Anton Bär, Wuppertal, at home, Germany

Salvia


Posted Jan 28, 2015, 11:28 am
I am currently at home and wait for my owner to come back from kindergarten. I am so excited to travel soon to some unknown place.
Salvia


Posted Jan 28, 2015, 5:52 pm
After my owner came back from kindergarten we played a bit. Then I cooked him dinner (which he did not like). Here you can see me cooking:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/15767065964_a69f32c587.jpg

And here I am playing with my owner and Kasper, one of my friends. Kasper is an orphaned toy, which Mommy and Daddy found on a bench some years ago. He slept the last night at kindergarten, because Mommy forgot him.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7298/15769502613_81af46e5a1.jpg

Now my owner is in bed and we have finally some time to watch TV and relax.
Salvia


Posted Jan 29, 2015, 8:31 pm
Today was not very exiting. But at least we had some sunshine here. In the afternoon I had teatime with Mommy and Daddy and the little one.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/16211822727_a6049e4d4f.jpg

It seems as if I could travel very soon. I am so exited. What should I pack?
Salvia


Posted Feb 2, 2015, 5:35 pm
The weekend was not so nice. My owner was ill and had fever. So today we were at the pediatrician. Fortunately everything was okay. Only a flu and pain from teething, nothing serious.

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In the afternoon I made the last preparations for traveling. I am so excited to go on my first trip. And all the way to China!

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I then said good-bye to my friends here. I will miss them very much. Hopefully I will make some new friends at my host.

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Bye, bye Germany! China here I come!

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7326/16241381070_42c860d078.jpg
goomymia


Posted Feb 9, 2015, 10:35 am
Mumbling...
I can do it, just hold on for a few more hours.
My friends are definitely waiting for me already...
goomymia


Posted Feb 9, 2015, 11:00 am
Hallo my dear little owner and mama papa,
I finally made it to Beijing! :p
There are 5 voyagers at my host's home, they are Dancing Dolly, GiGi giraffe, Crabs, Eliott and MooseS! All of them are enjoying the Chocolate I brought to them. Oh yes my host Mia wants to say thank you for the gifts, she loves them very much. :)
Can't believe that I'll go to Tiananmen tomorrow, oh I need to take a good rest first..ummmm..How's the flu and toothache? I'm so worried about you my owner. Hope everything is going well.
Lots of love :thinking:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Feb 10, 2015, 3:53 pm
ni hao,
This is the first Chinese phrase I've learned so far which means hello.:rolleyes:
How excited! We were going to take subway line 1 to visit Tiananmen, it took us about 18 mins to get to the Tiananmen West station. I should say it was a little bit crowded in the subway. We walked through exit C and found that there was an entrance to the National Theater! ummmm..the official name is National Center for the Performing Arts.
My little owner, did you see the new outfit I have for today?  :)
Yes I got a green striped sweatshirt and green scarf. Mia said I really need to put on some clothes to keep warm, the high temperature will be 12c though.
Do you like green? I'm loving it! Maybe I can use green as the color of my travelog.
Anton :p
goomymia


Posted Feb 11, 2015, 6:02 am
Here we got to the hall of NCPA which is National Center for the Performing Arts. It's such a long name I even can't type them all into the 'Place'. Right, I prefer to call it National Theater.
Mia told us we are about to meet Amy who will join us for today.  :)
But 20 mins' ve passsed, we still haven't seen her yet. We found a place to have a seat and play some games to kill time. Honesly it was quite boring. So we finally decided to take a look at the National Theater.
Haha Dancing Dolly calls it the Egg.  :D
I can't understand before but after the short visit I know what does she mean. The Nationl Theater is indeed a giant egg. We moved to the east of the Egg and found that there is no different between each sides, any direction we take photos the building would looks like the same egg. Then we gave up.
Hooray! Amy is waving to us. :cyclops:
goomymia


Posted Feb 11, 2015, 6:48 am
The photo below is us sitting in front of the Great Hall of the People. :)
I've heard we can always see that building on CCTV News 7:00pm every day night. It's a place where holds important meetings inside. All the leaders from other countries like Argentina, America, France...of course Germany, they will literally come here if they visit China. Our Chancellor Angela Merkel came here on July7 last year.
Haha here we come! B)
goomymia


Posted Feb 12, 2015, 9:14 am
The traditional architecture below is a gate called Zhengyangmen, men is gate in chinese. It used to be a gate in Beijing's historic city wall and was built in 1419 during the Ming Dynasty.
We will move closer to have a look at it later.  :)
The building which looks like a box in the second photo is Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Mia said it used to be a gate of the Forbidden City at that location long times ago.
Let us keep moving... :rolleyes:
goomymia


Posted Feb 12, 2015, 9:31 am
After a long path underground we finally arrived at the Tiananmen Square.
You see the Zhengyangmen over there? :stare:
If we walk through that gate to south we will be on the Qianmen Street which is a quite famous commercial street in history, it still is right now. And then are the monument to the people's heroes and Tiananmen building. The last photo is National Museum.  :)
goomymia


Posted Feb 12, 2015, 9:45 am
Something isn't going that well today. :o
We were about to visit the National Museum but when we got to the entrance of the museum, our companion Amy suddenly realized that she forgot her ID at home. Ummmmm...that's not good news.
The guard won't let us get inside without ID card. So we can just change the former plan. :(
At least we captured these dragon heads. :thinking:
goomymia


