SunnyHH, Mammoth Cave, Australia

RikeH Posted Mar 17, 2009, 5:18 pm	It is great - I will start my travel on Saturday - and go to a nice trip to Madeira with a friend of RikeH.  My travel plans : To Madeira with Tobi. 21.03.09 - 28.03.09 - a wonderful trip, thanks, Tobi. vickyp in Greece.  brilliantlyxx in Missouri, USA.  whatif in China. Daisydz in China.  datura in the USA.  pixiedustlady in the USA.  marcie08 in Austria.    whyskeydoodles in Canada. AbbyB to Fiji Islands. Lillebi in Australia. after4ever in the Netherlands.  Aileen in Germany.  vivyanhui in Hong Kong.  kessalia in the USA.  ScillyHH in Germany.  HoBi in Germany. Noisy in Germany. iloveletters in Germany. Pandamao in Germany. fam-united in Germany. orangesunshine in Germany. RikeH in Germany. Daisydz in the USA.  mcdaniels in Germany. olgamaus in Germany. RikeH I am at home now !  Because the weather is so nice, I decided to be outside.
RikeH Posted Mar 17, 2009, 5:24 pm	After that, I hang around with my friend from Canada....
RikeH Posted Mar 17, 2009, 5:30 pm	Then I played with the twins, but we were too wild, so they lost their ears, bad luck for the two bunnies.
RikeH Posted Mar 18, 2009, 7:48 pm	Today I leave to Tobi, and now I have two days in Hamburg, before we start to Madeira. We cannot update my travel there, but will do it, when we are home again.
RikeH Posted Mar 21, 2009, 9:29 am	Hi there, Tobi and I went to the airport for a late-night-check-in for his luggage. I don't have any luggage.....but that's okay for a ToyVoyager, I think. Tomorrow I will start my first flight. I am so excited !!! Greetings SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 4:09 pm	Today we arrived on Madeira and made our first trip with the motorbike – it is a BMW Roadster. Nice bike…. The airport is very famous for the piles it is built on – so we went there. The weather wasn’t that nice, but we  hope, it will become better soon. And look, we saw a wonderful rainbow.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:04 pm	This day we drove  over high mountains ( 1800 m) from the South to the North. In Porto da Cruz we walked along the promenade and saw the swimming pool.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:15 pm	We started the day in the garden of the hotel and made photos of a bird-of-paradise. It ist he national flower of Madeira and beautiful ! You can see, that the sun  is shining. We didn‘ t swim in the pool, because we want to ride the motorbike again. We drove to the plateau of Paul de Serra. Our goal was Porto Moniz in the North-West. On the way back we took photos at the highest cliff of Europe – 580 m high. But I was not afraid.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:23 pm	We took the way on the South Coast to the most western point of Madeira. It is the lighthouse Ponta do Pargo. I loved the lighthouse ! Although the tour was along the coast, it was very mountained, because the Villages and the streets were built on the sides of the hillsides.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:32 pm	Today we drove along the steep Coast on the northside. The water is very wild, when it hits the Coast. I visited two churches out of the baroque era, they were very beautiful with much gold inside. Just like my heart ! Santana is famous for its funny houses with thatched roofs. It is very narrow inside – but not for me, because I am so small.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:41 pm	Today was another kind of day – because we took a walk along the water canals – called Lavadas – to the waterfall Caldeiro Verde. The Lavadas have a length of 2500 km all over Madeira, but we didn’t want to see all… The way was very narrow – around 40 cm, not much for the humans, but enough for me, We went through dark tunnels – very exciting !!! We had a picnic in front of the waterful. In the evening we met one of the other hikers in Funchal – it was great to see Funchal in the dark.
RikeH Posted Mar 30, 2009, 5:50 pm	Our last day on Madeira. So we wanted to visit the beautiful gardens, We decided to go to Palheiro Garden (Blandy’s Garden) and Monte Palace Tropical Garden. It was great with so many colorful flowers. Unfortunately I was not allowed to eat them, but we spent a nice time there.
RikeH Posted Mar 31, 2009, 10:51 am	Now we are back again on the airport Hamburg. It was a very nice holiday - thanks a lot to Tobi, who made so many nice photos of me
RikeH Posted Mar 31, 2009, 10:55 am	Now I am home again - where Carlisle was waiting for me. We talked a lot and ate a delicious cake.
RikeH Posted Mar 31, 2009, 10:58 am	We made a nice walk around the big sea in Bad Segeberg - the weather was great and I just loved to be outside, because tomorrow I will go to my next host !
RikeH Posted Mar 31, 2009, 11:02 am	We spent some time and updated my Travelog. Then a new TV  Miily came to us - she is so cute and it is her first time away from home. I am sure, that she will have a good time with my Mum.  Now I will go to visit a new country and hope to have a lot of fun with vickyp in Greece. So I say goodbye to Carlisle and Miili and will write again from Greece.
vickyp Posted Apr 7, 2009, 7:55 pm	Hi from Greece! I have arrived safely today and the family is so excited to have me! They say we are gonna have a great time together. I just met the other toyvoyagers living in this house. Skippy Kangaroo , Kunigunde and Ladomar We had to say goodbye to Skippy though because he is leaving tomorrow! His envelope is ready and he is packing his things tonight! We had a small walk around the block this afternoon just to show me the neighborhood. I'll update again tomorrow with more details about the family that hosts me! Hugs and kisses SunnyHH
vickyp Posted Apr 11, 2009, 7:38 pm	Hi mom, today I though I would introduce you to my hosts. So here is the family Maria, is a 3 years old girl, she loves to draw, play and listening to her parents reading books. She also loves Winnie the Pooh Konstantinos, is a baby boy 11 months old. He likes to play with his toys, to follow his bigger sister and to climb wherever he can! Vicky, the mom. She is teaching computers in high school, she loves anything crafty and she plays with her kids all day. Aris, the dad. He is a computer programmer, but in his spare time he loves going outdoors with the kids and his hobby is electronics and music. In Greece they are Orthodox so Easter is next Sunday.Therefore this week you are gonna see many many Greek customs and preparations for Easter Sunday! Tomorrow it's Sunday and we are going for a long walk, so we are gonna take many photos and update with sightseeing
vickyp Posted Apr 13, 2009, 7:11 pm	On Sunday we had a nice walk at a park nearby. The weather was great, warm and sunny (like me ! So a little sunbathing was what we needed! Here we are laying on the grass, smelling the flowers and looking at the park! On Wednesday we are going to dye easter eggs and make "tsoureki" a traditional sweet bread ...
vickyp Posted Apr 15, 2009, 9:02 pm	Hi mom, Greeks celebrate Easter this coming Sunday so we dye eggs today among other preparations! Here is a traditional natural way to dye red eggs!!! You boil water with skins from dry onions. and there you have it! Red dye! A traditional way to make designs on the eggs is by placing flowers and leaves and then boil them in the onion dye ! so here is the result! not bad for a totally natural way don't you think?! And here are some by using red dye from the market ...
vickyp Posted Apr 15, 2009, 9:27 pm	We also made "tsoureki".  They make is for Easter and it is a sweet bread, great for breakfast of for tea! Here we are helping our host with the dough Here is a photo of us in the balcony waiting for "tsoureki" to be prepared!
vickyp Posted Apr 15, 2009, 10:11 pm	Ever heard of mount Pelion and Volos? Pelion is a mountain in Greece, with many traditional villages, a must seen destination when it comes to mainland. We are going to stay there for 5 days, visiting grandmother to celebrate Easter all together! I'll have Internet access so hopefully you are gonna see many sightseeing photos!
vickyp Posted Apr 17, 2009, 9:52 pm	Hi, we are visiting Volos and suburbs for a week so here are some photos from our first day here! This is a park by the sea at the city of Volos These statues stand by the sea... no idea what they are.... i guess trees This tree has it's roots in the sea and it's called "salt tree" I would love to go swimming but it's not warm enough for a bunny like me This is a church at the main square of Volos center These are the cafes by the sea! Today they were crowded cause it was a sunny day and Good Friday. some yachts ... i wish i could sail with one of them! A building from the University of Volos Overlooking the sea
vickyp Posted Apr 19, 2009, 10:15 pm	Today we drove from Volos to a small village called Afissos. Here are some photos we took from the car when we were driving to get there. Afissos is a small traditional village by the sea, at the roots of mountain Pilion. Clear blue waters, stone houses and so peaceful. Here is the village center This is a yard from a village house I found some lemons hanging on this lemon tree!!! Sunbathing at the beach, if you don't like powder sand then this pebble beach is the best for you. Olive trees are all over the place. Finally here are a couple of photos of us at the summer house the family owns there. We are together with some big fish bones and other nautical staff.
vickyp Posted Apr 29, 2009, 8:26 pm	Here I am again, It's been a week or so that I haven't posted anything but things have been pretty quiet here. However today a new toy has arrived! Meet Etwas Etwas is a very cool toy, that came straight from Japan and has many stories to share with us! We had a terrific time playing with toys and playing music. Enjoy our music band! I am the one playing the trumpet. Am I cool or what?!
brilliantlyxx Posted May 15, 2009, 11:02 pm	Hey Mom! Today I FINALLY reached Steph's house..and what a trip that was.  I was tossed about and left in a dark place for a few days in my envelope.  I was pretty scared and had no idea what was going on until Steph opened my envelope, comforted me, and told me of the storm that had come through on Friday and wrecked her entire town.    Luckily, no one was killed. News has been describing it as a mini-hurricane in the Midwest. There was an EF1 Tornado with winds up to 90 MPH that went through, as well as a Microburst with winds just slightly under 80 MPH.  Many buildings were damaged.  Power lines and trees were down throughout the entire place.  Steph said that it was a REALLY long storm, lasting about an hour...and I couldn't agree more. The pictures are pretty big, but we wanted to keep it that was so that you could see the damages well. Here is a shot we grabbed as we were going to down the road, so it's pretty blurry.  Sorry about that.  But, this was a photo of the woods next to the road.  Look at all the trees just hanging around. This is an shoe factory, which received a lot of damage.  You can see the insulation strung everywhere (that's what all that yellow stuff is) and the semi-trailer pulling from its port and lying on it's side almost.  It must take a lot of power to tip one of those over. Here are some more photos of the damage.  I'm not in a few of them. If you look next to the tip of my right ear (your left), you can see a HUGE tree that was uprooted.  Trees seemed to be the biggest problem in the town. Well, Mom, the electricity is still out and it is Monday.  They say it could be seven to ten more days before we finally have some out at Steph's home  . Well, I'm off to tell some ghost stories! Should be fun and a great way to pass the time! Take care, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted May 16, 2009, 9:01 pm	Mom! Today was a busy day for me.  It started off with me helping out with the clean-up of the storm. First, we boarded up the windows that had been busted out by a limb from a Crabapple tree. Then, I helped cut limbs off of another Crabapple tree that was uprooted and ALMOST fell into Steph's garage!  This is the same beautiful tree Ricky the Rat took a photo in.  Kinda sad..it was really pretty..   Steph said they hope to replant them soon...and I hope I'm around to help!  Maybe we can plant a carrot too! After doing all that work, I was tired!  So, I decided to take a nap with Steph's dog.  He is a Great Dane and a VERY large one at that.  He weights 194 pounds!  He is very nice though and didn't even try to hurt me.  I really like him, Mom!  Why don't we have one of these at home?  When I finally woke up, I ventured around the house and came across a great ship, which I then named it USS SunnyHH! Great name, huh?  It was a LOT of fun playing as captain on this tiny ship. After that, I continued on my adventure and ran into a pretty Calicou cat named Patch.  She's VERY friendly, although not very bright.  But, don't tell her I told you, Mom! That night, we watched the news and got word that more severe storms were headed this way.  Someone even told us that they could be worse than what we received the other day.  I hope not!  Here I am, watching the weather radar on tv.  Look at all that red!  But, it's okay, Mom! I'll be just fine! My new friend, Kobie, will protect me!    He'll keep an eye on the radar while I sleep. Well, I'm pooped from my busy day! I hope the electricity comes on soon! Love, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted May 16, 2009, 9:05 pm	Hey Mom! We FINALLY got electricity, so I just HAD to update my travel log! I hope you REALLY enjoy the updates.  They are kind of neat just to see all the damage. I miss you already! Love, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted May 24, 2009, 6:13 am	Hi Mom! Today, Steph received a package and allowed me to open it! It was covered in a lot of tape, so I had to use scissors.  Don't worry, I was careful! I didn't cut my little ears off.  I opened the package, peeked inside, and who did I find? Emil! He's a little donkey and from Germany, too!  I can tell we'll get along just fine! Well, tomorrow, we are going on a hike! I can't wait!  Love, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted May 24, 2009, 6:35 am	Hello! SunnyHH here! Today, we went to Millstream Gardens.  It's about 8 miles west of where Steph lives, so it wasn't too far at all for us to go hiking.  The St. Francois River runs right through here, and the rive is home to the Missouri Whitewater Races in March. We stopped for a moment to read the poster and the rules, not to mention check out the map of the trail as well. We didn't get TOO far and we could already see some remains from the big storm that came through.  Here we are resting on a tree that has been cut down so that we can get through. We had to cross a few bridges along the way, but we weren't scared! They weren't very high, anyway. And will you look at what we found, Mom! A REAL turtle just hanging out on the trail! We stopped to have a conversation and ask him what he has been doing...but he didn't seem to want to talk to us.  Must be shy.. After what seemed like an EXTREMELY long walk, we FINALLY reached the place where we could look at the river!  Isn't it pretty out here? Of course, Emil and I decided to take a nap on one of the MANY benches.  It's a hard walk for a tiny TV...especially a mile!  On the way back, we found the coolest looking broken tree!  Someone had cut it so that the paved path was clear, but look at how it broke? Pretty neat, huh? We got back to the car just in time from the hike.  It began to rain like crazy! Lucky us, huh?
