Posted Apr 26, 2011, 5:39 pm
I'm sorry to say goodbye to Mom and my TV friends, but now finally it's my turn ... 
Posted Nov 16, 2011, 4:55 pm
Hi everyone!
Here are pictures of my first trip to the ocean. We have the ocean waves out this window and a creek out the other window, so the water noises were really nice and made me feel at home. I do so like wateriness.
HolgiHH did a great job of telling the story of our stormy drive out here.
We also really liked just playing around in the big house.
Posted Nov 16, 2011, 5:01 pm
Posted Nov 16, 2011, 5:08 pm
Posted Nov 16, 2011, 5:11 pm
Posted Nov 29, 2011, 12:14 am
I am so happy to be traveling again! So is Aslan! We might get to see a Christmas Market ... and find out what that is.
Crawfish
Posted Dec 8, 2011, 12:08 am
As you can see I arrived in Berlin.
Somebody opened my envelope and whoooaaah I just saw 10 eyes starring at me!!!
I crawled out of the envelope and the other tvs welcomed me. Chrissy, Tapsi and Beate are going to leave next week, so I don't have so much time with them. But Greeny and Joe will stay with me.
My host says thank you for the gift and the card you included.
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 11, 2011, 10:47 pm
today I got my own coffee mug which I can use during my stay in Germany. Oh I love it. It reminds me of my home.
My host is out of work for one week. She promised to show me a lot of things, also outside Berlin. And I'm going to meet some animals, maybe some of my relatives, too.
Hugs & kisses
Crawfish
Posted Dec 12, 2011, 11:54 pm
today we had to say goodbye to Beate, Chrissy and Tapsi.
We went to Halle today. It is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale (literally Halle on the Saale river, and in some historic references simply Saale after the river) in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current official name of the city is Halle (Saale). The University of Halle was founded here in 1694. The famous Baroque composer George Friderich Handel was born in Halle in 1685.
This is the Technical Hallors and Saline Museum. It was founded in the buildings of the former Royal Prussian Saline, Halle upon Saale in 1967. Hallors had been members of a brotherhood of salt producers .
Here you can see me in front of the main radio studio of MDR .
This is the "Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen" (Market Church of Our Dear Lady), also known as St. Mary's Church and Market Church. It was built between 1529 and 1554. Its four towers, together with the Red Tower of the city hall, make Halle the city of five towers. In German, its official name is shortened to Liebfrauenkirche and it is also referred to as Marienkirche and Marktkirche. It is the church where George Frideric Handel was baptized and received his first organ lessons, where Johann Sebastian Bach inspected the new organ, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was an organist.
And have a look Mum, I went to a German Christmas market for the first time. And I'll see some others, too! It smelled sweet everywhere and I got the feeling of Christmas. They also sell a lot of handcraft stuff.
In the evening we met some lovely animals!
A turtle named Ines, a hamster without a name and 5 lovely budgies.
Now I'm really tired.
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 13, 2011, 4:15 pm
today is not a good day. It is stormy and rainy outside! I don't like it. But I didn't stay inside. Greeny, Joe and I drove through small villages, forests and fields by car to Kemberg. It is a small town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The town lies on the north edge of the Dübener Heide Nature Park.
When we arrived in Kemberg it stopped raining for a short time, so I could take a picture outside the car. The town's most striking sight is the soaring Church of Our Lady ( "Unser Lieben Frauen" ) which can be seen far away over the Elbaue (natural polder). It is a hall church with a nave and two aisles dating from the 15th century (or so it is believed) with an 86-m-tall tower built in the 19th century.
Maybe there's no rain tomorrow!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 15, 2011, 7:03 pm
today we went to Oranienbaum and visited the area around the castle. At the moment the castle is closed because of winter time and we couldn't go inside. But we saw the castle from outside and went to its gardens. The Gardens had its origin in the 17th century, when the marriage of Leopold's great-grandfather Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau to the Dutch princess Henriette Catharina, in 1659 brought a team of engineers and architects from the Low Countries to lay out the town, the palace and a Baroque garden in the former settlement of Nischwitz, which was renamed Oranienbaum in 1673. The Dutch influence remained prevalent in the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau for many decades.
Oranienbaum Palace was finished in 1683 as the summer residence of Henriette Catharina, where she retired after the death of her husband in 1693. From 1780 on Duke Leopold III had the palace and the park rebuilt in a Chinese style with several arch bridges, a tea house and a pagoda. In 1811, the orangery was built, with 175 m (574 ft) in length one of the largest in Europe, which still serves to protect a wide collection of citrus plants. It was too cold to go to the orangery!
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, inspected the restoration works on March 3, 2004.
This is the castle from the front (street view):
The castle from the backside (garden view):
The garden. I heard there are lots of palm trees in summer!
We walked to the Chinese pagoda...
Below the pagoda:
The beautiful Chinese pagoda:
It's so cold outside!!! Brrrrr...
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 15, 2011, 11:10 pm
today I visited the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm again. But today I went to Wörlitz. The central Wörlitzer Park lies adjacent to the small town of Wörlitz at an anabranch of the Elbe river. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. Most buildings were designed by Erdmannsdorff, while the gardens were laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck. The gardens are protected from floods of the Elbe river in the north by a dam which is also a belt-walk offering numerous views along the park's sight lines.
Wörlitz Palace finished in 1773, residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible. Louise had her private home in the adjacent Graues Haus (Grey House). At the eastern rim of the palace's garden stands the Wörlitz Synagogue built in 1790 as a rotunda modelled after the ancient "Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. The Neo-Gothic St Peter's Church in the west with its 66 m (217 ft) tall steeple was finished in 1809.
The philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the aesthetic of Johann Joachim Winckelmann underlie the design of the park. Wörlitz Lake featured an island atop which was a model of Mount Vesuvius. The duke would stage fireworks that seemed to issue from an erupting volcano to entertain his guests. At the foot of the mountain on the island was a building intended to suggest William Hamilton's home at Pompeii.
Few years ago my host worked as a tour guide in the castle and the park.
Here you can see the castle from the front, the side and the back.
This is just a small part of the big Wörlitz lake.
At the end of the lake you can see Mount Vesuvius and Villa Hamilton.
This is the synagogue.
This is St Peter's Church. We could see the tower 10 minutes before we arrived to that village! And on the left side you can see the grey house.
I also saw some more animals.
And it is still cold outside! Have a look! There's ice on the water!!!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 17, 2011, 8:32 pm
today we went to Dessau for some shopping. Dessau is situated on a floodplain where the Mulde flows into the Elbe. This causes yearly floods. The town is surrounded by numerous parks and palaces that ranks Dessau as one of the greenest towns in Germany.
We didn't have so much time. First we bought all Christmas presents. Later we had time to see the town hall. And we have been on stage at the Christmas market! Now we're famous!
One of my life missions is to pose for a picture in front of the flag of the country I visit. I couldn't find a German flag yet, but I found one of my home country! I'm a little bit proud!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 20, 2011, 10:18 pm
I'm still excited! My travelog of today will be really loooooong!
I think I took too many pictures!
I met so many animals today! Some of them spoke my language!
Today I went to the SeaLife in Berlin. There were lots of different fishes & co from all over the world, like rays, seahorses, jellyfishes, sharks, carps etc.
First I learnt something about pirates and knops.
I met some starfishes first. Later I could also touch them!
All these fishes live in German rivers.
I was a little bit afraid of the big moray!
Have a look at this BIG crab! Terrifying!
Terrifying too!
Can you see the fishes on the ground?
A lovely ray. It looked like he is dancing in the water.
I felt like being somewhere in the big ocean!
Have a look at these colorful jellyfishes... Okay there were some colorful lights, but it looks so beautiful. I hope you can see me. It was a little bit dark inside the room.
Have a look Mom! That guy started to talk to me!
He was a little bit confused, because I was outside the water. He invited me to join his basin, but I didn't have time to stay. Mommy, could we invite him to visit us at home some day?
I also found Nemo!!!
Can you see him?
Maybe it hurts if you touch the sea urchin...
Not as big as the other moray, but still terrifying.
Beautiful fishes!
After visiting all these beautiful fishes, we went to the AquaDom. It is a 25 metre tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with built-in transparent elevator. It is now the main attraction of the Berlin Sea Life Centre. The Aquadom is the largest acrylic cylinder in the world, with a diameter of about 11 metres, built on a 9 metres tall concrete foundation. Filled with 1,000,000 litres of seawater, it contains over 1,500 fish of 50 species. The feeding of the fish and the cleaning of the fish tank is performed daily by 3-4 full-time divers. They need 8kg fish food.
The windows you can see outside the water belong to a hotel where the elevator is inside.
First I was confused about the huge fish behind me... But then I noticed it could be a diver. I'm not sure!
The last fishes I met today were some koi carps. They were really big and I think also very expensive!
I went to the souvenir store of SeaLife and bought a tiny friend for myself. I'll call him "Crawfish-baby"
Or maybe you have a better idea for a name. I'm not sure if my new friend is a girl or a boy.
Mom, I hope you are not confused of so many pictures.
I'm so tired now. I think I'll go to bed!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 23, 2011, 12:01 am
today I had a closer look what a German Christmas Market is.
They offered roasted nuts and almonds, gingerbread, candied apples, fruits covered by chocolate, lots of Christmas stuff... And there was also a big wheel and some carousels.
This Christmas tree is a "traffic tree" at Breitscheidplatz. It is made of waste, found in the streets of Berlin.
Christmas tree @ Sony Center / Potsdamer Square
Christmas decorations to buy
Candies
Clothes to buy
The big wheel
There are also small stages where they have shows and little concerts.
I also saw the Coca-Cola Santa
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Dec 23, 2011, 11:10 am
So all I can do today is having a good breakfast.
Posted Dec 24, 2011, 7:38 pm
Santa has been here. In Germany he brings the presents in the evening of 24th December. I've been a good girl so I also got a present. We found the presents under the Christmas tree. Everybody got it's own color of ribbon. We unpacked it and whoohooo look what I got... my own scarf!!!
I hope Santa doesn't need so much time from Germany to US so that you'll find some presents tomorrow morning.
Love you Mom!
Crawfish
Posted Dec 28, 2011, 10:15 pm
today I went to the KaDeWe. It is the most famous department store of Berlin and the largest department store on the European continent, famous above all for its gourmet food department on the sixth floor.
When I came out of the store it became dark outside. I decided to have a look around if there's anything else interesting. I found a nice building. It's the "Theater des Westens". This private theatre designed by Bernhard Sehring and constructed in 1896 is a well-preserved example of magnificent bourgeois architecture. The form language floats in eclectic quotations, a mixture of styles from the antiquity, and the medieval and renaissance ages.
They have a famous show inside: Dance of the vampires!
I also met this lovely guy. He's a Buddy Bear. There are so many all over Berlin and there exist also more than 140 country bears with most of the countries of the world. And these bears are travelling around the world. They are tall toyvoyagers!!!
Can you see me on his right shoulder?
And I found a huge snowman. WOW. Amazing!
Look, there's a Buddy Bear copy of the Quadriga, which is original placed on the top of the Brandenburg Gate.
That's all for now.
Yours, Crawfish
Posted Jan 2, 2012, 10:46 pm
Hello Mommy,
I hope you had a lot of fun last night!
At 6 pm we went out for dinner to a restaurant. It wasn't that special so we didn't take pictures.
At 8 pm we went to the Europe Center to watch a big firework!
Then we walked a little bit around and took a picture of the KaDeWe again. Sadly it was already closed.
So we went to the Christmas Market. Yeah, it was still opened. It was a little bit cold outside so we went into one of the cabins and enjoyed an original German Glühwein (hot spiced wine). It was really good to get warm.
At 10 pm we watched again a big firework at Europe Center!
Then we went to the Railway station to watch the big firework at midnight at Brandenburg gate! We didn't want to go to the party area.
Brandenburg gate is at the laser lights.
The firework at midnight was amazing! If you would have German channels on tv you could watch it!!! The party area is one of the biggest in Europe.
I'm still tired. Need more sleep!
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 8, 2012, 9:23 pm
it is still raining outside
I don't like the weather at the moment.
But we had to go out and visit the Museum Island.
This is the Old National Gallery
My next stop was the Berlin Cathedral
Behind the Cathedral you can see the famous TV tower
This is Lustgarten behind me. And the blue box is called Humboldtbox.
The horse is not a real one. It's a statue in front of the Old Museum.
Once again Berlin Cathedral.
This is the Altes Museum (Old Museum) from the front.
My last stop was the Reichstag building.
Then I used the fastest way back "home". It was a little bit cold and wet!
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 11, 2012, 11:14 pm
today we welcomed a new tv. His name is Mr. Furrington. He arrived from England.
Joe opened the enveloped with a scissor.
Mr. Furrington gave all of us some sweets. Very tasty!
And he brought some cards with him and showed us his presents he got from Santa.
Lovely guy!
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 11, 2012, 11:27 pm
today Greeny left us! He'll go back home to Munich.
Joe, Mr. Furrington and I cuddled him a lot. It was really sad to say goodbye. Maybe I'll meet him again one day.
Yours, Crawfish
Posted Jan 16, 2012, 8:51 pm
Today it's Sunday and I had to get up at 4.30 am!!! Can you believe it?!?!? My host had to work and so she decided to take us with her.
Here you can see the famous Ku'damm (short form of Kurfürstendamm)! It is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard is full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular, many fashion designers have their shops there! The avenue with four lines of plane trees runs for 3.5 km (2.2 mi) through the western Berlin. As you can see there isn't anybody on Sunday before 6 am except ME!
When my host finished work in the afternoon, the sun was shining and we did some sightseeing.
First we went to the Victory Column. It is a major tourist attraction to the city of Berlin. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy".
This is the Spree. It is the main river of Berlin. It is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length. First I wanted to jump into the water, but... it looked really cold, so I decided to stay on the bridge.
Here you can see the Haus der Kulturen der Welt ("House of the Cultures of the World" ). It is Germany's national centre for contemporary non-European art. It presents art exhibitions, theater and dance performances, concerts, author readings, films and academic conferences on non-European Visual Art and culture. This building is a gift from the United States, designed in 1957. John F. Kennedy spoke here during his June 1963 visit to West Berlin. To Berliners it is also known as the Schwangere Auster ("pregnant oyster" ).
This freestanding tower behind me is called "Carillon". It is built face to face with the Reichstag building and next to the house of the Cultures of the World. Most of the tourists don't see it, but I did. It is a large, manually played concert instrument, comprising 68 bells weighing a total of 48 metric tonnes (almost 106,000 lbs.) connected to a keyboard spanning 5½ fully chromatic octaves; the largest bell weighs 7.8 tonnes (almost 17,200 lbs.). It is one of the largest instruments of its kind in Europe and approximately the fourth largest (by number of bells) in the world.
And I also saw a new animal, I didn't know before. Can you see the bird on my picture?
Behind the Carillon we found some statues made of stone. They look really strange!
Then I walked to the German Bundestag which is located in the Reichstag Building. I've been here before few days ago.
I also fullfilled a part of my missions. Here I'm posing in front of the German flag. It is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (not yellow!). It represents German unity and freedom, not only the freedom of Germany, but also the personal freedom of the German people.
The colors have a simple meaning! They were used for uniforms of the warriors: black suit with golden buttons and red emblems for the soldiers.
This is the Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergartenpark. It is one of several war memorials in Berlin erected by the Soviet Union to commemorate its war dead, particularly the 80,000 soldiers of the Soviet Armed Forces who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945.
I also stopped at the Brandenburg Gate. It is one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany.
And look, what I found next to that gate! The embassy of the United States of America! I felt a little bit home.
As you already know, I'm going on a big adventure soon!
Yours happy Crawfishiiiiiii
Posted Jan 18, 2012, 9:08 pm
Joe left us today. I think I'll miss him a little bit. We had so much fun together. Maybe we'll meet again some day!
Yours, Crawfish
Posted Jan 24, 2012, 10:50 pm
today we did a short stopover in Frankfurt/Main. Frankfurt is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a population of 688,000 inhabitants. It is the financial and transportation centre of Germany and the largest financial centre in continental Europe.
It was raining the whole day.
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 25, 2012, 2:50 pm
My host got a message that one of the guys from our trip is ill, so everything is cancelled now.
So my host decided to do a one day trip to one of the cities we wanted to visit.
Posted Jan 25, 2012, 3:20 pm
we stopped in a city called Cologne (German: Köln). It is Germany's fourth-largest city and is the largest city in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is located on both sides of the Rhine River.
First we visited the famous Cologne Cathedral. It is a Roman Catholic church and it is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day!
The cathedral was built between 1248 and 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spire and largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio of any medieval church.
We also saw the Rhine river. It is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,233 km (766 mi). Here you can see the view above the river and a part of Cologne taken from the Hohenzollern Bridge.
This bridge is famous for its love padlocks! There were so many! WOW!
Most of the day it was raining. I hope to see some snow these days instead of rain.
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 26, 2012, 2:28 pm
Posted Jan 26, 2012, 2:48 pm
today we baked a cake.
First we needed some butter.
Mr. Furrington added all the flour and sugar.
We added some eggs and I also added some cocoa.
Then everything had to be mixed.
We also needed some cherries.
We put the dough into a spring form and put the cherries on top.
It took about 1 hour until we could take the cake out of the oven.
Ouhhh it looks tasty, but it was still really hot.
At least we added some frosting on the top of the cake. Hmmm delicious!
I would send you some cake, Mom, but I'm sorry, me and Mr. Furrington ate all the cake!
Yours Crawfish
Posted Jan 26, 2012, 3:47 pm
today it was beautiful weather outside! No rain and lots of sun! But it was coooo-brrrrrr-ooold!
I walked around the small village. As you can see it is winter outside - without snow.
The ground was frozen!
I stopped next to a solar power station. Looks interesting.
There was a way to one of the lakes. The sign says something like rowing club. As I know, they need water to do their sports. Ok, so it was the correct way!
Have a look to that lake. It's huge. The official name of the lake is "Abandoned quarry Golpa II" but everybody just calls it "Gurke" (eng: Cucumber). I heard that there are lots of people go swimming here in summer, but now, there was nobody!
I can walk on water - whooohooo!!! First I was afraid to fall into the water, but nothing happened.
Hmm that sign says that the area could be slippery in case of algaes, but I think nothing is more slippery than the ice on the water!
Now I'm back where it is warm! I still can't feel my feet. I think I'll take a hot shower!
Love, Crawfish
Posted Jan 28, 2012, 2:20 pm
Hey Mummy,
when I opened my eyes this morning the whole world was totally white! Me and Mr. Furrington jumped out of the bed and went outside. The snow looks interesting. And it is really cold!!! I think I froze my ass off! But I really enjoyed the time outside!
I had a walk around the village again.
Here you can see me in the tiny park with the tiny church.
Look, everything is white!
Also the streets are white! I wonder how the cars can drive on it!
I think I know how a snow covered tree feels like.
When we were back inside the house we jumped on the heating. It felt so good!
Both of us were really hungry from our adventure in the snow, so we decided to cook something.
First we put some meat into the pan.
Then we read the instructions for "Chili con carne".
Ouh, we also needed some kidney beans!
We added everything into the pan.
Our host's Mom cooked some spaghettis. Doesn't it look delicious?
I think I ate too much. I'll take a nap for a few hours...
Love you, Mummy!
Crawfish
Posted Jan 29, 2012, 3:01 pm
Some animals left their marks in the snow. We tried to find out, what kind of animals... The first ones could be a fox or marten. Or maybe a wild cat! Who knows?!
The other marks looked like birds. Lots of birds!!!
Today the weather was perfect for going sledding. It was fun!
We also built an igloo. Mr. Furrington caved a hole into the snow, but I think it was too small for me.
Posted Feb 3, 2012, 8:09 pm
there's still snow around...
Today we did another walk through the small village.
Here you can see me at the Walther-Rathenau-Square. If I would walk to the end of the street, I would reach the old power station. Maybe I've some time to visit it in the upcoming weeks.
We went into a store where they offer the post office, stationery, lottery and gifts. We had to wait a while, so we had time to take a picture.
This building is called "Platanenhof". It was built in the 90th and when it was about 2 years old, it startet to collapse. There are tiny breaks at some walls.
Look at this beautiful sky!
This is the new fire department.
This is the old clubhouse. It was a famous building in the 70th and 80th, but now it looks more like a ruin.
All these buildings were renewed in the year 1999. All are yellow with red roofs.
This is the old secondary school. My host's Mom worked there until they moved to another village few years ago. Now the elementary school is housed.
Can you see the white building behind us? This is the old elementary school before they moved to the other building.
I had to walk to the end of the street. Really long way for a tiny toyvoyager!
Do you remember this building? I've been here a few days ago! It's the tiny catholic church.
And have a look what temperature we have!!! Do you think it is cold?
We are going back to Berlin the upcoming week!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Feb 4, 2012, 8:08 pm
Later we had some fun in the snow, again. Pictures will follow!
Posted Feb 4, 2012, 8:42 pm
as I told you before we went out in the afternoon to have some fun in the snow!
First we built a snowman. It wasn't easy. The snow is not perfect for making snowmen!
Then we saw that big hill! We decided to go sledding. It was so much fun last time.
I tried to sled backwards.
Then Mr. Furrington wanted me to nudge him.
I sledded directly behind him on my butt. It also worked!
While Mr. Furrington was too fast, he fall off of the sleigh and I fall on him. Happily nobody broke a bone!
Later we found some icicles. It's nice enjoying the sun and licking an icicle.
When we went home, Mr. Furrington wanted to sled again. He fall off the sleigh very badly so he could sit on the sleigh while I moved it back home.
You'll hear from me soon!
Love,
Craw-brrrr-fi-brrr-sh
Posted Feb 6, 2012, 11:02 am
today we went to work with our host. She's working in a hotel near the famous Kurfürstendamm.
First we charged some credit cards. I think Mr. Furrington charged a little bit too much!
We also had some fun with all the paper clips.
Mr. Furrington and I marked all places on a map where we have been.
I showed him where I've been and met some of my relatives.
We both got a keycard for our own room!
I wanted to call you, Mom, but you didn't answer. I'm sure I used the correct number.
So we called the pizza service and ordered something to eat. Hmmm delicious!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Feb 7, 2012, 11:58 pm
today I've been to the Central Station. Do you remember, Mom? I've been here on New Year's Eve! It is the main railway station in Berlin. 1,800 trains call at the station per day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000!
From here you can do non-stop travels to Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Novosibirsk (Russia) or Astana (Kazakhstan).
As you can see, there are many shops inside.
I've also been to the river Spree again. I've been here few weeks ago. Now there's no river. Just ice, ice and more ice! You can nearly walk on it! But I'm from California, I think it's a little bit tooooooo cold for me.
Tomorrow we are planning to go to another famous place in Berlin.
Love, Crawfreezingfish
Posted Feb 8, 2012, 10:35 pm
once again another update.
Today I've been to Alexanderplatz. Berliners often call it simply Alex. It is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the tv tower. In the center of the square there's the much-graffitied "Fountain of Friendship between Peoples" (Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft).
On one side of the Alex you can find the "Worldtime Clock". It is a clock which displays the time for various cities around the world.
Next to the Alex there's the famous tv tower "Fernsehturm". It was constructed between 1965 and 1969 and with its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The tower is part of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT).
Then I went to an "East Germany store". When Germany was devided into West and East, it was not possible to travel a lot. So relatives sent packages from one country to the other. This store still offers German product which can't be found anywhere else.
Here you can see something we bought as a gift for a friend of our host. That red chicken is a typical eggcup. The red beaker is a toothbrush tumbler for journeys. When you are travelling you put it in your bag and it looks like the mirror.
And also some sweets: Lutherbrot (bread of Luther).
That's all for today.
Yours Crawfish
Posted Feb 10, 2012, 8:11 pm
We saw a camera crew. I'm sure they were searching for us, but me and Mr. Furrington are really shy!
Exciting!
Posted Feb 12, 2012, 7:34 pm
here are some more updates of the Berlinale. Today I went to Potsdamer Square again. First I show you some of the buildings around here.
This is Sony Center, also a part of Potsdamer Square.
The roof looks really interesting!
This is the theater of Potsdamer Square. Normally there's a musical inside, but at the moment it is the main place for the Berlinale Festival. There's a red carpet in front of the building!
So many people are waiting to see any famous people (I heard Brangelina and Meryl Streep are here, too!)
This is the bear of the Berlinale. It looks the same every year.
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Feb 14, 2012, 8:17 pm
today we did another tour. It is not as cold as it has been last week, but now it is really wet!
First we went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial. It is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It consists of a 19,000 square metres site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38 m long, 0.95 m wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.8 m.
Once again I stopped at Potsdamer Square. Did you know that Meryl Streep will be here tonight? And Robert Pattinson will be here on weekend!
I also went to the river Spree again. There is not as much ice on it as it was last week.
And I stopped at Checkpoint Charlie. It was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Feb 16, 2012, 8:41 pm
First we peeled an orange.
Then we also needed a banana and some kiwis.
We cut the kiwis into slices.
Everything had to be on a plate. And we also used some chocolate.
Hmmm, looks tasty, doesn't it?
And it feels a little bit like holidays.
Posted Feb 20, 2012, 11:53 pm
today I did a walk to the river Mulde. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length. I stopped at the river just 3km south of the place where it flows into the river Elbe. Near the river is a big area called "Tiergarten". Every year this area is flooded. There's still some water left as you can see, it's just frozen.
I was told that there are lots of Chinese mitten crabs trying to climb up the wall next to me and fall down into the water after a few centimeters. Stupid crabs! I couldn't see any, maybe it was too cold for them.
Behind me you can also see the town hall on the right (white tower), the Marienkirche with its red roof and behind the trees you can also see the small tower of the castle.
In the evening I met a cat called Alexis. She is a nice girl!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Feb 21, 2012, 8:05 pm
Posted Feb 22, 2012, 11:44 pm
My host told me that maybe I'm going on a big world tour without using a plane or something else. What could this be?!
I was also told a young lady from California is travelling to Berlin to meet me. Ouuuh....girl talk!!! Mommy I heard you already know her?! I'm excited!
Posted Feb 24, 2012, 11:58 pm
It was Pieksi. We gave him a warm welcome hug when he left the envelope.
Posted Feb 25, 2012, 10:48 pm
The eye noticed us and whooop an arm came out of the hole. We decided to help that creepy creature!
It was Woozy. He takes part at the GTVT and will stay for about one month. I hope he'll never scare us again the way he did today!
Posted Feb 27, 2012, 9:12 pm
I'm still tired, because the last night was a little bit too long! We watched the Academy Awards on tv! What an amazing show!
In the afternoon we decided to walk a little bit through the city. We stopped at the East Side Gallery. It is an international memorial for freedom and it is a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall. The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all over the world.
Next to the East Side Gallery we saw the O2 World, a multi-use indoor arena. With a capacity of 17,000 people, it is home to the Eisbären Berlin ice hockey club and the ALBA Berlin basketball team and is used for other ice hockey, basketball and handball matches as well as concerts!
Mommy, did you watch the film "Run Lola Run"? Then you will know the bridge on the next picture!
It's a double-deck bridge crossing Berlin's River Spree called Oberbaum Bridge (German: Oberbaumbrücke). It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former boroughs that were divided by the Berlin Wall and has become an important symbol of Berlin’s unity.
And once again the River Spree! I've been to this river many times before: when the sun was shining, when it was covered by ice and now while it was raining! I think we'll become good friends, because I already know the river so well!
That's all for today!
Good night!
Crawfish
Posted Mar 2, 2012, 6:39 pm
today I've been to Bernauer Straße. When Berlin was a divided city, the Berlin Wall erected in 1961 ran along this street. Bernauer Straße became famous for escapes from windows of apartment blocks in the eastern part of the city, down to the street, which was in the West. Several people died here when the border was first enforced.
As the street itself belonged to the French sector of West Berlin the entrances and windows of the houses on the southern side were successively bricked up by the East German border guards and access to the roof was blocked.
After the Wall came down, Bernauer Straße was the location of one of the longer preserved sections. Part of it was turned into a memorial park in 1999 with a recreation of actual border fortifications.
This is an old watch tower and a tiny part of the wall.
I also had a look through a small hole in the wall. Can you see the houses on the other side?
These are some paintings from different periods of the street next to the wall.
This is the Chapel of Reconciliation. It stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation (Versöhnungskirche), which was destroyed in 1985 in order ‘to increase the security, order and cleanliness on the state border with West Berlin’ according to the official justification by the GDR (German Democratic Republic) government.
Here you can see the park with some old original parts of the wall.
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 7, 2012, 3:58 pm
today was a really long day!
We started at 5 a.m. and took a picture with some Buddy Bears. They look like the Quadriga on the top of the Brandenburg Gate!
Later the day we went to the airport. First we thought we are going to fly to a nice place, but we just picked somebody up.
Look at the big plane!
And then we did a sightseeing tour by night! First we went to the Sony Center. It is a Sony-sponsored building complex located at the Potsdamer Platz. There you can find shops, restaurants, a conference centre, hotel rooms, luxurious rented suites and condominiums, offices, art and film museums, cinemas, an IMAX theater, a small version of Legoland, and a "Sony Style" store.
I've been here in February, do you remember?
This is the giraffe of Legoland. Huge!
We also stopped at the Brandenburg Gate.
I've also been here about 2 months ago.
We met a statue of an Ampelmännchen! Ampelmännchen is the symbolic person shown on traffic lights at pedestrian crossings in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany). Prior to the German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally male figure wearing a hat in the east.
The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in Eastern Germany, "enjoying the privileged status of being one of the few features of communist East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed." After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.
It's after midnight, I think I have to go to bed!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 7, 2012, 4:41 pm
today I've been to the famous wax museum Madame Tussauds!
There were so many sculptures and they all looked so real!
I met Albert Einstein. He told me something about E=mc² and other physics, but I didn't understand anything!
I also met George Clooney. I told him that we are nearly "neighbors". He invited me to visit him when we are both back to the sunny state.
In the evening we went to the cinema and watched the movie \"This Means War\". Really funny! You should watch it, Mom!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 8, 2012, 10:46 am
today I visited the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, again. I've been here at the end of last year. But this time I visited the whole park of Wörlitz!
This is the Wörlitz Palace.
Here you can see St Peter's Church.
This is the rock island with the volcano Vesuvius and Villa Hamilton on it.
On our way to the island we saw this amazing gate. Can you see us?
Behind us you can see the Pantheon. Not many visitors see it, because it is at the end of the park. Most people take the short way by ferry.
The river Elbe is about 6km away from here, but look, behind the dike is still some water from the flood left!
This lake is called "Tiny Walloch". On the other side you can see the White Bridge.
Once again the Palace. Can you see it?
Look at the temple of Venus. We were allowed to pose for a picture in front of her.
Under the "Cliff of Luise" are many underground tunnels. Spooky! We walked through all of them!
This is the Chain Bridge, from bottom and top. It was funny to run over it.
Under the Chain Bridge we found a nice place to rest. Behind us you can see the High Bridge.
This building is the flora temple and in front the flora garden. But there are no flowers at the moment. It is still too cold.
And once again the White Bridge. Isn't it beautiful?
Look, some flowers are already awake!!!
This is the Gothic house. It looks different from both sides!
We climbed on a tree to fulfill one of Pieksis Life Missions! Normally there are many peacocks sitting on the tree!
The house in the background is the palm house. In winter all palms are "sleeping" there, because the winter is too cold for them!
At the end of the park there was a tunnel, again. There was also a labyrinth made of stones and bushes. With some unknown statues in it.
Can you see us?
This is the map of the whole park. It is so big! My tiny feet hurts! But it was a wonderful day!
Love you,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 11, 2012, 7:25 pm
another day with wonderful weather. We had a walk through the city. First we went to the place where the "West Port Canal" runs into the river Spree.
This is my friend Spree.
After crossing a bridge we went to the garden of the Charlottenburg Palace. It is the largest palace in Berlin and the only royal residency in the city dating back to the time of the Hohenzollern family. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. It includes much exotic internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was added behind the palace, including a belvedere, a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. During the Second World War, the palace was badly damaged but has since been reconstructed. The palace with its gardens are a major tourist attraction.
First we had a look to the map.
This is the tea house "belvedere".
The gardens of Charlottenburg Palace.
The carp pond.
The Mausoleum was built as a tomb for Queen Luise between 1810 and 1812.
The woodland.
Charlottenburg Palace in the background and the Orangerie in the foreground.
We left the Charlottenburg Palace and went to the Großer Tiergarten which is simply known as Tiergarten.
It is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality. The park is of 210 hectares (520 acres); and among urban gardens of Germany, only the Englischer Garten of Munich (417 ha/1,030 acres) is larger!
We walked through the whole garden, from east to west!
This is the memorial of Goethe, a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath.
This is the memorial of the composers Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.
In the Tiergarten you can find many trees, ponds and small lakes.
Then I arrived at the "Golden Lizzy". I've been here long time ago.
Next to Lizzy I saw the Bismarck Monument. It's really big!
At the end of the walk I saw one of the watergates of the Landwehrcanal. But this time there was no ship.
I think I walked a little bit too much! I'm so tired!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 11, 2012, 9:13 pm
today I've been on a journey around the world!!!
First I went to the Universal Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Then I went to Florida. I didn't know that they also have palm trees.
As a souvenir for you I got a pin and a pen. I hope you like it!
(Btw, I just went to the world's largest tourism trade fair - ITB.)
Yours, Crawfish
Posted Mar 12, 2012, 1:39 pm
The weather was really bad!
Posted Mar 13, 2012, 4:28 pm
We opened it and a tiny giraffe came out. It's Kirin.
We gave her a warm welcome hug.
She gave us a card, some sweets and a little present.
Pieksi was allowed to open it. It was a rooster magnet.
Crawfish
Posted Mar 13, 2012, 8:16 pm
today I went to the post office to pick up something special.
With my little present I went to a park where I found an empty bench.
I opened the envelope and had a look inside. It was DuDette. I helped her out and cuddled her a lot.
She gave me a lovely souvenir from San Francisco. I think it is for our host, but we didn't tell her yet.
I wanted to take out the card, but it didn't work. So DuDette broke the whole envelope.
It's a lovely card!
I told the others to wait in the park. When we arrived I introduced DuDette to them.
We just did some group pictures today.
First a "girls"-pic with DuDette and Kirin.
Later we all climbed on a tree. Behind us you can see the new "Total"-tower.
When we were back "home" we started to talk about everything. DuDette told me that she already met my Mom few weeks ago! This world is so small!
While we were talking the boys prefered to take a nap. Poor guys.
See you soon,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 14, 2012, 7:27 pm
I'm in the middle of the city and there's so much nature around!
Also near the central station! Last time I've been here it was really cold!
There's Potsdam Square (somewhere behind me you can see Sony-Center), where I visited the Berlinale festival!
And once again river Spree with a nice bridge.
I've been to the House of the Cultures of the World and I found a funny sign. It is written in German and Turkish! In some areas in Berlin you have stores where everything is written in Turkish, can you believe this??? Btw the sign means: "Don't climb on the roof! Danger to life!"
Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).
Have a look, the Reichstag looks the same as it does the last time I've been here!
My last stop was the Mauerpark. The name translates to "Wall Park", referring to its status as a former part of the Berlin Wall and its Death Strip. Today the park is one of the most popular places for young residents of Berlin, especially from the fashionable district of Prenzlauer Berg, and attracts basketball players, jugglers, musicians, and many other types of people. It is a crowded leisure ground and a site of sustainable improvised nightlife, especially in the summer, and has also become notorious for Walpurgis Night riots in recent years. There are two stadiums next to the park.
