Alex_Kitty, Wroclaw, Poland

MA_17 Posted Feb 20, 2012, 11:14 pm	I am Alex. My Mommy told me I'm a cat, but I think I'm a tiger! I was born during the famous Berlinale event in Berlin. Maybe I'm a famous dude?!
MA_17 Posted Feb 22, 2012, 11:25 pm	Today I said goodbye to the first of us new tvs. Josie is taking part at the GTVT. I hope she enjoys her journeys through Germany and I hope to see her again in a few months! We all cuddled her. Bye bye little beautiful lady!
MA_17 Posted Feb 24, 2012, 10:08 pm	Today I got my own travel tag. Ouh... I love it!
MA_17 Posted Feb 24, 2012, 10:33 pm	Today a new TV arrived at my home. His name is Pieksi. When he went out of his envelope we gave him a warm welcome hug. Later I took him to a bus and gave him a first impression of Berlin by night.
MA_17 Posted Feb 25, 2012, 10:46 pm	Today the postman gave us a big envelope. The envelope had a hole where an eye was watching us! Spooky! 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!
MA_17 Posted Feb 27, 2012, 7:56 pm	Last night we watched the Academy Award on tv! It was an amazing show! So I was a little bit tired today. But I wanted to go out to the city and take some pictures. Our guest tvs did a sightseeing tour and I did my own tour! It wasn't a sightseeing tour. I decided to show you something around Hardenbergplatz/Breitscheidplatz. I went to the Station Zoological Garden where we have a big building lot. It's the renovation of the Bikini House. I also saw the Zoofenster high-rise, another big building lot. It is about 118 m (387 ft) high with offices, restaurants and a Waldorf-Astoria hotel; it will open soon. The last building lot is the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
MA_17 Posted Feb 28, 2012, 11:12 am	Today two of my brothers left home. Philly is traveling to Bavaria and Charly is traveling to the US. I hope they'll enjoy their journeys! I will miss them!
MA_17 Posted Mar 1, 2012, 8:51 am	Today Chino left us for his first big adventure! I cuddled him and helped him into his envelope. Enjoy your time, dude!
MA_17 Posted Mar 7, 2012, 3:12 pm	I went to an underground station where they have lots of stories and pictures about the time when Berlin was devided into 2 cities. The underground didn't run the way it does now. There were many dead stations. It also showed hidden tunnels where people fled from East-Berlin to West-Berlin. Really interesting!
MA_17 Posted Mar 11, 2012, 9:45 pm	Today I've been on a trip around the world. It was amazing! I stopped in Tyrol, Austria. Then I went to Estonia. I liked these ferries very much. I want to have my own ship! In Madagascar I met some really nice guys. I also stopped in Angola. I didn't know that there are so many wild animals in Africa! He's a nice guy! They wanted to adopt me! Meow! I'm cute, too! It's really wet around here. Catch me if you can! I liked the clothes. Then I stopped in Rwanda. This is the world. I visited nearly all places! Ahoj! Some more clothes I liked. I like it! I really want my own ship! I went to Egypt. From Africa I went to Asia. Look, I stopped in Indonesia. In Thailand I met a really nice guy. Look, beautiful flowers! Then I met another nice guy. I've also been on the Great Wall of China! I really like all this Asia stuff! I met another cool guy in New Zealand! His name is Kiwi. In Turkey I saw many nice accessories. I'm a cat, but I'm not afraid of water. So I went to the British Virgin Islands! My last stop were the pyramids of the Incas. Awesome buildings! When I finished my trip, I got what I wanted the whole time! My own ship!!! I'm a happy cat now!!! (Btw, I just went to the world's largest tourism trade fair - ITB.) In the evening I had dinner with my Mom. The restaurant looked really nice. *Meow & purr* Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 12, 2012, 7:43 pm	Today Phog told me that he finally found a host. He's going to visit South Africa in April. He's so excited now!
MA_17 Posted Mar 13, 2012, 4:25 pm	This late evening we got an envelope. 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. My Mommy says thank you! Meow & Purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 15, 2012, 7:44 pm	Few days ago a new tv arrived. Her name is DuDette and she's from California. So I showed her my calender today. She was really impressed because it shows her home town: San Francisco! Meow & purrrrrrrr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 17, 2012, 10:35 pm	Today I went to work with my Mum. She had to work near Alexanderplatz. We had a really nice view to the north, east, south and west - the whole city! Have a look!
MA_17 Posted Mar 20, 2012, 10:33 pm	Today it's the 1st birthday of Crawfish! So I decided to take some professional pictures of the others. I'll show them their pictures in a few days. Meow & purrrrrr your photographer Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 22, 2012, 9:44 pm	Today it was Crawfish's birthday party as we couldn't celebrate it before. But first I finally showed them the pictures I have taken! Kirin Crawfish DuDette Mr. Furrington Pieksi Woozy I also took some group pictures. They built a pyramid, but as you can see they are no artists! Then we started with the party. First Crawfish got our birthday card which we all signed. We gave her our present. It was a passport with all her informations inside. Then we organized some drinks. Delicious... aIiii Wuaaaandt soooam moooooure! Hiiiks. purrrrrrrrr-hiiiks-rrrrrrrr Al-hiiiks-ex-hiiiks
MA_17 Posted Mar 24, 2012, 5:42 pm	Hello dudes, 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". Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 24, 2012, 6:23 pm	Today I had to say goodbye to Mr. Furrington. We all cuddled him and swapped some meow meow. He's going to Canada now! I also had to say goodbye to my brother Phog. And my brother Tica also left today. His first stop is Australia. I cuddled him and helped him into his envelope. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 27, 2012, 6:08 pm	Today we did a goodbye-party for Pieksi. First all of us took a party-mug of each home area. Kirin couldn't find any Chile-mug, so she decided to take another one from South America. Later we shared some sweets and hugged Pieksi. Then he crawled into his envelope. We wish him a save journey.
MA_17 Posted Mar 30, 2012, 9:45 pm	I read that many toyvoyagers are vegetarian...not me! I'm a cat and I need meat! So today I was allowed to cook with my granny. First I peeled and cut some potatoes. Later I cooked them. We also needed some peas. Hmmm, not my faves, but who cares... I also cooked them. Then I fried some sausages. Meat! When the potatoes were ready we mixed them with some milk... hmm MILK... and made potatoe mash. It was delicious!!! Meow & purrrrrrrr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 31, 2012, 11:03 pm	Today I took my headphones and browsed youtube. I found a song where Mommy told me the original is more than 10 years old, but still from the same guy. I remember, I listened to it on the radio few weeks ago! Btw that guy got the same name like me! This is crazy! Maybe you want to hear it, too...  *click me* Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 5, 2012, 6:44 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! Behind us is the place where the chimneys were. 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 Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 5, 2012, 7:53 pm	Today we welcomed a new tv. Her name is Häppie_Sheep and she takes part in the German ToyVoyager Trail. Now I'm alone with 4 girls! I'm going crazy!
MA_17 Posted Apr 8, 2012, 7:56 pm	Happy Easter to all of you!!! Today I was hidden in a big easter egg! I surprised Crawfish, DuDette, Kirin and Häppie_Sheep and gave them a little easter present! I love these ladies!  Meow & purrrrrrr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 12, 2012, 10:36 pm	Today my Mom took me to her work. I don't like that, because normally there's really nothing to do for cats. Same today. But in the evening I was allowed to walk a little bit around the houses. I found a really big Easter egg! It changed its colors every few minutes: blue - green - yellow - white - pink - red! Awesome! I wasn't sure if the Easter bunny left it there for me! Unfortunately the egg was too big to take it home with me.  Meow & purr & squeak (or whatever an Easter bunny would say) Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 14, 2012, 8:24 pm	Today I enjoyed the day in the sun! I love all these flowers. I think I'm going to give some flowers to my ladies ehmmm I mean guests.  A bloomy meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 15, 2012, 7:23 pm	Today I took some flowers from our garden and gave them to my 4 lovely ladies DuDette, Crawfish, Häppie_Sheep and Kirin. I think they liked them.  Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 20, 2012, 10:05 pm	Today I came home from shopping. I got 2 new cds which I wanted to show to the others. I thought that DuDette could like the first one. The band is called Train and they are from her hometown San Francisco. 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 Crawfish & Kirin were one team, also Häppie_Sheep & DuDette. I was my 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! Meow meow meeeeooooow Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 20, 2012, 10:37 pm	Hello dudes, today I showed Häppie_Sheep 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. Guess what... she's coming again next week! First I showed her a dark tunnel! Above the tunnel we found a beautiful Chinese pagoda. There's so much water around! And a big forest! While it was raining a little bit we found a nice place to stay without getting wet. There are also many different bridges, like the funny one behind us. It wasn't easy to climb it up! Then we finally saw the backside of the castle with its fountain. It was not possible to go to the front of it. As we had a little bit more time, we went to the garden of the orangery. We found a nice place to rest. Can you see us? Meow and purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 21, 2012, 8:12 pm	I met this freaky goose. I don't know why, but she was walking behind me for a while. I really don't know her and I really don't want to take her home. When I asked her why she is following me she didn't answer. Crazy goose! Meow & quak quak! Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 21, 2012, 9:27 pm	I organized a car for my 4 beautiful ladies today! It was a cabriolet and there was enough space for all of us. Crawfish had to drive the car, because she is 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. I had everything we needed in my trunk: a blanket and something to eat for the girls. We enjoyed the sun for a few hours and then we went back home. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 24, 2012, 10:01 am	Happy Birthday to my brother Phog who's in South Africa at the moment! Check out his birthday party! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 25, 2012, 8:35 pm	Whoohoooo! 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), I and DuDette checked the front and Crawfish 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 28, 2012, 9:58 pm	Today I asked DuDette if she knows that street. She told me to ask DuDu, 'cause he's Mr. Undercover and maybe knows the street at home.  She said I'm a crazy cat, just because I'm having a SF calender.  Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 30, 2012, 7:46 pm	Hello dudes, today we went to the Modellpark Berlin-Brandenburg. It's a park which shows all important buildings of Berlin and the area around (Brandenburg). This is the church of Fürstenberg a.d. Havel. Can you see me? This is the Oranienburg Palace. It is a castle located in the town of Oranienburg in Germany. It is the oldest Baroque castle in the Margraviate of Brandenburg and built in a Dutch style. It reminds me of the Queen we saw last week. We did a stopover at the famous Reichstag. Then I saw the Grunewald Tower. I had to show it to the girls. Posing ladies! 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! This is the famous Brandenburg Gate, one of the  most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. I think this tram is too small for me. This is the Rabenstein Castle. Maybe one day I'll see the original! Yes, I'm from Berlin! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 30, 2012, 8:53 pm	Today we went to the Gardens of the World in the 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 my girls decided to stay in the Chinese garden and relax near the water. I went on and found the Japanese garden... There was also a Balinese garden. It was totally green and so much hotter than outside! And the flowers were really beautiful. I wanted to pick some for my girls, but it was not allowed to touch them.  The next garden was the Oriental one. Due to the heat I was really happy to find some water in that garden which I could drink. Near the Oriental garden I found a fairy tale way. And I saw one of my best friends: the Puss in Boots! He's such a friendly guy! I don't know how long I walked, I think I get lost. In this misery I found the Italian garden. I asked somebody for the way to the Chinese garden, because I wanted to go back to my girls. The man I asked didn't talk cat language so he just showed to the direction I should walk. I walked and walked and ended up in a maze! I think I walked for hours through the maze. The girls should already miss me! Finally I found that Chinese lion! Cats don't eat cats!!! And a few minutes later I was back to the... oops... sunburned ladies. What a day! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 30, 2012, 9:59 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! Nobody would like to see a red cat! 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? Meow & blubb-blubb Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 30, 2012, 10:11 pm	Finally a message from DuDu! His beloved girl DuDette showed me a map from her home and with DuDu's informations I found the streets I asked before! I'm sure that it is Bush st. and Dashiell Hammett st. which I saw on the picture. It was not easy to find. I had a look to google street view and after hours I noticed that the red house on the picture is yellow on google. DuDette didn't help me! Meow meow Alex
MA_17 Posted May 1, 2012, 9:25 pm	We did some sports today and did a tour by bike! And my brother Mr. Stanley joined our group. We went to one of the neighborhoods of my 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". My girls have been there last week. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 2, 2012, 8:52 pm	Today we did another trip with my 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 Crawfish hit the gas. She drove and drove and drove and whoooaaaa... ...we reached the highway! You can't imagine how fast we were! Later I showed DuDette how to blow a blowball. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 3, 2012, 10:42 pm	Today we passed a field of rape. It looks so beautiful.
MA_17 Posted May 6, 2012, 12:33 am	Uhm, what's this? It's getting darker and darker and the stairs under my feet are moving! Ahh, a tunnel with really big lights. Crazy world!
MA_17 Posted May 8, 2012, 6:30 pm	Today when I woke up I saw that somebody lashed a scroll with a string on my tail!  I cut the string and opened the scroll... Can you see this? It's a mail from the kidnapper of DuDette!  I have to think about that mail! I hope to understand it! Oh how I wish DuDu could help me... And no police?! Strange! Meow oooh meow... Alex
MA_17 Posted May 10, 2012, 10:24 pm	Finally 2 looong catnaps are over!!! Today I had to find DuDette! I was walking around with the picture of the scroll in my head. After a while I found what that picture on the paper was! It looked like THIS: I jumped into the train and traveled around for hours. I didn't know where to go. Then my cat-instinct of finding mice revived! I jumped out of the train and run where my nose wanted to go! In front of a purple fence I found DuDette!!!! I took off her blindfold. But I couldn't see any kidnappers.  Maybe they where behind the fence watching us, but I was too small to watch over it.  Meow meow meeeeooooow Alex C.T. Mouse Detective Agency (Mouse? I'm a CAT!)
