Travelog for: Hip & Hop

Happy Halloween!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

It snowed on Christmas day! We watched A Christmas Story which plays in a marathon every year since my host was a little girl, Hogfather by Terry Pratchet, and the Doctor Who Christmas special. My host drew some reindeer parts for her poses, parts, and how to gallery. We also ate some dinner and had a lovely holiday!

Merry Christmas!

This Holiday was sad for our hosts. Eight years ago they lost a close friend, named Greg, on Thanksgivings day. Greg was the most generous guy they had ever known. He played a big part in how my hosts became the coupld they are today. Greg was so sweet and kind, and he was an amazing friend.

So Thanksgiving is always a little sad. However, this year, a second good friend died in an accident on the same day... Thanksgivings Day. A long time ago, my host Michelle got really sick and almost died. She had two emergency surgeries. Her fiance (now husband) lost his job while trying to be with her in the hospital. It was a mess and their friends Chazz and Carrie offered to help them. They moved from Ohio to Oklahoma, which is way up north to down south (a long distance). At that time, Chazz and Carrie was struggling financially too, but they took care of our hosts. There was no rush or pressure to get a job or help out... it was all about helping Michelle recover. It took months to recover and she did eventually get on her feet. My hosts helped clean the house and cooked and did whatever they could to make things eaiser for their friends while they were there. Today, my hosts are healthy, on their feet, and doing so very well! When Chazz passed away this Thanksgiving, it made November 22nd extra sad.

Our hosts is thankful for everything Greg and Chazz (and Carrie, who is still alive and well) they did for them.

In early December, our hosts moved into a nicer apartment. Wally, my hosts fish, died during the move. She was very upset about this. Wally may have just been a pleco fish, but Michelle loved him very much. It was just hard loosing a pet on top of losing a good friend.

Closer to Christmas, there was another loss. One of Michelle's childhood friends had a little sister named Dannielle. Back then, as Michelle and Rachel were growing up as teens, Dannielle was 10 years younger. My host remembers babysitting with her group of friends. At the age of only 22, Dannielle died in an accident. Rachel was her friend, but Dannielle was still a part of their childhood memories. Michelle mournes with her friend from so far away.

Despite all this sadness, our hosts did enjoy the holidays. They went to a live perforance of Dralion (Cirque Du Soleil) and then had a lazy dinner around the house on xmas day. Unfortunately, they are really super strict about taking photos at the show and we couldn't even have our phones. So no photos... it was a great show though!

So, here's some pictures of the new apartment! When you first walk in the door, there is Toki's house (and Toki's family), and the cat stuff. The livingroom is nice and comfy. They like to bring out different toys every week or so to hang out on the coffee table and couch (Chelle has a lot of toys). That's Brambles (ox) and Shayla (owl) on the coffee table. There's Dottie (ladybug pillow pet), Guy (pirate skull pillow), Chico (mouse), and Cuddlewitz (bear) on the douch. Chico is Chelle's first and oldest toy that her mother gave her. The original Cuddlewitz was lost a long time ago and was a xmas gift from her grandmother. It took my hosts over 7 years to track down a bear this new Cuddlewitz. The bear was called a Wurble in the 1980's - her nose lights up and she makes noises. You can still find Wurbles, but this particular color of wurble is extremely difficult to find. So, Chico and Cuddlewitz are always out in the livingroom. They also have a big old recliner.

There's the pretty hang bag that we toyvoyagers ride in when she takes us out anywhere. Chelle keeps a little lent roller in the bag so we can clean ourselves up before taking photos. Isn't that thoughtful?

My host has a Projector that they watch on the wall, instead of a TV. They also have a media player called a Boxee Box that they can watch stuff on. It's pretty neat! They can even watch netflix on it.

Also, I had some vanilla icecream with shell chocolate on top!

Hi Mummy,
greetings from Paula Hip!

I reached my new host's home today. I am in Remscheid now, in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany (not too close from my own hometown ). I already met some friendly ToyVoyagers here. They are Arimbi from Indonesia, Suny, Mr. Stanley, Lady Katherine, PieksiHH and Stoker, all from Germany.



My host Katja told me that they had terrible weather this week. it was raining and melting away the snow. But today in the afternoon it was looking much better, so we took a walk to Hasten, a nearby historic district. Here you can find lots of traditional houses, like this one.



In this region, called "Bergisches Land" traditional houses often are half-timbered houses with green shutters. They are also often covered with shist.

They have a small shopping area here.





Although Remscheid is an industrial city, it is surrounded by woodland, valleys and rural areas.



The sun came out for a moment



Only narrow lanes are between those houses.



You can often find historic factory buildings among dwellings.



A museum is situated in the Patrician Villa on the right side of the next photo. The villa was built in late 18th century by a local factory owner.



The German Tool Museum is also situated on this estate.







We went home than - uphill for a long time!



Bye
Paula Hip

We celebrated my hosts' birthday on Groundhog's Day. It's a folklore holiday that says if the groundhog sees his shadow, we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. He did not see his shadow this year. Anyways, we had cupcakes and Chinese New Year goodies. We didn't like most of the Chinese candies, but it was fun to try and funny to see each others reactions! The cupcakes, on the other hand, were fantastic!

I met Clara the tentacle kitty and Tonakai the custom reindeer, whom are the newest toys in the house. Clara is a very unique softie and she's super cuddly. Tonakai was colored and brought to life that night. They were both pretty cool toys.