brilliantlyxx Posted May 24, 2009, 6:59 am	After the hike, we really needed to get some food..and Steph needed to buy herself a new pair of shoes since really didn't have any hiking shoes. Once we got done with the shoe shopping, which didn't take long, we stopped at Steak n' Shake for a meal. We had a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Milkshake, which was REALLY yummy! Milkshakes are my new favorite thing, now! After a few moments, our food arrived to the car.  We got a Frisco Melt.  It's two steakburger patties, American and Swiss cheese, and Frisco sauce (it's made from French Dressing and 1000 Island Dressing) on a sourdough bread.  We also HAD to get a cup of cheese for our fries! FAN-TASTIC! I'm VERY tired, so I think I'm just going to go to bed.  We might be going on another hike tomorrow if the weather allows it! Love, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted Jun 5, 2009, 8:29 pm	Hey Mom! Well, it rained today, so another hike was out of the quesion, sadly.  But, Steph still wanted to go do something, so we decided to go to a flea market! But first, we had to stop by Sonic Drive-In for a sweet tea.  Now, we are on our way! Here I am with the Green's Flea Market sign, our destination.  It's a little dinky place, but it sells pretty much anything you want for a very low price.  There were about a million porcelain dolls sitting right when you first come in the door. Steph wanted me to take a picture with this rattle snake, but I refused.  She told me it wasn't real, but I didn't care!    After that, I wouldn't let her take anymore photos, with or without me in the store..and she really wasn't supposed to, either. We helped Steph pick out a few rugs for her house.  They were only $1.50 each. Once we got them into the car, we promptly took a nap.  Running from the snake was hard! When we got back home, I met another one of Steph's cats.  Her name was Gracie.  We tried to take a nap with her, but she wasn't very welcoming.  Well, we are going to go listen to some music, Mom! We found all these cds! I can't wait! Love, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted Jun 10, 2009, 12:45 am	Hello Mom! Today, Steph had to do some things at Mineral Area College, a local community college, so Emil and I decided we'd go with her!    Here we are at the college's sign. We waited in her purse while she filled out a few forms.  We waited for atleast an hour before we finally got out and got some fresh air.  We came across this fountain along the way.  Very beautiful, don't you think?  The campus was VERY nice. On the way back to Steph's, we stopped at the old Blackwell Motors location.  It is famous for it's REALLY large pink elephant mascot, and we got to see it! We also got to see an American flag elephant as well! We also saw a gorilla, but I didn't want to get close to him! He had a shotgun and looked pretty angry.    I didn't want to die. Once we escaped the crazed Gorilla, we took off toward Steph's house, but first, we had to stop at The Family Center.  It's a store that sells Farming supplies, clothing, and much much more! It's a really cool store. Well, Mom! I'm really tired from my trip today! I think I may just take a nap! I love and miss you! SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted Jun 10, 2009, 3:53 am	Today, we helped Steph clean up her computer.  It was REALLY messy and cluttery.  We thought it would take ages and be really boring, but it was actually kind of fun. Here's the mess we were dealing with. While cleaning, we came across some interesting toys! Hello.  I'm SunnyPotterHH.  Be nice, or I will cast a spell on you!  Well, we didn't get a picture of the after result, but it looked a LOT better! Steph said we are GREAT cleaners! Steph also had a table that we needed to paint, and we gladly volunteered to help! I've never painted a table before, and neither had Emil. Until next time, SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted Jun 10, 2009, 4:41 am	Hey Mom! Steph told me that I'm going to be sent to Baiying in China! It sounds like a REALLY fun time and I can't wait! China...wow!  I told Emil and he was pretty sad, but he decided that we needed to have a lot of fun on my last night. First, we wrote a sign in this scratch paper that Steph and her cousin bought the other night.  It says "Emil & SunnyHH <3 Toyvoyagers (and you)".  It was fun to write! We settled down for a game of Uno.  I lost the first hand, but redeemed myself in the second hand! It was great fun. Afterwards, I took a cruise in the Mach 5 that I found lying on Steph's VCR.  She said it's the case for the complete series of Speed Racer on DVD, but I found it as a better car than that. We decided to chill for a bit infront of Steph's iPod.  We listened to Steph's favorite band, McFly.  They are from the UK and formed in 2004 and have since broke many records!  Including having their first album debut at #1 in the UK album chart, which caused them to take the title from The Beatles as "the youngest band ever to have an album debut at #1". This inspired me a bit to play Steph's guitar! So, I picked up the pick and away I went! Afterward, it was definitely time for a snack! We had some Butterfinger Ice Cream Sandwich Cake and was it delicious! It is made by taking a box of ice cream sandwiches and laying them in the bottom of the pan.  Then, you warm up a jar of hot fudge and a jar of caramel and drizzle it over them.  You take some whipped cream and spread it over all of it.  Then, finally, you crush up two Butterfinger candy bars and sprinkle on top.  Freeze and then eat!  Well, it's time to watch The Dark Knight with our ice cream! I love you! SunnyHH
brilliantlyxx Posted Jun 10, 2009, 6:31 pm	This morning, Emil helped me into my envelope and told me good-bye.  I said I would miss him and Steph VERY much.  I can't wait until I get to China.  It sounds sooo cool, and it's such a BIG country!  See you in China!!!!!!
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 9, 2009, 2:16 am	Hi from China! It was a long long journey, then. I counted the days by my fingers and toes but it was not enough! I had no idea what happened during these days, maybe the postman lost his way?  Finally, today, when I heard a voice that called my name, I woke up and began to see hope! I almost broke into tears when I saw the first beam of light broke up the darkness of my envelope.   It was soooo great back to the world~~~ And here is Beijing! The first thing I need to do is to tell you, my dear mom, that I arrived safety here. And then, I am gonna start my big travel in Beijing! Before that, I will have a sweet sleep tonight.~~ Love you mom, SunnyHH.
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 9, 2009, 3:39 pm	Hello! What a sunny day today! I am SunnyHH, and I enjoy the sunny day! Whatif allows me to take her room, so I take a quick look at her room which is not big but really funny and sweet!  The first one I met was an orange rhino who told me that she admired me for my traveling experience and really eager to go out to see the world outside. Some pretty little plants~~ I guess my host don't have the habit to throw away old stuff, because there are full of little things and pictures Everywhere in the room. I have settled down here and I am fine!  Oh! Whatif is inviting me to eat some water melons! So~~Bye~~! SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 12, 2009, 2:53 pm	Well, it was a little rainy today, a little gloomy, but We still went to visit the 4th China International Design&Art Fair according to plan. My host worked as an industrial designer and she must pay close attention to what just happened in the world of design. Following her, I have looked around the fair and have some fun.  What was going on?? I was wondering what were these potatos doing here among a lot of IT products. First I guess they were some kind of concept cellphone that had a strang potato shape. But finally I found out that this was something more interesting, something like a Public-service announcement, or a brand design, a brand owned by the native China famers. A Chinese design company named LKK just helped the famers to do widely publicized, such as beautiful logo and a special system of VI, so that the high-quality potatos they have planted with hard work would be known to a lot of people. we thought this would be a worthy cause that a design company could do. And now they started with the potatos, mayby in the future we will creat a fantastic carrot brand in the world! Phillipe Stark! A very famous designer! And I am on his head! Love, SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 15, 2009, 3:13 pm	Wow Wow! It is time for dinner!  It was very kind of my host Whatif to take me out for dinner. The restaurant was named Ban Mu Yuan, which had Simple, unsophisticated and elegant style. The food here was delicate and looked good. Oh! I need to learn how to eat with chopsticks! It was a little hard for me indeed, but it would not stop me from tasting the foods!  Let's start!
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 18, 2009, 2:19 pm	In the morning of a sunny Saturday, we decided to go outside to enjoy the sunshine! But, when we got out of the door, we began to regret about this idea... Oh god! It was really hot today.  Our terminal station was the National Library of China. It was an old building in the form of tradition Chinese architecture. But Beside that was a total modern one, the exhibition room of the library. It was great inside but we were not allowed taking photos.
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 26, 2009, 5:40 am	After a week of silence, let's go back to last Saturday... A lot of stories happened to me during this week you cannot imagine what adventures were they.  That was a happy Saturday dinner with Whatif and her best friend Shuo. It was the very first time I tasted the well-known Chinese hotpot, named "LittleSheep". And I was sooo excited about that!   When the waiter put the hotpot on our table, I could not hesitate to see what happened in the hotpot, and followed the delicious smells, I ran close to it, but... too much closer I thoutht...   It was too late when Whatif found me and try to stopped me from doing that. Because the hot air emited from the hole of the hotpot had already burned one of my big ear... I looked at my ear, a small piece of it turned to black.    Then, Whatif began to comfort me and told me that I was a brave TV with great curiosity. And told me that when she was a twe years little girl, she burned her finger when she touch a cigar lighter, wanting to know what was it, just like me. Things like that always happen to adventurers like us. As for my compensation, they allowed me to eat up all the food!!    I thought it was worthy, right?
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 26, 2009, 6:16 am	Surgery Since my wound will not get better by itself, Whatif decided to do a little surgery on my ear. Well, Whatif assured me that it will be a successful surgery and won't make me hurt and I could be as pretty again as I always be.  I have never ever been operated on since I was born. But it sounds challenging! The operating tools are needle and thread. Now, here we go!  Before the surgery: After the surgery: Experience will make me a real TV! I feel stronger than before both from inside and outside I think.  Mom, you should be proud of me! Love SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 26, 2009, 11:55 am	Hey! Dog! "Nice to meet you! I came from Germany and I am a brave TV! Do you know what is TV??  " "Hey! Don't be too shy boy! Let's take a group photo! " No no no no no no no....Ok You are sooooo welcome but don't eat my PLEASE! I am a TV, not a bone! See!? Not a bone, right?? "Hi! I am here! But where are you looking at? "  For these days, I noticed that this big dog at Whatif's home was only interested in two things, one is eating bones, the other one is playing with toys that looked like bones...  OH... MY... GOD!  You know what I found?  His best "toy"...A rabbit!!   I think.. I'd better...RUN AWAY!!!    Bye dog!!
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 30, 2009, 6:49 am	Although I am SunnyHH, I am also active at night! After supper,  we went out to enjoy the night scene of Beijing! Here is Qian Men Street, on the south side of the well-known Tiananmen Square.    Large sections of the old city are being renovated, including this old street. But Whatif was sad to told me that she prefered the old one which were of great cultural relic value and were memorable. Buses were not as popular and usable as today. This is a "bus" named DiangDiang bus which people in Beijing used many years ago. Quan Ju De Roast Duck Restaurant! Quanjude was founded in1864, uses an oven without a door. It is Whatif's favorite dish! The smells that came from the door were really appetizing...!  When we walked through the street, we found a shop selling Chinese writing Brush which were the main writeing tool in the past in China. Chinese handwriting has infinite power to express differences of character and cultivation. But I thought it would be very hard to use in the very beginning. Love from SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Jul 30, 2009, 7:33 am	Whatif have to go to the dentist aaaaaagain...She has been going through these looooong treatment for almost two months... . This day I went together with her. It was a little earlier when we got there, so we had to wait for a while. Fortunately, she had me! Finally it was her turn! Good luck my girl~~ I hope it wouldn't bring too much pain. Oh, the equipment sounded scared.... Thank god my tooth are just perfect!  Yours, SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Aug 4, 2009, 7:07 am	Today we went to shopping, and by the way, we visited the Tianning Temple which next to the market. What impressed me were the Chinese red walls, the green creepers growing up the walls, the thick smell of the incense, and the quiet and peaceful atmosphere all over this place. I also prayed for your good health mum!  A little cute mushroom! Enjoying the sunshine! Love SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Aug 5, 2009, 10:18 am	Hello mum! I am an artist I think! I will do it better if the pen suit my size. Miss you mum! SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Aug 9, 2009, 8:11 am	Hi mum! It is a big day today because it is the first anniversary of the Beijing Olympic Games! So we went to climb the Great Wall !  Unfortunately...in the morning we woke up, it rained cats and dogs!!...   I guessed we were gonna cancel our big plan.. But, Whatif was sooo steady and brave about this, and she told me that to be a great vogager, you must be brave enough, rain or shine!, and maybe the weather would just be perfect when we got there after 2hs driving if we were lucky.    I thought she was right!!  We started out at seven in the rain! Unbelivable, the rain was sooo heavy...that it felt like we were driving in the river...!    Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, all I could do was to pray for a better sunny day...  To our big surprise, after almost 3 hours' driving, the sun came out!!   Oh~~ He wanted to say hello to me I thought   It means the rain finally stopped and we were capable to clime the Great Wall! It was an exciting trip! Whatif was not very good at climing because she got a pain in the knees these days, so we chose the cable car. I found it was a special cable car from the words printed on the glass widow went on: The seventeenth living buddha of Tibet mageba took descending cable car on Jan 20th 1999.  About the Great Wall I thought I did not need to talk so much, it was so famous a place.  There was a thing I need to tell you that each picture had me, but sometimes I had some parts hidden, so, could you find me out in every photo??  We came across many foreign tourists, they liked us. The girl in red T-shirt smiled when she saw us on the walls. And she also took photos of us! Isn't that grand! The Great Wall of China, the longest wall in the world, runs across north China like a huge dragon. When I sat on the wall, I felt I could do anything I liked, I felt I was seeing the world. It was really great! Oh, I forgot to tell you that the Great Wall we went to in the morning was named MuTianYu Great Wall, and in the afternoon we visited some other Great wall around here which named Lakeside Great Wall. I will continue in my next update! Miss you mum! SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Aug 9, 2009, 2:33 pm	Lakeside Great Wall? what's that mean? A water made wall? Or a Great Wall besides a lake? No no, here are the pictures!   you can see clearly that a part of the Great Wall was underwater. On the way back, I still thought about the fantastic Great Wall trip, and I also felt a little bit sad because this was my last trip in Beijing. Whatif told me it is time for me to go to my next host in Shanghai tomorrow. But that was OK!   I loved this trip! I was very very happy today!!  Love SunnyHH
whatif baiying87322@gmail.com Posted Aug 9, 2009, 3:40 pm	Hi mum! This will be my last update in Beijing with Whatif. Daisydz is waiting for me now in Shanghai, so today I will start my trip to the great city Shanghai in the south of China. Beijing was really impressed me during these days. It was a lovely city as I saw. I felt happy here with Whatif and my friends Bonishka, Savannah, and Fenway. On hearing I was gonna leave, they all came to say goodbye to me! Savannah came first! And She kissed my goodbye~~ Bonishka said she was lucky to come across with me and hope I could enjoy my time in Shanghai! Fenway had been here just for a short time but we became good friends! I hope he could be a great sportsman! Finally came Whatif, my dear host. I thanked for her taking good care of me and the help she gave me for all of these wonderful trips in Beijing. The sun on my ears will always remind me of her I think!   She said I will be always welcome here and she love my so much that it is hard to let me go!  What will happen to me in Shanghai?? I can't wait to see..! OK! No more time for goodbyes and without hesitation, I start out! Good luck to me! See you Beijing! See you in Shanghai! Love SunnyHH
Daisydz Posted Aug 17, 2009, 3:04 am	After several days' travelling,I have arrived in Shanghai safe and sound! It is a long travelling and I felt boring in the envelope. It happened that Daisydz was going to meet her good friends when I got her home on Sat. morning. So she show me around the city of Shanghai.
Daisydz Posted Aug 26, 2009, 12:36 pm	daisydz was busy being an intern these days. She showed me around her school after she went back to her dorm. I like the playground and daisydz told me that her roommates and her often go jogging in the playground in the evening. There are a lot of Korean restaurants in Shanghai, She brought me to one and introduced me some kinds of food. We were starved and full of satisfaction.
