Travelog for: Arimbi

Hello, my name is Arimbi
Iam from Bali Indonesia, and waiting for my first journey.
Here , some picture of my cityhome, Bali Indonesia

Hello, i will visit Germany as soon, to feel my first snow. But i will show a little bit my hometown before I leave Bali. Here my picture with my Indonesian friends Bima, Sena and Bisma the Lion, and also With SchokoCookie my friend from Germany. We enjoy Sanur Beach, Matahari Terbit beach and Bajra Sandhi Monument around Denpasar, capital city of Bali

My last day in Bali. Today I leave Indonesia, to starting my first journey. Before i leave, Konrad come to my home, and i take a picture with Konrad . Welcome to Bali-Indonesia, Konrad
And here my last upload before i leave. In frangipani tree, the Bali's iconic flower, Bali's statue, with Bisma, climbing tree sorrel ( Avverhoa bilimbi) and in front of the Temple.
Now, iam ready for my first journey. Wish me luck

Hi Mummy,
I arrived at my first host's home today. My host Katja and a whole flock of ToyVoyagers gave me a warm welcome.

My new friends are Emma Squirrel, Voi Nam, another travelling elephant, 3*Euro, Kevin Kiwi, Luc Zeke and Little T.B..



Both my host and all the TVs were excited by the presents I brought with me. I brought tea (Katja LOVES black tea ), chopsticks, a lovely purse, a little stick with a figurine on it and a pretty postcard.

Being tired from the long trip, I only had a quick look to the backyard ... a lawn, garages and bald trees ...



and to the front of the house. There is a little park. My current home is an apartement on the second floor, so I have a good overview to the streets and the park.



That's all for today

Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
although the weather is not good I could not wait to explore the city. We are having fall in Germany, it is rather cold, often foggy or rainy. Most broadleaf trees are bald now.



We decided to take a walk to the district Hasten, one of some historic districts of Remscheid. We only had to walk downhill for a few minutes.



This pretty house is a typical house here. It was probably built in late 19th or early 20th century. It is covered with slate and it has green shutters - many houses here are built in this style. You can also find many half-timbered houses.



This building is containing a museum, it is a Patrician villa, built in late 18th century by a rich factory owner.





You can also find the German Tool Museum on this estate. It was already closed, but there are some old machines in the outdoor facilities.





Do you know what this is?



It is me in front of a half-timbered house



We went back home than because it started to rain.

Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
today we are having the perfect fall day here: It is stormy, the sun comes out sometimes and sometimes it is hiding behind dark cloudes. We took a walk to explore the outskirts of Remscheid. Although Remscheid is an industrial town, it is surrounded by woodland areas, valleys and rural areas. We started out trip in the district Hasten where we already have been yesterday.

Here you can see the district's church.







I met a friendly and curious cat.



Although most trees are bald, I found this read oak with a few leafes left.



We rested on a bench for a moment.



In the forest the soil is partly covered with soft moss.



We saw a fire engine in front of a restaurant - nearly the same colour



In a more rural area we saw harvested fields. On this one barley was growin in summer, my host knew.



To get back home we had to walk uphill for some time because the city centre of Remscheid is situated on top of a hill.

Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
something weird happened during the night. In the morning everything outside was covered with white stuff.



Snow!



Katja promised that we would go out later.

Arimbi

We went out about two hours later. Unfortunately it was not cold enough for the snow, it already was melting slowly when we went out. But nontheless we had a lot of fun in the snow. Soon I was wet and cold (hopefully I will not get a cold!)



We walked along the so called "Route of Tools", a former track for freight trains. Many tracks were closed and were built to lanes for pedestrians and cyclists. Remscheid is an industrial city, famous for the tool producing industry here. Building the route was sponsored by local companies, so it was called "Route of Tools".







The route is about 5 km long, following the former track from the central station to the district Hasten. You can find a lot of industrial complexes along the route, as well newer ones as historical ones. This complex was a slaughterhouse once.



The closer we came to Hasten, the route was crossing more dwellings than industrial sites.



Someone is collecting souvenirs from the former railway track





You can also find signs with the logos of sponsoring companies here.



Later we went home through the municipal park.



Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
last weekend's snow melted away really soon, but today it started to snow again. Today it is about freezing point outside, so the snow will not melt too soon.





We went to the municipal park. Here you can see one of the churches in the city centre.



I saw a tiny snowplough.



Soon we reached the park. All those snow covered trees and bushes are looking beautiful.



I played in the snow with my elephant friend Voi Nam.







Those traditional houses are also lookig beautiful with their snow white roofs.





Back home we all went to the heating to dry our skin, fur or feathers.

Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
on Friday usually two or three friends are visiting us, Katja's knitting friends. Today I also met one of Katja's pets - she is keeping ferrets. (I don't know if ferrets are known in Indonesia) Ferrets are cute little predators, really playful, curious and cheeky pets. This one is Zaehnchen, sitting on the lap of Katja's friend, enjoying liver sausage paste.



Later Katja prepared eggnogg for her friends. Eggnogg is a popular winter drink in Germany, you can often get it on Christmas markets. To make it you need milk, cream, egg liqueur, rum, triple sec and amaretto.



First you have to mix and heat milk, cream and egg liqueur - it must not boil!



Than you add the spirits and fill it into glasses. Served hot with whipped cream on top it is perfect



Bye
Arimibi

Hi Mummy,
today we made a fantastic trip to Duesseldorf, the capital city of the German state North-Rhine-Westphalia. We went there by train and walked from the station towards the old town with all the Christmas markets.



Ah, this is already looking like a larger city. And they do not have snow here.



We reached the shopping streets than.





A few minutes later we reached the old town. Christmas markets everywhere!





You can buy all sorts of Christmas decorations, arts and crafts items, socks, herbs and spices and of course all the traditional food like potatoe pancakes, battered fish, sweets like sugarroasted almonds and nuts, candied fruits, candyfloss and all those hot winter drinks like hot wine punch and eggnogg.





We went into a shop in this quarter and spend some minutes there.



When we came out a miracle had happened - the sun was shining and we had only a few steps to take to reach the river Rhine.



We went along the Rhine promenade with lots of bars and restaurants. In the background you can see the Burgplatz with a Ferris wheel.



There is a lot of shipping traffic on the Rhine, mostly freight ships.



We walked closer to the Burgplatz.





We decided to take a walk into the opposite direction, towards the parliament which is situated close to the Rhine promenade.

A look back to the old town ...



We reached the parliament building than, a fantastic complex situated close to the Rhine promenade.



Here you can see an overview photo of it.



Here you can see the "Rheinkniebrücke", one of three bridges crossing the Rhine in the city area.



We took a group photo on the lawn in front of the parliament building.



We walked around the building.



This is the entrance area.



Later we went back to the old town to have lunch. Because it is getting dark so early we decided to have lots of fun with eggnogg, beer and mead without taking any more photos

Love
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
we helped Katja to wrap the last presents. Those socks in reggae colors, size 46? A present for a man, for her future son-in-law.



I wish you a merry Christmas!

Love
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
today we met Katja's friend Kerstin and took a walk with her and her dog.

We went to Wuppertal, to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas, but also woodland. By the way, this is the first day with sunshine since our trip to Duesseldorf two weeks ago! In the meantime we had rainy weather every day.



The whole area will be renatured in the coming years.





A lot of people come here with their dogs to let them run and play.



Katja told me that Pepe, the dog, in summer usually is taking a bath in the creek which is running through the meadow.





Bye
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
we went to Katja's sister-in-law's family today to celebrate the last day of the year. When we arrived, there already was everything prepared for Raclette.

There were lots of vegetables like sweet pepper, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, than there was beef and chicken meat, prawn, bread, potatoes and much more. Of course there was a lot of cheese



Later we called a tile-based game called "Rummikub". Do you know it?

At midnight we all had a glass of sparkling wine when we went outside for the fireworks.



Happy New Year!

Iit was raining the whole time, so the fireworks did not show up as nice as they could have had.





Love
Arimbi

Hi Mummy,
today we made a trip to the neighbour city Wuppertal.

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (Schwebebahn), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. The Schwebebahn is crossing some streets and even a motorway!





Here you can see one of 20 stations along the 13,3 km long route. This one is nearby the local court and district court.It was rebuilt last year in its original historic style.



We made a side trip to the Botanical garden because one of the TVs, Suny had a special wish which Katja tried to fulfill. The Botanical garden is situated high upon a hill called "Hardt" and we had to climb stairs after stairs for what felt like an eternity.

You can find the former country house of a textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings, and the Elise Tower (built 1838) which provides the garden's focal point.



Katja showed me a special tree in the garden, this one.



It looks more or less like a dangerous animal, but not like a tree. It is a monkey puzzle tree, (Araucaria araucana). It originally came from South America, from Chile and Western Argentinia. Due to similar climate conditions it can grow here.



Because a Botanical garden is not so exciting in winter we walked back to the city centre because we had only about 90 minutes until it would get dark.

Walking stairs downhill makes much more fun



In the city centre we saw that Wuppertal is much larger than Remscheid. The pretty city hall was hidden behind a scaffolding.





We saw the Schwebebahn again, next to a bank and a car park.





Here you can see one of the other stations, a modern one this time.



Later we met Katja's daughter here and we spend some hours in the shopping streets.

Love
Arimbi