Posted Sep 24, 2008, 5:39 am
Posted Jan 16, 2009, 11:26 pm
Tomorrow is the last day of school. Fi had decided to give the children's teachers a platter of home baked biscuits as an end of year gift. Nice, but she only started baking once the children were in bed! The TVs got roped in to help - to speed things up, but all the posing for photos actually slowed things down
We ended up going to bed at 4 in the morning! 
First up: Pistachio and cranberry biscotti (if you want any recipes just ask Fi)
Looking good, but a bit too big...
That's better!
Pop them on a baking tray and in the oven they go!
Shall we mix the next batch while that bakes? Good idea!
Okay, we need butter...
Chopped nuts... Fi wouldn't let us help here; she said the knife was too sharp and dangerous. Someone made a wise crack about turtle fin soup that I thought was in poor taste (oops, that was an accidental pun).
Oooooohhhh! Treacle sugar! The bears went nuts for it – it was okay, but I prefer fishy to sweet.
Now that it is all mixed up we need to add the nuts and chocolate chips... it is very hard working with all the bears and their grumbling tummies, which in turn made them grumbly too. Bears really like the sweet stuff!
Tada! The first batch of choc chip cookies!
The biscotti comes out the oven and the choc chips go in...
The loaves get sliced...another big sharp knife! I'll tuck my fins away.
...and put back on the baking tray... biscotti means 'twice baked biscuit'.
The choc chips are done! The smell! My tummy is EATING itself....good grief, now I sound like a bear.
The biscotti are done! There is a hole in my stomach...I think I am digesting my own stuffing...it was a long trip from Okinawa after all.
Fi says she usually uses the ends of the loaves as 'testers'. She gave us one to taste (heavenly - what a relief for my poor starved tummy) it got passed around and we all had a nibble...
Going….
Going….
Going….hmmm…yum!
All gone! Next up: gingerbread! Ooohhh...molasses! Uh – yuk. Bear thing obviously.
The dough was all mixed up and the counter cleared, ready for rolling. Can you make out the time on the clock behind us? 23.20! We'd better get moving.
Good grief! What a lot of cookie cutters! And these in this jar are JUST the Christmas ones...
They tried to get Fi to use these bear shaped ones but she said no... Turtle power! I wonder if she has a turtle shaped one?
Rolling out the dough was such hard work we had to take it in turns. My fins are still shaking.
Oh my hat! It has just gone mid-night and Fi is starting on fudge...it takes almost an hour to make... yaWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWn
I can't keep my eyes open any more...I need to sleep now... fudge is setting, gingerbread is decorated...what more?
Ah, trays! Fudge is still to warm - Fi says she will get up early to sort it out
she hasn't even gone to sleep yet and it is four in the morning! I bet she will have a mid morning nap! I like a mid morning nap myself…
All this talk of napping...Bed time!
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 6:49 pm
As we set off it became apparent that we were driving into a massive storm! Fi and her husband looked a little worried as the surprise was outdoors.
We finally drove into the parking lot of the Montecasino...which was mostly flooded because the rain was bucketing down... We went upstairs to the outdoor arena to be met with a solid sheet of water and hundreds of sad looking children and grumpy looking parents.
We had come to see 'The Beautiful Creatures' concert and it was the very last show and it looked like it would be cancelled. After much milling about and unhelpfulness from the ticket agents, we went to have some lunch. On the way back we saw that all the children were still hanging about with their even grumpier parents, so we went to ask what was happening...aha, if the rain stopped by 4 the concert would go ahead!
At quarter past four we took out our tissues to try and dry our seats! The children eventually just moved to the front and sat on the wet floor because they were so excited to see their favourite African animal songs come to life...
The children did all the actions and sang along (actually, so did most of the parents - once you have heard the CDs a million times in the car, you pretty much know all the words!)
Oh it was lovely! Worth the rain and the wait and the damp seating...and I was right up front to watch it!
After the show, we queued up to buy the new CD and had it autographed by Ed Jordan who created the series (and Alan Glass, but we never got a photo of him) and sings on the CDs.
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 8:00 pm
Eventually she decided to haul it out of the trunk it is kept in - it is just too hot for a real tree, it would be dead way before Christmas!
So we helped 'puff' it all out.
Not very awe inspiring is it?
Oh...<blush> that was just the bottom piece, it comes in segments...
That's more like it! Fi said we could stay on there if we wanted and be the decorations. Ha ha ha! Always so funny...Hey! Take me down!!!
The children started decorating the tree - three days later they still hadn't finished so Fi took pity on them and finished it off - You will have to wait then to see what it looked like.
In the meantime, we popped up our tree - easy peasy - it took 2 seconds!
...and we hung up our stockings... there is no fire place and therefore: no mantle, so we found the next best thing: the gas heater.
Voila!
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 8:10 pm
baking, tree puffing and now KNITTING! Honestly...
I didn't even know I COULD knit!
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 8:18 pm
We are not really even that sure of what we are making...
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 8:29 pm
...and what would Christmas be without gingerbread men...and ladies?
Posted Jan 19, 2009, 9:08 pm
We went to visit Fi's Mom for lunch. We thought we would stop by the Zoo in the afternoon to look at the animals and then wait till the lights came on.... Luckily we passed the Zoo on our way and saw that it was jam packed, so we gave up on that idea and just waited until dusk to go when we knew most of the people would have left.
This is the closest you'll ever get me to an ostrich.
I have an uneasy feeling that something is going to drop down on me....
This is the entrance to the gorilla enclosure. They were inside though as they have a new baby (a few days later Fi's brother walked through here and the gorilla threw a stone at him!)
How brave am I? Actually, I think I am too small for him to see or bother with. But if he takes a step sideways he will squash me!
This has got to be the only place a lioness would meet a polar bear...
This Christmas tree looks tiny in the photo but is was really, really big! Whoops, the top lights seem to be off...
Yikes! A hippo wants to eat us! Run for your lives....
Phew! We had to sit down and catch our breath after all that running!
We are safe here... oh! The flash just blinded me - it lit up the whole area, could you see what was behind us Fi? Why are you laughing?
That is one grumpy looking buffalo.
Hey! We found the gorilla! Mostly, because we nearly tripped over him in the dark.
This was Natalie's favourite.
Oh and this one!
We had a few turns on the funfair rides and then we left as it was getting late and very dark and none of us had eaten supper.
Posted Jan 20, 2009, 7:42 am
This is a traditional way of cooking food. It is called a 'potjie' which means 'small pot'. Usually it is placed on a fire but a Cadac gas cooker works just as well. The food is layered in the pot, with the longest cooking ingredients (meat usually) at the bottom and the quickest cooking at the top.
In the rural areas this is the only way to cook when you have no electricity. These post range in size from tiny to ridiculously enormous (a friend of Fi's has one so huge it takes three strapping men to lift it!)
Hmmm! Smells delicious! Lamb and rice...
Posted Jan 20, 2009, 8:05 am
We were there for an end of year party with some friends and just went to the recreational part of the reserve.
Mostly we sat under a thatched umbrella to stay out of the sun (it was so hot!) and the children swam...
We watched some young men playing soccer....South Africans are CRAZY about soccer.
We made some international friends... (We may have eaten them...oops, tasted just like chocolate!)