Daisydz Posted Aug 26, 2009, 1:33 pm	Today daisydz brought me to the place she worked. In the morning, everyone was busying going to work and the road was rather crowed. I saw many building was under construction. Daisydz told me that that was because that Shanghai is preparing for the Expo 2010 next year. I was quite expected for that. I hope I can go to see the exhibition next year. Daisydz brought me to the most famous road in Shanghai--Nanking Road and took photo of me and Haibao,who is the mascot of Expo 2010. Daisydz waited for her best friend in front of the building Shanghai TV station.
Daisydz Posted Sep 6, 2009, 2:41 pm	Daisydz has finsined her internship and is going home for several weeks before we fly to USA. We ride in bus for seven hours and I really enjoy this trip.It is a sunny day. Daisydz sings: country road~~take me home~~~
Daisydz Posted Sep 6, 2009, 2:47 pm	It is a good day! Bonishka has arrived and we meet again. Both of us are quite happy. It is also the birthday of daisydz's mother. Daisydz went back from Shanghai yesterday just for celebrating her mother's birthday. We had a big meal tonight and I was drunk
Daisydz Posted Sep 6, 2009, 3:05 pm	To my dear mom, I am fine here in daisydz's home. She was quite busy these days for preparing packing and looking after her mother who was a little sick. I make a lot of new friends here and I can not wait to introduce them to you!! may you happiness yours, SunnyHH
Daisydz Posted Sep 20, 2009, 6:05 am	Daisydz is going to California,USA soon. we go to Shanghai and got prepared. it is a sunshine day. we had a rest on the rest station which is a chinese style of house, and daisydz took some pics of me and Bonishka. I really like the highway when it passed the Bridge!
Daisydz Posted Sep 20, 2009, 6:24 am	it is the day we go to USA and daisydz just got a postcard from her friend in Paris. how exciting we are! daisydz has a reeeeally big package. however, we will handle it with her. The Pudong National airport is very big and beautiful. our plane will go to beijing first and then transfer another plane and go to LAX. wow, Beijing, we are back! We really like the weather of autumn in Beijing. The plane to LAX is so big~~ after eleven hours, we got to LAX. Some Chrisitian come to pick us to riverside. we also stay one of the Chrisitians' house for the frist night. Good night, CALIFORNIA.
Daisydz Posted Sep 20, 2009, 6:53 am	these days, we hang out and just have a look around the campus of UCR. daisydz and her roommate go to the bank to open an account and buy a telephone number. and we also join the trolley held by the international student service. compared to the crowded people on the street in China, it is rare to see people here. people in Riverside are the second richest people in CA and they planted orange to be rich. So we can see orange everywhere.
Daisydz Posted Sep 20, 2009, 7:00 am	continued
Daisydz Posted Oct 12, 2009, 7:21 am	It is sunny and Daisydz and I travel to the Zoo in San Diego. It is lucky that we can go with so many other people. There are so many animals in the zoo. I am happy~!
Daisydz Posted Oct 12, 2009, 7:53 am	Daisydz told me that I will be sent to the next host soon. She said I will miss me and before that Daisydz took me around of riverside. I will miss u too!!
Daisydz Posted Oct 12, 2009, 7:58 am	Today, Daisydz will send me to the next host after she take the class in the morning. A new beginning for me. I will explore again. Bye, Daisydz. Bye, Sunnyhh
RikeH Posted Nov 30, 2009, 10:59 pm	I stay at datura's place for some weeks now, but no updates... Datura - please send me home to my Mum - you have the address !!! I want to travel again!!!!
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 6, 2009, 6:14 pm	Hi Mom!!!  I AM ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!  Darcie rescued me and four other TVs.  We are hoping that Darcie's TV Bart will find his way home so he can be safe like we are!!  Darcie tells me that I can stay with her during  Christmas and what a great present to be SAFE and traveling again!!! Here I am with my other friends who were also trapped but now they are safe! I just wanted to say hello Mom and NOT to worry about me anymore!!  I am very tired from my long flight from California.  I am going to go lay down and take a nap.  I will update again soon!!! Happy to be found~ SunnyHH
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 7, 2009, 12:52 am	Hi mom! Tonight we have Pepperoni Pizza for dinner!! We are now watching a Christmas movie every night!! Tonight we watched *Christmas with the Kranks* it was really funny!! I am going to go get some hot cocoa and look at the Christmas lights!!!
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 10, 2009, 11:13 pm	Hi mom! Tonight we are doing a easy dinner.  Fishsticks and french fries!! We eat dinner and everyone agrees that this was very yummy! we then bake some Blueberry Muffins. We then all gather by the Christmas tree.  We love to look at the lights and we go around in a circle and talk about what kind of customs and traditions each of our own Country has.  It is fun to be in a different country and see how they decorate, display the ornaments, hang stockings and burn yummy smelling Yankee Candles. We want to watch a musical tonight so we go and get Darcies favorite one of all time *Sound of Music* filmed in beautiful Austria!! Darcie starts singing........... Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings These are a few of my favorite things Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Silver white winters that melt into springs These are a few of my favorite things When the dog bites When the bee stings When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 16, 2009, 1:10 am	Hi Mom!!! Yesterday me and the other TVs went down to Wilmington.  Darcie's car club was meeting up and then went to a senior rest home to deliver Christmas Presents.  We were suppose to take the Porsche but it was raining!!! The Porsche does not have a top so we would of gotten soaked!! The rain really ruined the entire day but we still had a fun time.  While we were at the rest home a new TV asked if he could join our gang.  His name is Tuffy and he is now a official TV.  We went to McDonalds for lunch.  Here we are with our Happy Meal Inside the Happy Meal is a horse from the new movie *Avatar* he hears all of us outside eating and talking so he jumps out.  He is very strange looking and he has six hooves! We introduce everyone to him and he asks if he can join us for lunch.  We say yes and we start sharing our traveling stories with him. We finish our lunch and when we get home Darcie says that Snuttig's mom has sent some beautiful and delicious chocolates and a beautiful postcard of Gratz, Austria where Snuttig is from. Dont we all look cute with our Santa hats on? Next Snuttig lays down and starts pointing and explaining all the beautiful pictures of Gratz and tells us about each place that is pictured.  We love our history lesson and we are also trying to figure out how to get the chocolate!! Snuttig sees we are trying to take all the Chocolate and he grabs a hold of the bag and pulls with all his bear strength and rescues it for Darcie to eat!! Well mom that is about it for now.  We are busy wrapping presents and getting ready for Christmas to arrive!!!  hope you are well!!
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 24, 2009, 7:53 pm	Hi Mom!!!! It is Christmas eve!!!  Today Darcie showed us some of her Vintage Christmas books.  She loves the 1950s and had some wonderful things to read about.  First though we want to bake something so we make some Orange/Cranberry muffins and put butter on them! They are sooo good! Do you like our Santa hats?  Next we get on the floor and start looking at the books...this one has old decorations from 1930-1960 and the photos are great! Here we are with a few more oldies from the 1950s. We decide to sing Christmas carols.  We start off with *Santa Claus is coming to town* Here we are with a book called *Its a wonderful Christmas!*  it is filled with all the old toys from the 1950s.  They sure had some neat things!! Here we are with the Christmas card holder.  I do not know if you can see it, but the card holders are shaped like Mickey Mouse!! Darcie is a big Disney fan! Today we went to a store called Lowes.  It is a HUGE store that you can buy things for your house.  Darcie had to get some replacement bulbs but then discovered all the Christmas stuff was 75% off!!! we bought a Cinderella Advent Calender that talks, Winnie, Piglet and Tigger singing and moving toy and a Santa Claus that sings *Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer*  tonight we are making Enchiladas and Darcie showed us this really cool website!! It is called Santa Tracker!!  www.santanorad.org  please go look at it because it is sooooo much fun! We started tracking him last night when he took off from the North Pole.  He flew to Australia, then off to Russia and India.  He was last spotted flying around the Taj Mahal (see videos of all his stops)  we cant WAIT for him to arrive with all the presents!!!  Go Santa Go!!!  Darcies husband will be happy to see all the Motorcycle stuff for next race season!! boy is that stuff expensive!!!  well mom I am going to go eat some more candy and play Xbox!!!  Merry Christmas!!
Pixiedustlady Posted Dec 28, 2009, 11:49 pm	Hi Mom! Christmas was a lot of fun!!! we started the day with snuggling up on the couch before our host woke up.  We wanted to look at all the gifts that Santa had brought! Here we are under the nice warm blanket at 5:30 am!! We go over to the fireplace and see the presents that santa has left as stocking stuffers.  In America everyone hangs a stocking and it gets filled with small gifts and candy.  Looks like Santa also leaves things for dogs! He left all kinds of treats and toys for the two host dogs   Of course he also left us some nice candy! Here we are with a gift card to Starbucks Coffee house, a gift card to Red Robin hamburger shop, Skittles, orange flavored chocolate and Reeses peanut butter cups!! Y U M!! Next we help Darcie open some presents.  Here are just a few of her favorites! she loves old 1950-1960s TV shows.  Here is season one of *Bewitched* it is a show about a woman who is a witch and is married to a regular man.  It is VERY funny!! Here we are with four more shows from the 1950s-1960s.  They are called *I married Joan* *Father knows best* *Petticoat Junction* and *The Donna Reed show* Next we open really nice smelling bath products!! Here is stuff from the Bath and Body works store! Nutcracker bubble bath,  Candy apple body spray,  Ed Hardy perfume and Pear Glaze body lotion! it all smells so good! Next is a wonderful gift! a *Twilight* duffle bag and the *New Moon* soundtrack!! We have a wonderful day watching movies and eating candy and talking about Christmas!! I had a great time and will never forget it!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy New Year!!!
Pixiedustlady Posted Jan 4, 2010, 10:40 pm	Happy New Years Mom!!! I hope you had fun on New Years!! we stayed home and made a bunch of drinks and watched movies all night long!!  Here we are with all of our alchohol LOL Here we are with very expensive Tequila.  This is called Patron and it is very smooth! we all drank a few shots and then licked some salt then ate a small piece of lemon Here we are with our shot glasses from around the world.  There are two in the photo.  One is from Kaiserslautern, Germany.  The other is from Holland. We follow the Television all day.  We watch Time Square in New York City.  People start arriving at 6am to secure a spot.  Then they have to wait ALL DAY till midnight comes.  Darcie has done it one time and says the crowds are HUGE. The reporter checks in a few hours later and it is SNOWING!!! the police work hard to barracade off the roads and set up everything for the big ball drop. Here it is later in the evening.....we are waiting and waiting!!! Now it is 9:00 pm so I know that overseas has just struck 12am!! Here is a beautiful shot of places around the world that were celebrating the New Year. We took a bunch of photos at Midnight, but the flash went off on the TV and messed everything up! we still had a great time and wished each other a Happy Traveling 2010!!!  I am now packed up and leaving on January 4th for my next host!!!  I had a fantastic time here in North Carolina and want to return again someday to visit my new friends!!
marcie08 Posted Jan 13, 2010, 2:33 pm	Hi Mom! I am back in Europe! Snuttig and I arrived here in Graz safe and sound!  Snuttig is my host mom's own TV who has had bad luck with a host - as had happened to myself. But fortunately we were both rescued by Darcie and we told the other TVs about our rescue and our adventures with Darcie. Here are also three other TVs now: Atta, Mr.S and Sandi Rose. But Atta told us that she has to leave soon. So Mom, that were my news for today- I am really tired from my travels now but I'll update soon! SunnyHH
marcie08 Posted Jan 18, 2010, 7:58 pm	Hi Mom! It's a coming and going here at my host mom's...Today we said Goodbye to Atta - I have just known her for a few hours, but Mr. S and Sandi Rose have spent quite some time with her and are really sad! After we had dropped her of at the postoffice, we had a really nice breakfast: We had Müsli and it was a special kind because it was custom made for my host mom! That was really yummi!  And because it was market day that day, we went to this little farmer's market and bought some nice salads. Bye for today!
marcie08 Posted Jan 18, 2010, 8:36 pm	Hi Mom! In the last post I told you it's a coming and going... today another toyvoyager arrived. His name is HappyLeopard. He is from the Netherlands! And he brought lots of snow with him! So we decided to take a walk in a little forest nearby! We played in the snow there and I even tried to make a snow-bunny-angel, but I think I'm not heavy enough for it... Wow, there was a lot of snow and it was really cold too. You can see that by the frozen lake - my host mom told me that there are normally some fish in there, but they are now deeo down in this lake and not visible from the outside! Our walk made us really hungry and luckily we have been invited to our host-grandpa! We had a really nice meal there: Spareribs  In the afternoon we watched the ski-race on tv! That was a great day!
marcie08 Posted Jan 22, 2010, 11:28 am	Hi Mom! We went to a big celebration today! The Styrian branch of the Austrian nurses association celebrated their 40th anniversary. The celebration was held in the Old University building of Graz, a beautifully newly renovated building in the city center. And because my host mom's stepmom is the president of the Styrian Association we have been invited, too! There were nurses of all ages present, some who have founded the Styrian branch and some who have just been newly qualified! We also saw a dance performance of nursing students and a quartett of musicians played classical music! Some nurses were given honorary medals and flowers! We also got some flowers because we took some of the decoration home with us! After the official program has ended, we were allowed to join the queue for the buffet. No photos because we were too immersed in our food
marcie08 Posted Feb 2, 2010, 12:13 pm	Hi Mom! Today we have been invited to a birthday celebration. Therefore we had to get a present ready: We went to a shop where you can choose from a huge variety of different oils and vinegars and some alcoholic stuff. First you have to choose the design of the bottle and then you can see how they fill the bottle with the chosen oil from a big barrel. We bought 5 different flavours as it was a 50th birthday celebration. You can see us with the parcel! Then we went to a restaurant and had a great meal there- as ususal, no photos from the food! We are always to busy eating for taking pics  Bye for today!
