Travelog for: Snuttig

Hi Mum,

Our last day On Amrum Island – we were all sitting together and talked a lot.





Most of the others will leave us and our Host RikeH tomorrow. We are the lucky ones and can stay here for more days! We celebrated the last day on Amrum drinking a delicious bottle of wine.



Oups – very delicious.



We sat a very long time – and had so much fun. It is great to be a ToyVoyager!



Hugs
Snuttig

Hello Mum,

we drove to Hamburg today.



In the train we read a book...



and had a look out of the window.



We went around the lake called Alster. The weather was nice – many people were there.





I saw many nice ducks.



We made a beautiful group photo.



This was on the other side of the Alster – a really great place!



Here you see another beautiful place – the Townhall.





It was a nice trip!

Greetings
Snuttig

Hello Mum,

Because I want to see the main attractions we went to Hamburg again.

This is one of the most famous buildings in Hamburg, the church Michel.



Near to it is a modern building.



I saw this funny monument – it shows something from the Easter Islands.



We made a photo of the Church Michel from the distance.



Then we went to the Port of Hamburg. A really interesting place. We saw different kinds of ships.





Another interesting monument.



That was me in front of the old sailing ship Rickmer Rickmers.





Later we went into a café. We saw a nice piece of cake.



And a delicious cappuccino.



I jumped out of the bag and enjoyed this meal!



Back home there were two new ToyVoyagers. They are both new ones – so we told them a lot about the life of ToyVoyagers.



Yours
Snuttig

Frohes Ostern Mum,

Today is Easter. A little Easter Bunny came to us. He told us that there are some nice things for us hidden in the room.



Of course I started to search. First I looked under the arm chair, but I didn't see anything.



I walked around – and look what I saw...





A great success. Minutes later I jumped onto the table. There were beautiful flowers.



But it was no time to admire the flowers. I had to search Eggs – and look – behind the flowers were more sweets.



I went back to my place – I found so many sweets – wonderful.



In the afternoon we had some delicious cakes – they were really big, but I ate one!



Happy Easter!
Snuttig

Hello Mum,

we are full of Easter Chocolate! So we decided to make a walk in the morning. Here you see us having a rest.



There were nice big trees here.



I sat in the sun – although you cannot see it on the photo - and relaxed.



We found a nice small river – lovely in both directions.





In the afternoon we visited RikeH's Mum – and met the Easter Bunny. He was so nice!



I found other funny bunnys.





There was a hen and her children.





We loved it there.

Now I will leave and go to my next host in Germany.

First I said good-bye to Dicker Kumpel. He is such a great host.



All the others gave me a big hug – I will miss them!



Now I am on my way to the next host!

Yours
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. My new host is Katja. My last host told me that I would meet a lot of ToyVoyagers here - but I met only one TV so far - Ceryni.



Soon we were three. Oops! This guy is looking familar to me!



His name is Frankie_Blue and he asked me where I come from. I told him about ToyVoyagers and how great it is to be a ToyVoyager.



He asked me how to become a ToyVoyager. I told him that it is quite easy as long as his Mummy still has some travel tags. Of course Katja found a few



Now Frankie_Blue will be a real ToyVoyaer soon.

Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,

we took a long walk today along the so called "Obstweg Leichlingen" (translated it must be something like "Route of Fruit"  ). Leichlingen is a small town, halfway between Remscheid and Cologne.

The walk is following a route through traditional orchard meadows, along homesteads and through rural hamlets. It is about 9 km long.



We had to follow the marking showing an apple.



You can find information boards along the walk, telling you interesting facts about local fauna and flora, about the region itself, about fruit-growing and special sorts of apples, peas and other fruits.





These are pea trees, their blooms are not fully opened yet.



On the meadows the first daisies and Cuckoo Flowers are blooming.







You can find blooming fuit trees everywhere, even in the forest.



This is  blooming hawthorne.







In the gardens also lots of flowers are blooming. Leichlingen is closer to the river Rhine than Remscheid, so the climate is milder.





These trees are apple trees.





We are really enjoying the sunshine.





We had to walk along a street for a while.







Here you can see the city centre of Leichlingen in the valley.



We went into town than, looking for refreshments.



The river Wupper is running through the city centre.



Here is our reward for more than two  hours walking



That was a really nice trip!

Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
today it is a wonderful sunny day. We took a walk with Katja's brother-in-law and his dog Berti in one of the valleys which are surrounding the city centre of Remscheid.

First we had to walk to the South of Remscheid, from here you have a good view to the city centre on its hill.



We went to the "Eschbachtal" (Eschbach Valley). The "Eschbach" is a creek which is running through this valley.



We saw several ponds which belonged to mills in the past.







Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
we are celebrating a really important commemoration day today: The Day of German Beer. Since 1984 the issuance of the "Reinheitsgebot"  (German Beer Purity Law) is celebrated by the German brewers.



We also did



Cheers!

Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the suburbs of Remscheid. We started in Remsched-Hasten, which is one of the oldest districts in the municipal area.

In Hasten you can find lots of pretty old houses. They are often half-timbered houses or covered with slate. They usually have green shutters.





This is the creek "Morsbach", this valley is named after this creeek.





I saw a running water wheel here.



Several creeks are running through this valley. This one is dammed to a fish pond here.