Posted Feb 12, 2015, 2:02 pm
Next stop: the Tiananmen tower.  :)
It took us a while to cross the Changan Ave, sure we walked through the underpass again and we needed to wait in line to pass the security check. The girl who holds me and Eliott in the third photo below is Amy. She is a really lovely girl but also forgetful sometimes.
Look she was wearing her hat for us. :rolleyes:
goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:06 pm
We can't visit the National Museum today, so we decided to go for a walk outside the Forbidden City and have a look at a corner tower.
The first photo is the National Theater, do you think it looks like a giant metal egg? :p
goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:11 pm
Walked through Changan Ave and then turned right to the Beichangjie (jie means street in Chinese) we saw this gorgeous building at the east side of the street! The tablet on the wall indicates that this is a very valuable historic site.
Unfortunately we can't visit inside, it's not open to the public. :thinking:
goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:17 pm
I took the bottom photo when we were waiting for the traffic lights.
The white tower behind me is White Dagoba on Qionghua Island in Beihai Park. :)
It's a buddhist building which was built to honour the visit of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1651.
Maybe I could move closer to have a look at it next time.
Now we have to keep moving.  ;)
goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:23 pm
Hooray!
We finally made it to the corner tower!  :cyclops:
Mia said it is the northwest corner tower of the Forbidden City. There are four of them in total. MooseS and Eliott suggested to take a group photo together, haha we love that photo.
Here are some info I found online:
Quote:
At the four corners of the wall sit towers with intricate roofs boasting 72 ridges, reproducing the Pavilion of Prince Teng and the Yellow Crane Pavilion as they appeared in Song dynasty paintings. These towers are the most visible parts of the palace to commoners outside the walls, and much folklore is attached to them. According to one legend, artisans could not put a corner tower back together after it was dismantled for renovations in the early Qing dynasty, and it was only rebuilt after the intervention of carpenter-immortal Lu Ban.

goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:45 pm
After the corner tower we went to the northern gate of the Forbidden City.  :D
There is a hill nearby the gate. If we get to the top of the hill, the official name is Jingshan Park, we could have a birds' eye view to see further of inner Beijing. But we were going to catch a bus to get to the Gulou, so we could climb that hill next time. Some info about the Gate of Divine Might:
Quote:

Gate of Divine Might is the northern gate of the Forbidden City. It faces Jingshan Park. A tablet above the doorway reads "The Palace Museum" in Chinese.

The Gate was originally named The Black Tortoise Gate, this being the traditional name for the northern gate of a Chinese Imperial Palace. However when the Kangxi Emperor, whose birth name was Xuanye, ascended to the throne, the word Xuán became a sacred taboo. The character "Xuán" also has the meaning of "sacred mystery", which correlates well with the new character "Shén", meaning "divine".


goomymia


Posted Feb 13, 2015, 2:55 pm
We took a very quick snapshot with a lovely newsstand before we got on the bus.
There were an awful lot of passengers on bus No. 5.  :o
Seriously I can hardly breath!
goomymia


Posted Feb 14, 2015, 1:55 am
Oh fresh air!
Getting off the bus we saw a street sign reads Dianmenwai dajie. I know jie means street, what about dajie? :thinking:
It must has some connection with street...ummmm...the avenue? So da will be wide in Chinese. I asked Dancing Dolly because she is a Chinese expert within us. She said da means big. Haha I also learned little which is xiao.
I'm a xiao bear, I have da eyes. :p
Dolly also introduced the Gulou to us, she has been here a couple of times already. The red building is Gulou. It was originally built in the 1270s by the Yuan Dynasty during the reign of Kublai Khan. Relocated and reconstructed in the 1420s by the Ming Dynasty. We also took a look at Zhonglou behind Gulou. It looks smaller than Gulou and the basic color of it is grey.
Wow...we went lots of sightseeing today! :o
goomymia


Posted Feb 14, 2015, 2:14 am
Walked along Gulou west street and then turned left, I found myself in a Hutong area. :)
The red sign on the wall indicates here is Dashibei Hutong, aha I knew it! It might also has Xiaoshibei Hutong! So I asked Dolly again, she said there is indeed a Xiaoshibei Hutong, these two hutongs used to be a whole one called Shibei Hutong and they were separated at the beginning of 1900s. The longer one's turned to be Dashibei Hutong since then.
Ummmm...interesting :thinking:
goomymia


Posted Feb 14, 2015, 2:34 am
Here we arrived at Shichahai area.
Hai is the sea in Chinese, but it is actually a big lake consisting of three lakes to the north of the Forbidden City, another historic site on the top of must visit in Beijing list. Mia said she usually go skating here in winter when the lake is frozen. It would be a lot of fun!
I heard my heart break when I saw the lake. It's not frozen yet or it started unfreezing. :(
Ok it's true that the winter here is quite warm. You see today is up to 12c, spring is coming! It means green, bees and tons and tons of flowers. I can actually take more colorful photos, you know winter is a bit pale.
The second photo is me on Yinding Bridge. :rolleyes:
goomymia


Posted Feb 14, 2015, 3:00 am
My dear mama papa and little owner,
That's all my adventures for today. :rolleyes:
The sun rush to go home, I think it is time for me to go home too.
Here is a photo I took when I was waiting for the subway.
Please don't worry about me. The weather here is good, not that much smog. The food is fantastic, all I need is learning how to use chopsticks, and Mia will help me. Yawn...it's such a long day. I feel a little bit tired.
Always love
Your little Anton :)
goomymia


