Travelog for: Ragamuffin

Hi!

My name is Ragamuffin, im a little bear who is very scared of animals, so please keep me far away from them!
I do love to eat sweets, candy, cakes and muffins, that really makes me happy!
Hoping to start traveling soon, so i can discover all the sweets and good stuff in other countries!


Just a little picture of me

Ragamuffin

Dear everyone who cares to read this

Tomorrow is Freek's 30st birthday!
Freek and Ragnhild has the day off, so they went to their pub to have some fun with good friends, and they brought me with them


Mommy tried to take pictures of me in the snow infront of the door of our house, but i much rather lie down and just be ONE with the snoe you know, just feel it!
(Actually, i fell over, but don't tell...please?)


Me, with a little snow in my hair


Driving to Dreumel, its about 1/2 an hour drive there from where we live


At the pub, they allowed me to try beer, but YUCK, thats really gross! EEWW!


Cuddeling with mommy


I could see a lot from up here!


I was enjoying Pringles and Ice Tea, it was super good, much better than the beer...

We stayed in the pub untill 1 in the night, i was so tired after the whole evening there, that i fell right asleep when i came home

Ragamuffin

Todays is Freek's 30st BIRTHDAY!
Hurray!
Gefeliciteerd!

Freek likes to play at the casino, he doesent do it often, but sometimes, like for his birthday, its fun!
So we went on a day trip to Utrecht, a city about 1/2 hour away from here.


We went by train, its easier, and faster, as you have to pay alot to park in Utrecht centrum with the car.


It was pretty to look outside, because its still lying snow on the ground here.
The train was driving really fast tho!


Its not allowed to take pictures in the Casino itself, so we took one on the toilet, really sneaky, and i felt like i was really bad haha


Some of the "art" hanging on the walls in Jaarbeurs Utrecht, its a BIIIIIG event hall there.
Its sais: "Heart of an elephant weighs 25 kilo"
Wow...never knew that, thats really heavy!


Some info inside the Jaarbeurs.


And a very pretty water fountain!


When we got back again, we went to a Wok Restaurant in Veenendaal, it was very empty, cause its not many people eating there on Mondays, but thats ok, we had no lines at all


I ate lots of dessert, and this was my favourite, ICECREAM!


Chocolate and Strawberry icecream is YUM YUM YUM

Love,

Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today!

I was welcomed by my first host Katja and some ToyVoyagers, Henry the Adventure hound, Cilly and Walter.



I arrived just in time because Katja had planned to bake a nut cake. That sounds great!

Cilly and I helped her to bake the cake. We needed 4 eggs, melted butter, wheat flour with baking powder, sugar, ground nuts, dark chocolate and a cup of cold coffee.



This is the prepared chocolate.



We had to mix the dry ingredients and the "wet" ingredients ...



... than we had to mix both together ...



... and to fill it into the baking pan.



It had to stay in the oven for about an hour.

Hmmmm, it smelled delicious



Ready!



Yummy!



Seems to be a nice place here

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
we visited the neighbour city Wuppertal today. Katja met a friend to take a walk. She said that the forrests are still covered with ice on the ground, so you cannot walk comfortly there. So she decided to visit Wuppertal.

We went there by bus and got off the bus in the city centre with its shopping streets.





The name of the city Wuppetal is made up of two words: "Wupper" is the river which is runing through the city and "Tal" means valley. This city was built in the valley of the river Wupper. On the next photo you can see how steep it is going uphill.



Before climbing out of the valley we needed refreshments.



The french fries were not enough for me, I had a doughnut afterwards    Than we went uphill ....



Most parts of the city were built in 19th century. For pedestrians more than 500 stairs were built in the steep slopes to connect the streets. We walked up and down some of them today.



We walked to the "Nordstadt", one of many districts, where we saw lots of pretty art-nouveau-houses.





Err ... this is certainly not art-nouveau ...





We walked back downhill  through a small park.



We walked to another quarter than, "Briller Viertel" where the rich factory owners built their mansions, mostly in 19th and early 20th century.









We took those stairs to walk back to the valley. These stairs are under monument protection, like many of them.



When we walked back to the bus statioin we walked through a street called "Bärenstraße" (Bear Street). Walter even found a "Löwenstraße" (Lion Street).



I would like another doughnut now 

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,

we have wonderful weather today. It snowed again and everything is looking beautiful.

When Katja finished work we took a walk to the municipal park. First I saw the city hall.



The city hall was built in 1906 A.D., in World War II it was almost destroyed and later rebuilt in a more modern style. Its tower is 48 m high.



On the place in front of the building 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 water tower at the rear side of the city hall. You can see those two towers from far away because the city centre of Remscheid is situated on a hill.





We walked to the park than. We had to walk for about 15 minutes to get there.





