Travelog for: Hip & Hop

Merry Christmas Mum!

The Finnish people are crazy sometimes. We arrived in our new home today. And look, what we have in front of our house – a Christmas tree!







This was really strange. But RikeH told us that we are in the Santa Claus Village. Santa lives here – this is amazing!e

Maybe we will meet him tomorrow. Who knows? But first I had to show you two funny things in our room. This is the wonderful lamp!



Now I believe that the Christmas Time comes nearer!



Hohoho
Sam

Hi Mum,

Hostmum's college at university held a special party today - it was Alice in Wonderland themed.  To start it off, we watched the Disney movie.  The Mad Hatter was really funny...


Then we went outside to join the party.  I couldn't believe my eyes - everything was so big!  I felt how Alice must have felt after she had drunk the potion that made her shrink.  And there were crazy decorations everywhere - look, a mushroom in a tree?!


There was also lots and lots of games.  We went bowling first - and my team won!


Then we played checkers.  See what I mean about everything being really big??


My team won again! 


Then we played four-in-a-row.


This time my team lost.


It was such a fun day Mum - completely magical, like I really was in Wonderland!

Bye,
Paula

Hello from the Santa Claus Village!

We saw these signs today – and wanted to meet Santa Claus.





But can you imagine it? Santa Claus didn’t allow to make own photos – and wants to have a lot of money for the photos taken by his gnomes…

So we decided that his Santa Claus is nice, too.



There were an ice bear and some gnomes next to him.





There were signs showing the distance to some cities around the world.



And here is Santa Claus’ Main Post Office – he has to write many letters each year.



I was really in the North now.



I crossed the Arctic Circle Mum – have you ever done it?





Love
Sam

Hello Mum,

We visited Helsinki today.  Behind me you can see the cathedral.



This is a Russian church – I loved the gold on the roof.



Near to the water we saw this beautiful building.



This is a wonderful church – inside a rock – really strange.



Love
Sam

Hello Mum,

Today was our last day in Finland – and we spent it in Porvoo. We met a really nice lady there. First we climbed up a hill and had a look over the town. Unfortunately the trees were really high!



This was a better place to look at the city.



Behind me you can see the famous houses next to the river. The weather was not as sunny as yesterday, so you cannot see it so good.



There were moomins living in this shop.



We had a stop next to his bunny-lady. On the right side you can see some other TVs.





Then we did something funny – we went onto the Castle-Hill. But there was no castle anymore…


We stopped on a bridge and saw some nice new houses…



…and a ship with the funny name Glückauf.



Here we had a better view of the famous houses.



It was a great time in Finland!

yours
Sam

Hello from a Ferry again.

We were back on the way to Germany. Fortunately we had television in our cabin. So we watched soccer. In the first game the Netherlands played.  Vriendje was so excited.





Unfortunately for Vriendje the Netherlands lost.

We went outside and had a wonderful sunset!



Here you can see a model of our Ferry!



It was time for soccer again. We decided to have a party!



Cheers!



Well the wrong supporters!



The game was great!







GOAL!







The good supporters!



Germany won – and we celebrated it!





The next morning we first had a coffee!



We preferred some fresh fruits!  No more wine and beer!



Love
Sam

Hi Mum!

Today, another package arrived.


Inside was not one, but two new toyvoyagers!  Niiskuneiti and HelgaHH.


There's now 8 of us!  We made sure to make them feel very welcome.


Then we decided to play a game of Trivial Pursuit.


We had to pick the colour that we wanted to be.  I chose green.


Look - I'm in the lead!


To make sure that the game wasn't too easy, when someone landed on a square that could give them a cheese, we asked them a question from the normal Trivial Pursuit.
Do you know the answer to the question?  Who plays son-of-a-gangster Amsterdam Vallon in 'Gangs of New York?


The answer is: Leonardo DiCaprio.

And look Mum - I won!


Bye,
Paula

Hi Mum,

Guess what?  Today I saw the Olympic Torch!

We went into town early so that we could get a good spot to see the Torch.  Luckily, we had taken a chair with us, so we could sit back and relax while we waited.


When the police started to show up, we knew that the Torch was close.