marcie08 Posted Feb 8, 2010, 2:46 pm	Hi Mom! The weather in Graz is not so great right now, it's always grey and cold and it snows almost every day! So it's not really the best weather for sightseeing, but we decided to have a look around the city anyway! We started at the Main square and looked at the town hall. That's where the mayor has his office and where parts of the city's administration is located. You can also marry there. Then we went on to the Franziskanerplatz to look at the church and the cloister. During the summer, you can sit outside of the small cafés and enjoy the sun and a cup of coffee. We walked on to the Kunsthaus, the museum of contemporary art and photography. It was built for 2003, when Graz was cultural capital of Europe. The building looks quite strange and it is therefore called the "friendly alien". Near the Kunsthaus is the second building that has been built for Graz 2003: The Murinsel, an artificial island in the Mur- the river, that floats through Graz. You can walk on the island, it has a small amphitheatre on it and a café inside of the island. From the bridge from where we took the photograph, you also have a view up to the Schlossberg and the clock tower. Maybe we will go up there some day- when the weather is better so you can see the whole city from above! On our way back home we went to a bakery and bought some Krapfen. It's Fasching here now and the Krapfen are some sweet yeast dumplings, fried in oil, filled with apricot jam and dusted with powdered sugar. You normally just eat it this time of the year. Fasching is what other countries call Carneval. It's not that big in Austria as it is in Germany, but the most Southern country, Carinthia, has a lot of activities during this time of the year. Kids like to participate on the Faschings-Umzug, which is kind of a pageant, where you dress up in costumes and some have decorated wagons with music. The Krapfen was really delicious! I want more
marcie08 Posted Feb 14, 2010, 12:03 pm	Hi Mom! Becasue it is always so cold outside, we decided to make a nice cake, to warm ourselves up. We looked through a cookbook and chose a quick apple pastry recipe. You need some puff pastry, apples, lemon juice, sugar and apricot jam. First you have to wash the apples and remove the apple cores. Then you slice it and put it in a bowl with lemon juice and sugar. You have to cut the pastry and put the dough in tins, then you spread the dough with jam and line it with the apples. Put it in the preheated oven and bake it. After approximately 20 minutes you can remove the tins from the oven, but you have to be careful as those are really hot. Our host mom told us to stay away from the oven and wait until the cakes have cooled a bit! But then we were finally allowed to eat them! Mmmmmmhhhhhh delicious! Bye for today!
marcie08 Posted Feb 14, 2010, 3:18 pm	Happy Valentine's day, Mom! Here are some flowers for you:
marcie08 Posted Feb 16, 2010, 6:18 pm	Hi Mom! Today is what people call here: "Faschingsdienstag". That means kind of "Carnival-Tuesday". It's the last day of carnival time and a day, when everyone is putting on a fancy dress. It's a great day especially for kids, as school closes up earlier and many offices have reduced business hours. In the afternoon, everyone gathers in the city center to watch the traditional parade. Everyone can join this parade and the best costumes get a prize. But we watched the parade on tv because you have to get early to the city center to get a place where you can watch the parade. But in front of the tv, all of us had great seats and we watched the colorful parade and the great costumes. And of course we also dressed up! You can see us wearing our costumes! Happy Leopard is dressed as a flower, Snuttig is dressed as Winnie Pooh's friend, Tigger. Sandi Rose is a Swedish moose, Mr. S is a pretty angel and I'm a soccer player! What do you think of our fancy dresses? We had a great time today, eating Krapfen, watching the parade and playing games!
marcie08 Posted Feb 23, 2010, 6:26 pm	Hi Mom! Today we went to a neighboring town, called Thal bei Graz. That's actually where Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up. There's a lake where you can ice-skate or play hockey. Near the lake is a golf course, but now, in the winter, there are also cross-country slopes! You can see the signs indicating the easier slopes (blue and red) and those for trained skiers (black). But we just went for a walk. It was a beautiful winterday, with sun  We also saw animal-tracks! I guess its been a cat and some birds, but I'm not entirely sure... Can you guess what kind of animals made the tracks! All I know is that it hasn't been a Sunny-Bunny Winterly greetings to you!
marcie08 Posted Mar 1, 2010, 3:12 pm	Hi Mom! My host mom received a nice surprise today! Guess what, she got a small package with a stuffed Elmo from Sesame Street in it! But Elmo was sooo flat, because he was vacuum-packed! He needed some air to expand to his real size. We helped him to escape his package and then he told us about his friends from Sesame Street. Maybe he will become a toyvoyager, too? We have to wait and see!
marcie08 Posted Mar 1, 2010, 3:37 pm	Hi Mom! Today we went to a nearby town called St. Radegund. From there we took the cablecar up to the Schöckel. That's a mountain near Graz and the people like to hike up there all year round. We took the easy way, but walked around at the top of the Schöckel. Up there is a huge tower with antennae for the tv reception. We even found some animal tracks again! I guess that must have been huge relatives  That was a beautiful day!
marcie08 Posted Mar 1, 2010, 3:43 pm	Hi Mom! I had to say Goodbye to Snuttig and Mr. S today. I'm a little sad, as I have spent quite some time with Snuttig... But he is going home to you, so I know that he will have a great time! We put some sweet in the travelbox of our friends and then brought them to the postoffice. I hope they will arrive soon!
marcie08 Posted Mar 8, 2010, 10:43 am	Hi Mom! It's getting spring here- finally. My host mom is really happy about it! And she got some really nice spring flowers: A huge bunch of tulips, and a basket with other blooms! Then she told me that I will soon travel on to my next host, so we looked at the map. First, she pointed out where I am now and then we looked for Canada on the map! Wow, that's far away!
marcie08 Posted Mar 10, 2010, 5:06 pm	Hi Mom! This is my last post from Austria! Time to say goodbye to my host-mom an´d the other tvs. I'm boarding my aircrafft now! I hope I'll have a nice journey and will update from Canada next time! Bye!!!
whiskeydoodles deannabanana@rogers.com Posted Mar 16, 2010, 7:40 pm	Hello Mummy I arrived in Canada at Deanna's house! She was very excited to see me! And I was very excited to get out of my package and stretch my legs  Someone else was there to greet me as well! A little Koala name Karl! He has come all the way from Australia and he was quite happy to have another friend to share adventures with  We talked a lot about where we were from and all the different things we liked! Deanna has promised us that she will take us out exploring on Friday because she has no classes (for once) Deanna may take us outside later and show us around her house and neighbourhood! Love, SunnyHH
whiskeydoodles deannabanana@rogers.com Posted Apr 5, 2010, 7:53 pm	Hello Mum  So today Deanna had to go to school but Karl and I had a little surprise for her. We decorated her wall with some of the postcards she has gotten through postcrossing  It was really fun! Here I am with some fo the cards I helped put up with Karl: After that we had a little rest with one of Deanna's cats Smokey. He is very soft and lovely  That's all for now, more soon. Love, SunnyHH
whiskeydoodles deannabanana@rogers.com Posted Apr 5, 2010, 8:49 pm	HAPPY EASTER MUM!!!!!!! Today, Deanna set up an easter egg hunt for Karl and me! It was very fun First I found one on Deanna's CD shelf! Then I found some by the window, yummy! We then found some on the bed, I saved them before they could melt in the sunlight! Then we thought: Why not look in the cupboard and look what we found! [ THE MOTHERLOAD What a great Easter, I hope you had a good Easter too Mum Love, SunnyHH
whiskeydoodles deannabanana@rogers.com Posted Apr 5, 2010, 8:57 pm	Today we went on an adventure Mum  TO A MOVIE SET! Deanna had the day off so we went into Oakville to see if they were filming. They weren't but we were able to take a look around the house they built! It was very cool even if we didn't get to see Daniel Craig  I also got to walk on fake snow which you can see in the photo! It's a lot less colder than real snow  When the film "Dream House" comes out next year you can say that I was there! Isn't that neat? I feel like a movie star! Love you Mum <3 SunnyHH
AbbyB Posted May 13, 2010, 1:57 am	I have arrived at Abby's house in BC!  I was hoping that we could leave for Fiji immediately, but Abby says I have to wait 17 more days.  Sigh.  In the meantime I get to go to school and learn about mapping techniques.
AbbyB Posted May 19, 2010, 2:36 am	Abby's car is very dirty, so we decided to help her clean it. I got the water ready. Um, I think these mitts are too big... On second thought, this looks like a big job.  We'll just...supervise...
AbbyB Posted May 19, 2010, 2:49 am	Before everyone leaves for Fiji, we need to learn various skills.  Today's exercise was to map a perfect 1x1 square around these 'artifacts' and then map them. This was done in the archaeology department's flaking pit. We also had to find the colour of the dirt the 'artifacts' are sitting in, using this book.
AbbyB Posted May 19, 2010, 3:04 am	Hedgie arrived.  He is also going to Fiji.
AbbyB Posted May 24, 2010, 3:09 am	Before I leave for Fiji, Abby wanted to make sure that I saw some of Vancouver. This is Waterfront Station.  It used to be just a train station, but now many different methods of public transportation end here. The inside is very pretty. Gastown is the oldest part of Vancouver.  Most of it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1886, and now it is mostly stores for tourists and the shops of independent clothing designers. This is the statue of 'Gassy Jack', who is considered the founder of Gastown.  He ran a saloon that was destroyed in the fire. This is the famous Gastown Steamclock, a huge tourist attraction.  It runs on steam and was the first of its kind in the world.  It chimes every 15 minutes and steam pours out. This is Victory Square, Vancouver's main war memorial. This building is apparently haunted.  The architect who designed it killed himself before the building was completed, and they say that his ghost haunts the central staircase.
AbbyB Posted May 24, 2010, 3:10 am	Next, I visited Chinatown.  This is the Millenium Gate, or the Gate of Thousands' Happiness.  It marks the beginning of Chinatown and was unveiled in 2002. A lion guards the gate on each side.  Originally they each had a ball in their mouths representing prosperity, but they have been stolen. This is the Jack Chow building, the narrowest building in the world.  It was built by a man known to Vancouverites as Sam Kee.  At one point he owned more land in the area, but the city demolished his building to widen the road, leaving him with a strip of land just under five feet in width.  Rather than sell what remained of his property for practically nothing, Sam had another building built, one that fit into the strip of land.  For years the building belonged to a silk merchant, but now it's leased by an insurance company. This bell, called the West Han Dynasty Bell, is in Chinatown to commemorate Chinese history in Vancouver and marks the first Chinese settlement in the area.  It was a gift from Vancouver's sister city, Guangzhou in China, and it was modelled after a bell found in Guangzhou. I visited the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden. Many animals live in or visit the garden, like these giant fish.  Can you see the turtle? Hedgie and I played in the bamboo for a while.
AbbyB Posted May 24, 2010, 3:12 am	I went for a walk along the sea wall.  This is Canada Place, and it is one of the more iconic buildings along the harbour, due to the giant sails. This is the convention centre and it is huge!  During the Olympics this is where most of the international media was based. This sculpture was at the front corner of the building.  It is called The Drop. Here is Vancouver Harbour. Stanley Park is the largest park in Vancouver. On the other side of the convention centre was this huge orca sculpture that looked like it was made out of blocks. This is the Olympic torch.  Because the Olympics are over, it is no longer lit. Near the convention centre is the Marine Building.  At one point it was the largest building in the British Empire and it is the best example of art deco architecture on the West Coast of North America.
AbbyB Posted May 24, 2010, 3:13 am	After the tour of Vancouver, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  There are a few locations in BC and Canada, and each one has information and pictures of the history of the city it is in. The restaurants also tend to have antiques on the walls.  This one, and the one in Downtown Vancouver both have a real trolley car that has been converted so that you can sit and eat in it. Abby's family was late, so we studied while waiting for them. Mmmm, they sure know their stuff here!  We shared the 'manager's favourite' spaghetti, which is spaghetti with your choice of two kinds of sauces.  This is mizithra and butter, and clam sauce.  Yum!
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 6:42 am	I woke up early for my trip to Fiji. At the Vancouver airport, everyone met up at the Bill Reid sculpture. Once through security, we had a beer while waiting for the boarding call. On the plane!  Abby got us a window seat. This is about ten seconds after the plane took off.  Not much to see. Oh look!  The top of Mount Baker in Washington! There was no movie or anything, so we played a few games of cribbage. This is what the view of the United States looked like for most of the trip.
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 6:46 am	We have been at the Los Angeles airport for many hours and there is literally nothing to do.  This is the view from the gate. This is the gate.  There is not enough seating for everyone. Finally we are on the plane.  It is huge!  We are sitting in one of the very middle seats and there are ten seats to a row, 69 rows, and also a second level. The plane was delayed for three hours because of a mechanical error, so they served us our evening snack before we left LA. We also watched the first half of Avatar before the plane lifted off. After we finally got going, we got some sleep.
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 6:50 am	This morning's breakfast was a veggie stir fry. We watched The Princess and the Frog during breakfast. A few more hours to go... This is my first view of Fiji from the airport!
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 6:53 am	We had a very long drive from Nadi to Suva, but we drove along the coast. This is where I am staying in Suva, at the Tropic Towers motel.  There are four prople to a room.  This is the common area. There is some interesting art on the wall. The view from the balcony. The pool (our balcony is at the very top right corner of the photo). The roof.
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 10:13 pm	This is Suva, the capital of Fiji.  These pictures were taken over a few different days, but the sights were the same every day. This is the view on the walk down from the hotel. The waterfront.  There are no beaches on this side of Viti Levu. This is the old parliamentary buildings, and the sight of the 2000 coup.  Now they are just used for various governmental offices.  Did you know that when the coup happened, there was a field school just like ours that was there?  It must have been scary. This used to be the nicest hotel in Suva, but it has fallen into disrepair.  Apparently they are looking for someone to fix it up. This is Albert Park, next to the old parliamentary buildings.  This is where a lot of rugby and cricket games are played.  As you can see, cricket is being played today.
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 10:16 pm	This is Thursten Gardens, named after the second British Governor of Fiji.  It was established in the colonial era. This is the Fiji Museum, where the students of the field school did lots of research for the paper everyone had to write.
AbbyB Posted Aug 5, 2010, 10:19 pm	This is the Laucala Campus of the University of the South Pacific. Oh no, I am being eaten by a giant fish!  Just kidding. We had some very interesting lectures in this room over two days, about ethnobiodiversity, Fijian sociopolitical relations, and the impact of Girmit, which was the indentured labour system in place from 1879 to 1916 that brought 60000 Indians to Fiji. It started to rain during one of the lectures.  When it rains here, it really rains.
AbbyB Posted Aug 7, 2010, 5:52 am	Today we visited Waidracia Village, which is the village of Jone (pronounced Jonae), who is Fiji's leading archaeologist.  He is the son of the chief, who is called a Ratu.  We were taking trucks to the village, because the road for half of the way was not paved. We're here! This is the Ratu's house.  You have to have your shoulders and knees covered (the proper dress is to wear a sulu, and in this day and age, a t-shirt), and you cannot wear shoes inside the houses. This is the itinerary for the day.  We didn't quite follow it, but it gives you a basic idea of what happened. These women were in the next room making the mats that we sat on.  They are made of pandanus leaves. This is where the sevusevu happened.  Sevusevu is a ceremony where guests present kava to the ratu, the ratu accepts the kava, everyone drinks kava, and then everyone is welcomed into the village and becomes a part of it. That big bowl is where they made the kava.  The roots of the kava are pounded into powder, the powder is put into a cloth, then water is poured overtop and the kava is strained through.  The result is something that looks and tastes like muddy water, but it makes your mouth numb, and if you drink enough of it, you become very relaxed and lazy.  During the sevusevu, Abby drank my bowl of kava for me, possibly to spare me from the taste. After the sevusevu, the women gave everyone tea and cakes.  Most of these cakes are made with cassava and they were all really good.  There was also corn bread and banana bread.