Love you
Crawfish
Posted Mar 15, 2012, 7:18 pm
today we walked a little bit through the districts Wilmersdorf and Schöneberg.
First we saw a playground. We all wanted to play, but we were too young. Hmm...
This is a park which crosses both districts. There are many people, kids, dogs etc. esp when the sun is shining and it is warm outside.
Can you see the golden deer in the left upper corner? It is part of the deer fountain.
That's all for today.
Love you
Crawfish
Posted Mar 18, 2012, 7:59 pm
today we went to one of the flea markets in Berlin. It was really strange to see what people are selling and buying!
Then I went to the Gendarmenmarkt. It is a square in Berlin with 2 cathedrals and the Konzerthaus between them. During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. Today all the buildings are restored to their former state.
On my picture you can see the French Cathedral. It is the older of the two cathedrals and was built by the Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705. The cathedral was modeled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France.
And I got another picture of the famous tv tower!
Love you,
Crawfish
Posted Mar 20, 2012, 10:29 pm
Later Alex decided to take some professional pictures of us. He didn't show us the results yet. Crazy cat! I hope I'm going to have a good picture!
Happy Crawfishiiiiiii
Posted Mar 22, 2012, 9:36 pm
But first Alex finally showed us the pictures he has taken!
That's me!
We also took some group pictures.
We built a pyramid, but as you can see we are no artists!
Then we started with the party. First I got their birthday card which they all signed.
They gave me their present.
It was a passport with all my informations inside.
Then we organized some drinks. I also gave DuDette a birthday cuddle as she celebrated her own birthday alone in a dark envelope few days before she arrived in Berlin.
The drink was delicious... aIiii Wuaaaandt soooam moooooure! Hiiiks.
Crawww-hiiiks-fiiish-hiiiks
Posted Mar 24, 2012, 5:37 pm
the weather was so beautiful! We all had a hangover from last evening, but some fresh air should help.
First we crossed a nice bridge.
We stopped at a lake which is called "Gremminer See", a lake created as a result of the redevelopment of the former brown coal strip mine of Golpa-Nord. At the end of the lake you can see Ferropolis. "The city of iron" is an open museum of old huge industrial machines. It's an open air museum which contains machines from the mid-twentieth century. They can measure to 30 meters high, 120 meters long and weigh up to 1980 tons. Moreover, the area is used for several events like opera or music festival like the Melt! festival or the "Ferropolis in Flammen".
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Mar 24, 2012, 6:08 pm
Then we used the freeway. Did you ever drove about 115 mph? It felt like flying. Whooaaaa. So we decided to use the seat belt.
Back to Berlin we had to say goodbye to Mr. Furrington. He's going to Canada! I'll miss him a lot.
Crawfish
Posted Mar 27, 2012, 6:01 pm
Later we shared some sweets and hugged Pieksi.
Then he crawled into his envelope. We wish him a save journey.
Posted Mar 29, 2012, 7:59 pm
today I climbed up a hill. It wasn't easy!
But it was worth it! I had a wonderful view over the north-east of the city. Can you see the houses on the horizon?
The way back down was not better.
Yours, Crawfish
Posted Mar 30, 2012, 12:08 pm
today we went to school!!!
In our first lesson we had to paint ourselves. It was not easy, but have a look:
I think all of us did a good job!
Love
Crawfish
Posted Mar 30, 2012, 2:45 pm
today I visited the area around the castle again and showed it to the others. As you know I've been here in December, but now it's a little bit warmer.
This is the castle from the front:
Look, some of the windows are not real, just painted on the wall!
The garden view of the castle:
There's a fountain in the garden, but there's no water inside. It's still too cold in the night. I'm still waiting for the palm trees in the garden!
Then we climbed up an old bridge.
And finally we saw the Chinese pagoda. It is so beautiful!
Under the pagoda was that spooky tunnel again!
There's also lots of water in the park, but I really don't want to swim in it. Looks dirty!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Mar 31, 2012, 10:06 pm
today we visited an old power station. In 1916, eight turbines capable of 16 MW each were generating a total of 128 MW, making the Zschornewitz power plant the world's biggest brown-coal-fired power station.
On 30 June 1992 came the power plant's final shutdown. The Kolonie and parts of the plant were granted protection as a memorial. In 1995, the preserved part of the old power plant became an industrial memorial.
The old boiler house.
The old cooling tower.
The last 2 chimneys. They will be blasted away the upcoming week. I hopefully will take part and maybe show you a picture!
Then we drove through the old garden-city-like workers' community "Kolonie".
And this is the view of the village in the evening. Can you see the chimneys?
See you soon,
Crawfish
Posted Apr 1, 2012, 10:43 pm
this evening I went to Gräfenhainichen, again. Last time I showed you the lake and Ferropolis.
This is the church Sankt Marien. In the night you can see spooky shadows of it in the sky.
And this is the Paul-Gerhardt-House. He's a famous man of the city.
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Apr 3, 2012, 11:12 pm
today I saw a famous car, a Trabant. The name, meaning 'satellite' or 'companion' in German, was inspired by Soviet Sputnik. The cars are often referred to as the Trabbi or Trabi. Since it could take years for a Trabant to be delivered from the time it was ordered, people who finally got one were very careful with it and usually became skillful in maintaining and repairing it. The lifespan of an average Trabant was 28 years. Used Trabants would often fetch a higher price than new ones, as the former were available immediately, while the latter required the infamous long wait.
The Trabant was a steel monocoque design with roof, bootlid/trunklid, bonnet/hood, bumpers/fenders and doors in Duroplast, a form of plastic containing resin strengthened by cotton. This helped the GDR to avoid expensive steel imports but, in theory, did not provide much crash protection, although in crash tests it allegedly performed better than some contemporary Western hatchbacks.
Btw many people say the car is made of paperboard.
In the evening Woozy left us. His next stop is Heidelberg. Goodbye dude!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Apr 5, 2012, 6:41 pm
today was the big explosion of the 2 chimneys. It was really loud and when they crashed to the ground it felt like an earthquake! There were so many people watching it!
We took a picture when the chimneys were still standing.
And now, everything is gone! Just a big cloud full of dust was coming to our place. Brrrrr.... We were all grey!
Look, few days ago we were on the tiny street on the left side to take a picture of the chimneys. Do you remember? Now everything was closed! People had to leave their houses...
As we couldn't take a picture during the explosion with us, here you can see a picture of it and a video!
Video
After this exciting day the bed is calling!
See you soon!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 5, 2012, 7:50 pm
Posted Apr 6, 2012, 8:14 pm
today we walked up some stairs. We didn't know why...
On the top of the hill we had a wonderful view over the east city! But it was really cold. I think winter is coming back!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Apr 8, 2012, 7:09 pm
today I found a wonderful yellow flower. It's a daffodil, but in German it is called something like "Easterbell" (Osterglocke).
Later I decided to seed my own little flower. I hope it will grow fast!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Apr 8, 2012, 7:50 pm
Today we went to the garden to search for some easter eggs!
I couldn't imagine to find some, because it was green all around me. But I found one next to a flower.
When we were back in the house we ate our easter eggs. It was so much to eat! But it was really delicious. I thought I'm bursting.
Later we found another big egg. What would it be?
We opened it and what a surprise! Alex was inside. He gave a tiny easter egg to all of us as a little surprise. Lovely cat!
I hope your weekend was nice, too.
Crawfish
Posted Apr 14, 2012, 9:42 pm
today we did a trip to the former brown-coal open cast mine of Goitzsche. The lake is also called "Bernsteinsee" (Lake of amber). It's about 840 hectars and it's located in the east of Saxony-Anhalt, near the city of Bitterfeld-Wolfen.
I met a really big and friendly fish.
The lake was a coal mine before so we could see lots of old stuff from that time, like the big train.
This is the onliest villa next to the lake.
Love you,
Crawfish
Posted Apr 14, 2012, 11:16 pm
today we went to the water again. We stopped at the river Mulde. It is 124 km in length. Its name could be derived from Old German "Mulda", meaning "dust" and a cognate of English "mould". But more possibly it is related to the German "mahlen" which means "to mill". Therefore, Mulde probably means "the milling river" and corresponds to the great number of water mills driven by the river in former times.
Btw I've been to that river in another city, do you remember Mom? But there it was cold and cloudy and today the weather was wonderful, just a little bit too cold for swimming!
Can you see the water behind the river? This is the lake I've been yesterday!
Next to us was a really big bridge! Later we passed it by car.
Under the bridge the river runs into the a lake called "Mulde-reservoir" (Muldestausee).
This is the lake. It's huge!
As you can see here are lots of lakes! Wow!!!
I'm on the white triangle on the map.
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Apr 15, 2012, 7:10 pm
today the weather was really good. So we decided to help our host a little bit in the garden.
When we were back in the house, I noticed that I was really dirty from the garden. So i took a bath. It felt so good! Of course I got a warm towel to dry myself.
Later Alex gave a lovely flower to all of us girls. He's a smart guy!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 17, 2012, 9:30 pm
Today I've been to Gendarmenmarkt again. Last time I showed you the French Church. This time I saw the New Church, colloquially referred to as the "German Cathedral", which is located across from French Church. Its parish comprised the northern part of the then new quarter of Friedrichstadt, which until then belonged to the parish of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church. The Lutheran and Calvinist (in German Reformed Church) congregants used German as their native language, as opposed to the French-speaking Calvinist congregation owning the French Church of Friedrichstadt on the opposite side of Gendarmenmarkt. The congregants' native language combined with the domed tower earned the church its colloquial naming. The church is not a cathedral in the actual sense of the word.#
Between both churches, in the middle of the square, you'll find the concert hall "Konzerthaus". It was built as a theatre from 1818 to 1821 under the name of the Schauspielhaus Berlin, its usage changed to a concert hall after the Second World War and its name changed to its present one in 1994.
Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees" ) is a boulevard which is named for its linden (lime in British English) trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways.
It starts at the famous Brandenburg Gate and ends near Berlin Cathedral/TV Tower. In the middle of the first pic you can see Brandenburg Gate. In the middle of the second you can see the Red City Hall.
Once again I stopped at the Holocaust Memorial. This time I walked through it...
Potsdam Square...it's always nice to be here.
Lots of kisses
Crawfish
Posted Apr 17, 2012, 10:21 pm
today I saw this funny building which is called Tempodrom. It's a place for events like concerts. It looks like a circus, just a little bit taller!
The German Museum of Technology was founded in 1982 in Berlin, Germany, and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The museum's main emphasis is on rail transport, but it also features exhibits of various sorts of industrial technology. Recently, it has opened both maritime and aviation exhibition halls. The museum also contains a science center called Spectrum.
The plane on the front of the museum is the building's famous C-47 'Raisinbomber' Skytrain which can be seen with ease from the top of the Fernsehturm.
We had a view over the fence inside the museum. They have different wind wheels...
Do you think I'm walking through the city? You are wrong! I use this yellow train! People call it metro (underground), but at some places it runs overground. Crazy city!
I also saw another train. This one was white. I heard it's the fastest train in Germany and is called ICE (Intercity-Express). It runs up to 186 mph, but in the city it is a little bit slower.
Crawfish
Posted Apr 20, 2012, 10:02 pm
The second one was from a German band called die ärzte. There was a game inside the cd-box!
So we decided to play the game. We had only 3 pegs so me & Kirin were one team, also Häppie_Sheep & DuDette. Alex was his own team.
It was fun to turn the cd like a cube. We had to move onward, backward, had to change our places etc. It was really fun!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 21, 2012, 8:28 pm
today we went to place called "Untermühle". It's just a small area with about 3-4 houses. My host didn't know where the name comes from so we asked some neighbors. After a while we found one who told us that there was a water mill loooong time ago. Sad we couldn't find anything left from the mill, just the name.
There was a big lake where it isn't allowed to do fishing. I'm not sure if there are fishes inside.
The water from the lake runs into a tiny river.
We crossed that tiny river by a really old bridge. They just cut a tree in half!
Altogether it is a really nice place to relax!
Love
Crawfish
Posted Apr 21, 2012, 9:25 pm
Alex organized a car today!
It was a cabriolet and there was enough space for all of us. I had to drive the car, because I'm the tallest!
We drove along some streets for a while...
...until we stopped on a really nice greenfield with lots of flowers.
We decided to do a picnic. Alex had everything we needed in his trunk: a blanket and something to eat.
We enjoyed the sun for a few hours and then we went back home. It was amazing to travel by car without any host!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 25, 2012, 8:34 pm
I did something, I think no toyvoyager did before! I saw some royals!
Maybe you remember when I visited the castle in Oranienbaum... Today I was back to that place! Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands visited the castle!!!
First we had to wait a while. Maybe our picture looks strange! But all of us had a several job, that's why we were fixed together. Kirin checked the right side, Häppie_Sheep the left (where the cars with the Queen came from), Alex and DuDette checked the front and I played the security for all of us! Behind us you can see the castle.
Somewhere in the crown you (maybe) can see the queen...
Look, all these cars and securities and police...
After a while we finally met some royalties! The man behind us is Eduard, Prince of Anhalt and his wife princess Corinna. His full name is Julius Eduard Erdmann Ernst-August Prinz von Anhalt and he is the head of the House of Ascania.
Princess Corinna looks really beautiful. And she smiled at us.
And then we finally saw Beatrix!
Awesome!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 26, 2012, 10:00 pm
Or as they say in German: "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag" (yep, I already leant some German, but Alex helped me with this sentence.)
I wish you all the best to your special day!
I'm really sorry, that I can't celebrate with you.
Your little Crawfish
Posted Apr 30, 2012, 7:34 pm
today we went to the Modellpark Berlin-Brandenburg. It's a park which shows all important buildings of Berlin and the area around (Brandenburg).
Can you see me on the balcony of the monastery church of Neuzelle?
We all did a stopover at the Grunewald Tower and the Reichstag.
At the moment it is not possible to visit the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Memorial-Church because it is totally wrapped. They restore it. So I was really happy to get a picture of this church in the park!
Yours,
Crawfish
Posted Apr 30, 2012, 8:18 pm
today we went to the Gardens of the World in district of Marzahn.
First we had a look to the Korean garden.
Then we saw the Chinese garden. So beautiful. It was surrounded by water. As it was really hot that day we decided to stay in the Chinese garden and relax near the water.
I think I got a sunburn.
Crawfish
Posted Apr 30, 2012, 9:54 pm
today we went to Pichelswerder, a stream island in the west of Berlin. Ok, it is not an island, just a peninsula.
I enjoyed the fresh breeze near the water.
The big trees didn't let the sun burn me again!
Can you image there is a lighthouse in Berlin? It's not a big one just a light beacon, but there's no ocean around! Can you see all the tiny ships behind it?
Crawfish
Posted May 1, 2012, 9:18 pm
today we did a tour by bike!
We went to one of the neighborhoods of my host's mom's hometown.
The park in the village was really beautiful and we saw a castle! It is a manor house which was built in the style of the renaissance.
Then we saw a direction sign to a mineral spring.
We followed the sign and arrived at a small hut, but we couldn't see any spring.
We went on between fields and forests and more fields... Can you see the other neighborhood in the background? Really tiny houses.
On our way back we stopped at the lake near "Untermühle". Do you remember? I've been here last week.
Lots of love,
Crawfish
Posted May 2, 2012, 8:49 pm
today we did another trip with Alex' car!
We already knew the way. At the place where you can see the light we had to turn right.
Turn right here!
Then we could see the fast street!
We entered the street and I hit the gas. I drove and drove and drove and whoooaaaa...
...we reached the highway! You can't imagine how fast we were!
Crawfish
Posted May 3, 2012, 10:41 pm
Posted May 6, 2012, 10:08 pm
today we visited the Funkturm Berlin (Radio Tower). It is a transmitting tower, built between 1924 and 1926 and it is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad"). The tower stands in the Berlin trade fair ground in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough and it is now a protected monument.
The tower is built as one large steel framework construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The 150 m high radio tower was originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m.
Crawfish
Posted May 10, 2012, 10:48 pm
did you read the last updates of DuDette, Alex and Squab (and DuDu)???
DuDette was kidnapped!
Hihi, they all don't know that we girls kidnapped her, just to test Alex if he's able to find some lost tvs! You have to know he's now a member of a Detective Agency.
He found DuDette, but couldn't find the kidnappers - Häppie_Sheep, Kirin and me! He was too small to have a look over the high fence!
Crawfish
Posted May 13, 2012, 11:02 pm
Today I've been to Potsdam. It is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and is situated on the River Havel, 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Berlin city centre.
We started our tour in the city center of this beautiful city. Behind DuDette and me you an see the Nauen Gate. It was built in 1755 and is one of the first examples of the influence of English Gothic Revival architecture in Continental Europe. It is located in close proximity to the Dutch Quarter, which you can see on the second picture. The Quarter is consisting of 134 red brick buildings in the Dutch style, almost all of which have been renovated. It was built from 1733 to 1740. It is considered as Europe's largest collection of Dutch-style houses outside the Netherlands.
This is Brandenburg Gate. Yes, Potsdam is also having one, but it is smaller than the one in Berlin. It was built in 1770/71.
This is the Protestant Church of Peace (Friedenskirche). It is situated in the Marly Gardens on the Green Fence in the palace grounds of Sanssouci Park.
Look, behind me you can see the famous palace of Sanssouci! This is the south view. You can also see the vineyards. Sanssouci is the name of the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. The castle with its parks and other castles is one of the biggest UNESCO World Heritages. The palace was built in the Rococo style between 1745 and 1747.
Here you can see the Sanssouci Picture Gallery. It is the oldest extant museum built for a ruler in Germany.
From the north side of Sanssouci Palace, between the columns, you can see the colonnade of the court of the Ruinenberg on the other side. A round temple, three high ionic columns, a small pyramid, and a ruined wall, designed as if from a Roman theatre, were grouped around the pool.
This is the Historic Mill and it became a famous well beyond the boundary of Potsdam. The design reflects construction methods around the year 1800, its technical equipment in part that of the turn of the 19th century. It is an octagonal post and has a height of 25.78 metres and, up to the upper edge of the sail, 35.45 metres. The stone pedestal is 13.41 metres, the wooden smock is 12.37 metres and the length of the rods is 12 metres each.
The Orangery Palace is also known as the New Orangery on the Klausberg. It was built by the Romantic on the Throne, Friedrich Wilhelm IV from 1851 to 1864. It has a 300 meter long front and lots of palm trees inside.
This is the New Palace and it is situated on the western side of the park. The building was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War and was completed in 1769. It is considered to be the last great Prussian baroque palace.
We also saw the Roman Baths of the the prince. This is the garden house and the house for its keepers. Both were built in Italian country house style.
The last we visited in the park was the Chinese House. It is a garden pavilion and it was built in the then-popular style of Chinoiserie, a mixture of ornamental rococo elements and parts of Chinese architecture.
So many palaces, I'm feeling like a princess, a little bit.
Crawfish
Posted May 16, 2012, 8:42 pm
First we hugged each other a lot, then we helped them into their envelopes.
First we said bye to Alex' brother Mr. Stanley. He got an invitation for some holidays abroad.
Then we helped Häppie_Sheep. She's going home.
Kirin is also going back home! She had a few problems to crawl into her envelope, but after a while she managed it and waved her hand to us.
I hope all of them will have a save journey!
Crawfish
Posted May 17, 2012, 8:48 pm
we made cupcakes!
First we took some of the ingredients which were already mixed.
Then all of us organized some missing ingredients. I brought eggs, Alex some milk (what else?!) and DuDette organized some cooking oil.
We mixed everything and put the dough into the cake tins.
After 20 minutes our little cakes were nearly ready.
Then we mixed the topping with whipped cream and added some decorations.
It was sooooo tasty!
I would send you a cake home, but we ate all of them!
Crawfish
Posted May 19, 2012, 7:22 pm
have a look, this is the urban freeway in Berlin! Maybe we can go there with our car!
And if you don't want to use the car, you can use a train!
When we arrived home we found an envelope!
We turned it around and a white mouse was jumping out of it! Her name is Gypsy and she will stay for about one month.
Crawfish
Posted May 22, 2012, 9:28 pm
We did a road trip!
DuDette, Gypsy and I jumped into the car and whoohoooo...
We started at one of the Berlin highways.
After a while we passed the state line of Saxony-Anhalt. Sad, it's not allowed to stop next to the sign.
Then we crossed the big river Elbe. Can you see the small brown sign?
Munich seems to be so far away, about 290 miles.
Have a look to the sky! Isn't it beautiful??? All the shafts of sunlight and the clouds!
We left the highway and used a street through the forest. I'm not sure if there are any animals living. I didn't see any.
Crawfish
Posted May 24, 2012, 7:34 pm
we did a bike tour today to the neighbor village called Möhlau. There are lots of lakes around, like in the whole area. We stopped at the biggest one where it is also allowed to go swimming.
This is a really flat area, but look, there are also small hills. We got so much speed downhill.
It was a sporty day!
Crawfish
Posted May 24, 2012, 8:31 pm
today when we girls relaxed in the park Alex invited us to his garden.
He showed us that there are many healthy things to eat. First we found a pieplant.
We cut one stack and brought it to our picnic place.
Alex cut the bottom. He told us that it is not eatable.
He also cut the big leaf, because we couldn't eat it, too.
Alex peeled the stack and put it around us. Crazy kitty! He cut the rest of the stack into pieces that all of us had enough to eat.
It was delicious and not as sour as we thought it could be.
Then we walked through the garden and the noses of the rodents found something interesting.
Alex and I opened the roof and the mice jumped in! Lots of fresh salad!
We took some leaves to the picnic where Gypsy and DuDette cut the salad into pieces.
They made rolls that it was easier to eat it. Delicious!
After so much food we were too tired to walk back home. So we used the car.
First we used a fast street where some chickens were watching us! Can you see them?
Then we used the freeway. I drove so fast!
Love you!
Crawfish
Posted Jun 2, 2012, 9:20 pm
do you remember this picture of January 28th???
There was lots of snow around! Today I've been to the same place again and have a look! It looks so different!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Jun 7, 2012, 11:02 am
I've been to Wörlitz again! I really like that park. There's always a new view. Now everything looks so much greener!
Wörlitz Palace.
The St Peter's Church.
The volcano Vesuvius and Villa Hamilton on it. I heard the volcano will erupt twice this year. Sounds spooky!
Look how high the church is!
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Jun 10, 2012, 7:44 pm
I've been to the castle of Oranienbaum again.
We had wonderful weather this day!
And finally there are lots of palm trees in the park.
We found a nice wagon where we could relax a little bit.
Then also found a lovely nostalgic bridge. It looks really special!
Look, the Chinese pagoda is so beautiful when the sun is shining.
This time we also visited the Chinese tea house. Can you see us?
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:31 pm
back to the capital!
I went to the Museum Island again and took a picture in front of the Old National Gallery. It is a gallery showing a collection of Neoclassical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork.
Then I met my friend, the Reichstag.
Love,
Crawfish
Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:53 pm
today we did a walk through the forest.
After a while we saw this beautiful bridge...
We went to the middle of the bridge and enjoyed the wonderful view over the lake.
Crawfish
Posted Jun 10, 2012, 9:37 pm
today we "felt" some speed!
First Alex showed us the city highway of Berlin. Maybe we're allowed to travel with his car on it one day...
Then we heard some noise. A plane crossed our view. It was so close and SO BIG!
Alex showed us another place where we could get a really cool picture with a big plane. We had to wait a little bit longer and during this time we decided to take another lovely picture.
Then we heard the noise and whooohooo... Have a look!
Crawfish
Posted Jun 23, 2012, 7:06 pm
Crawfish
Posted Jun 24, 2012, 6:50 pm
we did a road trip by car again.
We stopped to have a look at these beautiful purple flowers. I really like them.
Then we drove to the vegetable field to check out when it is time to harvest. Hmm, I think we have to wait a few more days.
We stopped again near some flowers and took one into our car. Isn't it beautiful?
Then we drove and drove and drove... until we arrived on a sunny place.
We decided to do a picnic. Alex put lots of stuff to eat and drink into the trunk. Brilliant kitty!
We enjoyed our picnic! We all got some lemonade and fruits. The mice got some cheese. We also had chicken, sausages and cake. Alex decided to drink milk instead of lemonade.
It was so delicious!
When we all were full we put the leftovers back into the trunk and drove home. We used a fast street, of course!
Kisses
Crawfish
Posted Jun 24, 2012, 8:35 pm
today I walked along the river Spree, you know, we are really good friends.
One of the many bridges in Berlin is the Moltke Bridge, one of the most beautiful ones I think. The bridge was completed in 1891 and is named after Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (1800–1891), chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years.
Behind the bridge you can see the "Federal Chancellery". You know, the inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).
Here you can see the House of the Cultures of the World, you know that it is called "pregnant oyster". Crazy people giving crazy names to everything!
This is the Bismarck Memorial. It is a prominent memorial statue dedicated to Prince Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia and the first Chancellor of the German Empire. I think I've been here before, but I'm not sure...
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Jun 26, 2012, 10:47 pm
Then they crawled into the envelope.
Crawfish
Posted Jul 1, 2012, 9:23 pm
we did a trip through the Düben Heath today. The Natural Park "Dübener Heide" (Düben Heath) comprises the south east of the state Saxony-Anhalt and a north western region of the state Saxony, having an overall size of about 75,000 hectares. It's situated between the rivers Elbe and Mulde. The largest mixed forest of Middle Germany, characterized by a glacial stamped landscape of hills, can be seen here.
And we saw lots of trees...
...and small villages...
...and more trees and villages...
...and less trees.
Look, we used the yellow street in the map. Everything around us is green.
Then we found Luther's Stone (Lutherstein). The legend says that Martin Luther always did a stop-over here to have a little lunch when he passed the trade route from the city Wittenberg to the city Leipzig.
It also says that he talked here to his students from Wittenberg, who walked with him to the stone. He traveled on to Worms.
The stone itself is a errant block composed of true granite.
Can you see me?
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Jul 1, 2012, 10:49 pm
we did another journey back to the Düben Heath again. Today we went to the southern end of the Heath to a small city called Bad Düben. It's situated in the north of the Free State of Saxony and the rivers Mulde and Elbe pass the city. It's a city of treatment at a health resort, like many other small cities in this area ("Bad" stands for a city with these offers). The name "Düben" comes from the Sorbian name "Dźěwin", but nobody really knows what it means. It could be a form of a family name which would mean sth like "place of Děva". It could also come from the words "děva" (Virgin) or "dźowka" (Daughter). Or it comes from the Sorbian name "Dzewin", which means "Home of the Dzew". Who knows...
The most famous sight of the city is the Slavic castle of Dibni (Düben). It was built in 981 as a legend says.
First we did a walk around the castle. It's not very big so we needed only a few minutes.
While we were walking around the castle we found an old ship-mill, a special watermill. The milling and grinding technology and the waterwheel are built on a floating platform on this type of mill.
Look, Napoleon I. did a stopover here in 1813!
Then we went to the courtyard of the castle. It was such an peaceful area! And we had a wonderful view to the river Mulde. Can you see it?
There are a lot of lovely fountains in this city, but we couldn't take pictures of all.
Then we discovered the tiny inner city.
This is the town hall. Each full hour between 9am and 6pm there are 2 billy goats meeting in front of the town hall tower (under the clock-face) as a symbol for dunno what... I didn't meet the goats.
The highest building of the city is the city church. It's just 203,41ft (62m) high!
This is the river Mulde I told you before. As you know I went to that river few months ago in another city.
And this is the only bridge crossing the river in the city.
I'm not so far away from home! Just aprx. 5900 miles! (Miles sounds closer than kilometers
) But I think I need a few hours more to SF than you, Mom.
This city owns another mill! It's a windmill! This mill was located on another place before, but had to move in case of a big airport. So it went to the Netherlands to be redecorated and then it moved to Bad Düben.
Next to the mill I met two nice sheep. They told me that they never saw someone like me before!
It was a really exciting day!
Alex told us he's having a really big surprise for his two ladies. We just have to wait a few days. Awww... what could it be??? Can't wait!!!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 3, 2012, 9:57 pm
today in the evening we said goodbye to Alex' little sister Peaches. She leaves tomorrow morning for her first journey!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 3, 2012, 10:23 pm
You can't imagine what happened today!!!
As I told you Alex had a BIG surprise for us! He organized a meeting with some other toyvoyagers. And LOOK who I met:
my beloved brother Wavy Gravy
He told me about his adventures.
After talking a lot we all decided to take a group picture.
(f.l.t.r.: Günther, Peaches, Alex, Cheerio, DuDette, Bernie, Wavy Gravy, me & Jethro)
Alex wanted to have a picture with the whole Californian gang. Crazy kitty!
"California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
Will melt your popsicle
Oooooh Oh Oooooh"
When we had to say goodbye to each other my brother gave me a good-luck-kiss. I hope we will meet again soon!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 4, 2012, 10:51 pm
We invited Liberty-Buddy-Bear and got some original American sweets.
Posted Jul 5, 2012, 12:07 pm
back to the main railway station once again where I met my brother on Tuesday!
Did you know that there's an underground (U-Bahn), too? Currently, it has only three stations, does not connect to any other U-Bahn line, and is operated as a shuttle line using a single train. It is the newest U-Bahn line and was opened in 2009. Not all stations are as nice as this one, but all trains of the U-Bahn are yellow.
Crawfish
Posted Jul 8, 2012, 6:48 pm
We weaseled onto the balcony and saw someone relaxing in Alex canvas chair! 
Who is this?
It turned out that the one in the canvas chair is a new guest. His name is Fiete and he'll stay for about one month. I think we'll have a lot of fun. He told us that nobody was at home when he arrived so he decided to wait for us while enjoying some sun.
Crawfish
Posted Jul 9, 2012, 10:34 pm
today we didn't really have time for sightseeing, but when our host went to her work we stopped for one picture. It's the backside of the Zions Church in the district Mitte. It's an evangelic church and it was dedicated in 1873. It was built on a hill of 52 meters (170.60 ft), one of the highest points of the former Berlin. The tower itself got a high of 67 meters (219.82 ft) and serve as a reference point and viewpoint. The specific characteristic of the church is that the nave isn't align to the east, like it is normal. That one is align to the north!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 13, 2012, 10:05 pm
today we did a ride by car through our host's Mom's hometown. It was the first car-ride for Fiete, he had some problems when the car started.
This is a small village in Saxony-Anhalt. There's not so much to tell, just that they had the biggest power station of the world about 100 yrs ago. But as you know I already showed you pix of here before.
Yours Crawfish
Posted Jul 15, 2012, 7:47 pm
once again we discovered this small village!
We started with the town sign. What a difficult name!
It's really green around here.
This is the new control-room for the old power station, but it's closed for years.
There's also a sports ground in this village.
The street where we live...sometimes! I showed you before...in winter...in spring...
On this street I learnt driving a car.
Then we walked to the park.
In this park you can see the catholic church. It's really small and... pink!
I never noticed this before!
After this walk Alex, Chalon and I relaxed on a bench while the others walked through the rest of the village.
I think this walk was enough for me!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 15, 2012, 11:01 pm
we did a road trip again!
First we went through villages and forests. It was not the best weather. Have a look to the sky - it's blue and grey and really dark!
After a while we arrived in Dessau. It is situated on a floodplain where the Mulde flows into the Elbe. Maybe you never heard of this city before, but you may have heard of some of its sons, like Hugo Junkers (first airplane totally made from metal, the Junkers J 1 in 1915 - founded the Junkers & Co-airplane-factory which was Europe's biggest airplane factory during World War II), Thomas Kretschmann (Hollywood actor), Dieter Hallervorden (famous comedian and singer, honorary citizen) or Moses Mendelssohn (philosopher, father of Haskalah).
This is the old brewery. It doesn't work anymore, there's such a small adventure park inside.
The building on the left is the biggest shopping mall of the city, called "Rathaus Center".
The tower is part of the City History Museum.
The most famous bridge crosses the river Mulde.
When we arrived at the place we wanted to go we had to wait a while in the car, it was raining cats and dogs.
I visited the famous Bauhaus, another UNESCO World Heritage! The Staatliches Bauhaus (full name) was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts and was founded by Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design.
We also visited the Masters' Houses which belong to the Bauhaus. Here they built the director's house and 3 semi-detached houses with large ateliers. Their glass fronts are the most noticeable design element of the houses. Alongside the unity of form and function there is a remarkably intensive rendition of colour - Kandinsky and Klee used their rooms for fascinating experiments with the design element of colour.
A new style of living was also to be demonstrated in the Masters' Houses. Gropius' house especially had a number of details worth noting, from the walk-in wardrobe to the hot water pressure spray in the scullery and the double sofa which could be opened out.
This is the house Muche/Schlemmer...
...and this is the house Kandinsky/Klee.
I heard that there are still some UNESCO World Heritages left in this area which I didn't visit yet. Interesting...
Crawfish
Posted Jul 20, 2012, 7:39 pm
finally a day without rain!
We went to the city and have a look: the tv tower is still standing!
Between both photos were only 15 minutes. Check out the clouds!
I also stopped in front of the Red City Hall, the town hall of Berlin. It is located near Alexanderplatz and is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the landmark building dates from the facade design with red clinker bricks. The City Hall was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the north Italian High Renaissance.
Love you.
Crawfish
Posted Jul 23, 2012, 10:30 pm
today we had another big ToyVoyager meeting!
We were so many and we had so much fun!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 24, 2012, 10:27 pm
In the afternoon Alex showed us a postcard he got from his brother Phog who is in Finland. He told us about the finnisch language on the card: "Kesäterveiset Jyväskylästä!" Alex told us that "kesä" means "summer", "terveiset" means "greetings", Jyväskylä is the city where Phog is and the ending -stä means where it comes from. So the whole sentence (just 2 words!) means "Summergreetings from Jyväskylä". Mommy, I learnt some Finnish!
By the way, did I already tell you that I'm going to visit another country in Europe? Nope? Now you know!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 27, 2012, 2:24 pm
that little freaky hamster called Chalon left today for his first big journey! He is traveling to Bruchsal.
First he wrote a card for his new host. I was surprised that he's able to write!
When he packed some chocolate into his bag Alex get angry. He told him to take candies instead of chocolate because of the heat.
Fiete gave him a little cow as a talisman for his first journey and Günther gave him a book about his basic rights in the EU.
Then he left. Good luck little Chalon!
Crawfish
Posted Jul 27, 2012, 8:13 pm
we did a short stop-over in Halle/Saale, the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Its early history is connected with harvesting of salt. Maybe you remember, I've been here in December during Christmas time.
The town was first mentioned in 806. According to historic documents, the city of Halle has been a member of the Hanseatic League at least since 1281.
This is one of the shopping areas. In case of the heat there weren't so many people.
The city is called "City of the 5 towers" and here you can see "the towers above the city" (as a building is named).
Four towers (on the left) belong to the Market Church St. Mary (Marktkirche), built in 1529–1554. It is using elements of two medieval churches, St. Gertrud Church dating back to the 11th Century and the older St. Mary Church from the 12th Century. The church has four steeples, the two western octagonal ones are called Blue Towers because of their dark blue slate roofing. The other two Hausmannstürme are connected by a bridge and on this bridge was the fire watch. The church owns as well the original death-mask of Martin Luther.
The big tower (on the right) is the Red Tower (Roter Turm), originally built as campanile of the older St. Mary Church between 1418 and 1503.