We walked uphil through a shady forest than.



The shady forest changed into a sunny forest ...



From here you had a good look at the city centre in the distance. You can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower from here.





We walked along a small hamlet.













That was a quite long walk, more than two hours.

Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
today it's the International Worker's Day, so Katja suggested to visit a very important former workplace, the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen. To get there, we met Katja's friend Erika and went to Essen by bus and train.

We met in Remscheid-Hasten.





Erika brought a birthday present for Katja, she was celebrating her birthday last week. Erika covered pieces of bananas with dark chocolate and decorated them with real flowers, with ground ivy, in German they are called "Gundermann".  Those plants are edible, in ancient times they were used as a preservation spell against plague and also as a medical plant.



Of course everyone tasted them, they were delicious

We reached Essen and went to Zeche Zollverein by tram.



The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen. It has been inscribed into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since December 2001.





The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, mining activities took place from 1851 until 1986.

The two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant ranked among the largest of their kinds in Europe. The Zollverein Coking Plant was erected in the late 1950's, closed in 1993. Shaft 12, built in Bauhaus style, was opened in 1932 and is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, called "the most beautiful coal mine in the world". After it had been closed down in late 1986, shaft 12 was declared as a memorial. You can see it on the very first photo.

You can walk in the area everywhere, so we took a walk around.











We decided to visit the coking plant than, we had to walk a few minutes to get there. On our way we saw this gigantic hauling machine.



Soon we reached to coking plant Zollverein.





You cannot imagine how large those tubes are!



Everything is gigantic here - there are screws which are larger than Ceryni.



We reached the end of the coking complex. The artificial channel is opened for ice skating in winter.



We walked back on the rear side of the coking plant.





We went to the visitor's center than which is situated in the former coal washing plant. You can see the old machines here. It is quite dark here in this part of the complex.







We found a beer garden on the estate, we all needed refreshing.



When we went back to the central station, we had to wait for our train. We made good use of our time



I am glad that I do not have to work in a coal mine.

Bye
Roderich

Hi Mummy,

we took a walk in the afternoon. Although the sun was shining it was rather cold. We went to the municipal park first to have a look at the ducks. We hoped to see cute ducklings but it seems there are still no ducklings.





The rhododendron is alredy blooming.



This memorial is dedicated to the dead of severals wars earlier than World War I.



We left the park than and walked to one of the oldest districts, to Hasten. You can find those typical old houses here, also old factories among dwellings.



This district is surrounded by woodland.





To walk home we had to walk uphill for an eternity.



Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
we visited the neighbour city Wuppertal today. The first thing to see when you enter the city centre is the "Schwebebahn", a suspended monorail, the worldwide one and only of that kind.

The Schwebebahn is built above the river Wupper. It was opened in 1901 and it is still in use as a local transport system. It travels along a route 13.3 kilometres long, about 12 metres  above the surface of the river Wupper  and about 8 m above the city streets.





We took a short walk along the river Wupper. Here you can see the Schwebebahn in front of a bank building.



The Schwebebahn has 20 stations, each of it built in a different style, some in the original old-fashioned style, some in a modern style. This one is definitely one of the modern ones.



Here you can see me inside the station. We wanted to take a short ride with the Schwebebahn.



We went with the Schwebebahn for three stations.



Here you can see the train leaving into the other direction.



Katja told us that we would visit the Botanical Garden than, high upon the hillside. The city of Wuppertal is situated in the valley of the river Wupper, the slopes of the valley are really steep, so in Wuppertal about 500 stairs were built  along the slopes. Most of them were built in 19th century when the housing areas grew. Here is one of them.



We reached the Botanical Garden than. It was originally built in 1890 as a school garden in the place which is now the rose garden. Between 1908-1910 it relocated to today's site, the Villa Eller'schen, a former country house of textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa , orangery, residential and farm buildings, and the Elise Tower (built 1838) which provides the garden's focal point.



First we had a look at the greenhouses.



A real rainforest!



We decided to climb onto  the tower.



The outlook is fantastic!





On this zoomed photo you can see the city centre with the characteristic bank building.



Here you can see the greenhouses.



this is the villa, in the former orangery nowadays a nice café is situated.



We saw lots of pretty flowers.





Of course we posed for a nice group photograph.



It was time than to leave.

Bye
Snuttig

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the neighbour city Solingen, in the valley and hills of the river Wupper. We started our trip in Solingen-Widdert. From here we walked downhill to reach the Wupper valley. In those rural districts you can often find the traditional old houses, called "Bergische Häuser".





This is the river Wupper which I already saw last weekend in Wuppertal. About 20 km from here the Wupper will flow into river Rhine close to Leverkusen.



We followed our path uphill until we were about 120 m above the valley. You have great overlook from here.



We walked through the forest, over hill and dale. Sometimes we had to cross smaller creeks.



We took a group photograph ...



... at the foot of this impressive rock.



We had to cross another creek. This is the bridge that was once leading across it.



We had to balance over a few stones instead.

Finally we reached the river Wupper again.



We walked through a hamlet with lots of pretty old houses.





One of the local farmers is selling potatoes, eggs and honey here in this booth. Nobody is watching over the goods here, you can take what you want to buy and put the money into the savings box. We bought potatoes and eggs.



Bye
Snuttig