Posted Feb 16, 2015, 11:57 pm
Happy birthday Eliott!
goomymia


Posted Feb 19, 2015, 5:02 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
Simão IV invited me to go visit him. :rolleyes:
I will stay at his home for a couple of days and we will celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year together! How excited! We had a cup of hot tea and then he showed me around his home. Here I saw a big decoration with many Chinese Fu, which means blessing.
Love
Anton :)
goomymia


Posted Feb 19, 2015, 11:49 am
Dolly told me Simão's grand was preparing for the New Year Eve's feast. :)
I can't wait to take a look at the kitchen, I hope I could offer some help but grand said it was almost done.
Wow there are fried fish, steamed fish...so many fish dishes. :p
I'm so excited! You know how much I love fish!
goomymia


Posted Feb 20, 2015, 5:55 am
After the feast, we sat in front of the telly. :)
It was almost 8:00pm. We watched the Spring Festival Gala together.
goomymia


Posted Feb 20, 2015, 2:04 pm
My dear little owner and mama papa,
How are you? I saw very beautiful fireworks tonight. :rolleyes:
Look, how gorgeous they were!!! It was nearly midnight. Also my first time to stay up that late, mama you will probably ask me to go to bed if you are here. Happy Chinese New Year!
Always love :)
Your little Anton
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 1:14 am
ummmm...it's 7:00 in the morning. Simão's grand just came to wake me up.
Why sooooooo early. I want to sleep, just give me 5 more minutes...
What? Making dumpling?  :cyclops:
Then I got up as fast as I can...ummm...it's not bright outside.
...
I'm still half awake...better to get back to sleep...yawn...
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 1:31 am
Oh my! Look! It's snowing outside! :o
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 2:44 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
I looked outside through the window this morning, It was snowing! :cyclops:
I was really excited and can't wait to go outside. I would build a snowman! When I reached the door, Simão IV's grand said 'Don't forget your coat Anton...'. Oh I almost forgot it and my scraf, my green striped coat and my pretty scarf. I didn't wear them that night when I was watching fireworks, I nearly got cold.
Wow, that's the building where I'm staying at right now, it's higher than I thought. :o
I looked around and found a lovely blue car, a swing, and a colorful slide! Yes I also found a seesaw myself, it was covered under snow though. Then I call my friends to come and play..umm...I didn't realize I'm not light at all. I was always on the down side. I think I should consider losing some weight, maybe do more exercise?
Love Ya  :)
Anton
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 3:02 am
We agree Eliott is the heaviest one, he decided to sit in the middle to balance the seesaw. :rolleyes:
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 10:44 am
I followed MooseS and Simão IV to climb on a tree, then I got bird's eye view and discovered a perfect place to build a snowman. When we reached the ground, we can't help ourselves making snow angels! The snow was really soft It was so much fun!
The snow fight began with Crabs' hat. :stare:
Literally Crabs made a snow ball and threw it right on Dancing Dolly's head and he said 'look Dolly, I made a snow hat for you.' Then the snow war started...
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 11:05 am
My dear little owner and mama papa,
You see the snowman we built? Haha it was frankly a snowbear! :p
They said this snowbear is my portrait statue.What do you think?
Always love :rolleyes:
Anton 
goomymia


Posted Feb 21, 2015, 11:29 am
What a wonderful day I have! :D
A group photo is necessary for today.
goomymia


Posted Mar 2, 2015, 7:42 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
Today I went to a street called Yandaixiejie and I found an unique Postoffice. :rolleyes:
It has a real mail box and a statue of a boy in Qing Dynasty at the entrance.
It looks like a historic site, I will go inside to take a look.
Love ;)
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 2, 2015, 7:47 am
Here I got to the postoffice which is called Daqing Postoffice.
Umm...It's actually  a retro site looks like the postoffice more than 100 years ago. :thinking:
I saw some unique stamp marks people used to use before in Qing Dynasty.
I heard we are about to go visit a secret voyager and spend Chinese New Year together.
That will be a lot of fun! :cyclops:
goomymia


Posted Mar 2, 2015, 7:52 am
I'm still at Simão's home.  :)
Humm...these flowers just smell so good!
goomymia


Posted Mar 3, 2015, 2:18 am
We were looking for an interesting book to read together. :)
goomymia


Posted Mar 3, 2015, 2:25 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
So sad this is my last day at Simão IV's home, we are going to leave after lunch. :(
We decided to do some morning reading. Dancing Dolly found a book about America on shelf.
The title of the book is 'Greetings from the 50 States, How They Got Their Names.'
Haha, It's about Dolly's homeland and we also found her home state: South Carolina on the map.
Always love :rolleyes:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 3, 2015, 2:37 am
Hi my friends,
today we went to a restaurant to farewell with Dolly and GiGi. :)
Mia ordered 'Tofu with Preserved Eggs'. She loves that dish so much, every time we went to a restaurant together, she would definitely have one if they serve it.
We also ordered 'Beijing Noodles with Soybean Paste'. Humm..very tasty. 
MooseS even brought his lollipops to share, can't believe we keep them till today.
Love :rolleyes:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 3, 2015, 2:43 am
Safe trip my friends Dancing Dolly and GiGi Giraffe. I will miss you! :D
goomymia


Posted Mar 3, 2015, 2:47 am
I think I met a little fairy while reading... :o
Only me and Eliott can see her, how strange.
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 8:41 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
Today is a very nice day, we decided to visit a famous temple. :rolleyes:
It is located in western mountains of Beijing.
Here are some pictures I took on the road.
When we got to the entrance, I checked the site map first..
Aha..it seems we will go a lot of sightseeings today. ;)
Did you see the turtle on the photo below? He is Slowly-Slowly, my new friend just arrived today.
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 8:47 am
Here is the first hall of Tanzhe Temple.
Wow Tanzhe Temple was built in 307 AD over 1,700 years ago. :o
People said this temple is older than Beijing city, so intersting.
I also saw some typical Buddhist stuff...they like golden color I guess.
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 8:54 am
Heading to the north, we arrived at the Mahavira Hall.
I know nothing about Buddhist temple. I can hardly find a Buddhist temple like this in my hometown.
It seems that every temple should have a Mahavira Hall as the center building :rolleyes:
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 8:59 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
The photo below is the Relic Stupa of Huayan. :)
Huayan founded Tanzhe Temple thousands years ago.
Mia told me a legend about him.