AbbyB Posted Aug 7, 2010, 5:56 am	Next was the tour of the village and the surrounding areas.  This is the lovo, an earth oven.  Our lunch is being prepared.  You can see taro, and in the aluminum foil is chicken and other good things. The village makes their living by exporting dalo (taro).  This field was planted recently. This field is ready to be harvested. Here, they are showing everyone how they make their houses, out of mud brick.  This is the oldest house in the village (and where the unmarried teenagers hang out). Do you see the man climbing the coconut tree?  He was very fast. They prepared coconuts for all of the guests.  Yum! A view of the village. Some children performed a dance for us.
AbbyB Posted Aug 7, 2010, 5:58 am	Next, we visited the primary and high schools to give speeches.  Fiji has a 94% literacy rate. There are no pictures of the primary school children due to site regulations, but they performed songs for us.  This is at the high school, where some people in our group gave speeches about the importance of continuing education.
AbbyB Posted Aug 7, 2010, 6:01 am	Lunch/dinner time!  Just look at the spread!  There was roasted chicken, wahoo fish, taro, taro leaves with fish, taro leaves with mutton, and all sorts of other things. Next was the entertainment portion.  A lot of kava was drank, and there was music and dancing (we were too busy dancing to get any pictures). Time to go home now.  Everyone had one last bowl of kava, then we said our goodbye speeches.  What a great day.
AbbyB Posted Aug 8, 2010, 5:31 am	On our first Saturday, we went to Albert Park to watch rugby.  This is a tournament between villages.  The village we visited yesterday was supposed to play today, but their match was cancelled.
AbbyB Posted Aug 8, 2010, 5:34 am	The Suva Market is where you can buy a lot of fresh produce, and where our group did most of their grocery shopping.  As you can see it is very large and you can buy a lot of different things, most of them grown by the individual vendors. You can also buy a few other things, like flowers.
AbbyB Posted Aug 8, 2010, 5:35 am	After a long day of classes and studying, sometimes it is just nice to go out for a beer.  The beer options are limited here, but the Fiji Gold and Fiji Bitter are very nice.
AbbyB Posted Aug 8, 2010, 5:39 am	Today we took the bus to USP.  The buses are fun because they drive really fast and they blast Top 40 music (Justin Bieber is really popular here).  This week's lectures are in the Bure. In here we had lectures on Lapita sites in Fiji (the Lapita peoples were the first inhabitants of Fiji, arriving approximately 3050 BP [Before Present, which is about 1950]), South Pacific linguistic shifts, the different types of sand dunes in the Sigatoka Delta (which is where the excavation will take place), and the archaeology of the Sigatoka Sand Dunes. USP has a really good coffee shop.  We shared an iced coffee.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 12:10 am	Today we stepped onto a private bus... ...And went to the Colo-I-Suva Forest Park (pronounced Thohlo-ee-soova).  It is primarily a mahogany forest. We soon turned down a very narrow path. There are swimming holes! There were many more views, but the path was slippery and Abby didn't want to drop her camera. Finally we arrived at our destination: our own private swimming hole!  There's a rope swing! Everyone went swimming and had a lot of fun.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 1:16 am	On our last day in Suva, we made sure to buy the custard pie from the hotel.  It is made there and it is really good. We also made sure to grab a meal at the Old Mill Cafe, which serves really good traditional Fijian food.  We shared roti, potato curry and some sort of fried okra dish.  It was very tasty.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 1:18 am	We are waiting to catch a ferry.  It's raining, so We will be staying under the shelter until it arrives. On the ferry.  The weather has cleared up. Our destination: the island called Ovalau.  This is the first view of the island.  Can you see the rainbow? The tide was out, so we had to transfer to a smaller boat. Are you sure this thing is seaworthy? The tide was so low, they everyone had to get out and wade to shore.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 1:36 am	After an hour long, rather bumpy ride on a truck, we arrived in Levuka, the old colonial capital of Fiji.  The first thing we did was go to our hotel, which is the oldest standing hotel in Levuka. We were staying with Abby in the Captain Robbie bungalow, on the left side. Not much to see... This is the view back toward the main building. Inside one of the rooms of the main building.  The bottom floor was all public space, and each room was different.  This one looked like it came straight out of the colonial era. The upstairs of the main building. It was going to be dark soon, so we took a quick walk through the town.  It is very quiet.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 1:40 am	Every morning, from 8-9, you can get complimentary tea and toast at the hotel.  It is really good. We went for another walk. This is the local war memorial, for the White settlers that fought in the First World War. The most interesting architecture in Levuka is the churches.  For a tiny town, they had a lot of them.  This is the Anglican Church, established in 1904. This is the Methodist Church, established in 1860.  the Methodists were the first missionaries in Fiji, arriving in 1835. This is an old graveyard for White settlers.  Most of the markers were moved quite a while ago so that the locals could play rugby on the field. We walked to the end of the town. Once you cross the bridge, you are in the original village of Levuka, which is on the right. This is another war memorial, for the indigenous and Indo-Fijians who fought in the World Wars. This is the old Morris & Hedstrom building, which is now the museum and library.  Morris & Hedstrom is still huge in Fiji and makes up many of the supermarkets. Town Hall. The Masonic Lodge, which was burned during the 2000 coup.  Remember the field school that was in Fiji during that coup?  They were staying right near here when this happened. This is the oldest standing church in Levuka.  Most of the buildings were destroyed during a hurricane in 1895. This is the Levuka Public School, which was established during the colonial era.  Nearly every important Fijian in the past century went to this school, and now people send their children here from all over Fiji.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 8:50 pm	A few brave souls went on a hike to what is simply called The Peak.  Hedgie and I had an easy ride because we just rode in Abby's backpack, but it was very steep and it looks like it was very hard.  This is a view from about a quarter of the way up. Abby did not take any more pictures of the hike because she needed her hands to scramble up some of the steeper areas. This is the top.  What an amazing view!  Levuka is below us.  See that field near my ear?  The white buildings in front of that are the Royal Hotel. The next peak over looks like a monkey head.  the locals call it Phantom Face. And now a solo picture. A flag to mark our accomplishment. The hike back down was just as hard (worse for Abby, who doesn't like heights), and so there were no more pictures. At the bottom.  See the cliff to the left of the monkey head?  That is the one we climbed.  I almost can't believe it.  It is so tall that you cannot even see the flag from here.
AbbyB Posted Aug 9, 2010, 8:52 pm	Today we went to the Lovoni Village.  If you know anything about the history of Fiji and the story of it becoming a British colony, you have heard of the Lovoni people.  It is a very long story, but they remain the only indigenous people who were sold into slavery.  They were eventually freed and returned to Ovalau, all except three people, who were sold to an American circus.  The interesting thing about the village itself is that it sits in the crater of a volcano that was active about 40000 years ago. Instead of church bells, they use a traditional method of beating a hollowed out log with sticks. This is the monument to commemorate the release of the Lovoni people from slavery. See the hill in the distance.  The Lovoni people have an impenetrable hill fort there.  They were only captured because they were tricked into leaving it and coming to Levuka. After the village tour, we had to hike out of the crater, which took about two hours.  We went through a bamboo forest... Then an area with lots of flowers... Saw some nice views... ...then a pine forest?  Everyone said that this looked too much like Canada to be Fiji. Everyone was very tired and muddy after the hike, but it was very beautiful.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 7:11 am	After a long day of travelling, we are back on Viti Levu, but on the Western side of the island this time.  It is too dark to see anything, but this is where we will be living for the next four and a half weeks.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 7:14 am	This is Tubakula (Toombakoola), where we are staying.  My bungalow is pool-side. This is the beach.  I am so happy to be here. Look how clear the water is!
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 7:16 am	My first sunset at Tubakula.  Beautiful.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 7:18 am	The nearest town to where we are staying is Sigatoka (Singatohka).  It's a bit of a tourist town, so there is not too much to see. They have a small market, nowhere near as big as the one in Suva, but it has a decent selection of vegetables.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 9:08 pm	Today is the first of our days excavating the Sigatoka Sand Dunes.  Hedgie and I are all set to go. First glimpse of the dunes. This is on the walk to the dig site. They are building a frame so that we can have a shelter every day.  Where that group of people are standing next to each other is where the dig will be. We had a few minutes of free time, so everyone went to the beach. This is the top of one of the dunes, facing the Sigatoka delta.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 9:11 pm	Everyone has been hard at work the past few days.  There was a metre of drift sand over the dig site that had to be removed, which took two days. We took a walk to see how the burial excavations were going.  The bamboo provides some shelter from the trade winds. Very cool.  The interesting thing about this skeleton, is that it is facing the wrong way.  The head is pointing West, when most of the skeletons excavated previously have been facing East. This skeleton is very fragmented and looks like it did a backflip down the dunes. After viewing the skeletons, we got to work.  This is our excavation area, which is a 2x2m unit.  The unit is broken down into four 1x1m units, which are excavated seperately.  Each unit is taken down 5cm at a time. Neither Hedgie nor I is big enough to lift a trowel, but we labeled bags for artifact collection... ...And took notes on what was found in each unit, and mapped artifacts left in situ. At the end of the day, the first layer of all four units were excavated.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 9:13 pm	Everyone has the weekends off, but sometimes the entire groups does something together.  This morning we visited the Tavuni Hill Fort, which is up-river from Sigatoka.  The hill fort was established in the 19th century by a young Tongan chief who married a Fijian girl.  It prospered until 1875, when the inhabitants decided to restart a finished war because they were against Fiji's annexation to Great Britain.  They went on a rampage and started burning villages.  The colonial government mustered up 1000 men, stormed the fort in 1876, and burned it to the ground.  It has never been re-occupied, but the decendents of the occupants live in nearby villages. This is the lovo and earth oven used to cook their enemies.  Human flesh was considered special and only eaten during a feast, and if somebody refused to eat the flesh, they were next. The stones mark where dwellings used to be.  The round ones are in Tongan style. The rectangular ones are Fijian style. The view is fantastic up here.  The river is the Sigatoka River. This is the killing stone.  The victim would lay face-down with their head sticking out, and their head and other body parts would be chopped off.  Two small boys whould catch the blood coming from the drains (between the stones).  Everything would then be carried down to the lovo and cooked. This is a sacred stone, and before Christianity was considered the god of the hill fort people. A view into the valley.
AbbyB Posted Aug 10, 2010, 9:17 pm	In the afternoon, we visited the village called Nakabuto (Nakambooto), which is a pottery village.  This man is welcoming us to the village. Some of the men dressed up in traditional warrior dress. Like every visit to the village, shoulders and knees must be covered, and sulus worn.  Everyone was given a garland to wear.  We sat on Abby's lap and looked at hers.  It matches her sulu! Making kava during the sevusevu. This man presented kava to everyone. They gave us a pottery demonstration.  The woman on the right is making a vase. They also showed us how they glaze their pottery.  They use the sap from a tree.  This is what the sap looks like. The woman in front is demonstrating the glazing process.  The pot is taken straight out of the fire, and held with a stick while the sap is melted onto it. The vase is finished. These are all of the wares you can buy in the village, all made the same way as was shown.
AbbyB Posted Aug 11, 2010, 9:16 pm	Once a week, all students have to stay at Tubakula and have a lab day to process all of the pottery that is collected at the excavation. These pottery sherds have already been cleaned, so we sorted them into pottery sherds, faunal and rocks. The plain sherds are sorted by size (small = >2cm, medium = 2-4cm, large = <4cm), and each size group is weighed and recorded. 'Diagnostic' pieces (rim sherds, decorated pottery, etc) are bagged separately.  These sherds are mat-impressed, which means that before they were fired, they sat on a mat made of leaves, which left markings. We ran out of sherds to weigh and it started to rain, so we moved inside and cleaned more bags of sherds with a toothbrush, then did the entire process again.
AbbyB Posted Aug 11, 2010, 9:22 pm	I have survived my first tropical storm.  It was very dark and hard to see, so here is Abby explaining it (click the picture): (PS: Abby says she doesn't quite sound like that in real life)
AbbyB Posted Aug 11, 2010, 9:26 pm	One of the field school students brought over a treat, a piece of sugar cane given to the student by her uncle, who lives in Fiji.  It's really good.  You bite off a piece, chew it like gum and suck out all of the juice, then spit out the fibre.
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 2:59 am	Today some of the students did a survey of the dunes.  The goal was to look for and get a GPS recording of potential sites to excavate, and also the scenery is nice and I wanted to have a look at the rest of the dunes.  We started at the Western end, about 6 km from the pottery village site we are excavating. First we walked Westward toward the village of Yanuca (ya-noo-tha) to see what we could find. It is very pretty here. This is what you have to look for.  Even one piece of pottery can mean that there is a site in the vicinity. Now we are walking Eastward, back across the dunes and toward the pottery village. This is a small lovo feature (remember that a lovo is an earth oven).  You can tell because there is coral, fire-cracked rock, and pottery sherds. The dunes are very tall, but if you can scale one, the view is amazing.  This is back the way we came. This is in the direction we are heading. This is toward the Sigatoka valley.  Directly behind the dunes is Kulukulu Village (Fun fact: Kulukulu means breadfruit breadfruit), and Sigatoka town is behind the hills to the right. As we walked toward the pottery village site, the sites became larger and more abundant.  This is a large lovo and pottery scatter spread out over about 20 meters. This is a huge pottery scatter.  Can you see all of the little reddish dots in front of the vegetation?  That is all pottery.  This looks like it was a salt-making station in prehistoric times. Sadly we ran out of time and had to rush the last few sites, so there is no picture of me mapping the human tooth scatter (it was mostly molars).  I had a fun day though, and I'm not even tired because I got to ride in Abby's pocket!
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 3:02 am	Today is the last day of the four week dig.  Look how much everyone accomplished! We spent the day taking most units down one more level to look for filled-in post holes.  Power troweling! This is the end result. Goodbye, pottery village!
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 3:10 am	Today everyone went to Natadola (Natandola), which is one of the top-rated beaches in the world, for some R&R. After checking out the beach, we settled down to tan for a while.  Don't forget sunscreen! When we got hungry we had a papaya snack.  Yum!
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 3:13 am	After Natadola, Abby's professor gave a ride to Bourewa to whomever wanted to come. Bourewa is the oldest archaeological site in Fiji, dating to about 3100 years ago.  It holds the first evidence of any sort of settlement in the Fiji Islands. This is all that is left now, large shell middens.  3000 years ago the sea level was about 1.5 metres higher , which would have meant that this was underwater.  They believe that the Lapita peoples who lived here lived in houses on stilts and dropped their garbage, these shells, into the water beneath their houses. See these shells?  You can tell the site is old because the animals who produce these shells only grow to be about half the size in current times. See where the patch of sun is, above Hedgie's head?  That rock there is actually ancient coral bed. There was not much to see, but I learned a lot about the first people who came to Fiji.  Everyone also got a lecture on the preservation of archaeological sites.  Excavations are finished here and they decided not to fill it in.  Abby's professor says that within the next ten years the walls are going to collapse and then the site will be ruined.