…and we just hung around chatting and listening to music...
Then we ate too much...Braaied (BBQ'd) chicken and pap (finely ground corn meal that is mixed with water and salt and cooked to a stiff porridge - it is a staple in the diet of most South African people) with tomato and onion gravy and carrot and pineapple salad.
Posted Jan 20, 2009, 8:59 am
There is a great air of expectancy around the house, everyone is excited! Well... the children and TVs are excited...
To keep us occupied Fi gave us and the children a job (as usual) but this one was fun! We got to decorate the gingerbread house. Fi had assembled the house the day before, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth - the icing would not set - most likely due to the fact that it was 36°C (96.8°F) and the air was humid, thanks to a brewing storm. It set very nicely once Fi re-arranged the entire fridge to remove one shelf so the house could fit in!
Burp! Pardon me! I may just have eaten more sweets than I put on the house....
Once we were done with that, Fi banished the children upstairs to watch a movie and threatended them that Christmas would be CANCELLED if they so much as peeked down the stairs!
Hmmm...smells like more work for us....
Oh boy, here we go again...
None of us could figure it out....a sort of nappy? Who knows...all we did know is that the fabric is a local one called shwe-shwe. It is a stiff cotton that becomes softer with washing. Traditionally it was made in blue or brown but now comes in a slightly wider range of colours like red and yellow. It has pretty patterns on it, usually small repeats. On the back there is always an animal stamp to denote the manufacturer. We have a leopard and an elephant here. Maybe these are elephant pants...um no...too small...
Now that it is turned the right way round it looks like a doll with a flat head!
AH! The penny drops....
It is a pouch for Natalie to carry her doll in!
This pram had belonged to Fi's sister in law 25 years ago. The plastic had all deteriorated and the children improvised with a blanket!
Fi got rid of the blanket....
Then the natives started getting restless and demanded to be released from captivity! So Fi released them and wrapped the gifts in her room safe from prying eyes.
And then a million people descended on the house for supper... well ten adults and three children and four TVs... but it felt like a million and her husband certainly catered for a million- we ate left overs for the next three days (interspersed with Christmas lunch)!
Posted Jan 26, 2009, 9:39 pm
At last!
Why am I hanging in the tree? Um...I am not quite sure...but it's Christmas at last! And how do I know this? I have been counting down everyday since the first of December with the aid of an advent calendar and there are NO MORE CHOCOLATES!
Our Christmas stockings were filled with candy canes and chocolates and SOMEONE seems to have forgotten to take the photo....
Never mind. Put on a silly paper hat and pull a cracker with me!
BANG! Oh that was scary and fun! I read the silly jokes and we all fell about laughing...
Someone else have a turn....
BANG! Ha ha ha....look what we all won!
Shaggy Bear Hmmm....those will come in useful late at night when everyone else is sleeping....
Hector oooh! Ladybug crayons....
Pinky Bear A yo-yo! Can you do any tricks with it?
A pipe? How odd... oh, you blow out of it and try balance the ball. I am very good at this because I can take such deep breaths and let them out slowly...
Right, is everybody ready for turkey? Time to leave and visit Fi's sister for Christmas lunch... I can't believe SOMEONE left the camera at home.....
There was a power failure so the potatoes and veges were roasted in the Weber (BBQ). Luckily the turkey was smoked and the ham had been cooked on the gas braai (BBQ) the day before (during the previous power outage). It was so good, but there was a lot of turkey left over - I can already tell we'll get sick of it soon!
Posted Jan 26, 2009, 9:51 pm
Posted Jan 26, 2009, 10:15 pm
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today,
You'd better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
Picnic time for teddy bears;
The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch us catch them unawares,
And see them picnic on their holiday.
See them gaily gad about.
They love to play and shout,
They never have any cares.
At six o'clock their mummies and daddies
Will take them home to bed
Because they're tired little teddy bears.
SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Pinky Bear!
We have been slaving away in the kitchen - well we had nothing better to do in all the rain.
We made bear biscuits and a chocolate cake with bear sprinkles so we could have a surprise picnic party for Pinky's third birthday. I think that by the time I leave here, I may just BE a bear. It is tough being the only turtle in a house full of bears....
Fi lit the candles for us (we are not allowed, it is against THE RULES.)
Blow out those candles and make a wish! (I think she ought to wish to be a turtle)
Oh yuk....honey tea! I'll skip this round thanks
Once the bears were all rolling around from eating and drinking so much, we surprised Pinky with a birthday present!
I sure hope she doesn't plan on sharing! That is the biggest bottle of honey I have ever seen....my tummy is forming knots just thinking about it...
Posted Jan 26, 2009, 10:36 pm
Posted Feb 9, 2009, 7:47 pm
We ended up at Fi's sister again, this time we had to make supper ourselves...
Roll out the dough...
...smear it with a tomato sauce and pile it with ham and cheeses and whatever else you feel like!
Then pop it in the table top pizza oven.
And wait and wait and wait and wait....guess it wasn't hot enough yet or it needed more coals. By the time it was ready we were too hungry to take a photo of it! It tasted really good and the next ones didn't take as long to bake, but by then we wondered off to play a game called 'Cranium'. We were on Fi's team so we won of course. It wasn't long before someone asked what the time was....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Luckily there were no fire works to terrify the dogs because it was bucketing down with rain!
Posted Feb 9, 2009, 8:06 pm
Chickens run around underfoot and you feel like you are miles away from the city.
...and look at the cakes!
Hmmm…blueberry pancakes!
They grow their own flowers to decorate the dishes with....
I can't believe it is not raining today!
Posted Feb 9, 2009, 8:38 pm
Fi had to take a 'little' drive out to the Cradle of Humankind, so she stopped here at Maropeng so we could have a look. We didn't go into the centre as there wasn't time. But we learned a few cool facts.
This area is where the oldest evidence of mankind is found. AND, some of the earliest forms of dinosaur were found here too (200 million years old! Wow!) The first stone tools were used in Africa (2.6 million years ago).
This is a 'dig' site where fossils are excavated from. You can clearly see the layer of fossils in this bit (about half way down).
I also learned that former South African president, Thabo Mbeki , has tiny feet!
...and Kofi Annan has big feet!
Then just for the heck of it, we drove down to the actual Sterkfontein Caves where the important fossils like 'Mrs Ples' and 'Little Foot' were actually found.
Isn't it a beautiful view? This is where our ancestors once roamed....okay, I'm a stuffed toy...YOUR ancestors.
Posted Feb 9, 2009, 9:07 pm
You know the insistent rain I keep mentioning? Today I had the most terrifying experience of my short little life.
Fi was driving to school to fetch the children and the rain was absolutely pouring down. The area she was driving through was in FLOOD! The road she drove on had become a raging river... and to make matters worse, paving bricks were tumbling down through the water too... the windscreen wipers could hardly keep up with the downpour.
At one stage she felt a rather large void under her tyre and knew the road was being washed away underneath her...
Indeed...this is what the patch of road looked like once the water drained away....
Some roads completely washed away and several cars did the same....
ENOUGH RAIN ALREADY!
Posted Feb 9, 2009, 9:16 pm
Oh! What's this?
Hello!
Fi? I want to see a REAL LIVE turtle please....FACE to FACE...