Once upon a time, Huanyan was riding a dragon traveling around the world. One day, he found a prefect place in mountains to build a monastery. But he also saw 9 dragons were living there who seemed in charge of this beautiful area. Dragons are well known as their bad tempers.
Huayan saw a black dragon producing water and having fun himself in a deep lake. :stare:
He spent some time observing the black dragon and saw him transformed to a beauty tricked villagers who came begging for rain. By the way it was so dry as a deserted place down there not far from those dragons.
Huayan can't stand this anymore, he tried to negotiate with the black dragon but failed.
Ummm...then came the fight. :thinking:
Yes Huayan beat the black dragon. The black dragon promised to make it rain and safe the village, he even turned to be the decoration on the roof of Mahavira Hall after the project completion.
Well dragons are dragons, how boring it would be to merely stay on the roof. The black dragon planed to escape at a thundery night. Unfortunately he was caught by Kangxi Emperor who was just about to visit the temple. The Emperor gave order to add an extra structure on the roof of Mahavira Hall to chain the dragon.

Oh poor guy, I just saw him on the roof! I should have talked to him to comfort him. :(
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 9:07 am
Did you see that?
Magnolias are ready to bloom. Spring is coming! :D
We took a rest beside the bamboo forest, it's my favorite color green! So bright so beautiful!
The last pic is a dragon I found today. :stare:
I reckon this kind of decoration shows that Emperors always came here long time ago.
You should come here if you visit China mama.
Love :)
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 9:14 am
After the visit at temple we went hiking in the mountains.  :)
goomymia


Posted Mar 5, 2015, 9:20 am
Morning my dear mama papa and little owner,
I stayed at home these days and I met a new friend Cherry Lola:)
She travelled long way from America.
Rocky Raccoon also arrived today! He is a lovely raccoon from Switzerland. He's been to Italy, that's really cool! Wish I could go to Italy someday.
Always love ;)
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 13, 2015, 3:53 am
This is the memorial archway on Qianmen Street. :D
The tablet on it reads 'Zhengyangqiao', qiao means bridge.
goomymia


Posted Mar 13, 2015, 4:03 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
How are you? Here are some photos I took on Qianmen Street:)
Remember last time I went to Tiananmen Square? It's not far from Qianmen.
People come here to buy souvenirs, clothes, jewelry.
On this street you can also find most of Beijing food you've heard.
Like Beijing Duck, Beijing Noodles...and all kinds of snacks!
Simão IV also came today. Remember we had a wonderful time together on Chinese New Year.
All the best :rolleyes:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 13, 2015, 4:12 am
This is Tianfuhao, a prestigious brand which was established in 1738. :o
Wow, their pig elbow souce recipe was classified as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of the nation in 2008.
goomymia


Posted Mar 13, 2015, 4:20 am
We took group photos in front of the Daoxiangcun shop.  :)
goomymia


Posted Mar 20, 2015, 12:39 am
Just right beside the Qianmen Street, there is a narrow street called Zhubaoshi.
goomymia


Posted Mar 20, 2015, 12:41 am
Heading to the west, we passed through a hutong called Langfangsantiao.
I saw a big menu and a fancy moped. :p

goomymia


Posted Mar 20, 2015, 1:11 am
When we were waiting for the traffic lights, I saw the Railway Museum:)
Sounds interesting, maybe I could go visit there next time.
goomymia


Posted Mar 20, 2015, 1:42 am
I took these pictures at Fuxingmen. :)
The street on the 1st picture below is the Second Ring Road of Beijing. The 2nd picture is Changan Ave.
On the 3rd picture you can see the buildings of Beijing Financial Street.
goomymia


Posted Mar 20, 2015, 1:53 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
How are you? Today we rode bike along the Changan Ave. B)
There are some important buildings on this avenue.

1. CCTV building, the Spring Festival Gala was held in there.
2. Military Museum
3. The Capital Museum
....Fuxingmen............
4. The People's Bank of China, they print RMB
5. A building about telephone
6. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
7. Another bank

8. Xidan, a shopping area
9. Beijing Books Building, Mia always went there with friends and she can stay there all day when she was a little girl.
10. A building about telegram
11. Zhongnanhai, the President of China lives there. It's just the gate in the picture, Zhongnanhai is really big inside.
12. Just passed by the Tiananmen Square 
13. Wangfujing, another shopping area


