Travelog for: Prance

I am currently back home and looking for new hosts. I sure hope I find some soon because I can't wait to continue my journeys!!! 



As you can see, I arrived home to see mom had a toyvoyager waiting for me. His name is Mimosin and he and I are getting along great!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. That was a really long journey, but I'm finally here. Everything is fine except of the weather. Do they have autumn in Germany? I thought July would mean "summer"!



I found a warm place on the heating (Yes, the heating is turned on!) to sleep for a while.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
today the weather was more like summer

First we had to do some shopping. On our way to the shop Katja showed us a bit of the city.

This intersection is close to my current home, the scaffolded building in the background is the local court.



The pretty house on the right side is one of the typical "Bergisch Houses", covered with slate, having green shutters.







In the late afternoon we took a walk to the municipal park. To get there we walked along this nice alley.





In the municipal park they have a pond with ducks and turtles.









Here you can see a memorial for the dead of several earlier wars, before World War I, situated in a flower  garden.





On the next photo you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal.





Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
we went to Wuppertal today. Katja had to buy a few things at Hornbach, her favourite DIY-store. She had to make a new interior for her large rat cage. (Rats - that sounds delicious, something like really fat mice )

Afterwards we went to the Botanical Garden. Wuppertal is situated, like the name already says, at the river Wupper, along a deep valley with the city centre in the valley itself, large parts on the steep slopes of the valley.

You can find the Botanical Garden on a very high point, overlooking the city centre in the valley. In 1890 it was a school garden first. Later, in 1908 a textile industrialist built his country house here, the "Eller'sche Villa". Later the Elisenturm Elisen Tower) was also built here, which is now the focal point of the garden. Since 1929 it is a municipal garden, open daily.



This is the Elisenturm.



First we entered the tower and enjoyed the fantastic overview.



Here you can see the new greenhouses, they were built in 2006.



We went to the greenhouses than. Here you can see plants from the warmer parts of the world.







We went into the garden than. I saw lots of pretty flowers and interesting trees, also the former country house.



Those blue flowers are as blue as my eyes.







This bed is showing typical plants of a moor area, also insect-eating plants.



I also saw a plant with vast leafs. The leafs were swinging with the wind



Back home we helped to install the new things to the rat cage. I will show it to you soon.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
the weather was bad today - like so often  here. So we only took a walk in the municipal area. Katja went with a friend and took Baby Lican and me with her. She said it would be enough to have two wet ToyVoyagers if it should start to rain again Baby Lican should be used to become wet, but ... a cat?

We walked along the Route of Tools (Trasse des Werkzeugs). This is a lane for pedestrians and cyclists which was built on a closed railway track. It was sponsored by local tool producing companies. Remscheid is famous for it's tool producing industry since medieval times. That's why this lane is called Trasse des Werkzeugs. It starts at the central railway statioin and is following a former track for freight trains to the district Hasten, it is about 5 km long.

We walked the opposite direction, from Hasten to the central railway station. We went through the municipal park to get to Hasten. Today I saw the observatory, situated in the entrance area of the park.



From the Route of Tools you have a great view to the suburbs of the neighbour cities, here it is Wuppertal again.



Of course we had to cross roads sometimes.



At an intersection some signs with the logos of some sponsors are installed.



The first sign is showing the crest of Remscheid.



You can find some artwork along this route. Here is a statue made of the waste of punched parts for tools. They were welded together and later painted by kids. Can you spot us sitting in the coloured thing?



Here we are!



Those old houses were built really close to the railway track.



This is the temporary initial point. The route still has to be completed over a few hundred meters to the central station. They were building a new central station during the last two years. It was completed last month. Now the Route of Tools also will be finished soon.



From here walked home through the city centre.



We bought some pieces of cake in the bakery on the right side of the next photo.



This is one of the churches in the city centre.



We saw this funny fountain here, with a lot of whirling and spattering mechanism.



Here you can see the beginning of the main shopping street.



This is the main entrance of the shopping mall. Of course there is nothing going on because it is Sunday, all shops except of cafes, some flower shops, bakeries and petrol stations are closed in Germany.





At the end of the shopping street you can find those giant forceps, as a symbol for the tool producing industry.



