Travelog for: BellaKitten

Hello!

My name is Bella. My Mom just picked me out yesterday and told me that I am going to be going on an adventure around the world! But first, I need to spend a few days at home meeting the rest of my new family and getting ready for my journey.

Today I met one of my sisters, Star. She is a cat like me, but she is much bigger! I have three other cat sisters and even a dog brother, but Mom hasn't taken my picture with them yet.



I'm getting ready to head out on my very first adventure soon, so if you would like to host me please contact my owner!

My Travel Itinerary:
olgamaus - Germany
Delenna - Finland

Well, since I'm going to be leaving on Monday to go to Germany my mom decided she had better hurry up and get some pictures with all my furry sisters and brother at home.

Here I am meeting my (very) big sister Dakota. I'm sure glad she likes cats!


Haley and Me. She wasn't quite sure what to think of me.


Me and Marley. He is the only dog who is actually close to my size!


Relaxing with Meeko


This is me and Snow. She didn't really want to share the window seat with me.


This is me and Abby. Mom said she can be a little hyper, so I decided to have my photo taken from a distance.


I really love my new family especially the other cats. I'm a little sad to leave, but I am very excited to start on my new adventure and meets all kinds of brand new friends along the way!

Well, I am all packed up and ready to begin my journey! I'm leaving to go meet olgamaus in Germany today. I'm really excited but a little nervous. Wish me lots of luck!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in  Germany today. That was a really short journey!

When I climbed out of my envelope I was welcomed by my first host Katja and a lot of ToyVoyagers.

And what a surprise - I met Prance here, she is looking like my twin. I'm sure we will become best friends.





Bye
BellaKitten

Hi Mummy,
Katja took me, Cutie and Mister_Right with her, when she brought UrsellHH and Misty Mouse to the post office.

Yesterday we had fantastic weather here and it was really hot. Today it is not warm any more and it started to drizzle. Nontheless we took two photos in the city centre.





We hope that the weather will be better next week.

Bye
BellaKitten

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.

The first photos were taken a few hundreds meter apart from my current home.





This is the district Hasten, one of the oldest districts in the municipal area. You can see lots of those typical old houses here. They are often timer-framed houses or covered with slate. The usually have green shutters.





We walked downhill for a while and reached the bottom of the valley. A creek is running through the valley. In ancient times industrialization began here. Remscheid is famous for its tool-producing industry. In the valley you can find many old factory buildings, in many of them work is still done.



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.



A hotel for cats! That's great. If Katja should go on vacation we could spend this time here. She told us that she will visit a friend next week and she will stay away from home for three days. Do you think she would book a room here for Prance and me?









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!



Katja is keeping interesting pets, they are small and smell like mice, at least a little bit. They are sleeping at daytime. I'll have a closer look at them tomorrow.

Bye
Bella Kitten

Hi Mummy,
today I have to say good-bye to Prance. We went to the city centre together to take the last pictures.

Prance showed me the city hall. It was built in 1906, was nearly destroyed in World War II and rebuilt afterwards in a more modern style. It's tower is 48 m high.





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 Prance. Maybe we will meet again one day.



Bye
BellaKitten

Hi Mummy,
we travelled to Stuttgart today. We got here by plane from Duesseldorf. We are visiting Katja's friend
fam-united. Her husband picked us up here at Stuttgart Airport and we drove to Bruchsal than.

Hi Mummy,
we arrived at Bruchsal after an hour.

Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, about  20 km Northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

We met Katja's friend here. Soon we took a walk.





Soon we reached he most significant church in Bruchsal, St. Peters Church, where the last of the Bishops of Speyer were laid to rest.





I had a good overview over this street with old houses from here.



We went to the city centre than and took a look at some pretty old houses.







River Saalbach is running through Bruchsal. This river is an Eastern feeding river to River Rhine.



We went home than for a while, because it was too hot outside.

In the evening we went out once more and went to Belvedere, which was originally designed as a Manor for fun and games, to which a shooting house was added for use in the shooting competitions often held by the Court.







Belvedere is situated high above the city centre. We had a great overview across the city from here.



Here you can see me with those ToyVoyagers hosted by olgamaus and those hosted by fam-united. Penny-Bo and Carlisle went with us to Bruchsal, but they are now hosted by Petra.