Our route was from west to east about 8km in total. 
If we take subway line 1, it starts at Military Museum Station and ends at Wangfujing Station.
Missing you :thinking:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 23, 2015, 11:09 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
I woke up this morning and looked out the window. The sky was so blue!  :cyclops:
MooseS Slowly-Slowly Eliott and I decided to take a walk outside. Before that we needed to find a place to have breakfast.
Well it was a late breakfast, cause it was almost 11:00 when we got to the restaurant. :p
After the meal we stood on the higher place to see further. "Look! There is a bus stop down there. Why don't we have a bus trip?" MooseS suggested. We finally got on the bus No.1 which is running along the Changan Ave...
Did you see the flowers on the photos? Yay spring is coming!
Always love :)
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 26, 2015, 1:03 am
Dear mama papa and little owner,
I went to Wangjing SOHO during the sunset.  :)
The buildings there look very fancy, just like those future architectures we have seen in sci-fi. It reminds me the New New York haha. Did you see the tiny moon in the last photo? How lovely it is!
Here are some info about Wangjing SOHO:
Quote:
Wangjing SOHO is a complex of three curvilinear asymmetric skyscrapers in Wangjing, a suburb of Beijing, China between central Beijing and Beijing Capital International Airport. According to Zaha Hadid, the project's architect, it is a "welcome and farewell to Beijing".The towers contain both office and retail space. Originally the SOHO was designed as a two-tower complex but due to height concerns it was redesigned as a three-tower project featuring towers of lower maximum height.The complex officially opened on 20 September 2014.

Love  :rolleyes:
Anton
goomymia


Posted Mar 27, 2015, 12:14 pm
Today we drove to the 11th International Conference on Green and Energy-Efficient Building & New Technologies and Products Expo.
The Expo was held at China National Convention Center, very close to the Olympic Park. We decided to go explore the park after a short stay at the Expo.
goomymia


Posted Mar 27, 2015, 12:30 pm
Dear mama papa and little owner,
Here I got to the Olympic Park, where held 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. :)
It was so much fun to take a walk at the Olympic Park.
Especially with my friends Rocky Raccoon Slowly-Slowly Eliott Simão IV Cherry Lola MooseS and Mia.
Besides Birds' Nest and Water Cube, there are some interesting sculptures are waiting to be found at the park.
I also saw a lot of people were doing exercise, like roller skating.

Yours
Anton

goomymia


Posted Apr 7, 2015, 5:49 am
We had lunch at Huguosi Snack. Wow this is a giant Fried Dough Twists!
Here is the recipe, I'd like to make one someday. :rolleyes:
Quote:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more for frying
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup water
Mix together all ingredients to form a smooth, hard dough. This is important so that the dough twists maintain their shape and don't stick together before frying. Working with about a third of the dough at a time, roll out on a lightly floured surface into a circle that is a little less than a quarter of an inch thick. Slice horizontally into strips. Cut those strips into two inch rectangles where possible, but not wasting any of the leftover pieces. With all pieces, including irregular ones, slice slit lengthwise down middle of dough about a quarter of an inch from either end.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, pull one end through the center so that a twist forms. Pull that same end through again so that the strip is more twisted. Set aside on a tray. Repeat with rest of the dough.
Drop batches of twists into a pot of hot oil and fry until golden brown on each side. This will happen quickly so be sure to flip diligently. Remove onto a paper towel-lined plate and serve.

*After cooling completely, twists will last weeks in an airtight container.

goomymia


Posted Apr 7, 2015, 5:51 am
Dear mama papa and little owner, I'm coming home!!!
Salvia


Posted May 13, 2015, 11:03 pm
I am back home. Could not wait to get out of my envelope. Now I have to refresh myself with a cold beer.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8853/16991526353_ea75d88de1_z.jpg
Salvia


Posted May 18, 2015, 10:45 am
This weekend the little one's grandmother celebrated her birthday and so we all went to Freiberg. On our way back home we visited the Monastery Park Altzella. It is a very old Cistercian monastery founded in 1162. Today there is a very nice park you can walk through, you can visit the ruins and they sometimes have concerts here. It was very interesting.

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We even found some sheep.

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On our way home the little one and I had a nice long nap. He is quite the angel, when he sleeps.  ;)

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Salvia


Posted May 21, 2015, 7:18 pm
Today was father's day here in Germany, but because this is more of a general men's day I did go on a trip with Papa. We did go by boat to Naumburg and enjoyed Gulasch and a cold beer after our hard work.

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Salvia


Posted May 21, 2015, 7:31 pm
I am off to new adventures.

Essen I am coming!

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BlackCat


Posted Aug 13, 2015, 8:51 pm
Hey,

I arrived at BlackCat's house. Yaaay. Today we all watched the Eurovision Song Contest together. It's a song competition Europe has every single year. This year they had a guest country - Australia.
We had snacks and watched it for a while but then were tired.

The winner is this video here (CLICK). A really great song from Sweden.

Love
Anton
olgamaus


Posted Aug 22, 2015, 7:00 pm
Dear Mum,
I arrived in Wuppertal today! My new host Katja found me in the mailbox when she came home from shopping.

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Katja showed me the view from her balcony, it's looking nice here  :D

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Bye
Anton Bear
olgamaus


Posted Aug 27, 2015, 9:40 pm
Hi Mum,

when my host came home after work we took a walk in the city.

Wuppertas has 10 districts, the two largest are Elberfeld and Barmen. I am living currently in Elberfeld, in the South of the city, the so-called "Südstadt", only a few minutes to walk to the central station. We have to cross the tracks to get to the city centre in the valley.

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The most important tourist attraction is the "Schwebebahn", a public transportion opened in 1901. The track is mostly following river Wupper, only in the West of Wuppertal it is leaving the river bed and follows streets, it is even crossing the motorway A46. There are 20 stations along the route which is 13,3 km long.

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This is the main road in the valley, the B7, which is closed for a larger part due to a giant building site in front of the station. I will show you this later.