We also took a fast look at the city hall, which is the building with the tower.



From here we went to the home of Katja's friend an enjoyed our cake and coffee.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
we took a long walk today. We went to Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge.

We walked along a railway track for a while.



We went through a small district than with pretty houses, partly old houses, partly new houses.





That's looking great! A farm, perfect for a cat. I'm thinking of a mouse hunt.



We came a little bit closer than ...



We walked downhill for a while and reached River Wupper.



Do you know this board game? It's Nine Men's Morris, engraved into a rock.



We crossed River Wupper here.



We walked through a forrest again, uphill and downhill.



Finally we reached Muengsten Bridge.



Muengsten Bridge is made of steel. It is 107 m high and spans the valley of river Wupper, which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour town Solingen.

The bridge is 465 m long and was completed in 1897 A.D.

A leisure park was built underneath the bridge a few years ago. You can relax on the lawns, play in the water and they have playgrounds for the kids. You can cross River Wupper with a ferry here.





I must admit that we went home by bus because we were really tired.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in one of the valleys within the municipal area. The valley is situated between the districts city centre, Luettringhausen and Lennep. We met Katja's friend Kerstin, she is living in Luettringhausen. We took a long walk with Kerstin's dog.





We were walking uphill for some time, as you can see in the next photos

.



In the background you can see a TV mast.





Here we are at the nearly highest point of the city area.



We walked along an industrial park.



It was time to go walk back home now. In the background you can see the motorway A1.



We are now where we started our walk.





We went to our friend Kerstin's house than and had dinner. Afterwards Katja and her friend had a cocktail, a mojito.



Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
three new guests arrived today. You won't believe that one of them seems to be my twin, it's BellaKitten.



I'll show her around a bit before travelling to my next host.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,

we took a walk today in the outskirts of Remscheid. The city centre is situated on a hill. This hill is quite steep. The municipal area is large and the several districts are surrounded by woodland or also farmland.

On the following photo you can see the city centre in the distance. You can see the two towers of the city hall and the water tower. We are living only a few minutes by foot from there.



You can see that the weather is not good, it was even raining for a few minutes.

We walked through a rural district than.



They have a hotel for cats here. Cats can have their own vacation here when their owners want to go on vacation without their cats.





This is a special school, a "nature-school". You can learn a lot about plants and animals here, they have a school-garden for example with herbs and different flowers and trees, also fruit trees. Regular schools often go here for a week or two with the pupils. This nature-school is also offering lessons for adults.





We went back home than. Katja chose a path through the municipal park. Oh dear, it is steep again - have a look!



Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
today I have to say good-bye to BellaKitten, Katja and the other ToyVoyagers.

We went to the city centre together to take the last pictures.

I showed BellaKitten the city hall.





The pillar on the place in front of the city hall is showing a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.



Here you can see the entrance of the shopping mall.



This is the water tower, from here the inhabitants of the city centre are supplied with drinking water. It is pumped from a dam in a valley to the top of the city centre.



On our way home we always see a lot of pretty old houses.



Now it's time to say good-bye to my friend BellaKitten. Maybe we will meet again one day.



Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
I had a closer look at Katja's pets today. They are looking really funny. Some of them seem to have only rounded ears, a nose and whiskers, others only a bum with a long tail.







Oh, this one is coming closer!



I thought they were delicious mice, but they are much larger. They are rats! Too large for dinner.

Bye
Prance

Hi Mummy,
I'm on my way to Northern Germany now to meet my next host. It will be a short trip probably.



Love
Prance

Hey Mum i arrived Bremen

I hope you are fine? Im tired but excited.

Today we was on the river called Weser. It was a really hot day with 32°C. But i used the time to enjoy the sun on this bollard. Ah was that great



In the background is the "Admiral Nelson" a pancake restaurant ship.

My Host sayd to me, that she will get on weekend a better camera and then we will cruise through Bremen for a fotoshooting with all the special places 


Miss you Mummy *kiss*
Prance

Hello Mum

I hope you are fine!