Roland (on the foot of the Red Tower, maybe you can see it), originally (13th century) a wooden sculpture representing the urban liberty. Today’s sculpture is a sandstone replica made in 1719.
And on the left, just a few steps away you can see a monument to George Frideric Handel, built in 1859.
The sun was not really helpfull in this pic.
On our way back home we took lots of pictures in the car!
This is one of the water towers. You can find a few of them all over the city.
Look, they write the name of the street ON the street! And we didn't use the freeway.
This lake is the famous \"Goitzsche\". (Sorry, the link is in German)
And we saw a beautiful sunset!
Yours Crawfish
Posted Jul 28, 2012, 6:13 pm
another road trip with Alex' car.
First we traveled on a street next to a lake.
Then we reached the freeway and I hit the gas!
When we passed the lake Sachsenburg we did a short stop-over for a picture. You have to know that Fiete's life mission is to take pictures in front of lots of water.
This beautiful small lake is an abandoned coal mine which was flooded by domestic water.
Then we went on by car and left the lake.
We stopped near some flowers for a picnic.
It was a special day for me, because I got my driver's license for Germany!
Then Alex gave a heart to DuDette, that she always knows which DuDu is her hubby. She was a little bit confused when she heard there's another DuDu. DuDette and the real DuDu both have a heart on their stomach.
We enjoyed our picnic. Some of us got lemonade, some milk, a cake and fruits for all of us and a piece of cheese for the mouse.
When we went back home after the picnic Alex and Günther decided to try out the new skateboards. They lashed the boards behind the car.
Crawfish
Posted Jul 29, 2012, 9:28 pm
we went to a border line!
Ok, it's just the border line of the rural district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld and the urban district of Dessau-Roßlau. Each sign of the districts show the emblem of the area.
Did you know that there are 295 rural districts in Germany, but only 107 urban districts?
"Welcome to the rural district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld"
"See you in Dessau-Roßlau" (They forgot the "urban district" on the sign!)
Kiss kiss
Crawfish
Posted Jul 30, 2012, 8:33 pm
as you know I got my driver's licence these days. Now all of the others want to be allowed to drive cars. So Alex opened his own driving school!
Ladies first - DuDette started and did it perfect.
Then it was Fiete's turn and he failed.
Last but not least Günther's turn. He was so fast that he couldn't stop.
Then it was time to have some fun! The guys did a race on the skateboards. DuDette gave them a starting signal and I waited at the finish line. First Günther was the leader, but then he got a problem with his balance and fell off the board. Don't worry, he's ok. So Alex won! The whole time Fiete didn't know how to start the board.
It was a funny day!
Crawfish
Posted Aug 2, 2012, 10:30 am
here are some more pictures of Berlin!
This is the Berliner Philharmonie, a concert hall and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Next to the Philharmonie you can find the St. Matthew's Church. The church is part of the Kulturforum which is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin. It was dedicated in 1846.
Crawfish
Posted Aug 5, 2012, 9:24 pm
Alex got another lovely postcard from his brother Phog who's still in Finland.
Later we all took one of the skateboards and went cruisin'. Then we saw somebody relaxing in Alex' canvas chair. He also had a beautiful skateboard!
He told us his name is Casanova, Mister Casanova. He's Alex new brother.
Crawfish
Posted Aug 5, 2012, 10:35 pm
today we went to one of the major rivers of Central Europe - river Elbe.
It rises in northern Czech Republic, then passing Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg. Its total length is 680 miles (1,094km).
The Elbe's major tributaries include the Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster and Ohre rivers.
The Elbe River basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 57,247 sq miles (148,268 square kilometres), the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany and the Czech Republic. Much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people.
Our host told us about the big flood in 2002. The river flows really fast, but I can't imagine that this beautiful river can do something like this!
You know, I love water, so I couldn't resist! I touched the water of the river!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Aug 6, 2012, 10:14 pm
A lion welcomed us warmly. He and his brother belong to the lion gate.
Another gate. It's the knights gate. Isn't it romantic?
These are the vineyards.
This little cute building is the vineyard castle.
From the castle we had a viewshaft to Kühnau Lake, but there were too many mosquitos so we didn't go there. Can you see the water?
Crawfish
Posted Aug 7, 2012, 8:45 pm
look what I saw today!
As you remember Fiete failed last time at driving lesson. So he got another chance! And he did it really good.
Then Alex invited us to a tour in his car.
We found a nice place for a picnic.
And guess what...ALL of the others got their driver's license! Alex handed it out to them and I gave all of them a bottle of wine. Alex and I drank the rest of the bottles.
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Aug 9, 2012, 9:15 pm
today DuDette left.
We all cuddled her. May your journey be safe!
In the afternoon we found a treasure map. It was made by DuDette!
Pass the tree, meet the orange ball-flower, pass the pond and the sunflower, find the red vegetable and the red X...
Ok! We passed the tree...
...found the orange flower...
...passed the pond...
...and the sunflower...
...and finally found the tomato and the red X!
We started to dig and after a while we found the treasure!
We went to another place to open it.
There was a coin, a flower, some gems and a big piece of cheese inside!
Crawfish
Posted Aug 11, 2012, 10:01 pm
What an exciting day!
This morning we jumped into the big car.
First we passed Lake Goitzsche. Can you see it?
We already knew this way. We've been here when we went to Halle.
Hmm, no freeway today.
We finally parked the car and whoohooo we are in one of the two largest cities in Saxony! This city is called Leipzig and it has about 530.000 inhabitants.
First we did a walk through the city.
This beautiful building hosts the Cafe Riquet.
The St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) is a Lutheran church and most famous as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor.
Mini St. Thomas Church
The New Town Hall is the seat of the Leipzig city administration since 1905.
In the 18th century, Leipzig became the centre for trade with Polish and English goods. It was called "the marketplace of all Europe". In 1678/87, this stock exchange was built. In German it is called "Alte Handelsbörse".
Auerbach's Cellar is the best known and second oldest restaurant in Leipzig. It was described in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust I, as the first place Mephistopheles takes Faust on their travels.
The St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche) has long been one of the most famous in Leipzig, and rose to national fame in 1989 with the Monday Demonstrations when it became the centre of peaceful revolt against communist rule. It was built around 1165.
Johann Sebastian Bach monument inside St. Nicholas Church.
The Gewandhaus is a concert hall and the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. It is the 3rd Gewandhaus and opened on 8 October 1981, 200 years after the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra moved into the original hall (Gewandhaus 1).
The Central Station is Europe's largest railway station when measured by floor area (83,460 m²). It has 24 platforms housed in six iron trainsheds, a multi-level concourse with towering stone arches and a 293 metre-long facade. It handles an average of 150,000 passengers per day.
The station was used in the film "Shining Through" (1992).
Now it was time for some new buildings...like the City-Hochhaus. It is 36-storey skyscraper. With its 466 ft (142m) it is the tallest multistory building in the city as well as the tallest in the former East Germany.
The building is nicknamed "wisdom tooth" (Weisheitszahn) or "university giant" (Uniriese). Maybe it's a good idea to go upstairs.
Finally on the top of the city!
Time for some more history!
We visited the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal). It is a monument to the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations. Paid for mostly by donations and by the city of Leipzig, it was completed in 1913 for the 100th anniversary of the battle, at a cost of 6,000,000 Goldmark.
The monument commemorates Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig.
The structure is 299 ft (91m) tall and it contains over 500 steps to a viewing platform at the top. The structure makes extensive use of concrete although the facings are of granite. The monument is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Wilhelmine architecture.
Inside the monument.
Finally arrived on the lower platform.
On the top of the monument!
On our way home we saw Lake Goitzsche again!
Look, this is an old East-German car called Wartburg. These are not produced anymore for about 20 years!
Crawfish
Posted Aug 12, 2012, 8:41 pm
we did some sports today! This time we didn't use our skateboards, we borrowed one which we could use all together. We cruised along the Europe Bicycle Path "R1" for a few kilometers. It's a 3500km bicycle route through Europe, starting in Boulogne-sur-Mer (France) and finishing in Saint Petersburg (Russia).
We used the part around the lake Gremminer See, a lake created as a result of the redevelopment of the former brown coal strip mine of Golpa-Nord and on whose shore is found the Ferropolis ("the city of iron" ) industrial memorial, actually a museum dedicated to "industrial culture".
We passed a big field full of sunflowers!
After a while we found this red box! Alex told us it's called lunch box!
We climbed up the lunch box and enjoyed the view.
The lake is still not full. It will be flooded until the end of this year.
Around 30 years ago there was a village on this place instead of the lake!
Then we went on cruising. After 4km we found another lunch box! This one was yellow. Alex told us there's also a blue one somewhere...
As you can see there was nobody around the lake except us!
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Aug 13, 2012, 9:09 pm
I went to the European championship of powerboats at Lake Goitzsche!
I don't know who won, but it was really interesting! Can you see the boats on the water?
Crawfish
Posted Aug 16, 2012, 9:48 pm
Today we found a mystical box. There were nice pictures and strange symbols on it!
While we realized that the pictures were stamps we didn't notice that somebody was watching us!
It's little Sunny from China! Now we know that these strange symbols on the box were Chinese letters!
Mommy, do you speak Chinese?
Crawfish
Posted Aug 18, 2012, 8:03 am
time for another road trip by car!
After traveling a while we noticed something big in front of us...
We stopped the car and started walking.
Wow, it was a big cow! We tried to talk to it, but it didn't notice us.
Hmm, Fiete is a cow, too! So he jumped on the big fat nose of that big cow and talked to it in cow language.
After a while Fiete told us that we are allowed to ride on the big cow.
From this height we could see so much more than from the ground! In a short distance we saw another big animal! We wanted to get closer.
We jumped off the cow and walked to the other animal. It was a sheep.
We were allowed to sit on it, too! What a nice sheep!
We talked with both for a while and told them about our adventures.
Then we went back home. What a lovely day.
Crawfish
Posted Aug 20, 2012, 10:38 pm
it was really sunny today, so we decided to go to the lake. We went to Lake Goitzsche which is created as a result of the redevelopment of the former brown coal strip mine of Goitzsche. In 1998 they started to flood the old coal strip mine with the water of the river Mulde and they planned to finish this in 2006. But in 2002 during the big flood the dike of the river broke and the lake was full within 2 days! This is an area of 13,32 km²!
There's also a marina at the lake with so many yachts! We could rent one and sail over the lake and along the coast which is 66km in length!
The lake is also called Lake of amber...
But I couldn't find any amber, just these colored houses.
Oh, I forgot the suncream. I think I got a sunburn.
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Aug 22, 2012, 10:21 pm
Today we visited Bitterfeld, a small town with about 15.300 inhabitants. During the GDR years, it gained notoriety for its chemical industry complex which caused remarkably severe pollution, even by GDR standards.
Look, there was a movie filmed in this city!
There's not so much to see, esp. on Sunday when everything is closed.
At the market place you can see the protestant church St. Antonius. It was built from 1905–1910.
The city hall is also near the market place. It was built from 1863–1865. This is the back of the house without the trees in the pic.
Love you.
Crawfish
Posted Aug 24, 2012, 10:30 pm
it was time for Fiete to leave us. We all cuddled him a lot.
Then he crawled into his envelope. His next stop is Switzerland.
Goodbye Fiete.
Crawfish
Posted Aug 25, 2012, 9:13 am
I saw a volcanic eruption in the middle of Germany!!!
This is the volcano "Vesuv" (also called "Stone" ). It is an imitation of the original Vesuv in Italy and the onliest artificial volcano all over the world! This one was built from 1788–94 and it still works the same way like it did in the 18th century!
First there was an explosion. Whaaa it was so loud! You even could't here your own voice!
Ok, these days they have a little bit more pyrotechnics than 200 yrs. ago, but the way the red lava runs down is the same! Can you see it running down from the top along the red lights into the lake?
Your beloved
Crawfish
Posted Aug 27, 2012, 7:43 pm
today we had some cultures...
First we walked around the castle. I already know the park very well, but I like it here.
I always try to find another place for a lovely pic in front of it. Maybe one day it will be mine. I'm feeling like a princess once again!
The front...
...the back.
Finally the fruits (oranges and lemons) mellow.
This time we also went into the castle! We visited the Dutch Design exhibition which takes part for a few months. It was opened by the Queen of the Netherlands, do you remember Mom? I've been here on that day!
We bought some tickets where we didn't have to pay the full price and a permission for taking pictures inside!
It was really interesting and so much to see on 3 floors!
Some vases...
...and a lovely lamp.
It's time for dinner!
They had chicken in the cellar! Ok, no real ones...
I think I could need a new dress...
I really enjoyed the day!
Crawfish
Posted Aug 30, 2012, 9:11 pm
how are you? Here the weather isn't the best: sun - rain - sun - rain - hail...
Today when we came home we found 2 envelopes. I tried to read the address.
One was from Australia and one from Günther's Mom! When we opened the big foreign envelope Günther tried to crawl into the envelope of his Mom and find out what she sent.
There was somebody crawling out of the big envelope! It's Kevin, a little Kiwi from the other side of the world.
He told us about his journey. Then he went back into his envelope. We all thought he doesn't like us.
But he came back with a postcard and a keyring from his home.
Then he helped Günther to get out the stuff from the envelope of his Mom.
Günther got his traveltag from his Mom. He was so happy!
Yours Crawfish
Posted Sep 5, 2012, 10:34 pm
Posted Sep 5, 2012, 10:55 pm
we jumped into the car and drove around a little bit. We saw lots of different houses and a water tower.
Sorry, at the moment we don't have time for so much more.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 9, 2012, 10:51 pm
another update by car.
This time we used the freeway.
Hit the gas to get some speed...
...passing a truck...
This bridge isn't for cars or people. It's for animals like deers, foxes or boars to go from side of the freeway to the other side.
...free way, hit the gas, reached 160km/h (about 100mph)...
...passing another freeway (interchange)...
...and another interchange...
...arrived in Berlin, this bridge is for the city train.
...traffic jam...
ICC - International Congress Center
...on the city-freeway...
...through the city...
...and back the same way...
This old tribune belongs to an old race course of the GDR called Avus. So we are traveling on a racetrack!
...passing bridges and trucks...
Your Crawfish
Posted Sep 10, 2012, 10:48 pm
today we did a short stop-over in Oranienbaum. We visited the Baroque parish church which was built in 1712.
We also stopped in front of the famous orange tree on the historical market square. The tree is the symbol of the city.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 14, 2012, 8:20 pm
We put some cheese and sausage in the trap. Mice like that.
Then we hid ourselves behind a tree and waited.
After a while we saw someone in the trap.
We caught it!!!
We let the trap down and oh... it wasn't a mouse. It was Alex' brother Rudy.
We told him about the mouse and the trap and tried it again. We hid ourselves again behind the tree.
After a short time there was somebody else in the trap.
We caught that creature!
When we let the trap down we found just 2 golden coins instead of a mouse or cheese or sausage in the trap.
Rudy told us to use some pumpkin seeds, mice would love them. So we did.
We went behind the tree and after a short time we saw someone in the trap again.
We caught it! Yeah, we could see the feet. We got it!
We let the trap down and...what the...just another golden coin?! How could this be??? Alex is confused now!
Crawfish
Posted Sep 14, 2012, 10:07 pm
today we enjoyed our day at the lake "Gurke" ("cucumber" ). The original name is "Abandoned quarry Golpa II". The lake has a size of 20,94 hectare! It was an opencast for brown coal from 1936 till 1957. Now it is full of groundwater. Lots of people like to swim, do fishing or dive. Some people say that there are old trees under the water, but I don't believe that! At the lake is also a rowing club.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 16, 2012, 6:53 pm
today we jumped into the car and went to Delitzsch. It's a city in Saxony with about 26,300 inhabitants.
First we visited the Baroque Castle with the Lustgarten, former widow of travel and residence of the Dukes of Saxony-Merseburg.
This beautiful building is the registration office.
The "Breiter Turm" (Wide tower). It's a part of the defensive wall.
The City Church of St. Peter & Paul is a brick church of the 15th Century with significant high altar.
On our way back home we took some more pictures.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 16, 2012, 7:57 pm
today the weather was beautiful, so we decided to do a little tour in our car.
After a while somebody stopped us. He introduced himself as Flow and asked if he could drive the car. We all were really confused. Alex told us that one of his brothers drove along with Flow few weeks ago.
While all seats in our car were filled with us
there was no space for that Flow-guy. Alex told him that he's allowed to shift the car. He did it! So we saved lots of energy.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 17, 2012, 4:08 pm
today we enjoyed the beautiful day at the abandoned quarry "Seelhausener See". It was sunny, warm and very windy. But have a look, isn't this beautiful?!
Crawfish
Posted Sep 17, 2012, 5:02 pm
time for some sightseeing in the German capital. I didn't do this for a while.
First I saw the German Bundestag which is located in the Reichstag Building. The centrepiece of the building is the generously glazed chamber that is crowned by the dome. A funnel with panes of mirror glass reflects the daylight from above into the chamber.
I think it missed me. We didn't see each other for a loooong time!
Then I saw one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany, the Brandenburg Gate.
Near the Brandenburg Gate I found the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial. It is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It consists of a 19,000 square metres site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38 m long, 0.95 m wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.8 m.
Potsdamer Platz - it is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin. It is named after the city of Potsdam, some 25 km to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Potsdam passed through the city wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate. After developing within the space of little over a century from an intersection of rural thoroughfares into the most bustling traffic intersection in Europe, it was totally laid waste during World War II and then left desolate during the Cold War era when the Berlin Wall bisected its former location. Since German reunification, Potsdamer Platz has been the site of major redevelopment projects.
The Sony Center is a Sony-sponsored building complex located at the Potsdamer Platz, opened in 2000. Sony Center contains a mix of shops, restaurants, a conference centre, hotel rooms, luxurious rented suites and condominiums, offices, art and film museums, cinemas, an IMAX theater, a small version of Legoland, and a "Sony Style" store.
At its highest point, the roof measures up to 67 meters above the Forum and has a free span of 102 meters length on the main axis and 77 meters length on the ancillary axis. By night the roof changes its colors between pink, red, blue, green...
Your Crawfish
Posted Sep 20, 2012, 6:16 pm
we put some skateboards behind the car. I hit the gas and the guys skated behind the car. Little Sunny checked that we don't lose anybody!
Crawfish
Posted Sep 21, 2012, 9:43 pm
we've been to the "Kohle-Dampf-Licht"-Radweg (Coal-steam-light-bicycle route). There are a lots of statues made of discarded metal. Have a look.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:20 pm
Then we heard someone laughing. We turned around and saw GustavHH. He'll stay with us for a while.
Crawfish
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:42 pm
today we went to the river Mulde. It is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, a left tributary of the river Elbe and 124 km in length.
In August 2002 a flood caused severe damage! All places we were at these pictures were flooded in 2002, too!
Crawfish
Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:49 pm
We all hugged him.
Then he crawled into his envelope and left to Thuringia. Have fun little bird!
Crawfish
Posted Sep 25, 2012, 10:51 pm
I think I found my perfect profession (except driving a car): pianist!
I played all kind of songs the whole day while the others were listening to me. I think they liked it.
Your
Crawfish
Posted Sep 29, 2012, 10:19 pm
we visited a small lake called "Sachsenburg" today. It is an abandoned coal mine which was flooded by domestic water.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 2, 2012, 11:33 pm
we did a sightseeing tour through the neighbor village. The city is called Gräfenhainichen and it had its first documentary mention in 1254. The first printing shop was set up in 1874. As of 1890, brown coal was being mined in Gräfenhainichen, first underground, and then in strip mines.
As it is a city they also have lots of horses all around the city. Can you see the white one behind me?
We found one of the 3 wind mills of the city. This one is from the 19th century and worked until 1963.
This is the only little pond in the city. It's called Vorstadtteich (in English "suburban pond" ). There are lots of ducks.
This is the ruin of the old castle. It was built in the 12th/13th century on the ruin of an older castle. It was destroyed in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War by the Swedes. No one ever rebuilt it. We couldn't go inside, it's only open when the open air theater is used for festivals.
This is the town hall. It was built between 1695-1699.
There are 2 towers in Gräfenhainichen. This is the upper city tower. It was reconstructed in 1448 with some other fortifications. It was also used as a jail for a while. There's also a lower city tower, but we couldn't take a picture.
Next to the upper city tower we found a long piece of the old city wall.
This is the highest building of the city - the Protestant church "Sankt Marien". It was also destroyed by the Swedes in 1637, but it was rebuilt from 1658 to 1666. The tower was built in 1867/68. The church got its origins in the Romanesque and Gothic.
The water tower was built in 1927. The bubble design was the idea of a classmate of my host!
One of the sons of the city is Paul Gerhardt. We visited the Paul-Gerhardt-House which was built from 1907 to 1909. It serves as a places of public assembly for the Protestants.
Another son of the city is Johann Gottfried Galle. He was the first person to view the planet Neptune in 1846! This is the Galle monument which was built in 1977 for all his work.
The last famous person of the city is Hugo Winckler, but we couldn't find anything about him.
Your Crawfish
Posted Oct 4, 2012, 9:41 pm
today little Sunny left. We all cuddled her.
Then she crawled into her envelope. Her next stop is Finland.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 6, 2012, 10:52 pm
time for a road trip!
We went to the Mosigkau castle. The castle is one of the few Rococo palaces in Central Germany, resembling Sanssouci at Potsdam, which had been designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. It was built between 1752 and 1757 for Anna Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau, the daughter of Prince Leopold I. The ensemble includes an orangery and an art collection of Flemish Baroque painting, stemming from Duke John George's II union with the House of Orange-Nassau, that features works by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.
Around the castle we found a lovely garden and some sheep. Isn't it a lovely place?!
Castle 1 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Crawfish
Posted Oct 6, 2012, 11:09 pm
today we went to another castle.
John George (1748-1811), a younger brother of Duke Leopold III, had the Georgium Castle erected from 1780 by Erdmannsdorff. Located in a riparian woodland in the north of Dessau, the palace features an English garden with several monuments. Today the Georgium hosts the Anhalt collection of art, including works by Albrecht Dürer - especially an old master print of his Melencolia I - and Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Castle 2 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Crawfish
Posted Oct 10, 2012, 8:24 pm
today we went to another castle. It's the Wörlitz Palace and it was finished in 1773. This palace was the residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt. It was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible.
Castle 3 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Your Crawfish
Posted Oct 10, 2012, 9:03 pm
We all cuddled him. Later he told us about his adventures.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 12, 2012, 3:23 pm
once again on tour...
We visited the Oranienbaum Palace which was finished in 1683 as the summer residence of Henriette Catharina, where she retired after the death of her husband in 1693. The rich furnishing includes leather wallpapers and a dining room equipped with Delft tiles. From 1780 on Duke Leopold III had the palace and the park rebuilt in a Chinese style, according to the theories of Sir William Chambers, with several arch bridges, a tea house and a pagoda. In 1811, the orangery was built, with 175 m (574 ft) in length one of the largest in Europe, which still serves to protect a wide collection of citrus plants. Oranienbaum Palace together with the park and the geometrical settlement conception forms one of the few original Dutch Baroque town layouts in Germany. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, has been there in 2004 and 2012!
Castle 4 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Crawfish
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:27 pm
today when we went to our tour we found a crocodile in the forest! We were a little bit afraid, but as we noticed it was a nice guy!
That lovely guy lives near the ruin of a house which is called Swedish house.
And there's nothing else! Just lots of grass and some trees.
After a while we found the Luisium castle. It was a gift from Duke Leopold III to his wife Louise and it was built from 1774 in a plain Neoclassical style as a country home according to plans by Erdmannsdorff with adjacent gardens, pastures and a stud farm. Leopold died at the castle on August 9, 1817 from the consequences of a riding accident. It's the smallest of all castles we saw!
To the area around the house belongs a so called snake house.
And this castle has an orangery!
Castle 5 of 5 of the UNESCO Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm finished. √
Yours
Crawfish
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:39 pm
We found a pumpkin, took a knife and a spoon and started to make a really spooky face. But what the hell is Alex doing with this stick?
When it was dark we put a candle into the pumpkin. Ouh spooky!
Then we turned the pumpkin and saw what Alex did with the stick. Really cool!
Crawfish
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:57 pm
So we did what we had to do! Packing everything important into our car.
We need something to eat and drink and plates, of course. Günther said we should take some of the pirate gold with us. Maybe we have to pay something. GustavHH is sure we need the canvas chair, if the sun will shine. We also need our skateboards and our driving lesson cars to cruise around.
Everything has to fit into the car!
We fixed the canvas chair and some boards on the car, there was no other free space. And fixed one of the little cruisers behind the car. As there are only 5 guys allowed in the car Rudy has to sit on the cruiser behind the car!
Holidays we are coming!
Crawfish
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 7:51 pm
now you are an angel and somewhere upon the clouds watching me. I know you take care of me from wherever you are. I will go on traveling as I'm sure you wanted me to do this. You will always have a very special place in my little Crawfish-heart. I love you Mommy!
Your Crawfish
Posted Oct 20, 2012, 11:33 pm
First I went to the Cologne Cathedral (officially High Cathedral of St. Peter). It is a Roman Catholic church and the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day.
Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. The work restarted in the 19th century and was completed in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.5 m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157 m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest facade of any church in the world.
This is the City Hall and it is Germany's oldest city hall with a documented history spanning some 900 years.
The ancient cigarette factory houses now the bureau of vital statistics of Cologne.
I found these lovely houses in the historic center of the city. Aren't they cute?!
Behind these houses you can see the Great Saint Martin Church. It is a Romanesque Catholic church and its foundations (circa 960 AD) rest on remnants of a Roman chapel.
The Rhine is a river that flows from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands and is the twelfth longest river in Europe, at about 1,233 km (766 mi). It's huge!
This is the chocolate museum. But it's Monday so it is closed.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 21, 2012, 12:44 pm
I'm now in Amsterdam, the largest city and capital of the Netherlands.
First we visited the Amsterdam Centraal, the central train station of the city. It is also one of the main railway hubs of the Netherlands and is used by 250,000 passengers a day! It first opened in 1889 and was designed by Pierre Cuypers and A. L. van Gendt.
This building is a big shopping center. It's located on the opposite of the palace. As the palace isn't really beautiful, we decided to take a picture of this house!
I really like the design of all these houses! And they are all very old.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 21, 2012, 8:19 pm
We enjoyed the sunset at the beach. It was really windy, look at the waves! I know on the other side of the sea there's my beloved sister Edelweiss.
Crawfish
Posted Oct 24, 2012, 8:34 pm
Today we had a look over the city from a really high building.
Can you see the big famous Cathedral? And the bridge over the river Rhine. It's the famous one with all these love locks.
Look, there is the famous Lanxess arena.
Later we went to the Rhine. The water is really cold!
Tomorrow we are going back home.
Your Crawfish
Posted Oct 27, 2012, 7:59 pm
It is Petunia from Finland who arrived while we were on holidays. We gave her a lovely welcome hug.
Posted Oct 28, 2012, 6:35 pm
We walked wand walked wand walked... and finally arrived near a lake.
Isn't it beautiful? But we couldn't stay here, we had to go on.
Can you see the wind engine? This is where we want to go.
Finally arrived!
This wind engine is huge!
And there are so many more!
We had a wonderful view. Lots of forests. But far far away we could see the highest building of Leipzig!
Can you see the little chimney at the horizon? Normally it's a really high chimney! But now it looks so small!
While we were walking around and enjoying our view our host found some "Slippery Jack" mushrooms. When we were home she cooked the mushrooms for us! So yummy!
Crawfish
Posted Nov 2, 2012, 3:02 pm
This is where my chapter ends for a while.
I hope to talk to you soon again, but I need a rest now.
Your little Crawfish
Posted Mar 17, 2013, 10:47 am
As you know after all what happened last year I decided to take a rest and fall into a deep hibernation. Yes, a crawfish is hibernating, too...sometimes. But now I woke up! Just in time to say goodbye to Petunia!
I hugged her and told her to give a kiss to my sis Zoe when she is back home. I miss my sister!
Then Petunia crawled into her envelope and left. Hope to meet her again some day!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 2, 2013, 10:22 pm
It's my 2nd birthday today, so we decided to celebrate.
Our bodyguard Oops organized a big cake and candles for me. Good guy!
This cake was so delicious!
Oops also organized some drinks, but we don't know what it was. It was tasty!
We ate the whole cake and drank the drink. Oops didn't drink the whole drink, maybe he didn't like it.
We started to get reeeeeaaaally tired... ZzZzZ
Crawfish
Posted Apr 2, 2013, 11:29 pm
We found a big hill where we could use our sleigh.
I crashed and fall into the cold snow.
Later we decided to take a sunbath!
I'm sure my Mom was watching me.
Crawfish
Posted Apr 2, 2013, 11:48 pm
today a new toyvoyager named Lupo arrived. When he tried to get out of his envelope had to laugh a little bit.
He got a warm welcome from us. He seems to be a nice guy!
Then he showed his souvenirs. Oops was very interested in the lollies. A few minutes later, Oops and both lollies were lost! Hmmm...
Your little red Crawfish
Posted May 20, 2013, 11:51 pm
Today the weather was sunny. I picked up our guests Troot and Landroval, and also little Alex with my pink car and we took a ride on a green field! Toyvoyagers on tour in their own car! Stunning!
Fyi: I'm the proud owner of that car and I own a driver's license.
Not so many toyvoyagers do. I know my Mom is proud of me!
Crawfish
Posted May 24, 2013, 10:23 pm
today we used the car to pick up some TVs at the train station.
Tsukumo and Mr. Stanley arrived.
They put all their stuff into the trunk of my car.
Then all jumped into the car and I brought us home. We were too many TVs so Alex had to use his own vehicle.
Your little red Crawfish
Posted Jun 4, 2013, 4:58 pm
We did a journey to the capital of Saxony-Anhalt: Magdeburg.
It is one of the most important medieval cities of Europe.
We had just 1,5 hours for a short walk.
One of Magdeburg's most impressive buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice with a height of 104 m (341.21 ft), making it the highest church building of eastern Germany.
This is the river Elbe. It's bigger than it should be. I heard a flood is coming!
Crawfish
Posted Jun 4, 2013, 10:46 pm
I'm sure you watched the news and noticed about the flood in East Germany! There's water everywhere. The village where I stay is safe, but lots of villages around us are full of water. No places where we could go!
As I can swim I checked the water of the river Mulde for you. All other Toyvoyagers had to stay at home!
WARNING: Don't try this on your own!
My name is Crawfish and I'm your reporter for today!
This is the river Mulde in the front. Today it's more than 4x of the normal size! In the background you can see the lake Goitzsche which will be flooded tonight. Normally the river would have so much more water than you can see, but a dike broke last night, just few kilometers away from where I stand!
The place where I am is where the river runs into the water reservoir. Here you can see how fast the river runs!
This is the water reservoir. In the front you can see how fast the water runs in!
This is where the river runs out of the water reservoir. So much water! The dike is safe at the moment.
This is a barrage where normally the fishes can come back from the river to the lake. Now the water runs out of the lake...
Here the water comes out of the lake. So much power! It's deathtrap to fall into the water! Even for a Crawfish! I stay on the bridge!
The last photo for today shows the view from the lake to the flooded area where the river runs to.
I hope all of you other Toyvoyagers and hosts are safe!
Your little red Crawfish
Posted Aug 3, 2013, 9:54 pm
Alex had a wonderful surprise for me! He's such a lovely kitty!
He told me to visit Wörlitz, because I haven't been there for a while.
Wörlitz is part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. The central Wörlitzer Park lies adjacent to the small town of Wörlitz at an anabranch of the Elbe river. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning. Most buildings were designed by Erdmannsdorff, while the gardens were laid out by Johann Friedrich Eyserbeck. The gardens are protected from floods of the Elbe river in the north by a dam which is also a belt-walk offering numerous views along the park's sight lines. Wörlitz Palace finished in 1773, residence of Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. The palace and its interior with valuable cabinets from the studio of Abraham and David Roentgen as well as a large collection of Wedgwood porcelain were publicly accessible. Louise had her private home in the adjacent Graues Haus (Grey House). At the eastern rim of the palace's garden stands the Wörlitz Synagogue built in 1790 as a rotunda modelled after the ancient "Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. The philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the aesthetic of Johann Joachim Winckelmann underlie the design of the park. Wörlitz Lake featured an island atop which was a model of Mount Vesuvius. The duke would stage fireworks that seemed to issue from an erupting volcano to entertain his guests. At the foot of the mountain on the island was a building intended to suggest William Hamilton's home at Pompeii.
First I walked around a little bit and did some sightseeing.
This is the beautiful castle.
The big lake and the vineyard on the other side.
The volcano: Mount Vesuvius.
Some stone art in the lake.
I had to go here in the evening when no ferry is working anymore. I still don't know why I am here!
Then I got a call from Alex_Kitty! He told me to go to the gondolas, there would be a surprise for me.
I went there and whooaaaah!
My surprise was a romantic evening tour in a gondola with an Italian buffet! WOW.
Look!!! I got soup in glasses, noodles in glasses, fruits in glasses AND a cake in a glass! And of course some vine!
The gondola took me around all over the big lake!
I met a peacock (next to the bush) who was a bit jealous that I was on the gondola and he not.
We also met some swans. As I'm a good girl I gave that lady and her child something to eat.
That's so romantic, isn't it?
Alex is such a nice guy.
Your little red Crawfish
PS: Kisses to my beloved Mommy and to all my siblings, esp Zoe (love you beautiful girl)! :*)
Posted Aug 8, 2013, 8:10 pm
I think today was the hottest day of the summer. Our therometer said 39,5°C.
But, who cares?! We jumped into the car and travelled for a few hours.
We were really surprised when we arrived. Lots of other plushies welcomed us!
Look, all of us are official registered as Toyvoygers.
OMG! I finally met my brother Wavy Gravy again! I didn't see him for about a year. I was so happy!
He's the best! *kiss*
Your Crawfish
Posted Oct 11, 2013, 10:08 pm
Just a quick note to you. I booked a flight in a few weeks to a country I haven't been before!
Little Crawfish is on tour again!
Posted Oct 23, 2013, 9:32 pm
I think it's time to prepare for my upcoming holidays.
I haven't done any sports for ages, but I should. So I used the beautiful weather for a bicycle tour. And where do I go??? To the water, OF COURSE!
I biked around for about 20km! I think the muscle ache is killing me tomorrow!
I went to a small village... I could see a dike and smell water...
Then I finally found the water. It's the river Mulde. The place where I'm standing for these pictures was full of water during the flood in June!
But now it looks beautiful...again!
My journey is getting closer and closer... Just 2 weeks left!
Crawfish
Posted Oct 30, 2013, 11:34 pm
I made a short trip to a nearby city called Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It is famous for Martin Luther who nailed his 95 theses on the doors of All Saints' Church ( "castle church" ) in 1517.
It was already getting dark when I arrived , but I wanted to take a picture on the market place.
The white building on the left is the Town hall. In front of it you can see the Luther Memorial.
The church is the Town and Parish Church of St. Mary's. It is the civic church of the city. The reformers Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen preached there and the building also saw the first celebration of the mass in German rather than Latin and the first ever distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation - it is thus considered the mother-church of the Protestant Reformation. Since 1996 it has been a World Heritage Site!
Close-up of the church...
There was a dark yard around the church. They had old paintings on the walls!
But the main rason for my visit in Wittenberg wasn't the church! I got an invitation to a book reading! It wasn't easy for me to find the Cranach-backyard where I should go. There are so many backyards!
