Travelog for: Finja

Finja's travel list

strangeMissy - Austria (arrived here)
Marjolein - The Netherlands
luckaye - Australia
sararingham - Australia
PinkiTheBear - HongKong

Sahnepop - Germany







Hello,
I arrived in Remscheid today. My new mentor Katja adopted me from Delenna in Finland. You can read my story here.

Katja had to pick me up at the local post office. The postman did not put me with my envelope into the postbox. I don't know why he did not. Instead Katja found a notification that said that a letter was waiting for her in the post office on Wednesday. You can't pick up the letters on the same day. On Thursday they had a holiday in many parts of Germany, so the post office was closed. But today Katja went to the post office to pick up the envelope that contained me. I was so happy. Of course  I wanted to get out immediately but Katja told me that she was on her way to her nephew's birthday party and she had to hurry to get to her aunt's flat. They wanted to drive to her nephew's home in another district of Remscheid together. So I waited to arrive at the party.

In Katja's bag were two other ToyVoyagers sitting, Chompers and Galaxy Bear. Katja's daughter is the host of Galaxy Bear but she went to the birthday party later because she had to join a soccer training. So Katja took all the TVs to the party for having coffee and cake.

The ride did not last too long.

Katja's nephew Lucas and his guests were sitting in the garden. There were his grandparents,his Mum, Katja and the  three of us. Later his aunt and uncle came, his Daddy arrived also later.

The other TVs helped me out of envelope and welcomed me. I was glad that there some really nice people.







I was very hungry so I first tasted the cakes. Katja had made Australian Lamingtons, then there was a cheese cake and nut wedges. It was all very delicious.



Katja's sister Ina made something really good afterwards - strawberry punch. Therefore you cut strawberries into small pieces. Then add a little bit of sugar and let it draw through for a while. Then you put the fruits into a large bowl and add a bottle of white wine and a bottle of sparkling wine. That was very refreshing.





I was a little bit tired then and rested in a candle glass for a while. I think I even fell asleep for a while. Chompers and Galaxy Bear wanted to play with Lucas and his Daddy. I saw them playing a a football table. They had a lot of fun.



Tomorrow Katja will repair my dress. We will also write a postcard to Delenna tomorrow. Katja told me that I will travel to Italy in summer. I'm really looking foreward to this trip.

Bye
Finja

I will travel to Italy with Marjolein and the TVs Snowy and Just Married, maybe even more. This trip will start on July, 14th.

Maybe I wait until this special trip will start or maybe I will look for a host for the next weeks.

Katja did some repair work to my dress. The flowers were ironed on the dress and got loose already. We sewed them tight to the fabric, so they will keep in place.

I'm looking foreward to Italy. Maybe I manage to buy sunglasses for me.

Finja

Hi,
tomorrow my journey will start. First I'm visiting strangeMissy in Austria. I'm really looking foreward to it!

I hope they have better weather in Austria. Here at home the weather is very bad.



Bertie was very sad and feeling a bit homesick. Mummy made sangria with fresh oranges for us. It tasted really good.



Mummy's daughter, Alex, bought a lei today. I'm looking good with it, have a look.



This is my last photo with Bertie. Maybe we will meet again some time, who knows?



I hope I will arrive in Austria soon.

Bye
Finja

Hey!
Today I arrived in Austria. When Sigrid came home from school she showed me the house and introduced me to Tiah Tigris from the Netherlands.



Tomorrow she'll take me with her to school (her school uses rooms of a baroque monastery) and probably we'll go to Graz, the next city, on Wednesday.

Today we went for a walk with one of Sigrid's friends- it was great to see a bit of the landscape!

Graz ist so beautiful! It's the capital of Styria (a part of Austria) and there are so many different kinds of buildings... Some look almost mediterranian! But I won't tell you any more, just look at the pictures...


The townhall




Some church


Again =D


The "painted house"


The view from a balcony in the staircase up to the "stair church"

Hello!

I arrived in 's-Hertogenbosch today! My host Marjolein is already very busy preparing for our trip to Italy, we are both looking forward to it! I met some other ToyVoyagers, I will introduce them to you. There's: Nick, Chompers, Davy, Pingu, TheOutsider, Roots Bear and Claire.

Best Wishes,

Finja

Dear mum,

It's almost time to leave for Italy! We will leave tomorrow from Den Bosch at 7:30 am with the bus to our first stop in Beek, wich is near Arnhem. From there we will get into the bus, that will get us to Italy! Firstly we will stop in Germany, near Freiburg, for a good night sleep in our first hotel. Tuesday we will continue our journey and in the evening we will arrive in Toscane, Italy! But I will not tell too much already, I will update as much as possible!

