Travelog for: Mr. Furrington

Hello Mom,

the weather was so beautiful! We all had a hangover from last evening, but some fresh air should help.
First we crossed a nice bridge.


We stopped at a lake which is called "Gremminer See", a lake created as a result of the redevelopment of the former brown coal strip mine of Golpa-Nord. At the end of the lake you can see Ferropolis. "The city of iron" is an open museum of old huge industrial machines. It's an open air museum which contains machines from the mid-twentieth century. They can measure to 30 meters high, 120 meters long and weigh up to 1980 tons. Moreover, the area is used for several events like opera or music festival like the Melt! festival or the "Ferropolis in Flammen".





Yours
Mr. Furrington

Today we went back to Berlin. First we passed some nice villages. Can you see the trains next to the car? And the beautiful churches?







Then we used the freeway. Did you ever drove about 115 mph? It felt like flying. Whooaaaa. So we decided to use the seat belt.


Back to Berlin the others had to say goodbye to me. I'm going to Canada! I'll miss them a lot.
They all cuddled me.

Then I wrote a note for my Mom, swapped some meow meow with Alex and crawled into my envelope.




Mr. Furrington

Hello Mom! Guess what!

I have arrived in Canada today!

My host mom's cat was already excited to see me.


There aren't any other TVs being hosted here for now, but there were still some toys to welcome me!






Can you see me?




Here I am!


My previous host also sent a beautiful postcard from Germany! How nice!


Here is a picture of me with my new friends! There is also the postcard, some delicious candies and a card from Alex Band. My host mom listened to a few songs from this group and she liked it too!


I'm happy to finally be in Canada! I think I will have a lot of fun here with my new friends. I hope you are having fun at home as well mom!

I will try to post some more pictures and updates soon, so look forward to it!

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hey mom,

Today my host decided to show me where Canada is on a map! She didn't have any paper map, but she showed me on Google Maps.



Canada is actually right above the United States! Which means I have crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice now, can you believe it?
I was surprised to see how big Canada is! My host mom says it's the second largest country of the world, after Russia.


My host lives in the Province of Québec, which is the only French province in Canada.


Can you see the dot that says "Montreal" here? It is a big metropolis! It is located in the Southern region of the Québec province. My host says there are a lot of fun places to visit and activities to do there, and we should be able to go there soon! I'm looking forward to it, it sounds nice! The capital of the Québec province is called... Québec city! You can see it at the top right corner on this picture.


My host lives in a town called Saint-Hyacinthe. Here you can see the distance between Montreal and Saint-Hyacinthe... It looks far but she says it's only about an hour away.


And this is Saint-Hyacinthe, with the Yamaska river! I asked if we could go to the river some day, and host mom said yes, but we can't swim in it though! It's still too cold to go swimming, and anyways the river is too polluted now, how sad.


This is Saint-Hyacinthe on satellite mode! As you can see, it is located in a mostly rural area, with a lot of farms and fields. My host says we might get to go see some cows and horses soon... and maybe there will be some cats too! That sounds fun!


So this is it for now, I hope you are doing well!
After Easter my host says she will take me around the city to take some pictures and visit a bit. I'm sure it will be fun!

xxx
Mr. Furrington

Happy Easter mommy!

I hope you had a good day!


Look what my host mom gave me! They look so yummy!


Even the Easter bunny hid some eggs for me so I had to look around to find them.


More eggs...


Even in the cat's bowl... how silly!


There were some eggs on top of these books. Can you see them? But I was to small to reach up there.


Fortunately one of my new friends offered to help me!



And I was able to get the eggs thanks to him.


I shared the eggs and said thank you!


Then we put all the eggs in a small bowl...


...and added the chocolate bunnies. It's so colorful!


I wanted to eat them all but my host mom said I shouldn't eat too much if I don't want to get sick... I guess she's right! So I decided to be more reasonable save some for later.


I had a great time today. I hope you has fun too! And try not to eat too much chocolate.

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hello mommy!

Today was a warm and sunny day, so my host mom and I decided to go to the shopping center! It's about 50 minutes of walk, so we visited the city a little at the same time!

