Travelog for: Yuri Gagarin

Hi, my name is Yuri.  I'm named that because my namesake boldly went where no man had gone before, and I am boldly going where my mom has never gone before.  Here is a picture of me.



It's not a very good picture, but I'm at my dad's house and he doesn't have his camera, so he had to take a picture with his webcam and send it to my mom.

I am eager to travel around the world.  I want to go everywhere, but I'm particularly excited to visit Russia, because that is where my dad and namesake are from, and Peru, because if there was one place in the world my mom could go, it would be Peru.

I hope to start travelling soon :]

My mom took me skating today!  She met up with my dad, but he forgot me, so they had to go home and get me, and then we met their friends and got the rentals.

All ready to go!



Ooo, the ice is cold on my paws.



So I'll just get Mom to carry me.



And after it was time to warm up at Starbucks :]

I saw snow today, at my dad's house.

Ahh, this is the only way to travel.

I saw my mom's home today.

The Christmas tree.  It's really big.  You can't see it very well =/



Potato ornament?  What kind of people am I living with?



I met my mom's other 'children', Fabio and Wilson.  Mom says that they're a little to big to travel.  They told me that they're perfectly happy living on mom's bed.



And of course, I had to try on mom's slippers.



Mom says I'll be leaving soon.  I can't wait!

Yuri was mailed about an hour ago.  He is on his way to Germany.  No pictures taken, because his mom was already getting weird looks for doing everything last minute in the line up at the post office.

I'm here!!! I still feel a little dizzy from the travel, but I think, I will have a great time. I already met the whole family, because they had a birthday celebration, but they didn't take photos with me, because I didn't feel that way after my long journey. I jumped in my bed and there I found a new friend: the German shepherd (toy, but no toyvoyager) named Jecky.

Today Petra wanted to walk somewhere and Ralf drove to the Letzenberg, where is a nice chapel.
The Letzenberg is a place of pilgrimage since 1296 A.D. It is told, that already then there stood a chapel. 1722 A.D. prince-bishop Damian Hugo Philipp, Graf (Count) of Schönborn collected for a chapel, but without success.
In the year 1903 A.D. the chapel was built and consecrated.

When we were there, we had some wonderful views over Malsch and the vineyards, too.
On our way home we watched a wonderful sunset.

At home again we saw the Christmas tree and crib in the livingroom. Our hosts told us, that sometimes they have the Christmas tree up until 2nd February.
The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (also known as Candlemas or Feast of the Purification of the Virgin) celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Presentation is a feast celebrated on 2 February and is the fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.

In the evening we said goodbye to Little Teddy and Nicki Bear, because both started their travel to the USA. They will stay with different hosts, so I'm sure, that they will be really lonesome in their boxes. I know it from my own travel to Germany.

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A new guest arrived today. It is Ollie Marmot, who also is from the USA. We all helped to pull him out of his letter.
Then we had our first date for a group photo.

Bruchsal is a small city with about 27 000 inhabitants, with suburbs about 42 000. It was first named in 976 A.D.

The first place we visited was the Belvedere, which was a former hunting lodge. Now it is a place for summer outside theatre and summer feasts.




Next to the Belvedere is a lovely small park with beautiful trees. The grammar school, that is close by too, uses this park as playground.

This fountain is in the middle of the park.


When you walk out of the park, you have a wonderful view over Bruchsal. Of course we haven't had that wonderful weather.
From left to right you see the towers of the former castle called Bergfried, the tower of the city church "Unsere Liebe Frau" and of the Lutherkirche. The flat roof belongs to the new part of the older peoples' house.


On this photo you see the baroque church St.Peter and the house Sancta Maria, which are both close to the house, where I'm staying right now.


The house next to us with the flat roof and the white big house in the far is the older people's house. The grey house in the far on the left side is a private grammar school called St.Paulusheim.


Then we went to the palace of Bruchsal. It was completely destroyed during the second world war but rebuilt in the 70th.
Here you see a view to the gate Damianstor.


When you just turn around on the place you can see the mainbuilding of the palace on the right side. The left part is the church St. Damian and Hugo, where my hosts are going to service on Sundays. Behind the church you see the tower of the church.


This is the county court of Bruchsal.


Again turning around on the place you see the entrance to the mainbuilding.


We went into the church and I saw the nice crib. I's sorry, that the photo didn't look nice. I hope, we will go there again to take a nice one.

In the church you can see some photos of the palace and church before and right after the war. The church was beautiful inside, but now it is only painted in white. Of course the costs would have been much too expensive to make everything as it had been before the war.




Here you see a photo of the palace area.


When we came out of the church, we looked back to the county court on the right and the Damianstor on the left side. Next to the Damianstor you maybe see a red thick tower, this it the tower of the jailhouse.


The  building in my back is the backside of the church. And you see the tower of the church, too.

We visited my hosts parents in the evening to see their lovely young dog. Don't worry mom, although one photos looks a bit dangerous for me, I never had to fear anything.

It's carnival time, they call it the fifth season. Today was the carnival procession through the streets of Bruchsal. My host family met friends and then they stood in front of their house to watch the procession. We toyvoyagers didn't dress up today, but we will try to do it this coming week.
Here are a view impressions of the procession. Petra said, that it was just too much time between the groups, that came along the way. If I'm still here next Sunday, I will go to the carnival procession in Karlsdorf and I hope, that we have more fun there.

After Petra came home from school, she asked us, whether we would like to go and see the nice view from top of the small hill called Michaelsberg, which belongs to Untergrombach, a suburb of Bruchsal. Petra told me, that the Michaelsberg is an archaelogical site, which is famous for its culture, called "Michaelsberg culture". 3500 B.C. there was a settlement on top of the hill. I wanted to dig at once, but she told me, that you only can see something of the trenchs and walls. So I asked: "Where can I see something of it?" and she told me, that she will try to find time to go in the intrance part of the restaurant, that is on top of that small hill, because there are some reconstructed things.

The weather was foggy, so of course I couldn't see the Palatine mountains and very far into the Rhine valley. But at least I saw a part of Bruchsal in the far.


The quarry pond belongs to Untergrombach. Petra liked to swim there, when she was younger.


It was getting dark rather quickly.


This is the nice chapel called "Michaelskapelle".


It was rather cold there and windy. So we hurried to go back to the car. We took the last photo, while sitting in the car. It is a view to another suburb of Bruchsal, Obergrombach. And you see the Kraichgau hill country. I saw it much better than you do on this photo. It was just too dark already.