I have already learned some Italian:

Yes: sì
No: no
Thank you: Grazie
You're welcome: Per favore
Here you are: Prego
Fantastic: fantastico
I don't speak Italian: non parlo italiano
Do you speak English?: parla inglese?
0: zero
1: uno
2: due
3: tre
4: quattro
5: cinque
6: sei
7: sette
8: otto
9: nove
10: dieci
What time is it?: che ore sono?
Goodday/morning/afternoon: buongiorno
Goodevening: buonanotte
Hi: salve/ciao
Welcome: benvenuto
How are you?: come sta?
Have a nice meal: buon appetito
See you later: arriverderci
Have a nice holiday: buone vacanze

I will speak to you in Italy soon!

Hugs Finja

Dear mum,

Today was a traveling day. I am in France now, just over the bourder with Germany. Our hotel is very good, the bed nice and soft, and there is a swimming pool! Too bad it is too cold to swim. And because we are soooooo tired, we just went to sleep!



Apart from the nice bed, the view from the window wasn't all that.





We had a nice diner, a good night sleep, and after breakfast it was time to really go to Italy!

More traveling today! We went across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Wow I'm seeing a lot af the world today! I will show you some photo's of Switzerland.





This is the bus I am traveling with and will be traveling with for the next days.



We went through the Gotthard Tunnel and after that we almost where in Italy. Just a few kilometres now!



Our first stop is in Toscane. The town in called Montecatini Terme.



We took a strowl through the town.



There wasn't much time, so we went back to our hotel, had some diner and went right to sleep!

Time for the holiday to begin! I started in Pisa and saw the Tower of Pisa!!



This building is where people are baptisted in.

After our visit in Pisa, we had some wonderfull lunch in the mountains of Toscane. We tasted lots of wine and olives made from the people who live in the farm.

Then it was time to go to Lucca. Lucca is a wonderfull old city with lots of beautiful buildings and old squares.









This square used to be an amphitheater. They build houses on top of it, but it still has the shape of the theater.

Florence is the place to be, lalala Florence has to be the most beautiful city I have ever seen! Did you know that every year lots of tourists end up in the hospital because they are overwhelmed by the beauty of Florence? It's called the Stendhal Syndrome after this man called Stendhal. He is the first person of who it is known he fainted after seeing Florence. His heart stopped pumping and he coulnd't breath. Thank God none of us had these problems but it is such a beautiful city!

Santa Maria Novella



Campanile next to the Basilica San Lorenzo


Basilica San Lorenzo



Duome (Santa Maria Del Fiore)





Saint George (from Saint George and the Dragon) made by Donatello



The tourguide of the trip told us a story about this George. Donatello made this statue and showed it to his master. He asked him if there is anything wrong with George. His master answered: Yes there is something wrong. Donatello of course wanted to know what this was. But his master simply answered: I won't tell you, you have to find out yourself. Donatello wondered and wondered, he looked at George and he could not find anything wrong with him. He got ill of these doubts. Donatello got so sick, that at one point he was actually dying. On his deathbed he asked his master: Please tell me, what was wrong with Saint George? His master said: He doesn't breath. He looks so real, if he breathed he could just walk towards us. And then Donatello could die in peace.
It's a wonderfull story, but in reality Donatello lived happily ever after, after making this statue. But it's a good story

David (waiting for Goliath) made by Michelangelo.



This is not the original David, that one is savely in a museum.
It stands on the Piazza Della Signoria.



Ponte Vecchio

The fifth day was a bit of a travelingday. We went to Siena first, but after that to our new hotel in Fiuggi. First Siena. This is a very old city from the Dark Ages.



It has a very famous square: Piazza Del Campo. The people of Siena call it the most beautiful piazza of the world. It has the shape of a shell.



Every year this Piazza turns into a racecourse. When the 'Palio' (horseraces) takes place, every person from Sienna goes to the Piazza. They stand on the inside of the square and the horses run on the outside.





Every part of the city have a horse in the race. And it doesn't matter if the jockey makes it to the finishline, when the horse makes it, the horse wins. Sometimes accidents happen because the jockey doesn't ride the horse on a sadle.





Duomo di Siena





We walked around the city for a bit and we had some really good pizza! Funghipizza (mushrooms) on the Piazza Del Campo.