Posted Apr 20, 2009, 10:52 pm
Finally, one day Fi told her husband she had had enough, she was taking us and the kids in the car and going down to the coast. He said if she could wait just one more day then he would go with because he was busy with month end... so we waited and watched the rain a bit more.
He of course got home late from work, so after supper we piled into the car and set off! It took us over an hour just to get out of Johannesburg because of roadworks on the highway. We reached our destination at three in the morning!!!!
Four hours later the children were bouncing around and demanding to go to the beach, Fi and her husband were still trying to have a sleep after the marathon all night drive.
Guess who won?
Here we are at Thompson's Bay. This is called the 'Hole In The Wall', very imaginative... it is a hole in the wall!
There is a narrow little ledge through it that gets you to another beach.. but if you sit there too long and the tide comes in...well, let's just say we took no chances and stayed on THIS side of the hole...
Here we are sitting in the tidal pool.
The tidal pool used to be quite full of water. A year ago, there was a terrible storm and part of the wall was torn down. Nobody has bothered to fix it. This is not actually a bad thing, because the small children love it.... it is now a small walled off sea for them to play in.
The one side is rock pools...where you can fish for crabs and tiny fish...
It is filled up by big splashy waves like ...aaargh... run for your lives!
Oh, that wasn't that bad...
The other side, where the wall is broken, has nice waves coming in where the children can body board without fear of being washed all the way out to sea. It is calm now but a bit later on, the tide got quite strong and a bit rough.
In the middle is a nice beachy bit where you can build a sand castle!
I have a really stupid song stuck in my head now...
Let's go surfin' now
Everybody's learning how
Come on and safari with me
HEY! Maybe I'll see a turtle at last?
Posted Apr 20, 2009, 11:57 pm
Well, I guess the beach is out then. Fi found out that it was not raining in Durban, so in the car we went...
Miserable isn't it?
Ah... 43 kilometers to Durban...
There is the Durban skyline just ahead of us...
This is the stadium that they are building for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
There are lots of old colonial style buildings in Durban.
The people of Durban are in an uproar as someone decided that all the street names needed to be changed (don't get Fi started on this subject... it is one of her bugbears!)
Here you can see that Winder Street has been renamed to... can YOU pronounce that? I can't....
We eventually got to uShaka Marine World. We missed the seal show, so we went straight into the aquarium. The whole aquarium is designed to look like a shipwreck. They MUST have turtles in here...
This tank shows the reef fish...no turtles in here...
Yikes! Sharks! If you sit in the restuarant on the other side of this tank you can see the sharks while you eat... um, no thanks.
All of these fish lying about in here looking like rocks are very poisonous. The purple one is a scorpion fish, the other ones are stone fish.
Ooh... rays...
Their faces look funny!
Can you see the sea horses?
We went outside to see the dolphins...hang on a second...
Better hurry up or we will miss the real dolphins....
Here they are!
One...
Two...
Three... Four... of them leaping about...
We went back into the aquarium to look for turtles...
Success!!!!!
Isn't he beautiful?
Oh, I am so happy!
Look who else I found...cousins of mine!
When we went for lunch I met this handsome fellow...
We ended off the day by signing the guest book.
Posted Jun 15, 2009, 8:19 am
We were a bit scared of swimming but Fi said there were life guards on duty. We even met one! (And an ice cream seller....)
When it started getting too hot we went back to the flat...actually we were in a penthouse. This is the view from the balcony. The complex is in an eco estate so there are lots of dams for the bird life and small animal that wander around (lots and lots of very noisy frogs in this dam!)
To the side you can see the sea!
Oh yes, this is the life! Hmmm - I smell lunch...bye!
Posted Jun 15, 2009, 8:41 am
We found a sleepy little calf...
We sat down for a drink at the little cafe. Nice view....
A pig wandered over....
We found some ducks...these are the ducks Fi says she will have in her garden one day (one day when she doesn't have huge big bird chasing dogs!)
We saw loads of animals, pigs, goats, donkeys, horses, tortoises BUT the best fun was milking a cow! The lady said she had NEVER, EVER, EVER had toys milking cows before....surely not?
I see why the children like to visit the farm...such fun for city kids!
Banyo found a nice tree to climb.... it is called a coral tree.
Here is a close up of the pretty flowers...
Hmmm... I'd rather find real coral under the sea than climb up silly trees....
Posted Jun 15, 2009, 8:56 am
Sadly this meant that we didn't get out much, actually we didn't get out at all!
One day she had to go on a bit of a drive so she took us with knowing that the view from the top of the hill was quite spectacular.
The best view are on the road though and it is very windy, very steep, with no shoulder - so no photos from there. This was the best we could manage....kind of pathetic if you know what it looks like in real life!
Posted Jun 15, 2009, 9:12 am
So I packed my bag...
...and said goodbye to everyone. I'm on my way to Greece!
On the way to the post office, I asked Fi to tell me all about the South African flag on my cap.
Phew... it's a bit of a long story...
The story of our flag
The South African flag is the only national flag in the world that has six colours forming a large part of the pattern. People are always wondering what the colours mean.
The red, sometimes thought to represent the Communist party, is another colour red - chilli red, which is somewhere between orange and red. This makes the flag brighter than if it had been a pure red. The design is what is important - it shows a sense of coming together, bringing together all the different peoples and practices of South Africa and going on ahead altogether.
Our multi-coloured flag may have had something to do with the acceptance of the term, Rainbow Nation, which was used by the famous Anglican Archbishop Tutu to describe the new South Africa after 1994.
But it was even before 1994 - in fact in 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela from jail - that we began selecting a new national flag for South Africa to replace the old orange, blue and white one. In 1993 a National Symbols Commission was appointed to do this tactfully (remember, 1994 was still to come when the first democratic elections would be held). This Commission then invited the public to send designs for a new flag. Even though more than 7 000 designs were sent in, the Negotiating Council, who had appointed the National Symbols Commission, and the public did not find any that were suitable. Design studios were also invited to produce design but these were also not found to be suitable and still there was no national flag!
In 1994, just a few months before the elections, a technical committee was brought together and led by the State Herald, Fred Brownell. They had one week to find a flag. In two days they came up with four designs, all to do with the ideas of linking or joining up. Two of these designs were sketches that Fred Brownell had made the year before when he had been in Switzerland at a vexillological (flag specialists') congress. It was one of these that was finally presented the month before elections were due. It was approved. The design was approved by both sides of the transitional governement then and also sent to Nelson Mandela who happened to be in Rustenburg so he received it and approved it by fax!
This bright flag with its lines of colour that come together was to be the 'interim' flag for South Africa. This was because the country had an 'interim' constitution at that point, which meant it was just for the time being (the real constitution would only be approved in 1996).
The people of South Africa saw it hoisted above their country in April for the first time as they went to the polls for their first democratic elections.
By the time President Mandela was inaugurated two weeks later, we already loved our flag. It first represented South Africa at the 15th Commonwealth Games in Canada.
When the interim government ended and we had our own constitution, the 'interim' flag was already hugely popular and there was no talk or chance of changing it. It has since gone into space with Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 and been planted on Mount Everest by Sibusiso Vilane in 2003.
The colours and patterns of the South African flag have been used in more ways than any other flag in the world. South Africans just love it!
