Travelog for: Landroval

Hi,

my name is Landroval and I am a young bald eagle (I am not really bald, not yet at least  , it’s just some funny scientist who decided to call us bald; I actually like more being called an haliaeetus leucocephalus  but I understand that it may sound like a tongue twister  ).
I was born on the Rocky Mountains and until today I spent my life looking down from high peaks or fishing in one of the lakes around here. I actually really love looking at the world below from the top of a mountain and I love fresh fish too  .




This morning I was standing on the top of a mountain when I saw a group of strange animals labouring their way up one of the smallest mountains...and there was also a bald eagle with them (obviously a stranger as I had never seen him before and I know all the eagles living in this part of the Rockies) so I decided to fly down and find out something more about them.



It turned out that they are Toyvoyagers and they travel around the world...I was actually quite intrigued by the idea of exploring the world out of my mountains and so I asked if I could be a TV too and I ended up here, looking for my first host  . As I mentioned already, I particularly like high places, mountains, hills, bell towers, your bedroom window  , anywhere from where I could check out what’s happening below.
If you wish to host me please send a pm to smaug who kindly offered to mentor me and to help me in organizing my trip...look forward to meet you  .

Hi,

today was a lovely day and we went for a walk in Calgary, my first exploration out of the Rockies  . First we followed a trail on the south side of the Bow river . Here is a meander of the river looking downstream...



...and upstream. I was a bit surprised that all the birds disappeared as soon as I showed myself out of the bag, but sammino explained me that, even if we are TVs, the wildlife still see us as fearsome birds of prey  .



After a few km we reached a place called Edworthy Park. Going up a hill you have an incredible view of North Calgary  ...houses disappearing in the distance on all sides.



This colourful building behind me is the Alberta Children Hospital 



And you can even see Downtown Calgary, oooh 



Smaug’s pointing out that skyscrapers in Calgary are not all leaning like the Tower in Pisa, but because of the glare he couldn’t really see that the photo was coming out a bit tilted ....such a lame excuse  .

Hi!

Yesterday Smaug told me that I have been invited to Germany by my first host, I am so excited  .
So today I had my final look at the Rockies, in a place called C Level Cirque. First we stopped along the way because Smaug had a site visit to do. Unfortunately the visit was on Police land, so for security reason Smaug couldn’t take any picture of us to be posted here  ...but we got a good look around  . As a compensation we stopped at this Bridge on the Bow River in Cochrane to take a photo.



Later we reached our destination near Banff. Smaug explained us that in the early 20th century a town of more than 1000 miners was located here working on coal extraction.  C Level was the highest part of the mining operation on the side of the mountain. Along the trail there are a lot of fenced holes in the ground that were the air vents for the mining shafts. Sully Monster was quite keen to jump the fence, go down and check the shafts  but Smaug suggested that we needed some darkness experienced support.
Close to the abandoned mines we took this picture of Lake Minnewanka.



Then we reached the actual cirque. Cirque is French word used by geologists to define a semicircular, bowl-shaped depression created by an alpine glacier. In this case the glacier is long gone but a little depression is still there, fed by lot of rubble falling down by the surrounding rock walls.





We actually followed the trail a bit higher up to reach a good view point where we took some more photos.





We didn’t linger as flies and mosquitoes were a bit of pain . Smaug said they were a bit more aggressive than usual as they almost completely ignored the exposed skin, well covered with insect repellent, and instead happily drilled their way to the unprotected skin through the clothes  ....luckily for us, it appears that they are not really interested in TV blood.
Once we were back to the car I had final look at the map (hmm, looks like Germany falls out of this  map) and said goodbye to everybody as I will flight directly to my next host.



sammino came with me to the roof of that car to look at my take-off and en route he suggested that the trip might be easier using one of the flights to Frankfurt that leave Calgary Airport daily 



It’s a long way but I think I can do it, Germany here I come 



Bye

I now arrived in Aach, in southern Germany. It's very (!!) hot at the moment here!
I was warmly welcome by Majik, Lenny and ThomasHH. We just rest in the shadow cause in the sun it would be really to hot! But Sissi told me we will soon go out and visit cool places! Can't wait!