In the backyard I met Lucas Cranach the Elder personally! He showed me a picture he's drawing at the moment!
The reading took place in Cranach's painting school, ouh!
There I found a beautiful black piano. As you know I'm able to play piano, but today I wasn't allowed to play.
The reading started!
On the picture on the wall you can see the famous river Elbe which also runs through Wittenberg. But this wasn't the theme of the reading.
The theme was "Liebeslust und Ehefrust der Vögel" ( "pleasures of love and marital frustration of the birds" ). The book first asks what kind of bird I'm... Hmm, I don't know yet so I think I have to read the full book!
After the reading it was possible to buy some more books of the same author. All about birds and the river Elbe. Whatever...we already have all of these books at home!
Your little red Crawfish
(who's journey is getting closer and closer)
Posted Nov 14, 2013, 10:15 pm
Can you image what the security wanted to do with us? They wanted to scan us! Hell! If they do they would see us naked! NOBODY wants to see a Toyvoyager naked!
As it is already dark outside we didn't take any more pictures today...
Posted Nov 16, 2013, 10:05 pm
Guess what! I made it to LONDON!
I heard when you go to London you have to use the underground, because the London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world. So I did!
First I visited the famous Big Ben. This is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster. The four clock dials are 180 feet (54.9 m) above ground. Wow!
And of course, we also saw the Palace of Westminster which is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The tower you can see in my picture is called Victoria Tower.
Then we went to a circus. We were so excited to see many animals and maybe a clown, but what we saw was something totally different!
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.
And there were lots of illuminated signs, gosh!
From there we went to another close public space and tourist attraction: Trafalgar Square. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art.
That's enough of rain for today! Let's see what we're going to see tomorrow...
Your little red Crawfish
Posted Nov 20, 2013, 9:03 pm
I spent another day in London. And this time it didn't rain!
So I used the time to visit more famous sights!
First I visited the River Thames which flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. As you know I really like water!
It's length is 346 km (215 mi).
The building on the left is called "The Shard". It is an 87-storey skyscraper. Standing approximately 306 metres (1,004 ft) high, the Shard is currently the tallest building in the European Union.
The Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London. It was built from 1886 to 1894. It's total length is 244 metres (801 ft).
I also visited St Paul's Cathedral. It sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world.
And of course I went to meet the Queen! This is Buckingham Palace. It is the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch. Unfortunately the Queen didn't have time for tea, but I'm showing you our palace! As you know I'm a princess and I'm welcomed in all palaces!
At last I had to do what a girl has to do: SHOPPING at Harrods!
The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site and has over one million square feet (90,000 m2) of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe.
Tomorrow I'm going back to Germany!
Crawfish
Posted Jan 11, 2014, 9:58 pm
In the evening we heard some "HOHOHO"... Who is it?!
Santa!!! He arrived with his sleigh and Rudolph (the reindeer). We were so excited! His sleigh was full of presents.
He gave all of us a present! And Rudolph started to eat Santa's birch. Little hungry reindeer...
Look at our presents... handbags!
When Santa saw that we were happy Toyvoyagers he and Rudolph left. There were some more Toyvoyagers waiting for him.
We are a pretty gang!
Crawfish
Posted Jan 22, 2014, 10:29 pm
Me and my host family decided to bake some cookies. Unfortunately I can't tell you the name of the cookies, because the name is aged 16+
First I needed some sugar, butter and peanut butter *yummy*
I also needed eggs! Just wondering if Squab is able to lay eggs.
I needed lots of flour!
From all these ingredients I made a dough.
Then my host family had to help. We took some dough and added some caramel-chocolate-candy...
We made balls and placed them on the baking sheet. Then we put it into the stove for about 20 minutes.
Look, these are the cookies. They became really huge!
And they are soooo delicious. First I wanted to share them ith the other Toyvoyagers, but hell NO, these are all mine! I think I'm in love!
Your Crawfish
Posted Feb 7, 2014, 3:45 pm
Because it is cold outside I put a hat on his head and told him that he has to go by train to Berlin on his own. I hope he arrives well...
Crawfish
Posted Mar 8, 2014, 10:48 pm
Do you remember when I visited a reading last October in Wittenberg?
Today I went to that reading again because it was held in my town.
This is the Paul-Gerhardt-Chapel. It's not big, but really nice. Isn't it?
Look at this beautiful organ! And it still works.
And you have a nice view through the windows.
This is Paul Gerhardt, most famous person of the city.
And this is the mini city hall.
Finally the author arrived.
Let's start!
The theme was the same like last time: "Liebeslust und Ehefrust der Vögel" ( "pleasures of love and marital frustration of the birds" ). The book first asks what kind of bird I'm... Hmm, I STILL don't know!
Should I buy another book, even if I already read it?
At the end of the day I saw a ghost! SPOOKY!
Your
Crawfish
Posted Apr 8, 2014, 10:43 pm
WOW so many things! I'm really surprised!
This envelope came from my sister Zoe, who's in Portugal at the moment.
Dear beloved Zoe, you are the BEST!
Love you sis!
Crawfish
Posted Apr 9, 2014, 10:50 pm
The envelope rustled, there must be someone inside who wants to come out of it. I opened the envelope and two black eyes were looking at me.
It was Snow White. I welcomed her lovely.
She showed me all her presents and I started to grin like a Cheshire cat! I told here that I love the place where she comes from. She's a Californian girl, too!!!
I think we were talking for hours!
Crawfish
Posted May 31, 2014, 8:04 pm
Crawfish
Posted May 31, 2014, 8:09 pm
Look, this is my little baby! I think my Mom would be proud of me.
He's not going to be a Toyvoyager, that's too dangerous for a little crab. But he's going to travel as a key pendant. Wish him luck.
I really love my little boy!
Crawfish
Posted Jan 14, 2015, 8:20 pm
There was a Chinese building colored like me!
Whenever you're in that area, visit that park! It is awesome!
Crawfish
Posted Jan 20, 2015, 8:56 pm
I'm SOOOOOOOO happy that the page is back! Finally I can show you my adventures and read about yours!
I missed this a lot!
I'm not going to write all the old updates from last year. Most of the time I went hiking in the Harz mountains. That was fun!
If you want to know about 2014 and see LOTS of pictures, just check my Facebook page. From now on I will upload all my pictures there, too, after I wrote my updates here.
So come on friends.... FOLLOW ME!!!
Crawfish
PS: Stay tuned for my upcoming adventures. It will be something HUGE!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Feb 2, 2015, 12:59 pm
I'm in Portugal!
I came here to visit my dear sister Zoe.
It was years since we met last time!
We're both so happy to be together, that I'm writing today with
crawfish -colored letters too.
Zoe is dancing pirouettes.
She is a bit peculiar, but I love her.
My coming here was a total surprise for Zoe.
I'll never forget how her face looked when I came out from my package!
Her eyes went round and round and then she fainted.
That's my sister Zoe! Always trying to look so tough, but in reality
she's just a soft little featherball! (Don't let her to read this!)
So I hugged her tight so that she came back to her senses, and the we hugged a lot more!
The rest of the tv gang came to greet me.
Some of them I knew already, especially of course my lovesick half brother Mr Casanova.
The others in the pic are: Racko the donkey from Netherlands,
Mr Shaun, who is soon going to travel to join my half brother Alex, Batyr the mouse from Russia and 3*Euros from Germany.
Zoe was serving me a little snack.
I know you're all eagerly waiting to see my photos from here,
but the sad truth is that my new host Henna has a horrible flue!
Just my luck! She is not letting us to go out without her,
and she herself stays in, with an enormous flask of hot tea and
a pile of tissues, and it is hard to understand her speech, because her nose is so blocked!
Well, I was introduced to the cats, Olivia and Emilia.
They looked friendly enough, although Olivia asked what does the "fish" mean in my name Crawfish, and came to smell me.
"It means that you better watch how you behave, pussycat!" I answered, and she backed off.
This is the balcony of the apartment we live here.
This is quite a typical block of flats from the 1970's.
Next to the house is a giant Chinese super market, where you can buy everything you don't need.
Next day we managed to escape out through the balcony, climbing down along the water pipe.
Henna was snoring under about ten blankets, and she didn't notice anything.
We didn't want the other voyagers to come along either this time.. well, you know, they're all boys, so they are just a bit umm.. slow, you know.
So we fooled them into the toilet by saying "Don't go to the toilet! The cat Emilia has just spend there a loong time, and the smell is something unbelievable!"
Of course they all went there, running in a queue, eager to investigate disgusting things, like boys always are.
And then we locked the door from outside.
We walked into a shopping center called Forum Almada.
Zoe told me they come here on rainy weekends to watch films and ti eat icecream.
We spent the evening eating icecream too, bowl after bowl, and memorizing funny things from our childhood.
The first shared herring.. the day we put itching powder into the teacher's boots.. ach, those memories!
Anyway, we then had to go back to home to open the toilet door.. and pretend innocent puzzlement.. oh, what, were you inside there? Dear us, we didn't know, when we shut the door..
I hope I can show you more things of the life here in my next update!
Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Feb 10, 2015, 7:30 pm
The first week here has been a bit subdued, because our host Henna has been mainly groaning in bottom of her bed.
We tried to nurse her, by making her tea and by feeding her medicine, but that didn't help.
Then we organized The EFS - Entertainment For Sick committee and started to practice choir singing etc.
After our first show, which we did on Henna's bed, she announced she is quite, quite healthy and thus there's no need to practise any more numbers!
So, today we dragged her out from the house, to make a small walk.
This picture is taken near our house here. You can see some of the first poppies of the spring in it!
We walked from Laranjeiro, where we live, to Cova da Piedade (The Valley of Pity), where we sat for a while in this nice little park. Henna said she had to rest a bit, and she looked so tired we got very worried and asked if she needed more entertainment, since it seems to have a wonderfully curing effect on her, which made her to jump up from the bench and to say that so it certainly has.
And then we continued our walk towards Almada.
We saw the Almada culture centre, where there is the library nearest to us, and room for art exhibitions etc.
This is Cacilhas lighthouse, and behind it is the river Tejo.
Henna told me the Spanish people call it Tajo, and the Romans called it Tagus.
Zoe told me it is full of fat fish.
Henna told us she's sure soon all the fishes will join the weightwatchers after me and Zoe have joined our forces.
Zoe lead us forward, along roads, which followed the rivershore.
There were small kitchen gardens and nice glimpses over the town and river.
Then we reached a hilltop, and climbed an olive tree.
Sadly this is not the time for ripe olives. They have been picked in November.
We saw the river Tejo again, and the bridge Ponte 25 de Abril, which connects Almada and Lisbon.
I and Zoe both agreed that the bridge resembled the Golden Gate bridge in our childhood's California.
This bridge was originally named by the Portuguese dictator Salazar, after the Carnation Revolution 25.4. 1974 it was named again.
We watched a cruise ship gliding under the bridge, and talked hihihihi, about what if, hehehehe, we would be just on the bridge when a ship was gliding under it, and then we would see, haa haa haa, people on board, and then we would just happen to feel like going to toilet and then.. Henna said it is really great we can't walk on the bridge. It is only for cars and trains.
What a shame!
We went to meet an old friend of Zoe, Cristo Rei (Christ the king) of Almada.
He has an extrememly good eyesight, and he saw us when we were still far away.
"Oh hullo!" he said. "If I'm not very mistaken, it is my witty friend, Zoe the Kiwi and her friends!"
"Yup! Hello, old mate!" answered Zoe.
"And who might be this pinky little person coming with you?" he asked.
"Hello, and nice to meet you!" I shouted. "I'm Zoe's sister Crawfish!"
"Ah, thought so!" he said, "the family resemblance is very strong!"
We went up with an elevator, to watch the views, and to see Cristo Rei better.
The landscape from the top of the tower was really fantastic!
We could see the old part of the Lisbon on the other side of Tejo.
"Hi, Cristo! Is it true what Zoe has been telling about your swimming trunks?" I asked. (Zoe was telling me that on some hot summer nights, when nobody sees, Cristo Rei sometimes jumps to make a little swim in the river, and that he wears a pair of Donald Duck swimming trunks under his robes for that purpose.)
"Oh, the cheek of that bird!" he answered, "she wasn't supposed to tell it to anybody! But yes, it is true, and I'm happy as long as it is only you toyvoyagers who know about it!"
So, please, don't tell anyone!
And, if you happen to hear a huge SPLASH in middle of the night in Almada, don't get scared!
This is the view towards Almada.
As you can see, it is actually built on a peninsula on the South bank of the river.
We said goodbyes to our big friend, and returned to the earth.
Then we climbed to pose for Henna over an old buoy.
We saw young palm trees.
Don't they look like pineapples?
The sun was descending, and we started to descend too, to the rivershore.
We saw many empty houses, or just ruins.
They have all been busy factories or warehouses, to do with fish- rope- and boat building industries.
Nothing of that is left, but the decadence is beautiful.
The old walls are now full of graffitis.
many of them are really skilled work, some are just smudges.
There is some bars now on the shore.
This is one of them, called Ponto Final.
I am mentioning it specifically, because the people working there are good people, who feed homeless cats living in a park near to the bar, and so I think the bar earns some advertizing!
We walked back home, and when we reached it, it was already dark.
The Cacilhas lighthouse was lit.
At home we ate great pizza!
I wish you've had some too!
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Feb 18, 2015, 5:14 pm
Laranjeiro, where my sister Zoe lives in Portugal, is nowadays part of the town of Almada, where we were walking around in my last update.
Sorry, but the sightseeing continues still, and the text is going to be dry.
That's mainly because it took some days before we managed to nurse Henna back to health enough to be more enthusiastic in dragging us along.
Here I am in the modern Almada central square.
The houses around the square look very similar than the house in which we live here.
I have not managed to take a photo of our house yet, because we are never anywhere near it during daytime.
The modern "overground metro" as it is called was built in beginning of the 21th century.
Almada is at the moment going through a very profound change.
The old houses from 18th and 19th centuries are in danger to disappear totally to make room for modern, tall blocks of flats, or big villas of the wealthy people.
We continued our sightseeing first to Casa da Cerca. It was originally a private palace, but the town bought it 1988 and turned it into a public place with art exhibitions and happenings.
It has a nice garden.
There isn't many interesting plants, though, but it is a nice place to be sitting and reading in peace, in those days when it is too hot to be walking around, says Henna.
(That is, by the way, what they're mainly DOING when they are here in Portugal, Zoe and Henna - walking around, nothing else much.)
This plant I found interesting!
Do you recognice it?
Well, I can tell it is Cyperus papyrus, of which the ancient Egyptians were making paper!
There was a beautiful view over the river Tejo from the garden.
We were trying to imagine the delicate donzellas of the 18th century with their parasolls and pelisses and silk slippers sitting here, enjoying refresments and watching the same view over the river (although the Lisbon city on the opposite shore was much smaller and surrounded by farms and fields).
Zoe and I agreed that it would be great to have a time machine to be able to see the place back in Jane Austen's times, but that would not be great to have to behave according to the social rules of those times!
Can you imagine me or Zoe as shy maidens, just waiting to be proposed to by some suitable and acceptable suitors, and blushing when someone mentions "panties"?
Watching the great house, I thought it is good it has been saved by the town from decay, but that it is a shame that the towns, wanting to save historical buildings, are usually wanting to save only these big palaces.
Why not small, common houses?
Is it more important for people to see how a privileged upper class lived in former times, than how the rest 98 % of people lived at the same time?
We decided to leave the palaces for tourists and try to see something of the other history.
We walked past some houses, which are already doomed to be demolished.
The municipality has blocked the windows and sold the area for a construction company.
We could still see a swing hanging on a big pine on the backyard.
Remember the empty houses i spotted last time when we were walking in Almada?
Well, we decided to go to see them a bit closer.
They're part of the history of the common people.
There is an old staircase leading twards those houses the tourists usually don't find, because its both ends are well hidden - they start behind thick bushes and end onto a shabby backyard stinking of pee.
The yongsters of Almada hang here though, as is easy to read from the walls.
"Let us pray!" says this graffiti.
I don't quite get what the maker wants to say.
We reached the first empty house in bottom of the stairs.
It had been a normal home of a family, probably a fisherman and his wife, since this area was originally occupied mainly by them.
A graffiti on its wall announces "We are Almada".
We walked through many other grumbling buildings.
Some of them were still partly inhabited, which is good.
There is pretty many homeless people in the Lisbon area nowadays, and I think it is good if at least some of them are able to find a roof over their heads. No one else needs these buildings, anyway. Why should they stay empty?
After the old living blocks we reached the old industrial buildings.
"Caldeiraria" on the wall means "boiler".
Some people are still keeping their boats here, and some old guys come here to fish, but this is not a place where any woman would be strolling alone.
So the fishing men were staring at us and almost dropping their eyes.
One of the guys announced his opinion that Henna is "a puta", to which Henna answered "Tu é que és!" (You are!) and made his day.
The town has made some plans for this area, and I don't think I like any of them very much.
maybe the most acceptable possibility is the plan in which these old buildings would be saved and turned into hotels, restaurants, discos and whatnot.
In the other plans the whole area would be demolished and built full of houses. The worst plan would turn the area into a shopping center.
Like there wasn't enough already! And they all have exactly the same big chain shops. Blaah.
I saw once again the Ponte 25 de Abril, but from a very different perspective this time.
These doors are now closed, but they lead into a big empty property, which was a home and a storage of a big wine merchant hundred years ago.
The buildings are still partly standing, and inside them are hides of certain nowadays merchants, Henna told me.
She had once been rummaging there and accidentally found something she shouldn't, and then she had to flee, scared for her life, an enraged man running after her.
She says it's better not to go there after that.
Some of the buildings seem to be serving as some kind of refuse dumps.
There was a little sandy beach in front of the houses.
It must have been full of little fishing boats on its time..
No boats now.
But we found beautiful seashells.
And little bits of bottle glass the sea had polished smooth and wonderfull to hold in our hands.
Sadly we didn't see any dead fish anywhere else but on a wall..
I liked the area just as it was, although I think it would be even nicer if more women were coming here, to stroll or to fish like the men do, so we girls wouldn't be such exceptions!
But this is still a bit oldmodish culture when it comes to the roles of the sexes, and what is suitable or unsuitable to do, hah.
Keeping in min that the revolution was only 40 years ago, it is of course no wonder.
Before it the mental development was forced to stop somewhere in the 1930's.
We decided it was time to climb back to the more "suitable" region before our audience would grow too big.
So me and Zoe kicked the nearest pairs of legs, shouting "Geronimo!" and we run, giggling, away.
Here I am posing in front of a restaurant from which we could peep downwards and see those stupidos standing there, staring.
Can you see the two little ferries?
One is coming from Lisbon and the other one is going there.
We're going to driwe those every time we go to Lisbon.
They leave next to the Cacilhas lighthouse.
Back at home we ate first Caldo verde - green soup, it was delicious!
And then salad and potato noisettes.
I'm sure you would have liked them too!
See you soon again!
Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Mar 3, 2015, 3:44 pm
Geeh, we have been doing so many things!
Or better saying, we have not been DOING much anything, but we have been doing the same thing in so many places! Don't get me wrong - I mean hiking, walking, climbing from morning to evening!
I wanted to see every aspect of my sister Zoe's life, but the truth is that when she is here in Portugal, they don't do anything else but loiter around the region!
Henna says in Finland our life is going to be more normal. Hmm, hah, let's see!
So, every morning we get up at seven, Henna packs us into her backbag (we're still half asleep), and drags us somewhere in a bus or train or ferry, and the rest of the day we walk, walk and walk, until it is seven o clock in the evening and we go back home.
On one day last week, after spending couple of hours in the backbag, singing entertaining songs, Henna pulled us out and told us to watch around and pay attention to the fact that we were in Cabo da Roca, where "the land ends and the sea begins". (I don't mean Henna spent couple of hours in the backbag singing entertaining songs, but that we toyvoyagers did.)
This is the land's end, the most western point of the Eurasian landmass (yeah, we don't count the little islands, like UK..)
Behind me there is the Cabo da Roca lighthouse.
This is a memorial stone, in front of which every seriously taken tourist wants to be photographed. It is telling them, if they have not noticed, that they really are now in Cabo da Roca.
It is also possible to buy a paper in the small tourist office, giving proof that you really have been there.
Why should I have a paper prooving I have been in Cabo da Roca any more than I have a paper prooving I have been in the toilet in the morning?
We started to develop this idea with Zoe - how we could have a small office too selling people all sorts of papers prooving that they had been, for example, eating herring ice cream, or "in a filatelist meeting from 10.00 to 14.15 instead of being somewhere else, like in any odd cactus parties.
(we have heard some rumours of our friend mr Shaun).
The landscapes were really fantastic!
The cliffs were rising almost vertically from the sea 150 m below.
There's some rumours about human sacrifices made here in prehistoric times, to make the sea friendlier before a sea voyage.
At this point Zoe and I exchanged certain signs with our own secret language from our childhood, and continued the conversation about sacrifices:
"I've heard that all the people sacrified were young boys" said Zoe, and all our male companions took couple of steps away from the edge of the cliff, looking pale.
"And they had to be untouched", I added, and all our male companions but brother Casanova took couple of steps more.
Tihih! What do you think this signifies?
We were following little paths on the green hills, winding left and right, up and down, and soon I started to sing, and Zoe joined me.
"Air full of silvery scales
oh herring rain, oh herring rain!
Smell of fish in rising gales!
There's no pain! There's no pain!
(the others were covering their ears)
"Saucers gliding through the clouds
Oh folio hats! Fast, folio hats!
Panic attacking the crowds
They are bats! Gee what bats!"
We saw the others fleeing behind a hill, and decided to sing the rest of the 38 verses some other time.
Here I'm posing with a succulent plant, called Carpobrotus edulis, also known as Hottentot-fig. It is originally from South Africa, but it is now spreading everywhere along the Portuguese coast.
I would send one home to my stepmom, but Henna told me they are very difficult things to be moved - they die very easily.
So better let them bloom here.
I saw a nice looking, stony beach on the root of the cliffs, and wanted to go there.
"Oh no! Not again!" said brother Casanova.
"Sure we go there!" said Zoe.
For the rest of the gang this was a new experience too, like it was for me, and they didn't say anything much, but they looked a bit worried, seeing how deep down the beach was.
Boys are such sissies!
We roamed onto the edge to peek down (Henna was holding our tails) and there really seemed to be a long, vertical distance between us and the beach.
But that just made it more interesting!
We were following some more paths to find a certain spot Henna knew from which the climbing down would be easier.
She was telling us about the prehistory of the place - how it had been considered a holy place for thousands of years, and how the archaeologists had found from there limestone and bone idols from the Neolithic and Calcolithic Periods, representing the Moon.
She also told us that before the lighthouse was built, it was a very dangerous coast for sailors, because it is full of under-surface rocks, and there was many wrecked ships on the bottom of the sea, and rumours of restless souls of the seamen wandering on the rocks at moonlit nights..
We found some Parasoll mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera), but sadly they were already a bit too old to be eaten, and smelled funny.
We came to the "certain spot" from which the path started to descend towards the beach.
It was a slow climbing down.
Well, it would not have been, but I and Zoe had to escort the clumsier boys down. They were about as elegant as a ton of bricks.
They're a bit slow, but we like them, anyway.
Here we are already quite near the bottom!
The last 20 meters were so steep we climbed with the help of a rope.
Then we reached the beach!
It was a very peculiar place, with oddly shaped stone formations standing in the sea in front of it.
The stones on the beach were warm and polished smooth by the sea, so that they felt almost soft under our paws.
We sat down on the stones and were soon lulled into a half-sleep by the sounds of the waves and the sun, but there was something pushing it's way into my sleepy consciousness.. a distinctive smell of fish!
It had wakened Zoe up too from her slumber, and together we went to search for the source of the smell, and soon we found a wonderful, half-rottening little herring between the stones!
We ate it fastly and then we went to drink from a small stream running down the cliff.
Then we went back to the others, who were pushing their noses up into the air and asking "what is this horrible stink?" while I and Zoe were looking ah so innocent.
There was all sort of interesting debris on the shore, brought by the sea who knows how far from.
I was going trough some old fishing nets in case there could have been something more to eat, but no..
I noticed suddenly that the weather was changing. The sky was getting greyer, and so was the sea.
The sea wasn't singing lullabies anymore, it was now licking the stones hungrily and hissing to us!
"Maybe it wants a sacrify!" I suggested and made My sister Zoe grin horribly.
"Maybe we we should better climb back up!" said Batyr the mouse hurriedly, and Henna told us we were being too horrid, Zoe and I.
How come? Girls will be girls etc.
Umh, maybe she was right, though.
So we promised to be good girls (some crossing of fingers there) and patted everybody's backs, and climbed up again, helping each other.
Back up again we rested a bit, lying over the tender succulents.
Then we walked a bit more on the wonderful green hills.
Soon we were singing again, but we tried to chose songs with not-so-brain-exploding lyrics this time, and soon everyone was singing joyfully a Swedish song "Vi går över daggstänka berg" =we walk over the dewy mountains.
We saw many wonderful flowers in bloom.
And many more wonderfull views.
I started to feel a bit dizzy with it all - you know - everything there was in such a big scale, and the sun was so bright and the wind so brisk. I think we all felt a bit ding dong.
Even the shy boys were dancing and jumping happily around.
Guess what? It is good to get drunk by the beauty of nature.
I found a wild narcissus!
I gave it to Mr Casanova, and he blushed!
After a very happy afternoon and many more drunken songs it was time to head back towards home.
So we walked back to the bus stop near the lighthouse, roamed into Henna's backbag and fall asleep!
Kisses from Crawfish! Zoe sends some too! Although we smell still a bit funny!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Mar 23, 2015, 7:54 pm
It is a very sunny day here in Portugal - so my host Henna decided to stay hiding in today, and so I've a possibility to write an update after a long time!
We have not as much as stopped for a ten minutes since I arrived here.
No, we're running round forests and bushes all the time.
My sister Zoe's life here is really totally crazy!
So, one morning we took again the little ferry over the river Tejo, but this time we didn't head our way to forest, nor a bush, ditch, park or rocks, but to the city of Lisbon!
"How did this miracle happen?!" I hear you asking, utterly puzzled, "how on earth did you get Henna to move her ass into the TOWN?" That's a good and well-based question indeed!
But the answer is simple: by blackmailing.
We simply told her we would otherwise not let her sleep for two weeks. We would just be singing the Ufo Attack In A Herring Rain song with Zoe. Hihih!
The words are stronger than swords, and songs are even better.
So, we hopped happily round the city, watching the main touristical sights, dragging our vilting host with us.
Every now and then we gave her a bit of liquorice to freshen her up a bit.
This is the Lisbon town hall. It is an important place because it was there the first Portuguese Rebublic was reclamated in 1910 after the October revolution.
Portugal get rid of the royal family and their expences, which was great, although the young republic only existed for 16 years - 1926 Portugal became a dictatorship, and although the new revolution 1974 tried to equalize the society, Portugal is still the country in Europe with strongest class structures and biggest income differences.
As you see, I'm always interested into the local politics, besides fish.
And sweets. Don't forget icecream.
We walked about 100 meters more to a square, which is called either Praça do Comércio or Terreiro do Paço depending on the viewpoint - Commerce square or palace square.
It was the most important center of, umm, commerce.. headquarters of those companies, who sailed overseas to clean the countries from valuables, were situated here. And so was the royal palace (well, one of them), because the royals of course wanted their share of the goodies.
Did the country get rich? Nope. Only the upper class.
The poor stayed poor. The upper class used the riches to build more palaces.
Well, at least the palaces are nowadays bringing money into the country through the tourism.
Brother Casanova took a picture of me and Zoe in front of the Arco da Rua Augusta with Zoe's new camera she bought with the money given her by people for not to sing on the street
.
Here it is.
The picture, I mean.
Then we moved to the riverside end of the square, where there is a 30 meter wide section of the rivershore in somehow natural state - i.e. - it is not paved with stone, asphalt not concrete.
This was not a wise move, because it was now even harder to get our host to move forward from this minuscule strip of nature.
We had to be nasty and recite one verse of The Song.
The poor sods without folio hats
flee from the saucers like catbitten rats
The rain gets harder, just like if it
was collaborating with
the heavenly abducators, who
with landing nets are trapping you!
Ha ha, that sure made her to move!
And everyone else near us too.
This spot on the shore of the Praça do Comercio is called Ribeira das Naus (Riverside of ships).
The two poles are erected as a memoral for all the ships whitch left and arrived from this shore.
It is also a very good spot to be touristwatching.
The tourists were watching us too.
I guess it was because we were the most stylish thing they´d seen for a decade or so.
We returned to the square, since we wanted to make a little ride with one of the cute trams.
We took this one.
It was very full, but I wanted to sit!
Zoe suggested we could sing again, but the others rised such a larm against it, that instead we sat on the back window sill.
There was another tram coming after us, and we were making faces for the driwer.
He was making some juicy ones back to us too!
The Lisbon bus and tram driwers are cool!
And skilled! It is not an easy job to driwe on the narrow streets and deal with the lunatic car owners who park their vehicles in middle of the roads or over the tram tracks!
We stepped out from the tram in a part of the town called Alfama, and went for a walk (more liquorice for our host).
We ambled onto a viewpoint to stare at the view over the city.
There was a panel made of azulejos (tiles) pointing some points on the landscape we could see from there.
I added there my own lines showing the River Tejo, and the Cristo Rei on the other shore of it, where we visited some time ago.
There was madonna called Nossa Senhora da Graça living inside an aquarium.
I asked her if she was a mermaid or why was she there.
She answered that she was living there so that naughty people would not draw whiskers on her.
I would rather take the whiskers!
This lady in the park Parque Eduardo de VII shared my opinion!
I gave her tweezers.
This is the huge lawn of the aforementioned park.
Can you see the river in bottom of the pic?
We stopped on the lawn for a little snack.
And for a little snore.
Then we continued to the narrow alleys of Alfama.
Here are the most Fado-cafés in Lisbon, and many tourists have found their way into them.
But in the upper floors are still living old grannies.
There was also some interesting shops.
Just watch at all of these different fish cans!
Some walls of the houses are decorated with folk poetry.
This one reads about: Saint Anthony, Oh Saint Anthony, how beautiful you are! I go to collect basil to place upon your feet!
Saint Anthony is one of the guardian saints of Lisbon, and basil is given as love token near the day of Saint Anthony.
It is here a common habit to decorate the streets with flowerpots, which are placed near the stares.
Without them the stony town would look much less joyfull.
In Alfama area it also typical to see these colorfull string decorations hung over the streets.
Sadly there are also many empty houses.
They are often in very bad condition, and it is sad to see them because they have been very beautiful one day.
I'm afraid many of them are going to be demolished, and those cold, unpersonal, modern, steely-glassy houses with sharp edged are going to be built instead.
These old buildings look so much more human! Although I doubt if they're very comfy to live in, especially if you are old and ill..
We then left the Alfama area and sat down to have some coffee and strawberry truffels.
Behind our backs is the National Pantheon, in which many of the important politicians, presidents etc. have been buried.
I wasn't very interested. I don't care about corpses, unless they happen to be fish.
I have to continue updating our Lisbon sightseeing next time!
Now our host wants to go out! There is some clouds, she says!
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Apr 3, 2015, 2:21 pm
This is just a short update, in which I´m telling how I saved a fellow toy from the street!
So, on the saturday morning we woke up early, fresh and chirpy as always (ha ha haa), and ate a very satisfying breakfast of strawberries.
It was my turn to do the shopping (Henna is too lazy, so she has externalized the shopping for us tv:s!).
Anyway, I like to do it. I also got an opportunity to take a pic of our house here.
I added a line showing which one is our balcony.
I walked to the Mercado do Feijó, a farmer's market about half a kilometer away.
There we can buy locally grown, fresh fruit and vegetables (and fish, bread, eggs, cheese and meat if we feel like it).
I bought apples, tomatoes, lettuce, coriander, cabbage, watercress, oranges, tangerines and olives!
I was happy I had taken the shopping trolley with me!
Here I´m on my way back home with my cargo. It was a bit heavy, and I stopped to breath a bit, and then I suddenly saw a miserable looking toy bunny up in a tree!
"Hullo, little bunny! What are you doing up in that tree?" I asked.
"Hi! I´m lost! My owner dropped me from his pram, and then I was chased by a dog, and I had to climb up here!" she answered.
Poor bunny!
I clearly have to teach her some karate later on!
I climbed the tree too to see if I could help her somehow, and saw that she was very dirty, covered in mud, one ear hanging in an unnatural angle and nose missing!
"Would you like to come home with me? You´ll get a bath and something to eat, at least!" I asked.
"You bet!" she answered. and so I offered her a lift on the shopping trolley.
Back at home, we fed the poor brat, and then we put her into a warm bath.
Here she is getting dry after her bath.
When she had dried, she looked already better!
We made her to drink some carrot vodka, and soon she was asleep, and ready to go through some plastic surgery.
Henna modelled her a new nose..
Here she is with her new nose.
After seeing herself in the mirror, she found her smile too!
We asked if she would like to have some clothing too (everyone is not so happy to go around naked as I am!)
She said she would like to have a skirt, since she had never had any, and so we pushed Henna to make her one, and soon she turned a very pretty little bunny indeed!
Zoe said seh is our easter bunny, and so we named her Ostara (the original name of the spring celebration).
She has turned out to be a very joyfull, easygoing bunny, and after listening to our stories she is starting to be enthusiastic to become a toyvoyager too.
Vamos ver! Let's see!
In the evening we watched an Easter procession from the balcony.
Happy easter to all of you!
We are very happy with our easter-bunny-gift!
Hug from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Apr 14, 2015, 7:51 pm
I wish you´re all well and jumping!
I´ll show you photos of our little walking trip from Almada to Trafaria, which is a small fishing town, about eight kilometers away.
We walked, singing, through green fields, along a small road. (No, we weren´t singing about herrings nor ufo:s, I knew you were going to ask! ).
The road took us past some small villages, in which most of the houses are empty or in ruins.
There are mainly old grannies living in the remaining buildings, and since they´re not used to tourists nor any other outsiders, and certainly not crawfishes and kiwi birds (dogs, cows and donkeys they know!) they were very curious about us!
It is amazing - to have such isolated villages so near the urban area!
Soon after tha last little village, we were able to see the town of Trafaria between the pines and behind the fields.
A bit before reaching the town, we saw a shrine on the roadside.
Henna told us, that before the christian shrine dedicated to a saint, it has been a spot in which a female water spirit was showing herself to people (there is a small brook near the road), and to whom people were bringing bread and flowers.
We came to the town. It is a very small town, spread along the rivershore.
Most of its occupants are still fishermen or -women, and the shore is full of their boats.
The boats were very colorful, and it was noce to walk amongst them, reading their names.
In earlier times the local boats often had eyes painted on both sides of their bows, to scare away any evil sea spirits, but we didn´t spot any eyes now.
The river was also full of boats popping up and down.
It looked very cheerfull.
There was also a distinctive smell of fish hovering over the shore, and I started to feel this rather hollow spot on my stomach!
Luckily I saw a dead fish laying in the shore!
I shared my prey with my sis Zoe. It was delicious!
The others were keeping a certain distance after that.
The wind was blewing from the West, and they were trying to always position themselves on the Western side of me and Zoe..
We continued our walk along the shore, out from the town, which didn´t take long - it is a very small town.
We walked past an industrial harbour and some big harvest silos and came to an empty beach.
