Travelog for: Purple Bun

We did a little tour on the town. Tampere is a pretty town when the sun is shining. The Tammerkoski rapids smell terrible, though.
Here are the pictures.

This is Pakkahuone, a café/bar/concert venue. Even some international jazz and rock stars have performed here.


Some shots of the Tammerkoski rapids. Pretty but rather smelly.



There was a golden man standing in the water. Strange. The newspaper said he's a statue made by a Chinese sculptor.


This photo was taken on the other side of the Tammerkoski bridge.


Later we went for some coffee and saw some celebrities. I thought they were dead but they're hiding in Tampere. Here I am with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Neil Armstrong.


Unfortunately I think I lost my bracelet at some point of this sightseeing tour. Oh well, that's just one of the things that may happen on a long journey.

I've finished my stay in Finland. I almost got to see some snow, but it snowed in the middle of the night, so aelina couldn't take any pictures. What a shame.

I shall travel to Moscow next. How exciting!

I've arrived safely to Moscow! It's very cold here and it's snowing a bit.. I've already seen snow!! I'll mark my mission completed as soon as I post a photo

I met here some TVs   The're very nice!!

I'll write more and post photos soon!!

Now it's time to tell about my adventurs

As soon as I arrived to Moscow Kristl told me that she's going to Sweden so I "returned" to Scandinavia very soon )

The first snow in my life I saw in Russia, just when I arrived, but we did not have a camera with us so we could not make a photo But then.. I saw much snow in Sweden!!

Here I'm in a buss travelling from Stockholm to Kalmar:



I'm watching the snow!



We went to see the Kalmar Castle (Kalmar Slott) and here are some photos

Just arrived to Kalmar:



I've never seen so man ducks in one pond!!



Nice views:





Can you see the swans?



The castle we're going to:





I'm sitting in the snow!!



More ducks:



Sitting in a fur-tree )





A nice house near the castle.. We didn't manage to see what all the sightseeings are cause it was pretty cold



A monument:



The plan of the castle:



A HUGE anchor!!



Entrance to the castle:



One of the castle towers:



Getting in:



Three Swedish Crones:



We're going up to the fortified wall:



View of one of the towers from the wall:



Some nice views from the wall:





Old canons



View of the castle from the wall:







The Kalmar harbour:

Today we stayed in the town Zheleznodorozhny where Kristl actually lives. This town is not far from Moscow (1/2 hour driving) and it's name means "The Railroad Town"

We went to walk to a park and saw many pigeons there. They followed us cause the thought that we'll feed them 



There was a feedbox just near the place we met the pigeons.



I tried to tell them about it but they did not want to hear me



Then we found a very nice place where the setting sun made the snow and the trees look wonderful!!!



Today I met another TV - Majed who had the same mission as I - to see the snow I have already completed this mission And on this photo Majed is completing his one

Today we stayed at home cause the weather was awful On the weekends it was quite cold, but sunny, now it is +2 and it's almost raining..

When we were taking breakfast, Kristl told us a bit about some food she is used to eat in the morning



Here are:
glacé curd cake with chocolad and nuts, very tasty )
condensed milk with kakao Can be eaten with bread, but is very tasty without bread too )



Then Kristl decided to write some New Year cards and we could see how the Russian New Year cards look like. Kristl explained us that they do not celebrate Christmas as we do. They celebrate the New Year on 31th Dec - 1st Jan. Christmas is on 7th Jan, but this is only a religious holiday. So our Christmas is their New Year Can you see Santa here? It's not Santa!!)) It's "Grandfather Frost", the one who gives the New Year presents



Then Bumba found a greeting card with a very nice girl. She is called Snow Maiden ("Snegurochka"), she is granddaughter of Grandfather Frost and she allways comes with him

Today we went for a walk to the Moscow Centre and I could see myself many famous buildings!

Here you can see State Historical Museum. And behind me you can see the Nikolskaya Tower of Kremlin.



Here's Kazan Cathedral that is situated on the Red Square:



And here's the Red Square! You can also see the Spasskaya Tower (with chiming clock), the Senate Tower, Lenin's Mausoleum near it, skating-rink and New Year Tree.





Here are Iberian Gate and Chapel, the entrance to the Red Square:



And here's the most famous shopping centre in Moscow - GUM (Main Universal Store)!



This is the skating-rink organized by GUM on the Red Square



The New Year Tree on the Red Square!



Saint Basil's Cathedral - one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Moscow!





The Spasskaya Tower once more:



The small one is the Tsar Tower:



View from the Red Square:



Then we went to the main library in Russia - Russian State Library! And here's Dostojevsky Monumet in front of it:



There was a New Year Tree near the library and I saw a picture of a cat near it. Kristl told that it is a very famous cat from Russian cartoons, he's called Leopold and his motto is "Let's live in peace and friendship!". I liked him!



On the other side there was a dog and a cat playing guitar. They appeared to be Matroskin the Cat and Sharik the dog from another famous cartoon - Three from Prostokvashino.

Purple Bun hasleft us and continued her journey to th USA

Have a good trip, dear Purple Bun, we'll miss you!!