First we walked by this building. My host mom told me it is the Veterinary Medecine Faculty of the University of Montreal! It is the only faculty of the UdeM that is located in Saint-Hyacinthe. My host mom has a few classes there, since she is studying to become a vet technician!



The faculty is also a veterinary hospital. The sign behind me is blurry, but it says "Hopital des animaux de compagnie", which is the small animals hospital.


This sign indicates the way to the equine hospital, farm animals hospital, Necropsy (autopsy) and merchandise reception areas. The university is bigger than I thought!


There is even a small farm behind the university's main building.


This is another school, called "Institut de Technologie Agroalimentaire", which mean "Agri-Food Technology Institute".


We went through a small park, and suddenly I noticed it smelled like burnt chocolate... I asked my host mom why, and she said this big building in the back is actually a chocolate factory!


We followed the path in the park...


And then we went through a tunnel, which is actually a bridge for the trains!


We continued walking...


This is the city's hospital (for humans this time ). It looks big!


This is a strange sculpture that looks like an arc.


Then we saw a map of the surrounding areas!



Can you see the yellow sun-shaped icon? That's where we were! My host mom said the shopping center is just on the other side of the Casavant boulevard! Almost there!


Here we are!



We went inside to do a bit of shopping.


Look mom, I'm on a carousel!


Can you find me in this picture?



I also got to ride a horse...


And an elephant!


We sat down to rest a little... All that walking was tiring!


Then I saw this arcade.


There were so many toys!


There is even a cinema in the shopping center!


We were tired, so we decided to start walking back home.

We had to go through the tunnel again.



Follow the path...


And through the park!


I had a fun day today! It was exciting to walk around the city and visit. And the weather was so nice!
I hope you had a good day too!

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hi Mommy!

Today my host mom decided we should make dinner together... because we were going to eat fish!



She saw that one of my life missions was to eat a fish dinner, and thought she could help me complete it! So we bought some tilapia and started cooking.



We weren't sure what we should eat with the fish... I suggested broccoli so we cooked some!



What would be good to eat with fish and broccoli? Do you think rice is a good idea?

It's easy to make with a rice cooker, so why not!



I think it's ready to eat now!



It's all done! It looks so yummy, don't you think?



Time to eat!



It tasted so good! I hope we can make more dinners like this soon.

And now I have completed a second life mission mom! I'm so happy!!

Hey mom!

Guess what I did tonight.



That's right! I slept in a tent outside! There were a lot of other people there, it was really fun!



What you see in the background is what they call the "Mayor's Gate".



There is a big illuminated clock on the top of the right column, and foutains at the bottom.



The fountains weren't working though... I guess the city is waiting for the weather to be warmer.



Don't you think they are a bit scary?



And we were right beside the Yamaska river! My host mom said we could come again during the day sometime to take better pictures, but we still took a few because it was nice.



I had to be careful not to fall!



Don't you think it's pretty with the reflection of the lighted houses on the river?



And this is the tent we slept in! I'm sorry the picture is really blurry!



I had a fun night, even though it was cold! The temperature dropped below zero during the night... But fortunately we had a lot of hot blankets with us to warm up.

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hello mom,

Today I asked my host what this strange box was... She said she will show me.
What do you think it could be?



She gave me a coin...



And told me to place it on the little fish there and press on it.





And then it moved! What is this?



Hey, it looks like a white cat!



What is it doing?



Mommy! It stole my coin!



Thankfully my host mom said we can get it back if we open the bottom of the box... What a strange piggy bank!



I hope you are doing well mom,
Mr. Furrington xxx

Hello mom!

I had a good surprise this morning when I decided to go check the mailbox!



There were two big envelopes!



I wonder if these could be the two TV companions we were waiting for!



I gathered some other toys.



And I started opening the first envelope. I was so excited!




I peeked inside...



And a TV came out!



It was Viper!



I gave him a welcome hug.



And he gave me a flower! How nice! I thanked him.



Then we decided to open the second envelope together!



Is there anyone in there?



Can you see anything mom?



Ah! There she is!



Viper and I welcomed BineHH!




