Travelog for: Hip & Hop

Hi Mummy,

we took a walk today in the forest with Katja and her broter-in-law.

Remscheid is surrounded by forests, valleys and rural areas. Here you can see the city centre of Remscheid in the background, while we were walking through a district in the south of the municipal area.



Soon we reached a forest. We walked downhill until we reached the sole of the valley.



Of course a creek is running through the valley.



You can also find some fish ponds along the creek, they are all frozen now.



We had a lot of fun in the snow





Our walk took nearly two and a half hour

Bye
Paula Hip

I went to the Underground Monster Carnival, which was a one day event. In the past there were old low-budget movies that were badly made, poor props, and usually bad acting... but they were fun! These movies are called B-Movies, and there were a lot of horror B-Movies. The event was horror themed and very B-Movie! I had a lot of fun!

Hi Mummy,
although the weather was bad we took a long walk today in the outskirts of Remscheid. Even Katja's son accompanied us. We went to one of  the nearby valleys.



The first signs of spring were visible.





We reachend an interesting place, hiden in the forest - an historic hammer mill. Iron and steel were produced here since 15th century.



A large millwheel was lying on the ground. We rested here for a while.







Later we explored the estate.





This is the rear side of the house.



Katja told us that there was also a little pond with a weir. Currently the pond was nearly empty.





We left the valley than and walked uphill towards the city centre of Remscheid. The snow nearly melted away last week.





We walked through lovely hamlets.



We also crossed on of the largest valleys, the one where industrialisation began in middle ages. Still nowadays a lot of companies are working here.



From here we had to walk uphill for about half an hour to get back to the city centre on top of its hill.

Bye
Paula Hip

I made myself some bling!

Hi Mummy,
I found lovely spring flowers in the living room - daffodils!



It would be great if there was spring outside, but look what is happening now.



It is snowing again. We are all fed up with all the snow.

Bye
Paula

Hi Mummy,
there is still snow, but at least it is a wonderful day with sunshine.

We went to the district Luettringhausen to pick up Katja's daughter for a longer walk. Luettringhausen is one of the historic districts of Remscheid.



Soon we went into the forest. We are planning to walk to Lennep, also an historic district.



We reached a valley with a creek running through.



Here in the valley we found an estate with lots of animals, also sheep. They are cameroon sheep. The sheep were curious if we brought food, but we did not have any.



We found the remains of an old weir.



We followed the path through the valley.



There are even a few houses in the valley.



When we left the valley and walked towards Lennep we saw the inner city of Luettringhausen in the background.



To get to Lennep we followed a main road for some time until we reached the historical inner city. Here you can find lovely narrow lanes and those typical houses.



This is the market place.





Later we went home by bus.

Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
this week most of the snow melted away. We all hope that spring will come soon! We took a walk to Germany's highest railway bridge, Muengsten Bridge. This railway bridge is connecting Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen, overspanning the valley of river Wupper.

It took us a 40 minutes walk until we could have a first look at the bridge.



We followed a hiking trail which is coming close to the bridge, but we intended to cross the river and walk on the other side of the valley.



Very obviously we are still having winter



We crossed the river and followed the hiking path, like the river meandering along the steep slope of the valely.



Muengsten Bridge was built of steel, completed in 1907. It is about 480 m long and 107 m tall. There are extensive repair works going on in the last few years, and there will be more this year from April till at least October.



Some years ago a leisure park was created under the bridge. You can find lawns here for relaxing, a crazy golf course, a restaurant, snack bars, a kiosk and playgrounds for kids.



When we get home, we will have to wash our trousers and clean the shoes - the paths in the forest were incredibly muddy

Bye
Paula Hip

For St. Patrick's Day, I went to the Museum of Osteology. It's a museum filled with bones. It was a small museum but it was pretty cool! I got to see lots of skeletons.

Hi Mummy,
we celebrated my birthday in the evening.



I'm sending Birthday greetings to Sam!



Love
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
we had fantastic weather today, so we we made a trip to the neighbour city Wuppertal.

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (Schwebebahn), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River.



Katja promised to show us a really weird bridge. We had to walk for about 15 minutes until we reached it. It is a former railway bridge, looking like a Lego-bridge.









What a great bridge!

From here it was only a short walk to Hardt, a large parkway on a partly forested hill in the inner city area of Wuppertal. You can find a fantastic landscape park here and also the Botanical garden of Wuppertal. To get there, we only had to cross the street to the opposite direction of the bridge and walk uphill.



First we walked along a vast allotment garden area.



A look behind ...



Soon we reached the parkway. In the background you can see one of 47 Bismarck towers which were built across Germany in early 20th century as outlook towers.



We strolled through the park, enjoying the sunshine.







Those greenhouses belong to the Botanical garden which is situated here.



You can find the former country house of a textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings, and the Elise Tower (built 1838) which provides the garden's focal point.



We found at least a few spring flowers









We went back to the city centre to visit friends and their ferrets Most of the time we walked along river Wupper and the Schwebebahn.





This is one of 20 stations. It was rebuilt last year in its original historical style.



Katja showed us the centre of justice with local court and district court.



Back in the city ...





We found a cafe which was open and bought cake for our friends.

Bye
Paula Hip

Hi Mummy,
today it was time for me and Gian TheFrog to say good-bye to Remscheid and our friends here.

I packed my things and now I am already on my way to my next host. Katja will send my souvenirs home to you, Mummy.



There is still one update to write from yesterday's trip to Wuppertal

Bye
Paula Hip

I went to Planet Comicon in Kansas City MO. It was a fun convention. We actually got stuck 5 hours from Oklahoma City because the car died. The car had to be junked completely. We rented a car home and then got a new car. It was very frustrating, but at the same time, we have more comfortable car to travel in now!

Hello mummy,

sorry for the delay of the updates, but Zandy had o work really hart since we came back from our trip to Poland and in her free time she hat no head to sit in front of the PC.

Here is a picture of us (Cassiopeia, Germanya and I) while we are talking about our trip. It was before we had to go to bed. But of course it was late before we could sleep, we were really excited. - Is it normal, that this emotion never ends?

]

Oh what a short night! But ok, we had the chance to go to bed earlier. It wasn't easy to pack all the things in the car, because we were 4 people a dog and wer three TVs. Uff, really not easy, but at the end we got it and our trip began.







The most time we sleep, it was to dark or Zandy had to drive, so there aren't more pictures during our drive.

But I will tell you something: I think once I will visit a town with a really great name .... It's "Lederhose".
You can belive me, we would take a icture of the shild, but it wasn't possible.

My host was born and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is where Cyphacon was held. It was really nice seeing my hosts home town. It was a beautiful place! The food was fantastic! I ate at Hollier's Cajun Kitchen. I tried the boudin, fried crawfish, and crab cakes! The convention was also a lot of fun. It was a small convention with very friendly people.