Origin and colours of the new flag
The strips are red/orange and blue, the same of the previousflag. The added colors are the same of AfricanNational Congress's flag, which is composed of three equal horizontalstrips: black, green and yellow. Therefore I argue that the new flag is themerge of the two flags. Apart from strips' colors (orange and blue insteadof red and green), the colour of the second fimbration (green instead ofblack) and the absence of a coat in the triangle, the new South African flag is very similar to Vanuatu's.
Symbolism of the flag
The colours of the South African flag do not really have symbolic meanings in themselves. People do sometimes assign meanings to the colours (such as red for blood, yellow for mineral wealth etc.) but this is not the case with the current South African flag. According to Mr. Frederick Brownell, the former State Herald who played a large role in the original design, while the colours of the flag do not have any official symbolism, they do represent a synopsis of the country’s flag history. The design in turn, represents a converging of paths, the merging of both the past and the present.
Black, gold and green, which were first incorporated into South African national flags in the 19th century, also feature prominently in the flags of the liberation movements, particularly the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan-African Congress (PAC) and Inkatha. These colours can thus be said to broadly represent the country's black population.
Blue, white, red and green reflect the British and Dutch (later Boer) influence, as shown in the earliest flags flown in South Africa, and also featured prominently in the old South African National Flag (1928-1994) and thus represent the white population of South Africa.
The green pall (the Y-shape) is commonly interpreted to mean the unification of the various ethnic groups and the moving forward into a new united South Africa.
The South African flag is the only national flag to contain six colours as part of its primary design (excluding those flags which contain various colour shades as part of the detail of coats of arms or other charges etc.).
Bruce Berry, 14 Feb 2000
Posted Jun 20, 2009, 6:55 pm
I have arrived in Greece! Here you can see me with my friends.
They are all very nice and adventures so we spend the first day telling stories to each other of the countries and places we visited!
So here I am with SaruMaru Willy W. and Ladomar
Posted Jun 20, 2009, 7:09 pm
The village is called Metamorfosi, it's full of pine woods and has a very nice beach, so we went for swimming.
So here are some photos I took at the beach
and some photos from the park just next to the beach
Posted Jun 27, 2009, 11:53 am
today we went to an artificial lake in the suburbs to feed the ducks!
The scenery was great and the ducks were really friendly to me!
I even saw many turtles swimming in the lake!!!
So here are some photos:
well not he best photo I could take.... I am out of focus.... but I am still there with my cousin the real turtle!!!! LOOK!
Posted Jul 5, 2009, 7:25 am
I was the star in the first video ever made by toyvoyagers! I had so much fun when we were shooting it.
We were playing snakes and ladders when suddenly I got hit by the giant die, but I was lucky because an ambulance came to the rescue and all the other tvs helped me!
Enjoy the video over at YouTube here
Posted Jul 6, 2009, 8:05 pm
We are at the small village called Metamorfosis, which has mainly summer residences but luckily it's not crowded.
Here I am with my friends just playing at the sand
My hosts just bought a new aquaglide for the kids, it converts easily from sailboat to windsurfer, towable or even kayak. So the kids will be able to learn easily all these sports! SO MUCH FUN!
Here we are by the box
and can you see it in the sea?!
Posted Jul 25, 2009, 8:48 pm
I am sorry for not updating for some time but we are currently on vacation and the internet connection is so slow!
Anyway here are a couple of photos I took from the town of Thessaloniki when we went for a walk by the sea.
This is a favorite place for the citizens cause they can go for walking, biking, or jogging. It's usually full of people late evening when the sun is setting but we had to go early to get some nice photos.
The building is the Music Hall of Thessaloniki
Posted Jul 25, 2009, 9:00 pm
we are currently on vacation and we are staying at my hosts summer residence at Metamorfosi.
Here are some more views of the place
A typical backyard door woth plants and flowers on top
On top of a tractor we found on one of our walks
and overlooking the sunset form a gazebo with my friends
Posted Oct 5, 2009, 1:04 pm
Squirt
Posted Oct 5, 2009, 1:26 pm
We sayd goodbye to Noelle, Bart and Milala who go to their next host. You go to miss me my friends.
Kisses
Posted Apr 13, 2010, 2:59 pm
I am so glad – I am with RikeH now. I stuck in Belgium, but RikeH wrote many many PMs and asked the last host to send me to her – and now I am travelling again!
Dicker Kumpel were here and gave me a warm welcome. He seems to be a very friendly host.
I am so happy to be here!
Then he introduced me to some other guys here.
After talking a lot I went out into the garden – it was so great to see beautiful flowers!
I met a big hippo…
and these crazy birds…
I am sure that I will like it here.
Love you Mum
Yours
Squirt
Posted Apr 16, 2010, 9:53 am
Spring is in Germany now – we are so happy. Look at this wonderful yellow plant!
We made a walk along a nice little river.
Sülfeld has a wonderful old church.
On the other side of the street is the pharmacy.
On the way back we found another beautiful shrub. I loved the color!
Back home we made another nice photo – I love flowers!
yours
Squirt
Posted Apr 19, 2010, 2:55 pm
today we wanted to play Pool.
Dicker Kumpel showed us, how it works.
Then it was me to play.
It was great fun : I won 10:09.
I tried to call you and tell you about my success. But I didn't know your number.
So I looked around – there must have been a horse here – years ago....
Bye
Squirt
Posted Apr 24, 2010, 8:20 pm
we made a trip to a small city today. RikeH went to school there – years ago.
First we went over a bridge – to go into the town center.
This ist the townhall with a wonderful fountain.
This view is wonderful.
There are nice old houses here.
We saw the river again.
It was a nice day!
Greetings
Squirt
Posted May 2, 2010, 10:25 am
Charlie will go to his next host soon. So we wanted to celebrate his last evening.
We had a delicious salad.
Here you see us all together.
Then we had a barbecue.
It was really delicious – I ate a lot!
Then it was time to say good-bye to Charlie. .
We gave him a big hug.
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 3, 2010, 9:08 pm
We went to a nice little park near to Sülfeld today. It is called Naturerlebnis Grabau – and it was really interesting.
We learnt a lot about the trees in the forest and other things. But I like
most a nice place next to a lake.
It was really a great time there.
Love
Squirt
Posted May 13, 2010, 8:37 pm
the weather looked sunny – so we jumped in RikeH's bag and went to Hamburg with her.
Here you see us in the train.
First I looked out of the window...
...then I helped to write some postcards.
In Hamburg the weather wasn't so nice, but we went to the Town Hall. A wonderful building.
We went to the other side of the Town Hall.
On the way back to the place where RikeH works we saw these nice Arcades.
Greetings
Squirt
Posted May 16, 2010, 7:18 pm
Today we decided to do something for one of my life missions – and we looked
at the German flag.
Well, I had a closer look – and asked RikeH about the colors.
We spent more than one hour in the web and searched for an explanation – and we found
about 8 I think. Maybe no one really knows it? The theory we found most is this:
Black, red and gold in three equal horizontal stripes are the colors of the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany. The colors date to the emperors of the Middle Ages. They reappeared in the war against Napoleon when a corps of army volunteers drawn from all the German principalities, adopted black uniforms with red braid and gold buttons.
There were some other stories, we read all and had a nice afternoon.
After surfing the web I wanted to see something nice – and saw this wonderful flower.
