Travelog for: Barney

Hi!
I am a beach dog Barney and I want to see the world. I have never traveled in my life and now I want to make use of the opportunity.
I am looking for kind hosts from all continents who want to travel a lot with me and show me as many famous places as they can. I am very curious toy so I want everything to be explained to me.
If you want to host me for a while, please, send a PM to my mentor misagan. I will be more than happy if you can fulfill my life quests! 

My travelplan so far:
Olgamaus - Germany
Rennire - Canada
becka_kate - Australia

And here I am! Today I left for visiting Germany! I am so excited! The first travel in my life! Huh!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived at my first host's home today. Katja was delighted that I brought some delicious sweets with me.



Tomorrow I will tell you more of my first adventure .

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
on my first day we made a trip to Wuppertal, which is the neighbour town of Remscheid, famous for the worldwide one and only Monorail Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn). Wuppertal is the largest city of the region "Bergisches Land" with about 355.000 inhabitants.

We met Katja's friend BlackCat here. BlackCat had tickets for a concert in the evening, it will take place in a stone pit. The main act is Razorlight, the German band Kilians will be performing first.

But it was only afternoon and  so we took a walk around the city.

Here is a first photo taken from the bus station with a first view across the city centre.



When you enter the city centre the first thing to see is the Schwebebahn.



The trains are coming in and out every five minutes. Mister_Right was here also the first time. He was as amazed as me to see such a funny train.



The suspension railway travels along a route about 13 kilometres long, about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper and approximately 8 m above the city streets. At one point the railway even crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes.

We walked into the city centre than. Here we are in front of one of the shopping malls.



We took a group photograph here, next to a funny fountain. I am sitting here with my new friends Pinkz, Nippy, Mister_Right and the TVs which are travelling with BlackCat.



In the shopping mall they have an exhibition showing desert animals. Katja soon found her favourite. It is not a reptile but a furry one.



A sand rat. Katja loves rats, she is keeping pet rats herself.

The next photo is showing the city hall with a market place and a large fountain in front of it.









We walked along the pedestrian area than.



I saw this funny statue here. It's name is "A new day at work". I have never see you doing a handstand before going to work, Mummy. Katja says she would also be going to work with doing it every morning.



"Luisenviertel" is a pretty quarter with lots of bars and restaurants.



We decided to walk along river Wupper for a while.

So here is the Schwebebahn again ...





This is one of the most modern stopping points.



We went inside the train station to have a look at the incoming trains.



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The boy at the window was making jokes for us



The Schwebebahn is crossing the streets at some points.



We reached a quarter where the worldwide known chemical industry concern Bayer is situated. Pharmaceuticals are produced here.







We decided to take a ride with the Schwebebahn to get to the concert.



We were waiting for our train.



The concertgoers cannot get to the stone pit themselves, they will be taken there by shuttle bus.

We reached the stone pit than. It is almost dark now.



We had to walk to the bottom of the stone pit than for about 15 minutes. Somewhere in the deep we could see the concert location.





It is really looking great!



Behind the fences we could see the large trucks which are usually working here.



The concert is fantastic. I hope you can see my silhouette at least.



The and Kilians was still playing.





And than ... RAZORLIGHT!!!





The concert was great, we took a small video, you can watch it here .

At the end we were taken back to the train station in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel by bus and return home than.

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in one of the surrounding valleys. Katja told me that she loves to take really long walks. I also do

The valley is called "Morsbachtal" because the creek Morsbach is running through it.



Here I saw a small hamlet with both old factory buildings and dwellings.



We followed the creek and came to another hamlet.



Do you know those plants? It is hogweed.



We were leaving the valley now, we had to walk uphill ...



and further uphill on the opposite side of the road.



In the background you can see Muengsten Bridge, the highest railway bridge in Germany. It is 107 m high and is connecting Remscheid with the neighbour city Solingen and is overspanning the valley of the river Wupper.



Later we could see the bridge much better.



The bridge was finished in 1897.

Katja knows a path which is leading to the fundament of the bridge. You have a fantastic view from here.



And from the other side ...



The tracks are just above our heads.

We rested on a nearby lawn for a moment.



Our way back home was also leading though woodland. I really like it here.



Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk to the municipal park today. We had to walk for only a few minutes to get there.

In the vicinity of my current home I saw pretty old houses. Katja told me that in this part of the city most of the old houses survived World War II.





I can see this church when I'm looking out of our living room windows. It is stucked between houses and large trees, so you cannot take a photo which is showing the whole church.