Viper brought some candies with him so we shared them!



Do you want some mommy?



I'm excited and happy to have new friends to go on adventures with! I'm sure we'll all have lots of fun together!

Hello mommy!

This morning we decided we should do some activities outside today... but then we looked out the window and saw that the sky was covered in dark grey clouds!
We waited a bit to see if it would rain... and it started snowing! So we decided to go out anyway!
It was a little bit cold but not too much, so we went to the park.




We decided to go play!




I think this is a pig... It looks weird!





Oh look! There was a tic tac toe game! Bine accepted to play with me.




It was a draw... Oh well, it was fun!






It was really fun to come play today! I hope we will come again soon.

Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hello mommy!

The weather hasn't been very nice lately, it's raining all the time. But today it was sunny and warm so we thought it would be nice to go outside! Host mom said we should go downtown Saint-Hyacinthe to visit. It's an older part of the city, so there are a lot of small boutiques and restaurants and old-looking buildings!

We invited one of my host mom's friends and took the bus!



And we got off the bus to go walk downtown.



First we decided to go to the library to look at the books.



There were a lot of books!




We even met a friend that lives in the library!



Then we decided to go to the market, so we continued walking down the streets.



And finally we saw the market! It's the red building at the back. In the summer there are farmers who come here to sell all sorts of fruits and vegetables, but for now the weather is still too cold. So we went inside to see the other sellers.



We stopped at the bakery... Everything looks so yummy!



Look at all the cool cupcakes!




We didn't want to eat anything though because it was almost dinner time, but we took a hot chocolate with Belgian chocolate!



We sat at a table to rest for a while.



We went back outside and saw a small fountain!




Then we decided to go somewhere for dinner. We didn't want to go somewhere too expensive so we went to a small fast-food restaurant and host mom ordered a French-Canadian dish, called "poutine". It's simply french fries and cheese with brown gravy.



After dinner we continued to walk around for a while.







Then we decided to stop at a bistro to have a smoothie for desert!




It was really yummy but now I'm full!



The view from the terrace was nice!



After that we went to a small park.



And we found this memorial for the people who lost their lives during the war... It says "In memory of our glorious who disappeared during the wars".



There was also the City Hall beside the park!




The sky was getting cloudy again and we were tired so we decided to start walking back to the bus stop to head back home.


And we took the bus again!


I had a lot of fun today! My host mom said we should be able to go to Montreal next week-end... I'm looking forward to it!

Love,
Mr. Furrington xxx

Hey mommy!

Guess what! We finally went to Montreal today! I was excited to visit a new, bigger city. We were supposed to go earlier, but sadly we had to wait a few more days... But we visited a lot of places and took a lot of pictures!

We were lucky because it was sunny and warm today... It's been raining a lot lately.

We had to take the bus first to go to Longueuil, which is a city located on the South Shore, close to Montreal.




The mountain in the background here is called Mount Saint-Bruno.




Finally, after about an hour long ride, the bus arrived at Longueuil, so we got off and walked through the station to go to the subway station.



We went down the stairs to wait for the subway.




And finally it arrived! So we got in.



We got off two stations later, at the Berri-UQAM station in Montreal. Here is a map of the subway stations. The subway line we had taken is the yellow one.



And here is a map of Montreal! As you can see, it's a big island.



We had to take another subway to get to our location, so we went up the escalators and followed the signs to the next subway we had to take.




We got off at Peel station.




And finally we went outside!




We went to a library to look at the books and then we went to an underground shopping center.



We were a bit thirsty so we stopped at Starbucks to get a frappucino. It was really yummy!


The shopping center was bigger than it looked!



There was a big fountain on the first floor!






Then we walked through the Eaton Center... which is another shopping center!




There was an old-looking telephone booth.


The Eaton Center is quite big too!




Then we decided to take the subway again to get to another part of the city.



We got off at the Place-des-Arts station.



The "Place des Arts" is a place where there are a lot of shows and plays, so there was a long corridor with posters of all the upcoming shows and events!



And there was another corridor with animations displayed on the walls. It was pretty!



Then we walked through the Desjardins Complex... Which is ALSO a shopping center!