MA_17 Posted May 13, 2012, 11:37 pm	Today I showed the city of Potsdam to my girls. 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 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 the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. 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. "Inside/under" Brandenburg Gate. 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. The vineyard next to the Picture Gallery. Very greeeeeeen! 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. From the Orangery you can see Belvedere on the Klausberg. It is a reconstruction of the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome. I love all these flowers! 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 16, 2012, 8:44 pm	We had to say goodbye to some of our friends today. First we hugged each other a lot, then we helped them into their envelopes. First we said bye to my 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 17, 2012, 8:51 pm	We made cupcakes today! My ladies told me it is something from their home country so I had to try it! First we took some of the ingredients which were already mixed. Then all of us organized some missing ingredients. Crawfish brought eggs, I gave the last of my milk 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 19, 2012, 7:24 pm	Today 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. One more girl for me!  Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 24, 2012, 7:38 pm	Today we did a bike tour 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 24, 2012, 8:37 pm	Today I invited the girls to my garden. I showed them that there are many healthy things to eat. First we found a pieplant. We cut one stack and brought it to our picnic place. I cut the bottom and told them that it is not eatable. I also cut the big leaf, because we couldn't eat it, too. Then I peeled the stack and put it around the ladies. I 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. Crawfish 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. Crawfish drove so fast! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 7, 2012, 10:55 am	Hello to ya all, today I visited the park of Wörlitz, which is a 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 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. This is the Wörlitz Palace. Mommy told me she worked there few years ago. This is St Peter's Church. We could see the tower 10 minutes before we arrived to that village! This is the rock island with the volcano Vesuvius and Villa Hamilton on it. Look how high the church is! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:04 pm	Today 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. DuDette and I climbed up a tree. 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? There are also lots of citrus fruits on the trees! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:28 pm	I went to the Museum Island, the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin. It has about 5 big famous museums and is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. I 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 went to the government area. 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. If you want to visit it, you have to ask for an entry few days before and give them your name and passport number. Poor me, I don't have a passport. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:41 pm	In the evening I got some driving lessons in the car. This is just that I can teach other TVs how to drive with my car. I traveled to Wittenberg. Then I was a little bit shocked! Mommy released me at the train station! She told me that I'm old enough to find the way back home on my own! With "home" she meant Berlin! Ok, I jumped into a train and was hoping the whole time that it is the right one. After a long time I REALLY arrived in Berlin. I'm so proud of myself! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:55 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 10, 2012, 9:39 pm	Today we "felt" some speed! First I showed my girls the city highway of Berlin. Maybe we're allowed to travel with my car on it one day... Then we heard some noise. A plane crossed our view. It was so close and SO BIG! I showed them another place where we could get a really cool picture with a big plane. I didn't have to wait long. I heard the noise and whooohooo... Have a look! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 12, 2012, 12:26 am	Hello Squab and DuDu, I have two really difficult challenges for you! First try to take the same picture as I took in front of my calendar! The second is more difficult. Try to find the house on my picture and take a photo in front of it. (hint: it's a green Victorian house ) Good luck!!!  I'm still thinking about your pictures. It's not easy! The two last pictures were taken from the roof of a building near Russian Hill.  The one were you can see Pioneer Park (if I'm right) was taken on Filbert st (between Hyde st and Leavenworth st). The picture where you can see the ship was taken near the corner of Van Ness Ave and Beach st. (Aquatic Park?) The picture with the cable car was taken at the corner of Taylor st and Bay st. The flower picture maybe was taken at the Bouquets Art where you have been on a rainy day in March. And the one between the scyscrapers was the most difficult one. I'm not sure. Was it taken near Crocker Galleria? Please tell me if I am right or close to the correct answers to all pictures. Meow meow meeeeeoooooow Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 13, 2012, 12:24 am	Hello to my crazy guys Squab and DuDu, the picture of you at Fisherman's Wharf Pier 45 looks perfect! You did a great job! I have another quiz for you. Quiz of today: take a picture in front of that yellow house. Don't hurry, it's ok if you need a few days as it is not directly in your neighborhood. You need a hint? Ok. You'll find this building in an Ave that starts with the letter M. It runs from north to south, but you should walk it from south to north because of the hill. A long, but thin park crosses the street. You have to stay south of the park! The University of SF is not so far away from that street. Maybe you have another quiz for me, too? Sth of SF or Berlin. EDIT: Also a really good job with the second quiz! Meow & purr Alex C.T. Mouse Detective Agency Berlin
MA_17 Posted Jun 16, 2012, 8:31 pm	Hey Squab and DuDu, how are you doing? Today I walked along the famous Kurfürstendamm early in the morning. Nobody was there except me! Can you imagine this?  About your picture with the statue where you bought some postcards: it's on the corner of Taylor St. and Beach st., and it is the Saint Francis Sculpture by Beniamino Bufano.  I'm still thinking about your other pictures. Until then I have an easy job for you! Go back to Filbert Street (between Hyde and Leavenworth) and take a picture of any house. But it should not look the "normal" way. Just make it look "crazy" like the one here: (I hope you understand what I mean!) EDIT: Dear Squab, I think I can answer your questions about your pictures! 1: It's a part of a painting with the name "Woman with a Pearl Necklace". You can find it in the Gemäldegalerie (art museum) in Berlin. 2: It's Starbucks at Friedrichstrasse/Kochstrasse. As I'm too young to order coffee (Mommy would get really angry!) I'd order a Caramel Cream! 3+4: These silver aliens landed in whole Germany, esp. in the north. They are also in the North Sea, the Netherlands, Denmark etc. Have a look to the travelog of DuDu's love DuDette! She met some of these aliens and will update it soon!  Meow & purr Alex C.T. Mouse Detective Agency Berlin
MA_17 Posted Jun 21, 2012, 7:46 pm	Hello to all my friends and a special hello to my little Squab in SF. Today I went to the Starbucks store which Squab showed DuDu on a picture.  On my way back home I found a little girl sitting in a park. She was really sad so I talked to her. She's a young bunny without a home and without a name. I told her to go with me. At home I showed her the Travelogs of my brothers and me. She loved all the stories and asked if she can be a Toyvoyager, too, Mommy said "maybe".  When she saw the update of my brother Mr. Stanley she noticed another bunny: dicker Kumpel. Let's see what will happen with that little girl... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 22, 2012, 7:23 pm	Hei Squab, you did a fantastic job with all these buildings! Maybe it was too easy for you... Here's another job: find that building and the catwalk on the water. And DON'T eat so many aspirin! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 23, 2012, 7:12 pm	I enjoyed the last sun of the day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 24, 2012, 6:56 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. I put lots of stuff to eat and drink into the trunk. We enjoyed our picnic! We all got some lemonade and fruits. The mice got some cheese. We also had chicken, sausages and cake. I 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 24, 2012, 9:01 pm	I think I have to show you a little bit more of my hometown. Today I walked along the river Spree. It is the main river of Berlin. It is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length. 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". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine). 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 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. And the last one for today is 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". Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 26, 2012, 10:49 pm	Today Gypsy and my brother Sean left the town. We all cuddled them. Then they crawled into the envelope. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 30, 2012, 12:06 am	Hello Squab!!! How are you, dude? You are homesick? You crazy chicken! You can discover the world and I have to stay at home and look for Mommy who's a little bit ill. But she promised to do a journey tomorrow if the weather is better than today (I thought it's the World's End!!! Never saw sth like this before!).  DuDette misses DuDu, too, but we all try our best to make her smile the whole time. As I can see you've been to the Conservatory of Flowers. Looks nice! I hope none of the dinos bit you! About the Stiegl-sign: I always told you that alcohol is not a solution, but as you know, beer is no alcohol in a few parts of Germany, it's staple food When you've visited the dinos, did you pass this little hill? Or do you know where it is or could you visit it one day? Btw Squab: I hope you organized some drinks for your big day on Sunday! Have fun! I think it's time for bed now. Meow & purr Alex C.T. Mouse Detective Agency Berlin
MA_17 Posted Jul 1, 2012, 9:29 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? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 1, 2012, 9:49 pm	HAPPY BIRTHDAY               Squab
MA_17 Posted Jul 1, 2012, 11:20 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. And this is the only bridge crossing the river in the city. Squab, I'm not so far away from you! Just aprx. 5900 miles! (Miles sounds closer than kilometers ) 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 sometimes they see an animal like me crossing their garden! It was a really exciting day! I told my two ladies Crawfish and DuDette that I'm having a really big surprise for them. They just have to wait a few days. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2012, 9:59 pm	Today in the evening we said goodbye to my little sister Peaches. She leaves tomorrow morning for her first journey! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2012, 10:28 pm	Today I had a big surprise for my two ladies Crawfish and DuDette. I organized a meeting with some other toyvoyagers. And LOOK who we met: (f.l.t.r.: Günther, Peaches, me, Cheerio, DuDette, Bernie, Wavy Gravy, Crawfish & Jethro) I wanted to have a picture with the whole Californian gang. I really like Wavy Gravy. He's nearly my size. I think my ladies liked the surprise as they met their siblings. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2012, 11:20 pm	I got a new brother today! His name is Chalon and he seems to be a hamster. I will show him my world before he's going on his own big trip. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 4, 2012, 10:54 pm	Happy 4th of July! We invited Liberty-Buddy-Bear and got some original American sweets.
MA_17 Posted Jul 5, 2012, 12:09 pm	We were back to the main railway station once again where we've been 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 8, 2012, 6:56 pm	Today we did a walk around the houses. We didn't like to take pictures so we left the camera at home. When we came back, we were a little bit shocked! The door to the balcony was opened. We weaseled onto the balcony and saw someone relaxing in MY canvas chair! I felt a little bit like the dwarfs of Snow White. Who is using MY chair??? It turned out that the one in my canvas chair is a new guest in my house. Finally another boy as a 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 9, 2012, 10:35 pm	Today we didn't really have time for sightseeing, but when Mommy 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 13, 2012, 10:13 pm	Today we did a ride by car through one of our hometowns. 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 15, 2012, 8:15 pm	Once again we discovered my hometown! 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 I live...sometimes! On this street Crawfish 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! After this walk Chalon, Crawfish and I relaxed on a bench while the others walked through the rest of the village. I think this walk was enough for me! Meow & purr Alex PS: Squab, I really love your pictures of the GGB in the fog, but the beach is not the little hill I showed you before.
MA_17 Posted Jul 15, 2012, 11:15 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. Interesting... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 16, 2012, 10:51 am	I had a deep conversation with another kitty. I told her about my adventures, she couldn't believe that a kitty is doing sth like this. And Squab have a look what I got! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 17, 2012, 8:31 pm	Squab, I finished your challange of 14th July! The place you've been here is called Sausalito. And the anchor next to you tells sth. about William A. Richardson. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 20, 2012, 8:00 pm	Today I went to 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). 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. This church is called St. Nicholas' Church (St. Nikolai-Kirche) and it is the oldest church in Berlin. The area around the church is known as the Nicholas quarter (Nikolaiviertel) and is an area of restored mediaeval buildings. The church was built between 1220 and 1230. Squab little freaky chick! I'm not sure if you went to the right hill, but it looks really good! The streets are located in the perfect area Are you ready for a new challenge? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 22, 2012, 10:38 pm	Today we had another big ToyVoyager meeting! We were so many and we had so much fun! Dr. Kröbner and I just hanging out. Kuzma, Günther, *coco*, Dolce&Gabana, Fiete and I cruisin' around. Teampicture at the beginning. I met my lovely brother Philly. He gave me some souvenirs. Teampicture at the end of the meeting. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 24, 2012, 11:08 am	Squab, my little chick! I think you found the right place from the last challenge! I'm not really sure, but the streets look perfect! Next challenge... Maybe it looks easy. Take exactly the same picture including street name and cable car! You thought it's easy? No way! You can already start to study the timetable of the cable car! Meow & purr Alex C.T. Mouse Detective Agency Berlin
MA_17 Posted Jul 24, 2012, 10:38 pm	In the morning after the meeting we got up very late. The whole time we wondered about that familiar voice in our travelbag. When we crawled out we realized that Günther was in our bag, too! Did he jump into the wrong bag after the meeting? I don't know! In the afternoon I showed the others a postcard I got from my brother  Phog who is in Finland. I told them 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". Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 27, 2012, 1:39 pm	today I asked Günther what he visited the last weekend with his Mom. He started to paint some points and lines on a map. And went on and on and on... I'm confused! Then I allowed him to take some driving lessons. It was funny, but he failed. Maybe he'll do his license later! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 27, 2012, 2:29 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 I get angry. I 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 brother! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 27, 2012, 8:20 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. On our way to that city I tried to take a picture of the "Petersberg" which I saw, but the camera didn't want it. I heard it is a volcano which is already extinguished. 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 28, 2012, 6:18 pm	Today we did another road trip with my car. First we traveled on a street next to a lake. Then we reached the freeway and Crawfish 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 Crawfish, because she got her driver's license for Germany! Then I 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 me and Günther decided to try out the new skateboards. We lashed the boards behind the car. What a fun! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 29, 2012, 9:30 pm	Today 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!) Btw, do you see the police behind me on the street? I'm a good kitty! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 30, 2012, 8:35 pm	As you all know Crawfish got her driver's licence these days. Now all of the others want to be allowed to drive cars. So I opened my 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! We guys did a race on the skateboards. DuDette gave us a starting signal and Crawfish 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 I won! The whole time Fiete didn't know how to start the board. It was a funny day! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 2, 2012, 10:32 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 5, 2012, 8:46 pm	Look, after asking my Mommy for about 2 months I finally got a piercing! I went to my friend Tooty-FE who made me the piercing. He knows everything about it. What do you think Squab? I'm still thinking about your last 2 quizzes. I'm working on it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 5, 2012, 9:26 pm	I got another lovely postcard from my brother Phog who's still in Finland. Thanx a bunch! Later we all took one of the skateboards and went cruisin'. Then we saw somebody relaxing in MY canvas chair. He also had a beautiful skateboard! He told us his name is Casanova, Mister Casanova. He's my new brother. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 5, 2012, 10:39 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. Mommy 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 6, 2012, 10:25 pm	Once again we've been to Dessau. Today we visited the fruit tree orchards and a vineyard which also belongs to the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. 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? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 7, 2012, 8:48 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 I invited the others to a tour in my car. We found a nice place for a picnic. And guess what...ALL of the others got their driver's license! I handed it out to them and Crawfish gave all of them a bottle of wine. Crawfish and I drank the rest of the bottles. Hey Squab, I thought it's a foghorn, but I thought it's one of the GGB and not of a lighthouse. Really interesting. I promise to solve your other quiz! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 9, 2012, 9:18 pm	Today DuDette left. We all cuddled her. I told her to come back whenever she wants. She even doesn't have to call before. She's like a sis for me. 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 11, 2012, 10:36 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 Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Germany. The museum "Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum" and the fountain in front of it. 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. The church organ is one of the best examples of the 'romantic' style of organ-building in Europe! Johann Sebastian Bach monument inside St. Nicholas Church. Interesting gully cover! It's the emblem of the city. 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! The symbol of Leipzig is a lion. This one was a really nice guy! We are relatives! They named a restaurant like me! Yes, I am addicted!!! 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 12, 2012, 8:45 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! I told the others that 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. I told them there's also a blue one somewhere... As you can see there was nobody around the lake except us! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 13, 2012, 9:12 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? [ Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 16, 2012, 9:50 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 16, 2012, 10:25 pm	In the afternoon my brother Mr. Casanova (who gave him this name?!?!) asked me to borrow my car. No problem! When he came back he had somebody in the car. He told me that guy is called Flow and he's a dog with a strange slang. Hmm, really strange dog I think! Is he sure to be a dog? And why is he called Flow? Questions, questions, questions... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 18, 2012, 8:07 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 20, 2012, 10:48 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 22, 2012, 10:30 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 23, 2012, 10:37 am	Today I wanted to relax in my canvas chair. But...what's this? Is there somebody using my canvas chair? A grey mouse with a red heart? DuDette??? No, that can't be her. She's having her surgery. Maybe DuDu??? Nooo, he's with my brother Squab in San Francisco. But who is it???  I went closer, but... oh, there's nobody. I think it was a hallucination. Maybe I miss these dudes too much?! I jumped on my canvas chair, relaxed and thought about my hallucination. It's weird... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 24, 2012, 10:32 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 25, 2012, 9:17 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? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 26, 2012, 6:38 pm	Hei Squab, finally trying to answer your quiz. It wasn't easy and I didn't have so much time. I'm really sorry! Maybe the original quote from the movie could be "We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges."? If so, Alfonso Bedoya said it. The author is German and his first German books were published by a publishing house in Berlin. I hope this is correct, bro! You think I should check the trees for that mouse I saw and didn't see? Or I should build a mouse trap with some cheese inside… Let's see... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 27, 2012, 8:02 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. MEOW! I'm feeling like a king 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? 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 30, 2012, 5:06 pm	Today my brother Mr. Casanova left for his first big adventure. He asked me if he could take one of my skateboards with him. I told him that people would look strange on him if he would skate. I told him that it would be better to handle like a dog. So we tried some tricks. First "sit"... perfect! Then "stay"... perfect! The last one "roll"... perfect! I scritched him behind his ear. He loves that! Then he jumped into his envelope. Good dog! Stay safe and enjoy your adventure! I will miss him! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 30, 2012, 9:16 pm	Today when we came home we found 2 envelopes. Crawfish 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 5, 2012, 10:35 pm	Just a little walk through the village... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 5, 2012, 10:56 pm	Today we jumped into the car and drove around a little bit. We saw lots of different houses and a water tower. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 5, 2012, 11:03 pm	I saw this DuDette-DuDu-look-a-like-mouse again! I'm sure! Look, the mouse is sitting in the tree like my brother Squab told me! I went closer to ask that guy who he or she is, but... No mouse!!! Once again just a hallucination? I'm going crazy! Squab, what do you say? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 8, 2012, 10:28 am	Hey bro Squab, I'm already thinking about a trap to catch that mouse. Today I watch a documentary about earthquakes in your area. Did you already felt a small one? How does this feel like? Can't imagine! It scares me a little bit! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 9, 2012, 10:52 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... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 10, 2012, 10:49 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 14, 2012, 10:48 am	I showed my brother Rudy another way of speed! We jumped into the car and drove around our village. I think he likes it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 14, 2012, 8:22 pm	I told the others about my problem with a mouse. I decided to built a trap and needed their help. 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 my 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??? I'm confused now! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 14, 2012, 10:10 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 16, 2012, 7:01 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. They have an old post column. Here you can see how long you needed from one city to another by using a horse-drawn carriage. From here to home we would need 7 hours; to Berlin 34 hours and to Wrocław in Poland about 88 hours! 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 16, 2012, 7:59 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. I told the others that one of my 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. I told Flow that he's allowed to shift the car. He did it! So we saved lots of energy. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 17, 2012, 4:11 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?! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 17, 2012, 5:09 pm	Time for some sightseeing in my home town, the German capital. 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. 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... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 20, 2012, 6:18 pm	We put some skateboards behind the car. Crawfish hit the gas and we guys skated behind the car. Little Sunny checked that we don't lose anybody! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 21, 2012, 9:48 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:20 pm	Today we found an empty box. There was nothing inside. Then we heard someone laughing. We turned around and saw GustavHH. He'll stay with us for a while. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:43 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 22, 2012, 10:50 pm	Today we said goodbye to Kevin the little kiwi. We all hugged him. Then he crawled into his envelope and left to Thuringia. Have fun little bird! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 25, 2012, 10:45 pm	My brother Rudy got a new skatepark! He showed it to me and did his first tricks, I was surprised! Maybe I can use the skatepark, too. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 25, 2012, 11:10 pm	Crawfish found her perfect profession (except driving a car): pianist! She played all kind of songs the whole day while we were listening to her. I liked it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 25, 2012, 11:12 pm	Squab you crazy chick! Look what I found in the newspaper today!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 29, 2012, 10:20 pm	We visited a small lake called "Sachsenburg" today. It is an abandoned coal mine which was flooded by domestic water. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 3, 2012, 10:35 am	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 pupil from the school near that tower. 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 4, 2012, 9:42 pm	Today little Sunny left. We all cuddled her. Then she crawled into her envelope. Her next stop is Finland. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 6, 2012, 10:55 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. √ Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 6, 2012, 11:11 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. √ Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 10, 2012, 8:26 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. √ Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 10, 2012, 9:04 pm	Today the doorbell rung. We opened and it was my brother Cheeks. He returned from Switzerland! We all cuddled him. Later he told us about his adventures. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 12, 2012, 3:26 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. √ Hei Squab, I have a new quiz for you. Try to take the same pic like I have on my phone, but with you in front of it. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:30 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. √ Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:41 pm	Halloween is calling...  We found a pumpkin, took a knife and a spoon and started to make a really spooky face. But I took a stick?  When it was dark we put a candle into the pumpkin. Ouh spooky! Then we turned the pumpkin and the others saw what I did with the stick. Really cool! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 13, 2012, 9:59 pm	We are going on a big journey tomorrow!!! 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 20, 2012, 10:49 am	When we stopped on the freeway to have a break the others forgot me when they went on with the journey!  So I had to travel on my own! I knew we are going to visit Cologne. So I took a bus, but what I saw didn't look like Cologne. I hope to find the others and my Mommy and the Cologne... Meow oh meow Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 20, 2012, 11:39 pm	I think I arrived in Cologne, the fourth-largest city of Germany! It is located on both sides of the Rhine River. ...many people, tram, shopping... this must be Cologne! Ok, I can't see the Cathedral and the Rhine, but the bus driver told me I'm right. I walked and walked and finally found 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. It took a while, but I finally found the Rhine river. It 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. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 21, 2012, 4:28 pm	I made it to another country, yay! 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. In the evening I had dinner with friends. All I got was a beer and some bread. Later we visited the National Monument, a memorial to the war victims. Behind the amusement park you can see the palace. It is not very beautiful. Now I understand why the Queen visited our castle. Biggest store in Amsterdam. And we visited the famous red-light district! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 21, 2012, 7:45 pm	Before we left the city I did a sightseeing tour by boat. I don't want to write too much. Enjoy the pictures! I have to say that I really like the city. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 21, 2012, 8:22 pm	Before going back to Germany we did a stop over next to the North Sea. We enjoyed the sunset at the beach. It was really windy, look at the waves! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 24, 2012, 8:52 pm	We are back to Cologne! 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, when I was back on the ground I checked these love locks and Mommy showed me a special one with MY name on it! Then we went to the Rhine. The water is really cold! Today the chocolate museum was opened! I went inside and totally fall in love with that chocolate fountain! Hmmm, so delicious! In the evening I had dinner with friends. All I got was beer and bread...again... Tomorrow we are going back home. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 27, 2012, 8:00 pm	When we arrived back home somebody stopped our car. It is Petunia from Finland who arrived while we were on holidays. We gave her a lovely welcome hug. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 28, 2012, 6:43 pm	Time for hiking! 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 Mommy found some "Slippery Jack" mushrooms. When we were home she cooked the mushrooms for us! So yummy! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 3:06 pm	Have a look to this beautiful sunset! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 4:33 pm	I visited 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). Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 4:54 pm	We were hard workers today! We helped our host in the garden. Petunia dug a hole with a really big spade. Then we put some seeds of zinnia flowers in the hole. Petunia closed the hole and GustavHH raked the terra. Now we hope the flowers will bloom next year. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:06 pm	I left a bag of sweets for my guests on the table. They all were really excited about it! The sweets are called "Knusperflocken" (crunchy flakes). These are made of rye crispbread with milk chocolate. I gave all of them a plate and put one flake for each of us on it. Mmmmmhhhh... We all were munching the sweets so fast. It was so delicious! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:15 pm	The sun was shining so we decided to go by car through the neighbor villages. Look how green the lawn is. And the trees are losing their leaves...that's autumn!
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:22 pm	We went back to the garden today. There we found some mushrooms! We picked them up with the spade as we had no knife. Then we found some more mushrooms and picked them up, too. Look how many mushrooms we found. We are not sure if these are eatable. No one of us was clench enough to try them. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:42 pm	We went to the cinema to watch "Madagascar 3". It was really interesting to watch other animals traveling around the world, like we do! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 5:49 pm	I bought a new appartement. I don't have any furniture yet, but decorated the whole room for Halloween. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 2, 2012, 8:14 pm	Last night I was dreaming that a Halloween monster is watching me. When I woke up I realized that it wasn't a dream. The monster was real! He introduced himself as "Oops" and told me his story. Like all monsters he went out on Halloween to affright children. The monsters have to be back at 6am on the next morning to a special door which is only known by monsters. Oops was too late so he couldn't return back to "his" world where all monsters live beyond Halloween. He used the next door he could find and this was MY door. He asked me about my life and I told him that I am a ToyVoyager. I told him all facts about it and asked him, if he'd like to be a TV, too. But he doesn't want be one. He also asked me if he could stay with me. As I didn't scream when I saw him, he is bind to protect me for 1 year. It's a monsters-rule he told me. I told him that it is okay for me if he'd like to stay, but sometimes I have to leave him alone if I'm leaving the house for adventures. Oops agreed. Now I'm having my own bodyguard!  Later the day I introduced Oops to my ToyVoyager-friends. They were a little bit confused... Meow & purr Alex (and Oops)
MA_17 Posted Nov 4, 2012, 8:17 pm	Today Günther and Cheeks are leaving. We all cuddled them a lot. Then they climbed into their envelopes and left the house. We'll miss these guys! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 4, 2012, 8:46 pm	Today I visited the most well-known landmark of Berlin and Germany, the Brandenburg Gate. From there I did a short walk to 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. Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery"(Bundeskanzleramt). The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine). Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 7, 2012, 9:35 pm	This evening we arrived in Dresden, the capital city of the Free State of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. Behind me you can see the main railway station. We don't stay here for long so there's only this picture. Anyway I hope you like it. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 8, 2012, 7:29 pm	Today it was windy and rainy, but we did a sightseeing trip to the Bastei. It is a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. The Bastei has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 11, 2012, 9:06 pm	Another day without sun, but it didn't rain! We visited Königstein Fortress which is a hilltop fortress near Dresden. It is one of the largest hilltop fortifications in Europe and sits atop the table hill of the same name. The 9.5 hectare rock plateau rises 240 metres above the Elbe and has over 50 buildings, some over 400 years old, that bear witness to the military and civilian life in the fortress. The rampart run of the fortress is 1,800 metres long with walls up to 42 metres high and steep sandstone faces. In the centre of the site is a 152.5 metre deep well, which is the deepest in Saxony and second deepest well in Europe. The fortress was used as a state prison for centuries. We found an old gun! And we had a wonderful view of the river Elbe. PS: Squab, thanx for the tips. I'll try my best! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 15, 2012, 7:00 pm	Today we got a package. We thought a new ToyVoyager arrived. We opened the envelope. Inside we found another envelope. We were so excited that we crawled into the second envelope to find out what or who arrived. It wasn't a new TV. But it was a package full of M&M sweets! These are some special Halloween candies which we got from somebody in the US. We tried them and yep, these are some of the most delicious sweets ever! Meow & purr sweet Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 15, 2012, 9:31 pm	Today we enjoyed a beautiful day of autumn in the sun. The trees are so colorful! I hope you all had the same wonderful weather! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 15, 2012, 9:58 pm	The weather is still beautiful, so we decided to do a little tour by car! These villages have crazy names like Priorau, Schierau or Möst! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 17, 2012, 12:14 am	We did a spooky sightseeing tour. In reality it looked more spooky than on the pictures. It's just 4.30pm and it is nearly dark outside! Berlin Cathedral is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church. It has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. This is the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), a gallery showing a collection of Neoclassical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork, part of the Berlin National Gallery, which in turn is part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It is the original building of the National Gallery, whose holdings are now housed in several additional buildings. It is situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. As it is an island there's water around. The river Spree runs on both sides of the museums! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 20, 2012, 11:18 pm	Today my private bodyguard Oops arrived on the back of a turtle! She told us her name is Cassiopeia. We gave her a warm welcome. She showed us her card and told us that Oops found her in front of our house. The postman let her down there and in case of so much fog she couldn't see anything. Oops helped her to find us! Meow and purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 21, 2012, 9:45 pm	We did a short stop-over in a small village which is surrounded by lots of water! I just wanted to show you how foggy the world is. It would look more beautiful if the sun would shine. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 26, 2012, 9:10 pm	Happy Birthday DuDu!!! I baked a chocolate-cherry-cake and some other sweets for you, but unfortunately you are not here. So I will eat them on my own. Anyway, I hope you had a good party! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 29, 2012, 6:27 pm	One day with nice weather and we decided to cruise around by car. It's a good way to see all the small neighborhoods. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 3, 2012, 6:08 pm	Today we went to the park to see the first snow. While we were sitting on a bench we noticed someone starring at us. We had a closer look. Yep, someone was watching us! We went down to that guy. He told us his name is Alberto. He arrived from Finland and when he did a short stopover in the snow he froze on the ground! As we are nice guys we decided to take him home. He was allowed to sit on the back of Cassiopeia. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 4, 2012, 7:51 pm	Today I learnt how to successfully do a TimTam Slam. TimTam is a brand of chocolate biscuit currently manufactured in Australia. A TimTam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. The TimTam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage through a TimTam. You need a TimTam and some coffee or hot chocolate. First you have to bite off one corner... Then you have to bite off the opposite corner... Now use the TimTam as a straw. In case of the hot drink the inside chocolate starts to melt. Stuff the entire TimTam in your mouth once you feel the hot beverage touch your tongue through the TimTam. You have to be fast in putting it in your mouth or else it may break off into your drink! Mommy had to help me holding the TimTam-straw. This is so delicious! You have to try this at home! Purr purr purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 5, 2012, 7:45 pm	Ho Ho Ho... Today I wanted to know what German Christmas markets are... Look what I found. This doesn't look like Christmas. That's strange! But then I found something really Christmas look like! The air was smelling so sweet and delicious! Christmas music everywhere and tons of lights! Berlin Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 10, 2012, 7:23 pm	This is 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). You can see that the weather today is not perfect for visiting it. When it was dark we found two big snowmen! The snowman in the back got a high of 14m (45.93 ft.)! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 12, 2012, 10:53 pm	First of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely brother Philly!!! Have fun celebrating it with your friends Second... I got a lovely Xmas card from my brother Phog! Thanx a lot, dude! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 19, 2012, 8:50 pm	We got a lovely Christmas card from our brother Mr. Casanova. Isn't it cute? We also got some Christmas cookies from our sister Peaches! We shared these cookies with our guest toyvoyagers. These were delicious!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2012, 7:25 pm	We found some time to bake some cookies. First we had to read what we need... We needed some good butter first. We hope that 4g too much are not too bad. Then we added one egg. Yes, just one! We also added the flour. From all the ingredients we made a dough. It looks good. We made little balls and pushed a little hole in it. We had to fill the holes with marmelade! Then we put it into the oven. While the cookies were in the oven we used some more dough to make some other cookies. We rolled out the dough. Because we couldn't find a cookie cutter we used a glass to cut the dough. We put these cookies into the oven, too. When these were ready we put some marmelade on one cookie and added another one. These are delicious! And this is the result of the first cookies we made. The best cookies in town! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 25, 2012, 11:01 pm	It's getting dark really early the day. Anyway, I hope you like my pictures. The Humboldt University of Berlin is one of Berlin's oldest universities, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin. This is the Central Station. 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). Can you see the Christmas tree inside the station? This is the street where I live and welcome my guests. It's in the center of Berlin. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 25, 2012, 11:08 pm	Just some lovely Christmas greetings from the Christmas market in Leipzig! Sorry, we didn't have time for sightseeing. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 28, 2012, 7:55 pm	I'm wishing you a merry Christmas! Normaly everybody gets the presents on 24th December in Germany, except us! We had to wait until the next day. But then we dressed ourselves with some lovely hats and waited under the little Christmas tree. Then each one of us was allowed to pick the very own present from the tree! Look, we all got lovely scarfs from Santa! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 2, 2013, 3:14 pm	HAPPY 2013 !!! Fireworks everywhere! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 8, 2013, 11:35 am	We wanted to do a walk in the nature, but no chance! It's raining and raining and raining! So we decided to do a little trip by car to Berlin and back. We started in the morning and arrived back home when it was dark already. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 9, 2013, 9:12 pm	Happy 1st Birthday my beloved brother Cheeks! (check him out here ) Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 14, 2013, 10:35 pm	Finally my Mommy noticed my aptitude and bought a guitar for me! I love it! I think I'm going tp play a song to her as a little thank you! Isn't it a pretty one? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 16, 2013, 10:09 pm	Today Cassiopeia left. We all cuddled her. May she have fun with her new host! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 21, 2013, 7:47 pm	Finally some snow. We took our sleighs and where looking for a little hill. But we couldn't find any. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 22, 2013, 4:44 pm	Finally we had enough snow to have lots of fun outside! First we found some footprints. We think it was a marten. Then we found a hill where we could use a sleigh. It's high! I think this will be fun! Whoa... I'm happy that I didn't fall into the cold snow. That was fun! Yep, that's my name! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 23, 2013, 6:52 pm	Today Alberto left us. He decided to use a box instead of an envelope. Then we gave him some sweets for his journey. Maybe I'll see him again one day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 24, 2013, 7:52 pm	Gustav got a mail from home that his Mommy is missing him. So he decided to leave. And he took little Nayeli with him to introduce her to his brother Dicker Kumpel. I think they need a while to arrive, Gustav decided to walk! Goodbye dude, hope to see you again! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 25, 2013, 7:11 pm	We are finally back to the capital! It was freezing outside, but Petunia and I did a walk through the city. First we had a look to the river Spree. It is the main river of Berlin. It is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length. The water looks cold...so much ice! This building is the "Federal Chancellery". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine). Here you can see 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. Here I'm standing behind the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. This place where I'm is called "Platz des 18. März" (Square of March 18th). It shall remind of March 18th in 1848 and 1990. And this long street got a similar strange name. It's called "Strasse des 17. Juni" (Street of June 17th). At the end you can see the Victory Column (maybe). The Victory Column...what a beauty. 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". Alex told me that it is one of the most beautiful sights when the sun is shining! Sadly we just had clouds. And I visited a field full of stones. It is 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. I look so tiny between these stones! Strange sight! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 26, 2013, 10:24 pm	Once again I did a walk through the city. It was colder than yesterday, but the sun was shining. Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district. It is so called for the complex of five internationally significant museums, all part of the Berlin State Museums. The Bode Museum at the northern end of the Museum Island. Look, there's more ice on the water than yesterday! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 1, 2013, 7:46 pm	Today we said goodbye to Shakespeare and Rudy. Both are leaving for their first journeys. And both are traveling abroad. Stay save dudes!