In the 1920´s and 1930´s here was a popular swimming and sunbathing beach, but then the bigger beaches in Caparica became more trendy and this beach was forgotten, which is great.
A bit forward on the beach there is an illegal village.
It was started in the 1970´s, after the revolution, when people were able to leave their slavery in countryside and move freely.
Thousands of people came to Lisbon to search for work and better life, but there simply wasn´t enough apartments for all of them.
So people started to build little huts and cottages here on the beach, and throughout the years it grew bigger.
The Almada commun has made plans lately to demolish it, and force the people to move elsewhere (the land is valuable), but people don´t want to leave. It is their home.
We went there, but we didn´t took any photos there. People of the village don´t like to be photographed, understandably.
I was taking some photos with Zoe´s camera.
No bad, huh?
Zoe took a photo of me.
Ain´t I beautiful?
The future generations are going to be fighting over this photo, mark my words!
We found many interesting seashells on the beach.
Bro Casanova wanted to have his photo taken too.
He arranged the flowers round his ears, because "girls like that", and asked me to take a good photo to be send signed to his admirers.
"400 copies is about enough."
In the first photo sis Zoe sneaked behind him and made horns.
Bro Casanova chased her some rounds around the shore with lots of shrieking and giggling until Zoe suggested we could take another photo.
Wuffe (bro Casanova) liked the second pic more!
Then we were laying on the soft sand.
The sun wasn´t shining, but the sand was warm and nice under our backs, and the waves were lulling us to sleep.
When we woke up again, the sky was getting more and more overcasted with dark clouds, and we knew we would soon be totally soaked.
So we said good byes to the nice, peacefull beach, and started our walk back home.
I wish you liked our picks!
See you soon again!
Yours, Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Apr 22, 2015, 8:58 pm
It was a bit hard to decide what update to make, since I don't honestly even remember the right order in which we have been seeing things.
But I decided to write about our hiking trip to Peninha, because I like the photos a lot.
So, we took a bus onto the border of the Sintra-Cascais Nature Conservation Area, and after we had got rid of the last urban zone, we were hiking trough a wonderful, green woodland.
The tall trees in the photo are eucalyptuses, and they made the whole forest smell lovely!
We were climbing upwards, and the forest was making way for smaller flora - bushes of mimosa and laurels.
The blooming mimosas had invited thousands of busy bees to buzz upon the flowers!
We had to pass very carefully under the branches not to disturb the bees. They would not have liked it!
After passing the buzzing bushes we suddenly popped into more open landscape!
When watching towards east, we saw beautiful green hills.
When watching towards west, we saw a small village behind the hills, and the Atlantic ocean behind the village.
It was hard to see where the horizon was - where the sea ended and the sky started - they were of such a similar colour.
Our path took us still upwards.
I started to realize the peace and silence of the hills.
It was wonderful! Just us, the hills and the sky!
Walking here can be like a meditation.
Maybe that's what the holy cows of India do?
Some hills were covered with flowers and looked almost golden under the sun.
When we watched closer, we saw that the flowers were Picris echioides or Bristly ox-tongue.
Every now and then we saw another small village in the horizon.
Henna was telling me their names - there were Azoia, Quincho, Almogaçeme, but I don´t remember which was which.
Seen from the hills they all looked just the same - little white houses hunching together, forming a sort of termite hill.
We climbed still upwards, and here started to feel the wind on our fur/feathers/scales/skin.
The upper we climbed the stronger the wind get, and soon it started to be a hard work to walk against it, but it was fun and made us giggle, and then it and the beauty of the landscape made us to sing too!
Zoe was teaching us a Finnish children's song, often sung while hiking, and as a linguistically talented crustacean I learned it fast:
"Terve metsä! Terve vuori!
Terve metsän ruhtinas!
Täs on poikas uljas, nuori
esiin käy hän voimaa täys
kuin tuima tunturin tuuli.
Viherjäisel laattialla
jos ei seinät hämmennä
tähtitaivaan korkeen alla
käyskelen ja katselen
ja maailma unholaan jääköön!"
about:
"Hail, forest! Hail, mountain!
Hail, Lord of the Forest!
Here is your child, valiant and young,
stepping forward, ready to serve,
powerful like the stern wind on the fjälls.
Upon the green floor
without any walls mixing my head,
under the high starlit sky
I wander and wonder.
The world can be erased from my memory."
Isn't that something?
As I told you - nowadays it is a children´s song, but originally it was a greeting to the forest.
The singing was carrying us forward, and soon we got a first glimpse of Santuário da Peninha, towards which we were hiking.
It was a refuge of some hermite monks in the mediaeval times, but it was considered a holy place long before that, probably because it is one of the highest points of the serra - a place in which the heaven and earth touch each other, and in which you are closer to the moon and the sun.
In this photo you can see the Peninha behind us, but we are sitting around a sacrifice bowl carved on the rock on some prehistoric period.People were putting into it offerings. I don't know exactly to whom. Maybe to the serra itself.
Here is the holy fountain of Peninha.
Here a shepherd girl, who was unable to talk, met a radiant woman in white clothes, while searching for a lost sheep.
The woman was taking care of the sheep, giving it water from the fountain.
After meeting her the girl suddenly could talk.
The water looked clear and tasted good!
The big boulders, over which the sanctuary is built, were carried here by the selfsame radiant lady.
She is called "Virgem da Peninha", but actually she is a much older pagan goddess worshipped here in Iberia.. she has been carrying big stones a bit here and there round the peninsula, building the dolmens, for example.
The sanctuary itself wasn't very interesting. And it was also closed. It is open only during summertime.
But the hike here was super!
The wind started to be a bit too refreshing (brrr!), and so we started to hike downwards again, and trough new forests.
See you soon again!
I hope you enjoyed our hike!
Your Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Apr 24, 2015, 5:44 pm
Your favorite crustacean is here again, ready to entertain you
with an update from Portugal!
Now it is time to handle the photos from the Jardim Zoológico, or the Lisbon Zoo.
Usually it is not a habit to show here photos without ourselves - i.e. photos without
the voyager writing the update, but today I´m going to break the rule!
On most visits in zoos, we only see the animals far away, because most of them hate to be photographed and turn their asses towards the camera as soon as they see it.
So, to get a good photo in which there are both the toyvoyager, and the animal, looking bigger than a fly poop, is very difficult.
So, with some animals I´m going to show you first a photo of myself watching the animal in question, and next a photo taken with the zoom, so that it is possible to see the animal a bit t´better!
I wish I´m not pissing you off by it!
Lisbon zoo is a rather big complex.
Besides the zoo itself, it has a small amusement pakr with some rides, a pet hotel and a pet cemetary.
Here I´m just entering its gates.
We can enter the gates without paying a ticket, and visit an area where there are gardens, restaurants, pools and some animals too.
Many people come to spend summer days into this free area.
Students are reading in the shady benches and older people are dozing off on them.
We were circulating first on this area, watching the garden and the black swans swimming in the pools.
The black swans did their best to avoid the camera, but we fooled them!
My sis Zoe was taking a photo of them on one end of the pool, so that they swam like crazies away from her, and while doing so, they came to the other end of the pool where I waited with Henna and her camera, hah!
So we managed to get a photo of them! Muhahaha!
It is a shame we cant´t use the same trick with some other animals..
After a nice little bridge there was the gate to the zoological area, to which we had to buy tickets.
We were hiding in Henna´s backbag while she was entering, so we only need to take one ticket, though!
We started our circle from the "petting zoo" with farm animals.
They animals there were so cute, we almost accidentally spent the whole day with them..
But, it was a time of the year when half of the animals had small babies and the other half were in heat!
These cute ponies certainly were in the later state..
They were a bit nervous and behaving in interesting ways.
The rabbits, instead, were not behaving according to their reputation.
They were in deep sleep!
The sheep were having babies, and they were so cute it became almost unendurable!
I had to stay on my head to be able to stand it, and even so it made me a bit giddy.
The wise sheep mothers were keeping their babies far away from our cameras, though, so I´m going to put here some photos we took using the zoom, because I want you to see their cuteness too!
There!
Do you understand now why I came totally "Eeeeeeeeeeeep" and "Awwwwwwwwwwww"?
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
There were ducks who all had an odd bump over their beaks.
Zoe told us to watch them and spot the similarity with the dinosaurs.
See was right!
There certainly were many similarities, like the pea -sized brain. *Aaargh, Zoe is pouring cold water over me! Pfff!*
We left the petting zoo before all turning into babytalking piles of drool, and went to see the wilder animals.
We saw a pack of flamingoes.
Their caretaker was just cleaning their area, and they were rather excited, because they knew that after cleaning they were going to get food.
Birds!
We went to see the big cats next.
They lions were, surprise surprise, in deep sleep!
What else? Cats and warm sun patches!
But there was some movement in midst of them!
Ooooh, there were lion brats!
I just have to show them to you!
Just look at the little ones!
They were behaving just like any kittens - a little playfight going on all the time, even while having a nap!
The cheetah wasn´t sleepy at all!
She was in heat!
She had a big area to run and climb, and she didn´t stay for longer than ten seconds in one spot.
Here you can see her a bit better.
She came to stare at us, but found soon out we weren't suitable as partners.
The other big cats we didn´t see at all.
Oh, now I´m lying! We saw the hind paw of a lynx, who was snoring inside a hut.
So, we moved on to see the antelopes.
They were not sleeping nor in heat, as far as i understood.
I was chatting with one of them. She was telling about the life in the zoo.
According to her story, it is not too bad nowadays. Things are happily becoming better, and zoos are not anymore just animal exhibitions, but making their own important part in fighting against species extinction and such.
We saw some rhinoceroses, munching on hay.
We were trying to call on him, but he didn´t want to be distracted from his meal.
There are little cable cars circulating over the zoo, and we took a ride in one of them.
It was quite nice, and we got a clearer pic of the area too - which animals were in which part of the zoo.
Ha haa, we saw the same rhinoceros from the air! It was still munching.
The animals were clearly very used to the cable cars driwing over their heads - they didn´t as much as move an ear.
Some parts of the zoo looked quite beautiful seen from the level of treetops.
We continued then our walk, and went to see the bisonts.
They were spending a pleasant afternoon in the shades of pine trees.
"Hello, you hairy cows!" I shouted, "how is it going?"
"Muuh, who left the aquarium lid open?" they answered, and grinned.
We were watching a big family of baboons eating fruit.
Watching them, and watching people watching them, I started to wonder why was the one species of apes inside the cage and one species out.
I asked Henna, ans she answered that some people has learned to believe themselves to be above all the other species.
Isn´t that odd? Isn´t it clear it should be the crawfishes that.. just joking.
Next we went to see the giraffees.
What gracious creatures they are! Looking us meekly with their beautiful, long lashed eyes, and moving their ears towards all sounds.
The two bears were waiting for the day to cool down too.
One of them had put a sack over his head. Maybe he was tired of all the people staring at him all the time.
I would be!
Don´t get worried, though. In the photo we can see only one small corner of their big area, which is actually very nice.
It has a pool and a river and even a waterfall for the bears to play in.
Of course no zoo can be as good as the wild nature would be to live in, but the animals in most zooz (at least in Europe) are not anymore enprisoned from the nature - they are born in them, or sometimes rescued from animal trackers but unable to survive in nature anymore.
We went to the aquarium house (oh yes, suitable place for me, you bisonts) and saw different beautiful (and delicious looking) fish species.
There were also two young crocodiles. Or maybe alligators.
They were looking very cunning, but so they always do, like they were thinking some cunning plans all the time. Maybe they are.
We went to see still some big birds.
These nice girls are nandus (Rhea americana), some sort of ostrichs.
I remembered the horror story of a toyvoyager eaten by an ostrich and kept my distance, although they looked friendly enough!
These are royal pelicans.
Their foreparents moved here from the king´s palace in the beginning of the 20th century.
They still remembered their royal origins.
Sis Zoe was telling them that she certainly is more royal than them, royal palace or no, since her foreparents were called Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The pelicans commented that she certainly had forgotten her court behaviour rules.
Of course they were right.
It was time to leave the place.
We walked again through the gardens.
The we went hope and ate ourselves into beachballs.
See you soon again!
Hug from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Apr 29, 2015, 7:01 pm
I´ve already made one update about our hiking trips - last time we were hiking to see Santuário da Peninha.
This time we´re going to hike a lot more in the Sintra-Cascais Nature conservation area, since that is where we spend most of our time while we are in Portugal.
This time we started our hike from the small town of Sintra, which is about 30 kilometers from Lisbon.
We took a train there.
Behind my back the white funnily shaped chimneys belong to the Palácio da Vila.
It is fun to see these places, which I´ve seen so many times in photos taken by bros Casanova and Squab.
We walked through the town until we reached the edge of the forest.
We walked along a path towards the Sintra palace area.
It tooks kilometers to go round it, so we are usually just walking through it, although it is forbidden.
Besides, I wanted to have a glimpse of the palace.
Usually we don´t meet anybody on this path.
Only one time, I think, we saw a young couple who had come to kiss there.
They looked insulted and moved rapidly away when we approached them.
"Sorry, we don´t want to interrupt anything" we said, and the young couple looked even more insulted.
We saw the walls of the Moorish Castle on the top of a hill.
After some more walking we came to an old wall and climbed over it and came to the Pena palace gardens.
There are some old fortifications scattered on the landscape.
These hills have been fortificated during the year thousands for many times.
We walked past artificial lakes.
The tower standing in the lake is a very fancy house for the ducks who live in the lakes.
We saw fantastical fern trees, which formed little jungles in some parts of the gardens.
We were discussing the prehistory of the planet earth itself - how it looked when there weren´t yet other trees than fern trees, and not yet any seed producing plants, just spore producing ferns and horsetails and mushrooms.
These gardens were forgotten for many decades and let to take care of themselves.
Only about five years ago the gardens started to be tamed again and turned into a tourist attraction.
I wish they don´t destroy their charm with too much taming!
In this house lived a remarkable woman, Countess d´Edla, the second wife of the last king of Portugal.
She was the one who actually planned the gardens of the Pena palace - ordered the fern trees and sequoias and various other trees to be planted and took actively part into the works.
While we walked through the gardens Henna told us more about the countess.
Her marriage with the king was a big scandal.
She was an actress and a singer, and had a daughter outside marriage when she met the king.
The aristocratic circles were horrified, and many of the numerous children of the king refused from talking to their father and his new wife.
The couple lived, anyway, happily, spending lots of time in the small house around which they planted the gardens.
We walked past "rhinoceros trees".
I´m not sure to which species they actually belong.
We had come near the Pena palace, and I walked round it and took some photos.
The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
In the Middle Ages there was a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena on the hill where the palace stands nowadays.
According to tradition, its construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary. That lady must be responsible of 90% of construction works in Portugal!
After the sanctuary there was a small convent on this site.
King Manuel I ordered the construction of the monastery, which was donated to the Order of Saint Jerome. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, housing a maximum of eighteen monks.
Considering the history of the place, I find the pretty pagan symbolism of the latest construction quite enthralling.
Of course it depends on the viewpoint whom we consider pagan.
The christianity was for a long time too an odd, exotic sect from Near East.
The monastery was ruined first by a lightning and then by the big earthquake in 1755. People were telling stories about the sinful life of the monks, which caused this destruction. Numerous stories tell about underground tunnel leading to nunneries and such.
For many decades the ruins remained untouched, until 1838, when king consort Ferdinand II decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Castle of the Moors and a few other estates in the area. King Ferdinand then set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family.
These landscapes I saw up from the palace walls.
In them we see part of the area king Ferdinand bought.
Just think about it! "I went shopping yesterday and bought couple of palaces, and old castle and some hundred hectares of forest."
After the Republican Revolution of 1910 the palace was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.
Nowadays it is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.
I wonder if they would rent it for a toyvoyager ball.
We left palace and rested for awhile in front of some kind of royal gazebo, before heading towards the Western wall of the park to be able to continue our hike.
I was really enchanted bu the wonderful magnolias which looked like soft, pink clouds.
There was a pool, in which the magnolia petals were sailing with the wind like delicious pink and white sailing boats.
Actually I saw an ant sailing in one of the boats!
It seemed to me that her navigation skills were not very good, so I helped her back onto dry earth with a stick.
We saw another "gazebo", built in the Moorish style, which was very popular here in the Romantical period.
We left the Pena Palace behind our backs and walked onwards.
We saw a statue called The Giant.
Actually it is the King Fernando II (countess d´Edla´s husband who built the palace).
He didn´t look so gigantic up there.
Actually he looked pretty much like the ant I saved.
We came to the Cruz Alta (High Cross) which stands on the border of the Pena area, and on one of the highest spots of the serra, 529 meters from the sea level.
No doubt some apparition has been the reason for rising this cross too.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of mushrooms the Portuguese people were eating in the past times..
We could still see the Pena palace, but it was already somehow far away.
We left the Pena area by climbing another wall.
It is great to be in a real forest!
It is not so easy in Portugal!
There is very little forest left, and people have drifted so far from nature that they are actually afraid of it. It is very sad!
I think it would be a really great idea to organize kind of "back to the nature" camps or courses for too urbanized people.
They could live a month in a tent in the Finnish forests and drink from brooks and pick mushrooms.
They would be much halthier and happier people after the month, I believe!
We saw a cave in which a hermit was living in the 17th century.
I guess he wanted to get back to nature too.
Think about this forest in the 17th century!
Half a kilometer to the East there was the Jeromete convent. About three kilometers to the West there was the Capuchos convent.
Besides the hermit living in this cave here there were at least three others living in different caves and holes.
What kind of hermiting is that?
Of course it is nice they could always pop into the neighbour cave to loan some dry bread.
We saw an astounding row of tall sequoias - all that is left from a house which was here hundreds of years ago.
Of course the sequoia isn´t a natural species here, but how can we but love them?
We have learned to use a GPS to find our way in the dense forest.
We don´t watch it actually very often, because it is better to use the compasses inside our heads, but it is nice to know it is in Henna´s backpack in case we happen to need it.
We crossed a small bridge over a little brook.
We were practising to use Zoe´s new camera in turns.
Zoe took a photo of me, Racko and Mr Woffe.
Here it is!
We were all saying "Queijo!" (cheese).
We came to the shore of a lake called Lagoa da Mula.
It was my turn to use the camera and I took a picture of a beautiful yellow flower which grew on the shore.
Here! What do you think?
Not bad for a beginner.
We built a raft from twigs and reeds and put big plumes on the stern for sails, and then we made a round ("one, hah!" says Henna) on the lake.
Our ship sailed quite well!
After sailing five times round the lake clockwise we had to sail other five time anticlockwise to stop our heads spinning too much.
Then we continued our hiking through the backwoods.
We climbed a wonderful giant cork tree.
She told us she remembered well people coming to build the town of Sintra.
I took a photo of Racko and the lunatic siblings walking on the forest.
We had come high up on a hill again and saw some villages spreading towards the forest.
I hope they don´t cut more forest to make room for houses anymore! There is almost nothing left!
We stopped for awhile in front of a memorial stone erected on top of a hill for 22 firefighters who died here, fighting against a forest fire.
These are true "war heroes" to me.
We came to the shore of another lake, Lagoa Azul (Blue lake).
The shores were full of wonderfull mimosas.
Zoe wanted to take a photo of me standing in front of the beautiful lake.
We run through an old farm, which is nowadays part of the Sintra-Cascais nature conservation area.
I don´t know what these odd looking buildings have been.
If you wander why we´re running, it was because there was this rarely juicy centipede I and Zoe dropped onto bro Casanova´s neck, and he was then running after us swinging a bag full of rabbit droppings.
It´s good he has such short legs.
They kept some beautiful horses on the meadow.
We walked the last ten kilometers to the town of Cascais, where we took the train home again.
At home we ate lots of delicious things!
I wish you liked our hike! I did!
See you soon!
Kisses and just some tiny centipedes from Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 2, 2015, 11:52 pm
One day we visited Jardim Botanico Botanical Garden and natural scientific museum.
It is situated quite near the centrum of Lisbon, but it is impossible to notice if you don´t know where to search.
There is actually two other botanical gardens in Lisbon too, but this is the best of them, says Henna.
This garden was opened 1878.
In the upper part of the garden there are plant species which originate from Portugal, and in the lower part are species from the various former Portuguese colonies.
I felt so much like diving into this beautiful big fountain, but then I saw it was full of giant sized carps!
My sis Zoe pulled me back fast! They could have eaten my antennas or worse!
We were going first round in the upper part and admiring the plants.
There was also an exhibition about the plants of the age of dinosauruses inside a greenhouse.
Then we moved to the lower part of the garden to watch the more exotic species.
First we saw many different palm trees and big araucarias.
There is sadly some fungal disease which has attacked the palms in Portugal. We saw many sick palms in the gardens too. They had lost their hair.
Then we walked inside a beautiful thicket of young bamboos.
We saw another beautiful pond.
Henna says it is because besides being interesting this place is also beautiful and usually peaceful she prefers this to the other botanical gardens.
Next we went to see the section of cacti and succulents.
First thing we saw there was this big dragon tree, Dracaena draco.
Here it is seen from another perspective.
Next to the dragon trees we saw Opuntia Robusta.
It is from Mexico and it is formed with a bit rounder "plates" than the Opuntia ficus indica from India we usually see here.
I don´t know the names of all of these plants. I should have written them down.
But I think mom Sanny knows what species they are anyway.
This is a Golden barrel cactus, Echinocactus grusonii.
Henna told me in Finnish they say Mother in law´s stool.
Here we have Euphorbia resinifera (Resin spurge), which is a species of spurge native to Morocco.
They´re full of toxic chemicals.
Nice place this, huh, Sanny?
We left the cactuses baking in the sun and went to see the other parts of the garden.
We saw so many wonderful things!
Here are banana plants. No bananas, though.
The back wall of the garden was totally grown over by Monstera deliciosa, fruit salad plant.
It seems their fruit are edible too.
During winter this is like a forest refuge inside the city, a good place to come and read for an exam, for example.
In summertime there are too many tourists.
I´m sure you would love to spend time in here too.
Usually there are water channels running here and there, from pool to pool, but they were now been fixed and dry.
We spent almost whole day in the gardens, and then we went to see the museum of natural history too.
We saw many fossils.
This must be the foremother of some delicious species of fish.
Look at this fellow!
He was the size of a washbasin!
There! Can you see!?
My own foreparents!
I´m sure they were very smart.
We met some foreparents of Zoe too.
She went quite wild.
She was foaming like a little steam boat around and babbling about the theories of dino extinction because of a meteorite and how only her foreparents were smart enough to turn into birds and continue living.
Well, so did mine, as we just saw! And they didn´t even need to turn into birds! They were just growing some more legs to run faster.
Well, I´m sad these animals disappeared!
It would be really something if they were still here.
Maybe they could have prevented human overpopulation a bit too.
These are allosauruses, who are those who probably turned into birds.
They had bigger brains compared to the body size than the other dinos.
Zoe told this fact to us about hundred times until we told her that compared to a maggot a slug is a genius.
Actually, it was quite an interesting collection and I was enjoying myself watching those huge sculls and bones, and we all had imagining them trampling in a city, muhahahah!
Bro Casanova had been drooling for sometime between all those giant bones, and he started to gnaw a rib of a raptor without realizing it was fossilized!
So, we had to get him out from there and feed him (and us) before the guardians would get angry.
See you soon again!
Kisses and hugs from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 11, 2015, 11:46 am
Today I´ll show you photos from an interesting place called Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra.
I remember my bros Squab and Woffe and sis Josie showing photos of this place and always wanting to see it - so I was rather excited!
Quinta da regaleira is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO.
It is a very impressive collection of imaginative buildings, chapels, caves, underground passages, pools and statues set in a beautiful garden.
Behind my back is the main building.
The Regaleira family were rich merchants who purchased the land in the late nineteenth century.
Building of Quinta da Regaleira started 1892. The owner of the land, Carvalho Monteiro, was eager to build a bewildering place where he could collect symbols that reflected his interests and ideologies - symbols related to alchemy, Masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians.
With the assistance of the Italian architect Luigi Manini, he recreated the 4-hectare estate. The architecture Manini designed evoked Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Manueline styles. The construction of the current estate was completed by 1910.
Here I am standing on Passage of gods. Suits me, somehow.
I went to mix a bit with my own kind - they recognized me immediately as a water nymph.
What intelligent gods!
(Did you hear, Squab? I´m a water nymph!)
It was a rather bewildering place, but also exciting!
There were tiny paths and wider ways crisscrossing the gardens, and every now and then we saw an odd construction peeping through the thickets.
The buildings themselves were in very mixed styles, and they were decorated with gods and goddesses and scenarios from various mythologies.
There were many pools and fountains, caves and underground passages hiding in the gardens!
Henna told me there are some new age and pagan people sneaking here in some nights.
No wonder!
)
When we bought our tickets we were given a map showing the main attractions of the place.
But they have not put quite everything in the map!
This is one of the caves most tourists don´t find at all, because it doesn´t enter their heads to go and see a certain statue from behind too.
We wanted to see if it was wearing a leaf only in front or in behind too, and so we found the mouth of a small tunnel which led us here.
(it didn´t have a leaf behind)
Carvalho Monteiro and his friends formed a secret sect, which hold its rituals on the Quinta Regaleira.
The magical quinta was actually created as a secret hideaway for the sect - so many of the edifices have been constructed to serve in the rituals.
Nowadays the place is full of tourists and their shrieking, but it is easy to imagine how impressive stage it has been hundred years ago for secret rituals.
Just imagine yourself here alone in the shades of an evening, without electrical lights, in silence, walking through these passageways and encountering white statues in surprising places looming over you!
That would be great!
Maybe we have to sneak here on some night too with Zoe.
This is one of the underground buildings called Unfinished Well.
There is two underground wells spiraling deep within the earth. The wells were never used, nor intended for water collection. Instead, these mysterious underground towers were used for secretive initiation rites.
The reason why Carvalho Monteiro choose Sintra as the place to create a secret meeting point for the sect was it´s old fame as a mysterious, holy place.
The archaeological finds tell that there really has been popular cult places in the Sintra area since the Neolithic period.
The cult activity continued through the prehistoric times, and emerged again in historical period - many hermits were living in the Sintra caves, and there was a monastery deep in the forest, surrounded by odd rumours..
We continued our expedition through the park and its symbolism, peeping into every cave and building we saw.
There were wonderful azaleas in bloom.
The turrets of the main building, rising from the foliage, looked very beautiful! Like some ancient temples rising from a jungle.
We rested a bit in the little café, strengthening ourselves with croissants.
Then we headed towards the upper parts of the park which seemed to be more in natural state.
Soon we were amongst huge trees and lushy green ferns.
For my own behalf I can say, that how ever beautiful a human-made construction can be, it never can be as gorgeous as the creations of nature!
There were even huge sequoias!
People started to plant them here some hundred years ago, and now they are spreading by themselves.
Oh, what a paradise!
I wouldn´t mind having this as my hideaway!
Never know when there is a romance in horizon, for example.
The Portuguese nature is so beautiful, I think it is a big shame there is so little left!
There were primulas growing under the trees!
In midst of the trees we found this "Leda´s cave"
Behind the statue we found again a passage, which led us deep underground!
We followed the passage - it led us onto the bottom of the other, bigger initiation well.
There were stairs circling the well, and we started to climb upwards. The winding stair architecture carries symbolic meanings including the death/rebirth allegory common to many hermetic traditions says Henna.
The stairs have nine platforms, which are said to be “reminiscent of the Divine Comedy by Dante and the nine circles of Hell, the nine sections of Purgatory and the nine skies which constitute Paradise."
Walking through all of those we reached the end of the long stairs and watched down into the well.
We rested our paws a bit over a wall.
Then were walking back downwards, through different paths.
We walked still past some nice buildings.
This is the small chapel of the quinta.
We hopped into the main building, but inside it was so dark that I took only two photos in the front hall.
It was a shame, because the rooms were really beautiful too!
I wish you enjoyed our little trip too!
See you very soon again!
Yours, Water nymph!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 13, 2015, 12:00 pm
How you doing, dear bimbos? Has bro Squab learned to bind his shoelaces already?
One day we want to see the famous Capuchos Cork Convent in Colares hills in middle of the Sintra forests.
We walked along many forbidden paths, showing out tongues to the "private" - announcements.
We hiked and hopped some kilometers trough the forest,
climbing some fences every now and then, until we reached these
stairs and a plaque which told us we had come to the Capuchos
Cork Convent.
The nature as the best expression of divinity - I can totally agree with this ideology, if I leave myself out from the list of phenomenons expressing it.
We followed the stairs, admiring the cork oaks
along our path.
There was little cross signalling us that we
were now entering an area dedicated to the worship of god.
We reached the small front yard of the convent,
where there was couple of stone tables where the monks could
sit near to the nature eating their meals.
This is the main entrance into the convent.
First thing we saw after entering was a big shrine, decorated with seashells and bits of broken porcelain.
The convent was built because of a dream.
The former fourth Viceroy of India, D. João de Castro (1500 - 1548)
was hunting in the mountains of Sintra, and chasing a deer, the bimbo found himself lost (right for him!)
Tired he fell asleep against a rock, and in a dream a saint told him to erect a Christian temple on the site.
i would have preferred the saint to tell him to leave the deer alone, but I guess it was a wrong kind of saint.
There was originally eight monks living here.
One of them became a real celebrity of his own time - Friar Honório, who, according to the book "Mirror of Penitents", lived to be 100 years old, although he lived his last three decades in a small cave next to the convent.
We entered the monks humble recidings,
which consisted of tiny cells in which they lived, and a bit bigger
common areas for worshipping and eating and such.
As you can see, many surfaces - walls, ceilings,
doors and benches are coated with cork to make the space
at least a BIT warmer. That´s why it is called "Cork Convent".
The convent didn´t have any kind of heating system besides the
hearth in the kitchen.
It must have been freezing cold in the wintertime inside the stone
walls!
Of course the winters here are not so very cold, but at winter nights
the temperature can drop under zero.
The doors inside the convent were so small that even Henna, who is not a big woman, had to bend almost double to get trough them.
Either the friars were very tiny, or the doors were planned so that they had to almost roam trough them to grow their humility.
The monks were living in very small cells, where they just and just had room to lay down on their hard, narrow beds.
Only the oldest monks or those who were sick, had windows in their rooms to be able to see the nature, when they were too weak to go out.
It was too dark to get photos inside the tiniest cells, sadly.
Here we are sitting on the window sill of one of the biggest cells.
And then we climbed to the roof.
I wonder if the monks ever did that.
While we were sitting on the roof Henna told us more about friar Honório.
So, when he was 70 years old, he was once walking to the convent from the town of Sintra, when a naughty young village girl, carrying a basquet of apples, wanted to have some fun at his expense. She teased
the poor monk, asking "Do you want to taste my apples?",
smiling seductively for the old guy, who
undoubtedly almost got a heart attack.
Horrified, the monk decided to retreat into a cave for the rest of his life, to avoid further encounters with seductive maidens.
(Should we recommend this to bro Casanova?)
Anyway, he became a real superstar of his age - even the king
was once visiting his cave.
So, not much peace, after all.
It was nice on the roof.
The convent really is built on a beautiful spot!
Then we went to investigate the yards
and side buildings of the convent.
This is the inner yard of the convent,
round which the buildings are organized.
It had a small fountain and a shrine.
Well, living in the convent building doesn´t
much appeal to me, but living in these surroundings does!
Add, let´s say, some light and heating and carpets and nice beds
to the cells, and it would be all right!
I entered a small side building, and guess
what it was!
The monks´s toilet!
There could be five of them at the same time.
How.. ..fraternal.
Then I entered another side building, and
there was the monks´s kitchen!
I wonder what they ate. Probably not much.
Next to the kitchen was a small chapel.
We returned to our yard-investigations,
and started to follow a path up to nearby rocks.
We passed the owen in which the monks
baked their bread.
The path led us on a small platform on top of
the rocks, where the monks climbed to admire the landscape.
On those times all they saw was forest and sea, but sadly the overpopulation is now too easy to see.
This is the cave in which our friend Honório
lived 30 years.
In very cold nights, they say, he covered himself with dry leafs.
I´m not sure if I would like to meet the guy..
Near Honorio´s cave was another cave, in which was living Jesus.
Nice they had some company. Maybe they were shouting from cave to cave if they got bored.
We returned to the convent yard and started
our walk back trough the forest.
It was an interesting visit, don´t you think?
Muitos beijinhos from Crawfish! See you soon!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 19, 2015, 7:35 pm
I´m almost reaching the end of the Portugal - updates. The next one will be the last, and then I´ll move into Finland.
This time I´m telling you about a day we spend lazying around in the Lisbon area.
We get up unnaturally early, well, just because the evening before we had eaten a kilo of salmiakki (salty liquorice) sent for us from Finland, and after that went onto bed noticeably early and without appetite for dinner.
Anyway, as you can see the sun is only rising behind river Tejo.
We admired the little boats rocking on the morning light, and then we walked through the still sleeping Almada.
The streets were silent, and we were enjoying the rare peace.
As always, our advancing through the streets brought the grannies (still in their night caps) to take a peek behind the curtains. ("Yeah, goodbye to the rare peace when you´re around!" says Henna)
The town was waking up, when we reached Cacilhas.
We took the ferry over the river, and on the other side we enjoyed a refreshing mug of tea.
We already started to feel kind of cavity in the place where the salmiakki had been.
We walked to see the biggest flee market of Lisbon, Feira da ladra = thieve's market.
It happens on open air, on the streets around the National Pantheon, every Tuesday and Saturday.
Everyone can come there freely and sell there whatever (almost). The police is circulating between the tables to make sure there is no unlegal stuff to be sold, although we certainly saw some dubious items, like archaeological finds and medieval church statues.
A market of this type is thought to have been in place in Lisbon since the 12th Century and the name Feira da Ladra was first mentioned in the 17th Century.
The name has two possible origins. It either comes from the times when some poor women, who often were widows, tried to keep their children alive, and as a last resort started to steal clothing spread to dry on clothes lines, and to sell it in the flee market, or it can also come from he word "ladro", which is a furniture beetle.
We were watching old clothes and shoes, books, pots and pans, decorations and toys, until on one table, a kid get hold on me, and asked the sales woman "What´s the price of this plush?"
What a moment of horror!
I bit the brat´s nose and at the same time Zoe kicked his ass, so that he loosened his grip, and the we run!
Henna then ushered us all into her bag not to be mixed up with any old toys!
She also promised me a good lunch to get over the shock!
We went into this nice little restaurant, which is specialized into mushroom dishes!
Cogumelos means mushrooms in Portuguese.
We had two courses.
First a delicious risotto with black trumpet mushrooms. It was wonderful!
Only I was a bit doubtfull first, because in Portuguese the name of the mushrooms is Trompetos de Morte - trumpets of death.
The second course was shiitake with herbs in delicious sauce.
Ah, I was enjoying myself, and soon overcame my shocking experience on the flee market.
After leaving the restaurant we were stretching along the streets and watching wonderful things in the shop windows.
We popped into one of the little bakeries and bought some pasties "to have in the evening with some tea" said Henna.
Hah, we were having them five minutes later, sitting on a bus.
We took the bus to visit the central park of Lisbon, called Parque Florestal de Monsanto.
In the nineteenth century Serra de Monsanto was an agricultural area, with wheat fields, several wind mills and pasture lands for sheep.
The reforestation of the area started in the 1930´s, the main idea being to create a forest area to clean the horribly polluted air in Lisbon.
