Travelog for: Tamina

Dear Mum

Today the weather was absolutely beautiful and so I went to Neckarsteinach, a small town near Heidelberg which was founded in the 12th century. It's called the city of the four castles because the ruins of four castles from the Middle Ages are situated in the mountains close to the city. One of the castles is owned privately and still inhabited, the others are just ruins and were abandoned 200 - 300 years ago. So we took a walk along the river Neckar, had a look at the castles and walked in the forest. It was really great and it was so warm that nuriayasmin sat down at the banks of the river and read her book for an hour while I just enjoyed the sunshine and watched some ships pass by.



















Lots of love,
Tamina

Dear Muim

Today Ohkwari left us for France. We all told her good-bye and wished her a good journey.





Bye,
Tamina

Dear Mum

Today I visited Worms which is one of the oldest cities of Germany. It started as a Celtic settlement and was then conquered by the Romans. Its cathedral was built in the 12th century. In 1521, Martin Luther was declared an outlaw by the Edict of Worms. The city is also home of the Nibelungen Saga. Worms had a large Jewish community and the Jewish Cemetery is one of the oldest in Europe. However, during Reichskristallnacht in 1938, most of the Jewish quarter was destroyed and nowadays there's only a small Jewish population living in the city. Worms is situated at the river Rhine in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Unfortunately nuriayasmin had forgotten to recharge her camera's battery before we left so we could only take a couple of photos.


The Martin Luther/Reformation Memorial


A piece of modern art, I guess. I didn't understand it but I liked it.


The Cathedral


Remains of the wall which used to encircle the city


One of the dragon statues which can be found all over the city to remember the Nibelungen Saga, with the river Rhine in the background

Dear Mum

This morning we all said good-bye to Voi Nam who will travel the European Toy Voyager Trail. His first host lives in Italy.







Then we accompanied nuriayasmin to Mannheim where she had to do some things. It's situated about 20 km away from Heidelberg. We passed the palace which is nowadays a museum and home of the university.



After nuriayasmin had finished everything, we took a walk along the river Rhine. Just an hour because it was rather cold and windy.




The bridge connects Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.











Lots of love,
Tamina

Dear Mum

Today nuriayasmin's daughter had her wisdom teeth extracted. It took about an hour and as we weren't allowed to enter the operating theater, we spent some time at the Botanical Garden which is situated close to the clinic. We saw some interesting and beautiful plants and flowers. Hope you like my pictures, mum.















Greetings from Tamina

Dear Mum

I tried to play with the cats but both of them sleep most of the time and are quite boring. Well, they're already quite old.

Sammy showed some curiosity at least.





Shelley just told me to leave her alone and kept on sleeping.



Bye,
Tamina

Dear Mum

About a month ago nuriayasmin's rabbit Lola died and her son Krümel stayed alone here. Nuriayasmin decided she doesn't want to have a new rabbit and as Krümel shouldn't stay alone, she looked for someone to take him and found a nice woman in Seckach whose female rabbit was looking for a partner. So this morning we checked Krümel's transport box and then accompanied him to his new home which meant a journey of about 75 minutes by train.







Keep fine,
Tamina

Dear Mum

Today was nuriayasmin's only day off this week and as the weather was really beautiful we made another excursion. This time we visited Hambach Castle near Neustadt/Weinstrasse in Rhineland-Palatinate. The castle is known as the birthplace of modern Germany because it was host of the Hambach festival which took place in 1832. On that occasion, over 30,000 people from all ranks came together to protest for national unity and liberty. Even though the festival had no immediate results, it's nowadays seen as the "cradle of democracy" in Germany.

We didn't take the direct way to the castle but chose a small hiking path from where we enjoyed some stunning views on to the surrounding mountains and the city below. Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take photos at the exhibition but we learnt a lot about German history.

















Last not least we posed for the obligatory group photo:



Lots of love,
Tamina

Dear Mum

A new TV has arrived. His name is Nils and he's the white bear on the right. We spent a wonderful afternoon on the balcony while nuriayasmin was working.



Love,
Tamina

Dear Mum

Today we bought flowers for the balcony and planted them.





Afterwards we all relaxed in the sunshine.



Sunny greetings from Tamina

Dear Mum

It was a gorgeous day, there were almost no clouds in the sky. So the whole ToyVoyager gang went to Mannheim and invaded the Luisenpark. The Luisenpark origins from the late 19th century and has been continously extended since then. It's obviously one of Germany's biggest and most beautiful parks.

The television tower is so high that it can be seen from almost every corner of the park.


Pelicans are rather big birds but obviously very nice and peaceful. This one wasn't shy at all.


There's a big lake in the middle of the park and in summer it's possible to rent a boat.


One of the cafés:


This cow looks a bit bored, doesn't it?


And these rabbits are very cute, aren't they?


The goats are relaxing:


The Chinese Tea House was built in 2001 and looks really beautiful.


Here I am inside an artificial cave which is part of the Chinese Garden.


Before we left the park, we posed for a group photo.


Love,
Tamina

Dear Mum

Today nuriayasmin visited a friend in Handschuhsheim, a suburb of Heidelberg, and we took some photos along the way. Handschuhsheim was first mentioned in the codex of the monastery of Lorsch in 765 but people had already settled there for centuries.

This is the Friedenskirche (Peace Church). It's an evangelical church which was built between 1908 and 1910.



The church is situated next to the Tiefburg, a castle from the early Middle Ages which used to be surrounded by water.





There are still a lot of old houses in Handschuhsheim and this one looks quite enchanted, doesn't it?



Nuriayasmin's friend lives in a small street like this one.



Love,
Tamina

Dear Mum

The weather is still warm and sunny, so I took the chance and ate a huge piece of icecream.



Then it was time to say good-bye to Sylvia who's starting her first journey and will travel to Finland.





Bye,
Tamina

Dear Mum

nuriayasmin told me that you've found a new host for me. I'm a little sad to leave here but I'm also looking forward to new adventures, so I said good-bye to all my TV friends:

Králi


Nils


Coco Presley


Kit-Kat


and Josie


Finally we posed for a last group photo.


Then I crawled into my envelope.


Good-bye, Heidelberg.


Tamina

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. That was a fast trip



Nobody here? Oh, another envelope with somebody crawling out

Shooga also came here today. She brought some sweets with her - we tried a bit immediately.



The weather is bad here, so I think we can be lazy for the rest of the day.

Bye
Tamina