Travelog for: Margarida

Hi everyone! I was living in a basket with a mound of other toys in a charity shop and I decided it was time to change life, travel around the world and make new friends!
That's when Penvmbra appeared and I asked her to help me. She named me 'Margarida', after her mum's name. I hope you can help me in my journey.

Bunny kisses,

M.


My first travel was to Penvmbra's house.

Bye bye charity shop...




This is me 



A lovely bunny I am, eheh



*chuac*



My first meeting with ToyVoyagers.



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Margarida is on her way to Kira1997's house, in Australia =)

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My travel list:

Kira1997 - Australia - 04/2008
Eryah - The Netherlands - 05/2008
Penvmbra - Portugal - 07/2008
Lejow - The Netherlands
olgamaus - Germany

Finally im free from my small package.




Will update photos later

Hi
Im loving it here especially the town well known playground.

Im on a statue at the Busselton Beach

This is another place the Famous Busselton Jetty its the longest  wooden Jetty in the southern hemisphere

Hello!

Today i arrived in Alkmaar, the Netherlands.
I post pictures as soon as possible. First i'm gonna introduce myself to everybody here.

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today it was my host her birthday so i came on a great day here!

When i came out of the envelope i saw two other TV's watching me.



This are Davy the cat and Lumi very very small bear.

After introduce ourself to each other it was time to eat the birthday pie. It was delicious!


I wanna meet the other ones who live here after that.


This is Luna, the black cat. She is scared of almost anything but Eva.



This is my new bed..... just kidding
This is Isis, a very fluffy and sweet cat. She sleeps almost the whole day because she is very old.



And this is Dharma. He's a very sweet puppy but he likes to play. But when he playes he bites you so you have to watch out because of his sharp teeth.

Dinner time!


Eva made us pasta and creamy cheese with tomatoes and onions. It looks a little bit strange but when you taste it your in heaven!

After dinner i wanna relax but the mail man came again with three envelopes.

We decided to first open the one from the USA.


A white bear came out and he shouted 'I'm not a TV, I'm a birthday present!'


Whe decided to open the one from Africa after that. Again a lot of presents came out!


Suddenly we saw a dog his head.


This is Ambrosius

And last but not least we opened the last box.



This is Count

I think i'm gonna make good friends here. But now i'm very very tired so i'm gonna sleep.

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Again a new TV arrived today. It's getting more and more cosy here!

We all were very curious who can be in it. We are allready with a cat, dog, rabbit, bear and a count so we hoped it was an other animal.



And it was! It's a monkey!


This is Roberto

Now we are gonna chat about our goals and who we are.

I'll be back soon!

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today we asked Eva to tell us everything she know about Alkmaar and the Netherlands. She told us some funny stories!

Alkmaar is above all Holland's cheese town. During the season from the first Friday of April to the first Friday of September a traditional cheese market is being held here on Friday mornings between 10 and 12.30. The cheeses are sold by dealers on a clap of hands. Thereupon the 400 year old cheese porters' guild goes into action, carrying the cheese off on barrows after the lot has been weighed at the Waag (the official scales). In the Waaggebouw - in which the scales are housed - a cheese museum that tells everything about dairy farming has been established.
Cheese has been weighed in Alkmaar since 1635.

Alkmaar is historical with around 400 monuments. The Waag, dating back in its earliest form to the 14th century, the 16th century town-hall, Grote St. Laurens Church and the many courtyards, facades and canals give the town an ambience all of its own. With the past as a setting, the town has a modern stock of shops offering a wide choice. Besides the predominantly small shops in the old centre, the Noorder Arcade with large scale shopping facilities stands by the side of the Noord Holland Canal.

Alkmaar is the biggest town in the region. Relaxation can also be found in the Geestmerambacht recreational area close by.



The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland]) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.

The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces. As a matter of fact, many Dutch people colloquially use Holland as a synecdoche, being well aware of the widespread use of this name. For more on this and other naming issues see terminology of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying and densely populated country. It is popularly known for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, its dikes and surge barriers, and, on the other hand, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social tolerance. But primarily, the Netherlands is a modern, advanced and open society. An old parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather liberal policies toward recreational drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia. The Netherlands is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world; its internet connection rate is 87.8%, the 2nd highest in the world.

The Netherlands has an international outlook; among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyoto protocol. Along with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands is one of three member nations of the Benelux economic union. The country is host to five international(ised) courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. All of these courts (except the Special Tribunal for Lebanon), as well as the EU's criminal intelligence agency (Europol), are situated in The Hague, which has led to the city being referred to as "the world's legal capital."

A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is its flatness. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the south-eastern tip of the country on the foothills of the Ardennes, the central part and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges such as the Hondsrug in Drenthe, the stuwwallen (push moraines) near Arnhem and Nijmegen, Salland, Twente and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.