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 6:43 pm	Well, it is time to move on now.  We're all packed. Our flight is early in the morning tomorrow, so we took the bus to Nadi today.  Sadly this is all I saw of Nadi.
AbbyB Posted Aug 12, 2010, 6:46 pm	It is early in the morning and we are waiting at our departure gate.  Everyone watched How I Met Your Mother to pass the time. We watched the sun rise. There's our plane to Australia! Goodbye, Fiji. On the plane we watched How to Train your Dragon. Breakfast! Decending over Brisbane.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:54 am	We decided to go for a walk along the Brisbane River. We were heading to this bridge.  It is also known as the green bridge because it is for buses, cyclists and walkers only. To get there we had to pass by this really cool cemetary. On the other side of the bridge was the University of Queensland. After exploring for a while, we walked home on the other side of the bridge.  There are words and phrases all along it.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:56 am	We went to South Bank, which is a tourist-y sort of area.  On the way I spotted this cool building.  It is apparently one of the best schools in Brisbane and it is really hard to get in. This is South Bank. This guy was hanging out over the plaza. One of the biggest draws to South Bank is the man-made lagoon and beach.  The lagoon is a large swimming pool.  Sadly it is too cold to swim in it right now. We went for a walk along this path. There are usually markets here with people selling handmade wares.  They are busier on weekends and there were only a few stalls open today. This is the Wheel of Brisbane, which I suppose is like the Eye of London. This is a statue of Confucius, which China gave to Queensland to mark Queensland's 150th birthday. This staircase leads to Picnic Island, which is aptly named.  It was created with areas for picnicking. Downtown Brisbane is across the river. We sat near the river and enjoyed a cupcake. On the way home we took the train.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:59 am	This is the part of Brisbane known as The Village.  At night there is live music, but during the day there is a market with lots of local designers selling their clothing. Chinatown is nearby, but there was no time to explore.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:40 pm	Today we made a sticky date pudding. Orly the cat helped. First we chopped the dates and put whem in boiling water and baking soda to soak. Next we mixed butter, sugar and eggs together. Then flour, vanilla extract and the date mixture. The batter is ready to go. We put the batter in the oven and started on the caramel.  We mixed butter, brown sugar, cream and creme fraiche and let it simmer. The pudding looks ready. We poured some caramel on top to let it soak in. Another minute in the oven and it was ready! Yum!
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:42 pm	We went to the Gallery of Modern Art to see the Ron Mueck exhibit.  Mueck makes incredibly lifelike human figures out of proportion to real life: either very small or very big. To get there we had to walk under some whales. Pictures were allowed, but many of the figures were quite naked, so I didn't get my picture taken with all of them. This is a closeup of the faces to give you an idea of how much detail there is.  It's amazing. There was a movie showing how the figures were made. Afterwards we took a quick wander through the gallery of indigenous Australian art.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:44 pm	Today we are traveling to Sydney by train.  It will be a very long trip, nearly 14 hours. We settled into place... And got some breakfast. For dinner there was a vegetarian tortellini. Finally we arrived at Central Station in Sydney.
AbbyB Posted Aug 13, 2010, 6:47 pm	In Sydney we are staying with becka_kate.  Dottie Grace arrived home from her travels recently and we told each other stories.
AbbyB Posted Aug 14, 2010, 5:29 am	Sydney is a very interesting city and both Abby and Bec say it kind of reminds them of Vancouver.  We found a free walking tour and decided to walk it.  It started at the City Hall, which apparently is not used for much, but is a very nice building. This statue of Queen Victoria has only been in Sydney since 1986.  It used to be in Dublin, Ireland, but in the 1920s it was dismantled and stored in a basement until it was bought by a group who moved it to Sydney. Of course, Queen Victoria would not be complete without her dog.  This statue talked for some reason. This is St Mary's Cathedral, and in the foreground is a fountain representing Australian-French relations. Sydney Tower This is the barracks where the British convicts used to live when they were sent to Australia. This is the first Anglican church in Sydney.  When it was built it was the tallest building in Sydney and it also doubled as a court house for a while. This is the Sydney Hospital, also known as the Rum Hospital.  When the plans were sent to London to ask for funding and supplies they said no, so the Governor raised money through the sale of alcohol.  It is still used as a hospital today. The pig statue is the exact replica of one in Florence.  Apparently if you throw a coin into the fountain, get your hand wet and rub the nose you will have good luck. These are the Parliamentary Buildings.  What is interesting about them is that the buildings used to be the psychiatric ward of the hospital. This is the Australian Coat of Arms.  The kangaroo and the emu are both animals that cannot walk backwards, meaning that Australia can only go forwards, and then on the shield are the symbols of the six Australian states, and lastly the star represents the Commonwealth. This is the Anzac war memorial.  An Australian soldier was killed in Afghanistan recently, and that is why all of the wreaths are on the memorial. We sat with this man for a while.
AbbyB Posted Aug 14, 2010, 5:32 am	After a quick lunch we continued our tour.  This cannon and anchor were taken from the wreckage of one of the first ships to Australia. The Union Jack is where they believe the original British flag was planted when the British first arrived in Australia. Customs House Inside Customs House is this view of the city.  It is updated weekly. This is Circular Quay.  You can see Harbour Bridge at the end. My first view of the Sydney Opera House. This is Cadman's Cottage, the oldest standing residential building in Sydney.  It belonged to a man who was a convict, but married, settled and gained his freedom. This is The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney. This statue shows the three types of people who lived in The Rocks: Families, Convicts and Soldiers. This is the underside of an on-ramp to the Harbour Bridge.  It was cut right out of the sandstone. The bridge itself is 78 years old and is repainted every year. The last stop was another view of the opera house.  It was designed by a Danish architect, but when he went way over-budget the government pushed him into a corner and basically forced him to drop out of the project.  To this day he has not been credited for the design. This is the view back toward downtown.
AbbyB Posted Aug 14, 2010, 5:34 am	We decided to get a closer look at the opera house.  On the walk up they have little plaques showing the 1788 and 1844 shorelines. Did you know the roof is made of tile? The view of the harbour from next to the opera house. We went for a walk along the sea wall. These chairs were cut out of the sandstone and have a great view of the Opera House. Just around the point is Mrs MacQuarie's chair, a famous lookout point.
AbbyB Posted Aug 15, 2010, 1:28 am	We went to Cockatoo Island to see the modern art exhibit that is part of Sydney's 17th annual Biennal.  There is a free ferry to the island during this event. This map shows where you can find all of the art. Behind these curtains were wax figures of dead Communist leaders. Wow, that was very cool.  I didn't get to see every piece of art, but I saw most of them! Back on the mainland I checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art, but it no pictures were allowed inside (and it wasn't as cool as Cockatoo Island anyway).
AbbyB Posted Aug 15, 2010, 1:30 am	The Rocks Discovery Museum tells Sydney's history.  The first room has information about the area before European contact. The second room has information about Sydney as a penal colony. The third room has information about Sydney before 1900. The last room has information about Sydney in the last century. After the museum we went to Le Renaissance for macarons.  Yum!
AbbyB Posted Aug 16, 2010, 6:07 pm	We are attending a ToyVoyager meet-up in the Blue Mountains.  Dottie Grace came along and we met the ToyVoyagers that sararingham is hosting, Ewan E. Ewok and Toothy Walrus.  We met at a chocolate shop for hot chocolate. Blue Mountains is West of Sydney and it is very pretty.  This is Echo Point and the rocks behind me are called the Three Sisters. This is the Leura Cascades. This is the Explorer tree, a famous tree that was, for some reason, chopped down and filled with concrete in an attempt to 'preserve' it.
AbbyB Posted Aug 16, 2010, 6:10 pm	Grose Valley is the second largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon.
AbbyB Posted Aug 16, 2010, 6:13 pm	Mount Panorama is home to a race track where you can view the most popular race in Australia. We did a lap of the track.  This is the view from the top.
AbbyB Posted Aug 17, 2010, 6:12 am	I saw wild kangaroos!
AbbyB Posted Aug 17, 2010, 6:15 am	Lake Canobolas is the resevoir in Orange.  We brought the rain with us and it is full. A view of the Orange area. I call this one, The View from Mount Canobolas.  Um, we are on top of a mountain, I swear!
AbbyB Posted Aug 17, 2010, 6:17 am	It is time to head back to Sydney.  We caught the train in Mount Victoria, but we had to wait a while.
AbbyB Posted Aug 18, 2010, 1:36 am	I am back at Abby's home in Canada.  See? It is summer here (about the same tempertures as Fiji, actually), and Abby's garden is in full bloom. These gnomes are all over the garden.  They are all identical and all named Smedvik.
AbbyB Posted Aug 19, 2010, 10:46 pm	We are checking out a new local market.  Apparently it has a pirate theme today. We got here a little late and many of the sellers were packing up for the day, but there was still live music!
AbbyB Posted Aug 19, 2010, 10:50 pm	Today we went to Granville Island (it's not actually an island).  There are many artists and galleries here, and British Columbia's most prominent art school, Emily Carr University. First we went to the pond to see if we could find any turtles, but we didn't see any. We did see some tame geese, though. There is a farmers' market here every Thursday. The Net Loft is full of stores selling specialty crafts. I went to a place that many people on ToyVoyagers would appreciate. This is Burrard Bridge.  It was built in an art deco style. Many many boats dock here. This is the Granville Street Bridge. We went to the market next, which is filled with grocers, fish markets, candy stores and places to eat. Next we went to Ron Basford Park to eat lunch. Rogers Chocolates is an amazing chocolate store.  Abby bought each of us a treat. Fun Fact: This is exactly where Abby released Zeinab.  Of course, she did not leave either of us behind... As we left, we noticed a small rock art exhibition.
AbbyB Posted Aug 19, 2010, 10:56 pm	Today we are going to Bard on the Beach.  Every year they put on four Shakespearean plays. Today's play is Henry V. We were very early, so we only picked up our tickets, then decided to kill time by going for a walk.  This is the planetarium/Museum of Vancouver.  Cool building, no?  Abby says she has always liked the crab fountain out front, but it was not turned on today. We made our way over to Granville Island, where I was the other day. At Granville Island we went for dinner at the yellow building in the last picture.  We ate pizza. Fun fact: This restaurant was Swiss House during the Olympics. Rather than walk back, we decided to take the ferry down False Creek.  It is called that because it is actually an inlet. We were taken to the other side of False Creek, then had to wait for another ferry to take us back to Vanier Park.  This is one of the only beaches in Vancouver.  Around the corner is English Bay, and that is where they hold an international fireworks competition every summer (but we were travelling when it happened this year). This is where we are heading.  If you look closely you can see the white Bard on the Beach tents. Our ferry arrived. The dark line of trees is Stanley Park, the largest park in Vancouver. We got off the ferry near the Maritime Museum.  At the dock they have some replicas of famous boats.  This one was my favourite.  She is called Munin and is a half-size replica of the Gokstad. This is the Maritime Museum. Vanier Park. This is an art piece that is part of Vancouver's Biennal. On the other side all the signs are pink. It was time to get in line to go inside the tents.  I looked through the program while I was waiting. Pictures are not allowed of the shows, but Henry V was really good.  During intermission we ate ice cream.
AbbyB Posted Aug 20, 2010, 5:53 pm	It is nearly time for me to leave, but before I go I must take a bath.  Hedgie decided to have one too.  Archaeology is dirty work.
AbbyB Posted Aug 20, 2010, 5:55 pm	A new TV has arrived.  Who could it be? It's Roderich! Sadly, it is time for me to leave, so I did not get much time to talk to him (though it was rather nice to speak to someone in German again).  Roderich sat to the side while I said goodbye to Hedgie.  We went on a great adventure together and I will miss him.
Lillebi Posted Sep 2, 2010, 12:41 pm	When I arrive, Lillebi is not at home.
Lillebi Posted Sep 3, 2010, 3:21 pm	Since Lillebi is not in, I am gonna hang out myself on campus.
Lillebi Posted Sep 5, 2010, 7:01 am	Keeping Hanging
Lillebi Posted Sep 7, 2010, 12:47 pm	Eventually I was captured.
Lillebi Posted Sep 12, 2010, 7:29 am	I was about to be dinnered when Lillebi arrived to rescue me from the evil heart. He told little lion that I was a friend of his.
Lillebi Posted Sep 13, 2010, 7:24 am	Lillebi will carry me home.
Lillebi Posted Sep 16, 2010, 4:31 pm	Climbing.
Lillebi Posted Sep 18, 2010, 5:43 am	We did some filming today.
Lillebi Posted Sep 28, 2010, 11:04 am	Today I met Petra who wanted to eat me, I told him I was a guest of Lillebi. And He said It was just a kiss.
Lillebi Posted Sep 29, 2010, 2:15 pm	We are friends now.
Lillebi Posted Sep 30, 2010, 12:26 pm	We are location scouting
Lillebi Posted Oct 2, 2010, 3:31 am	We've found a lonely daisy.
Lillebi Posted Oct 4, 2010, 2:54 pm	I am stucked.
Lillebi Posted Oct 7, 2010, 3:59 pm	We found some more daisys.
Lillebi Posted Oct 8, 2010, 3:43 pm	We've found an autobot. Petra says it is a decepticon.
Lillebi Posted Oct 10, 2010, 5:29 pm
Lillebi Posted Oct 12, 2010, 5:50 pm	It's all covered in daises now.
Lillebi Posted Oct 15, 2010, 10:27 pm	Playing chess with Petra
Lillebi Posted Oct 17, 2010, 10:40 pm	Am not I a vegetarian, anticipating the Japanese steak, 150AUD per kilogram? Served with garlic shoot.
Lillebi Posted Oct 20, 2010, 5:39 am	We went shopping.
Lillebi Posted Oct 21, 2010, 12:58 pm	I followed Petra on to the ground.
Lillebi Posted Oct 24, 2010, 4:27 am	Heading for the Canberra Centre
Lillebi Posted Oct 25, 2010, 4:30 am	Arrived
Lillebi Posted Oct 30, 2010, 5:52 am
Lillebi Posted Nov 5, 2010, 11:00 am	Today I met Red Navel
Lillebi Posted Nov 6, 2010, 10:33 am	Investigating Saint lillebi's f1.2 lens.
Lillebi Posted Nov 9, 2010, 1:02 am
Lillebi Posted Nov 11, 2010, 12:10 pm	I want to play pool
Lillebi Posted Nov 12, 2010, 12:59 pm
Lillebi Posted Nov 14, 2010, 11:42 pm
Lillebi Posted Nov 17, 2010, 12:46 pm	Lillebing
Lillebi Posted Nov 19, 2010, 7:41 pm
Lillebi Posted Nov 23, 2010, 10:38 pm
Lillebi Posted Dec 1, 2010, 7:55 pm	It have been raining for a several days, have to find something to do with Lillebi.