We also eat dinner from Buffalo Wild Wings, played cards, and watched a UFC match on tv. We didn't pictures of all that because we were having so much fun we didn't think about it! It was a lot of fun.

Hi Mummy,
we had horrible weather last week with snow, rain, black ice, snow again, rain again, mud and fog. During this night it snowed again, but today we had snow and sunshine A good reason to take a walk to the municipal park, my host said.

From my current home it is only a short walk to the park.















In the background you can see the observatory which is situated here in the park.





There is a pond in the park, ducks and turtles are living here. But not a single duck was visible, they seemed to be hiding somewhere.



I love snow, but I am nearly freezing to death. Katja said she could make me a warm sweater. That would be great!

Greetings to Sam!

Love
Paula

Hi Mummy,
we took a short walk in the city centre today, in Katja's lunch break. She is working in a law firm, close to the city hall, so the city hall with the largen open space in front of it was our first stop.



The city hall was nearly destroyed in World War II, but rebuilt in a more modern style afterwards. It's tower is 48 m high.

This is the central bus station.



The adult education centre (VHS) is situated in this modern building...



... and the music school is situated here in this pretty house.



From this bridge you have a good overview across a large cemetary to Hohenhagen, a housing area with lots of woodland around.



Looking to the opposite direction you can see the bus station and the city centre.



This is the shopping street...



... and the main entrance of the shopping mall Allee-Center.



At the end of the shopping street you can find these giant forceps, a symbol for the local tool producing industry.



We had to return to work than.

Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
in the evening I was allowed to search for a suitable yarn for my sweater among Katja's yarn leftovers I found a lovely green and grey yarn.



Than some measures were taken.



Later, when we would watch TV, she would knit a warm sweater or me

Bye
Paula Hip

Good morning!

In the early morning I had a look out of the window - it snowed during the night.



Can you see that I am wearing my new sweater?

Before going to work Katja is taking her pets out of their cage so they can play in the apartment for about an hour.

Three ferrets are living here! They are cute and cheeky little  monsters The sable ferret is Shiva and the white one is Brighty.



And there is Zaehnchen sitting in the box. Katja told me to be careful because ferrets would like duck - for breakfast!!!



It seemed that Shiva does not consider me as her breakfast, maybe because of my leather cap



Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
another guest arrived today, it's Easy, a cute brown rat. He probably was already sitting in the mailbox yesterday, but it was frozen over, and today my host got it open.



Later 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 to the courtyard with many shops. 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.





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 of many hills" )

About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the man 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.







We took a walk in the surroundings of the castle than. Katja took a group photo with the castle in the background.



Soon we reached an outlook pavilion. You have a stunning overview across the valley here and also a good view to the castle.







A terrible storm destroyed large parts of the forest some years ago.





We took a side trip to the concrete wall of a nearby dam, Sengbachtalsperre. We thought the surface had been frozen, but it wasn't frozen at all.



Far in the distance (the middle of the photo) you can see the city of Remscheid lying in the sun.



You can see it better on this zoomed photo.



On our way back to the car we walked through a lovely rural district.





Walking through the cold is really exhausting

Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
another ToyVoyager arrived today, Tsukumo, a sheep lady from Bavaria. Katja told us we would visit a riding stable in the afternoon.



Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
like Katja told us we went to a riding stable in the afternoon. One of her friends and her daughter are riding there, but today Angela went with us on a walk and let her daughter do all the work

The riding stable is in Hueckeswagen, a small town surrounded by rural areas about 20 km apart from Remscheid, in the region "Oberbergisches Land".

I met a lot of farm animals here. Horses, of course









I also said hello to some cows.



Cats and dogs were strolling around and I also went to the chicken.

We took a walk than around an upstream temporary dam of river Wupper. We only had to walk a few minutes to get there.







There are lots of hiking trails following this route.



A lot of relatives are living here

We crossed the dam here and walked back.



This is the view towards the city of Hueckeswagen.



We had a short rest and enjoyed the lovely landscape around before we had to walk uphill to the stable.



We helped to feed the horses and went back home.

Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
today the weather became much better unexpectedly. Of course we went out for a walk. We went to the neighbour city Wuppertal, to the district Cronenberg. It is an historic district with many old factory buildings.



Here you can also find those lovely old houses like in Remscheid.



Katja told us that we would walk to a  nearby woodland area.



Most of the  snow already melted away.





Soon we reached the forest, a very special one: An arboretum, Staatsforst Burgholz

An arboretum is a collection of trees, sort of a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study. We went to "Staatsforst Burgholz", a woodland area which is situated in both urban area of Wuppertal and also the urban area of Solingen. When World War II was over, there were nearly all trees felled for rebuilding of destroyed city areas and also as firewood.

Searching for fast-growing forest species trees from foreign counties were planted than in this area to study their growth in local weather conditions. Plants from North America, South America, Asia and Europe were planted.



There are several walking paths through the arboretum. We decided to walk along a path showing trees of Northern America.







The soil is partly covered with soft moss.





Finally we walked through the sequoia tree area.





Walking back we saw this historic train, situated on the "Sambatrasse", a former railway track,  now a walking trail.



After enjoying so much sunshine we were very lazy in the afternoon, visiting a friend and having coffee.

Bye
Paula Hip