And sure enough, there it was!


I enjoyed seeing it very much!

Bye,
Paula

Hello Mum,

We went to Hamburg today.  The weather was not so nice - but no problem for us. We walked along the lake Alster in the center of Hamburg. Can you see the sailing ships?



There were more boats - I think they will be used if the weather is better!



There were some geese.



It was a nice place!



Believe it or not – it was the same day – only some minutes later – and we had sunshine.



One of many churches in Hamburg.



Many greetings
Sam

Hi Mum,

Today we went to Derwent Resevoir.


The resevoir is three miles long (which is almost 5km).  It can hold up to 11 million gallons of water and provides water to half of the North East of England.


Here we all are - we were lucky it was a nice day as well!


We explored the area, and found this river that leads in to the resevoir.


Bye!
Paula

Hello Mum,

We went to Hamburg again. But today we went to the Port. And we saw a cruise ship!



This Part of the Port is called ‘Speicherstadt’. It is the old warehouse district, but they built a lot of new houses there.



Here you can see the old houses.



This is another part of the Port.



We made a short boat trip.



There was a wonderful sailing ship!



Behind me you can see the pier of the port.



My last views of the port.





Bye
Sam

Hello Mum,

It was my last day in Sülfeld today. I will travel to the USA! But I wanted to have a walk before I jumped into my envelope. Here you see me in front of a small lake.



Later we sat in front of this nice sign and enjoyed the sunshine.



Then it was time to say goodbye – the others gave me a big hug.



I will write, when I arrive in the USA.

Love
Sam

Hi Mum!

I've been having a lot of fun this past week, and am a bit closer to completing one of my life missions.

We're in Essex this week, which is where hostmum's Grandparents live.  As hostmum's Nana has just been released from hospital, hostmum has been helping out.

This means that I've been having a lot of fun with hostmum's Grandparents' animals.  Would you believe it - they have FIVE animals! 

For me, this is great!  As you know, I want to play with 10 different pets.  Well this week alone, I've played with five!

Here I am playing with Summer.  As you can see, we're having a lot of fun!! 


This is Honey, who absolutely loves to play.  We've been having a bit of a rough and tumble - but don't worry, she's very gentle and didn't hurt me.


Next, meet Tosca.  As you can see, he's extremely fluffy.  He loves to play hide-and-seek, so we've been playing a lot of that.  Here he is after I found him - he doesn't look impressed, I guess he thought that he had hidden in a good spot.  But I'm great at finding people in hide-and-seek!


And here I am with Mr. Pickles, the tortoise.  We're both quite ticklish, so we've been having fun tickling each other!


And finally, here I am with Jessie.  Jessie is quite old, so takes things easy.  But she loves to be stoked on the back of her neck and belly, and of course, she loves sleeping in the sun. 


So as you can see, I've been having a very good time playing with all the pets 

Bye,
Paula

Hi Mum,

It was fun in Essex, and as you know I spent my time playing with all the pets.

I'm now back in Hexham - we got back early Sunday morning.  Then on Tuesday I said goodbye to two of the TVs that are continuing their voyages.

First I said bye to Huhn.


Then to _Mishuta_.


I was sad to see them go - we had become good friends.  But I'm sure I'll see them again at some point!

Bye,
Paula

Oh my goodness Mum!

We had a massive house party last night (hostmum and her family went out, leaving us alone in the house).  I can't really remember much of it...  I know I had a good time though!

First we had to get ready, so I helped Sheela and Niiskuneiti put out some snacks.


Pretty soon, toys from all over the neighbourhood started to arrive.  Everyone was dancing on the dance floor, but I was a bit nervous, so I sat and chatted with Goldie for a while.


But then... oh dear Mum!  I'm afraid I might have had a bit too much to drink...  Because the next thing I remember, is I'm dancing in the middle of a circle with everyone watching me and cheering me on!


That's all that I remember.  I can tell you - I had a bad headache when I awoke in the morning!


It was a great night though, I had so much fun.  But my poor head...

And best of all - we managed to tidy everything up, so the house was clean when hostmum came back.  She never suspected a thing, we got away with it, wahey!

Bye,
Paula