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We walked towards the city centre. Can you see this sculpture in the centre of the roundabout traffic? It was created by the British sculptor Tony Cragg. He is living in Wuppertal and has founded The "Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden", an area within a forest as an exhibition place for his sculptures. Katja told me that she would like to visit this place with me soon.

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You can find lots of parks in Wuppertal, large landscape parks as well as smaller parks close to the city. We found this one really close to the city centre.

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Our route took us along a district called "Ostersbaum", one of six quarters in Elberfeld.

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Wuppertal is an idustrial city with an outstanding history. You can often find former industrial complexes between dwellings, like here.

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On top of this quarter you can find the "Platz der Republik", a former parade-ground founded by the Landwehr in the 1825 years. There is a statue in the park, the "Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen".

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We left the quarter towards the city centre. Can you see how wavy this city is?

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We reached the city centre with its shopping streets and shopping malls. Wuppertal is with its about 340.000 inhabitants the largest city in the area "Bergisches Land".

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In the backyard of the city hall I met this lion, also the heraldic animal of Wuppertal.

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On the market place in front of the city hall there is a replica of the Neptun fountain in Trient, here it is called "Jubiläumsbrunnen".

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We reached the part of the city which will be completely re-designed within the next two years. The main road in the valley is barred for traffic for a large area and there is a terrible traffic chaos in the city.

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The building on the left side belongs to a bank and is one of the most important landmarks.

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Here you can find restaurants and bars, in summer you can sit outside, almost at the river bank.

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This is one of the Schwebebahn stations, called "Ohligsmühle". They are built in different styles, this one in a rather modern style. The Schwebebahn is travelling about 8 m above street level and about 12 m above the river.

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We decided to walk back home, uphill for some time of course ;)

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Bye for today
Anton
olgamaus


Posted Aug 30, 2015, 8:50 pm
Hi Mum,

today I met a lot of ToyVoyagers and their current hosts Strunki and BlackCat. We took a group photo close to the Schwebebahn station Zoo / Stadion.

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What an impressive bunch of ToyVoyagers :D

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Zoo?! Yes, we visited the Zoo. The zoo was founded in 1879.

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The sea lions were fed when visited their enclosure. A nice young man explained a lot around the sea lions.

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There even was a baby which was born this summer. What a cutie :)

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These are the emperor penguins, they are living here in the second largest enclosure within Europe.

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We also visited a house for birds with a specially designed hall, where freely flying birds can be observed. This beautiful bird was really curius, it came closer and closer towards us.

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Do you know these animals? They are maras, large relatives of guinea pigs, also from South America.

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Katja is especially fond of meerkats, she just loves them. Unfortunately they were hiding somewhere in their enclosure, only one of them came by for a moment.

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A lot of animals was asleep because it was rather hot outside. This reindeer thankfully was awake :)

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We all were hungry and managed to find a restaurant. Afterwards the zoo was closing soon and we had to leave.

Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Aug 30, 2015, 9:11 pm
Hi Mum,

today I visited a fun fair with a special market in Wermelskirchen, a small city in the Rheinisch Bergischer Kreis. Wermelskirchen is a neighbour city of Remscheid, where my host lived until she moved to Wuppertal last summer. In Wermelskirchen you can find lots of those typical "bergische" houses, which means timber-framed houses or houses encased with schist. They usually have green shutters and a green door. This fun fair is the largest street party here, there is also a special market taking place. You can buy all kinds of goods here like toys, costume jewellry, bags, household articles, fabrics, clothings and of course you can eat lots of delicious food :)

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Katja had a cocktail and of couse I tasted it. Yummy mojito :D

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Oops! Maybe I tasted a bit too much of it :D :D :D

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Katja bought a lot of stuff: Herbs and spices, soap, dried pineapple and fabric to sew a cozy bed for her pets. But not only a cotton fabric or something like this, she bought velvet and plush! Must be rather spoiled pets ;)

We walked around the caroussels and found funny balls with kids inside.

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We even rode the ferris wheel.

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The ferris wheel is almost 40 m tall, what a fantastic overview!

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Nobody wanted to ride this carrousel with me :(

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I am curious about the pets. Do you know any pet who has a velvet bed with plush?

Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Sep 14, 2015, 8:21 pm
Hi Mum,

we had a few days with really ugly weather. Today we met a friend, took the neighbour's dog and took a walk in a nearby forest. We enjoyed the sunshine.

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Later we bought flowers for the balcony. I'll show you our flower boxes soon :)

Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Sep 14, 2015, 8:43 pm
Hi Mum,

today we made a trip to Venlo, a small town in the Netherlands. Venlo is a city in the southeastern Netherlands, near the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg. Venlo is well-known as a city for shopping; lots of Germany are travelling to Venlo at the weekend to buy foodstuffs because some of them are much cheaper there. We went to Venlo by train, it took us 90 minutes to get there.

In the Netherlands millions of people are using their bikes.

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It was just a short walk until we reached the city centre.

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There are lots of lovely houses with shops, restaurants, cafés and bars.

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Next we took a walk to river Mass, we had a coffee here.

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There is an interesting contrast between the old town and those new buildings.

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Do you like this historic building? I did!

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There is a large market place in the city centre. You can buy all kinds of goods here, food like vegetables and fruits as well as flowers, fabrics, electrical equipment, candy ...

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... and of course ... cheeeeese!!!

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(Katja loves cheese, she bought some of it.)

Unfortunately it started to rain than and it did not stop any more. Later we went back home by train. Katja did not only buy cheese here, but also a very special beer from a British shop. A rather funny brand, I'll shop it to you later when we will enjoy it.