I asked RikeH about this flower, but she didn't want to search an hour again, so we decided to name her after me – it is Squirt, the beautiful flower.
I am so proud to have a flower named after me...
Greetings
Squirt
Posted May 16, 2010, 8:01 pm
It is Sunday and we made a nice trip to Bad Segeberg, a nice small town.
On the way we stopped next to this field of rape.
The yellow is beautiful.
We went to the Lake – can you see the Monument? It is an Apache.
Here is the Lake – and we have sunshine today!
Because I will leave tomorrow, we went to eat some icecream – it was delicious.
At home I had to say Good-Bye to Dicker Kumpel. I had such a great time here and felt safe and sound. I was worried about my next host, but Dicker Kumpel told me that I will move to a really great host!
The others gave me a big hug.
Now I am on my way to olgamaus. The trip should be a short one, because she lives in Germany, too.
Love
Squirt
Posted May 21, 2010, 6:05 pm
I arrived in Remscheid today. I came here with Bart so I did not have to travel all the way alone.
We were welcomed by our new host Katja and the ToyVoyagers Snuttig, Paddington Bear, Bernd the Bread, Ceryni and Roderich.
Bernd is looking sort of grimly, maybe because he will leave later.
There was another large envelope - the one that you sent to Katja! I was so happy to pull Japanese sweets out of the envelope. Katja told us that she adopted two panda bears from you, they also brought a surprise with them. Funny egg shapers! I think I will show Katja how to use them tomorrow.
All the TVs and Katja are curious to eat teddy bear and fish shaped eggs tomorrow
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 22, 2010, 11:15 am
we met Katja's pets in the evening - two cute ferrets.
This is Brighty ...
... and this is Shiva.
Shiva likes to play rough games. She dashed poor Bart down the backrest while she trampeled me down.
Than it was my turn to roll down the backrest
The ferrets are very playful, they love rough games and to steal everything they can find. Tomorrow I will feed them.
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 23, 2010, 4:42 pm
we took a walk today to Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge. A feast is taking place there this weekend.
Muengsten Bridge is connecting the cities of Remscheid and Solingen. It overspans the valley of the river Wupper. To walk to the valley took us about an hour. We walked along some pretty rural areas.
In the forest we found this lookout point.
From here you can see part of the large bridge looking through the trees.
We reached the river Wupper than.
Muengsten Bridge is made of steel. It is 107 m high and spans the valley of river Wupper, which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour town Solingen.
The bridge is 465 m long and was completed in 1897 A.D.
[img] [/img]
Lots of people are enjoying the sun here, kids are playing in the shallow water and some dogs also.
I heard a train crossing the bridge, but I could not see it.
We took the bus home.
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 25, 2010, 6:37 pm
we made a really long hiking tour today. We followed the so-called "Roentgenweg", a circular route following the limits of the municipal area, 65 km long. It is running along the borders of the neighbour cities Hueckeswagen, Radevormwald, Wermelskirchen, Solingen and Wuppertal.
This circular route is named after Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, the founder of the x-rays. He was born in Remscheid-Lennep in 1845.
We started our tour at Roentgen-Museum.
Here is a map showing the hiking trail.
Soon we left the housing areas of the district Lennep.
We walked along Wupper dam for a while.
Rural areas followed, we saw some farms.
You can find wind turbines here as energy generators.
We had to follow the sign with an encircled "R". We were on the right path - even after hours
We walked along a commercial area.
This was a regular road once, the tunnel is only broad enough for one car.
We had to cross a state road here.
We were opposite the city centre on its hill than. In the distance you can see the city with the city hall tower.
Here is also a zoomed photo.
We reached "Eschbachtalsperre" than, the first drinking water dam which was ever built in Germany.
We crossed the retaining wall and walked down our to the valley. Here is the rear side of the retaining wall.
Here is the water works, the drinking water is pumped from here in the valley to the water tower on top of the hill where the city centre is situated.
We also walked along the open air bath which was opened this weekend.
From here we walked for another few kilometres through the forest and left the circular route to take a bus home.
Here you can see that Remscheid is an industrial town, despite of the beautiful surroundings. They have a lot of metalworking industry here, tools are produced and all sorts of machines.
We did not make the whole tour today, but about one third. Katja showed it to us on the slate map.
We walked 25 km today!
Now my feet are aching, I need a rest on the sofa
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 29, 2010, 10:54 am
I met Bilica today, a sea turtle from Brazil. She came back from a short trip to the North Sea with Katja's sister today.
Bye
Squirt
Posted May 29, 2010, 11:05 am
we took a walk to the municipal park today. It's only a few minutes to walk from here. First I'll show you where I'm living at the moment.
There is a small park in front of the police headquarter.
In the municipal park we saw a pond. Katja told us that ducks are living here, and TURTLES! The turtles were released into the wild by their owners who did not want them anymore.
Here is blooming hawhorn.
We walked around for a while. In the meantime the sun came out.
Here is the pond once more.
We went home than.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 8, 2010, 8:54 pm
Katja took a walk with Belka, Tochi, who arrived yesterday, Bilica and Rafael to the municipal park. Outside it was so hot that Bart and I decided to stay at home and help to prepare dinner. We made a potatoe salad.
We started with cooking the potatoes and preparing the mayonnaise. To make mayonnaise you need one egg yolk, 100 ml vegetable oil, a little bit mustard, (red) wine vinegar, salt and pepper. The potatoes were cooked in their skin.
First we had to beat the egg yolk, than oil had to be added very carefully while we kept on beating, first nearly dropwise, later in a thin flow.
We had to peel the potatoes and to them into pieces...
... as well as a piece of cucumber, two gherkins and some hard boiled eggs.
We mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl.
In the evening everyone was happy that dinner was ready.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 12, 2010, 12:56 pm
I became a diligent knitter during the last weeks. I learned to knit socks. I helped Katja to knit socks for two cute little boys and a nice lady
Have a look:
These are the smallest socks ...
... these are a bit larger ...
...and those are even larger
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 14, 2010, 4:46 pm
today we walked another section of the "Roentgenweg", we started exactly where we left the path some weeks ago.
We walked along a creek for some time. Can you see those mill stones which were worked into the bank reinforcement?
This wall is centuries-old, it once belonged to early industrial sites, probably built in 16th or 17th century.
Here you can see Schloss Burg in the background, a medieval castle, situated in Solingen-Burg. This castle was built by early reigns of this region. It was built over centuries, start of work was in 13th century.
Here you can also see a zoomed photo.
Posted Jun 14, 2010, 4:49 pm
You can find nice old houses here.
We completed our map which we marked last month. Today we used lilac arrows to mark today's trip.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 17, 2010, 7:03 pm
Katja decided to try a wine-cooler with elderberry. Tomorrow she will meet a friend and than they want to enjoy it. It has to be prepared one day earlier.
First Katja went to the municipal park and plucked five elderberry umbels. The flowers will have to be put into water with sugar, fresh mint, lemon juice and sliced lemon for about 24 hours.
Everything was prepared than ...
The bowl was closed than with a plate. The mixture has to rest at room temperature for 24 hours now.
Tomorrow the liquid will have to be filtered and cooled for a while. Than white wine and sparkling wine will be added.
