Katja decided to teach me how to knit. First we had a look at her wool stash. The ferrets also like those bags with wool.



I like those yearns, I'll have to decide which one to take.



I'll take this one.



Two hours later ....

Knitting is rather easy!



It's not long enough yet. So I will knit until it is long enough. Katja said that I'd had a neck like an elephant.



Bye
Wolle