ToyVoyagers - Travelling Toys - Little Things on Big Adventures

Mirdin asked me to collect fairytales, legends and myths. Well, many German fairytales are well known in the western world, but I heard a local legend:
The Giant Kreuzmann
Near St.Ingbert, on the mountain, there's a big rock that's formed like a giant boot and named accordingly. There once lived, a long long time ago, a terrible giant called Kreuzmann. He hunted people down to eat them. First, he put them in a wooden cage so he could sharpen his knife on a whetstone and finally kill them on the stone surface of the 'boot'. He lived like that for a long time, until one day the people in the people in the valley took heart and decided to kill him. They knew that he normally slept in his tower for a few days after each meal, so they collected straw and wood, carried it to the tower and set it on fire. The smoke woke up Kreuzmann who had to sneeze mightly. The ground shook and the frightened villagers ran away. When Kreuzmann came to the window and saw what they had meant to do to him he got very angry and threw the whetstone down into the valley. Then he ran down the mountain, meaning to slay the villagers with a mighty tree trunk, but the smoke had put him in a daze and he stumbled and fell down, stunned. The villagers took their chance and ran to him to strike him dead. The whetstone that he threw landed in Rentrisch and can still be seen there today, standing in a front yard.

Eryah Posted Apr 10, 2008, 3:06 pm	Hello everyone! I'm Dharma and i want to travel the world. My owner is a 3,5 years old boy wich name is Mirdin. His mother is an addict on this site so Mirdin want to send one of his toys into the world. He askes us all wich one would go and i immediately screamed yes! So here i am, ready to go! Here i am sitting in the garden for the last time. Tomorrow i'm going to Germany My owner and me Big hugs Dharma and hope to see you soon!
Eryah Posted Apr 10, 2008, 3:23 pm	My travellist is: 1. Apperveilchen (Germany) 2. Brightondebs (UK) 3. Penvmbra (UK) 4. Boneyard bears (Australia) 5. Chrissini (Aussia, but not before july)
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 15, 2008, 11:57 am	Hello Mirdin! As you can see I arrived at Germany and was greeted by Aoi, Philéas and Little Tex. Since it's midday, we got a nice lunch and maybe I'll be told a story later.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 20, 2008, 6:59 pm	Today I got to go to one of the celtic sights I've been promised. In the first picture you can see me in front of burial mounts. In the little building is the entrance to the rebuilt grave of the celtic countess of Reinheim. The other finds here were men with some grave goods but nothing that spectacular. The women was buried with beauiful jewelry and unique art, though. I like the different heads a lot but you can't see it very well in the photos because it was very dark. I promise I am on the photos, though. The statue was made after the one of the carafe in the grave.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 20, 2008, 8:05 pm	Here's a detail picture for you, but it still can't catch the size and beauty of the artwork.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 23, 2008, 6:46 pm	There's a small simulation of a celtic settlement somplete with animals, and oven and typical boundaries.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 26, 2008, 10:05 pm	There's also a Roman villa that was built right next to and over the celtic stuff. The actual villa and functional houses were all arranged around a big yard that housed kitchen gardens and small lifestock, Outside we actually visited the bigger animals in the pastures. The sheep are: Schafe in German and the cows: Kühe. The little tower is the gateway into the yard from the outside. We could climb up the ladder into the dark and open the sutters on teh little wondow to watch out over the area.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 26, 2008, 10:10 pm	Over in France there's a Roman town that's being excavated. We took a little rest at the tavern and of course I wouldn't be a good dog if I didn't take a good look at the holes in the ground, also called wells. The little alcove is storage space in a craftsshop along the main road through the town. People lived, behind, below and above their shops. At the river there was one mill for the whole town. No KitchenAid for everybody...
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 27, 2008, 10:05 am	A new TV arrived today: Super Grover. We'll do something fun together on the weekend.
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 27, 2008, 10:12 am	Hello there! I went to Luxembourg for half a day. On Bock Promontory are the last ruins of the first castle that's the origin of the town. These fortifications and the old town are part of Unesco WorldHeritage. There are casemates underground, but we thought a much too nice day to go there. Instead we enjoyed the sun and the old town (which includes some modern additions).
Apperveilchen Posted Apr 27, 2008, 10:55 pm	Next stop on our trip was Trier. Here's a big old Roman gate: The Porta Nigra, right at the edge of what's now the city center, many lovely houses of different eras, you can see some along teh big market place, and a cathedral, basilica, Roman thermes, amphitheatre, student life... and today also a fair it seams, with all these people and street artists.
Apperveilchen Posted May 9, 2008, 7:55 pm	We went huunting for more burial mounts today. To help us we lent a dog from the local shelter that's close to where the burial mounts are supposed to be. The dog was really nice and we had a good time together, but it wasn't a whole lot of help in finding our goal. Maybe we'll ask someone next time, but my host said not to expect mounts like in the culture park, but maybe just little ridges along the way or hidden in the forest.
Apperveilchen Posted May 16, 2008, 8:32 pm	It's hot here, so Little Tex and I spent lots of time on the balcony. We watched clouds and looked for pictures or just at the different colors. I wanted to play with the parakeets but they seem a little scared of me. I got them around in the end.