Lillebi Posted Dec 3, 2010, 11:12 pm	I've blocked Lillebi's eye.
Lillebi Posted Dec 10, 2010, 11:49 am	Today I was researching about how to plant carrots when I suddenly saw Lillebi, Petra and Red Navel were planting a carrot outside.
Lillebi Posted Dec 11, 2010, 2:46 pm	I rush out of the room.  How can they start it without me?
Lillebi Posted Dec 17, 2010, 8:55 pm	We went to see sunrise today
Lillebi Posted Dec 27, 2010, 5:55 am
Lillebi Posted Dec 29, 2010, 6:17 am
Lillebi Posted Jan 2, 2011, 12:29 pm
Lillebi Posted Jan 5, 2011, 3:21 pm
Lillebi Posted Jan 11, 2011, 8:48 pm
Lillebi Posted Jan 13, 2011, 6:38 pm
Lillebi Posted Jan 18, 2011, 7:30 am
Lillebi Posted Jan 26, 2011, 10:56 am	Being lazy.
Lillebi Posted Feb 8, 2011, 1:02 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 10, 2011, 10:20 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 13, 2011, 12:58 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 15, 2011, 11:20 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 17, 2011, 11:27 am
Lillebi Posted Feb 18, 2011, 12:37 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 19, 2011, 2:49 pm
Lillebi Posted Feb 22, 2011, 10:54 am	It's hot today.
Lillebi Posted Feb 26, 2011, 6:51 am	It's my turn this year.
Lillebi Posted Feb 28, 2011, 7:19 am	Today I met a rabbit. It's so wired that he is totally red.
after4ever Posted Mar 2, 2011, 1:22 pm	Hi Mum! Today I arrived in the Netherlands. It was a long trip from Australia and the weather over here is a lot worse ( It's raining a lot! ). I was welcomed by some new friends: Theodore Taylor, Grumpy and Floortje. They seem nice although Grumpy was a bit quit and only made a growl noise now and then. They all wanted to know about my adventures. I have been traveling for a long time and told them a lot of exciting stories.... I think they were very impressed mum, we sat there for 5 ours and they couldn't get enough of my travel adventures!
after4ever Posted Mar 2, 2011, 2:00 pm	It has rained a lot the last few days but today is a sunny day! My host Corien has a day of and decided to take us to the park for a stroke and some photo's. The other ToyVoyagers that came along are Theodore Taylor and Grumpy
after4ever Posted Mar 5, 2011, 12:33 pm	Today Beaver from Russia arrived, we were all very anxious to meet him: I talked to him alone for a while.... He told me a lot about Russia and all the things and people he met on his journey. Very interesting! We also made a group photo with all the Toyvoyagers who are visiting: myself, Grumpy, Theodore Taylor and Beaver, a stay-at-home Toyvoyager named Coco and 2 guys who are going to be voyagers soon, Mr. Blue the peacock and Arie the honeybee:
Lillebi Posted Mar 5, 2011, 7:36 pm	Sleeping.
Lillebi Posted Mar 7, 2011, 10:59 am	Attending floor meeting.
after4ever Posted Mar 8, 2011, 3:09 pm	We're all feeling a bit sad today...... Theodore Taylor is leaving. We had a little goodbye party with springtime-cupcakes: I gave Theodore Taylor a big hug, hope to see him again sometime! Bye Theo! I'll miss you!!!
Lillebi Posted Mar 10, 2011, 3:20 am	I attempted an escape after Bojian received a message from mom.
after4ever Posted Mar 11, 2011, 9:42 am	Today another envelop arrived, it came from Canada. That's quite a long journey, hope the Voyager inside doesn't have a jetlag! We all gathered around to welcome the new traveler but I think he is a little shy, he wouldn't come out his package at first. Our host told us that Harrisson would be in the envelop and that he is a Hippo. I know Hippo's are large and have real big teeth so I was a little scared at first. Fortunately we have Grumpy who isn't afraid of anything.... He ripped open the envelop and put his head inside. I was really scared at that moment because Grumpy is my friend and I didn't want anything to happen to him.... Harrisson is not scary at all, he was just deep asleep from his long trip. He is really nice and has the cutest belly button I have ever seen! This is our current Travelers-group: Me:SunnyHH, Harrisson, Grumpy and Beaver
Lillebi Posted Mar 14, 2011, 9:08 am	Saying goodbye and sleep in Lillebi's ear for a last night.
after4ever Posted Mar 18, 2011, 4:58 pm	Hi mum! Today we went on a trip to another country, Belgium. We visited a town called Oostende on the Noth sea coast. Of course we went to the beach to see the Ocean. It was a bit cold but it was nice to see the water and there was some sunshine as well so it wasn't too bad.
after4ever Posted Mar 18, 2011, 5:03 pm	After visiting the beach we walked to the old town where we saw some nice buildings and a cute harbour:
Lillebi Posted Mar 20, 2011, 7:56 am	I don't want to go into that envelope, nobody want that.
after4ever Posted Apr 7, 2011, 8:46 am	Today Ranger came to join us. He even brought a real passport with him. Very cool!
after4ever Posted Apr 7, 2011, 9:57 am	Today we visited 'Blijdorp' the Zoo in my host's hometown. I saw a lot of great animals and had a real nice day... These are Onagers.... they look like the donkey in Shrek movies! We saw the first Dutch Tulips in bloom and of course had to take a picture with them! This was the monkey area: On this billboard you can see Bokito. We saw him in real life too but were not allowed to take pictures. Bokito is world famous. A few years ago he escaped and attacked a woman. Then he ran to the playground next to the Gorilla-home. Luckily the keepers were able to sedate him and now the Gorilla's are protected a lot more to avoid this from happening again. The prairiedogs are so cute! I walked on their area but I was very carefully because i know they can bite and they have very large teeth! A very beautiful place:
after4ever Posted Apr 19, 2011, 9:45 am	Today 2 new ToyVoyagers arrived: Torsten, a tough but sweet little doggie and Misty Rose, a beautiful snail-girl. It's a little crowded at the moment but some of us will be leaving for our next host soon......
RikeH Posted May 13, 2011, 9:41 pm	Hello friends, I am home again. After two years of travelling it was time to come home to see my Mum RikeH. I was so happy to see her – and then I said hello to Dicker Kumpel. He introduced me to the other guests here. I had so much fun and told them a lot about my adventurous life as a ToyVoyager. Now I will take a rest from travelling, but I am sure, if RikeH will find a great host for me, I will be on the road again soon. yours SunnyHH
aileen Posted May 27, 2011, 2:39 pm	Hi Mum, I arrived savely in Fürstenau! I was so happy (but really nervous) when I heard voices outside - they were talking about ME! Finally Gustav opened the envelope and I noticed that the night was already over! It was so dark in the envelope... At first I've been a bit scared of Gustav, bears can bite, right? But obviously he doesn't bite (I hope it stays that way...). And he helped me to climb out of the envelope, so maybe he's really nice. I got to go now and have a look at where I am right now. Love, SunnyHH
aileen Posted May 30, 2011, 12:36 am	Hi Mum! Yesterday we met Aileen's best friend on a festival called "Sambanale". Her family had a cocktail-"truck" there and as Aileen didn't have to work that day we decided to visit them! Fortunately it didn't rain as much as during the morning - you can see me on a picture in a car in town, all grey and rainy! Afterwards we went into a cocktail bar called "Kantine" (=canteen)). They had a lot of tasty alcohol-free cocktails! On the way back home Gustav and me were too tired to stay awake and so we fell asleep immediately.
aileen Posted Jun 2, 2011, 8:56 pm	Hi Mum, I've boiled pasta! They tasted great, but the dessert was even better, I had clover! Than we drove to Ankum to meet Aileen's best friend again. There we took some pictures with the "Artländer Dom", that's a church that was built in 1514. But the substructure probably remains from a church that was build 1100 years ago. You can find a nice lake close by. And we ate tasty ice-cream in one of the greatest soft-ice-cafés. Aileen's friend had a coffee instead. We also took a picture with a "May-tree", it's a tradition here that you set up such a tree on the 30th April and celebrate during the night from that day to the 1st May. Then the tree stays there for some weeks. I was curious when I saw the great fields! And I found bushes with loads of bumblebees! Gustav said that they make honey but I'm sure that honey grows on trees. But Gustav is also not completely convinced. He said maybe there's just a river with honey inside somewhere and you could go there with your glass and fill it. I don't know...
aileen Posted Jun 9, 2011, 3:58 pm	Hi Mum! Today the weather was so bad outside! There were even several official warnings! Normally there is no extrem weather in this area, no storms, no floodings, no vulcanos, no tornados... But today it suddenly started to get dark outside and it blowed a lot. When it seemed to be already over it started to rain cats and dogs! The roof couldn't keep the water at all and then it turned out as a thunderstorm with hail. Gustav kept me in his arms all the time although I was not afraid at all! He's a real big brother to me now and takes care of me all day long. In the evening we brushed out teeth and finally went to bed. Love, SunnyHH
aileen Posted Jun 29, 2011, 9:18 pm	Hi Mum, we're planning to go to London/England to visit Aileen's friend! I was scared that I wouldn't get enough carrots during our trips through London so Aileen suggested to take a bag with pieces of carrots with me. Okay, great! But when I tried to carry Aileen's bag I didn't came far. At that time Aileen was already someplace else. Then I noticed that she was gone to get some wool for a bag JUST FOR ME! I could even choose the colour. Of course I chose yellow, I'm still sunny! While Aileen made the bag I played with the wool. It's also a great place to sleep! Only a little while later I held a brand new yellow bag in my size in my hands! Greetings, SunnyHH
aileen Posted Jun 29, 2011, 9:35 pm	Hi Mum, today we arrived in London! But I'm soooo tried... Here are some pictures of the journey. At first we needed to buy a ticket to Hannover at the train station. On our way to Hannover we saw the Hermann monument, a statue that was built in memery of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest where the german tribes conquered the roman legions under Varus. It's called "Varuschlacht" (=Varus battle) here. Then we drove on to Hannover and from there we flew to London. Did you know that it's always sunny above the clouds (at daytime)? That's so great!
aileen Posted Jun 29, 2011, 9:44 pm	Hi Mum, now we've spent two days in London! It's great here although is rains from time to time. Today Aileen and her friend got very wet one time but fortunately Gustav and me where in her bagpack because we couldn't walk anymore and so we didn't get wet at all! Here you can see some pictures of my trip. We visited the London Eye and the Tower Bridge. I also saw the popular red busses! Some times Aileen needed to hold me strongly because of all the wind. Love, SunnyHH
aileen Posted Jun 29, 2011, 9:50 pm	Hi Mum, today we travelled back to Germany! At first we needed to take the bus to Stansted Airport. On our way we passed the Marble Arch! It's in Central London at the popular Hyde Park! The Marble Arch was built as the entrance to the Buckingham palace in 1828 but now it's at another place. You'll here from me again soon! Love, SunnyHH
aileen Posted Aug 5, 2011, 12:36 pm	Hi Mum, I've seen some really funny animals recently! They were sitting in cages in the middle of a shopping center... There they have some funny exhibitions from time to time Aileen told me. Unfortunately most of them were hidden between plants or had almost the same colour as the ground so you almost couldn't see them... But the tortoises were funny! Later we saw some rabbits in the garden!! YES! My relatives are here!!
aileen Posted Aug 5, 2011, 12:52 pm	Hi Mum, we are preparing Aileen's move at the moment. She needs to buy lots of things because she's moving away from home to study in another city. So we drove to different shops and found almost everything we were looking for. On our way to IKEA we passed the theatre were Aileen made a practical training once. Later on we started to paint a cutlery box. Aileen thought it looked too boring without any color. So we started with white. (WHITE??? I wanted yellow...) Don't worry, Mum, when we took the pictures the color was already dry. Aileen wanted to continue with brown finally. Gustav and I thought that it would be wuite funny to play with that liquid colour. But Aileen prevented me from jumping into it. Hmmm
aileen Posted Aug 5, 2011, 1:08 pm	Before I'm going home again Aileen promised to show me some places in Fürstenau. We started close to where she lives and took a picture with a funny chimney sweeper statue. On our way to the pond that's surrounding the castle I found great green places. I like green nature! I also wanted to say hi to the frogs inside the pond but Aileen said that I better shouldn't to so. Than we walked onto the "castle-island", a church is also part of the building. We found some funny statues. One of them were right next to a bastion that was built long ago. It was destroyed in the second world war but they rebuilt it again. I wanted to climb onto it but it wasn't easy. So Gustav helped me and pulled me the up when I almost reached it. Then we walked through the castle and took some pictures on the other side. We finally left the island again and walked through a park. There we found another funny statue of two roe deers. Somehow the roe deers didn't want to talk to me... Hmm, maybe I should wait for a real roe deer to pass by. I'm starting my way back home soon. I'm not really looking forward to travel in an envelope again but that's unfortunately the only way to get back home. Aileen said rabbits aren't allowed to go by train on their own. I'm also not really sure that I would find my way back home so the envelope it probably the best solution. Bye Gustav, Bye Aileen and HI MUM!!
RikeH Posted Aug 24, 2011, 9:23 pm	Hello friends, I spent some days at home with Dicker Kumpel and his guests, but then I wanted to travel again.  Now I am on my way to Hong Kong! Bye SunnyHH
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:29 am	There are many temples in Hong Kong, with different kinds of god worshiped inside. The Che Gong Temple is one of the biggest temple here. He was one of the general long time ago, who helped the villagers to keep away the diseases.  There are different statue in the yard, with decorated dragons on the roof, also many shiny plastic windmill (handy one )around.
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:33 am	It's rainy today, but I am still heading off to the beach! On my way, I met a lot of Filipino maid in Causeway Bay, because it's Sunday! When they are off, they used to gather on street to party, gathering and sharing food.
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:38 am	After around 40 minutes, I am in the Shek O beach! There are a lot of beaches along the south of Hong Kong Island, that's cool that it takes a short journey from town to here! Shek O is the very south-east one, let's play!
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:40 am	I played a lot and start to feel hungry, that's very nice that I can have BBQ on the beach! We have clams as well~~~~~
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:44 am	Another temple! This one is relatively smaller, and worshiped for "Kwan Di". The entrance gate is colourful, I like it!
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:47 am	This Pawn Shop is almost a landmark in Sham Shui Po district, if you lost your way, once you see it, you will know where you are! This bicycle looks funny, it is a transportation of a gas worker. "Sham Shui Po" means deep water area, it was so-called because it was really like that in the very past. Oh... where is the water now???