Love
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Sep 20, 2015, 1:32 pm
Hi Mum,

today we went to Remscheid-Lennep. My host lived in Remscheid since late summer 2014, and she grew up in the district Lennep.

Lennep is the second largest district of Remscheid with about 25.000 inhabitants. Lennep once was one of the most important cities of the region Bergisches Land.

Lennep has an historical city core based on a medieval structure. There were several large city fires, the last one in the year 1746 which destroyed most of the city. It was rebuilt afterwards. Lennep received its town charter between the years 1259 and 1276- In 1929 Lennep was annexated to Remscheid.

Katja's parents are still living here; her father in his appartment, her Mum in a nursing home. First she showed us the school she attended.

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Next we went to the historic old town. Most houses are framework houses or they are (partly) covered with slate, traditionally with green shutters and a green door.

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This church once belonged to a convent, nowadays it is used as a place of cultural interest, there is also a well-known restaurant.

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Isn't this a lovely view, all those picturesque houses?

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Here you can see _Mishuta_ and me sitting on the remains of the original city wall. It was used until about 1790, than the population were growing too large for the small city core. The city had to be enlarged and parts of the city wall were pulled down.

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We found this fountain showing the heraldic animal of Remscheid, the lion.

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We strolled through the old town and its narrow lanes. Here we came closer to the market place, you can also find one of two churches here.

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This is a cozy place, it seems to invite you to sit down and order coffee :D But it is a private house, so no coffee is offered :D :D

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A famous person was born in Lennep. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who produced and detected what is nowadays known as x-rays in 1895, was born in 1845 in Lennep. His birth house is still existent, but it was under construction and respectively hidden under a scaffolding. But they have a museum here dedicated to Roentgen.

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The museum has a large new annex with a large ...

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... X in front of it.

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The building on the right side was an indoor swimming pool once, it was re-built to a youth center in the late 1970 years. When Katja moved to Lennep with her family in 1971, it was still a swimming pool, later she liked the youth center :)

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We went to a nice park then.

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As we had still enough time to spend until Katja could visit her Mum in the nursing home, she even took us to the outside of the city core. Here the houses were completely different, of course due to their later origin.

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Soon we reached the end of the outskirt.

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Behind those houses there just was green landscape waiting for us :)

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Back to civilization.

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Then it was time for Katja to meet her Mum and even later we met Katja's daughter who is living in Lennep with her boyfriend. That was a really exhausting day :)

Love
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Sep 20, 2015, 1:35 pm
Hi Mum,

have a look at the new flowers :)

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Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Sep 25, 2015, 5:18 pm
Hi Mum,

in the early evening we took a walk with Jule, the dog. We went to Hardt, a small hill in the middle of the Wupper valley. It is partly covered by woodland and it contains a fantastic landscape park as well as the botanical garden of Wuppertal. It took us about 25 minutes to get there.

There are stairs everywhere to make it easier to walk uphill, often with more than 100 steps.

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IN the background you can see the insurance company building I showed you last week or so.

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Soon we were high enough to have a good overview. Can you see "Wicküler City"? It was a brewery once, nowadays there is a shopping mall in the former brewery complex.

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It is highly visible that it is autumn now!

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A few minuter we reached the top of the hill. Here you can find Elise Tower, one of the most famous landmarks of Wuppertal.

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Elise Tower is marking the botanical garden. The garden dates to 1890 when a botanical school garden was first created on a smaller terrain. Between 1908-1910 it relocated to today's site, the Villa of a textile manufactor named Eller, a former country house which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings. Elise Tower was built in 1838 A.D. as the garden's focal point.

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There are also greenhouses in the entrance area.

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As it is not allowed to take dogs into the botanical garden I just had a quick look behind the fence.

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We walked further and reached the landscape park.

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In summer you can find lots of people relaxing on the lawns.

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From the distance the tower is also a lovely view.

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On the way downhill back home we crossed river Wupper.

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This place is close to the court centre.

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This is the Schwebebahn station "Landgericht", it was re-built in its original historic style some years ago.

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Here you can find both local court and district court, in addition also the industrial court.

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This is Wicküler City, the shopping mall, seen from the main street.

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We made a side stop at a playground.

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Huuu, our walk took longer that we thought :)

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Katja showed me our home from the rear side. Can you spot our balcony?

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Afterwards we played with the pets. Did I already show you those furry monsters? I don't think so ... cute little things with sharp teeth and a monstrous appetite!!!

Bye
Anton Bear
olgamaus


Posted Sep 30, 2015, 9:16 pm
Hi Mum,

we were enjoying the sunshine on the balcony. My host was knitting. Looks nice what she is knitting.

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I asked her if I could learn to knit, too. "Of course", she said.

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It's not too difficult :)

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Ups! Maybe it is more difficult than I thought ;)

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I was knitting and knitting .... and I made progress.

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Today I met the pets. Look, there were four ferrets jumping around, they were curious to meet me.

This is Shiva, one of two oder ferret girls. The other tree are called Zaehnchen, Charlotte and MollyMops.

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Zaehnchen was only showing her back.

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The ferrets love to play on the balcony, but of course they are living inside, in an enclosure in the living room.

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olgamaus


Posted Sep 30, 2015, 9:31 pm
Later we went to Remscheid, we were invited to have (late) breakfast with a friend. After leaving the bus we had to walk a few minutes. Katja showed me the shopping street with the shopping mall.

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These large forceps are a symbol for the tool producing industry here.

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In the background you can see the city hall with its tower.

