Travelog for: Monkez

We decorated the house for Christmas today.

Harold Giraffe and Taru helped, too.







These little fellows told me that they usually live in a box in the attic. They are only allowed to come to the living room during Xmas time. Poor them! I'd rather like to be a TV and travel the world.

There are already Xmas parties going on and we wrapped the first presents today.

When we got up this morning there was a surprise: Snow  - for the first time this winter! Well, not that much, but still... I don't think it will stay long since it is not too cold outside.

The town my host works at is called Waltershausen. We visted the market square with the townhall and the church.

Even though it really does not feel or look like winter and the Xmas feeling won't come, we went to a Christmas Market in Holzhausen, near Herleshausen.



It took place on an old property in the countryside.



A lot of people were visiting the booths.



There was a crazy guy with a chain saw and he made Christmas trees out of logs.
Very interesting but also noisy!

There is nothing really going on here at the moment. We can't or don't want to go outside because it is always rainy and windy.

So we spent time inside reading updates on the Toyvoyager Site...



Writing Xmas cards....



And I did some work out climbing on the palm tree!







Harold stayed at the bottom and just watched. He said he didn't want to risk his life.



And these Xmas lights are just right for me  little monkey, too!





Hugs, Monkez.

For Christmas we went to my host's parents
and spent 3 days in Saxony.

We sat under der Christmas tree.





And enjoyed a warm rest at the fireplace, the big one ...



... and the small one, just for us TVs! Aurelius and Harold Giraffe
were there too.



For dinner we had a special meal my host's dad always prepares
only for Xmas. It is a Sauerkraut pot with meat balls and rice. So
delicious!



After dinner, we got our presents. I was so curious to open them!



And when we had opened the first present, there they were:
Moe and Chester - 2 amigurumi ghosts!  We made friends straight
away.



I told them about my adventures and they liked the idea of becoming a TV one day too.



The next day we took a stroll in the countryside. It is a pity that
there was no snow but it was rather rainy.









And we played cards. Everybody was relaxed and lazy 

Dear mommy!

We took a short trip over New Year's Eve and went to Göttingen.

It is not far away, only about  a 90 minutes drive.

First we went to the Lokhalle, an event hall, to watch the festival
of acrobatics.



Here is the programme:



Unfortunately we could not take any photos during the show
but it surely was amazing!

When we returned to the hotel I was very tired. I only took
something to drink from the minibar and then straight into the bed.





The next day we visited the city.

We started at the train station and you must know that Göttingen
is an university town. So there are  a lot of students with a lot of
bicycles. Unbelievable!









And in the middle of all this we found the statue of the oldest
hawker in the world.



Göttingen is a pretty nice town, with old half-timbered houses.





Here is the townhall and the well with the 'Gänseliesel' -  the
town's landmark since 1901. Well, this is not the original but it was
replaced by a copy in 1990, and the 'old girl'  can be found in the
museum now.





And last but not least we followed the planet path, which shows
the position of the sun and planets in scale.



So you see I had a good time on the last days of 2011 and I also
started well into 2012.

Wishing you all the best for 2012 and a Happy New Year!

Yours Monkez

Today we went to Eisenach, a town near the village Mechterstädt.

Eisenach is famous for Wartburg Castle ( an UNESCO world heritage site), Luther and Bach, who lived here.

Here is a map of the town.

Let's see....



We went to the Luther House, but did not visit it.







We only read the info plate on the house.



Then it was already getting dark and the market square with the church was lit.

Today a new toyvoyager arrived here. We, Haold Giraffe and me, were so excited when the postman brought a package. On top it
read 'Tiplitaps inside'.



We couldn't wait to open it but we first had to get a pair of scissors
to cut the adhesive tape.  Puh, that was hard work for me.



And then there he was:  Tiplitaps  -  a little turtle.





We welcomed him and said hello.



Then he told us that he is a TV taking part in the Big German RR and
that Mechterstädt and Thuringia are his first stop in the RR.  One of
his missions is to visit all federal states of Germany.  I showed him on the map where we are.



Tiplitaps even has got a passport with some pieces of information  about him and his hometown, which we read together.









Hope you have a great time here, Tiplitaps!

What a terrible day today. All morning long there was storm and rain and hail. Look at that!



Well, I would have loved to go outside, but on the other hand side I was happy to stay inside and warm.

Today we said Goodbye to Harold Giraffe.

He is travelling to Norway to stay with a new host.



Hope you have a safe journey and a great time in Norway!

Since Tiplitaps is with us at the moment
and his aim is to visit all German states,  he also has to collect some
info about the places he is staying at. So I also learned a little
about Thuringia while Tiplitaps was colouring the coat of arms of
Thuringia.



Well, nice job you did there Tiplitaps!





My host mom also showed me on the map where Mechterstädt is.
It is situated right in the middle between Gotha and Eisenach.



See, here I am right now:

Dear Mommy!

Today is the day: I am going to my next host in Austria!



ByeBye Germany!

Hi !!!

I arrived in Vienna, Austria! 
On my first weekend in Vienna, my new host took me to the most famous fun fair in the middle of the city called "PRATER". There we saw a big wheel the "Riesenrad", it's a Ferris wheel, which moves in slow motion.

The weather was beautiful, the sky was blue, but it was very, very cold, so I was happy to get back into the rucksack.

After a nice litte walk in the Prater we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant called "ASIA WOK" where I could choose from meat, fish and lots of vegetables, which was cocked next to the guests and served warm and fresh right to their tables. It was delicious! 

On our way home we passed the St. Charles's Church. It's a baroque-rococo church situated on the south side of "Karlsplatz". There's a small park next to it, with some nice little benches to sit on.
On the last picture you can see me in front of St. Charles's Church, and how much I enjoyed my first weekend in Vienna!