We took a zoomed photo here, so you can see how steep it is going downhill here. In the background you can see suburbs of Wuppertal, where I have been on Sunday.



Here you can see allotment gardens close to the municipal park.



We reached the park than.



The observatory is situated in the entrance area of the park.







This monument is dedicated to the dead of several wars before World War I.







A nursery is situated here in the park.





Katja told me that here is a pond with ducks and turtles. Can you see any pond? I don't ...



This seems to be the frozen pond. The warning sign is telling you that it is forbidden to enter the frozen surface. Mortal danger!





We went home than ...



I can see this church from our living room window.



What a nice view from our apartment! I'm glad to be back home - it is really cold outside, about -6°C.



Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk in the forrest today. We went with Katja's brother-in-law and dog Berti.



We had to walk for a while to reach the forest.



Everything is white.





Even the sun came out, but only for a short moment.



Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
there is a really strange closet in the corridor.



Have you ever seen such a closet? Oh, I can see a litter pan with poop inside ... and a bowl with raw flesh in it ... HELP! Some wild animals seem to live here!!! And yes, here they are ...

What the hell is this? They are moving really fast , they are furry and they have carnassials.



But somehow it looks like playing with each other. Oh, one of it is coming closer with its nose ...



Katja told me that these animals are ferrets, something like marten and polecat. They are predators, but they prefer chicken and beef, not bears. I hope that's right.

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
we took almost the same walk like yesterday, but today we walked a bit longer. We came along a cemetary and a grove of honour. This is a memorial for soldiers of Remscheid which died in World War I.

You have to walk some stairs to get there.







You can see walls in a round with engraved stones in the middle. You can read the name of each soldier, the date of death and the place where he was killed in action.







We all had a dismal feeling that so many - mostly young - men of this town died in this war.

To forget those sorrows we played in the wonderful snow.





Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
we went to Essen today to visit an exhibition and an art museum. Essen is a a city in the central part of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia. For the year 2010, Essen is the European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr Area.

We went there with Katja's friend Erika. We went to Essen by train.



We have a new guest  here - BineHH, the red shore crab, arrived this week.

First we went to a church in the district Frohnhausen. A friend of Erika has an exhibition here together with another artist. We had to take another train to get there. The train station is looking funny - like someone toppled the staircase.



Here we are.









We went to the city centre afterwards to have lunch, so we took a walk though the shopping streets. Here you can see the cathedral in the middle of the city centre.





On a central space they have a skating rink and this downhill ramp. Here you can dash downhill with a large rubber tire. Seems to be great fun





Than we took a bus to the Museum Folkwang, a major collection of 19th and 20th century art. Its new building was opened a few days ago.





As almost always it was not allowed to take photos inside the museum. We have seen paintings and photographs, space installation and placards in a special exhibition. It was very interesting, but also somehow straining.

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
we visited a friend today in another district of Remscheid. This district is called Luettringhausen, a district with a historical urban centre.

We decided to take a walk with the dog. We had to walk through the city centre first to get to a nice valley. On the first photo you can see the dog of Katja's friend. His name is Pepe. Pepe is so big that I'd better stay away from him.





Soon we reached the valley, with meadows and forrests.





We even saw some houses in the middle of nowhere.





I met some sheep here. They seem to be friendly animals, so I was not afraid of them, besides there was a fence between me and the sheep.



It is still snowing.

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
today we took another walk in one of the valley which are surrounding the municipal area. We walked along the creed "Morsbach", which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal.





Here is a frozen pond.





We came through a small hamlet.



This is the creek "Morsbach".



I can see myself in the road traffic safety mirror.



Later the sun came out.





To get home we had to walk uphill for ages.



Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
I watched the ferrets playing today. I was a little bit afraid because the have teeth like a tiger. BineHH was with me, she wasn't afraid of all because of her loricate.



The ferrets were playing with a little mouse attached to an angle. They were not very interested in me or BineHH.





Later I even tried how the ferrets feel. Brighty has a very soft fur. She feels good



The ferrets did not try to bite me or BineHH, they only played a bit with BineHH, but they did her no harm. So there is no need to to be afraid of those cute pets.

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
after playing with the ferets I helped to make a fruit salad. BineHH also helped, she wanted to crack walnuts.

First we prepared blood oranges.



Than we added banana, kiwi and apples ...





... than BineHH cracked some walnuts.



She did a great job, have a look!



We mixed everything in a glass bowl, it looked fantastic.



Yummy!

Bye
Ragamuffin

Hi Mummy,
the snow has melted away, there are only a few dirty remains of it. We took a short walk through the city.

Here you can see the city hall.



In this house a nice store for house decorating items is situated.



Here you can see the company building of the local newspaper, Remscheider GeneralAnzeiger.



This is the central bus station.





Here the shopping street with the pedestrian area is ending.



Bye for today
Ragamuffin