The growing population also needed a green area where to escape the suffocating, dirty town.
The area covers about 1000 hectares, but is has been diminishing during the past years.
A highway was built through the park in the 1990´s, and peaces of the park have been sold to built private houses for the friends of the policy makers. High bribes have certainly been moving from pocket to pocket.
It is still a beautiful place, which still offers possibilities from getting away from the hubbub of the town, without the need to go very far.
There is very different areas in the park. This valley has been originally a quarry from where they got lime stone to make the Lisbon pavement stones, but now it grows different cacti and succulents.
There are also areas of pine forest, meadows and parks with grass and flowerbeds.
Besides this there are activity areas, sport areas, play parks and restaurants. Roads crisscross it. Too many roads.
We were admiring the blooming aloes.
And greeting the nice opuntias.
The wonderful almond trees were in bloom!
Both me and the bees went crazy and started buzzing drowsily.
It is also possible to find wild asparagus in Monsanto.
Its time was already over - it is in its best in December-January, but I wanted to find one to learn to recognize it!
Sis Zoe was helping me to search for the asparagus.
Here and there we saw more signs of the guarry working in old times.
There were also some ruins in the park.
This has been some kind of small water deposit in the network of old water channels.
Then we came onto some older ruins and went to investigate.
I thought it must have been once some building of those farm houses which stand here before the area was reforested.
When I was climbing on the ruins, I noticed something very interesting on one of the old walls!
There was a roll of paper stuffed onto a crack in the wall!
I opened the roll and found a very peculiar message, which was written in some ancient form of English!
It said:
"Hark, thou fair maidens! Geteth rideth of those stupid boys following thou, and goeth to the Fountain of Maidens, around which the asparagus grows, and dropeth a coin into the wat'rs, and thy wisheth will be fullfilled!"
Wasn´t that rather peculiar?
Anyway, I and sis Zoe told the boys to go and wash the cats, for example, since we had some serious girl-stuff to do.
So, the two of us were walking through the park, excited, searching now for both the asparagus and the aforementioned fountain.
We saw some wonderful bushes of hydrangeas!
And beautiful lilies of some sort.
We were walking paw in paw, and started to sing our chilhood songs.
It was odd, but when we were just in middle of a song:
"Boys are very simple.
Like an aching pimple
they are full of slime,
and it is no crime
to squeeze them! " we thought we heard someone snarling behind us!
But we didn´t see anyone!
We found many more interesting plants.
And at last we found some asparagus!
Now I´m going to recognize it if ever I happen to encounter it.
We knew the Fountain of Maidens had to be pretty near, and soon we found it!
We approached the fountain, and we didn´t need to say anything - we both new exactly what we wanted to wish for!A kilo of various sweets, of course!
So I dropped 20 cents into the the fountain and we made the wish.
A kilo of various sweets appeared from nowhere onto our feet!
And bro Casanova appeared from behind the bushes and said: "Hey, you dorks, why didn´t you wish for two kilos?"
Of course we shared the sweets with the boys.
Later Henna told us that there was a custom in bygone days for girls to go in midnight at middsummer to the Fountain of Maidens and wash their faces with the waters to become beautiful as water spirits.
(Bro Casanova said that "it would be something, and that our next visit to the fountain could be in midsummer", but we told him to shut up if he wanted more sweets.
That was all for today!
See you very soon!
Hug from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 23, 2015, 3:59 pm
Our last day in Portugal had arrived!
The UV radiation levels were creeping over five, and Henna had to flee from it back to Finland not to get ill.
I´m very happy the toyvoyagers can´t get the UV allergy!
We started our day with a nice breakfast!
Funny word that, by the way!
How can I break a fast if I have been secretly eating sweets throughout the night?
Anyway, I was doing my best!
We were debating how to spend our last day in Portugal.
There were three of us who wanted t visit the famous Belém area in Lisbon, I, Racko and Momo.
Zoe, who has seen Belém hundred times wanted to show me the place in which our sis Tuli plunged into river orgy of frogs, and Mr Casanova, who has visited Belém too, wanted to make still one stroll in Lisbon.
After somewhat long discussions we decided to do all of that.
So, we took again the metro and ferry to reach Lisbon, and then we were strolling around a bit.
This is Avenída de Liberdade (The avenue of Liberty), which one of the main avenues.
All the demonstration processions are marching along it.
Brother Casanova was soon surrounded by girls, like a big rosebush by bees. We could only see his ears now and then.
I guess it was his way to say good bye to Portugal.
The rest of us were amusing ourselves by watching beautiful houses and trees and such.
This house was originally a small hospital, but nowadays it is a hotel.
In Principe Real we encountered this fantastical cedar tree, which was spreading itself over the park like a giant parasol.
Its branches had become so heavy, that at some point the Lisbon town had organized a supporting scaffolding under the tree.
People love to come and sit under its branches.
Every now and then we found ourselves in some higher part of the town (Bairro Alto they call them) from where we could see a view over the river or over the town.
We passed a shop window, which brought Sanny back at home to my mind, for some reason.
We went to see Ascensor da Bica, a funicular, kinda lift, which is helping people up to the highest parts of the town without the need to climb.
The Bica funicular was opened in 1892. It climbs the street Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo for 245 metres from the street Rua S. Paulo.
In 2002 it was designated a National Monument.
As you can see, the funicular looks just the same as the old trams, but it is build specially for the steep hills.
There is nowadays three funicular routes left in Lisbon, but originally there were more.
In the beginning they were working with "water power". I don´t quite know what they mean by it!
Then they were turned into steam power and then electrified.
Especially on hot summer days these funiculars must be a blessing for the people living here!
I cannot even imagine how the grannies could survive without them.
We followed the furnicular route admiring it, and then we walked towards Rossio square.
Here we are!
It is a beautiful square, don´t you think?
I like the "wawing" pavement a lot.
We took a train to visit Tuli´s orgastic river.
We strengthened ourselves in the train with a little snack.
Here it is, the beginning of the river Ribeira do Vinho, although it looks more like a ditch or something. ;-)
Zoe was explaining that it is very dry this spring, and there is not much water, but last year, when Tuli jumped in, it had been raining for weeks and the little river was full and powerfull.
Sure there were frogs!
We could hear their lustful croaking everywhere.
We walked along the river shore.
We met a big frog guy and Zoe asked if he remembered meeting a frog called Tuli.
"If I remember!" sighed the guy, "I´ll never forget that hot little girl!"
But he didn´t know where we could search for her, "From somewhere you hear the hottest croaking, I bet", he said. Oh dear.
This is the exact place in which Tuli decided to hop to the river after some siren call.
Zoe told me how she and Henna, bro Casanova and Mr Shaun had tried to catch her, but she had just swam forward and shouted "See you some day, dear bimbos!"
Well, I guess she is having lots of fun, where ever she is.
We returned to Lisbon and took a tram to Belém. We reached the area from East, and walked through the gardens towards the Belém monastery.
These gardens are very popular places to spend summer days.
The youngsters are sitting on the lawns, chatting and kissing, the older people are sitting on the benches, deprecating the morals of the youngsters, and the kids are running around, kicking balls or each other.
I think the youngsters are having the best time.
We reached the monastery garden, which lies between the river Tejo and the monastery itself.
In middle of the garden, there is a big fountain, which spits a very high column of water towards the sky quite suddenly.
On windy days all people inside a radius of 200 meters get a free shower.
It was nice to watch innocent tourists run screaming away, their clothes dripping water.
Can you see the little rainbow in the water?!
After laughing enough on the account of the screaming people, we walked to see the monastery itself.
Jerónimos monastery is an UNESCO world heritage site.
Its building started 1501, and an older church, built by Henry the Navigator, was demolished from the site.
The old church had been a place for the sailors, on the time of the sea expeditions, to spend the last night in prayers, before setting sail towards the unknown parts of the world.
The new monastery was built to celebrate the fact that Vasco da Gama had found the sea route to India.
The custom continued in the new monastery, and for example Christopher Columbus and his men spent here their last night, before they went and accidentally found America.
The construction of the monastery and church began on 6 January 1501, and was completed 100 years later.
Its building was funded by a tax given to the crown from all the spice trade.
So, as you see, this is a very historical spot indeed. Big (and maybe not so positive) events have started on these very stones we were hopping over.
We saw a tourist drop a chewing gum on the yard, and went and bit him on the leg.
While he was hopping on one leg and whining, we told him that
a) It is an insult to litter such a historical spot and
b) The birds who think the chewing gum is something eat, often die because the gum is stuck into their beak and they starve to death and
c) There seem to be an empty space inside his scull where other people have some porridge.
He was watching us horrified, his eyes bulging from his head.
I wish he corrected his behaviour after that.
The monastery was designed in a manner that later became known as Manueline: a richly ornate architectural style with complex sculptural themes incorporating maritime elements and objects discovered during naval expeditions, carved in limestone.
This is the so called Axial portal, which is the most important door to the Jerónimos: in terms of its localization in front the main altar and because of its ornamentation.
Henna was reading from the tourist guide:
"In the tympanum there are scenes from the birth of Christ: from the left to right: the Annunciation (of the angel indicating to Maria that she would give birth); the Nativity (the birth of the Christ child); and the Epiphany (the adoration of the magi). Two angels, hold the arms of Portugal, close to the archivolt. The splays on each side of the portal are filled with statues, among them are statues of King Manuel I and Queen Maria of Aragón kneeling in a niche under a lavishly decorated baldachin, flanked by their patrons: Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist, respectively. The supporting corbels are decorated with little angels holding the coat-of-arms and, at the side of the king, an armillary sphere and, at the side of the queen, three blooming twigs. This doorway, completed by Nicolau Chanterene, introduces Renaissance elements: angels in Roman garb, cherubs, the detail and realism of the Kings and nude study of Saint Jerome. Blaa blaa.
If you would like to know (which I doubt) what are the tympanum, archivolt, splays and baldachin, you better check from a dictionary!
I have no idea!
If you also find out why Saint Jerome has to be nude, tell me too!
We stepped inside the huge monastery church, trying to listen to the swishing of the wings of history ("Herstory"! I said, but then I had to admit, that this place was reeking only-masculine-history of power and imperialism.)
Half of the building was under restauration - the delicate slimestone ornaments need washing, and they had been removed from the walls and pillars.
The other half was still waiting its turn, and I met some interesting creatures there.
"Do you feel like having a bath, then?" I asked from this cherub.
"Weeell.." it answered, "it was just only five hundred years ago since I last took one, so I´m not in such a hurry!"
After that I kept a distance to the creatures living there.
There were two huge sarcophaguses.
In one rests Vasco da Gama, and in the other Luís de Camões, who lived in the 16th century and is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet.
His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante.
I stand there, full of awe, and asked from Vasco if he was sleeping well.
"Yeah, I can still feel the rocking of the ship", he answered.
We were staring the amazing columns holding the roof up.
I´ve heard that the monastery was very badly damaged in the 1755 earthquake.
To be honest, I don´t even want to imagine how it had been when this building has been shaking and tumbling down!
If I ever come here a second time, I will take binoculars with me to see all the carvings, which continue up to the ceiling!
We left the building and went back outside, to the sun.
We walked a short distance to see another UNESCO site - the Belém Tower.
It is a fortified tower, whic was built simultaneously with the monastery, to guard the mouth of river Tejo.
The tower was interesting enough, but we couldn´t quite concentrate to it, because there was an ice cream booth very near, calling us with a magnetic power!
"All right, all right, go and get your ice creams then!" said Henna, seeing us turning towards it like sunflowers towards the sun.
So, we were devouring our ice creams, and a second and third and fourth ice creams, and Henna was telling us exciting things about the tower - how it had cannons and how it had been firing enemy ships and how it had been serving as a prison etc.
But the ice cream was the main thing!
After some more ice cream we were ready to be rolled home.
"Why rolled?" I hear you asking.
It is simple, our feet didn´t reach the ground.
In the evening we were cooking dinner - I was frying french fries, and little soya steaks,
Zoe and Mr Casanova boiled cabbage to go with it.
Ach, I hear you asking about the ice cream and us being unable to walk.. but it was at least an hour since!
We were hungry again!
The smaller animal, the faster metabolism!
This is a very useful answer to all toyvoyagers if ever your hosts are wondering about your appetite (for sweets).
It was good!
What do you mean, we eat a lot?
Next morning we were early as hell on the airport. I was so very sleepy!
It´s not a time for little crabs to be dragged into airports!
But.. it was nice to watch the planes come and go.
Our plane is the one behind our backs. We were waiting for it to take its morning shower and get refreshed before the long flight to Finland.
On the plane I was watching the towns and rivers and lakes running under the plane´s belly.
I´m sure I spotted my home when we flew over Germany!
I was wawing to you, Sanny and Alex, did you see me?
A straight flight from Lisbon to Helsinki takes four and half hours.
Can you imagine that throughout those hours we couldn´t spot even one UFO, although the skies should be full of them!
We were served quite a good meal!
It was a very nice interlude, but I´m sure that all the ufo:s flew past our window while we were targeting our attention to eating.
I asked a stewardess if she had ever spotted one, but she said that if she had, she would not remember it because of all those men in black coming to her door once a month.
After the meal we slept.
Henna only woke me up when we were already inside the little cottage, which is our home here in Finland.
Crying out loud, where have I come into?
Zoe, Racko and Mr Casanova had warned me about the exotic residence, but still I was surprised!
The cottage is really small, but looks cosy and.. free of many rules!
I´m sure it´s going to be fun to live here.
See you soon again! Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 29, 2015, 5:50 pm
When we arrived here, it took some days for us to adaptate ourselves to the Finnish spring temperatures, which were about twenty degrees lower than in Portugal!
There was still snow in shady places and ditches and on shores, where the waves had been piling ice and snow into thick layers!
There were also some other odd remnants of winter.
The snow (and the other remnants) disappeared away in couple of days, and soon the first spring flowers were rising their heads everywhere!
We were welcoming the plants and the migrating birds, who returned to Finland.
"Hello, little coltsfoot! You look like little sun!"
At the same time with the crocuses, we got a big surprise!
Sis Zoe became mom! Which makes me an aunt!
The kiwi baby had appeared into our home in Germany, who knows from where, and started to wobble after bro Squab, who get all nervous because the baby was constantly calling him daddy.
Brother Squab got enough of the brat following him everywhere and sent him here.
The mysterious appearance of the baby has caused lots of discussion here.
Do storks bring kiwi babies too?
And if so, why did they bring him to Squab? There are some theories.
Zoe taught me an old Finnish verse, which follows the advancing of the year by the different bird species appearing:
"Kuu kiurusta kesään A month to summer from a skylark,
puoli kuuta peipposesta, half a month from a chaffinch,
västäräkistä vähäsen, Just a bit from a wagtail,
pääskysestä ei päivääkään." Not a day from a swallow."
No mention of kiwi babies!
I think we should ad a verse in the end: "Suuri onni kiwi-lapsesta!" = Big happiness from a baby kiwi!
We followed the rhubarbs starting to open on the cottage yard. (Nom nom, we´re going to make wonderful soup from the later on!)
In Finnish they are called Raparperi. Gee I learn some odd words here, and so does the baby! I have no idea from whom he can have picked all those curse words in Finnish, German and English.
The bergenias were rising their heads too. Later in the summer they will surround the cottage like a green carpet, says Zoe.
Oh, we just heard that some people make home remedies from the old, fermented leaves of bergenia, to fight overweight and skin troubles. Maybe we should send some to Squab..
We made a trip to the sea shore.
Here we are standing on top of a Bronze Age grave mound.
There has been a wooden chamber, where they have put the body and and some stuff, and then they have piled the stone mound over the chamber.
There is of course nothing left of the wooden constructions any more, and the tombs look like whatever stone heaps.
It was a beautiful, windless day (yeah, the windy days can be very beautiful too!) and we had taken two boats with us!
Zoe was teaching me to row!
It was so fun, but Zoe get a bit scary after I had dropped the oars to the water couple of times.
I learned fast, but it was difficult to row straight!I think I have stronger muscles on my right arm!
I was rowing the Portuguese boat we brought with us.
Actually we bought it in Lisbon's Feira da Ladra fleemarket!
Momo, Racko, bro Casanova and Orkku Orava joined us with a Finnish boat.
(Henna was taking care of the baby kiwi. She said he had to first learn to sit on one place, before he could get into any boats).
"Hey, don´t go too far!" Henna shouted from the shore, "the water is still ice cold, and I´m not going to swim and get you!"
So we returned towards the shore, and saw that Henna was litting a fire, and then I was rowing much faster, because I knew what that meant!
Coffee and karjalanpiirakkas! (Carelian pastries)
I could hardly wait the pastries to get hot enough! I had heard about them from Zoe, bros Casanova and Squab and sis Josie!
It was so good!
They have a crisp, thin rye crust and inside there can be either rice, barley, potato or carrot.
In this case they had rise filling. We put a bit of butter, which melted over them, om nom!
After rather many pastries, we walked along the shore and came onto a small sandy beach.
This must be a great place later in summer, to swim and enjoy the sun. Not too many people, I imagine.
We let the boats to dry in the sun, and our digestions to work for some time, and then we left back home.
I think I like Zoe´s life here in Finland!
She says she likes it too, which is great.
See you soon again! Kisses to all from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jun 9, 2015, 12:01 am
My adventures here in Finland continue with gardening.
When there wasn´t anymore danger of nightly frost, it was time to start the works in Zoe´s kitchen garden.
First we were raking all the branches and twigs away from the area.
Were mixing fertilizer to the ground. Not any chemicals, but very biological fertilizer.
I´m sure you have heard how good a fertilizer the bird poop is.
It is called "guano" and sold for gardeners.
We, on the other hand, have two birds in our gang and an outhouse where they go.
So, no need to buy anything.
(Yeh, it was composted before using! Don´t worry!)
More precious guano coming!
"At last you realize my value!" said Zoe.
Then we were turning the earth over to make it spongy and nice for plants to grow.
We were all working hard, although the maggots we encountered were leading Zoe and Horatio a bit astray very now and then.
It was nice work!
We were forming benches for the plants, and debating (what else!) what plants we wanted to grow.
"Carrots!" said Racko the donkey.
"Lettuce!" said Momo the cow.
"I want herbs!" said Zoe.
"Let´s grow beans - they make us fart!" said Horatio, and then he was giggling so that he couldn´t stand.
"Some flowers would be nice.." announced brother Casanova. I guess he plans to give them to girls.
"But I want to grow a pumpkin! Want to!" said I.
"A pumpkin!" shouted the others. "A pumpkin doesn´t even fit onto our kitchen garden!"
Well, that was quite true.
But Henna promised I could grow a pumpkin next to her tomatoes!
Jiihaa!
So we continued working in good spirits, and soon it was time to put the seeds to the earth.
We put all the other seeds to the earth, but the pumpkin seeds.
Those we had to first grow inside the cottage for some weeks, because it was still quite too cold for them outside to survive.
Our little garden looked so great!
I can hardly wait the seeds sprouting and starting to grow!
When the work was done, we put the tools away, and admired the outcome of it.
But there was still one task to do!
To clean the old greenhouse for a new season!
I was brooming the walkway, and Zoe and the brat were taking care of the pots.
I think they were mainly taking care of the spiders and beetles inside them.
After the exertion we were all dying for hunger!So we made a fast fire place dish by wrapping all sort of things into metal folio and putting that over the hot embers (Henna had been warming water on the fire to wash dishes).
It didn´t take long!
About 15 minutes and a wonderfull smell started spread around us!
And then we ate!
The funny looking white lumps are "vegan cheese" Henna is learning to make.
The food was really good, even the lumps!
See you soon again!
Many kisses to you all!
Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jun 15, 2015, 11:27 am
Hip hei, siblings at home! How are you doing? Is my car all right? It better be!
Here we don´t have a car in our use, which is a shame, because it limits the range of places we reach.
Every time some friend of Henna´s is going somewhere by car, we try to push along.
So, one day we got a lift to the small town of Inkoo.
We drowe to Inkoo in about half an hour, and ended into the harbour of small boats.
Henna´s friend has a boat there, and he had to paint its bottom.
The paint was too strong for our heads. We all started to feel dizzy and see odd animals, so Henna ushered us to walk on the harbour area.
We saw some interesting boats and smelled the fresh sea air, and pinched some ladders so that people who were doing some spring renovations in their boats were soon shouting angrily, unable to get down.
It is a rather small harbour, and soon we had seen it all, so we walked to see abit more of the town of Inkoo.
Henna was shourting after us "Don´t go too far, and be aware of the cars and the sea and the river and bif dogs.."
"Uh, ok" we said and run away.
Inkoo is one of the oldest towns in Finland, but it must be also one of the smallest.
There is about 5000 inhabitants, but most of them live in the countryside around.
The church is one of the oldest too. Its oldest part is from the 13th century.
Beside the church the "city center" consisted of a supermarket, a bank, a library and two pubs.
Behind the church we found a local museum.On its yard was a group of hostile aboriginals - local teenagers with their mopeds, drinking beer and trying to look scaring.
We made faces to them and they run away, screaming.
The museum was shut, but we were watching the old farm buildings and empty bottles the youngsters had left lying everywhere.
Most inhabitants of Inkoo (Ingå) speak swedish. The name of the town is probably originally a mocking name given by the inhabitants of the nearest town, Siuntio (Sjundeå)
The name of the town Siuntio means "Sjunde å" = the seventh river (counted from Turku), and the name of Inkoo means "Ingen å" = Not even a river, because the river running through the town is so small.
Here it is, Inkoo river, not even a river.
We were admiring an old windmill, but then we had really seen everything there was to see in Inkoo.
We loitered back to the harbour, and saw Henna and her friend still painting the bottom of the boat and seeing odd animals, and so we went and stole Henna´s friends car.
They didn´t notice anything.
We drove to Fagervik (what do you mean -how ?
I was steering, of course, and Zoe was shouting commands to bro Casanova, Momo, Racko and Horatio, who were hopping on the gas and break pedals. No problemo. )
Anyway, it was about 15 kilometers to Fagervik, and we only bumped once against a light pole.
Here is the Fagervik Rokoko style mansion house from the year 1773.
It was the home of the family who owned the Fagervik blast furnace and iron works, which were built here on the 17th century.
Here is the church, which was used by the workers and owners of the iron smithy.
Many of the workers were originally from France. They were huguenots and persecuted in their own home country because of their Lutheran belief.
As they were skilled smiths, they were called to work and live in Fagervik, were they and their families formed a small and tight society.
With them came the first potatoes into Finland in about 1720.
We walked watching the old industrial buildings, and imagined the sounds and smells three hundred years ago.
The machinery was of course working with the water power and wood.
I was trying to find what products they actually were producing here, but I didn´t find much information. They just say "iron products", and that can mean whatever.
Nowadays Fagervik is a popular place to come and spend beautiful summer days.
The mansion and the church are still owned by descendants of the original family, although the iron works was shut down in 1903.
They are keeping part of the buildings open on some days during the summer, and renting the church for weddings.
We had soon seen everything, and hurried back to Inkoo, before Henna and her friend would notice the car was missing..
Hah, they had not noticed anything!
We were just smiling angelically and told them we had been sitting in the Inkoo church.
Can you believe they swalloved it?! I thing the paint was really too strong and their brains had started to melt.
Don´t tell them!
Many kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 5, 2015, 10:47 am
<3
I know you want to hear news about our kitchen garden!
It is growing well, although a bit slowly, because the summer has been very cold and rainy (even more so than it normally is in Finland, Zoe is telling me).
The good side of it is that we don't need to water it so often.
But now I'm telling you about one day when we were playing behind our cottage, where there runs a small brook.
"Where does this brook run to?" I asked from Zoe.
"Better let's find out!" she answered.
Everybody agreed, and so we started to follow it.
We run after the brook through a forest area, hopping over stones and fallen trees, and it lead us out from the forest and through a wide field landscape.
The sky over the fields looked rather promising.
So we were happy the brook took us back into the forest again.
We were covering under the trees while a hailstorm passed over us.
Here! Do you see? A hailstorm could be dangerous for a little toyvoyager - the ice balls were the size of my feet!
The brook turned into a small lake, and the sun came out a bit.
We sat on the shore, and Henna told us there had been a village next to the lake, but it had disappeared in the 1960's, because there was a plan to build a rail road on it's place.
Soon we found proofs of the existence of habitation - all sort of trash was still laying around where the houses had been.
These are parts of some field machinery.
There was also a wreck of a car.
And the remains of a once fine bike.
I felt a bit sad for the bike, but it told me not to. "In my times I was running thousands of kilometers, and now it feels just good to rest in the forest and to turn into part of it", it said.
Our brook was growing a bit faster now.
There was smaller brooks coming to join it every now and then, and it was growing in size too.
I found some very funny mushrooms in the forest.
They looked like little bowls or cups.
Maybe they are used by the various spirits living in the forests here.
Our brook decided to turn into a lake again, a bit bigger this time.
Henna told us that thousands of years ago this lake had been part of a long fjord, which run from the sea deep into the area which now is known as Nuuksio.
The little brook we are following had also been part of it.
When the land was rising the fjord slowly turned into lakes and a river. The river (which now is our little brook) had been big enough to sail along still some hundred years ago..
Our brook dived out from the lake again, and it was running faster than ever!
We could here it giggling with joy, and it was like it was in a hurry to get into some pleasant happening forward.
What could it be?
The brook grew into a small river, and it started to gurgle instead of giggling!
The river started to rrrrumble and we understood it was turning itself into a rapid!
So, that´s why it was in a hurry!
"Jiihaaaaaa! I love to become a rapid!" it was shouting. And we were shouting too, for joy.
Anyway, decided not to walk 20 more kilometers to the seashore with the river, but to walk back home instead.
I enjoyed following the little brook which turned into lakes, river and rapid.
I wish you liked it too!
Yours, Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 7, 2015, 10:15 am
I'll show you photos from the Raasepori castle ruins we visited one day when we had managed to pinch a car again.
We are getting quite good at it, the car pinching, I mean.
So, we drowe to Raasepori, which is about 40 kilometers towards west from Nuuksio.
The trip went well. Zoe was shouting commands, I was steering, and bro Casanova, Racko, Momo and Horatio were jumping on the gas and break pedals.
Sadly we caused some road accidents. But it wasn't our fault. What can we do if other driwers are so stupid they don't see driwers under 15 centimeters tall and imagine our car is driwing by itself?
Here is the Raasepori castle, or what is left of it.
It was built by the Swedish invaders on the 14th century onto an island, to guard the main water route along the coast line against competing invaders.
The sea level became lower over time due to postglacial rebound (don't I know fantastical expressions?), and it became increasingly difficult to approach the castle by boat. This is one of the main reasons why the castle lost its importance in the 16th century.
In normal language: the land rised so much the castle nowadays sits deep inland, so it cannot very well guard any coastal routes.
We climbed inside the castle walls, and there we found an information board.
It was showing what kinds of rooms there had been inside the castle.
Now there wasn't much left, but we made a tour inside anyway.
Henna told us how Swedish and Danish forces and Estonian and Carelian pirates were fighting over the control of the castle several times during the Middle Ages.
It wasn't of course only the castle they were fighting for - the area of Finland was invaded by Swedes and Danes and by who knows whom - they were fighting over the right to tax the inhabitants, who just wanted to live in piece inside their forests.
Besides controlling the coast line, the castle was administrative center of the province of Western Uusimaa.
The mighty castle on the sea shore opposite Revel (Tallinn) city could also control the important trade-route form Lübeck to Novgorod. There was significant custom point and revenues were very big.
"In the middle of the 15th AD viceroy Karl Knutsson Bonde kept his court in the Castle some time. In 1528 the administrative center of the province was moved to Ekenäs (Tammisaari). After that the period of decline of the castle began. It was abandoned in 1550 and was forgotten for more than 300 years."
Watching the ruins and the walls, which are actually only an empty peel of what once has been a mighty castle, it was very hard for me to imagine any "viceroy" living here with his court.
We were doing our best, and added, in our imagination, plank floors and richly decorated rooms between the stone walls, dudes sipping beer in long wooden tables, virtuous damsels playing lyres and less virtuous damsels flirting with the dudes.
Henna was telling us that the castle had wide fields and lots of cows on the surrounding countryside, and of course huge working power to serve the noble bimbos in the castle.
There was bakeries, breweries, fishermen, cooks, cupbearers and butchers just to feed them.
The farmers were forced to work certain amount of days for the castle for free, and they were also made to build the castle.
No wonder there were many farmer revolts and uprisings in those times.
We got back outside again - we had got enough of the castle.
It seemed to us that it didn't represent much else than history of oppression and class society forced over people living in natural democracy. Bah!
Good bye! It is much better to live in forest!
See you again soon!
Your rebellion
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 8, 2015, 1:45 pm
= Good day, all my friends!
I'm learning Finnish quite fast here in Finland, and I´ve decided it is time rest of the world learns it too, because it is a wonderful language with 15 noun cases.
Anyway, I'm going to use some Finnish phrases in my every update, so my readers can repeat them 10 000 times per day until they have learned them by heart. I can't even imagine how excited you all must be!
We stayed some days in Helsinki, taking care of Henna's mothers cats. Kissa = cat
This one in the picture is called Nalli, and she is a very self-secure creature, who loves her infra red pointing toy over everything else. She didn't care a shit of us tv:s, which was probably good.
The other cat, Miilu, is a very shy black cat, who was saved from the street in Tallinn, Estonia, as a baby.
She doesn't trust everybody else than Henna's mother, so I don't have a photo of her.
Besides taking care of the cats, it was our task to feed seagulls, who have their nest on the roof opposite to Henna's mothers kitchen window.
They had two little fluffy, grey, spotted, seagull babies in the nest on the roof, and we were throwing food for the parents every morning and evening, which is, of course, strictly forbidden by the city rules.
But who can resist spotted, fluffy little seagull babies?
Not us!
Lokki = seagull
Henna's mother has already some experience of visiting toyvoyagers - so she had loaded the place full of good things to eat!
What a valiant and understanding lady!
We wanted to be polite and show our total approval, and ate everything!
What do you mean "that wasn't the only reason"?
Henna's mother collects old dolls. She also makes them herself. There must be some hundreds in her home.
We were mingling with them a bit. Can you spot us?
Nukke = doll
We also loaned some of the doll's toys. They didn't mind.
Soon we had got enough of being inside - we're not used to it - I don't know how those dolls can stand it!
I asked from them, and they said it is "quite pleasant to be sitting here, having tea parties and discussing our new clothes".
Crying out loud.
We went out!
We walked past Hietalahden Kauppahalli market hall, which is just round the corner.
It was opened in 1903.
Next we walked to watch over the Hietalahden Satama harbour area.
Still some years ago this was an important industrial center - here was the famous Wärtsilä shipyard.
It still exists, but the ship building has diminished, and part of the industrial area is going to be turned into very posh living areas.
Still some hundred years ago this whole area had a somewhat murky reputation.
Most inhabitants were shipyard workers and other working class people. There were also some factories, like the Sinebrychoff brewery.
In the time of Russian rule there were some brothels and gaming dens and cheep hostels for the sailors.
The members of the upper class didn't enter the area at all, at least the female population. The men sneaked here quite often.
This tower stands in middle of a park, which was originally the private park of the wealthy Sinebrychoff family, who owned the breweries.
It was turned into a public park in the 1960's.
It was originally ten times bigger, but the habitation has been slowly eating it away.
It was planned to be totally demolished, but a strong popular movement in the 1980's saved the park.
We walked through the neighbouring part of town called Eira.
This was built in the beginning of the 20th century. Before that it was a remote, countryside-like area with some summer villas of the wealthy Helsinki families, and otherwise mainly little cottages of the fishermen families.
Nowadays it consists mainly of beautiful Jugend style houses. Many embassies are situated in this area.
This is nowadays one of the most expensive areas in whole Finland.
Had the fishermen just knew it two hundred years ago!
We came into a beautiful park between the houses, and walked around admiring it a bit.
The syringas and rhododendrons were in their most glorious bloom.
There was a nice path over which the syringas were making a tunnel, and in the bottom of it there was a quite horrible bird bath.
There were some birdies taking a bath, and sis Zoe spent quite a good time peeping on them through the bushes.
Our walk took us to Mannerheimintie, and soon we saw the famous statue of three blacksmiths.
Here it is - Kolmen sepän patsas = statue of three blaksmiths.
It is one of the most popular things in Helsinki for tourists to take photographs with, but for example some muslim women living here cannot even walk past it, because they don't want to see dudes in the nudd.
Next to the naked smiths is the Stockmann department store, which, in its time, was the biggest department store in Europe.
It was opened in the 1920´s, and it was the first building in Finland with escalators.
We walked slowly along the streets, and watched the windows.
I met a relation in a pet shop window.
A nasty statue in Aleksanterinkatu street tried to eat me!
Luckily I hadn't taken a bath for a week.
We still walked a bit in the harbour area before heading back to spend the evening with the boring dolls.
There was a wonderful mist over the water.
See you soon again! = Nähdään pian!
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 10, 2015, 10:23 pm
(= Hi, dear Sanny, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends and my own red car!
Today I show you photos from a walking trip we started in Leppävaara, Espoo, and ended in Tarvo island in Helsinki.
Here I'm walking past Albergan kartano manor house.
The now existing house was built in 1870's, and it is called as Sokerilinna (sugar castle), because it's builder was the owner of a sugar factory, and it is built mainly of the wood get from the wood boxes the sugar was shipped in to Finland.
We walked from Leppävaara through Perkkaa, along small earthen roads. We saw a sign hanging on a post, saying "children's hut building camp", and followed the sign.
There were no kids around at the moment, but there were various different huts.
The huts were build from different materials - planks and branches, reeds and moss. No nails were used - all the peaces were put together by using strings, which is great, since some of the huts were up in the trees.
Nowadays kids have less possibilities to run freely around in the forests, so I think it is very nice they can at least build their huts on this kind of camps.
We left the earthen roads and continued along small paths, which circulate on the shore line.
The shores were full of reeds, and there were many water birds nesting amongst them.
We sat for awhile on a cable drum brought there to serve as a beach chair.
We crossed two nice bridges.
There were some people fishing from the bridges.
We had reached the Tarvonsaari island and went to see the museum of the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
This is Tarvaspää, his atelier home, which he planned and built in 1912, in which was then a long distance away from everything.
Gallen-Kallela is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work was considered very important for the Finnish national identity.
I saw some beautiful works. This one is called Ad Astra (Into stars), and it pictures "resurrection - spiritual rising from temporal to eternal consciousness" said Gallen-Kallela. It is from the year 1907.
This is his painting Karhunputki (Angelica Sylvestris) from the year 1889.
I liked them both a lot.
This painting symbolizes the shortness and temporality of human life, and the circle of life and death.
There was a very nice café in the museum.
We were having blueberry pie with coffee.
On the yard was a statue with a Kalevala theme - The Giant Pike.
We were admiring it and then we loitered again to the sea shore.
There were some small fish swimming near the shore, and somehow, I don't know exactly how, we just ended into the water too!
Henna was clucking like a worried hen (sorry, bro Squab!) and told us to remember what happened to Tuli and stay near the shore.
The water was warm and wonderful!
We were enjoying laying in it, and discussing about whether it was anything so horrible that happened to Tuli.. she joined an orgy in a river called "Vine river" and found a charming boyfriend, it seems. So?
I rather think I wouldn't mind an orgy myself in a Vine river.. but I would not stay there forever however charming a fellow I would find! Sis Zoe agreed. But frogs are a bit different..