MA_17 Posted Feb 1, 2013, 9:02 pm	Today I invited Petunia to a tiny Japanese restaurant! There was just one free table left. The cook gave us the menu. It wasn't easy to read. But we found something to eat. These meals are so delicious! When we left the cook came to the door and said goodbye to us. Maybe we'll go there again. PS: I paid. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 3, 2013, 9:11 pm	We went to a city called Dessau. It's situated on a floodplain where the Mulde flows into the Elbe. This causes yearly floods. The population is about 78,000 people. We started our little tour in the city park. Here are 3 apartment buildings which are called "Y houses". When you have a look to the houses from the sky they look like the letter Y. It's funny! Petunia and I met a nice little elephant near the park. And we found our little own castle. This is the City History Museum on the left and one of two shopping centers. It looks like an ufo I think. They have many churches like the Georgenkirche. It's directly next to the ufo. Here you can see the 3 towers which welcomes people arriving to the city from the east. The left is the remains of the City Castle (Johannbau), in the middle St. Mary's Church (Marienkirche) and on the right the townhall. I will tell you about these buildings later... First I have to show you one of their rivers. This is the river Mulde. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length. At the moment the river is a little bit too full. There's a little flood and lots of streams. But it's no problem for the ducks as you can see. Now back to the towers I showed you before. The City Castle (Johannbau) was built in 1341 from the ruins of an older castle. It was on fire in 1405 and 1467 and was rebuilt in the 16th century. Since 2005 it's a museum about the city history. St. Mary's Church was first a Catholic church and since 1534 it's a Protestant Church. Nowadays the church is used for concerts, theater and special exhibition. What a famous person... Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. He was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. His nickname is "the Old Dessauer" and you can find this name everywhere in the whole city. And he's a relative of Dutch royal dynasty. The Townhall was built in 1910. The tower is 73 meters high and the highest tower in the whole city. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 3, 2013, 11:54 pm	On our way back home we caught this beautiful sunset! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2013, 9:00 pm	SUPER BOWL Did you watch it? Petunia and I got some fan-stuff. I was cheering for San Francisco 49er and Petunia was cheering for the Baltimore Ravens. It was a loooong game, we fall asleep a few times. Anyway, "my" team lost!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2013, 9:26 pm	It's Monday and we have to go to school. Ouh we are still so tired from last night! This is a new school, no chalk needed for the board. You write everything with your own fingers on the board. The teacher welcomed us. Then I had to write on my own. I also tried to draw myself. Then it was time to see the school. This is the Ferro-man, the mascot of the school. We also found a colorful fish. The libraby of the school. This is the perfect chair for home. Time to play... Then we went upstairs to the last floor. What a view. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 9, 2013, 6:45 pm	Today we went to enjoy the nature. After a while we reached the lake. Hmmmm the water seems to be frozen...that means FUN ! On our way back home we had to use some stairs. I am too small and needed some help. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 9, 2013, 6:58 pm	We got some snow tonight! So, what to do? Doing a little tour by car... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 9, 2013, 7:31 pm	We found an envelope today. It's from Petunia's Mommy! We were really excited what she sent to us. We took everything out of the envelope. Lots of yummy sweets, a lovely little mug from Portugal, a postcard and a little note: "Changed the envelope at the post office. Don't want to come home yet!" It was a note from my sister Josie. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 9, 2013, 7:52 pm	It's MY first birthday so we celebrated. My bodyguard Oops joined us. I got a lovely hat as a birthday gift. I will need it, it's cold outside. Then we had a party dinner. Some smaller cakes, one big cake for everyone and something to drink. I don't know what that drink is... The cake was so delicious! When we drunk our glasses everthing got funny. Petunia started to get 2 heads...and then I can't remember.... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 17, 2013, 7:06 pm	Today I showed Petunia where I was born one year ago. It is the famous Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival). It is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. Founded in West Berlin in 1951 at the initiative of U.S. Film officer Oscar Martay, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival worldwide based on actual attendance rates. Up to 400 films are shown in several sections, representing a comprehensive array of the cinematic world. Around twenty films compete for the awards called the Golden and Silver Bears. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 21, 2013, 9:14 am	It's very cold outside. But we did a walk near the rivers. This is the place where one of the channels runs into the river Spree. It is the main river of Berlin and it is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length. This is a part of the city-freeway. Look at this crazy building. I think we should go upstairs! Wow, what a view from here... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 27, 2013, 10:14 am	We went to cinema today. We watched a German movie called "Schlussmacher". It was funny. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 27, 2013, 10:36 pm	It snowed again. So we decided to do a walk in one of my hometowns. It is called Zschornewitz. What a difficult name! The inhabitants (like me) just write Z'witz and call it Zschorns (don't speak the Z!). It means something like "Black Village". This is the catholic church. It's really small and... pink! These buildings behind me were the houses for the workers called "Kolonie". It was included in the list of EXPO projects, undergoing widespread restorations in 1997-99. There's another church in this village. This one is an evangelical lutheran church and it looks really old. I found some parts of the old power station. Since 1995 it's a museum. The last 2 chimneys fell last spring. Do you remember? I've been to this event! There's only one big left for the museum. We have a really beautiful school and schoolyard in this village, have a look! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 4, 2013, 7:04 pm	Snow snow snoooooooow! We decided to go sleighing. Can you see us on the top of that special hill? Petunia and I shared a sleigh. Ready? Whoooaaaa, really high! But…gooooo! Whoooohoooo we had so much speed! We couldn't stop at the end of the hill. So we fall down. No, we didn't hurt. Everything is fine. Then we decided to do some snow angels. Aren't these angels pretty?! After this funny day we were thirsty. Luckily we found a big icicle. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 4, 2013, 7:34 pm	We jumped into the car and went around a little bit. There's no snow left! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 5, 2013, 9:52 pm	Today we went to a small city called Lutherstadt Wittenberg. We didn't have time for sightseeing, but the train station is awesome, too. Then we went by train to Berlin. The small villages where we stopped had some really funny & difficult names… Start: Wittenberg Zörnigall Bülzig Zahna Klebitz Blönsdorf Niedergörsdorf Jüterbog Luckenwalde Then it was too dark to take pictures. So I decided to sleep the rest of the time. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 7, 2013, 9:59 pm	Finally the sun is shining every day. So we had the chance to explore the city. We went through a tunnel. I was a little bit afraid, but I didn't need to. We arrived at the trade fair ground. The tower is called "Funkturm". It is a transmitting tower in Berlin, built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad") by the people in Berlin. The tower is built as one large steel framework construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The 150 m high and approximately 600 metric ton radio tower was originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m, and observation deck at a height of approximately 125 m. Visitors reach the restaurant and the observation deck by an elevator which travels up to 6 meters per second. This is the "Automobile traffic and training road", better known as AVUS. It is a public road in Berlin. Opened in 1921, it is the oldest controlled-access highway in Europe. Until 1998 it was also used as a motor racing circuit. Luckily there was a bike passing by. So we jumped on it and felt the speed. Near that area we found a geocache! Alex brother Matti introduced that game to us. This is a part of the fair. Maybe I'm coming back next weekend. Look, I found my home flag: So many flags… Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 9, 2013, 10:06 pm	We enjoyed our sunny day while exploring the city. These are the railtracks for the S-Bahn (Berlin city train). Next to the railtracks we found a forest! Normally the city is flat, but have a look, here we found some hills! This white roof belongs to the "Waldbühne" which is a forest theatre. It was built in 1936 as part of the preparation for the Berlin Olympics. Seating for up to 25,000 spectators goes down to a depth of 30 metres (97 ft). Today, it is used as one of Europe's biggest concert venues. This is the Bell Tower of Berlin Olympic Stadium. It is a 77 metres high observation tower that was built in 1934. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 11, 2013, 7:54 pm	Once again we went to the cinema to watch a German movie. It's Kokowääh 2. There were so many scenes where I had to laugh! And sometimes I translated a little bit for Petunia. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 11, 2013, 8:15 pm	The sun was shining today so we did another little sightseeing walk. This is the Moltke Bridge, which 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. 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. I enjoyed the view over the river Spree and the Federal Chancellery. Then we found some more geocaches. It was a really nice day! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 14, 2013, 8:43 pm	Once again a ride by train. This time we got our own seat! Behind me you can see our travel schedule. We started at Berlin main station. While waiting for the train to leave we had some fun in front of the camera. Then we left. Look, that's still Berlin. Berlin-South We are fast! We also saw some other trains. One of them offered Service. Petunia told me that the forest looks a little bit like her home. We were also searching for some wolves. We heard there are lots of these animals around. And believe it or not... we saw one!!! We were really excited! Then we changed the train and went one floor up. But we didn't have time for pictures as we had to leave the train just a few minutes later. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 14, 2013, 10:05 pm	You can't imagine what happened! Me and Petunia did a trip around the world in just one day! We started in Turkey. The people there were so nice and gave us lots of presents! Our next stop was Georgia. The countryside looks very different than home. Interesting. Then we used an old beautiful train to travel a little bit more... America! Here we go! First stop: East cost - NEW YORK City Big jump from NY to the desert. Second stop: Las Vegas, Nevada Then it was just a short trip to our third stop: California! We stayed in the south and visited Texas. Do you know where this is? Yes, these are the Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Look, lots of skyscrapers... Chicago, Illinois. Back to Europe... This is Greece. They have really tiny olive trees! Just a short stop over in Asia. We visited Iraq. Did you ever hear of Azerbaijan? Back to Germany! Cologne From here it is not so far to the Netherlands. We were so hungry after thousands of miles we traveled. So we went back to Berlin. I knew where to get a good meal. And the journey goes on! This is handmade porcelain from Meissen/Saxony (Germany). We decided to travel to London where we met the wax figure of Barack Obama. From there it was not so far to the Channel Islands. Action time in Finland. Then Petunia showed me her neighbor countries Sweden and Norway. Lots of big fjords in Norway. This is the Villa Villekulla of Pippi Longstocking in Sweden. Colorful! Typical Swedish guys! They wanted to join our journey, but their boss told them no. Back to the heat...Africa! We were a little bit afraid. This is an interesting area! United Arab Emirates. Back to Africa...Egypt! This pharaoh is huge! Korea looks interesting! From there we went to Taiwan. Next stop: Hong Kong Some more Asian countries: Indonesia. And Malaysia! And this is the capital of Thailand: Bangkok. This is a tiny country: Macau, a special administrative region. Formula 1 will take part there. At the end of our big world travel we visited a Chinese festival with some colorful dragons. When we were back home we were totally tired, just went to bed and fall asleep. PS: Once again I just visited the ITB, biggest tourism fair of the world! This is were you can visit all countries around the world in just one day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 14, 2013, 10:41 pm	Once again we traveled by train. As you already know all the pictures from our journeys before, we decided to take just one and then relax for the rest of the time. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 17, 2013, 10:43 am	Now Petunia is leaving Germany! I (and my bodyguard Oops) was a bit sad. I cuddled Petunia. Than something awesome happened. Crawfish came to say goodbye to her! After all what happened last year she decided to take a rest and fall into a deep hibernation. But now she woke up! She hugged Petunia and told her to give a kiss to Crawfish's sis Zoe when she is back home. So Petunia crawled into her envelope and left. Hope to meet her again some day! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 21, 2013, 10:41 pm	I'm back traveling by train. But it's not the same without Petunia! We had so much fun during our journeys. Petunia left and the snow is back. Huh, did she plan this??? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 31, 2013, 8:37 pm	It snowed again... It's not that I don't like snow, but enough is enough! Anyway, I went out to have some fun! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 2, 2013, 10:20 pm	It was Crawfish's 2nd birthday today, so we decided to celebrate. My bodyguard Oops organized a big cake and candles for her. 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 Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 2, 2013, 11:28 pm	We went out to have some more fun in the snow! 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 2, 2013, 11:49 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... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 8, 2013, 10:11 pm	HAPPY EASTER ! We're not looking for Easter eggs. Look, it's still white outside, these poor eggs would freeze! Instead we explored the German capital! Here we're next to the river Spree, the main river of the city. In the late afternoon we were so tired that we used the metro back home! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 17, 2013, 11:20 pm	Today somebody knocked on the window. Look, it's an eagle! We opened the window and helped him to come in. It's Landroval from Canada! ...and he brought some lovely souvenirs from the other side of the ocean! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 23, 2013, 10:40 am	We went geocaching today and we found a big box! [/URL] Can you see the water? This is the river Mulde. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 25, 2013, 10:31 am	As you know, spring already arrived. So we decided to enjoy the sun and did a walk near the water. Berlin has lots of water! That river is a channel and it is called Berlin-Spandauer-Schifffahrtskanal. And this is the North Harbor. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 25, 2013, 10:41 am	Today we found a box where a trunk of an elephant was looking out. We wondered what and who this will be. It is Troot from Finland. We gave him a warm welcome. Later we ate all his chocolate. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 25, 2013, 9:48 pm	Today we watched some big birds! Can you see the lights between the trees? It's getting closer! Wooooaaaah it's BIG! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 25, 2013, 9:58 pm	We went geocaching today. And yeah we had luck, we found 2 boxes. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 3, 2013, 5:42 pm	We explored another channel in Berlin. They have so many! And there's so much water all over the city! It's amazing. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 4, 2013, 11:38 pm	Today we visited some lost places. Spooky! Look, we also found the entry to a bunker! But we were too afraid to go in! Later we decided to have a view over that little village we're staying at the moment. Meorrrw & brrrpurr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 6, 2013, 10:34 am	Today the postman was ringing the bell twice. I got a lovely cork postcard from my brother Squab. I also got an envelope from my sister Josie. Once again she opened her envelope on the way back home. Jumped out of it and used another one to travel again. Seems that she doesn't want to go home. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 8, 2013, 3:07 pm	Today we visited Ferropolis. The "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 festivals like the "Melt! festival". There are 5 enormous excavators for open-cast mining and each of them has its own name! As we are good guys we were allowed to climb on "Gemini". From there we had a fantastic view over the whole area! Let's start with the lake around Ferropolis. It is called Gremminer Lake. This is "Big Wheel". It's huge! These are "Mad Max" on the left and "Medusa" on the right. In front of them you can see the arena. And these are "Medusa" (once again) and "Mosquito" on the right. This is "Gemini" where we were allowed to climb on it! This is the engine room of "Gemnini". "Mad Max" in front of us. This was an amazing day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 9, 2013, 10:07 am	Today Lupo left us. He's going home. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 9, 2013, 10:16 am	Once again we watched some big birds! There were so many. They had their own place to start and land. I'm impressed! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2013, 10:49 pm	Today the weather was beautiful. So we decided to take a ride near the lake... A ride... on a skateboard!!! Once again we went to the "Gremminer Lake" where we already visited Ferropolis. On the other side of the lake you can see the "city of iron". We found a funny red building called "lunchbox". We climbed inside the lunchbox and enjoyed the view. Next to the skating area we found some scrap metal figures made by a school. I had a look through the telescope and saw a planet. It was a lovely day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2013, 11:06 pm	Finally my brother Sean is back! I thought he is lost, but he found his own way back home. Sean became an adult penguin. His feathers changed and he lost weight. Good boy! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2013, 11:16 pm	We went geocaching again. And yeah we have good eyes. We found a small cache in the colors of the nature! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2013, 11:22 pm	I found two big envelopes in the mail today. In the first I got a new guitar. I should start playing concerts. The second came from San Francisco. It was sent by my brother Rudy. I'm not sure if it was for me or our Mommy. Who cares. All the stuff is mine now. Rudy, please say thank you to your host for my new "furniture". I also like all the sweets, esp. the green balls! Big hugs to DuDu and your host and lots of kisses to DuDette!