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As we still had some time to get to Katja's friend, we walked around the streets. In this part of the city many old houses "survived" World War II.

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Later we took a walk to a district which is about 6 km apart from the city centre, it is called Luettringhausen. We chose a nice route to get there.

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When we walked through the outskirts we saw many old factory buildings among the dwellings.

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Soon we reached a lovely valley with a creek running through it.

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When we reached Luettringhausen Katja showed me the city hall. Luettringhausen is one of the historic districts, a bit like Lennep.

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In Luettringhausen a market was taking place, called "Herbstmarkt". You could see lots of agricultural products and also historic tractors were exhibited.

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If you had apple trees in your garden you could have taken your own apples here to make juice from them.

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The narrow streets were crowded, so we enjoyed a beer and went back home.

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Bye
Anton
olgamaus


Posted Oct 7, 2015, 5:15 pm
Hi Mum,

we took off today for a short vacation in Northern Germany. We will stay in Owschlag for a few days. Owschlag is a small town in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein. We will live in the house of Katja's friend's parents. We arrived here in the afternoon and took a walk.

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There are lots of lakes in the surroundings, from our house we can see the so-called Heideteich. The lake on the next photos is from a gravel plant.

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Back home :)

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Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Oct 7, 2015, 5:49 pm
Hi Mum,

today we visited Eckernförde, a city on the coast of the Baltic Sea, exactly at the Eckernförde Bay. First we took a walk along the promenade to the harbour and later into the city centre.

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In the spa gardens I found this sculpture.

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There were lovely ships in the marina.

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This is the market place.

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Behind this building the church is hidden.

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Then it was time for a walk along the shore! We drove to a parking lot just at the end of the city. We had to walk through the forest for a few minutes to reach the sea.

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Here in this region there are forests close to the shore.

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Forests gave way for meadows with cows.

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Katja and her friend enjoyed a beer in a bar on a nearby camping ground. Afterwards we had to walk the same way back to the car.

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There were large rocks along the beach which made it difficult and exhausting to walk there.

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Everyone was tired then.

Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Oct 7, 2015, 6:12 pm
Hi Mum,

today we made a day trip to Sylt. We went by train to Germanys northernmost island, located in the North Sea. In 1927 a dam was built

Sylt is connected to the German mainland by the Hindenburgdamm, a causeway with a railway line on top. We left the train in Keitum. Keitum is located on the Wadden Sea side of the island.

Houses like this are traditional in Nordfriesland.

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This is the Wadden sea side of the island, the eastern coast. The Wadden Sea is famous for its rich flora and fauna, especially birds. In many areas you can even find seals.

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The Eastern coast of the island is partly rather flat.

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We found a map of Sylt.

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We rested for a while in a  Strandkorb. You can find them everywhere along the German coast.

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In the dunes there were lots of roses bushes, all with rosehips now.

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We reached another interesting area, heathlands this time.

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Wooden paths were leading through this area, you were not allowed to leave them.

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It must be a lovely view when all the heather is blooming.

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We reached the town Kampen then.

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Here we crossed to island to get to the opposite coast, the western coast. We saw broad dunes here, with lovely houses hidden in them.

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We walked towards the beach then.

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Finally the sea came into sight.

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Here we found a broad sandy beach and a beautiful cliff line.

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We decided to rest for a while in the beach bar you can see in the background.

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Cheers!

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We walked further towards Westerland, the most famous town on this island.

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In Westerland a special event was taking place - the Windsurf World Cup Sylt 2015. The award ceremony was going on when we reached th is place.

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The promenade was crowded with people, it was a bit difficult to get through.

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I found this statue on the promenade of Westerland.

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My host and her friend were starving, so they only thought of getting something to eat :D

Bye
Anton Bär
olgamaus


Posted Oct 20, 2015, 9:18 pm
Hi Mum,

today we visited Schleswig, a town in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein. The city lies at the western end of the Schlei Förde.The town history of Schleswig goes back to the year 804 when it was mentioned first.

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We walked along the water and saw the cathedral.

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We visited Holm, a historic quater where fishermen once lived and worked. The small houses were lovely.

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Church and churchyard in the centre of the quarter.

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Next stop was the cathedral.

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There is an outlook platform in the tower, about 55 m high. Katja took me and _Mishuta_ up there.

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Ah... the harbour!

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Later we strolled through the city for a while.

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Water from a higher located pond was flowing downhill over this water wheel.

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Bye
Anton Bär

olgamaus


Posted Oct 20, 2015, 9:34 pm
Hi Mum,

today is the last day of our trip to the Baltic Sea. Tomorrow we will have to go home. So today Katja and her friend wanted to take a walk along the coast outside the Eckernförde Bay. We drove to Schwedeneck, a small place at the coast.

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Sailing boats were lying on the beach.

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It was rather stormy, the sea churning.

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We had to leave the beach and had to walk on the cliff through the forest instead.

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Back on the beach ...

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Back on the cliff because the waves were overflowing the beach.

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Here we left the coastline and walked towards the inland.

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We walked through a small village which was surrounded by farmland.

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Later we walked back to the beach and then back to the car.

Bye
Anton Bear


olgamaus


Posted Oct 20, 2015, 9:38 pm
Hi Mum,

the socks for my owner are done :D Katja told me I did a really good job.

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Today we packed my things because I will leave tomorrow. Of course I collected some souvenirs, I especially  like the tiny seal wich I bought on the island Sylt.

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My next destination will be Florida!!! This is really great. I said goodbye to _Mishuta_, Katja and the ferrets.

Bye!
Anton Bär

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