Hi

Today we made a trip to the Lochmühle in Eigeltingen. Eigeltingen is a small community with around 3.500 inhabitants, about 5 km away from Aach where Sissi is living.

The Lochmühle itself is a 400-years-old farm which is nowadays a theme park that is very popular, esp. for families.


Look, that's me in front of the sign that stands in front of the entry!


We saw pigs ...


... and horses.




There were many ponds, too.


All 5 of us 

A trip to Radolfzell

We went to Radolfzell these days.
Radolfzell is a town at the western end of Lake Constace. It is a well known health care city and an important railroad junction. In 1990 Radolfzell was named the Federal Environment Capital City of Germany.

Radolfzell was developed out of a monastery founded in 826 AD as a "cell" under Bishop Radolf of Verona. The town belonged to the Abbey of Reichenau, then to the house of Habsburg for a long time, and for 40 years was a Free Imperial City.


This is me at the market place. In the back you see some signs that lead to the museum, lake, park, etc.


We then went to the lake. We had to pass the railroad and took a photo with a train. Sissi told us that she went to school for 3 years here in Radolfzell and always came with train.


Then we reached the lake. There was a little girl with her parents coming, too and when she saw the lake she told “Oh!!! The sea!!!”. Actually, Lake Constance is really also named “Swabian Sea” (not officially though).


There were also many ducks and swans.



On the other side of the harbour mole is the harbour with many ships.




In the end we also made a group photo!




Bye bye!

Hi mommy!
We made a walk to the Aachquelle here in Aach!

The Aachquelle is Germany's biggest natural spring. It is producing an average of 8,500 liters per second.

The name Aachquelle or Aachtopf is compounded from Aach (meaning water in Old High German), the name of the river created by the spring. Topf can be translated as bowl and is commonly used for round, bowl-shaped springs. The Aach flows southward into Lake Constance, which empties into the Rhine.

Most of the water is derived from the Danube River and is obtained where the latter river disappears underground at the Donauversickerung (Danube Sink) near Immendingen and Fridingen. Strangely, the Danube flows eastwards into the Black Sea, whereas the Rhine flows northwards to the North Sea. Therefore the water of the Aach flows under the European continental divide. This is a relatively common feature of karst stream captures.

The Aachtopf is a favourite weekend destination and very romantic. It is not possible to see the cave because it is underwater and cave diving is extremely dangerous.


We had to walk through an old lane in Aach. It's the Mill-Lane (Muehlengasse) and there are many old houses.



Behind the Mill-Lane is the river Aach. So obviously there are also many bridges.



The signd here's showing you how many kilometers it takes to reach other towns or sightseeings. There are often people hiking or doing bycicle tours.


We also went by to many gardens with trees. Although Fall is coming the leaves are still green.


Then we met some goose!!!


Then we arrive at the Aachquelle:


Well, the water is a bit green but it's not allowed to take a bath



There are also lots of trees around and the spring lies a bit into the mountains.




Some more impressions:




And this is where we are


Hugs, Landroval

I'm leaving Aach tomorrow. My new host lives in Remscheid, also in Germany so I think I won't have a long voyage

Hi Dad,
I arrived in Remscheid today. I travelled in a convenient box. Sissi packed some sweets for my next host, but I tried a few while I travelled. They were ok but I still prefer fish and small mammals.



First I had a look out of the window to see how it looks like at this place. I must admit that I am contented with what I saw.







I hope I will see more tomorrow.

Bye
Landroval

Hi Dad,
Katja showed me the city centre today. She had to go to the post office in the morning during her working time. She is working in a law firm and someone has to fetch the mail from the post office every day.

At almost 10:00 am the sun was shining but it was rather cold.