I arrived here in sunny California just in time for Christmas! I am very glad I was not stuck in the post office for the holiday.



I helped decorate the Christmas tree, doesn't it look beautiful?



Violette let us all try some of the fudge she made. It was really good!



Violette came up with the idea to have a Secret Santa gift exchange. Its where everyone picks a name and then you get that person a gift. I picked Camille and I know just what to get her. Don't tell anyone I have her name though, its a secret!

Christmas was so much fun!


On Christmas eve, it was hard to fall asleep! We were so excited for Christmas.



When we woke up there were presents just for us under the tree! Santa even left presents,
I can't believe he found me all the way in California.



Babylonie got me a present for the gift exchange! She made me a pretty necklace!




Violette's brother got a boat, and its just our size! We wanted to test it out in her pool, but it was too cold.



On New Years Eve, we stayed up until midnight watching movies



Then we put streamers on Violette’s tree, which is a tradition her family has. Doesn’t it look good?

Hi there Mom!! I'm here, I finally arrived and am safe and sound. I am a bit fragile after all the knocking about in the post. I arrived together with Gilbert and there are two other TV's here called Emil and Grape Ape.



Here we are all cuddled up together on Juanita's bed. Vicki has two children,Juanita and Nicholas, and they both want to look after us all, but Juanita booked us first.

Juanita walked around showing us both the house and said we should feel at home!



Going to take a much needed nap on a comfortable pillow, will catch up later!

Hello from a very chilly Johannesburg! Yesterday we went to school with Juanita. She took us all and her friends helped her look after us and showed us around. It was a lot of fun, Juanita is in Gr9. Here we are all listening to the teacher reading from an Afrikaans book called 'Blinde Sambok' by Riaana Scheepers. This is one of the national languages and at this school, they can choose between Afrikaans and Zulu and take it through to Gr 12 as a second language.



Hey, these naughty students haven't taken their books home to study for exams! The High School starts writing exams from tomorrow. Gasp! Juanita! There's a book here with your name on it!



Aaaah! In the warm sun, as I said, pretty chillyhere!! We'll soak up some heat , thanks!



Juanita took us back to Vicki, who is teaching art in the Primary School. Here the Gr6's are making carnival masks and we helped!!



Be careful with that glue gun please!!



We had a lovely day but I was glad to get home and get warm.

We woke up bright and breezy (although it wasn't very bright outside at all!) because Vicki said there was a lot to do today. She strapped us in with the safety belt...



Our first stop was a visit to MrsC. Vicki had told her that it was Emil's last weekend in South Africa and she had a surprise farewell party for him!!



It was exciting to meet all the other toyvagers too, especially the famous Threadbear. He is busy collecting bears for the Teddy Bear Clinic here in Johannesburg. We had a lovely visit and chatted about where we had been and who had hosted us.



We were sad to leave but we had another visit to get to.
We were off to 'Footprints', a children's home where Vicki and her children visit and take clothes and toys that they gather up from anyone who is willing to donate. Juanita's class mates in Gr 9 collect toiletries on a regular basis for the home. We arrived and most of the children were still having there morning nap.





Here I am amongst the shoes, help, it's smelly down here!


These are the ladies that care for the children, they are preparing the lunch.



Amazing how this trolley kept these children entertained. They were enjoying the ride!



The wheelbarrow was also a lot of fun!



Juanita stood us up on the sign.



These two boys played for some time, having turns to ride.



They are building up a farmyard and this is the goat, Clyde, who is very cheeky and wants to headbutt everyone. The two little pigs are cute, they are called 'Crispy' and 'Bacon' and wanted to chew our shoes.



The children were having lunch and we kept them company.



It was an icy cold day so none of the children were interested in playing out in the back garden or jumping on the trampolines.



Look where Juanita managed to put us for a photograph, the children were laughing! The statue of David!



We eventually said our goodbyes and left for home. On our way we passed the Zandspruit Squatter Camp. Some of these people are 'entrepreneurs' selling their wares on the side of the road.




It was such a miserable day, even these Glossy Starlings were complaining!



We were freezing cold when we arrived home, luckily Ken had a lovely warm fire going...



We all sat around 'defrosting' and chatting.

Sunday was as gloomy and miserable as Saturday.



Vicki had to catch up with marking test papers, so we hung around and watched.



And then moved on to sit with Nicholas cuddled up watching tv.



Juanita had to study, she is busy with examinations at school. We helped Vicki wake her up.



We helped Vicki mark some of the student's art work too.



Wow! This desk is a mess!!



We had a relaxing day. Hope the sun shines tomorrow!

Yesterday we went with Vicki to school again. She was teaching art and we watched the children and helped where we could but Vicki was nervous that we would get messy and full of paint. The Gr 4 students are busy with building 3D figures of themselves.





The Grade 5's are busy with making their 'cities'.



And the Grade 6's are making carnival masks.



Another TV called Abeeku arrived, we introduced ourselves.



Juanita (Vicki's daughter) showed us some of her and Nicholas' art.





We had a great day visiting the children at the school.