Today we was in Bremen City.
First we saw the Bremen Town Musicians. Created in 1953 from Gerhard Marck. The Grimm Brothers’ musicians never actually got to Bremen, but found their cozy house outside of the city walls – the sculpture recalls the animals’ plight and we rejoice in the home they did find. It is said that anyone who grips the donkey’s front hooves and makes a wish, will have his wish come true. I wished me something but… pssst



The next hallmark of Bremen is the mighty statue of Roland, three meters high, erected in 1404. Though many other medieval cities chose this faithful servant of Charlemagne as the symbol of their independence, Bremen’s stone statue is the oldest and the largest. He stands confidently facing the cathedral, which, until the 16th century, housed the independent citizenry’s most powerful opponent, the ducal bishop.



On the other side the cathedral, was built at the highest point of the dune on which, in the 8th century, the first settlers had taken refuge from the untamed waters of the Weser and the North Sea and built their small fishing and trading village. The story about this church is long, to long to write all here down. But after the wars, uprisings and bombs the church would be rebuilded and renewed many times. So like today



Inside



On the left side of the cathedral is the “Spuckstein”, a plaque recalling a gruesome incident in Bremen’s history. There, on April 21, 1831, Gesche Gottfried, a murderess convicted of poisoning (Arsenic between the sandwich for example)  15 people, including many of her family, was beheaded. In her testimony, she is said to have admitted, “I really loved doing devil”. The case had such notoriety that as many as 35.000 people gathered to see her execution. The “Spuckstein”, is so-called because for some ten years afterwards, people still went out of their way to spit on the commemorative stone in disgust.



Böttcherstraße, marked by a large, gilded bas-relief by Bernhard Hoetger, entitled „The Lightbringer“



The Böttcherstraße was originally the area where the barrel-makers serving the harbor lived. The street fell into disrepair. In 1902, Roselius bought Böttcherstraße 6, an old packing house, then one after the next, he bought the other houses and had them demolished and rebuilded. Approaching his task more as a sculpture than as an architect, Hoetger created a passionate expressionist landscape of facades, executed with the most modern materials of the day – colored glass and steel, as well as traditional materials such as a brick. On the Handwerkerhof “Craftsmen’s Courtyard”, is a bust of Ludwig Roselius and a fountain entitled “The Seven Lazy Ones” (Sorry the 7th one is not on this picture )





On the small square in front of the Roselius House you will have a good view of the Glockenspiel House. Three times daily you can hear the 30 porcelain bells ringing. The Glockenspiel plays ten different songs to accompany a cycle of colorful plaques representing “ocean conquerors” through the ages. Leif Erikson, Charles Lindbergh and others are revealed when a hidden window in one of the corner towers opens especially for the Glockenspiel.








I hope my host will learn till next time to handle the camera. I feel me so pasty white 

Prance

Hey Mum
Sorry that i dont write for a long time. But my host was ill and the camera was broken :-/
But I want to show you the last pictures.
We was again in Bremen city, here the “City Hall”



One of the most beautiful Renaissance facades in Northern Europe. At the climax of Bremen’s might as a Hanseatic city, between 1605 and 1616, master builder Lüder von Bentheim reconstituted the severe Gothic facade from 1400, creating the present richly figural facade you see today. He added the great central bay window, the magnificent gables and the arcade to give the building a new face that would better reflect Bremen’s growing significance.



Here you can see the Bremer Town Musicians again. This sculpture can you see everywhere in Bremen with another optic. It was a school project in art. This version has the green/white/orange colours of our football team. Can you see me?



Schnoor – Bremen’s oldest Quarter
Like pearls on a string, the small, picturesque houses that line the streets here give this quarter its name, “Schnorr”, translated “string”. Thousands of visitors per year seek out these pretty, peaceful streets to stroll or shop, watch the craftsmen at work in their shops, or enjoy one of the many cafés or restaurants.





And I found a cat café/restaurant…look here







The small “Schifferhaus” was once a general store where the seafarers who moored on the Weser bought supplies.  In front of this house is a fountain. Around the 15th century , this area was known for its bath houses, which served sailors after their long voyages. The fountain by Jürgen Cominotto depicts a typical scene from the bath house.



I want to show you the Christmas house too, you can buy here all the year Christmas things, but the camera broke there. The objective don’t go inside back :-/

My host told me my mom have the next stop for me, im so excited

Your Prance