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Leichlingen, Germany - 17th April 2010
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we took a long walk today along the so called "Obstweg Leichlingen" (translated it must be something like "Route of Fruit" ). Leichlingen is a small town, halfway between Remscheid and Cologne.
The walk is following a route through traditional orchard meadows, along homesteads and through rural hamlets. It is about 9 km long.
We had to follow the marking showing an apple.
You can find information boards along the walk, telling you interesting facts about local fauna and flora, about the region itself, about fruit-growing and special sorts of apples, peas and other fruits.
These are pea trees, their blooms are not fully opened yet.
On the meadows the first daisies and Cuckoo Flowers are blooming.
You can find blooming fuit trees everywhere, even in the forest.
This is blooming hawthorne.
In the gardens also lots of flowers are blooming. Leichlingen is closer to the river Rhine than Remscheid, so the climate is milder here.
These trees are apple trees.
We are really enjoying the sunshine.
We had to walk along a street for a while.
Here you can see the city centre of Leichlingen in the valley.
We went into town than, looking for refreshments.
The river Wupper is running through the city centre.
Here is our reward for more than two hours walking
That was a really nice trip!
Bye
Ceryni
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Posted Apr 18, 2010, 11:51 am
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Remscheid, Germany - 23rd April 2010
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we are celebrating a really important commemoration day today: The Day of German Beer. Since 1984 the issuance of the "Reinheitsgebot" (German Beer Purity Law) is celebrated by the German brewers.
We also did
Cheers!
Bye
Ceryni
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Posted Apr 26, 2010, 7:15 pm
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Essen, Germany - 1st May 2010
By: olgamaus
We reached Essen and went to Zeche Zollverein by tram.
The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen. It has been inscribed into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since December 2001.
The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, mining activities took place from 1851 until 1986.
The two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant ranked among the largest of their kinds in Europe. The Zollverein Coking Plant was erected in the late 1950's, closed in 1993. Shaft 12, built in Bauhaus style, was opened in 1932 and is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, called "the most beautiful coal mine in the world". After it had been closed down in late 1986, shaft 12 was declared as a memorial. You can see it on the very first photo.
You can walk in the area everywhere, so we took a walk around.
We decided to visit the coking plant than, we had to walk a few minutes to get there. On our way we saw this gigantic hauling machine.
Soon we reached to coking plant Zollverein.
You cannot imagine how large those tubes are!
Everything is gigantic here - there are screws which are larger than me!
We reached the end of the coking complex. The artificial channel is opened for ice skating in winter.
We walked back on the rear side of the coking plant.
We went to the visitor's center than which is situated in the former coal washing plant. You can see the old machines here. It is quite dark here in this part of the complex.
We found a beer garden on the estate, we all needed refreshing.
When we went back to the central station, we had to wait for our train. We made good use of our time
I am glad that I do not have to work in a coal mine.
Bye
Ceryni
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Posted May 2, 2010, 8:52 pm
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Wuppertal, Germany - 8th May 2010
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
we visited the neighbour city Wuppertal today. The first thing to see when you enter the city centre is the "Schwebebahn", a suspended monorail, the worldwide one and only of that kind.
The Schwebebahn is built above the river Wupper. It was opened in 1901 and it is still in use as a local transport system. It travels along a route 13.3 kilometres long, about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper and about 8 m above the city streets.
We took a short walk along the river Wupper. Here you can see the Schwebebahn in front of a bank building.
The Schwebebahn has 20 stations, each of it built in a different style, some in the original old-fashioned style, some in a modern style. This one is definitely one of the modern ones.
We went with the Schwebebahn for three stations.
Here you can see the train leaving into the other direction.
Katja told us that we would visit the Botanical Garden than, high upon the hillside. The city of Wuppertal is situated in the valley of the river Wupper, the slopes of the valley are really steep, so in Wuppertal about 500 stairs were built along the slopes. Most of them were built in 19th century when the housing areas grew. Here is one of them.
We reached the Botanical Garden than. It was originally built in 1890 as a school garden in the place which is now the rose garden. Between 1908-1910 it relocated to today's site, the Villa Eller'schen, a former country house of textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa , orangery, residential and farm buildings, and the Elise Tower (built 1838) which provides the garden's focal point.
First we had a look at the greenhouses.
We decided to climb onto the tower.
The outlook is fantastic!
On this zoomed photo you can see the city centre with the characteristic bank building.
Here you can see the greenhouses.
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This is the villa, in the former orangery nowadays a nice café is situated.
We saw lots of pretty flowers.
Here you can see part of the villa. The former orangery is containing a nice café nowadays.
Of course we posed for a nice group photograph.
It was time than to leave.
Bye
Ceryni
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Posted May 9, 2010, 2:39 pm
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traveling home, to Hamburg - 21st May 2010
By: olgamaus
Hi Mummy,
I decided to travel home for a while. Before I said goodbye to all my friends here I welcomed Bart and Squirt, another turtle. I really enjoyed my stay here at olgamaus' home, but now it's time to make room for another turtle
I think I'll be home tomorrow - at least the German Mail promises so.
Bye
Ceryni
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Posted May 21, 2010, 6:56 pm Last edited May 29, 2010, 11:08 am by olgamaus
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Hamburg, Germany - 27th July 2010
By: Mondfalke
Hello!
I am home for a few weeks now and I am ready for some new adventures. I am not sure yet where I will go next but I am sure I will find great new hosts!
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Posted Jul 27, 2010, 1:23 am
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