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 16, 2013, 8:04 pm	We did a small tour by bike today to a small village called Möhlau. It's not very famous so there's not so much to tell about. In the middle of the village we met some lovely deers. They wanted some food from us, but we didn't have anything. At the end of our tour we relaxed a little bit near a small lake. It's one of the old pits from the time of brown coal strip mining, now flooded by water. It's so peaceful here even there's a street with lots of cars next to it. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 20, 2013, 11:38 pm	Today we jumped into the car and went around. We watched small villages and lots of beautiful countryside! Look at the colorful yellow field of rape. Isn't it beautiful? Just enjoy the pictures! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 20, 2013, 11:46 pm	Today the weather was sunny. Crawfish picked us up with her pink car and we took a ride on a green field! Toyvoyagers on tour in their own car! Stunning! Fyi: Crawfish is the proud owner of that car and she owns a driver's license. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 24, 2013, 10:22 pm	Today we used the car to pick up some TVs at the train station. Tsukumo and my brother Mr. Stanley arrived. We jumped out of the car and welcomed them. Then we put all their stuff into the trunk of the car. They had so much sweets, magnets and big postcards, the trunk was even full! We all jumped into the car and Crawfish brought us home. We were too many TVs so I had to use his my vehicle. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 27, 2013, 10:36 pm	We did a short trip to the Muldestausee. It's the water reservoir of the river Mulde. It's an old abandoned open pit. Then we met a really big eagle (and lots of other big birds). Can you see me on top of these birds? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 4:53 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. The first we saw in Magdeburg was The Green Citadel. A large, pink building of a modern architectural style designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and completed in 2005. There were trees on the building! 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. The area around the cathedral was also very interesting... In this park we found a monument of Kaiser Wilhelm I. This is the river Elbe. It's bigger than it should be. I heard a flood is coming! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 7:27 pm	We did a little trip by car just to watch the countryside! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 4, 2013, 10:27 pm	No more updates for this week! 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! But have a look at Crawfish's update of today! As she can swim she checked the water. We weren't allowed to go. Too dangerous! Meow oh meoooow Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 12, 2013, 9:00 pm	We did a sightseeing tour in the capital of Germany: Berlin! We started at 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). This is 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. Then we visited the St. Nicholas' Church, the best-known building of the quarter Nicholas' Quarter which is the reconstructed historical heart of Berlin. It is the oldest church in town and it was built between 1220 and 1230. The last place we visited was the Berlin Cathedral which is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin. It was built in the 15th century. The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. That's all for now. See you soon! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 12, 2013, 9:27 pm	Today it was really warm outside so me and the other toyvoyagers enjoyed the day at a small lake. Just relaxing... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 18, 2013, 10:05 pm	We did a little tour by car. Can you imagine that the people living in some of these houses have been evacuated just one week ago?! Look, I show you a picture taken without me just one week ago... ...and this is the same street today!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 21, 2013, 12:34 am	Today the weather was perfect for a tour on bike! We visited the elevated dump of the village. It wasn't easy to go up that hill! But it was worth it! First I just saw the high wind wheels! Then I turned around and had a great view! It was better than you can see on the picture. We could see the next city which is about 50 kilometers away! Amazing! On our way back home we also found a geocache! This box was big enough for a toyvoyager! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 21, 2013, 12:46 am	It's sunny. It's warm. Time to chill. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 26, 2013, 10:39 am	We did another tiny biking tour. First we stopped on a tiny river. On the other side there were some interesting birds... After biking for some more minutes we found this cute tiny waterfall. From there we crossed a lovely wooden bridge... ...and reached a nice lake. Here we relaxed for a while. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2013, 10:46 pm	Today I visited the park of Wörlitz, which is a part of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. While Mommy was taking part on a bike tour we Toyvoyagers decided to visit the park. 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. This is the most famous building, the palace. We walked along the beautiful lake... We found old stones. This is the church. You can already see it when you're still 10km away from the city! There are lots of flowers, trees, stones... This stone is a volcano and it is called "Vesuv" like the famous one in Itlay! It was a really nice day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 10, 2013, 8:25 pm	The weather was beautiful so we decided to walk around a bit. First we found a nice square with some flowers. Then we walked to the famous Tiergarten. It is, with its 210 hectares (520 acres), the largest urban park of Berlin. After a while we found 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". I killed a lion!!! NO!!! I didn't! I just found the sleepy kitty near the Victory Column. He was purring the whole time. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 13, 2013, 10:38 pm	We did a tour by bike. First we went through the garden of a castle and found a really nice building. Then we found the river Spree. Berlin has also lots of channels so we decided to follow one of them to go home. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 17, 2013, 9:09 pm	Today the bell rang. We opened the door and welcomed 2 new toyvoyagers called Nathalie and Big foot. We all cuddled them. Then both showed us their souvenirs. Big foot gave me a very special souvenir from Asia. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 20, 2013, 10:00 pm	Today Tsukumo left us. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 23, 2013, 10:40 pm	Today we visited the most famous lake of Berlin: Greater Wannsee. Its size is 2,732 km² and it is about 2,53km in length. Nobody was there in the morning, just some little Toyvoyagers. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 24, 2013, 10:08 pm	Today we drove through Teltow, a small town near Berlin. It looks very nice. On the place where Teltow ends Berlin starts. There's no space left between both cities. In Berlin we drove through the shortest avenue of the whole city: Tusnelda Allee. There's just one house number. It's number 1 for the church. There's nothing else in this street. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 27, 2013, 9:14 pm	Ttoday it was hot. Too hot! But we decided to visit the Botanical Garden. It has an area of 43 hectares and around 22,000 different plant species. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 28, 2013, 1:30 pm	Today we visited Erfurt the capital of the Thuringia. It is also the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany. First we went to the Krämerbrücke. It is a bridge which is covered with inhabited, half timbered buildings on both sides. It is unique in Europe north of the Alps. This is the next stop we wanted to visit: the famous Erfurt Cathedral (left) and St. Severus Church (right). The Catholic Erfurt Cathedral is a 1200 year old church located on Cathedral Hill. It is of an International Gothic style, and is also known as St Mary's Cathedral, and is located, uniquely, on a hillside. It was beautiful inside the Cathedral. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 1, 2013, 10:30 pm	It's my Mommys holidays so we have lots of time to visit some nice places. Today we went to a small village called Wiehe. We were allowed to sit in the first row in the car. This village is really small with only 2000 inhabitants! But then we were told that here we will find the worlds biggest model railroad year-round  show! It was so impressing. Big train, small trains, tiny trains... ...travelling through the area of Thuringia & Saxony-Anhalt... Germany... Europe and the USA! First I took a picture in front of the mountain Brocken. It's not so far away from here. This is America! Mt. Rushmore looks a little bit different I think. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 1, 2013, 11:37 pm	Today Mommy had to go to Halle/Saale. Sure, we were in the car, too. Halle is a city in the Southern part of the German state Saxony-Anhalt and it is a very important economy and education-center in east Germany. The University of Halle-Wittenberg is the biggest university in Saxony-Anhalt and one of the oldest Universities in Germany. It has a population of about 250.000 inhabitants. First we saw nothing... But then... Halle! We crossed the river Saale which had a big flood in June. The city center is coming closer. The church which you can see on the left is "Market Church of Our Dear Lady". It was built between 1529 and 1554 and is the most recent of its medieval churches. And 2 more churches... (middle + right) This white building is called Francke Foundations. It is famous for its baroque buildings (including Europe‘s largest surving half-timbered building) and historical collections. Some newer buildings in Halle... This is Riebeck square. About 10 years ago it was the most dangerous place in Halle to cross by car. Now there are more traffic lights, better paintings on the street and you don't have to check for the tram, because they also finally got traffic lights. Yes, we got it! Look, this is the "Water tower North". It's 54 meters high and it was built between 1897 - 1899. The high level tank got a capacity of 1500 m³! Driving in the shadow is really nice at this temperatures! We left Halle. Then we passed a small city called Bitterfeld... At the end of that small city we saw the famous lake Goitzsche. It is a former brown-coal open cast mine. And we crossed the river Mulde, where Crawfish made a report about the flood in June. There was a locomotive standing next to the street, but there was no station anywhere. Just a few kilometers left till "home". Our butts already started hurting. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 8, 2013, 8:14 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. I got my brother Mr. Casanova back. He looks pretty cool with his hat! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 14, 2013, 9:45 pm	Every time when we're having an overnight stay in Berlin we hear a noise around us. It rumbles and sometimes it tickles under our feet. It often feels like tiny earthquakes! Most of the time it happens by night when we are in bed. This is scary!!! So now the others to ask me what this noise is and I showed them! It's the underground which is passing under our feet. The station close to our house is not so nice, so we went through the city to find one which is more beautiful for taking a picture. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 17, 2013, 9:37 pm	At the moment Mommy doesn't have so much time. So we decided to enjoy the day at a playground. It was not easy to find one. After a while we saw this slide. Hmm, looks like nobody was playing here for a while. We decided not to use it... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 17, 2013, 9:56 pm	Guess what! We found a boat! It was standing around... Little Toyvoyagers are very curious! Troot and I went to close to the boat when it keel over. Luckily we have friends who rescued us! So what to do with a boat...? We should use it! We all jumped into the boat and paddled on the great ocean. Let's see where we will be stranding... Mee-brr-ow-ohow & prrrrrurrr (Seasick) Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 21, 2013, 10:21 am	Our journey by boat took really long. After a while we fall asleep and when we woke up we were on a place we didn't know. It looks a little bit scary. There was nobody else except us. Is this an unknown planet? Who is living here? Will we get back home? Does somebody know where our boat is? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 8, 2013, 6:31 pm	Ouh... Mommy found us lying on the ground with some bottles. Hmm, these drinks were delicious. She took the bottles away from us and said we should not wonder when we see spooky places which look like foreign planets... Whatever... I don't care what she said...I just want to sleep! ZzZzZzzzzz Meow & purr Alexzzzzzzz
MA_17 Posted Sep 14, 2013, 10:43 am	I really don't know what happened! When we woke up after a really long nap, Nathalie was missing. We were searching everywhere, but we couldn't find her. Maybe she doesn't want to hang out anymore with us crazy guys. So today Mommy decided we could do some sports. A bike tour would be nice, so we did! While biking through forests and over fields we saw a family of pheasants! We jumped off of the bike and waited to see them again. Look! We couldn't find any more animals on the field. Going by bike is really slow, so we decided to take the train back home. We waited for so long, but no train arrived. So we went on by bike. We arrived at a big lake. As it was really hot today we wanted to go swimming, but Mommy told us that swimming is not allowed here. Am I still drunk or do you see that ufo, too??? On our way back we met this lovely lady. She was surprised about our visit as she never saw Toyvoyagers before. Her hubby wasn't so nice to us... He was looking really angry at us! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 18, 2013, 7:46 pm	It's time for a road trip. We just traveled through a town called Bitterfeld. Not really interesting at all... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 18, 2013, 8:18 pm	The weather was ok so we did a short stopover at Lake Goitzsche. It's one of the biggest lakes in this area. It's size is about 24.000 hectar and it was formed of 3 former open-cast mines. And it was really windy! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 18, 2013, 8:27 pm	I went shopping today and got some stuff for my house. YES, I have a house! Look what beautiful things I got. I'm totally proud of this piano! I also bought a new bed. And 2 chairs. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 30, 2013, 11:55 am	Guess what?! We made another road trip. We crossed little villages like Dessau and Zerbst, and we didn't have time for sightseeing, but it was nice, too. We drove over rivers and through tunnels. Funny trip. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 1, 2013, 4:13 pm	Today we found a box! We were really curious and hoped it would be full of sweets! But then it opened. My friend Gustav and my brother Phog jumped out. Long no see dudes! We welcomed them. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 2, 2013, 6:58 pm	I swear I have nothing to do with this, but... We were playing outside, just like Toyvoyagers do. We had a lot of fun... Anyway, I hope they are not sending any bill to my Mommy... I hope she still loves me! Meow & purr Alex (Pictures taken "before" and "after" having fun! ) Before: After:
MA_17 Posted Oct 7, 2013, 12:13 am	I was just kidding, Mommy won't get a bill... I hope! Let me tell ya the whole story! We jumped into the car for... guess what... a roadtrip! But it was only a short one. We used the freeway just to come to the next exit, because lots of other streets were closed. Our destination for today was Vockerode, a small village with about 1500 inhabitants. And they own an old power station which is closed since 1998. What do we want here? And what are all these people doing here? We did the same like all of them: taking pictures of the 2 last chimneys, each 100m tall. At 11 o'clock sharp there were 2 really loud explosions, followed by 2 little earthquakes and LOTS of dust! After a few minutes we could see clearly what happened! The chimneys were gone! Later we were informed that people used about 90kg explosive materials and 900 detonators. This pic was taken by Mommy! Everybody was a bit sad, because these 2 chimneys were some typical landmarks for the village. You could see them on the freeway long time before arrival. We couldn't take any pictures during the explosion, but a good video can be seen here. After a while we were allowed to go to the chimneys and have a closer look. On our way back we just had eyes for the power station and where everything happened. All of us still shocked from the explosions and the earthquakes! ...when we noticed we weren't driving on a street. Holy crap! We never noticed before some tracks here. Woah and what a tiny and beautiful train! And yes, the train isn't longer than you can see in the pic. Just a few cm of it cut off in the pic. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 9, 2013, 8:02 pm	Just another update in the car. We cruised to Berlin and through the city! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 9, 2013, 8:14 pm	Today we found some seeds. We decided to grow them! First we needed a box with some soil. We "cut" the soil into single pieces and gave them numbers. Then we placed lots of seeds in it. All seeds were cacti and succulents. At least we placed the seed box in a plastic bag, filled it with some water and closed it. Now we have a tiny greenhouse for the seeds. Lets see if they are going to grow! PS: We are going on holidays SOON! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 9, 2013, 9:08 pm	As I promised: we made a trip! Yesterday we traveled through whole Germany to Cologne, the biggest city at the river Rhine! I'M BACK!!! After that long journey we were too tired and just slept the whole evening. But today... We woke up really late, so the first we needed was something delicious to eat! We started at the famous Hohenzollern Bridge, which is crossing the Rhine. It is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany. People have placed love padlocks on the fence between the sidewalk and the tracks! Amazing! Then it was time to see the most famous sight of the city: the Cologne Cathedral! It is a Roman Catholic church. It is also the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5m (474 ft) long, 86.5m (284 ft) wide and its towers are approximately 157m (515 ft) tall. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires and largest façade of any church in the world. We had a wonderful warm and sunny day, but we had to go back home in the evening. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 14, 2013, 7:30 pm	Today we made a tour around the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) which is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin. The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. It was built in the 15th century. Isn't this a pretty view of the river Spree, the TV-tower and the Bode Museum at the Museum Island?! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 14, 2013, 7:43 pm	We celebrated Big foot's birthday! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 23, 2013, 9:20 pm	we used that beautiful day to enjoy our lives close to the water. First we went to the Spandau Ship Canal. Then we went to lake Plötzensee. Sad it was too cold to swim in it. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 25, 2013, 11:28 pm	Guess what! We went to the forest to find some mushrooms. Gustav thinks he knows a lot about mushrooms, because he always reads his brother's best friend Murph's blog. He's famous for his knowledge about mushrooms. We found some lovely mushrooms, but he told us not to eat them. He wasn't sure about the poison. So we just watched them. The next mushroom was so beautiful. It had the same color like lovely cakes have. So we decided that it is eatable. It was delicious! I'd really like to tell you about that mushroom, but nobody knows the name. After our meal we all started smiling like Gustav...that explains a lot Meow & purr Äleeeexs
