Travelog for: MuhKuh

Hi Mom!

Surprise, I completed my first LifeMission  Hooray!

I visited the Austrian Alps last weekend! My hostmom took me to a little town called Puchberg and took our quarters in a nice hotel there. We decided to go hiking and enjoy the Austrian mountains!

Our first tour took us to the Semmering mountain which is famous for the Semmering Railway, built in the 1840s. We hiked along the railway and saw many trains, of course  The Semmering Railway is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is really amazing to admire the work that was completed in 1854 - and the railway still uses this old path! You can also see the old cabins the railway workers used.
We hiked from Semmering to Breitenstein and then took a train back to Semmering. Along the railway you can find information on the construction of the railway and some historic facts. What an interesting tour!

Back at the hotel we relaxed in the spa area!

Servus!

Hi Mom!

Today we went on the Schneeberg (the Snow Mountain) and we even saw some remains of snow 
We took a funny train up there that looks like a salamander. We passed through the forrest, higher and higher up the mountain. And then we had the fantastic view over the area. When we have finally reached the top, we enjoyed the many flowers we saw and also some of my distant family members

Servus from the mountain!

Hi Mom!

Today my host mom took me to a market to shop for fresh veggies. And when we browsed the stands there, we saw some mini cucumbers! So my host mom decided to buy some and make pickels

We brought the cucumbers home. After a thorough wash we prepared a bowl with salted water. The cucumbers then have to take a 24 hour bath.

More tomorrow 

Hi Mom!

So, let's have a look at the bathing cucumbers! As you can see, they have soaked in the water and made a little foam.
Then we prepared the brew to pickle the cucumbers. It is made from vinegar, dill, pepper, mustard seeds and dill flower. The brew cooked for a few minutes. In the meantime we drained the cucumbers, washed them again and drained them.
My host mom put the cucumbers in preserving jars along with slices of onion, peppercorns, mustard seeds and the dillflower. We then filled the glasses with the brew and sealed them. We then put them on a towel, upside down.
When the jars had cooled down, we again turned them. The jars have to rest for three weeks before we can open them and try a pickle!

I can't wait!

Servus and bon appétit 

Hi Mom!

Today we went to the Vienna Movie Festival on Rathusplatz, that is the place in front of the Vienna City hall. They have a movie screen there and show musicals, classical music and operas as well as famous artists in concert.
But our destination was the huge food court  where you can foods from all over the world.
We decided on Greek souvlaki as the main course ... nom nom nom ...
and then we had apricot dumplings for dessert. They are a real Austrian speciality!

That was a yummi day! My host mom told me that she wants to come back here to try the South African, Mexican and Japanese food!

Servus!

Hi Mom,

today we celebrated my host mom's birthday! Yummi chocolate cake 

Hi Mom!

It is time to move on, so I jumped into my box and my host mom brought me to the postoffice!

Servus from Vienna!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. Photos will follow soon

Love
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today, at  my new host's home. My new host is Katja and I already met more ToyVoyagers. There are Alberto from Spain, Orkku Orava from Finland and Shesh, also from Germany. I was a bit sad when I heard that Shesh and Alberto were going to leave tomorrow. But our mood cheered up when we enjoyed the delicious candy I brought with me. Thanks to marcie08



In the evening I met Katja's pets, three ferret ladies. This is Shiva:



Here are Brighty and Zaehnchen. Katja told me to remain aloof because they like beef!



They are cute anyway!

Bye
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
my host is a knitting maniac and she made her first attempt in dyeing yarn, with a procedure called "solar dyeing".

You put the yarn and several ingredients like plants, flowers etc into a large jar, add water and alum .... and place it into the sun. As my host does not has a garden, she put the jar onto the window sill. Last week it was extremely hot so there already was a visible result.



There are blackberries, hydrangea and juniper berries as dyeing stuff. We were really exited how the yarn would look.



There is also another jar "boiling" in the sun, filled with several sorts of tea and curcuma.



We freeded the first hank from the glass. The blackberries made a fantastic colour, but t he flowers did not. There is a purple part and sort of dingy cream colour.



Than the colour had to be fixed. The yarn had to be heated in the microwave oven for two minutes twice. Therefor we wrapped it into plastic wrap.



Afterwards the yarn had to cool down and than it was washed and hang to dry. Katja promised to make a shawlette for me with this yarn.

Bye
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
have a look at the dyeing result:



The colours of the hank changed while it dried on the attic. We took the wool winder and made a skein from it.



Here you can see both skeins, the one which was dyed with berries and flowers, and the other one was dyed with several sorts of tea and curcuma, which made a wonderful yellow shade.



Now Katja has to knit something with the yarns.

Bye
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the rural districts in the West of Remscheid, knowing that the weather is not good and we will get wet sooner or later. Who cares ?

I saw horses here...



...and pretty farm houses.



We walked downhill through the forest until we reached river Wupper, you can see it in the background of the next photo, but I like the Galloway cattle much more



We reached on of the historic districts of the neighbour city Solingen, Burg, with picturesque houses.



The church of Burg is quite old, it was built in late 18th century.



When we reached the town centre of Burg, it was already raining, so we walked back to the car.



Bye
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the district Luettringhusen, when we took Katja's friend's son to his soccer training. Luettringhausen is one of the historic districts, embedded in lovely landscape. We started in the town centre. Here is one of two churches.





I like those houses which are covered with slate - they are typical for this region. There are also lots of half-timbered houses. They were mostly built in 18th und 19th century.



What a lovely mail box - a reproduction of an historic mail box.







We walked along a rural area with meadows than.



There are a few houses hidden in the valley.





We had a lot of fun here

Bye
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
today we visited my host's daughter. She is living in a district called Luettringhausen, half an hour's walk from my current home. We took a walk with her in the surroundings of Luettringhausen.

We walked along the valley I already know. Katja's daughter is living close to it.

Katja loves to cook jams, elderberries and blackberries are already looking great. But I think birds already had their share.



We found a fantastic place in the forest - a hammer mill. Iron and steel was produced here since 15th century.

Katja told us that the signs was saying something like "Hosts are responsible for curious cows".







This water wheel was not working.



A large millwheel was lying on the ground. (What's the porta-loo doing in the forest?)



We had a closer look at it - a great place to enjoy the nice weather





When we walked towards Luettringhausen, we went along a parkway. Some dozen apple trees were planted here, some of them sponsored by citizens of the city, some to commemorate celebrated public characters.





From here we had to walk about ten minutes to reach the town centre of Luettringhausen. We had an ice cream as a reward for our long walk

Yummy - blueberry ice-cream!



Good-bye and greetings from the forest



Love
MuhKuh

Hi Mummy,
today I helped Katja to bake a delicious cake. We made a chocolate cake filled with cherries. The receipe is originally made with pears, but Katja knows that is also perfect with cherries.

We needed 150 g butter, 150 g brown sugar, 3 eggs, 300 g wheat flour, 3 tsp baking soda, 4 tbls milk, 2 tbls cocoa powder, 1 tbls rum (we took cherry brandy instead), 100 g chocolate and cherries of course



150 g butter ...



While Katja prepared the baking pan and the dough I melted the chocolate.



... already looking better ...



For the dough you have to stirr the butter until it is soft, than add sugar and eggs, later flour with baking soda and cocoa and the liquids, than the chocolate. Put one half of the dough into the bakin pan, add cherries and fill in the rest of the dough.



Bake it at 180°C for about 60 minutes.

Tomorrow we will try the cake.

Bye
MuhKuh