Travelog for: Smooch

Smooch is on his way to the Czech-Republic to visit with Ondrej...
He is travelling by airmail I hope..but was quite nervous to leave home for the first time.

But as a Cow he is brave and no Cow-(ard) right?
So I know he wil be fine ..and we all wished him a Safe journey.Wendy waved and blowed kisses to him 
More later from his guest address ..

Hello from Prague!

I arrived safe and sound. Struppi, Bestik and two other fellows unwrapped me.



As a patriotic cow, I'm carrying my own wooden shoes with me.


I can't wait to see the Charles Bridge - they say it's really nice!

Rumours about the beauty of Charles Bridge were absolutely true.

I started my sightseeing on the Lesser Town Square, where St. Nicholas Church is situated.


The Lesser Town Bridge Towers - the smaller one is older and is called Judith's tower, because it belonged to former Judith's Bridge, destroyed by flood in 1342 (Judith von Thüringen was wife of Bohemian Prince Vladislav II, who built that older bridge).


I and Struppi were a bit tired, so we sat on the edge of the bridge and had some rest.


Let's go on!


I watched the Prague Castle over the Vltava river for a while.


And here is Charles IV, who built the present bridge in 1357.


Now the Charles Bridge is just behind us.

I found a great book here! It's called For the Childern and it's full of nice pictures and rhymes by Josef Lada.

Struppi challenged me to a chess game, which I simply couldn't refuse. But it was quite difficult to move such big chessmen!

Do you remember the St. Nicholas' Church? Today I decided to climb a belfry that stands next to this church and see Prague from its top. It was quite exhausting, but the view was magnificent.

It's pretty high, isn't it? But I'm still not on the top.


This bell was used to warn citizens of Lesser Town in case of danger (fire, enemy attack etc.).


Who can find the Lesser Town Bridge Towers? (A little hint: I visited them on Friday )


Church of Our Lady Under the Chain belongs to Knights of Malta.


Another church - this one is dedicated to St. Thomas.


From St. Nicholas Church, it's not far to the Prague Castle, so I took the occassion to visit this amazing historical complex.

I was a bit hungry; therefore I tried some grass of Prague Castle Gardens. It was very tasty - and among others, I fulfilled one of my life missions!


I also met the Castle Patrol. Do you think they have some uniforms in my size?


The Basilica of Saint George was founded in the 10th century.


It took over six centuries to build St. Vitus Cathedral, but I think it was worth it.

Do you like this building? It's the Municipal House, built in 1912.


The Powder tower is much older (it comes from 15th century). If it reminds you of the Old Town Bridge Tower, you are right - both towers were repaired and partially rebuilt by the same architect in 19th century.


This pig, which probably got lost in the big city, asked me for directions. I hope my suggestions were sufficient.

I really like Prague, but as I decided to travel, I can't stay for a long time at one place. Now I'm on my way southwards - to Slovenia!

Smooch has finally arrived to next destination and he feels happy to be outside of his travel home. He has already gone rollerblading with me, but right now he's having some nice chat with his cow friends. 
When he arrived he was first greeted by a very unusual monster. Smooch has complained about not being able to fight the monster, because this monster wanted to give him a hug. He also wondered what kind of land is this, where monsters are all sweet and friendly.
In the afternoon he will probably rest, as he isn't really enthusiastic about going to the gym with me.

Today I decided to type this by myself. It's just more fun that way, don't you think so.
Yesterday afternoon my host convinced me to go to the gym with her, so I went there for moral support. Of course, being as beautiful as I am, I didn't need any workout at all, but I helped my host. Unfortunately her batteries were empty, so there are no photo to prove my great ways of workout cheering.
Today I was woked up really early, at around 6 o' clock, when my host took the monster, who's name is Bon, out for a walk. Being very tired from my travel I decided to rest some more and she didn't mind at all. So I turned around in my bed and sleept till 9 o' clock, when my tummy started to make noises. I then left to eat some breakfast, which was ok. I will now help my host learn some stuff for school and I will finally get some time to chat with her toys. Abd believe me there are loads of friends to meet.