MA_17 Posted Oct 26, 2013, 8:53 pm	Do you remember my update with all the seeds? Well, the seeds grow up! Have a look!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 26, 2013, 11:00 pm	Today me and Landroval talked for hours! We were talking about the past and the upcoming adventures. He told me that he has to go home tomorrow, because many more adventures are waiting for him... He likes my lovely tiny house. But I think I should renovate it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 30, 2013, 10:18 pm	Today we said goodbye to Landroval. He's going back home. He got a big group hug. Then we opened the window and Landroval spread his wings and flew away. I hope he knows the right way back home! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Oct 30, 2013, 10:37 pm	We 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 we arrived so we could only 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 14, 2013, 10:04 pm	Today it's Halloween! Whoohoooo... We all were so excited ... until Mommy told us that we're not celebrating. Instead of eating too many sweets we could do some sports! We jumped on the bike and started, but after 1km our butts started to hurt! We thought this could be our chance to go back and be able to celebrate, but... no mercy! We passed forests, fields, lakes etc... Ok, the landscape was really beautiful, but after 30km we asked Mommy to go back! I think I can't sit for the next few days. Damn you muscle ache! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 14, 2013, 10:16 pm	We are soooooo excited! We're going on a short trip to a foreign country! 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... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 16, 2013, 10:00 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... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 20, 2013, 8:55 pm	We spent another day in London. And this time it didn't rain! So we used the time to visit more famous sights! First we visited "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress", more commonly known as the Tower of London. It is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in the center of London. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle encloses an area of almost 12 acres (4.9 ha) with a further 6 acres (2.4 ha) around the Tower of London constituting the Tower Liberties – land under the direct influence of the castle and cleared for military reasons. The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. 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). We 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 we 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. Tomorrow we're going back to Germany! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 27, 2013, 8:00 pm	Just wanted to let you know that we're back to Berlin. It's already cold outside, but Mommy decided that we need some fresh air. So we did a walk through the Tiergarten... Brrr... Meowww & purrr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 27, 2013, 8:14 pm	Today me and Gustav had a chat about our adventures and what he's going to do next. We were sitting in my living room. I already decorated it for Christmas! Isn't it lovely? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 1, 2013, 10:11 pm	Today Gustav left for a new adventure, so we all hugged. Then he went to the famous Berlin "magical black hole" where he's leaving through. Now you will say it is only a Christmas mug, but it isn't... He sat down on that hole while we were singing a goodbye song. ...and... *kaboumbzzzzzztsch* There was a light and he was gone. It's magical! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 13, 2013, 10:43 pm	Today a new girl arrived! Her name is Freya and she's German, too. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 23, 2013, 1:51 pm	We spent the afternoon in the cinema watching a lovely movie called "Frozen". Did you watch it yet? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2013, 8:34 pm	Today we did a walk in an urban park near the station Gleisdreieck. This park is really new and not everything is opened yet. Here we found an old watch tower from the time when Germany was divided. We spent a lot of time watching the yellow metro... It's a great place where you can see it, because normally it's going underground. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2013, 8:40 pm	We spent this beautiful day walking along the old elevated dump. The sun was shining so bright! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2013, 8:44 pm	Night cruise through the city Dessau... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 25, 2013, 12:00 am	we made a trip by train! At this time of the year the countryside looks really boring. We saw some interesting trains... ...lost stations... ...the river Mulde... ...and passed a small city named Bitterfeld. Our destination was Halle/Saale. It's a very important economy and education-center in east Germany. The University of Halle-Wittenberg is the biggest university in Saxony-Anhalt and one of the oldest Universities in Germany. As Mommy had something to do in the city we had a little bit time to walk around. We noticed LOTS of all kind of towers everywhere! This is the Leipzig Tower (Leipziger Turm). It was built in the 15th century and remains of the town wall in the south of the city centre. The Red Tower (Roter Turm) in front of me was originally built as campanile of the older St. Mary's Church between 1418 and 1503 and is a famous landmark of Halle. I hope you can see it as I'm standing next to the church. The Market Church of St. Mary (Marktkirche) was built in 1529–1554 while using elements of two medieval churches: St. Gertrude's Church dating back to the 11th century and the older St. Mary's 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 Marktkirche's four towers and the city's nearby Roter Turm (Red Tower) are a landmark symbol of the city and marking the city’s silhouette. We also stopped at the Christmas market which is placed around the Red Tower, directly on the market square. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 26, 2013, 6:58 pm	This evening we visited another Christmas market. This time we went to Dessau. Believe me, the red wine blueberry punch was sooo delicious! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 30, 2013, 9:43 pm	There's so much to do during the days before Christmas! We jumped into the car to go shopping... all the stuff we needed, like food... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 9, 2014, 11:34 pm	It's just 1 day left until Christmas! So we jumped in the car, enjoyed the beautiful sky and went shopping...just something to eat for the next days! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 11, 2014, 10:01 pm	It's CHRISTMAS!!! 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! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 22, 2014, 10:09 pm	HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We didn't really celebrate last night because Mommy had to work, but we got some lovely drinks. Anyway, today we did a small tour by car again and saw the sun going down. Nice!
MA_17 Posted Jan 22, 2014, 10:40 pm	Today we found some stuff from Australia on the floor: souvenirs and sweets. Somebody left a present for us. Then we heard a voice, turned around and saw Squab who's back from his journey to Sydney and Melbourne. We hugged him a lot. It's also the goodbye-hug for Big foot and Troot. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 22, 2014, 10:47 pm	Today wee fed the birds today! Look what beautiful house they got. Then we walked just a few meters and saw such an amazing sunset! Sorry you missed it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 22, 2014, 11:00 pm	It was an amazing day today! Guess what?! I invited Freya to a Japanese restaurant! First we had to choose from the menu. This wasn't easy for her! But the cook was a nice guy and translated everything to Freya. I could read the menu, I have been here before. For the first course we got some rice and something creamy. For the second menu we got a plate full of different stuff. This was so delicious! course When we left, the cook waved us goodbye. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2014, 2:57 pm	I went to the village of Britz which is in the south of Berlin. There I visited Britz castle which is the former manor-house of the historical country estate and village Britz. The house is a museum demonstrating splendid interiors of the Gründerzeit era. The manorial park is also well preserved with its mature trees and its 1890s system of trails. In 1997 the park was honored with the German Gustav-Meyer-Price award for the accuracy and historic authenticity of the reconstruction. The 1,8 hectares sized park of the manor stands out as an example of the three hundred continuous history of the Schloss Britz. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2014, 3:06 pm	Today we enjoyed the snow! Everything is white! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2014, 4:26 pm	Today we visited the Soviet War Memorial which is a vast war memorial and military cemetery in Berlin's Treptower Park. It was built to the design of the Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky to commemorate 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945. It opened four years after World War II on May 8, 1949. The Memorial served as the central war memorial of East Germany. This is one of 16 stone sarcophagi. This is a portal consisting of a pair of stylized Soviet flags built of red granite. The focus of the ensemble is a monument which is a 12-m tall statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a German child, standing over a broken swastika. According to Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov, the Vuchetich statue commemorates the deeds of Sergeant of Guards Nikolai Masalov, who during the final storm on the center of Berlin risked his life under heavy German machine-gun fire to rescue a three-year-old German girl whose mother had apparently disappeared. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2014, 5:43 pm	We visited the famous Berlin Aquarium which is one of Germany's largest aquariums. The aquarium was built in 1913 as part of the Berlin Zoological Garden complex. Since its opening the Zoo-Aquarium has been ranked among the public aquariums with the world’s greatest biodiversity. Over 9,000 animals are presented on three storeys. It contains jellyfish, tropical and native fishes, crocodiles, and a broad variety of insects. In addition to its 250 tanks for fish, the aquarium houses a wide variety of amphibians and reptiles including tuataras. The shark tank presents the blacktip reef shark and sand tiger shark. With a total capacity of 25,000 litres, twelve basins present different sections through the world of corals. The largest of these basins is the 11-cubic-metre Great Coral Basin with its reproduction lagoon. We were so excited about all the animals that we nearly forgot to take pictures. But here's one with lots of green frogs! Can you see the 3 behind me? 2 of them are glued to the glass! I can't believe they walk that way. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 7, 2014, 6:40 pm	It's time for some sightseeing. First we visited 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). On the left you can see St. Mary's Church. The exact age of the original church site and structure is not precisely known, but it was first mentioned in German chronicles in 1292. It is presumed to date from earlier in the 13th century. The architecture of the building is now largely composed of comparatively modern restoration work which took place in the late 19th century and in the post-war period. The church was originally a Roman Catholic church, but has been a Lutheran Protestant church since the Protestant Reformation. This is the Berlin Cathedral which is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin. The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. It was built in the 15th century. The Old Museum is one of several internationally renowned museums on Museum Island in Berlin. Since restoration work in 1966, it houses the antique collection of the Berlin State Museums. The museum was built between 1823 and 1830 and was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The last place we went to was the Brandenburg Gate. It is one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 20, 2014, 10:55 pm	Look this is a view over Berlin! Ok there's not so much to see. The skyscraper is called "Zoofenster", because you can see the animals in the zoo when you rent a room there. It has 32 floors and a height of 118 m. The building was finished in 2012 and in the higher floors is the famous hotel Waldorf Astoria located. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 20, 2014, 11:08 pm	We used the public transportations today! Berlin has lots of undergrounds, so we used one. And what a surprise, we had the whole train for ourselves!  Opened in 1902, the U-Bahn serves 170 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of 151.7 kilometres (94.3 mi), about 80% of which is underground. Trains run every two to five minutes during peak hours, every five minutes for the rest of the day and every ten minutes in the evening. Maybe the other people were afraid of using the same train like little famous Toyvoyagers. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 5, 2014, 8:28 pm	Today we did what everybody did: watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi! First they showed the flag of the country: Russia This is the team and flag of Freya's and my home country: Germany And then they also showed the team and flag of Rocky's country: Switzerland Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 8, 2014, 10:28 pm	Today we had a little  bit time for a stopover in Dessau. It is situated on a floodplain where the Mulde flows into the Elbe. This causes yearly floods. The worst flood took place in the year 2002, when the Waldersee district was nearly completely flooded. It is surrounded by numerous parks and palaces that ranks Dessau as one of the greenest towns in Germany. These are the towers of the city. (f.l.t.r.) The old castle, the church and the city hall. We walked along the river Mulde. The we walked down to the water... Look, this is were the floodd was in 2002! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 20, 2014, 11:00 am	We spent this wonderful day at the airport Tempelhof. It was designated as an airport by the Ministry of Transport on 8 October 1923. The old terminal was originally constructed in 1927. Throughout the Cold War years, Tempelhof was the main terminal for American military transport aircraft accessing West Berlin. The airport closed in 2008. And there's one plane still left. Maybe they forgot it?! Today the area is opened for everyone to do all kind of activities like skating, taking dogs for a walk, biking etc. There's ALWAYS enough wind to fly kites. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 21, 2014, 11:43 pm	Today we jumped into the car to visit the Harz Mountains which is the highest mountain range in Northern Germany. Our destination was a small city called Wernigerode. The Wernigerode castle was finished in the late 19th century and is similar in style to Neuschwanstein Castle, though its foundations are much older. This city has a beautiful town hall and market place with a nice fountain. Then we left Wernigerode and visited the Thumkuhlental where we found a reconstruction of an old mine water management system (Wasserkunst). There's an old mine close to that place, but nowadays it is closed. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 21, 2014, 11:50 pm	Today Freya left us. As gentlemen we hugs her a lot. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 3, 2014, 9:24 pm	The sun was shining today so we went back to Tempelhof for some skating. We had a lot of fun! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 3, 2014, 9:34 pm	Mommy had to go to the "Buchmesse" in Leipzig. It's a really famous fair. There were so many people with manga-styled clothes! Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside. But after the fair we decided to take a ride through the city. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 3, 2014, 9:52 pm	We went back to the Harz mountains for some hiking! Today our destination was Thale, a small city in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. It's famous for the Hexentanzplatz ("Witches' Dancefloor"), but we didn't visit this site. We were too afraid of the witches! In the city we found an eight-legged horse with the name is Sleipnir. The horse told us that it is a figur from the Norse mythology. It told us the whole story, but I was still so impressed about all these legs that I don't remember the rest of the story. Later we were allowed to take a pic with Sleipnir. Look at the beautiful church close to Sleipnir! It's the St. Peter's Church which was completed in 1906. Then we visited the second famous sight of the city! The Rosstrappe is a 403 m high granite crag. Let me tell you the story about it: According to the legend, a giant by the name of Bodo once followed the king’s beautiful daughter, Brunhilde, whom he wanted to marry against her will. Brunhilde escaped on a white stallion (German: Ross), but was suddenly confronted by a deep ravine. Her horse leapt in one bound to the rocks on the other side, but her pursuer fell into the depths below. The impression of the horse’s hoof may still be seen today. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 8, 2014, 11:30 pm	We spent another day in the Harz mountains! Today we visited some famous places around Blankenburg (Harz). The city lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains at a height of about 234 metres. We decided to go hiking. Our first stop was the Regenstein Mill, which was a water-powered corn and oil mill below Regenstein Castle north of the city. The mill was built in the first half of the 12th century in order to supply the castle. Between 1988 and 1991, work was carried out to uncover this channel over a length of about 500 metres. Around 1990 the two mill wheels were reconstructed. Our next stop were the rocks of the "Großvaterfelsen". These rocks belong to the famous Devil's Wall (Teufelsmauer), which is a rock formation made of hard sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous. The "Großvaterfelsen" is 317 m above NN. Phuuuuu, you can't imagine how hard it is to climb it up as a tiny tv. But from the top we had a nice view over the city of Blankenburg and the Blankenburg castle! While we were still taking pictures on the rocks mommy climbed upstairs and giggled about the problems we had to come down. When we were back to the car we decided to go to the Regenstein Castle! It is a ruined castle which was built in the early and high Middle Ages on a 294 metre high sandstone rock towering over the surrounding area, only ruins are visible today. Several internal rooms, carved into the rock, have survived. This was so amazing! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 17, 2014, 8:32 pm	We went to the border. What border? The border between the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg. I'm standing in Berlin. On the other side of the water you can see Brandenburg. The river is called Teltow Canal which is 37.83 kilometres long. It links the river Havel and the river Dahme. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 17, 2014, 8:37 pm	We met a new Toyvoyager. Her name is Snow White.