After couple of hours of floating around Henna told us to get back on dry earth before we would grow fins.
Then we sat in the sun, drying our furs, feathers or scales. Henna said we smelled funny, and that we should soon take a proper bath.
See you soon again!
Love from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 11, 2015, 4:48 pm
Hello, my dears at home! I wrote you a poem:
It's raining like hell
which suits us well
All the worms are on the road
and me and Zoe and a fat toad.
Yours, Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 13, 2015, 8:44 pm
Today I'm telling you about Finnish Juhannusaatto (Midsummer Eve).
It is, with Christmas, the most important celebration of the year.
In pagan times it was celebrated as the Wedding of the Sun (Aurinko).
The Finnish towns empty for Juhannus, because about everyone goes somewhere in the countryside - either into their own summer cottage or into somebody else's summer cottage, or to tenting - the main thing is to be somewhere near the nature.
We started out Juhannus celebration by swinging.
Besides being fun, it was originally part of the rituals.
The swinging symbolizes the travel of the Sun over the seas in her boat.(Yes, the Finnish Sun was female)(naturally - who on earth would think the sun as a masculine? Hah!
)
In the past Juhannus was a communal celebration. The whole village gathered to spend it together.
Most villages had big wooden swing constructions, called kyläkiikku (village swing). In them was room for example six or eight people to swing together.
We don't have a kyläkiikku here, so we hanged these small swings between two trees for Juhannus.
There has been a kyläkiikku in ancient times on a nearby hill here, called Ilomäki (the Joy Hill).
Zoe was teaching us a Juhannus Keinulaulu (swinging song), and we were singing it while swinging.
"Heilu keinuni korkealle Fly high, my swing
Nythän on Juhannusilta It is Midsummer Eve
Mesimarja paistaa The arctic brambles are shining
Ja tuomi tuoksuu and the bird cherries smell wonderfull
Ja kuulas on taivahan silta. The bridge of the sky is clear.
Heilu, keinuni, korkealle Fly high, my swing
Linnut ne laulavat häitä the birds are singing weddings
Minä olen nuori kuin päivänkukka I'm young as an oxeye daisy
En muistele suruja näitä. I don't reminisce sorrows.
Heilu, keinuni, korkealle Fly high, my swing
Rintani riemuja laulan I sing my inner joy
Kedon helyt I pick the trinkets of the meadows
kullalle kuiskien poimin whispering to my love
ja solmin sen vihreän paulan. and bind them into a green band."
We also picked trinkets of the meadows (wild flower) and out them on our heads, as is the custom.
After swinging and singing to our hearts's content, it was time to go to Juhannussauna.
The sauna was heated up to about 70 Celsius degrees, and we were bathing in cool water, smelling of fresh birch leaves and wild mint, which were sprinkled onto the water.
We were leaning back, shutting our eyes and relaxing, enjoying the combination of the hot steam and the cool water enclosing us into a soft womb.
The Finnish sauna is not only a place to wash ourselves. It is also a holy space to clean ourselves spiritually.
In Juhannus we clean ourselves to be ready to take part into the wedding joy of the Sun.
It was time to sit into the Juhannus table.
There is no any traditional Juhannus food. Mainly it was about drinking..
Nowadays it is usally food made on barbecue or more simply, anything you can put on a fire in tip of a stick (sausages, corn ears..)
We concentrated into drinking, as proper traditionalists.
Between drinking we were dancing.
In pagan times Juhannus was one of the times of the year when "Wives were maidens". It meant that on certain times of the year everyone was considered single, not bound to monogamity by marriage.
So, in Juhannusyö (Midsummer Night) everyone could take part of the wedding joy of the Sun by sneaking into the bushes or into a hay barn with some attractive companion.
This was also a ritual, which was contributing to the overall fertility of the fields, animals (and humans, hah).
This was also a way to make sure every woman in the society had a possibility to become pregnant, even if the husband happened to be infertile.
I'm not quite sure if we took part into that ritual or not.
My memory seems to be a bit affected by all the mead an singing.
At midnigh it was time to lit the juhannuskokko (Midsummer pyre).
It is often built on a raft anchored in a lake or in the sea, but we had ours just on the yard.
There was a custom to hop over the fire in Juhannus. It symbolized a bit different things in different times.
It could be the purifying fire of the holy feast, hopping over which people get purified, or it could symbolize the barrier, the boundary line between the worlds, which was possible to cross on special times, of which Juhannus was one, or it could also work as the ritual fire over which a couple hopped hand in hand, after which they were married.
We were just wondering the sparks rising towards the sky and singing.
When the fire started to die down it was time to go to bed.
We took the wild flowers from our heads and put them under our pillows to see our future husbands or wives in a dream.
I don't tell you what I saw.
See you soon!
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 15, 2015, 6:54 pm
Terveisiä Suomesta! (Greetings from Finland!)
I wish you're all having an enjoyable summertime! Well, you in Australia of course are having a winter time, but I wish it is good anyway.
Our Finnish summer is delightful - full of rain and mosquitoes!
But, every now and then we see the sun, and I eat the mosquitoes, ha ha ha.
Here is our little cottage in middle of the summer glory of the nature.
Henna calls this place a small heaven.
The cottage is so old that it doesn't actually feel like anything made by human hands - it is more like something just grown up from the earth, like a mushroom or something.
There are various flowers growing round the cottage. Some of them are planted by Henna, bur some of them have grown there maybe a century.
These tulips (Queen of night) Zoe planted here some years ago.
The animals like the cottage too.
An owl lives in the attick, and so does a family of bats. How do they find each other as neighbours, I dont know.
Under the eaves are two nests of Pied Flycatchers, and guess what! We found out that it is the same male with TWO familes in different nests!
We have been trying to hide this fact from little Horatio..
These roses are very old. They are called Juhannusruusu (Midsummer rose) because they usually bloom on midsummer, not in this year, though, they are a bit late because the summer has been cold.
Henna says they should be cut so they would make more flowers, but Zoe says Henna says that every summer, and the roses are never going to be cut, because they have been growing according to their own will for hundred years, so let them grow..
The old field grows wild too.
It was in the 1960's when there was a crop growing last time on this field. A neighbour kept here his horse few years ago, that's why it has not turned back into forest.
On those days when it is not raining we have to water our kitchen garden.
That is ok, but the weeding can be tedious task in middle of the mosquitoes.
We lit little fires round the garden, and put wet leaves onto the fire, so that they form lots of smoke, to keep the blood lusty beasts away, but that is not quite enough.
So last time I, Zoe and Horatio were eating mosquitoes as fast as we could, while bro Casanova, Momo and Racko were doing the weeding, but can you imagine they were complaining it was not fair that they did all the work while we were just eating! What ingratitude!
Our onions have grown well, but the other plants are suffering from the exceptionally cool weather and lack of sun, so they are still very small.
Let's see if we get any kind of crop!
Our greenhouse plants we have to water every day, of course.
We do it in turns, although bro Casanova never needs to do his turn unless he really wants to!
There are always some eager girls ready to do it on his behalf. Last time it was a young squirrel who lives on a spruce next to our well.
I like the work. It is nice to feed the plants and put sticks and strings to support them if needed, and to see them growing from day to day.
Besides, there're always lots of worms and plant lice to take care of.
Henna has her own bigger greenhouse, but it rather an odd looking construction, because she made it herself from wooden bars and plastic tarpaulin.
Sometimes I help her there too, because she lets me grow my pumpkin there.
Here I'm in Henna's greenhouse helping her to tighten the string supports of the tomatoes.
And here is my pumpkin! The first flower has just opened!
I was growing them inside the cottage for some weeks, because it was so cold!
I only brought them here a bit before Midsummer, and still they are late, but maybe there's hope still, let's see!
Well, this was all I wanted to show you this time, but see yo soon again!
Your Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Aug 2, 2015, 11:17 pm
We spent again some days in Helsinki, taking care of Henna's mother's two cats.
While not cleaning cat potties or feeding the little beasts, we had time to walk around the town and to watch more sights, emblematic to Helsinki.I'm now going to share them with you, if you want or not.
While leaving the apartment and walking towards the town center, we walked past this wooden church.
It is called Vanha Kirkko (The Old Church), and it is in middle of a small park, which was originally a graveyard for the victims of the 18th century pestilence.
Doesn't sound a nice place to hang, but it is a very popular spot to spend sunny days.
This summer we don't have any.
We went into the church too, but there was a young couple rehearsing for their wedding with a priest, so we felt awkward to take any photos.
Near the church we saw the statue of Elias Lönnrot.
He was one of the guys, who trotted round the forests in Eastern Finland and Karelia, collecting the folk poetry, which later was published as "Kalevala".
Next to Lönnrot sits Väinämöinen, the legendary shaman character in the old poetry.
This is one of the statues in Helsinki most preferred by the pigeons and other birds as a nice platform to rest. So it has to be cleaned once a year.
(It is good sis Zoe cannot fly).
We came to Kamppi area, and saw Hiljaisuuden kappeli (Chapel of Silence), which is also build of wood.
The chapel was built 2012, and it is meant to anyone who wants to escape the noise and hurry of the town for a moment, and to sit in peace.
The shape of the chapel imitates an egg - the egg of the Sotka (common goldeneye - Bucephala clangula) from which the universe was born according to old Finno Ugric religion.
Inside it really is very peacefull and comfy, like inside an egg, I imagine.
I asked Zoe, but she says she doesn't remember her egg-time so well.
We walked past Finlandia talo culture and congress center.
It is very famous building, and thousands of tourists go to see it every year for some reason I don't understand, because, come one, it looks like a swimming hall and is boring as hell.
Ok ok, it was built by a famous architect Alvar Aalto, and it seems to be a groundbreaking building stylishly, but I must say I'm sorry this kind of ground was ever broken.
We walk also past Kansallismuseo (National museum).
Maybe we could go there in one of these rainy days we have so many here. But not today.
This building is also nowadays a museum, called Hakasalmen huvila (Villa of Hakasalmi).
It was originally the summer villa of a very wealthy family, outside the town and on the shore of a bay.
The town was growing, and when the railroad was built, part of the bay was dried.
Then we saw the Musiikkitalo music hall and the sculpture called Hauen Laulu (Song of a pike) on its yard.
The sculpture is made after a poem by Finnish poet Aaro Hellaakoski.
The poem tells about a pike, who rises into the top of a pine to taste red cone and to sing.
We walked towards South along the Esplanadi boulevard. The weather had turned suddenly sunnier, and we were so amazed by it we almost forgot to walk, just stand there gaping in the sudden light.
In the Esplanadi park we met the Finnish National Poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg.
He was the chap who wrote for example the poem "Maamme" (Our land), which was later turned into the national anthem.
In February the Finns are eating Runbergin torttu tarts, which were invented by the poet's wife Frederika.
It seems the poet had a sweet tooth. He would fit well into our company!
Next we met another, very nice statue, called Aallottaret (feminine water spirits).
It was sculpted by Victor Jansson, Tove Jansson's father. He used Tove as model for this Aallotar.
I have to admit I and Zoe were more interested into the fish she was holding under her arm.
It made us rather hungry, the fish, and we tried to gnaw it, but it was too hard.
First the big pike singing and now this!
There's some limits to our suffering, just saying.
We came to Kauppatori market square.
Until the end of the 18th century on the place of the market square were the docks of the fishing boats, from which the fishers were selling their catch.
The proper market place was on those times on the square, where the Lutheran Cathedral was later built.
1812 the new Kauppatori was opened.
Kauppatori is open the whole year round, although it is understandably more popular in summer time.
They sell here Fruit and vextables, mushrooms, fish, food, souveniers and handicrafts.
Behind the square is Presidentin linna Presidential Palace, one of the official residences in Helsinki of the President of the Republic of Finland.
It is there they have the Independence Day Ball, which is a very important happening in Finland, which glues about 3 million Finns in front of their TV:s (televisions, I mean, not toyvoyagers) every year, to criticize the dresses of the people who have got invitation to the ball.
On the Kauppatori square stands Keisarinnankivi memorial. It was erected 1835 to honor tsarina Aleksandra, wife of czar Nikolai I, who visited Helsinki that year.
We walked along the shore, past many sightseeing boats, to see Vanha Kauppahalli, the old market hall.
The hall was opened 1888. Main reason to build the hall was the need to control more the sometimes wild life in the market square, where bootleggers, prostitutes and pickpockets were horrifying the decent citizens.
In the beginning there was about 120 sellers in the hall, nowadays there is about 30. Supermarkets have of course eaten the popularity of the market halls everywhere.
We went in to see what they were selling.
There was a throng of people, mainly tourists.
There were many fish sellers.
The wonderful smell of fish was drawing me like a strong magnet towards the counter. I could see Zoe too, moving like in hypnosis, towards the fish.
Before we even realized, we were both sitting amongst the fish, eating away as fast as we could.
It must be the famous animal magnetism, cannot explain it any other way.
Anyway, after two and half salmon we were found out and then we were all running like hell. Luckily we are so small it was rather easy to disappear amongst all the people in the market square.
When the angry shouting died down, we sat a bit down, to digest the salmon, and watched the old sailing ship and the ferris wheel on the Katajanokka shore.
Then we walked to see the Havis Amanda statue next to Kauppatori.
Havis Amanda was sculpted by Ville Vallgren and erected 1908.
Havis Amanda is a mermaid who stands on seaweed as she rises from the water, with four fish spouting water at her feet and surrounded by four sea lions. Vallgren's intention was to symbolize the rebirth of Helsinki.
The model for the statue was a then 19-year-old Parisian lady, Marcelle Delquini, and the respectable people of Helsinki were shocked about a "Parisian prostitute being brought to show her nudity shamelessly to everyone". The sea lions, with their human tongues hanging out, were said to represent men lusting after the mademoiselle.
Every year on Vappu (20.4), Manta serves as a centrepiece for the celebrations. Students of the local universities put a cap on the statue in an elaborate ceremony.
There is also an urban legend that Havis Amanda patronizes men's sexual potency. Some men believe that washing one's face with water from one of Havis Amanda's fountains and shouting thrice "Rakastaa!" (To love!) increases men's sexual ability.
We were keeping bro Casanova away from the water, into which he tried to jump.
We visited still some more sights, but I have to show those to you in my next update.
A big salmon-smelling hug from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Aug 9, 2015, 6:19 pm
How are you all? I'm loving all the humidity of Finnish summer.
Now I have some time to show you the rest of the Helsinki sight seeing photos.
We start in Helsinki päärautatieasema (central railway station).
The railway station was built on a former sea bottom, and the area was mucky and stinking swamp.
The whole area had to be ditched and piled with wooden poles, and stone and sand was driwen to turn the earth more solid.
Still many people were sure the whole railway would sink.
The station building was designed by Eliel Saarinen, and inaugurated in 1919, and it was pretty famous in those times.
It has been chosen among the 10 most beautiful station buildings still in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The lanterns are hold up by Light Bearers, designed by Emil Wikström.
This is where the trains leave everywhere in Finland, St Petersburg and Moscow.
We walke away from the station, but I took still a photo of its tower.
We stopped for a while to watch the Helsinki trams run past. This is one of the most modern ones.
We saw the statue of marshal Mannerheim, although I could as well call it the statue of Käthy, who is the horse.
The guy Mannerheim was the sixth president of Finland, and the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army during the wars.
Kathy was his last horse.
Behind the statue is the Helsinki modern art museum Kiasma.
We went to see the Lutheran Cathedral.
There was an international gymnastics happening going on, and the stairs of the cathedral were full of people watching the show.
We climbed the stairs too, and saw too fine performances by the groups of Italy and Israel.
The Israel's group did a very acrobatic show - it looked more like circus than traditional gymnastics.
The Italian show was very pompous with flying flags and scenes from the high points of Italian history.
We turned to watch the cathedral itself.
It was so radiantly white in the sun, that it almost hurt our eyes!
We walked through the Hietaniemi cemetery.
It is a huge area!
There are sections for Lutheran and Orthodox christians, Jews, muslims and atheists to be buried or cremated.
A graveyard is usually not one of my favorite places to spend time, but Henna told us it is actually also a rather popular touristic place to experience, because it is a beautiful place, and there are many very impressive and artistic monuments of artists, writers, poets, political leaders etc.
So, we walked a bit around, watching the place.
To me it looked like a perfect place to spend the Halloween in.
It is very easy to imagine someone rising from under this stone under a full moon..
It was actually quite a beautiful place - there were lots of blooming flowers, and many big trees, interesting stones to climb on with funny names, and chains to swing with.
We chatted a bit with an old gardener, and he told there have been troubles with some young stupidos pulling stones down at night time.
We suggested him we could help - we could go there at night time too, to walk around in white bedsheets to scare the stupidos away.
Guess waht - the old boy said he has already been doing that!
We came out through another gate near the Sibelius park, and headed there.
There was a beautiful little bond.
We tried to see if there would be any fish, but we only saw mosquito larvae. Well, they were tasty too.
We saw the famous Sibelius monument, which dedicated to the Finnish composer, Sibelius.
It was inaugurated 1967, and it is made of over 600 metal pipes, which resemble both organ pipes and icicles hanging from a cliff.
The monument is said to represent the symphonic music of Sibelius.
Next to the pipes over the rock is a face reliefi of the composer.
We sat to chat a bit with the head of Sibelius.
"Hello, why is only your head here? Where is rest of you?" asked I.
"Ha ha, you little smartass creature, my body went to swim, but I don't want to get water inside my ears, so the head stays here", said Sibelius's head.
Then we went to shout through the pipes - they have a nice echo.
Our shouting was scaring the tourists away very fast.
Then we went to see the newest statue of Helsinki. Here it is.
I hope you liked my pics!
Many kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Aug 19, 2015, 11:43 am
It is the best berry time now here in Finland, and we spend lots of time in forest, just eating and eating, and also collecting some (not very much) to put into the freezer.
One day we had enough pluck to break away from the spell of the blueberries, and go for a trip in Suomenlinna, which is an inhabited sea fortress. in front of Helsinki.
We took a ferry to Suomenlinna from Kauppatori. There is a ferry about every half an hour, and the trip takes about 15 minutes.
The ferry was really full of tourists, and there was no room to sit, so we stayed standing on the car deck, where there was no window glasses between us and the view over the sea.
This is a cardinal mark for north.
Here we are passing Ryssänsaari island.
The little red cottages belonged originally for a fisherfamily, nowadays some society owns them.
I wouldn't mind living there!
I would just eat fish, and row to Helsinki if I wanted to eat something else (which I don't believe).
We arrived to Suomenlinna and said good bye to the ferry, which left back to Kauppatori.
This is the gate building, through which we enter the islands.
We started to follow the main road, which leads from the ferry quay towards Susisaari island.
There were very cute wooden houses along the road. Most of them serve as cafés or restaurants, but there are also people living in them.
This is Suomenlinna church, which also serves as a beacon, since its central dome doubles as a lighthouse.
The church was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox garrison church for the Russian troops, and it andit had five onion domes. The Orthodox church was converted into an Evangelical Lutheran church during the 1920s, and the onion domes were taken off.
I don't think the god could care less if there are onion domes or not, but that's just my opinion.
The Suomenlinna fortress comprises six islands (Kustaanmiekka, Susisaari, Iso-Mustasaari, Pikku-Mustasaari, Länsi-Mustasaari and Långören) joined together by bridges.
This is the bridge between Iso-Mustasaari and Susisaari islands.
We made a round on the old Susisaari industrial area.
There was a busy drydock, still partially in use, and a State Aircraft Factory, which starts build aeroplanes and powered ice sleighs in the 1920´s and 1930´s.
The big red tile building is the old aeroplane factory.
Gee, wouldn't I love to have a time machine, with which I could visit the factory in its glorious days in the 1920´s!
In the beginning they built here, with a license, different German and English planes, but later they built planes after Finnish blueprints - aeroplanes called Haukka and Sääski.
Suomenlinnan telakka is the oldest drydock in Finland, and one of the oldest shipyards in Europe.
Building of the dockyard started in 1750. Under the Swedish rule there were built many ships for the Swedish navy.
During the Russian rule and the Independence the ship building continued until 1974.
Nowadays the shipyard is rented by a society, which is repairing there old wooden sailing ships.
The drydock works so, that when the water pool is dry, they put up rests for the ships. Then the gate (which is the black thing behind my back) is opened so that the water flows in, and the ships can sail into the pool. The water level is then lowered gradually, so that the ships land over their rests, and the pool is emptied again.
Originally this was done with a windmill, which pumped water out.
We left the old industrial area and walked towards Kustaanmiekka island, where most of the fortifications are.
We saw the tomb of Augustin Ehrenswärd, who was a military architect, artist, and creator of the Suomenlinna.
He was chosen by king Frederick I of Sweden to design and construct the fortress, and building the fortress became his life's work.
The construction of Suomenlinna fortress started in 1748. Its main purpose was to guard the Swedish coast against Russia, which was trying to expand its borders in many directions.
Ehrensvärd's design was a low-profile bastion-type fortress that would follow the natural contours of the islands and thus remain inconspicuous to enemy fleets. That's why there are no imposing buildings to be seen.
At the time Suomenlinna was built, Helsinki was still a very small town - there were only about 3000 inhabitants. Of course the real amount was much bigger, because the official count involved only the people whom the official could reach.
The construction works of the fortress brought suddenly 6000 inhabitants more to the area. Besides the soldiers, officers and their families and servants, lots of people from countryside and other towns came to Helsinki, lured there by the possibilities to find work around the fortress, or to sell something.
Part of the soldiers lived on the islands. Originally they lived on tent camps or on the vaults of the fortress they were building. Later barracks were built for their use.
Officers lived mainly in Helsinki town - Ehrenswärd himself and some other high officers lived in Susisaari island in their own housing.
We walked still along the main road, which took us through a gateway towards the sea shore.
We walked along the beautiful shore, admiring both the nature and the fortification buildings.
Most of the shore was somehow deep rock, and the fortifications were lurking in between them, many of them still with hidden cannons.
I waved to a sightseeing ferry, and some tourists waved back to me.
You can see Helsinki town in the horizon - some church towers are easily recognized.
There were little pools between the rocks, and I and Zoe checked if there happened to be any fish in them..
The weather was cloudy, and there was a thin rain pouring down every now and then.
The moss was blooming, and the stonecrops (sedium) looked wonderfully red on many rocksides.
I climbed onto a thistle, and the wind was swinging me so much that after some time the latest herring in my stomach was turning around. So we continued our walk.
Here is one of the many cannons we saw.
The interesting thing is, that Suomenlinna was, on its time, the strongest maritime fortification in Europe, but the only time it get into real action, in the Siege of Sveaborg in early 1808, during the Finnish War, it surrendered only after two months to the Russian fleet.
Sweden lost Finland to Russia, and the destiny of Finland took a new turn (to the better direction, to be honest, but people didn't know it at those times).
The plausible reason for this were that the fortress had earlier received very poor funding. Since its completion in 1791, Suomelinna received no extra financial support from the government (the reason for that is still a mystery, but naturally related to the weak Swedish economic situation). The military equipment was in an unsatisfactory condition. Most of the supplies were of bad quality and the fortress was lacking most supplies.
The cannons too, were old and partially obsolete. This meant that their range was shorter than that of the Russian artillery (which is a problem if cannons are stationed on a fortress). The fortress was unable to return fire on the Russian troops that were bombarding the fortress heavily. The fortress was also in shortage of gunpowder.
Hah - so it was like if kids built a great snow castle, but didn't make any snow balls to whirl towards the brats of the next block.
This looks like the Shire - the hobbit village, but actually the turf covered buildings are gunpowder storages.
The turf was both hiding them from the enemy, and it was thought to somehow also soften a possible accidental explosion.
The old stone constructions are under constant repair works.
The repair works are done by the prisoners of the Suomenlinna open prison, where the prisoners are learning the skills they need in the society after getting to freedom. They can also graduate to the construction work.
We peeped inside some of the old stone constructions, which is always a bit risky, because according to many tales they are so full of ghosts it is hard to turn.
During the Finnish civil war they kept prisoners in these dark, cold buildings, and many of them died here because of dysentery and Spanish flu, which both raged amongst the prisoners.
It is their ghosts supposedly wandering in here.
And possibly also the ghost of Carl Olof Cronstedt, who was the commander of Suomenlinna, who decided that the fortress would surrender.
We didn't see any ghosts (sadly), but it was very damp in there, and the ceilings were covered with some yellow, slimy looking substance, and that was horrifying enough!
We got out again through a tunnel, and Zoe was being a pain in the ass, and talking about a light on the other end of a dark tunnel after the death, and made us all feel a bit uneasy, and very glad to get out!
We rested a bit on the shore, and were happy to be alive and free to walk around, and able to hear the waves and see the seagulls on the sky.
Then we started our walk back towards the ferry to take us to Helsinki.
We passed some old garrison buildings.
Some of them are turned into apartments, and some of them serve as restaurants, art halls, workshops and for example spaces in which bands can rehearse.
We took the main road again. Or maybe it was the road who took us, who knows.
We saw the ferry approaching, and started run towards the quay!
It was this time a blue ferry.
We reached the Susisaari bridge about the same time as the ferry! ( What do you mean - "how come you're taking photos if you're running in a hurry?" - camoon, have you not yet learned we toyvoyagers are able to do many tasks at the same time! Like eating herring and whipped cream simultaneously!)
The ferry was honking for us to move our asses, and so we moved them to Helsinki and home.
See you soon again! Toodle-oo! Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Sep 30, 2015, 9:45 pm
I´m sorry I´ve not had time to make my updates - we have been helping an old neighbour of Henna's to repair his roof. The guy is so old he shouldn't be up there at all, so our help is very wellcome.
But I´m not going to tell you about the roof repairing works this time, but something totally different.
Brother Casanova (sounds like a monk, which he certainly is not) had been buried in books and papers for couple of days, and we were sure he was writing a love letter in some difficult language, but he surprised us all by telling us that according to his careful analysis of the water level changes after the ice age, he was pretty sure there was a prehistorical site on our yard!
One wouldn't think bro Woffe has anything else in his mind besides girls, but that just shows how wrong one can be!
Anyway, we decided to organize an archaeological excavation on the spot!
Henna promised to help us with the procedure, hah, like we needed her help!
Bro Woffe naturally acted as some sort of excavation leader, and was very pompous about it all.
We started by determining the exact place and extent of the excavation plot and clearing away the vegetation.
There were lots of branches and twigs, growing hay and a whatnot.
We piled all onto a heap.
After clearing away all the vegetation, it was time to dig up a rather thick layer of turf - the layer of decomposing plant material.
It was hard work! There were lots of thick and stubborn roots we had to saw away, and after some time the buckets filled with turf also started to feel a bit heavy!
The excavation leader Casanova (who was also feeling a bit hot, because of work, not because of ladies) let us to have a small pause.
I and sis Zoe went to eat raspberries. There were even some maggots inside them! Extra njam!
We continued our work, and at last we reached the end of the turf layer and reached first the earth and then the fine sand under it!
It was time to bring out our high tech equipment - a camera to photograph all our findings and the cultural layers, and a tachymeter to determine the exact geographic position of everything on the site.
We took turns in using the tachymeter and holding the measuring rod and writing down all the figures, until we had created proper coordinates for the site.
We photographed the first under-turf layer.
Boss Woffe informed us that what we were watching was the landform as it had been somewhere in Middle Ages.
Makes one think a bit.
Then we continued digging - but now we were not using spades anymore, but little trowels.
We were digging very carefully, taking away earth about a centimeters level on the whole area and then moving to the next layer.
Even so we were sieving all the earth, in case there could be some so small artifacts we would not be able to see them while digging.
Thus we excavated away the middle ages and reached the layer of Iron Age.
Suddenly we found something! Our first find!
We were so excited!
We had no idea what it was - but it was big and looked like something carved out of stone.
There were more finds! This one was clearly part of a runestone!
We marked all the finds with marker sticks and measured their position with the tachymeter, and made careful markings of everything to our findings list, like "E29: A blue glass bead (not a beetle, ask Zoe, she tried to eat it)"
We photographed the finds "in situ".
We let little Racko to do it, because the rest of us were too heavy (all those worms..)
It was time for a small pause again.
It felt great to lay on the grass, watch the clouds to sail past above, and let the muscles to relax.
But soon the boss Woffe ushered us back to work again.
One task we had to do, was to draw maps of all our excavation layers, where we had to situate all the findings, bigger stones, charcoal and color differences in the soil, because they can mark different activity areas.
It was an interesting task. I has troubles because a ladybird I was drawing on the map, was moving all the time!
I asked her politely if she could sit on one place, but she just showed me her tongue!
We excavated through the Iron Age and reached the Bronze Age layers, and found more exiting things.
Now we were able to see that the carved stone was some kind of idol or statue, and that there had been a fireplace in front of it!
There seemed to be a fish inside the fireplace! I and sis Zoe almost clonked our heads together, wanting to see better.
But it wasn't a real fish at all! It was made of clay!
And then - I just couldn't believe it!
I noticed there was something roundish emerging next to the fireplace, and removed carefully the sand from it´s surface, and, crying out loud!
I don't know if you have heard of the famous Himmelsscheibe or not, but you should!
The Himmelsscheibe or Sky Disk of Nebra, was found in a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, in Germany.
It has been dated to the Bronze Age, and it features the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos worldwide. In June 2013 it was included in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register and termed "one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.
And here we had something that looked very similar!
So you can understand why I was so exited!
This place we are excavating, must have been a rather remarkable place one time!
The excavation continued, and on each step we found more evidence which hinted that what were now excavating, had been an important cult central for long period of time.
When we reached the Stone Age level, there were remains of big cheramic vessels, and also something which looked like bones.
Every ow and then we found some small things also from the sieve - mainly tiny fragments of quarz arrowheads or flakes.
I think I could become an archaeologist, like auntie Henna, when I grew up. What do you think?
Or maybe it is a better plan never to grow up. Then I can do whatever I will!
There was an odd round object surfacing in one corner of our site. I couldn't make my mind of what to think of it, and neither could our leader Mr Casanova.
We asked Zoe's opinion on the matter (just shows the level of our desperation) and she took one glimpse on the object, and said:
"You imbesills! It is an EGG!"
Damn it, she was right! It was an egg! A huge egg!
We started then to clean the bones.
There were lots of items - glass beads, ceramics etc, which seemed to be positioned round the heap of bones!
It was a rather big sceleton we were cleaning.
First we thought it might have been the remains of a prey animal the folks here had been eating, but no - it was a whole skeleton - no parts were cut or missing.
Suddenly sis Zoe started to yell like a foghorn, and to run around like a hen (rather like bro Squab).
"My ancestors!" she yelled, "It is my ancestors!"
And she was right again. It was clearly an allosaurus skeleton!
What I cannot understand is how come it had spectacles on its nose.
Our excavation had reached it's end. There was only hard podsol under the skeletons, and there wasn't any reason to excavate deeper.
Excavation leader Woffe now gave us a lecture.
"Dear excavators! I have now made my scientific analysis on this site, and it is this:
Approximately 145 million years ago there were a family of allosauruses living here, on this site. When the big meteorite hit the earth, forming the Gulf of Mexico and killing the dinosaurs, the unhappy family met its untimely end here (snif).
In the Mesolithic Stone Age a family of cave kiwis wobbled on the site, saw the bones and realized it was a burial ground of their ancestors, and declared the place holy.
Generation after generation, the local kiwi population came here to bring offerings, burn fires and erect statues and rune stones - each generation according to its own style, bringing the best valuables they had.
Who would have guessed!
A holy place of the ancient kiwi birds!
Zoe was mute with ave after bro Woffe's lecture.
"An artist, who is specialized in recreating pictures of archaeological sites as they were in a certain time in past, is going to give us some paintings of the site tomorrow, promised Woffe.
Meanwhile I made my own personal sacrifice to the spirits of the place.
I put here the recreations of the site the artist had made for us.
They are made to capture the site as it was in Early Iron Age.
As you can see, the place was on a sea shore at that time.
The allosaurus remains are surrounded by valuabe items from different times, and there is a small altar in front of the stone stone statue.
The Star Disk is situated in front of the rune stone.
Here the artist has imagined a family of kiwis bowing in front of the statue.
The language in the rune stone is ancient Finnish, and it says about: "This is a holy place created in honor of our ancestors."
That was really all now.
I must say it was an interesting experience. Auntie Henna is rather surprised too! A remarkable cult centrum in her yard! And she thinks she's an archaeologist! Hah!
Many kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Oct 16, 2015, 2:52 pm
The autumn here is turning darker and colder, the earth is already often white in the mornings before the sun rises up and melts the rime away.
But we will get there later - now I'm telling you about our late summer here in Nuuksio
.
I think I mentioned last time that we were helping Henna's nearest neighbor to repair his roof.
The roof had been leaking already for couple of years, and the neighbour is too old to do much himself.
So, when Henna found out about the leaking roof she decided she has to do something about it and asked us to help her.
Of course none of us is a roof-fixing expert, but Henna said she hopes common sense would be enough to guide us.
"Common sense? Is that something to eat?" asked sis Zoe.
So, as you can see, our "guide" was barely reliable.
It took us about two months to fix the roof, using almost all the free time we had, and there is still something to do next summer.
But, we managed to stop the leaking!
While Henna was planning the next steps and using very many interesting Finnish words, which almost burned our ears, we used the roof as our sliding hill.
There was time anyway also for walking in the nature.
Sometimes when we had been especially helpfull, Henna told us to go for a little walk to use our energy to something else.
We found this interesting little hollow under big rocks in the forest.
It was a good place to play stone age toyvoyagers.
Quite near by we found a toyvoyager sized dolmen! How extraordinary!
It seems almost like archaeology was our destiny!
Henna told us how the dolmens were tombs into which all the members of communities were buried democratically. But they were not only tombs - they were gateways to the other worlds. The people buried into them, were actually seeds, which were put there to sprout again, so that they could be reborn.
Interesting, huh?
We roamed inside the dolmen to see if there happened to be still any bones loitering about. There weren't.
The blueberries were ripe and juicy, and we both ate and picked them to take home, well, mainly ate..
What we took home we ate in the mornings with honey and cream.
If you have not tried that, you should! You don't know what you're missing!
The small, wonderful, wild forest strawberries were ready too and waiting to be eaten!
We fulfilled their will eagerly and as often as possible.
Cannot stand disappointed strawberries!
I don't know how many of you have been eating wild forest strawberries. They are the original strawberries, from which the tame ones have been bred, and they taste quite different.
The difference is.. a bit like between a wolf and a lapdog. Both are wonderful, but the wild forms are just more, well, wild and energetic and individual.
On our yard the currants were ripe too.
We found red, white and black currants and ate them all.
In the forest the chanterelles were hiding behind the first fallen yellow leafs and giggling when we walked past without noticing them.
We found many, though.
The birch boletes were also popping up from the earth here and there and making us smile, because for us they meant a wonderful dinner.
The chanterelles are sometimes called here "metsän kulta" = the gold of the forest. Not because they are extremely valuable, they are not, economically, I mean, but because they are so exceptionally good.
Have you read J.R.R. Tolkien's book Lord of the rings? If you have, you know that hobbits were crazy about mushrooms. In a way which "outshadowed all the cravings and desires of big people."
Do you think I might be a hobbit, anyway?
These photos are from a small forest lake called Vuohijärvi.
It was full of waterlilies, and over the lily leafs we spotted some frogs having drunken orgies.
Over the ethereal looking white flowers the air was full of their lustful croaking and drunken singing.
"Hi you, frogs!" I shouted, "do you do anything else than to have drunken orgies?"