Yesterday was a busy afternoon for me. First I helped my host working on the last page of a traveling notebook, that she joined at postcrossing. Then I have spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with my relatives here in Slovenia. I have found out that life here is ok, but that we're soon expecting even hotter weather. Never the less I enjoyed talking to them while being outside.
On the bright side I have found out that there is a possibility of meeting some real cows here. Can't wait :P

Today I was once again woken at 6 am, but this time I was invited to go for a walk with my host and Bon. Despite being tired I decided that I needed some fresh air and I wanted to see where I was staying of course. Since I was still a bit sleepy I gladly occupied free pocket in a backpack so that I was carried around.
And I was glad I did so, because we went for a nice walk and I had many beautiful things to see. Even tough this area is more of a poluted area and is not really famous for it's nature, I think that here where I am, the nature isn't as bad as I have expected. That is probably because my host doesn't live in the city, but a few km away from it, out on the countryside.
On this walk I have finally seen some cows, but unfortunately they were hiding in the shadow and I couldn't get totally close to them, because their field was wired. Still I did see them and they saw me and even greeted me nicely.
The walk was really refreshing and I will certainly do it again.
In the afternoon I will probably go to the vet, but do not worry, I am all right. I am completely healthy and happy. But my new friend monster Bon has gotten an allergy of some sort, which causes that his tail really itches and he has been biting it. Since it hasn't gotten any better inspite of the medications, he will probably get a shot today. I really sympathize with him and he is gratefull for that.

Yesterday was a busy day. I slept in till around 7.30, when I decided to go with my host to meet her friend. We walked almost 40 minutes and went almost to the valley. Bon went with us of course.  On the way down we saw some nice fields and even a deer, but it ran away to fast to take a picture of me and the deer. On the other hand my host show me a thing called kozolec.  It's nothing special, just a place where farmers dry hay. Kozolec is  a bit typical building for my hosts country, so she wanted to show it to me. I didn't find anything really special about it, but I have been told that there are loads of different varieties of this building. 
I was really tired on the way down so my host gave me something to drink. I got to taste water with the taste of peach and it was way tastier than normal water.
When we came home I was totally tired, but I decided to listen to the conversation between my host and her friend. It was really weird to listen them talking in some foreign language which I haven't understand.  So my host lend me her iPod and I got to listen some Slovenian music. It wasn't bad at all, I actually kind of liked it. 
The afternoon was really hot, so I decided to spent some time with some toyfriends. And belive me, I have made so many friends here. It seems like I came in the toyland.
In the evening I had some movie time. I watched the new Harry Potter movie.
Today I am going out to the gym in the afternoon, but I may go out in the evening.

It's been a long time since I last wrote here and the reason for that is that my host has been quite busy and also had some minor camera problems. You might wonder what I have been doing since I last wrote.
My days weren't really filled with adventures.  I have finally managed to see some parts of Trbovlje (tough unfortunatelly all the pictures were ruined by the stupid camera). But since this was the case my host decided to give me some of her postcards, that she collects, about her country. She's really sorry for the troubles but hopes that they will be a nice thing to decorate my owners room. She's got her walls covered with postcards and she somehow imagined that maybe my owner could enjoy seeing some postcards too.
On Friday my host was totally estatic since she is a Harry Potter fan. We checked all websites for any possible clue about the story and we ordered a book in a presale so that she could read it as soon as possible. I  wasn't sure if I wanted to read it, but she convinced me to try it at least.
On Saturday we woke up really soon because we were expecting to see the postman really early, but we were wrong. He never arrived and my host was really angry, because she was supposed to get the book. Luckily for me, she didn't mope around all day, but took me for a walk around. We went to see the near building area, where they're fixing some roads. I even learned how to do some basic things. Since my host is studying engineering she was able to tell me some basic things, but me, being the smart cow, already knew most of them.
But I have also got the chance to see some things connected with the minery tradition of this region. Coal used to be very important for Zasavje and Trbovlje, so my host show me some things connected with it. I have met a mine worker statue and a real old mine lamp, that was used by miners in the past.  She has also told me a legend about Perkmandelc, a troublemaking dwarf that lives in caves, plays jokes on miners but protects them against danger.

On Monday we still didn't received the book, which was really annoying, but my host didn't want to make my stay worthless, so she decided to show me some traditional things from Slovenia.
First she took me to the thing called Lectovo srce or Lebkuchen. That is originally German thing, but seeing the fact that Slovenia has been connected with Germany in the past, they kind of made this German tradition a part of their own. It's basicly a gingerbread cookies, decorated with nuts, honey, almonds,... They can be eaten, but their purpouse is more of decorative one. What is somehow different in Slovenia is that only the front side is decorated, while the backside is empty.
Then I was shown an old coffe maker and some home made alcohol. Slovenia has got a lot of different sorts of alcohol, but it's especially known for it's wine. But I was however more impressed with the old coffe maker, because I don't enjoy alcohol.  I also liked the old wooden rocking seat and old watch, the wool maker and the wine maker.
But what really amazed me was some traditional art. I was shown a butterfly, a flower and a cow horn that was made for cow herders in the past.  I was told that this horn was made for an event called Cow ball, which happened each autumn in Bohinj. It's basicly the time wheb people from Bohinj remember old ways of life, when herders lived in the hills durring spring and summer with their cows and returned to the valley in autumn to spend the winter in the valley. Of course when they returned they had celebrations.