That's all for today.

Love
BellaKitten

Hi Mummy,
in the morning we visited an Asian garden in Münzesheim. This garden belongs to a therapy center for alcohol and drug addicts. This garden is one of the most impressive Asian gardens in Europe. All buildings and works of art are made by patients of the therapy center based on antique models. The garden is about 5.000 m² large, it is open for patients and visitors.





First we saw a pond with water lilies. It was surrounded by a fence with pretty little sculputres sitting on the balustrade.







Almost everything is made of ceramics; the benches, figures, statues and more.





We entered the "Blue Grotto" than. It is a small round room, which is almost completely blue inside. The ceiling is made of blue glass bottles, which were put into the concrete with their bottoms to the outside, the walls are covered with blue tiles and the floor also. Have a look ...







Here you can see the bottles. Daylight is coming into the grotto through those bottles and creates a surreal atmosphere.





In a surrounding wall there are holes with special stones from all parts of the world. Volcanic rock, flintstone, a piece of Berlin Wall and more. Here we found a piece of rock from Grand Canyon.







On an island in a pond you can find a cafe.



Of course you can find a wooden red bridge here.





I really like this garden.

We are on our way to Heidelsheim now. We stopped the car here to show you the beautiful landscape.

We went to Heidelsheim than. Here we saw an old standpost.





We saw pretty old houses here.







Here you can see the city gate.





The next photo is showing the Katzenturm "(cat tower). It was the home of the warder. It was built in 14th century at the highest point of the town. It was the warder's job to watch the town and warn the people if there was a fire or enemimes coming.









This is one of the churches here.

In the evening we went to Michaelsberg, which is a hill in the district Untergrombach, about 270 m high. A chapel was built there in 14th century, the one you can find there nowadays was built in the 1740 years. Michaelsberg is a pilgrimaga site.

This area is one of the first nature protection areas. It is a landmark at the Upper-Rhine.

We went here for having dinner in a nice prestaurant. After we ordered our meals, we took a look around.

Here you can see the restaurant and on the left side part of the chapel.





This is the chapel.



We had a fantastic overview from Michaelsberg.



Than we returned to the restaurant.

Dinner is coming - yummy!

What is looking like the left-over of a storm-flood are delicious Maultaschen (muzzle bags), a Swabian (Baden-Württemberg) specialty food, consisting of an outer layer of pasta dough with a filling traditionally made of minced meat, spinach, bread crumbs and onions and flavored with various spices. Because Katja is a veggie, she ordered Maultaschen with a spinach-an-leek-filling, with onions and topped with melted cheese. (Although ... a mouse-filling would have been even better )



It's wonderful, I can tell you

In this region they also make a lot of wonderful beer. We had a large beer in a stein.



As you can see it was already getting dark than, so we went to the edge of the hill once more to enjoy the sunset.







Bye for now
BellaKitten

Hi Mummy,
it's our last day here  with Katja and fam-united. So we went into town to visit the baroque castle.

Close to our house we saw grapes growing along a house.



We went there through the city centre.



In this pretty buiding the local tax office is situated.



We reached the castle than. Sorry, it is called "Château", which really sounds better.





The Château of Bruchsal was built in the baroque style of the mid 18th century starting around 1720 and served as the official residence of the bishops of Speyer. Its center was a three-winged building. In World War II the Château was badly damaged as a result of the aerial bombings aimed at Bruchsal and burned out completely. The large central part of the building was reconstructed (well into the 1970s) as a museum.







In the park we saw fountains and statues.



There are four statues symbolizing the four seasons. This is the statue for summer.





Another four statues are symbols for the four elements. This is the one for fire.





FoxForce decided to come with us. We was staying with fam-united for some time. Now it's time for him to move to another place.



All ToyVoyagers which visited Bruchsal today were sitting on this tree.







We went back home than. It was so hot that it was hard to bear. On our way home we walked through another park. Here we saw the old keep of a medieval castle.



We also saw this statue here. Is is a symbol for international understanding.



We hurried home than. We had to pack our things and lunch was waiting for us. In the afternoon we have to get back to the airport.

When we came home Petra's kids had filled the pool. Katja made a paper boat for us, so we could take a boat ride in the pool.



I didn't fell very comfortable in the boat. So much water around me, that's nothing what a cat likes.