Travelog for: Aslan

Hi Mummy,
finally the weather changed!





We had to walk to the pet shop to buy cat treats. They are not for me but for the ferrets.

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
in the afternoon we took a walk with a friend. We left the city centre and walked downhill through an allotment garden area. You can see that the city is surrounded by woodland and rural areas.





They are having lovely houses here. This one is a typical "Bergisches" house, covered with slate, with green shutters.



Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
in the morning we took a walk with Katja and two of her friends. Katja promised me that I would see Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge. We went into the forest.

There is an outlook pavilion high above the valley of the river Wupper. You have a good overlook across the valley of the river Wupper with Muengsten Bridge.





There are rocks along our path, little waterfalls running down everywhere.



We were nearly under the bridge!



We went downhill than towards the river.



We found some rocks with engraved patterns, a tabletop game this time, nine men's morris.



In the meantime we crossed the river and walked back towards Muengsten Bridge. This side of the river bank is really steep, rocks and steep slopes.





We reached the leisure park underneath the bridge than. The bridge was built in early 20th century, finished in 1906 A.D. It is 107 m high, overspanning the valley of the river Wupper which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen. It is about 480 m long. There will be extended repar and restoration works in the coming years.



When the weather is good lots of kids are playing here in the shallow river, Katja told us. After six weeks with heavy rainfall the Wupper is not a shallow river any more.





There is also a new restaurant in the leisure park, it looks as rusty as the bridge



This was a very interesting trip today.

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
today we visited a medieval castle in the neighbour city Solingen, Schloss Burg, It is situated high upon a hill above the River Wupper.

We went into the courtyard and found a lovely half-timbered part of the castle.



Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" )

About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard.



In Thirty Years War (17th century) large parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.

In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft, for example handmade brushes, brooms, soap, lovely yarns and wooden knitting needles, toys like swords and helmets and much more.



The round tower was the powder tower, it was restored about two years ago.



You can overlook the valley of the river Wupper from this high point, also the valley between Remscheid and Solingen.





We walked into the forest than. A last look to Schloss Burg ...



Here we found another outlook pavilion. Indeed, it is a "twin" of the outlook pavilion I saw on Sunday, built by the same architect.



From here you can see how high above the valley level we were.



We made a side-trip to a dam, Sengbach Talsperre. Katja wanted to have a look at the concrete wall, it is restored at the moment.



We walked back to the car than, walking through a rural district called Höhrath.





We had to hurry than, it was already getting dark

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
we visited Katja's sister today. She is living in one of the historic districts of Remscheid, in Lennep. It is extremely cold outside.

We took a walk in the late morning, through the suburbs towards a restaurant for lunch.





You can find lots of woodland areas and rural areas in Remscheid.



The A1 motorway is crossing the valley.



All puddles and little creeks in the roadside ditches are frozen.







We reached our lunch destination in an industrial park close to the A1 motorway.



Afterwards we took a walk in the old town of Lennep.



Most of the houses were built after 1746 A.D., when there was the last great fire which destroyed nearly the complete old town. Many houses are under monument protection.





This area with the market place was refurbished in 1989 A.D.



You can find extremely narrow lanes here, no car can pass through.









The founder of the X-rays, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, was born in Lennep in 1845 A.D. The German Roentgen Museum is situated here, the house of his birth is also still existing.





We went back to Katja's sister than. In the background you can see Katja's former school.



Bye for now
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
it is extremely cold in Germany - have a look at the thermometer.
- 12°c means 10.4°F. We all need warm clothings now. Katja suggested a warm scarf for me.



... a  little bit later ...



Now we are prepared for the cold outside.

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
we went to Solingen today, the neighbour city. Katja's daughter had to settle something at work. In the meantime we had a look at the "Südpark" (Southern Park) which was built on a former railway track for freight trains. The buildings are the old goods depots, now you can find artist shops, galleries and bars there, also artwork.







We went to the station than to get back, not home yet, but to Muengsten Bridge to take a walk.





We got out of the train just before Muengsten Bridge.  We walked downhill to the valley of the river Wupper. On our way we found some playgrounds, like those rocking sheep







There are "normal" walking paths, meandering down the steep slope, but you can also take the straight way down, with the help of those ropes.



Back on the Remscheid side of the valley .... all the little creeks running down the slope are frozen.



We found an extremely large old beech in the forest, too large to take a photo of it



There is a cemetary nearly in the forest, you can find a memorial for the dead of World War I here.



You can see the city centre of Remscheid in the background. Can you see the church tower? We are living really close to it.



Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
today we took a walk in the late afternoon in the city centre. We walked along the "Route of Tools" (Trasse des Werkzeugs), a former railway track, now built to a lane for pedestrians and cyclists. This lane is following the former freight train track from the central station to the district Hasten, many industrial companies were situated along this track, some are still nowadays.







We found a resting area, you can find some seats here (it was too cold to sit longer than 30 seconds on the metal bench).



The lane was sponsored by local companies, mostly tool producing companies - that's why it is called "Route of Tools". Remscheid is famous for its tool producing industry for centuries. You can find large signs with the logos of the sponsoring companies.



This is the former slaughterhouse, the whole complex is under monument protection nowadays.





The closer we came towards Hasten, the more the lane seemed to be a park or a walking path in a forest.



I found those funny wrench patterns, stamped into the tarmac.



We left the Route of Tools and went home through the municipal park.



This monument is dedicated to the dead of several wars which took place before WW I.



Bye
Aslan

[font=tahoma][color=darkblue]Hi Mummy,
today we met friends to take a longer hiking tour to the neighbour town Wuppertal. We planned to visit the Wuppertal Brewhouse once more-

First we had to walk towards the valley between Remscheid and Wuppertal, it is called "Morsbachtal", like the creek (Morsbach) running through it. It seems that all the water on earth's surface was frozen.



This is the Morsbach (Morsbach creek).



This pond in front of an historic industrial site is also frozen.



This cute little house was restored in the last years, Katja told me.



Than we had to climb from the bottom of the valley towards Wuppertal-Cronenberg. Can you see the city centre of Remscheid on the hill in background? We started our trip there



This is a typical German garden with garden gnomes



From now we walked along the "Sambatrasse", also a former railway track, following a route though the forest from Wuppertal-Cronenberg to the zoo quarter in Wuppertal.



This historic train is placed here.



So many distance data, but my home town is not among them.



When we finally reached the brewhouse we were really thirsty, so we ordered large beers immediately.



Cheers!

Later we went home by train.

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,

we took a last walk today, along rover Wuppere once more. We started on the Remscheid side, walking steep downhill. In the valley you can see the district Solingen-Unterburg with a historic church and a graveyard.



Unterburg is one of the historic districts, you can find many restaurants here.



We followed river Wupper, along the slope of the valley.



Muengsten Bridge came into sight, later we walked underneath it.



Although the extreme cold is over there are still tose patrtly frozen waterfalls.



The path in the forest was extremely muddy, thankfully I was sitting in Katja's bag most of the time!

Bye
Aslan

Hi Mummy,
after a full year of travelling I decided to go home for a while. I packed all my souvenirs and left in a comfortable envelope.



I had a great time in Germany and it was so nice to meet Clyde here.

Good-bye Germany!

Aslan

Hi everyone!

I am home!  Mummy and I decided to surprise her guests Little R2 and Tuli by releasing me from my travelope at bedtime.  It was so great to meet them, tell them stories of Germany at Christmastime with olgamaus and show them my pretty amazing souvenirs.  I especially like my German-English dictionary, which helped me so much in communicating with the locals.  Well, okay, not that much.  But they all welcomed me even with my poor German -- it didn't hurt that their English was sooo good and that the heraldic animal of the region is a lion just like me, only less ferocious and with an extra tail.    And Miss Kate is thrilled to have a photo of me and Clyde for our fridge. 

Thank you for everything, my dear host Miss Katja!  Mummy, too, wants to thank you for all the goodies!  She was most surprised and happy! 

~Aslan

Hello everyone!

On Saturday, Miss Kate and her friend decided to take Tuli, Little R2 and me to Auburn to have a picnic in the foothills.





We also brought Beans the Dog with us, but only his butt would stand still, so here:



We had a lovely picnic in Foresthill.  We were looking due east at the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Somewhere out there is Lake Tahoe, but we can't see it.  It's amazing that there's nothing but trees between us and Lake Tahoe and Nevada.



Four new friends moved in to the picnic table next door.  Chico and Big Red Chief.  One of their owners is even running for President of the United States.  You can see all 4 on this video.

It was a perfect Spring day. 

Love, Aslan

We enjoyed some of Little R2's home slides.  We saw a princess and a wookie and interesting people. 

Thanks, R2!

Aslan

Hi everyone, this is Aslan, traveling again.  I wrote a few posts on my page while the site was down.  Please follow me there, too:

https://www.facebook.com/AslanLionToyvoyager?fref=nf

Today we walked around a bit to see some sights.  As you can see the wisteria is in bloom.  Happy Springtime,

Your buddy,
Aslan