There was a three second's silence, and then they answered "not much!" and continued.
We made also couple of trips to the seaside, to walk on the rocks and to enjoy the wind and beautiful landscapes.
We walked against the brisk wind or leaned onto it and teased the waves by letting them almost get us, but not quite - keeping all the time just and just over the line they were able to reach. They hissed to us angrily.
"Don't you brats tease them too much!" warned Henna, when a pissed off, white capped wave stretched towards us.
"Let's go and make a fire instead!"
There was a nice place for an open fire, and benches to sit around it.
We had soon the fire burning.
It felt wonderfully warm after the brisk wind and the salty water sprinkles on the shore, and the coffee smelled sweetly.
There was a bird watching tower on a hill, and we of course climbed it.
"What, to watch birds? If you want to watch birds, here I am - no need to climb towers!" said sis Zoe, but she was just trying to be fun. She likes to watch birdies too.
It was quite a high tower and took some climbing to get there.
The views from the tower were very beautiful! A mix of green forest and blue sea.
I was trying to spot birds flying past, but the only bird I saw was a kiwi.
Don't believe she is flying! She is just trying to fool you!
In many evenings we admired the moon over the old field behind our cottage.
Hyvää yötä teille kaikille! = Good night to all of you!
Yours, Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Oct 19, 2015, 9:09 pm
I wish you're happy and in good health!
Do you still remember our kitchen garden?
Well, it was a very cold and rainy summer, so we didn't need to do much watering. As a matter of fact - we left the plants pretty much to take care of themselves.
But one day Henna remarked that it would maybe be time to go and harvest our kitchen garden crops - they had looked rather ripe when she walked past.
So - next day we harvested our garden, and now I'm showing you photos of it.
Look at our cabbages!
They were simply a marvel!
So round and green and glossy and plump!
They had clearly benefited from the rain.
We were all so happy to see them!
Then we walked to the next patch to see how our radishes were doing.
They had grown so well too!
They were so beautiful! And of so splendid color! Pretty much like me!
I bet you have never seen such a healthy growth of french fries either!
It is actually quite a miracle! We put some little seeds to earth and voilá! After couple of months we have lots of wonderful foodstuff!
There was a burst of colorado beetles this summer, but luckily they had not attacked our fries! They had grown so bright yellow and beautifully crinkled!
We started harvesting the wonderful vegetables. It was very enjoyable work!
Henna came to see our crops too, and she was a bit puzzled. "What did you actually plant there?" she asked, and looked rather stupid, standing there mouth open.
Donno what she meant.
The radishes were so big they hardly fit into the buckets!
Have you ever heard about such radishes?
"What about the greenhouse?" asked Henna "What about your crops there?"
Let's go and see!
Our pot bananas looked just glorious!
I gave one to Henna, whose eyes were rolling a bit in her head.
"Is this all?" she asked.
"Not quite" said I, "come and see our orchyard!"
The bush bananas looked even more delicious than the pot brand!
The popcorn tree's branches were heavy with wonderful, white, greasy popcorns!
We finished the harvest and carried or crop home, and Henna too. She was feeling a bit faint.
As you can see, it was a very happy harvest day!
Love from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Oct 22, 2015, 11:37 pm
It's update time once again.
One rainy day in September we made a day trip into the small town of Porvoo about an hour's driwe in a bus from Helsinki.
It was still dark outside when we took the bus in Helsinki bus station.
We had lots of provisions with us, and we started to eat right away.
It is one of the best things in travelling - eating provisions!
In Porvoo we were just walking around and around the narrow, cobbled streets, watching views and the quaint little wooden houses.
Porvoo is one of the oldest towns in Finland. It has its beginning somewhere in the 13th century. Before that there was already an important Iron Age castle and village.
Porvoo has got its name from Swedish words borg+å = castle+river. Here you can see the river. Logically its name is Porvoon joki (Porvoo's river). It has provided a good passage from the sea to the town, and forward towards the faraway inland regions.
This is the old townhouse of Porvoo. Nowadays there is the historical museum.
It was nice to peep into the yards of the small houses. Of course the town has grown lately, and there is a modern town around the old Porvoo, but I think a town of this size, as it was some hundred years ago, would be optimal. You would know all the faces around you, but still would not know them too well to feel suffocated.
This is the mediaeval church of Porvoo. It is an important spot in Finnish history, because in here the Russian Czar promised Finland would maintain its autonomy after it had been become part of Russia 1809.
Some young imbesills, who thought it would be a cool thing to play to be Satan worshippers, burned the church 2006, and its roof was totally destroyed. The whole old town and its wooden houses were too in great danger. The roof was built anew and the shurch opened again 2008.
We took a peep inside. It was quite a peacefull place, although there were some tourists..
We continued our walking around, but soon it started to feel like we had walked past the same café too many times, and knew already what we would see behind the next corner.
There was a Moomin house in a shop window, and I spent some time talking with the moomins behind the glass. They told me that they had quite a satisfacting life, taking into account that it was a sweet shop inside which their house was situated. How handy.
The evening was already getting a bit darker, and we were watching the people who live in these cute houses getting home from work.
The wind was rising and the colourful autumn leaves were flying around us.
The wind also brought the rain back, and so, on our next round past the café, we hopped in, and spent the last our inside until our bus back to Helsinki was ready to leave.
It was quite a nice, little visit.
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Nov 26, 2015, 7:04 pm
My adventures with sis Zoe continue. Today I'll show you pics from Turku, where we went with Henna.
She went to take part into some demonstration, and meanwhile we were loitering around. There are not very many pics, though, because we were in a hurry!
Let me introduce you to Aurajoki river.
The river was an important route towards the inland, and that's why there was a big centre on it's shore already in the Iron Age.
Turku town was grounded on 13th century, and it was also the first capitol of Finland.
There are eleven bridges over Aurajoki in Turku. The people in Turku think it is somehow meaningful on which shore of the river you have been born, but I have not yet find out why and what. "You must be from the other side of the river" they say if people behave in somehow unwanted way. We heard it a lot.
The Turun Tuomiokirkko cathedral is also on the river front, next to the old market place.
The oldest parts of the church are from the late 13th century.
It was for years the most important place to be buried - the high ranking people were queuing to get buried under its floor.
In the archaeological excavations, says Henna, was found also for example a cat in it own little cascet. Someone in medieval times had loved her/his cat so much that they had smuggled the dead cat under the church floor to make sure it's soul gets into heaven too.
I met a chap called Mikael Agricola. He was a bishop in 16th century, and the first one to translate the Bible into Finnish language. He was maybe also the first person who was writing Finnish with Latin alphabeth. Before that Finnish had been written in runes.
We met also this other guy. He belongs into a species called "vaivaisukko". They are sculpted in wood and painted, and fixed into church walls to collect money for poor people. They have a hole in their stomach or back to put coins in.
They were made from 17th century to the 20th century.
Next we went to see the Turun linna castle.
Castle is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. It was founded in the late 13th century. The Swedish conquerors of Finland intended it originally as a military fortress. During the next two centuries its defences were strengthened and living quarters were added. The castle served as a bastion and administrative centre.
Later the castle served for example as a jail, and it was turned into a museum in 1880.
It sometimes seems to me that all the written history is just of invading, fighting, power struggle and other stupid, mainly masculine activities.
What I would like to learn about history is how common people lived and how they did see the world in the context of all those idiotical happenings in the back ground.
There were some renovation work of the walls going on again, while we passed.
Inside the castle it was a too ark to take many photos. I tried to took one every time there seemed to be enough light.
We saw the castle's church, which was very beautiful. It is a very popular place to get married.
If ever I'll get married, I think I would rather do it just under the full moon on some crawfish populated shore.
There was an exhibition to show the clothing and other items of all sorts the royal people living here would have used in the 17th century.
This is the hall in which the court was eating its meals in long tables.
In this photo you can see how thick the castle walls are.
I cam imagine the brats living in the castle spending lots of time on the window sills.
That wasl all we saw of Turku, sadly. Henna came from her demo and collected us and we get back to Nuuksio again.
See you soon! Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Dec 2, 2015, 1:35 pm
The autumn had arrived and brought the colourfull leaves and mushrooms with it. We made an autumn trip to the forest, and I´m now putting here photos we took then.
The nights had turned cold, and when we went onto the yard in the morning, we noticed that there was ice in the water buckets.
It looks like a piece of art, doesn't it? There was a beautiful print of a dry leaf on it's surface.
The weather was wonderful, and there were inviting heaps of dry leaves everywhere.
We decided to make a mushroom trip into the forest.
So we packed our bags and took a tent with us too.
We walked trough the wonderful forest, and started to sing wandering songs.
♪♫♫♪
Lähtekäämme maailmalle,
reppu selkään, keppi kouraan, matkaan vain!
Soikoon laulu koko pitkän tien,
matkaan mukanani laulun vien.
Pellon poikki, kuusten alle,
sieltä alkaa polku kauas matkaajain.
Polveillen käy virran juoksu,
mutkikas on polkummekin maailmaan!
Soikoon laulu koko pitkän tien,
matkaan mukanani laulun vien.
Pellon poikki, kuusten alle,
sieltä alkaa polku kauas matkaajain.
♪♫♫♪
Let's go to the world
take your bagback, take your wand, let's just go!
Let the song echo troughout the whole trip,
I carry the song with me into the world.
Trough the fields, under the spruces,
there begins the path for travellers who want ot get far!
The brook is meandering in it's run,
and so is our path to the world.
Let the song echo troughout the whole trip,
I carry the song with me into the world.
Trough the fields, under the spruces,
there begins the path for travellers who want to get far!
The glorious trees looked like flames against the blue skies, and we stopped to admire them every now and then.
We couldn't resist the call of the leaf heaps, and why should we?
We dived under the leaves, made somersaults, hopped and roamed around.
And then we rested panting on the soft, nice smelling leaves and watched the clouds sailing across the sky, like sheep grazing in a blue meadow.
We continued our hike through the forest, in search for a perfect spot to put our tent up.
When we saw the first birch boletos, we knew we had found our place to stay.
So we put the tent up. Isn't it a splendid one? Just the right size to home a bunch of voyagers!
Then we went to pick mushrooms! To fill the larder for winter!
I wouldn't mind living like they did in stone age - just by collecting stuff from the nature! Berries, mushrooms, snails, maggots, njammy insects, a fish every now and then.. only thing missing from the list is chocolate! That's not so easy to collect! Unless you collect it from a super market, but then they send the security after you..
Many people don't know these mushrooms are also very good to eat. Lycoperdon perlatum, common buffball. When they get old and dry, their spore spreads up to the air like smoke, if you step over them.
He he, Henna told us that in Portugal they are called Bufas da Velha = old woman's fart.
In Finnish they're called käsnätuhkelo. A nice a useful Finnish word of the day into your vocabulary.
Soon we had got more mushrooms than we could very easily carry home. So we called Henna and told her to drag her lazy ass intothe forest next morning to carry the mushrooms!
Then we went back to our tent and slep very well, although Zoe was snoring, as usually.
Good night! See you soon again!
Kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Dec 14, 2015, 3:46 pm
The autumn was turning muddy and cold, and Henna said she was tired of pulling us toyvoyagers from each others throats, since clearly the lousy weather was effecting our mental atmosphere too. I admit it.
Anyway, Henna decided it was time to get into warmer climate, which would put the smile back on our faces.
It was time to say goodbye to the little cottage. It felt a bit melancholic. The poor cottage looked a bit melancholic too, standing there in middle of late autumn and dying nature and all.
Good bye!
In our last evening in Finland we had a candle light dance on the yard - we lit candles behind the differently formed ice blocks we got from buckets.
Then we, umm, danced around the flaming ice blocks, sang and drank a bit of something called Salmiakkikossu (which we found hidden under Henna´s bed) I don´t know exactly what it is, but it made our dancing faster and singing wilder.
It also made us to fall asleep and forgot rest of the evening.
I doubt this was a devious plan by our host Henna, since I heard her earlier muttering something about a "bunch of restles enfant terribles to handle on a night flight, what would I pay to make them to sleep!"and also by the fact that she had hidden the bottle in a place from which she certainly knew we would find it!
Anyway, there is no photos of our flight to Portugal, because we were all slumberingg like little angels.
We were waken up next day by a heavenly smell, and by Henna who told us to get out from her backbag and greet the sun.
I roamed out into a totally different world! There was sun, light, warmth, a blue glistening sea, a sand beach, and the source of the heavenly smell - fish drying in the sun!
What else could a toyvoyager ask for?
It certainly put a smile onto our faces, like our cunning host had forecasted.
We walked towards the blue Atlantic ocean.
Henna told us that traditionally this was a town of fishermen - about everyone made their living by fishing or by turning the fish into conserves or other products.
Sounds wonderful!
There are still some active fishermen, and some traditional, colourful fishing boats on the shore.
The fishing could be a dangerous occupation, though - specially in former times when the fishermen didn´t have motors to fight the Atlantic wawes - just oars or small sails.
The fishermen´s wives had their own way to deal with the risks. When their husbands were on the sea, and it turned stormy, they took a statue of Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, and put him into a bowl of water up to his neck, and told him that he would only get out of the water when the husband was safe back at home. If the storm get worse, or the husband was late of returning, the wives rised the water level in the bowl slowly.
Up upon the cliff behind the beach is the other part of the town.
There was an important center of pilgrimage, which was built around a wooden image of Madonna and child, which appeared mysteriously into a cave in the cliff in the 8th century. It was believed to be carved by Josef, the step daddy of Jesus, who was a carpenter.
We climbed up to see the church and the famous madonna, Nossa Senhora de Nazaré.
(The whole town got its name after the image, who was believed to have wandered here from Nazareth. Yeah, wandered. The holy images here have a long tradition of wandering around according to their own mind.)
Here is the church in which the precious image is reciding.
Some hundred years ago the pilgrimages brought lots of wealth to the town - they of course payed for their accommodation and food, and if they were wealthy people they were ready to pay a lot, and also leave valuable gifts for the church, and maybe purchase pieces of some relics with good price.
Here is the famous wandering Madonna. We couldn´t get very near, so I had to use a zoom, and couldn´t be in the same photo with her.
There are many theories about why she is black, since people from Nazareth at those times usually weren´t.
We came out from the church and walked following the edge of the cliff, admiring the view over the town.
Nossa Senhora da Nazaré -image made here an miracle in 1182 I´m sure you all want to read about:
"On the early morning of September 14, 1182, Dom Fuas Roupinho alcalde of Porto de Mós, Portugal (quite a name!), was out hunting near the coast, when he saw a deer which he immediately began chasing. All of a sudden a heavy fog rose up from the sea. The deer ran towards the edge of the cliff (on purpose, I´m sure) and Dom Fuas realised he was next to the small cave where the image of Nossa Senhora da Nazaré had appeared. Thus he prayed out loud "Our Lady, Help Me!" All of a sudden the horse miraculously stopped just on the edge, one hoof already outside the cliff. "
Ok. Miracle it was - the deer was saved!
We saw the lighthouse of Nazaré. It is the building in the end of the cliff. We didn´t go near, because there was a modern pilgrimage of tourism thronging towards it from every direction.
We hopped into a small museum, in which we saw miniature versions of the traditional fishingboats.
They were just the right size for us, but the auntie in the museum didn´t want to loan them to us.
The evening started to settle in, and so we finished by eating a bowl of Caldo verde soup in a small café.
It was a good first day under the sun.
Sunny kisses from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Dec 21, 2015, 6:34 pm
Greetings from Portugal again!
We slipped fastly again into the Portuguese style and rhythm of life.
The climate here reminds me of my birth home in California, and me and sis Zoe don´t have any troubles adjusting, but the others are mentioning snow, frost and ice in a longing way.
Well, no snow this year even in Finland, it seems. Just mud. Good riddance.
Anyway, I´m going to share with you some pictures from a trip we made into a small town called Castelo Branco.
We took a train from Lisbon to Entroncamento, where we had to take another train to Castelo Branco.
We had half an hour time to spend in Entroncamento, and we marched to the other side of the railyards where we could see a row of old steam engines.
Oo I love steam engines!
The tracks were following the river Tejo, and the lanscapes became less tamed.
In Castelo Branco, we saw the Sé, the main cathedral Igreja de São Miguel.
And Cruzeiro de São João stone cross, which was erected in the early 16th century.
Then we went to see the Jardim do Paço Episcopal garden.
It is a barock style garden, originally the private garden of bishop D. Joăo de Mendonça, turned a public space in the 19th century.
The garden in best known because of its statues. These stairs are occupied by the Portuguese kings, but there are also statues representing the virtues, the seasons, the zodiacal signs, the continents and what not elsewhere in the garden.
I think this king wasn´t very popular, because he was nicknamed "o gordo" = the fatty, while the other kings are named "victorious" or "magnificent" etc.
Here you can see the area of the geometrical garden. Looks rather unnatural, but I guess that´s what people wanted at those times.
There were also various pools and fountains, in which I could see some fat carps swimming in them, but they kept too deep to be catched.
It was a nice little garden. I could have one like that myself in the backyard.
Here I´m sitting on the lap of Temperance. Do you think some stick to me?
After the garden we climbed the hill to see the ruins of the castle after which the whole town has got its name.
There wasn´t much left, though, just some walls. But the view was worth of seeing!
We walked forwards and backwards on the piece of wall standing, and then we climbed down to the city and went into a small local bar to have a bowlful of soup.
That´s what we saw of Castelo Branco. We don´t know what Henna saw - she shut herself into some museums for the whole day!
Or that´s what she said! I have my doubts!
Later in the night we saw a beautiful, lighted fountain. It looked a bit like fireworks.
See you soon again!
Hugs from Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jan 5, 2016, 5:59 pm
Today it is a short day trip into a small town called Leiria in turn to be unravelled here, so let´s begin, oh ye fellow voyagers.
Leiria is a small town about 150 kilometers from Lisbon. We travelled there by a bus. (Autocarro in Portuguese.)
The trip took over two hours, and everyone in the bus looked rather sleepy and bored. So we thought it a good idea to cheer them up a bit with some vigorous singing.
I don´t know if they were cheered up, but certainly they weren´t looking half so sleepy after some energetic Finnish songs, especially the hundred verses of song called Sillivati seilaa (Herring bowl is sailing.)A very interesting song! If you ever want to learn it, be free to contact me!
"The name "Leiria" in Portuguese derives from 'leira' (from the medieval Galician-Portuguese form 'laria', from proto-Celtic *ɸlār-yo-, akin to Old Irish 'làr' 'ground, floor', Breton 'leur' 'ground', Welsh 'llawr' 'floor') meaning an area with small farming plots."
I have nothing to do with this information!
Bro Casanova told me to write it here (to boast abut his university education, undoubtedly.)
To say all of this in a simple language = Leiria was originally a small farming community. It started to grow in size and importance in the medieval times.
We climbed to see the Castle of Leiria (in ruins) which is the most interesting thing to see in Leiria.
The castle ruins were quite entertaining. I was amazed to read that during the early mediaeval times all the town population was living inside its walls.
We climbed about 500 stairs up onto the castle´s watch tower, and spent there a good time watching the landscapes around us.
We left the castle and went to have lunch in a local café with auntie Maria.
It was really njammy!
After eating we took a bus into an even smaller town near by, called Batalha. There we had only 45 minutes time and the only thig we saw was the famous Monastery of Batalha.
Here it is. It was really an overwhelmingly magnificent building!
The monastery was built to thank the Virgin Mary for the Portuguese victory over the Castilians in the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385.
We peeked inside too, and were very impressed with all the gigantic pillars and what not.
Such a huge space brought into our minds the idea to try out its acoustics..
..so we tuned our song Sillivati seilaa again, and soon we were kicked out from the monastery, which was good, because otherwise we could have been so lured by the music as to miss our bus back to Lisbon.
So,we got in time to our bus and safely back home.
Many tender kisses from Crawfish! Toodleoo!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jan 11, 2016, 5:04 pm
I wish all of you are feeling well and exuberant! Or at least well enough to suffer through a new update with your favorite crawfish.
We made again a day trip, this time to a small town called Pias, towards south from Lisbon.
Henna and auntie Maria had to meet some people in the town, and meanwhile we had free hands (or paws, hooves or whatever) to amuse ourselves in the house of auntie Maria´s parents.
It is an old house and whitewashed, like all houses here, and standing wall to wall with the neighbouring houses, like is the custom here. The houses form long, white rows on both sides of the roads. It can be a bit claustrophobic experience to walk in between, without escape right nor left.
Anyway, we stayed mainly in the yard, instead of lingering on the roads, because there were so many things to see there!
December or not, many plants were in bloom and some others were heavy with ripe fruit, while some were just otherwise interesting.
Behind me and the wonderful rose you can see part of the yard, an old well and some sheds.
This has originally been a self sufficient farm with enough land and fields to produce livelihood for an extended family with servants, but now there is just the yard with some fruit trees and room for a kitchen garden.
We went to explore everything.
Some of the trees drop their leaves for the winter here too. The dry leaves made delicious, raspy sound under our paws.
The lemons were ripe! Wonderful, plump yellow balls bursting with juice and smelling wonderfully!
There were already many lemons dropped on the ground too.
We were pushing them into piles and carried them into the house and into Henna´s bag to take with us back to Lisbon.
The oranges were also ripe and wonderful!
Did you know that it were Portugueses who brought them to Europe in 15th century? What smart people!
There were many oranges on the ground too. We started to roll them into piles too, and then I got an idea!
We made and orange man, to feel more like winter, since there wasn´t much hope of snow.
But it didn´t feel quite the same.
We climbed the trees to pull down those oranges which were still hanging on the branches.
"Hoi! Orange coming!"
Some of them were stubborn and demande lots of swinging before they surrendered! What a great excuse!
Nay. Heaven forbid the day when I need an excuse to have fun!
The olive trees also needed our attention and care, and we gave it to them gladly!
I had soon my basket full of glossy blue-black azeitonas.
After hard harvest collecting we were just resting under the blooming trees and enjoying the mild afternoon sun, buzzing insects and other blessings.
There was a pile of old roof tiles in one corner of the yard, and in some way or other that gave us an idea to celebrate the approaching christmas time by arranging a living nativity scene.
Here is our impromptu crib!
Well, yeah, I don´t know how christlike that brat of Zoe´s is, but he was the only baby available! Besides, he is quite cute!
When the sun got low, we went inside the house, and amused ourselves by climbing the beautiful old furniture.
We built a fire into the kitchen´s fire place. In olde times this was the only place to make food. Usually a cheramic vessel was put onto the hearth near the fire with the food ingredients.We were just enjoying the warmth and beauty of the fire.
In the morning we had to say goodbye for the old house, and took our load of fruit back to Lisbon.
Goodbye! And see you soon again!
Your Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Feb 10, 2016, 2:46 pm
Our Christmas and New Year here in Portugal went past so fast we didn´t have time to hop in.
It was raining all the time, and everything looked like a very rainy April in Finland, and Henna had a flue, so we were mainly staying in our nice and warm and cosy tv -nest, reading and eating gingerbread cookies.
We went to see the big christmas tree in Rossio, though, but otherwise the whole yule tide just slipped somewhere..
And then it was January an year 2016, the sun roamed slowly out from the clouds, and we forced Henna to roam out too from her bed and to take us out again.
We went for a hiking trip onto an protected area called Arriba Fóssil da Costa de Caparica.
We started our hike from a village called Fonte da Telha, which you can see in this photo.
Inhabitants of the village are mainly either fishermen (or women) or keep a little bar for surfers and others who like to have their lunch on the sea shore.
The aloes on the edge of the village were just opening their first flowers when we marched by.
The coastal cliffs of Costa de Caparica are called fossil cliffs, because they are fossil-bearing layers of Miocene age,and because they´re not in direct contact with the ocean, not suffering from sea erosion.
The fossil sea bed formed many interesting and fantastical formations, and we spotted many seashell and conch fossils in them. Maybe some of hem were my foreparents!
We were mainly walking over soft sand, which made the walking a bit heavy. I could feel my leg muscles growing!
We saw more beautiful flowers.
In this photo you can see the town of Lisbon far away in the horizon. A perspective to the town most Lisboners have never seen.
We were walking along the ancient coast line towards a lake called Lagoa de Albufeira about eight kilometers away. Eight kilometers there and eight back would be just suitable length for a hiking trip.
I don´t know what these flowers are but they were huge! Henna said they might be globeflowers (Trollius europaeus) but she is not sure. What do you think?
The last kilometers we walked under pines and blooming mimosas.
At last we reached the Albufeira lake.
On it´s other shore was a new ugly living area and it didn´t look very interesting. The other shore is a protected area for water birds´s nesting, which is great.
On the third shore we had a foam party.
After enough partying we returned to the sea shore, and walked a while along the nowaday´s beach before returning to the ancient cliffs.
Here you can see both.
Then we walked our eight kilometers back to Fonte da Telha.
See you soon! Kisses!! I hope you have been walking a bit too!
Your Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted May 24, 2016, 7:57 pm
It has been some months since I last made an update, and I´m sorry about that, but believe me, folks, it wasn´t my fault!
I would have been making updates every single day, but my host Henna went kukkuu or lost her rocker or maybe lost some Moomins from the Valley, because how else would it be explained that she told me she needed a holiday from toyvoyaging, I just ask!?
Unless it is a case rather for an exorcist than for a psychiatrist, like my sister Zoe was suggesting.
Just in case we drew some pentagrams onto the floor, and clearly they worked because as soon as Henna saw them she suddenly became very energetic indeed and run after us some kilometers shouting horrible curses, and we run like there had been some demons after us!
So, we got her on the move again, and she is ready to take us to see things again, hooray!
After some more months in Portugal we came back to Finland, where the little old cottage was waiting for us, messy and chaotic as ever!
Outside the nature was waking up after the long winter, and the crocuses were the first plants which hustled themselves from the black earth towards the sun.
Soon on the heels of the crocuses came the white anemones and covered the yard with with a white, cloudy -looking bedspread.
After the anemones it was like the nature´s big bag had broken, and all the spring plants had fallen down - everything was suddenly growing with such a hurry we hardly had time to greet everyone!
The rhubarbs we were greeting with a double joy, because we know that they can be turned into a wonderful soup, which is specially delicious when it is served over vanilla ice cream!
Yep! They certainly look ripe enough! I´ll coax Henna to make us soup! She is actually pretty easy to coax, and if it doesn´t work there always is the blackmailing.
When we had settled properly down again and had started to feel like home, we were ready to go a bit farther away from the yard and its wonders.
We have been following Henna on some interesting geocaching trips!
I don´t know how many of you are geocachers - I know some are - but anyway, I´m sure you understand the excitement of searching for the caches according to hints, and solving riddles!
But even more exciting is that we never know beforehand in what kind of place we will get into in search for the cache!
They can be hidden for example on the premises of an old manor house, like in this case.
It is the Munkkiniemen kartano manorhouse behind my back.
It is also nice to see how creative people can be when making the caches!
This one was camouflaged like a log!
Running after the caches we often see very beautiful or interesting places. Here we are in a park called Härkähaka, which means "bull pasture". It has been a grazing area for the bulls of the Munkkiniemen kartano manor house some hundred years ago.
We found there a cache and a geobug, a little budgie!
Geobugs are a bit similar than us toyvoyagers - they travel from cache to cache round the world while we travel from host to host!
We passed a glorious field with glowing dandelions!
Ooh, such little suns on a field!
We just had to pet them!
Here we are searching for a cache in the forest, in trenches which are part of an old defense system.
This is a bunker in the defence constructions, quite a creepy place - dark and humid and full of mosquitoes!
It is quite horrible to think anyone staying here, specially during the winter, brrrrr!
But we found the cache! We are much better in finding caches than our host Henna is! She is such a sissy she doesn´t want to put her hands into dark holes in case there are hairy spiders or centipedes, hah!
Me and Zoe wellcome such things as part of our culinary enjoyments.. So we´re more than ready to go into dark holes!
These are marsh marigolds (rentukka in Finnish) and every ditch and brook and pond is full of them at the moment! Aren´t they wonderful!?
I finish this first update now, but I promise I´ll soon be here again!
Many kisses and hugs to you all! And hairy spiders if you like them!
Your Crawfish!
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jun 8, 2016, 11:54 am
Today it rains "kuin Esterin perseestä" like the Finnish saying goes, and it is a good day to write updates!
What? You want to know what the Finnish saying means? Are you quite sure?
Just asking, because sometimes it is better not to know..
All right, all right, but remember, it was you who demanded me to tell!
Litterally it means: "It rains like from Esther´s arse." Yep. Simple and logical, isn´t it? And yes, it is a genuine and wide spread Finnish saying.
If you want to hear the historical explanation too, you better ask my bro Mr Casanova, I´m sure he knows everything about it! (He usually knows everything that has to do with ars.. Hi, don´t hit me with that pillow, bro! Ok, ok, I don´t write it!
But now to the update. Do you think I talk too much?
Some folks say I talk too much, which, I think, is an absurd idea, cannot understand where it comes from! I can tell that compared with some other toyvoyagers around here (no names mentioned) I talk very little indeed!
Ach, the update, where was I?
Here you can observe our valiant gang, and if you are very observant, you can maybe realize we´re sitting on a boat! Yes!
It was a boat named Viking Express, and we were on our way to Tallinn, Estonia!
I bet you cannot guess why we were travelling to Tallinn!
We were going there because our host Henna wanted to buy a book, an Estonian book, which she was not able to buy in Finland.
Quite an interesting reason to travel to the neighbouring country, but like I´ve said before, there are probably some Moomins lost from her Valley.
Anyway, it was a very fast trip - the going over the Finnish Gulf took about 2 hours, and then we had about four hours time to spend in Tallinn, before our ship left back to Helsinki again.
We enjoyed the trip! We went to promenade on the deck, and it was fun, because it was so windy there we were able to lean against the wind!
The seagulls were using the wind to float over our ship, and one of them was in a nasty mood, and tried to hrm.. bombard us. It maybe had something to do with the fact that my sis Zoe shouted "Hi, mate, bring us some herring, since you don´t seem to have anything better to do!" to it.
We watched small islands to slide by Yes, thank you, dear bro, I know quite well the islands were not sliding, it were us who were sliding, or the boat, to be exact. It was just a figure of speech! (What an smart ass..)
In the stern there was a deck bar, which looked quite nice, but when we tried to enter, there was a guy who told us to show our papers.
Well, we all rummaged through our pockets and bags, and presented all our papers to the guy - Racko had a bus ticket, Momo had some caramel wrappings, bro Casanova had about 800 love letters, sis Zoe had some toilet paper (unused) and I had a paper which had been round a kilo of herrings some days before, but even so the guy didn´t let us in, although he showed some interest towards bro casanova´s letter collection.
So we went back in and had our own party on a window sill! Usually our own parties are the best parties, anyway!
Pretty soon we arrived to Tallinn!
Tallinn´s name comes from the Estonian words "Taani linn", which means "The Danish town".
Denmark controlled the town after they had beaten the Estonians in the Lindanise battle 1219.
The town existed though long before, and its original name was Revala, a name which had to do with the dense population of foxes (rebane in Estonian) which lived on the caves and holes and burrows on the hills over which the town had been built.
After running with Henna to her precious bookshop and dragging her out again screaming and kicking "So many interesting books! Just half an hour more!" we still had some time to walk in the old part of the town.
We saw narrow medieval alleys paved with cobble stones, and lots of churches and very inviting bakeries and sweetshops..
The old town consisted in the medieval style of upper town and downtown. The elite lived in the upper town, and there was also its administrative center, department of justice etc.
The common people, craftsmen and labourers lived in the downtown, and the two parts of the town were rather hostile towards each other, and no wonder too - the elite consisted of invaders - first Danes and then Germans, and the common people didn´t trust them and wise versa. There was a big, guarded gate between the two parts of town..
We climbed on the upper town hill slope to see the walls and towers the elite built around it to guard themselves against the people. There were many bloody rebellions and uprisings throughout the medieval period - so there was a good reason.
But now it was a peaceful place. The sun shone upon us, and the hillside grew many wild flowers, the butterflies were flying around us, and a bunch of local drunkards were singing in a very entertaining way some distance away. A beautiful summer day!
In middle of all this peace and beauty, we talked about weird things - why is the history of people so full of fighting and invading?
Well, of course we toyvoyagers fight all the time with each other, and invade the beds and swings and sandwiches and whatnot of each other - but to be serious with it and really hurt each other?
That would never do! Our fights always end in five minutes and we settle it all and be best friends again - after all - we are all toyvoagers! maybe humans will learn this some day too!
The sympatethic red bridge runs over what once was a moat. I don´t think they ever had crocodiles in it! They would not thrive in Estonian climate.
Nowadays the area is a popular park. The moats have been turned into pools in which ducks swim around and people are feeding them.
Sadly we had to start to walk back towards the harbour and our ship which was waiting for us.
But on the way there we saw still many beautiful old buildings.
The yellow building on the left is an old school.
I liked Tallinn, or the little part we had time to see, at least!
Maybe we come here still another time, never know, if Henna wants to buy another book!
We returned onto the Viking Express and climbed onto the deck to wave our goodbyes to Tallinn.
So long, Tallinn! Maybe we meet again!
And we, my dear readers, will meet again pretty soon!
Your Crawfish
pikkuaasi@gmail.com
Posted Jul 11, 2016, 11:44 am
It is your favorite crustacean here again!
We have arrived to the wonderful midsummer, although it seems the Finnish nature imagines it is autumn already. Everything is oddly ahead of time.
Look the glorious lupines on the old pasture next to our cottage!
But what comes to the nature having lost its marbles.. well, usually for example the blueberries ripen here in Southern Finland in the end on July, but this year that happened in the end of June. The leaves on the trees start normally to turn yellow in August, and it´s happening already!
Some species of birds, who normally start to get ready for their annual migration in August, are behaving like that now over the fields, and even the spiders, who on normal years start to tuck into our little cottage in September to hibernate there, have started to roam in!
(If you have very good eyesight you can see the spiders roaming towards the cottage here. )
We all wonder if it does mean something. An old man in the neighbour said it means that the coming winter is going to be very cold and harsh, but on the other hand he has also told us that if there is lots of berries in the rowans and if the frogs jump high in July the next winter is going to be cold and harsh.
So we don´t know what to think.
Of course it has its bright side too - we have already started feasting with forest berries - blueberries and the small, wild forest strawberries!
Here we are heading into the forest (I mean, deeper into the forest - we live on the brink of it!) to pick and eat berries.
We don´t eat much anything else these days- and it is a bit so and so with the picking too - but we eat a lot!
Nam nam nom nom mums mums slurp!
Aren´t you starting to drool just watching this photo?
Our host Henna is picking berries into a big bucket and putting them into freezer in small plastic bags, to be eaten throughout the winter, and that is of course very smart, since she´ll have hungry toyvoyagers round her throughout the year, but we toyvoyagers pick a small bucketful each per day, and on the next morning there is nothing left - we got hungry during the night too!
Here we are ready to head back home with our full buckets and full stomachs!
In the long, luminous summer evenings we´ve gone for long walks onto the beautiful forests or meadows near by.
Try to guess what is the time in this photo! Huh?
It was taken at 23. 51! The sun doesn´t set very low on these latitudes.
This time we were walking on a seashore meadow, where there are young bulls eating fresh hey.
Sometimes they go crazy and run like hell after each other.
These boardwalks continue some kilometers on the wetlands, and our host Henna told us that when she went to high school, this was her route to school.
Now we must hurry to pick more berries!
I wish you were here with us!
Kiss from Crawfish!