Religion
Main article: Religion in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is one of the more secular countries in the Western Europe, with only 39% being religiously affiliated (31% for those aged under 35), although 62% are believers (but 40% of those not in the traditional sense). Fewer than 20% visit church regularly .

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005, 34% of Dutch citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 37% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 27% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".

In 1950, before the secularisation of Europe, and the large settlement of non-Europeans in the Netherlands, most Dutch citizens identified themselves as Christians. In 1950, out of a total population of almost 13 million, a total of 7,261,000 belonged to Protestant denominations, 3,703,000 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 1,641,000 had no acknowledged religion.

However, Christian schools are still funded by the government, but the same applies for schools founded on other religions, nowadays Islam in particular. While all schools must meet strict quality criteria, from 1917 the freedom of schools is a basic principle in The Netherlands.

Three political parties in the Dutch parliament (CDA, ChristianUnion and SGP) base their policy on the Christian belief system.


Culture
Erasmus (1466–1536).The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters", such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century were Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M. C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. Han van Meegeren was an infamous Dutch art forger.

The Netherlands is the country of philosophers Erasmus of Rotterdam and Spinoza. All of Descartes' major work was done in the Netherlands. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) discovered Saturn's moon Titan and invented the pendulum clock. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe and describe single-celled organisms with a microscope.

In the Dutch Golden Age, literature flourished as well, with Joost van den Vondel and P.C. Hooft as the two most famous writers. In the 19th century, Multatuli wrote about the bad treatment of the natives in Dutch colonies. Important 20th century authors include Harry Mulisch, Jan Wolkers, Simon Vestdijk, Cees Nooteboom, Gerard (van het) Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans. Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl was published after she died in The Holocaust and translated from Dutch to all major languages.

Replicas of Dutch buildings can be found in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. A similar Holland Village is being built in Shenyang, China.

Windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and Delftware pottery are among the items associated with the Netherlands.



Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today was such a rainy day that we all get very bored. We watched the rain outside the window.



Before we all get depressed we decided to take a good look in Eva her house. You never know what you can find...

Count, Roberto and I found some gnomes and asked them what we can do here....


Lumi found a very strange creature. He asked her the same after she gave him a very wet kiss with her strange lips...


Ambrosius asked it too to a very beautifull but mysterious girl...



They all pointed to a closet full of books. We had no idea what they mean with that but we decided to take a look in the closet. We found some very old books. Eva told us she get this books from her father. You can't buy them in the shop anymore. Even the pages in the books felt old.



We read the books and they were so great! Appie has a lot of adventures with his friends. Before we know we were in a other world: the world of Appie.
Time really flies when you read and especially when you read about adventures.

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today we went to Eva her ex husband his house. He lives on the camping and we found some real nice things!

First we found a very beautifull car and you can imagine we have to drive in it.






Suddenly a woman called us. She said she have to show us something.



Look how sweet!!!

Bug hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today it was time to say goodbye to Davy. Tomorrow he is going to his next host. He is very emotional at the moment, so that's why he decided to do it today.
I'm gonna miss him a lot! Allthought we just met, we became good friends. Hopefully i see him again in our journey!


Goodbye sweet Davy and i wish you a lot of fun!

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today the mail man brought a magazine called Yes. It's a magazine for girls and we were all very curious what they write in it.
Suddenly we saw Eva in it! We called her and she explained us that she had an interview a couple weeks ago about her divorce. Now we understand why Eva is sitting in a white dress next to a boy on the picture in the magazine.
She also told us she was pregnant on that picture. Good to know because we thought she had a big belly because she is addicted to the Mac Donalds.



Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

Today we watched a practice game football between the Netherlands and Wales. It was for the Europian Championchips. It was very exciting and the Netherland won the game with 2-0.
To support the dutch team we wear orange stuff just like the other supporters.


Eva made us a dutch snack to eat while we were watching the game. It were kroketten, aardappelkrokektjes and a kaassoufle. It was very delicious!


We really wanna know some dutch words. so Eva tought us some.

Hello= Hallo
Bye= Doeg or Doei
Hugs= Knuffel
I love you= Ik hou van jou
Sweet= Lief
Food= Eten
How are you= Hoe gaat het met je
What's your name= Hoe heet je
Stuffed animal= Knuffel
Thanks= Bedankt
Rabbit= Konijn

Big hugs Margarida

Hello!

It's very hot here today.
Look at this picture and you know what i mean.


When it's hot like this in the Netherlands it's very muggy. I sweat my pants off today, and i don't even wear pants...

We want to find something cool here. In the garden we found a cage that is standing in the shadow.


Suddenly a big rabbit came to me and ask me what i was doing in his cage. First i was a little bit afraid of him, but he told me that it wasn't necessary to be scared. When i told him about the hot weather he said i was welcome in his house. Pfieuw!!!


Later this afternoon i saw Eva lives by the water. Water= refreshment so i decided to take a look there. It was so cool because a bird was swimming there with her children.




Big hugs Margarida