Apperveilchen Posted May 16, 2008, 8:57 pm	Mirdin asked me to collect fairytales, legends and myths. Well, many German fairytales are well known in the western world, but I heard a local legend: The Giant Kreuzmann Near St.Ingbert, on the mountain, there's a big rock that's formed like a giant boot and named accordingly. There once lived, a long long time ago, a terrible giant called Kreuzmann. He hunted people down to eat them. First, he put them in a wooden cage so he could sharpen his knife on a whetstone and finally kill them on the stone surface of the 'boot'. He lived like that for a long time, until one day the people in the people in the valley took heart and decided to kill him. They knew that he normally slept in his tower for a few days after each meal, so they collected straw and wood, carried it to the tower and set it on fire. The smoke woke up Kreuzmann who had to sneeze mightly. The ground shook and the frightened villagers ran away. When Kreuzmann came to the window and saw what they had meant to do to him he got very angry and threw the whetstone down into the valley. Then he ran down the mountain, meaning to slay the villagers with a mighty tree trunk, but the smoke had put him in a daze and he stumbled and fell down, stunned. The villagers took their chance and ran to him to strike him dead. The whetstone that he threw landed in Rentrisch and can still be seen there today, standing in a front yard.
Apperveilchen Posted May 18, 2008, 4:00 pm	Here's another legend I was told about today. I don't want to hear these things as good-night tales, because most seem to be at least a little scary. Varussage Around 300 AD, Trier had a feared and cruel proconsul named Rixius Varus who thought himself invincible. One day the devil came to pay him a visit and challenge him to a wager for his soul. Varus, who was convinced he could beat anyone, even the devil, accepted. And so it came that on one fine day, Varus drove his horses up onto the hill where his villa stood, while it was the devil's task to pave the way by taking away the stones from behind the wagon and lay them in front of it again as quickly as Varus drove his horses. When Varus saw that the devil would indeed beat him and thus collect his soul he tried to flee, but the devil banished him immediately. The precious gilded wagon was buried in the Varusforest and is said to still lay there today, the shaft so close under the earth that a cock could lay it free if he just knew where to paw. But all treasure hunters be warned: woe whoever enters the forest for Rixius Varus still walks there.
Apperveilchen Posted May 19, 2008, 10:37 pm	I will be leaving here tomorrow, so today I got my host to translate another old story for my notebook. Little Tex and I choose nice colors for it so it wouldn't look so boring. There's glitter, too. After that I had to help her with her homework that's due tomorrow.
brightondebs Posted Jun 8, 2008, 8:39 pm	Wow! I'm in England! I haven't written for a few days as I've been soooo tired with all my travelling and have been sleeping a lot. I'm staying with a really nice lady and her cat. This is a photo of when I was introduced to Lilith the cat. Don't worry! She looks scary but she's very nice (for a cat). I think we will be friends. We are right by the sea here and I can hear sea gulls while I'm typing this! I can't wait to get out and about and see all the wonderful things there are to see in Brighton. I've been told I might even be able to go to an amusement park! Dharma
brightondebs Posted Jun 22, 2008, 8:53 pm	I finally got to visit the beach! Yay! We started off at the Hove Peace Statue and then walked back towards Brighton. This is a picture of me in front of the remains of the West Pier. I was told it used to be very pretty but then there was a HUGE storm and then it caught on fire! You read more all about the West Pier here: The West Pier As you can see it was very windy! My ears got blown all over the place! I wasn't too impressed that the beach had pebbles instead of sand!
brightondebs Posted Jun 22, 2008, 9:09 pm	As we walked further down the beach I saw some boats. They were very pretty and the ropes attached to the masts made lots of amazing noise in the wind. I wanted to go out in one but they are all privately owned so we couldn't I think I would have been scared about getting blown overboard anyway!
brightondebs Posted Aug 3, 2008, 10:47 am	Woohoo! I finally got to go and have fun on the Palace Pier in Brighton. It was just like an amusment park over the water! I've taken lots of photos so you can see what it was like. This is the Horror Hotel which was very scary! And this is the log flume ride where everyone got wet! Luckily it was really warm: The helter skelter: Apart from all the rides there were lots of games too:
brightondebs Posted Aug 10, 2008, 5:12 pm	I got to go to another beach! This one is called Eastbourne and it is very nice and clean. I really enjoyed the bus journey there too. Eastbourne has a lovely pier which luckily hasn't burned down! My host tried to get me to go for a swim but I said it was too cold I also got to listen to a brass band play music in the bandstand on the beach - it was really good. This is the view from the bus on the way back:
brightondebs Posted Aug 19, 2008, 8:21 pm	Just before I left the UK I left instructions for my host to update my travels. Here are the last few pictures of me in Brighton. This is me in front of the Royal Pavilion: and a picture of the Pavilion gardens - they're very pretty: You can read lots more about the Pavilion here: Royal Pavilion I managed to collect a great story about Devil's Dyke which is just north of Brighton. I've included it in my book. That's it! Looking forward to being home.
Eryah Posted Aug 27, 2008, 6:54 pm	I'm home with Mirdin again. Thank you all for the great updates and hosting me! Hugs Dharma