I'm curious how it will taste
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 17, 2010, 7:22 pm
today Katja visited her friend Karin. They often meet in the evening, than they are knitting socks. Katja filtered the elderberry base and filled it into an empty bottle. We took it with us to Karin, who already had cooled sparkling wine and white wine.
Elderberry base, wine and sparkling wine were fillled into the punch bowl.
Ready!
Cheers! Our elderberry drink is really delicious!
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jun 24, 2010, 3:26 pm
today we went out in the early evening to watch the FIFA World Cup soccer match Germany vs. Ghana in the city centre, on the space in front of the city hall. We took a short walk before, along the Route of Tools. This time we walked towards the central station.
Sometimes you can find distance data on the ground.
I saw dilapidated factory buildings.
We had to leave the Route of Tools because even here they are working on the gas pipes.
Soon we reached the station.
The station was renewed, it was finished last summer.
From here we walked towards the city centre.
Close to the city hall many people were waiting for the soccer match to begin.
The space in front of the city hall was roped off for the public to watch
the soccer matches of the German team on a large video screen.
Not much time left for the match to begin. Here you can see the national team coach.
Do you know that the German team won 1 : 0 ? Now they will take part in the round of 16.
It was time to go home than.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jul 10, 2010, 11:25 am
we took a walk in the city in Katja's lunch break. It was incredibly hot, but inside the buildings it is as hot as outside, so it did not matter wheter we were sweating in the sun or inside the office.
Did I already show you the water tower opposite of the city hall?
Here you can see that the city centre is surrounded by woodland. Nearly all streets are very steep.
This is the steepest street in the municpal area, with a 24% decline.
Katja told us that here once a brewery was situated. Nowadays the buildings are dismantled.
At this intersection several streets are leading into the city centre.
We were close to the central station than.
A new station was built, it was opened last summer. A new shopping centre was also built here.
From here you have good view around. Across the railway tracks to the district Hohenhagen, a housing area ...
... towards the city centre ...
... and the new station.
We walked back to Katja's work place than.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jul 25, 2010, 11:50 am
today we took took a walk in the outskirts of the neighbour city Solingen. You can find a medieval castle there, Schloss Burg. It is situated in the district Burg, imbedded a large rural and woodland area. Katja's parents went with us and also Nathalie, one of Katja's ToyVoyagers. She will soon visit camilla's Mummy who invited her to spend her summer holidays with her.
We parked the car and walked to the castle.
Soon the castle came into sight.
This tower once belonged to the castle, unfortunately we don't know more about it. You can find the tower here, two ancient cannon and a memorial dedicated to the dead of both World Wars.
Here you can see a zoomed photo of the castle.
We had to walk through the forest for another 15 minutes until we reached the castle.
When we reached the castle we went to the courtyard.
Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" )
About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard.
In Thirty Years War (17th century) many parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.
In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft. For example someone makes soap, another makes brushes, then you can buy things that were used by knights for the kids, like swords and helmets.
This monument is showing Count Engelberg II von Berg.
In middle ages they stored gunpowder in this thick round tower.
You can see that the castle really is situated high above the valley.
We left the castle than to continue our walk in the forest. We came to this outlook pavilion. It looks exactly like the one I saw last week! Katja told us that those two outlook pavilions indeed were "twins". They were created by an architect who put them at two places with a gorgeous overwiev.
The ceiling of this pavilion is painted with the crests of the surrounding cities.
Yes, the sight onto the valley of the river Wupper is great.
I tried to climb up this rock.
We reached a place from where you can see the city centre of Remscheid in the distance. We had to take a zoomed photo. I can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower.
We left the forest than and walked through the district Hoehrath, a rural area where you can find many horse breeding and riding stable.
We also saw a sawmill.
Katja told us that you usually can find a lot of horses on those meadows. Maybe the horses were already brought back to their stables.
This was a very nice walk.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jul 26, 2010, 4:44 pm
we helped Katja to prepare soused herring in red-wine-marinade today.
First Katja gave us all the ingredients for the receipe:
about 10 soused herrings
1/4 l red wine
1/4 l red wine vinegar
200 g white rock sugar
3 tsp black pepper
3 tsp mustard seed
4 bay leaves
2 carrots
2 onions
We helped to cut onions and carrots ...
... and to measure off wine and red wine vinegar.
All ingredients except of the herrings had to boil up.
While we waited for the wine to boil up we enjoyed coffee and cookies.
Herrings and stock were layered into a bowl than. The herrings will have to stay there for at least three days.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Aug 1, 2010, 10:58 am
we took a walk today in the afternoon. We had really bad weather from Sunday until yesterday. First I will show you where I am living at the moment. I am living in the attic storey of this pretty house which was built in 1904.
I saw this funny fountain.
This is the large intersection in front of the central station.
We went to a housing area called "Hohenhagen". It is situated on a hill opposite of the city centre.
You can find all kinds of houses here, nice old houses as well as new built family homes and social housing.
This TV mast is also situated on this hill.
We walked a bit further and left the housing area. Soon we reached open fields. In the backgound you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal.
You can see the city centre in the background of the next photo, those two towers are the city hall and the water tower. You can also see that the formerly nice weather was nearly gone. That is also typical for this region
This barley already seemed to be ripe.
We decided to walk back than.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Aug 1, 2010, 11:03 am
today we took a short walk with Katja's parents. The weather was not really nice. First we had a short stop in a beer garden.
We enjoyed a delicious large beer.
We were sitting here so long that we decided to take only a really short walk. ]
We reached a small hammock with traditional old houses, I especially liked this skew-whiff half-timbered house. Katja told me that those houses were probably built in 18th century.
Aren't those roses wonderful?
We walked back to the car than. As soon as we reached it, it started to rain.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Aug 7, 2010, 9:35 am
we took a walk today in Hohenhagen, which I lately visited with Katja and camlila. It is one of the highest-located districts in the municipal area of Remscheid. We had a great overview from here.
We rested in the soft moss for a while.
We reached a nice valley than.
Those blackberries are not ripe yet.
What a lovely place to live!
Bye
Squirt
Posted Oct 23, 2010, 4:05 pm
we took a walk today on a pilgrimage trail, the Way of St. James. We had planned to walk to Altenberg Abbey, but it was too far away. So we followed the trail for about an hour and than we walked back to the car. We followed this lovely valley most of the time.
Close to a restaurant in a small hamlet I saw this barn, it was decorated really nice.
Next stop was a place called "Markusmuehle".
We played "Hide and Seek" in this stack of wood
Bye
Squirt
Posted Oct 23, 2010, 4:14 pm
we went to Duesseldorf today to take a walk with three dogs along River Rhine. We parked the car in Duesseldorf-Niederkassel. Duesseldorf is the capital city of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, about 1,232 km long. The Rhine is divided into sections, here in Duesseldorf it is called "Lower Rhine" (Niederrhein).
We saw transport ships.
We played in the sand, we even found shells!
I took a look to the dike.
Duesseldorf International Airport is on the other side of the river, quite close. We saw many planes taking off.
White willows are growing here, really close to the waterside.
We reached a marina. We left the strand and walked to the dike to return to the car than.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Oct 23, 2010, 4:55 pm
after a week with horrible weather we went to Katja's friend Kerstin to take a walk in one of the rural districts of Remscheid, close to the Wupper dam. On our way to Kerstin's house we took a short walk in the district Luettringhausen's pretty old town.