In the entrance area of the municipal park there is the observatory.





It is very obvious that summer ended now.



Katja showed me this memorial for the dead of several wars before World War I.



Katja told us that on this area which is shown on the left side of the next picture there was woodland until last year. All the old trees were felled by some obscure reasons.



Two allotment gardening areas are here on the park's ground.





We went back into town than to pick up a friend of Katja who also wanted to take a walk and do some shoppings.



We than went along the Trasse des Werkzeugs (Route Of Tools) which is a closed railway track. On this track a route for pedestrians and cyclists was built. It is about 5 km long, starting at the central station and going to the district Hasten. It was sponsored by local tool producing companies. Along the route you can find signs, information and artwork relating to the tool producing industry.





Here are some of those signs, there is also one which is displaying the coat of arms of Remscheid.







We bought some things here. Of course Katja forgot to buy the most important thing 





Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
we took a long walk today in an area around the river Wupper which belongs partly to the municpal area of Wuppertal and those of Solingen.

We started our trip on the Wuppertal part. First we took a path that goes underneath a railway bridge.



We had to walk uphill for a while. Soon we reached an old building, called "Kaltenbacher Kotten". It propably was a grindery or a smithy once. A pond is next to the building.





We reached an area than which belongs to the largest arboretum in Germany. Since the late 1950 years foreign trees are planted here. There are special areas with trees from Asia, North America, South America and also Africa. The arboretum was founded as a forestry sience project.















We crossed the river Wupper here and reached the Solingen area.



We had to take while we walked through the forrests: Everywhere it was "raining" acorns, beechnuts and chestnuts.



On our way back to the car we had to walk underneath a large bridge, underneath a highway.





After more than three hours walking I was really tired, looking foreward to spend the evening on the sofa, doing nothing.

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
I met Pepe today.



Pepe is Katja's friend's dog, he is a little bit larger than me 

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
the weather is bad these days so we cannot take photos outside without drowning.

So we are sitting in the kitchen window, looking outside.





Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
I just want to tell you that I went with Katja's friend Marion.



Marion is going on a class trip tomorrow and she'll take me with her. You won't believe where we are going:

It's Rome!!!

We'll have to get up at 04:00 a.m. to drive to the airport.

Marion came today to bring her pet rats. Katja is  hosting Marion's pet rats while she is on her class trip and Marion will host me for a week. That's great!

Bye
Barney

like I told you Katja's friend Marion took me to Rome.

Rome is the capital of Italy with about 2,7 million residents. Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. Rome is one of  few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively intact, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character.

As this is a school trip, of course we visited many historic sites.

Today we visited St. Peter's Basilica.  It is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, for 60.000 people.  It is the symbolic "Mother church" of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites.





We also visited Castel Sant'Angelo today, which is a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family. The building was later used as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. It was finished in the year 139 (no, there isn't missing a "1"). Seven more Emperors are buried here.



That was enough education for today.

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
Hi Mummy,
today we had to learn more about the history of Rome.

Here we are on a higher place with a fantastic overview.



Marion was busy learning a lot about Rome (like I was ) so we could take photos only at the most interesting touristic spots.

We visited the Spanish Steps (it's Italian name is Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti), climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, . The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.



We went to Piazza des Popolo than, a large square in Rome. The Piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the most important route to the north in ancient times.



That was a really interesting day. All the girls like me because I'm wearing  flip-flops. You must know that it is about 30°C here, nothing like the rainy and rather cold weather in Germany.

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
there were more interesting points to visit.

We went to the Colosseum today. Its  originally name was  Flavian Amphitheatre. It is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD and was finished in 80 AD. the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, capable of seating 50.000 spectators.







Our next destination was the Roman Forum.

The Roman Forum is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed. The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located in the forum, such as the former royal residency, the Regia, and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins. There are temples, basilicas and arches.



I've had a fantastic time here with Marion.

Thanks to Marion

Bye
Barney

Hi Mummy,
Murph and I were still sitting in Katja's bag, so we took some photos in our lunch break. First I'll show you the city hall. Katja's workplace is close to the city hall, we just had to cross the street.







On the space in front of the city hall the farmer's market is taking place twice a week. There is a pillar on it, showing a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.



Close to the city hall is this water tower. The drinking water for the inhabitants of the city centre is pumped from a dam in a valley into this tower.



The city hall again ...



Here you can see a new extensionof the shopping mall.



We walked home than, making a detour because the weather was so great.













Here is a lovely playground, with large trees offering shade.





Bye for today
Barney