This is the main entrance of the shopping mall "Allee Center".



We walked along the shopping street.



A farmer's market is held in the shopping street on Tuesdays and Fridays.



This modern building belongs to the municipality.



Here you can see the central bus station and in the background the local newspaper's building.







We did not like the idea of returning to Katja's workplace but we had to. We decided to buy some fruits for breakfast, so we walked towards the shopping mall. On the left side you can see the theatre.





I was wondering why there were only few people in the shopping mall. Katja told me that the shops are opening at 10:00 am here (unbelievable!).



Katja promised to show me more after work.

Bye
Landroval

Hi Dad,
when Katja finished work the sun was still shining which you should better not take for granted because they have lots of rain here, due to the rangy landscape. So we took the chance to take a walk before we went home.

From a bridge I had a look at Remscheid's highest-located district, in the background.





Close to the central station I saw this round building.



Katja decided to walk along the Werkzeugtrasse (Route of Tools) with us. This is a lane which was built on a closed railway track for pedestrians and cyclists. It starts at the central station and is leading to the district Hasten.

Remscheid is famous for its tool producing industry. This lane was sponsored by local tool producing companies, that's why it is called Route of Tools. The lane is about 5 km long with some interesting points along the route.

Here we are at the central station ...



... and walking along the Route of Tools.





Here is a map showing the course of the route.





[img]This waggon once was for transportation of alcohol for industrial purposes.

[/img]

Here you can sit down and rest for a while.



Here are some signs showing the names and logos of some of the sponsors.



Sometimes you can find distance data painted on the ground.



Of couse you can find bridges along a former railway track ...



... and also old factory buildings. Some of them are still in usage.







At this point the Route of Tools is crossing a street. We decided to walk home than.



From here we had to walk for about 15 minutes to get home.







In this part of the city most old houses survived World War II.



Katja is living in an art-nouveau-house built in 1904. I will show you the house soon.

Bye
Landroval

Hi Dad,
although the weather is bad, we took a walk today in the suburbs of Remscheid.





We walked through a small hamlet called "Spelsberg".



You can often find those typical houses here, covered with slate or timer-framed houses. They usually have green shutters.









What a nice place! They even feed birds here, but I don't think they have the right food for me.



It started to rain than, so I prefered to stay in Katja's bag.

Bye
Landroval

Hi Dad,
I just want to let you know that I'm going to spend a week or so with Katja's sister Ina. We'll travel to Helgoland,  the only German island not in the immediate vicinity of the mainland. You'll have to go there by ship, the crossing will last about three hours.

Bye
Landroval

Hi,
we are on our way to Heligoland, or in German: Helgoland.

We are in Cuxhaven now, we just entered the ship to Helgoland, the "Atlantis". In the background you can see the light vessel "Elbe 1". The passage will take about 2 1/2 hours.



Cuxhaven harbour ...



That's all for today.

Bye
Landroval

Hi,

greetings from Heligoland!


Helgoland is a German archipelago in the North Sea. They are the only German islands not in the immediate vicinity of the mainland and are approximately three hours' sailing time from Cuxhaven at the mouth of the River Elbe, in the southeastern corner of the North Sea.

Heligoland consists of two islands: the populated triangular 1 km2 (0.4 sq mi) main island to the west and the dune to the east. The main island is commonly divided into the Unterland ("Lower Land") at sea level, the Oberland ("Upper Land), consisting of the plateau.

Today we are visiting the "Dune"



This seal is only made of stone, but they have real seals here.



I have a great overview from the top of this beach chair.



They also have a small lighthouse on the "Dune".



Here you can enjoy the Heligoland national dishes:

Lobster
Knieper (claws of large edible crab)
Labskaus (a stew made of salted meat or corned beef, potatoes, herring, onion and beetroot)
Bald Eagle with french fries *haha*





I angled this gigantic fish, all on my own, and than I hauled it to land.



Bye
Landroval