We got a little lost because we couldn't find the signs that indicated where the subway station was... But fortunately we found a map!



And we found our way!



We didn't take the subway yet though, we decided to go outside first to walk around and visit more than just shopping centers and subways. :P

So we go out from the station, which is beside the Montreal Congress Center. The trees we full of flowers, it was beautiful and it smelled good!





And we met some pigeons... There are a lot of them in Montreal!



We continued walking.




And suddenly I noticed there were signs written in Chinese everywhere... So I ask my host mom, had we been walking so long that we were now China??
She said we were actually in Montreal's Chinatown! Which shouldn't really be called "Chinatown", because not all the restaurants and boutiques are Chinese, some are Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, etc.





There was a cute graffiti!








There are gates like this with foo lions on most of the streets you can take to enter Chinatown.





As soon as you cross the gate you get back to the "normal" town... It's strange but it's fun!
I wonder what Asia really looks like... maybe some day I will get to travel there!




We walked back to the subway station to meet with some of my host mom's friends.






We got off at Berri-UQAM again to wait for them.



Then we decided to go to the "Quartier Latin" (literally translated it would be "Latin Neighbourhood" ) to find a restaurant for dinner.

This is the "UQAM", which is the University of Quebec in Montreal.



There were all kinds of boutiques and restaurants.




Then we saw a really big statue!





We finally decided to go to a restaurant called "La Bulle au Carré". It's a French restaurant.



There were comic books and games on the tables to read an play while we waited!






We looked at the menu.



It was hard to choose! There were mostly hamburgers and crepes but they all sounded so good!



We decided to play Connect Four while we were waiting for our orders to be ready. Bine agreed to play with me!






And I won!!



We still had to wait a little bit though.




And finally our plates arrived! Dont you think it looks yummy?



Well, it was!



Then we ordered a crepe to share for desert. It's not really visible on the picture, but the waitor set the crepe on fire after he put it on our table!
My host mom told me it was a "crêpe flambée", so it's normal... that reassured me!



It was good but now I was really full!



After dinner we walked again a bit, and stopped in a park.










And finally we got to our final destination: the "Café Campus"! It is a small showbar, and we were going to see a humorists show!





We took pictures during the show, but unfortunately they were all dark and blurry because we weren't allowed to use flashs.
The show was funny though!

It ended late, so we walked back to my host mom's friend's car and went back home to get some rest.



I had a really fun day overall! It was nice to visit a new city and we were tired from walking so much but it was worth it!
Maybe we can try to go to Montreal again soon... My host mom says there are a lot of other places to visit since it's so big!
She also said we will most likely be going on a trip to Gatineau, a city near Ottawa, the capital of Canada, next week-end... It would be fun!

I hope you are doing well,
Mr. Furrington

Hello mom!

Today we found a big envelope in the mailbox!

We decided to open it together...




It was Shooga, another TV travelling to Canada!



We gave her a group hug!



She had brought candies with her so we shared them.



Then we played with Gaby, one of my host mom's cats!




I'm sure we'll have fun with our new friend!
Love,
Mr. Furrington

Hello mom!

The weather was warm and sunny today so we decided to go outside! We went to Mount Saint-Hilaire, which is about 30 minutes from my host mom's house.

There are a few trails that go to the top of the mountain. We chose to take the "Rocky" trail, which is the longest. It takes 4.8km!





After a while we saw some water... it was a lake!



It's called the "Hertel" lake. I didn't think there would be a lake on a mountain! It was nice.



We decided to rest a little.







I wanted to stay longer but we had to leave if we wanted to get to the top!









Hiking up a mountain is tiring! We had to take a few breaks to be able to keep going.







Only 0.5km left!





And here we are!



Isn't it nice? It's so high!



We can see the Yamaska river and all the houses and fields from up here!











It looks like we're closer to the clouds!



We rested a bit because we were tired...





And decided to make our way down.





...And we were finally back down the mountain! It was a lot faster to go down than up.





Time to go back home now!



I was glad to get back home and rest though, I was so tired! And we had a lot of fun.

Love,
Mr. Furrington