We saw this historic mail box which is still in use.
An apple tree!
Later in the afternoon we took another walk with dog Pepe.
We walked along a really narrow path between some fields.
We reached Wupper dam than.
Katja told us that there was not much water in it. Usually cou cannot see this "bridge" between the water in the foreground and the background.
We soon left the dam area and walked back to the car, again along harvested fields.
This corn is not ready yet.
Bye for now
Squirt
Posted Oct 23, 2010, 5:13 pm
we took a really long hiking tour along the River Wupper today. We went to Leichlingen, a small town in "Rheinland", by train.
From here we followed the River Wupper for about 17 - 20 km.
River Wupper is flowing through the city centre of Leichlingen.
This is a typical house of this region. Old houses are often covered with slate, you can also find lovely half-timbered houses.
We followed the river until we reached the historical grindery Wipperkotten. It was first mentioned in the documents in early 17th century, situated close to the River Wupper. It burned down and was rebuilt several times, survived even both World Wars. It was supposed to be dismantled in 1955, but it was saved, restored and is unter monument protection now. Today they were celebrating their annual "Schleiferfest".
Here you can see the old grindery buildings with the double-waterwheel.
The waterwheels were running, driving the machines inside.
Here you can see one of the historical workplaces.
Outside again ...
We continued walking towards to Solingen. River Wupper is damed by a weir here.
We walked along lovely flowers.
When we had to cross a road we saw this lovely vintage car.
We walked through another hamlet, Balkhausen.
In Balkhausen there is another historical grindery. a museum is situated here.
We walked along the river Wupper until we reached Solingen-Unterburg.
High above this district you can the medieval castle "Schloss Burg". I have visited this castle already earlier this summer.
A chair-lift is leading uphill to the castle.
We took a last group photograph in Unterburg.
This was a fantastic trip, but everyibe's feet are hurting now.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:27 am
Katja's parents took me with them to a trip to the Netherlands, to the North Sea!
We'll spend a few days in Cadzand-Bad, a small town at the Southernmost point of the Netherlands, next to the border to Belgium.
Unfortunately we had bad weather so far, but today the weather was fine again. We took a walk to the beach.
I had a lot of fun playing on the beach.
By the way, I am not the only plushy toy here. Katja's parents also took a few more toys with them: a meerkat and a teddy bear.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:35 am
today we took another walk along the beach, this time a longer one. We walked a few kilometres until we saw the lighthouse of Breskens in the background.
In the background of the following photo you can see the harbor of Vlissingen, situated on the peninsula of Walcheren.
I was so happy to the see the North Sea!
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:43 am
today we met Katja's friend Erika. We drove to Leverkusen, a town in Rhineland, to take a walk on the "Obstweg", which is leading along orchard meadows.
Orchard meadows is an extensive grassland-orchard management system, consisting of a meadow with scattered fruit trees , usually mown once or twice a year; now an endangered, species-rich, semi-natural habitat found in cultural landscapes near villages. Unfortunately the weather was not that great.
Our trip started at "NaturGut Ophoven", a manor consisting an environmental education center for kids and adults in Leverkusen. It was founded in 1984 on an old estate in the district Opladen. One of the buildings there once was part of an historic castle complex, built in 14th century. It is one of the oldest buildings in the municipal area.
I saw this funny giant flower, made of discarded motorway signs. Can you see the sun collectors? When the sun is shining this flower is turning around - it must be a funny view
Here you can see nesting boxes for different birds and also bats.
Our path was following a creek for some time.
These are Heidschnucken, a moorland sheep which you can find in Northern Germany and Northern Europe.
You can find information boards all along the path, telling you interesting facts about fruit-growing and the landscape in common.
Katja loves animals, so we stopped to pet this donkey.
We also walked along fields, some of them already harvested and nice hamlets.
When we returned to our starting point, we had a coffe in the café of Naturgut Ophoven. They have a world map and I showed Owen my home country.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:48 am
Hi Mummy,
in the afternoon we took a short walk to the municipal park. A lot of trees already lost most of the leafes. It became really cold within a few days, it is only about 5°C cold.
No more flowers are blooming here.
[img] http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/5096957251_d13261e8c4_o.jpg/img]
You can find a lot of houses like those in the vicinity of my current home.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:53 am
we stayed at home today, having a really lazy day. Katja is knitting socks for a girl in South America and in the afternoon we decided to bake a cake. We made a cake with raisins, but not with "ordinary" raisins. The raisins were put into rum a few days ago
Katja printed the receipe and pinned it to the kitchen wall.
The ingredients for our cake are
250 g butter / margarine
200 g sugar
1 p vanilla sugar
salt, lemon peel
4 eggs
100 ml milk
300 g wheat flour
100 g starch flour
1 p baking powder
250 g raisins
chocolate icing or sugar powder
Those raisins smelled delicious!
First we had to grease the baking pan. The baking oven was preheated to 175°C.
Katja prepared the dought. First butter was beaten with sugar and vanilla sugar, than the eggs were mixed in, than milk and flour, starch flour and baking powder. At last the raisins were put into the dough.
The cake had to bake for about 75 minutes.
75 minutes later ......
We took the cake out of the baking pan ...
With its chocolate topping it looked like this:
Yummy!
We'll taste it tomorrow.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 12:01 pm
we visited Altenberg Abbey today. We took a long walk to get there, from Wermelskirchen to Altenberg, about 18 km. In August we walked a large part of this trail so I decided to take a nap in Katja's rucksack.
Altenberg Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Altenberg, now a part of Odenthal in the Bergisches Land. It was founded in 1133 as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey.
It is called "Altenberger Dom" although Altenberg was never the seat of a bishopric, so this is not technically accurate), is now an interdenominational church used by both Roman Catholics and Protestants.
On the abbey area you can find some nice restaurants. We had coffee and cake in this one.
We visited the abbey than.
The West front was illuminated by sunlight.
[img] http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/5068497138_dbc789fe9e_o.jpg[/img]
There are more buildings on the abbey ground.
We had a look inside the church.
This church in the middle of the green is a really lovely sight.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Nov 14, 2010, 12:14 pm
today we visited an exhibition in Oberhausen, a city in the Ruhr area. The exhibition is called "Out Of This Word - Wonders of The Solar System".
We went to Oberhausen by train.
When we reached Oberhausen it was extremely foggy.
The exhibition is situated in a gas holder. The whole area which is a leisure park nowadays once was a vast industrial region, mostly mining and steel production until the 1960s. Today you can find Germany's largest shopping mall here and a leisure park.
The gas holder was constructed between 1927 and 1929. When it was built it was the largest gas holder in Europe stood with a height of 117.5 m and a diameter of 67.6 m.
Today it is an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage and serves as an exhibition hall. The present exhibition 'Out Of This World - Wonders Of The Solar System' was named an official project of RUHR.2010, the European Capital of Culture 2010.
The exhibition describes the solar system as a process of growth and decay. Reproductions of the planetary system, of the planets and their moons, images of the sun, both historical instruments and modern technology of space research graphically presents the drama of the birth and development of the solar system up to its possible end. The show is centered around the 25-meter sculpture of 'the largest moon on earth.