MA_17 Posted Apr 23, 2014, 8:57 pm	We did a ride in the car on the freeway. Normally it's not so interesting, but look at this sunset!!! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 23, 2014, 8:59 pm	Today my friend Rocky left us. His journey goes on and on and on. Maybe I'll meet him again one day. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 23, 2014, 9:12 pm	Mommy had to do some important shopping today. We decided to join her. But we didn't go shopping, there was something more important to do. Look, Bitterfeld, which is an old industrial city, gets greener and greener. This part of the city is called "Green Lung". But we didn't want to stay. We were looking for a nice restaurant. Yeah! We had some icecream! I got a really big chocolate sundae. That's better than shopping! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 26, 2014, 10:30 pm	We spent a day in the garden. Look, so many beautiful flowers! Even the trees are beautiful! I love it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 26, 2014, 10:38 pm	We spent another day in the garden and today we decided to plant our own little plants! We had two different ones: "cornflower" and "moss rose". First we put some soil in the pots. ...adding all the seeds... Then we added the rest of the soil. Last thing to do: watering and waiting... Hope they will grow soon! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 26, 2014, 11:07 pm	HAPPY EASTER!!! We didn't search eggs like all others... we decided to go hiking! We went to the small village Königshütte which is in the Harz mountains. First we visited the small waterfall. This is how a waterfall looks from above. Next stop was the ruin of the old castle Königsburg. The hill you can (maybe) see on the other side is the highest one of the Harz mountains: Brocken (1141m/3,743 ft). The we went on our big tour. We circled the Königshütte Dam. The dam itself was built on the Bode from 1939–1943 and 1952–1956 with construction being interrupted by the war. It is an 18 metre high gravity dam, made of concrete, for the supply of drinking water and for flood protection. It also provides reserves of water during times of drought and hydro-electric power. The reservoir has a capacity of 1.2 million m³ and covers an area of 32 hectares. Part of the water is diverted from here through a 1,795 m long tunnel to the Rappbode Reservoir. The rest flows back into the Bode and down to the Wendefurth Reservoir, where it is reunited with the water from the Rappbode Reservoir again. The gently curving dam wall (Trogfurth Bridge) is 108 m long and has a volume of 13,500 m³. Now my feet hurt! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 1, 2014, 8:48 pm	We spent another day in the Harz mountains. We just had time to take a picture of the beautiful town hall! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 1, 2014, 9:12 pm	It was time for a tour in the German capital Berlin! First I visited 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). The church is the St. Mary's Church. The exact age of the original church site and structure is not precisely known, but it was first mentioned in German chronicles in 1292. The I went to the Brandenburg Gate. It is one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 12, 2014, 8:27 pm	We did another tour through the Harz mountains! Today we visited Braunlage where we decided to go on top of the second highest mountain in the Harz and the highest in Lower Saxony.It's 971 m above sea level! We didn't walk the way, we used a cablecar. Look! On the other side you can see the highest mountain of the Harz called Brocken. This is the skijump on the Wurmberg. Sadly nobody was jumping today. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2014, 7:02 pm	We used that day to go to the Botanical Garden in Berlin. It has an area of 43 hectares and around 22,000 different plant species. It was constructed between 1897 and 1910. The complex consists of several buildings and glass-houses, such as the Cactus Pavilion and the Pavilion Victoria (which features a collection of orchids, carnivorous plants and giant white water lily Victoria-Seerosen). The total area of all glass-houses is 6,000 m². The garden's open-air areas, sorted by geographical origin, have a total area of 13 hectares. The garden's arboretum is 14 hectares. The best-known part of the garden is the Great Pavilion. The temperature inside is maintained at 30 °C and air humidity is kept high. Among the many tropical plants it hosts a giant bamboo. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 15, 2014, 7:07 pm	We didn't know what to do today without Mommy so me and Snow White went to one of the airports of Berlin, just to watch some planes. Can you see it? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 22, 2014, 10:07 pm	What's this? Can you see it? Ahhh, these are Poschti and UrselHH! We hope to have a lot of fun together! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 5, 2015, 7:54 pm	Today we watched the Super Bowl on tv. Of course we got some fan stuff to cheer! Squab told us we have to cheer for the Seattle Seahawks, but unfortunately they lost. After the game it was already early in the morning so we fall asleep at our seats. No time to go to bed! Meow & purr ALex
MA_17 Posted Feb 5, 2015, 8:13 pm	Some of you may know that I'm totally in love with hats! It's winter so I used my time for some shopping! Do you like my new hats? When I'm welcoming guests in winter I always offer them a hat for our adventures in the nature. No-one should get cold ears while playing outside! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 14, 2015, 10:20 pm	I finally managed to upload all my old pictures from last year. I'm not going to write an update for every single day. Here I will tell you all about my adventures. ENJOY  I did a one day trip to Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. But I didn't do any normal sightseeing. I've done this before! I visited the EGA park. It's a plant park which also owns a Chinese garden. And look, I found some pretty huge cacti.  There were some days in 2014 were I went to the Harz mountains for some hiking. It was amazing! The area is so beautiful. I saw many mountains, lakes and too much nature! I just realized we have a castle in a lake close to my hometown. So we decided to visit it. It was not so beautiful outside, but inside it was really nice. While I had some guests I showed them my neighborhood. We saw a huge church and a water tower. Some days me and my friend were just relaxing at home. I got some new furniture! Of course we celebrated Oktoberfest! I took part in the Motoboat Champion Chips, but unfortunately I didn't win. And I also did a one day trip to Torgau, a small city in Saxony. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Feb 19, 2015, 9:03 pm	It's my Birthday!!! And like nearly every year, I'm visiting the place where I was born: The Berlinale-Event! So I walked to Potsdam Square where the main event is. BERLINALE  There's the theater! Look at all my adorable fans who are waiting for me for hours! I hope I don't have to write too many autographs. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 1, 2015, 11:31 pm	Since Crawfish left us to visit her sister Zoe for a while it has been very quite in our house! But finally some new guests arrived! And both at the same time. Sofia arrived a few minutes before Mr. Shaun, but we didn't know that he will come. So we wanted to show our home to Sofia. In the kitchen we realized something on the table. That was strange! It looked like a sheep on a cactus! We wondered why Mommy ordered a sheep cactus! We had a closer look and noticed that it was Mr. Shaun on the spines of a huge cactus. Was he dead? Glad he wasn't! He told us that he wanted to be a fakir... Shall we believe that story? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 20, 2015, 8:04 pm	I am back to Berlin! You can't believe how cold it is outside. I better stay in the metro where it is a bit warmer. It's a nice way to discover the city. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Mar 26, 2015, 8:30 pm	As it is very cold outside I decided to take just a short walk in Berlin. Squab told me that we're going on a journey very soon and we will see lots of water! Yeah! Sounds like holidays at the beach! Today is a good chance to get the "feeling" for water. Berlin has a small old historical harbor with lots of nice ships. The big ones were parking so close to each other that it would not look good at my picture, so I decided to take one in front of some smaller ships. Now I think I should start packing for the big journey! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 8, 2015, 8:25 pm	Hey friends! did I tell you that we are going on holidays? It will be a place with lots of water we heard! First I thought the big journey was today, because of all the water. But it wasn't... Today we visited a former brown-coal open cast mine. The official name is "Großer Goitzschesee", but as we learnt today, this name is way too long! So everybody just calls it Goitzsche, like the name of the coal mine was. Its size is 13,32 km² and if you want to walk around the whole lake you would need lots of time! It's 66km to walk, or you take a bike. Around the lake there are some nice touristic places. There is a peninsula for concerts like Spring Break and the Motoboat Championships take part there. On the other side there is a huge villa for private parties, a nice marina and a tower swimming in the water which you can visit. The weather wasn't so good today. It was cold and a bit windy. That's the reason why we didn't climb up the tower. Hmm it looks like people tried to build something made of sand, like a walrus? This is the villa I told you about. We asked if we could party there a bit, but the owners thought that this would not be a good idea. So we went on with our walk. There were no ships in the marina and also at this new part of the marina... no ships! Did they here about us coming for a visit? Were they afraid of the boys? Along the lake there are some old sights from the time of the coal mine. We visited all of them. Some were so huge, you have to look clearly to see us! Can you see us??? HAHA, here we are! So our big journey is coming closer... I'm excited! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 14, 2015, 11:20 pm	I made it to the capital of the Netherlands: AMSTERDAM. The day we arrived we didn't do so much. We were so tired that we spent most of the time in Mommy's bag... It the evening we decided to visit Amsterdam by night. It was amazing! We started our little walk at Amsterdam Centraal, which is the largest railway station in the city and a major national railway hub. It is also the most visited national heritage site of the Netherlands. This is the Magere Brug or "Skinny Bridge". It is one of 1200 bridges in Amsterdam and it is one of the most beautifuls. This bridge is able to open so bigger ships can pass by. This is the view from Magere Brug. The river under that bridge is the river Amstel. Can't wait to see the city by day! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 17, 2015, 8:35 pm	It is our first full day in Amsterdam! The weather is beautiful! Blue sky, looooooots of sun and it is really hot! No jacket needed! Time for sightseeing! Let's go! First thing we noticed: Not even the sky is blue, also Amsterdam! There's so much water everywhere! Nearly 1/4 of the city is wet area. So we started with that blue stuff. Now I remember what I didn't like during my last stay in this city: WATER! Meeeeeooooow Amsterdam is home to more than one hundred kilometers of canals. The three main canals are Prinsengracht, Herengracht and Keizersgracht, all 3 of which are navigable by boat. In the Middle Ages, Amsterdam was surrounded by a moat, called the Singel, which now forms the innermost ring in the city, and makes the city center a horseshoe shape. The city is also served by a seaport. It is often nicknamed the "Venice of the North," due to its division into approximately 90 islands, which are linked by more than 1,200 bridges. Here we are close to a part of the port. Lots of tourist ships start their tours through the canals here. The big ship looks like a pirate ship. We were told that it normally doesn't leave the city. And the swimming house is a museum and it is not really swimming. Because of the beautiful weather we decided to stay outside and don't visit any museum today. Can you see the green building on the right which looks like a boat? It is the Science Center Nemo. The other big houses are located on one of the islands. When we got closer to that bridge next to Nemo we realized something big behind the houses... We went closer and passed that bridge next to Nemo, but no chance to see that big thing. So Mommy had the great idea so jump on a fairy, cross the Het IJ (which is the canal between IJmeer and North Sea) and travel to Amsterdam Noord. We had to walk a bit and then we saw that big thing. It was an AIDA cruising ship. Look! It was smiling at us! The others enjoyed the day close to the water and didn't realized how time passed by... I just was afraid of all that wet stuff. No, it's not funny for a kitty like me! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 20, 2015, 10:29 pm	Hey friends! In the evening we decided to visit the water again! First we wanted to travel by fairy, but happily it was too cold! I really don't understand why others like water! So we saw a nice sunset close to the harbor. :roll eyes: Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 21, 2015, 8:43 pm	It's Friday 13th and it's not spooky at all. The weather is still beautiful! We thought we will be doing lots of sightseeing, but Sanny had other plans. Today we went to the Rijksmuseum (State Museum). It is the Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, where it was first located in the Royal Palace and later in the Trippenhuis. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On 13 April 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost € 375 million, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix. In 2013, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with a record number of 2.2 million visitors. The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. The museum also has a small Asian collection which is on display in the Asian pavilion. Later Mommy went shopping and geocaching and more shopping... Let's see what will happen tomorrow when we have our last day in that beautiful city. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 27, 2015, 9:33 pm	This is the first day where we didn't have a blue sky! But nope, we don't care. It is our last day in Amsterdam, so we had to do some more sightseeing! We started at The Royal Palace (Dutch: Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam or Paleis op de Dam) which is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which are at the disposal of the monarch by Act of Parliament. The palace was built as a city hall during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The building became the royal palace of King Louis Napoleon and later of the Dutch Royal House. It is situated in the centre of Amsterdam, Then we heard about a place in the inner city which shall be totally different. Not so many tourist and extremely quiet. It was not easy to find it, but hell we are Toyvoyagers! So we visited the Begijnhof which is one of the oldest inner courts in the city of Amsterdam. A group of historic buildings, mostly private dwellings, centre on it. As the name suggests, it was originally a Béguinage. Today it is also the site of the English Reformed Church. Tomorrow we will go on traveling... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 27, 2015, 10:24 pm	This morning we left that beautiful city, but we didn't go home. Our next stop was Zandvoort which is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands. It has a long sandy beach, bordered by coastal dunes. It is also the site of the country's most important automobile racing circuit, Circuit Park Zandvoort. Sad we didn't have time to visit the race track. We walked along the beach, watched the waves of the Atlantic Ocean and collected some sea shells. It was a nice, but short stopover. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Apr 28, 2015, 8:43 pm	Same day, different place! We did another short stopover. This time in the Dutch city of Rotterdam! We stayed only for 2 hours, taking a few pix near the water and the rest of the time Mommy needed to go shopping at Starbucks. This evening we are going back to Germany for another short stopover... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 2, 2015, 8:42 pm	I'm back in Germany! Last night we arrived in Cologne and we will stay here only for 2 days! Today we started with some plants...again! Same like in Amsterdam. We went to the Botanical Garden called Flora Cologne. There is no entry to pay, it is totally free! While some of us visited the plants I decided to stay in the garden, relax on a bank and enjoy the sun! The building on my picture is the main building, but I couldn't see any plants inside. I heard people use it for parties! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 5, 2015, 9:04 pm	This is my second and last day in Cologne. So it was time for some sightseeing. First we visited the most famous sight: the Cathedral! Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is a Roman Catholic cathedral. It is 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. The cathedral is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people and 5 Toyvoyagers a day. The construction of Cologne Cathedral commenced in 1248 and was halted in 1473, leaving it unfinished. Work restarted in the 19th century and was completed, to the original plan, in 1880. It is 144.5 metres (474 ft) long, 86.25 m (283.0 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. Its two huge spires give it the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir has the largest height to width ratio, 3.6:1, of any medieval church. Then we had a view over their famous river: the Rhine. It is a European river and the second longest river in Central and Western Europe. It is about 1,230 km (760 mi) in length. This is the Hohenzollern Bridge which is crossing the river Rhine. It is the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany. But that's not the reason why it is famous. Most interesting thing is the decorations! Since 2008 people have placed love padlocks on the fence between the footpath and the railway lines. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 6, 2015, 9:50 pm	This morning we left Cologne and went back home. We really enjoyed our big journey! Last thing to do here was saying goodbye to our nice host in Cologne. My brother Sean offered us a bed and did the lovely sightseeing tour. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 17, 2015, 9:13 pm	We are on tour again! This time we went to the Harz mountains. Ok, we stopped a little bit before in a city called Halberstadt. No time for sightseeing, just some hiking. Mommy wanted to get a special stamp in her hiking book so we had to join her! We went to a tower called Belvedere which was built in 1782. From here we could see the highest mountain of the Harz: Brocken. Can you see it behind me between the trees? There was still some snow on the top. And this is Halberstadt. It is famous for its sausages. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 17, 2015, 9:52 pm	We had some spare time left and went to the Alaris Butterfly Park in Wittenberg. It is one of the biggest butterfly parks in Germany. Its size is about 1000m² and you can find 140 different kind of butterflies. We went here, because Squab is planning to fly to Canada. He heard of butterflies flying long distances from Canada to Mexico. So he told Sofia to have a small talk with her relatives about useful information. It was really hot in this area! Too hot for a cute kitty like me! I decided to wait outside the hall. My fur even started to curl and I looked like a cat from the far east! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 22, 2015, 9:04 pm	Today we visited a flew market in Ferropolis, which is also called "the city of iron". We weren't interested in the market, we preferred to see the area. Ferropolis 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 festivals like the Melt! Festival. These events seats up to 25000 people! There are five big machines and everyone has its own name: Mad Max, Medusa, Gemini, Big Wheel and Mosquito. This is Mosquito: Mad Max on the left and Medusa in front of me: This is the highest of all: Big Wheel. I wasn't interested to climb up on Gemini. Not again! I did this so often. Mr. Shaun and Sofia really had fun to go there. Later I told them some more interesting things about that area, but I think they didn't realize it... Pffff.... Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 27, 2015, 9:02 pm	Today we went to Leipzig, the biggest city in Saxony. Sad, all shops were closed, so we went for dinner. After that we visited the St. Nicholas Church which 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. The church was built in about 1165 around the same time Leipzig was founded. It is named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers, and is situated in the very heart of the city at the intersection of two then important trade roads, the Via Regia and Via Imperii. It is built partially in the Romanesque style but was extended and enlarged in the early 16th century with a more Gothic style. In 1794 the interior was remodeled by German architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe in the neoclassical style. The church has been a Protestant seat since 1539 after the Protestant Reformation, but the Catholic Church is allowed to use it too. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted May 30, 2015, 9:56 pm	And we are still in Leipzig. Today we went to the Botanical Garden...for some shopping! There was a cacti fair! All of us were allowed to do what we wanted! I just walked around a bit, seaching for a nice place for a nap! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jun 27, 2015, 8:56 pm	We visited the Biosphäre Potsdam with a size of 7,000 m². It is an indoor tropical botanical garden located in Potsdam. The garden contains approximately 20,000 tropical plants representing about 350 species, including orchids, epiphytes, and trees about 14 metres in height, including a palm grove and mangrove swamp. It also includes tropical crops, a waterfall, two lakes, and various types of tropical wildlife, including iguanas, snakes, spiders, frogs, geckos and pheasants, as well as a butterfly house containing about 30 butterfly species. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 3, 2015, 9:30 pm	We went to Potsdam again for some sightseeing. First we went to the Russian colony of Alexandrowka, a small enclave of Russian architecture built in 1825 for a group of Russian immigrants. It's also including an Orthodox chapel. Since 1999, the colony has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's such a peaceful area and I really like it. The next stop was in the two-street Dutch Quarter, an ensemble of buildings that is unique in Europe. It has about 150 houses built of red bricks in the Dutch style. It was built between 1734 and 1742 under the direction of Jan Bouman to be used by Dutch artisans and craftsmen who had been invited to settle here by King Frederick Wilhelm I. Ok, we had Russian style and Dutch style, what was next? French style! We visited the Sanssouci Park! It is the most popular attraction in Potsdam  2 km (1 mi) west of the city centre. In 1744 King Frederick the Great ordered the construction of a residence here, where he could live sans souci ("without worries", in the French spoken at the court). First I wanted to send a postcard to all of my friends, but then I decided that you'd prefer a picture of me in front of the palace and the terraces. Enjoy the pictures! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jul 20, 2015, 9:19 pm	Today we wanted to do a long walk at a lake, but unfortunately it started to rain heavy when we arrived. So we took just one picture within a small rain break!. This is the Great Goitzsche Lake. It is a former coal mine which was flooded with the water of the river Mulde. Its size today is 13,32 km² and the deepest point is 48m. Maybe I can go back when the weather is a bit better. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 4, 2015, 9:31 pm	Our mission for today was a landing Antonov! In the early morning we went to an air base close to us. We heard that an Antonov AN-124 'Ruslan' is landing there for the first time. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. The An-124 remains the largest military transport aircraft in the world! Up to 150 tonnes of cargo can be carried in a military An-124. Damn we had to wait for so long as the plane was delayed. But then we saw it close to us, flying really slow, passing nearly the half of the landing runway, falling down from heaven and stopped immediately. We never saw a plane landing that way! WOW! It had a military helicopter inside its stomach which it carried back "home" from an exhibition in Washington DC. We didn't see the helicopter. A few minutes after the landing we went on by car... Next stop: Airport Leipzig-Halle (LEJ). Just a short time after the landing at the air base the Antonov started again and flew to Leipzig to get some service. Both airports are just about 70km away from each other, so it does not need as much time as we needed. But luckily we managed to arrive in time! While waiting at LEJ we saw another AN-124. Can you see it next to that grey building? Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Aug 24, 2015, 11:34 pm	We did a journey to a city called Halle. It is an economic and educational center in eastern Germany. The University of Halle-Wittenberg is the biggest university in Saxony-Anhalt and one of the oldest universities in Germany. Together with Leipzig, Halle is the heart of the Central German Metropolitan Region. There are about 230000 inhabitants and the river Saale runs through the whole city. It is also called "City of the 5 towers". Mommy told us a nice place where we could find a really nice panoramic view! Behind me you can see Halle-Trotha which is the northern part of the city. This is the center! Somewhere in the middle of the picture you can see the market church of St. Mary, which 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 city's fire watch. The church owns the original death-mask of Martin Luther. At the market square you can also find the Red Tower. Originally it was built as campanile of the older St. Mary's Church between 1418 and 1503. The Red Tower and the steeples of St. Mary's Church forms the five towers marking the city’s skyline. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 19, 2015, 8:54 pm	We used the day to visit Gondwanaland! It's a 16.500 sqm tropical hall in the zoo of Leipzig. It was hot inside! About 25°C and a humidity of 65-100%. While we walked through the hall for hours we saw 100 different kind of animals, like sloths, monkeys, hippos etc... and more than 17.000 plants! This was so amazing that we missed visiting the rest of the zoo. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 28, 2015, 10:26 pm	We went to Lutherstadt Wittenberg today for a few hours. Mommy had to go to an exhibition of Lucas Cranach the Younger with her pupils. He's an old friend of Crawfish! It was a bit too boring for us Toyvoyagers so we decided to take a short walk through the city. We first visited the market square. The white building on the left is the ancient town hall and in front of it you can see the statue of the famous Martin Luther. On the right you can see the Stadtkirche (Town and Parish Church of St. Mary's). The first mention of the church dates to 1187. Originally it was a wooden church. Then we went to the Schlosskirche which is so much more famous then the Stadtkirche! All Saints' Church is a Lutheran church. It is the site where the Ninety-Five Theses were posted by Martin Luther on 31 October 1517, the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation. We couldn't visit the Theses, the church is in re-construction, it has to look perfect in 2017 when the event becomes 500 years! Mommy told us that it is possible to walk to the top of the church. Sadly we didn't have enough time. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 11, 2015, 8:43 pm	We did a journey to the Harz mountains to take a walk around a part of the Teufelsmauer (Devil's Wall). It is a rock formation made of hard sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous in the northern part of the Harz Foreland. The part we visited has been protected since 1935 as a nature reserve and is thus one of the oldest nature reserves in Germany. The band of rock that forms the Teufelsmauer outcrops at three places over a distance of 20 km. The most interesting thing is the way the Wall was made: "In a gray time the Devil came to an agreement with the Lord over a division of the estate. He wanted the Harz, however, to be his dominion. So they bet each other that he might have the mountains, if he managed to build in one night a wall as high and strong as the buildings of the emperor. Said and done, the wall rose up in the dark. Then the Lord had a farmer's wife from Timmenrode walk to market with her cockerel and stumble over a small pebble. Whereupon the rooster stretched his neck in the basket and began to crow. The Devil thought the night was over and flung the keystone furiously against his wall, leaving only fragments of it standing." Devil must be a tall one! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Nov 11, 2015, 9:28 pm	We spent one more day in the Harz mountains. I showed my friends my new castle! I'm sure they liked it! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2015, 7:44 pm	Mommy told us we are  going to Erfurt, a city in the heart of Germany. Yeah! Later we heard that we're not here for sightseeing, only for shopping. But we were allowed to take a picture at the Dom Square! On the left you can see St Mary's Cathedral which is the largest church in Erfurt on Domberg hill. It combines Romanesque and Gothic elements and hosts one of the largest medieval bells, the Gloriosa. It is also the Episcopal see and one of the main sights of Erfurt. And on the right there is St Severus' Church. It is the second-largest parish church after the cathedral and stands next to it on the Domberg hill. It is a Gothic church and was built around 1300. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2015, 8:29 pm	It's me again! We went to the Harz mountains for some hiking! When we arrived to a small villages we jumped into an old train and traveled for about half an hour. When we went out of the train we were standing on the top of the world! Ok, it was just the top of the Harz mountains. The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of Northern Germany. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. Ok, this must be one of the few days without fog! The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils and I'm sure we saw some behind some trees. There's a weather station on the Brocken peak which hosts a museum. When we walked down the hill we found a path straight into the forest. Of course, we followed it. We walked and walked and walked and then there was the end! Somewhere in the forest. We turned and went back. After walking 8km we were so hungry and realized that we didn't have anything to eat! Luckily we found some tasty blueberries. Yummy! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2015, 8:30 pm	It's me again! We went to the Harz mountains for some hiking! When we arrived to a small villages we jumped into an old train and traveled for about half an hour. When we went out of the train we were standing on the top of the world! Ok, it was just the top of the Harz mountains. The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak of Northern Germany. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. Ok, this must be one of the few days without fog! The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils and I'm sure we saw some behind some trees. There's a weather station on the Brocken peak which hosts a museum. When we walked down the hill we found a path straight into the forest. Of course, we followed it. We walked and walked and walked and then there was the end! Somewhere in the forest. We turned and went back. After walking 8km we were so hungry and realized that we didn't have anything to eat! Luckily we found some tasty blueberries. Yummy! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Dec 24, 2015, 8:45 pm	Roadtrippin' Just for fun we went to the ocean! We visited the seaside resort Warnemünde which is located on the Baltic Sea. All we did today was enjoying the sun, the salty wind and the sound of the waves. It was amazing! Isn't it beautiful? In the evening we were so tired that we fall asleep in the car. Must be that fresh air! Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Jan 27, 2016, 10:11 am	We've been so busy that we totally forgot to take pictures. This is just a short update, because we didn't stay long. We were on train with Mommy traveling around. In Leipzig we had a short stop-over so there was only time for one picture. Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony. With its population of 544,479 inhabitants it is one of Germany's top 15 cities by population. The city is located about 160 kilometers (99 miles) southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southerly end of the North German Plain. On the picture you can see ME! And Leipzig main station. It is the central railway terminus in Leipzig. At 83,460 square metres (898,400 sq ft) it is the world's largest railway station measured by floor area. It has 19 overground platforms housed in six iron train sheds, a multi-level concourse with towering stone arches, and a 298 metres (978 ft) long facade. Two Leipzig City Tunnel underground platforms were inaugurated two years ago. The station is classified as a Category 1 station, one of twenty in Germany. It also functions as a large shopping centre. Damn, no time for shopping today. Meow & purr Alex
MA_17 Posted Sep 2, 2016, 6:53 pm	We had a short stopover in Wroclaw, Poland. The city is about 4hrs from Berlin and in 2016, the city is a European Capital of Culture and the World Book Capital. Also, Wroclaw will host the Theatre Olympics, World Bridge Games and the European Film Awards in 2016, IFLA Annual Conference and World Games in 2017. Damn it was a hot day! So we spent the few minute see had in the shadow at the market square. The square behind me is called Rynek and its history goes back to the 13th century. Behind me you can see St. Elizabeth's Church. It's a Catholic Church built in the gothic style. Meow & purr Alex

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