It was quite dark in the gas holder, it was difficult to take photos. Not all of our photos are of a good quality - sorry
These are photos of the surfaces of planets.
This is Saturn.
I could see the moon above me.
This is a German spacecraft, a replication I suppose.
We took an elevator to get to the roof of the gas holder. Unfortunately we did not see anything. Because of its height we could have seen the whole Ruhr area if the weather had been better.
We went back to the exhibition.
I learned a lot about the history of space exploration.
This was a wonderful trip!
Bye
Squirt
Posted Dec 18, 2010, 11:25 am
it's snowing without an end here. Today we took a few photos in the city centre when we went home from work.
In the afternoon we took a walk to the municipal park. Here is our house
Most of the cars are nearly completely hidden under the snow.
Here is the pond in the park.
On our way home ...
Bye
Squirt
Posted Dec 31, 2010, 12:10 pm
Posted Dec 31, 2010, 12:19 pm
Hi Mummy,
today we met Katja's friend Kerstin and took a walk with her and her dog Pepe.
We went to Wuppertal, to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas.
A lot of people come with their dogs and let them run and play here.
This is Pepe!
We went back to the car when we were chilled to the bone. It was very hard to find a parking place while all the streets are stuck with tons of snow.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 12:40 pm
today the sun was shining, finally after weeks with a dark grey cloudy sky. Of course we went outside in the afternoon.
The first photo was taken in the street where I am living at the moment.
We decided to take a walk on the "Trasse des Werkzeugs".
Even today you can still find industrial companies along the lane.
Katja likes this lane because you can take a longer walk here with rarely getting into contact with traffic.
From this point sometimes you can see Colone in the distance.
We reached Hasten than, an old district with lots of nice old buildings.
Stumping through the snow is really exhausting. I was glad when we came back home.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:07 pm
life is getting normal here. This week most of snow melted away. We went to Katja's sister-in-law who is celebrating her birthday today.
Katja's sister-in-law is living in this steep street.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:13 pm
today we took a short walk to the municipal park. Timothy III. from Czech Republic arrived today. Of course we wanted to show him at least a little bit of the surroundings.
Here you can see the observatory.
All the turtles in the pond in the park are hiding somewhere.
Only the ducks seem to believe we were going to feed them
We bought some things for dinner here.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:32 pm
Katja's colleague Elke invited me to go on a trip to Bavaria with her, visiting relatives. Of course I went with her.
We went to Marktredwitz, a small city in the Kösseine, a massif in the High Fichtelgebirge mountains in Germany, lying in northeast Bavaria. This place is close to Czech Republic. Here you can see the historic city hall of Marktredwitz.
I creeped into the Ice Hockey Station of "Selber Woelfe" (Selb Wulfs), VER Selb. This ice hockey club playing in the first league. Of course you can buy fan articles here, also this hat.
This is the stadion of the Wulfs. When there is no training or game taking place everybody can use it for leisure sport.
In the club shop you can buy more things with the logo of the Wulfs, like ball pens, tricots and useful things for winter.
The ice skater went home. Now the machine is preparing the ice for the following game.
After spending so much time in the cold I have to warm up now.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:38 pm
it's starting to snow!
The first snow in winter 2010/2011!
In Weißenstadt we bought some local delicacies in a lebkuchen factory. Elke bought something she would need for cooking later, her husband bought something for enjoying immediately. These are a special sort of lebkuchen for making a sauce to Sauerbraten.
Yummy!
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:42 pm
thankfully it is not too cold, we did not have to scrape ice off the car windows. We could remove the snow with our gloves.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 1:57 pm
today we drove home. On the motorway it looked like this.
We made a stop in Wertheim, a city in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. You can find a factory outlet mall here with more than 110 shops. This is the main entrance.
Even turtles have to go the restroom. This is a really clean and spacious restroom.
I hope we're going to find our car!
Than it was time to drive home.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 2:02 pm
I dediced to stay with Elke while she is off work.
Today we went to Wuppertal to visit the Christmas market. I liked the farm animals especially.
We enjoyed coffee and a krapfen, a delicious fried something.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 16, 2011, 2:11 pm
Posted Jan 25, 2011, 7:26 pm
we were so glad that the snow melted away, and now this ....
I am really fed up with snow!
Bye
Squirt/b]
Posted Jan 25, 2011, 7:37 pm
once more it is really ugly outside, rainy and foggy. Because nobody wanted to go outside, we had time for a long breakfast.
Katja bought bread rolls and a Sunday paper.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 29, 2011, 11:17 am
Katja adopted two toy from Miapearl, they arrived today.
They are Fimbo_Fimble and Herlinde, a dragon girl from medieval times.
So I am not the only TV here since Timothy III. left last week.
Outside it is looking quite nice, so we'll go out later to show the new TVs their new home.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 29, 2011, 11:29 am
We walked towards Hasten.
Next to the swimming bath there are still some snow remains.
Katja talked with her daughter about visiting Duesseldorf tomorrow ... Let's see if the weather will be still good tomorrow.
Bye
Squirt
Posted Jan 29, 2011, 5:57 pm
today we visited Duesseldorf, the capital city of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia. I have been here before, in summer, but this time we went to the city centre.
We went here by train and walked from the central station to the city centre.
They have the third largest Japanese quarter in Europe here, situated in the streets in the vicinity of the Hotel Nikko.
From here we walked towards River Rhine, because we wanted to enjoy the sunshine there. Katja told us that we had to walk for about 10 - 15 minutes to get there.
On our way we walked through a quarter with lots of cultural facilities like museums and a concert hall. I saw this wonderful mosaic on a wall.
Soon we reached the river. In summer I played with the dogs on the opposite river bank.
Katja took a zoomed photo of the promenade.
We reached the old town than, the historic tower is containing a museum.
What a lovely sight with the river close to the old town.
Katja also showed us the historic city hall.
The cartwheelers are a symbol for Duesseldorf, this tradition belongs to Duesseldorf since about 1560 A.D - the history of its origin is not clear.
In front of one of the most famous breweries you can find this sculpture of a cartwheeler.
In Duesseldorf Altbier is brewed, a special beer which is only brewed in this region. When we had a snack for dinner, Katja had a large altbier.
Greetings from a tired
Squirt
Posted Jan 30, 2011, 8:23 am
today a friend asked Katja if she wanted to take a walk in the forest with her. Of course she wanted - her friend of course knows this.
We reached the outlook pavilion from where you have a gorgeous look across the valley of the river Wupper and Muengsten Bridge.
I visited Muengsten Bridge already in May, it's Germany's highest railway bridge.
We walked to the park underneath the bridge to have a coffee.
They built a new café here last year. The building is covered with metal plates in a rusty look.
At the moment repair works are taking place at the bridge. No trains can cross them at the moment. Usually we would have crossed the bridge yesterday to get to Duesseldorf. Instead we had to travel via Wuppertal.
We had coffee and zwieback, a German sweet delicacy, at a kiosk.
Later we had to cross river Wupper once more to walk back to the car.
Although the sun was shining and the temperature was above zero there are still lots of icy places in the forest, here for example.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is also great
Bye
Squirt
Posted Apr 3, 2011, 11:19 am
I just want to let you know that I started back for home after an exciting trip.
In my luggage I have some really delicious German sweets for all of you.
Love
Squirt