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:54 am	Yeah! I am in Mongkok, I know that PinkyHH had been to here, but I see something different~ I am here in the "Goldfish Street", where you can find a lot of stores selling goldfish, or aquarium items like accessories, utensils so on, you can also find many pet stores here too. But the goldfish are the funniest one~  They are put in different bags, with air and seaweed, also a price on the bag, you can choose the one you love most and tell the seller to take it for you!
vivyanhui Posted Oct 7, 2011, 6:58 am	Bicycle ride~~ Enjoying the breeze and the sun, also the great view too~ The view of Tolo Harbour is always great!  Summer is good, because it will be too windy here in winter!
vivyanhui Posted Oct 14, 2011, 6:59 am	Other than nice sea view, there is also a Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks along the Tolo Harbour. Though you cannot enter the buildings (due to security), you can still take a walk here. This golden egg is a memorial building of Sir Charles Kuen Kao, who invented the fiber optics. Thanks to him or else we toyvoyagers cannot share the photos through the Internet!
vivyanhui Posted Oct 14, 2011, 7:09 am	Ocean Park is a local theme park in Hong Kong, other than rides and games, there are also aquariums and other animals inside. I saw a lot of marine creatures in the aquarium, like stingray, blue fin tuna, spider-crab (they are huge!!), sea horse, etc. I especially like the circular window on the ceiling, I look up to the aquarium and feel like I am looking up the sky! Cool~~
vivyanhui Posted Oct 14, 2011, 7:11 am	I came to the Jellyfish Spectacular, it's so dark and with many colour effect on the jellyfish, their movement are so funny.
vivyanhui Posted Oct 24, 2011, 6:52 am	Even some endangered species in the aquarium!  The Chinese Sturgeons! They are huge and um... er... a bit ugly actually...  Their have a flat stomach, with some skeleton-like pattern on it. They swim so fast that I couldn't take good picture with them...  And the Horseshoe Crab as well! Their blood is in blue colour, which is a very good tester in medicial usage, they are as old as the dinosaurs, or maybe cockroaches too?
vivyanhui Posted Oct 24, 2011, 7:00 am	1st October is the National Day of China, red flags everywhere, some political parties will hold variety shows though, people are not really very excited about this, and not going to plan any celebrations. I wondered, is it because Hong Kong was a british colony in the past?  This is a traditional signage plate (for celebrations only). With flags on top, a phoenix in the middle, dragons at two sides, then comes lots of words underneath. The words are mainly about the event, and names of sponsors.
vivyanhui Posted Oct 24, 2011, 7:00 am	1st October is the National Day of China, red flags everywhere, some political parties will hold variety shows though, people are not really very excited about this, and not going to plan any celebrations. I wondered, is it because Hong Kong was a british colony in the past?  This is a traditional signage plate (for celebrations only). With flags on top, a phoenix in the middle, dragons at two sides, then comes lots of words underneath. The words are mainly about the event, and names of sponsors.
vivyanhui Posted Oct 24, 2011, 7:13 am	We should not afraid of anything new, right? We should try or experience if we have chance, right? But this is quite a big challenge to me! I met the must-try-food, thousand-years egg today!  I have never seen such kind of food before, what a shock! It's wrapped with some sand and dried grass, when I cut the egg, it's... ALL BLACK!! Its strange colour made me afraid of trying it, but I should grab this chance! I took a small bite and... and... the second, the third, it's delicious! We should not judge a food by it's colour and appearence!  It's even more tasteful when eat with white sugar and sour ginger~ Few months ago, the CNN had thousand-years egg in the top 10 of the most disgusting food in the world... Well, my comment is... They miss the good thing FOREVER!
vivyanhui Posted Nov 1, 2011, 9:23 am	I found a new book on my host's desk, I was attracted by the book cover and I found it very familiar. I am surprised that I know the words and sentences, and also the numbers. I can teach my host of how to pronounce all these and their meanings!
vivyanhui Posted Nov 1, 2011, 9:32 am	Every different places has its own culture, and I am glad that I can see such beautiful chinese ink painting here, which I seldom see such style of paintings in my country. Though it used a few colours only, it still made the paintings became moody~ As if I am in the mountain... My stay in Hong Kong comes to an end, I will write to you again in USA!
kessalia Posted Nov 14, 2011, 6:07 pm	Hello mum!  I had an uneventful back to the USA!  I was bundled safe inside a protection bubble, so I honestly slept most of the way! I was met by Einstein, Willy W, Alex_Lion, and Cilly!  Cilly made a comment when they were helping me out of my envelope, that she hoped I was a girl, she was feeling overwhelmed by boys since Vanilla left.  Sorry, Cilly! I was wrapped up so snug Alex had to help me out, and then called in Mel with a pair of scissors, but now I am free and excited to look around!
kessalia Posted Nov 28, 2011, 7:44 pm	Hello Mum!  Today I went with Mel to a baby shower for her friend Naarah!  It was hosted by Naarah's friend Jen, who lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  It is on the north side of the Detroit area, and about a three hour drive for Mel and me! Lots of gift for the new baby girl! Know what kind of cake this was?  It was a CARROT cake! Look, TV sized gummy bears for snacks! They also had molding clay for us to play with, so Mel sculpted me! I got to pose with the mother to be!
kessalia Posted Nov 28, 2011, 7:48 pm	It was fun to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday in the USA!  Mel had family coming over, so she cooked all day!  We sampled everything to make sure it was yummy.    Then we helped decorate!  Madison and Tyler colored the pumpkins for us.  Then all of us TV's helped Madison and Krista made name cards! There was so much food!  I want to start with the carrot sticks!
kessalia Posted Dec 17, 2011, 7:51 pm	We are getting ready for the holidays!  We helped Mel decorate their tree!  I like this pretty hand made ornament.  It looked so pretty when it was all done! I also found Mel's Swedish Dala Horses.  They were a remembrance from her Swedish grandmother. Then we helped Madison and Mel send out greeting cards!  We helped Madison learn which cards went to the USA and which ones needed special international stamps. Willy, Sveni and I found a card going to Germany!  That made us all miss home, but we are happy to be safe and warm for December, here with Mel.
kessalia Posted Dec 28, 2011, 2:16 am	MERRY CHRISTMAS MUM!  We celebrated here a day late, because Mel had to work at the hospital, but it was worth the wait!  Tyler and Madison had stockings waiting for them when their mother brought them over for breakfast and gifts.... And then all of the presents were under tree!  We helped wrap some of them! But before we could open gifts, we had pancakes!  Special Swedish pancakes, which is a family tradition!  They don't look like much but were SO yummy!  Mel got a new camera case and a flash drive shaped like a turtle and some cooking gear, she liked all of her presents very much!  But even more fun, the kids liked what Mel got them - Tyler got snowboarding gear and Madison got books and pretty clothes. I hope you had a wonderful holiday, mum!  New Year's is soon, and Mel tells us we will go to a party, but only until 11pm, because then she has to work!  maybe meema will keep us at eth party with her until midnight so we can celebrate!  Have a wonderful 2012, mum!   I will be travelling soon!
kessalia Posted Jan 11, 2012, 3:52 pm	Hello Mum!  I spent my last days in Michigan before heading back to Germany, in a combination of doing nothing and staying out of the way of the chaos!  We had a nice cozy, lazy day after Christmas, we helped Mel make scones and a good vegetable soup. Then we ate a scone, drank tea, and watched television, because we could!  It was nice to relax after the business of the holidays. Just before I left, Michigan got its first real snow of the season!  Everyone is talking about odd weather.  This snow didn't last long at all, so I am glad I got to see it before I go... I will be on my way very soon, so if all goes well you should hear from me soon!  I Miss you mum!
ScillyHH Posted Jan 15, 2012, 6:26 pm	Hi mum, what a wonderful day in Hamburg! So much sunshine! Scílly and Richy showed me the Alster lake in the middle of town. See me with the white Alster boats. This boat takes passengers on trips over the lake and the passengers get a hot "Glühwein". They call it "Alster-Punschfahrt". This is a view across the lake. Can you see the Alsterhaus behind me? It is Hamburgs most famous department store. On the way to the town hall we passed through this beautiful arcade next to a canal. That's me on my way to the town hall. And wow, this is the bautiful town hall of Hamburg town and state. It looks like a palace. This picture shows me in the courtyard of the town hall. Outside there were lions protecting the building. But the lions were friendly. Can you spot the hot air ballon in the background? What a lovely day it has been! All the very best SunnyHH
ScillyHH Posted Jan 16, 2012, 7:25 pm	Hi mum, after a long journey I arrived in Hamburg. First I heard some voices. I was very curious and opend my envelope. Wow, 2 big TV's looked at me! But I was not afraid. The big bear is Lewis and the rabbit is Clairchen. They are my new hosts. I showed them the picture postcard from Mel. And we talked a lot. Now I'm looking forward for a great time in Hamburg. All the very best SunnyHH
ScillyHH Posted Jan 16, 2012, 8:50 pm	Hi mum, another sunny day in Hamburg! The perfect day to explore Hamburg. That's me at the metro station Baumwall with the Hamburger Michel in the background. St Michaelis is the most famous church in Hamburg and one of the town's landmark. First we went to the boat station Kehrwiederspitze (in english Come back point). See me with the typical harbour boats. On our way we saw the building lot of the Elbphilarmonie, a future concert hall. Imposing, isn't it? We went to the Landungsbrücken by boat. We saw the beautiful white museum ship Cap San Diego. This is a paddle steamer, the Mississippi Queen. Here you can see the Landungsbrücken. Look at the old sailing boat Rickmer Rickmers, also a museum boat today. Nice views across the harbour. Sunrise over the harbour. At th end of our trip Scilly and Richy showed me the Alte Elbtunnel. This old tunnel below the river Elbe was build more than 100 years ago. You can go downstairs.... ... or go down by elevator  Alter Elbunnel connect Hamburg town and port. Pedestrians, cyclists and cars use the tunnel. Look at me in front of an elevator for cars. Funny, isn't it? A great day in Hamburg! All the very best SunnyHH
ScillyHH Posted Jan 22, 2012, 4:33 pm	Hi mum, What a great surprise - Scilly took me to her place of work. And in the lunch break we met you!!! I've missed you and now I had the chance to see you. This was great. And now I want to show you how my day in Scilly's office was. I tried to write something on the PC. But I'm to small :-( Even with a pencil as help it was not possible for me to write something. So I thought it would a good idea to answer the phone. But when I picked up the receiver and talked in to it nobody heard me. I can only be at one end at the same time. Perhaps the headset is the solution? But the microfone is to far! So I decided to take a seat on the monitor and watch Scilly work. See me with some of Scilly's maskots: a bear, a duck and a bee. I learned that a coffee is one of the most important things in the office Working can be quite exhausting. So I relaxed in the mobile phone deck chair for the rest of the day and enjoyed myself. All the very best SunnyHH
ScillyHH Posted Jan 29, 2012, 6:56 pm	Hi mum, this week was a little bit boring. Scilly and Richy both had the flu. But today we made an effort to go out. It had snowed over night. So I took the opportunity to pose in the snow. All the very best SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 4, 2012, 3:48 pm	Hi Mum, Today I arrived in Bad Salzdetfurth. Orpheus and Murph opened my envelope and I jumped out of it. I showed my gifts for HoBi from ScillyHH. HoBi said Thanks to ScillyHH. Orpheus told me that he already visited you. Sadly I was not at home at this time.  And Murph was so happy to see me, because his best friend Dicker Kumpel lives with you. We had to talk a lot. Murph decided that we should celebrate my arrival. He mixed cocktails for us – this was interesting! Ready – look – the cocktail looked like the German Flag. We talked and drank…. …and talked and drank… Oops, maybe we drank too much.  But the cocktail were so yummy! Many greetings SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 7, 2012, 8:02 pm	Hi Mum, today it was very cold and windy. But the sun was shining, so we made a trip to Alfeld. Here you can see the town hall. There was a big sculpture on the market place. At the market place a little river started its way down the street. The little river started at this fountain. There is a funny bookcase in Alfeld. You can put your own book into it and take another one with you. I loved this house – it was the old grammar school. There were so many carvings! This statue stood in front of the school, but I didn’t know, who it was. This is the old bell from the church of Alfeld. Some years ago the church got a new bell. The last thing we saw was the planet-house. Unfortunately you cannot see it that good, but the carvings show all planets. Then we all wanted to go home – it was so cold ouside. Many greetings SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 12, 2012, 9:38 am	Hello Mum, Today we wanted to drive to Wohldenberg to make a nice walk there. On our way we stopped at this very old tree. The tree is awesome, isn’t it? Our next stop was Sottrom. We wanted to have a photo with this funny guy. Here comes another photo – and yes, we were on the photo. Can you find three ToyVoyagers? Ok. It is really difficult. I am really small – but here I am! There were many funny characters on this gate. At the Wohldenberg Murph showed me a rare mushroom. And we walked along this beautiful rock. It must be wonderful in summer here – maybe I will try to come back here in Summer 2013. On the top I had a wonderful view to the Harz mountains. There was a look-out – but it is closed during the winter time. The last place for today was the Abbey Wohldenberg. It was a wonderful trip, although it was very cold for us! Love SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 20, 2012, 6:18 pm	Hi Mum, Today we made an excursion to Hildesheim. We started our walk next to the old Bernwardsmauer. Next to the wall there is a statue of an Indian Godhood. Can you see it? I am a very brave bunny! Hildesheim has a lot of big churches. Here you can see the Godehardikirche. The „Kehrwiederturm“  is the last existing tower of the town fortification. We went into the town center through this gate. We found this sign – it reminds of the old horse market in Hildesheim This guy is funny – but a little spooky. It is the “Huckup”. The Huckup is a kobold, who jumps onto the back of a thief to remember him that he is not allowed to steal something. The marketplace of Hildesheim is very famous. First of all I show you the town hall. There was another beautiful house: the  Wedekindhaus On the right side you see the Knochenhaueramtshaus, on the left side is the the Bäckeramtshaus. This is a model of Hildesheim in the 17.century. I had to show you the next house – it is called Zuckerhut! I could live in this Zuckerhut. The last thing I found was this fountain. It is in front of a church. I cannot remember the words of this man. Hildesheim is a beautiful town. We wanted to make more photos, but the weather was too bad. Many greetings SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 27, 2012, 7:52 pm	Hello Mum, today we went to the  Wildgatter in Hildesheim. At the entrance I found this beautiful wooden sculpture. The first animals we saw were red deer and goats. I absolutely wanted to have a photo with this funny guy. There were many nice wooden characters. But there were living animals, too. Unfortunately theses mushrooms were not for the pan. Before we went home, we visited the information centre of the Wildgatter and learnt a lot about the animals in Germany. Love    SunnyHH
HoBi Posted Feb 28, 2012, 8:32 pm	Hi Mum, On my last day here I wanted to go into the forest with Murph. He wanted to show me mushrooms. It is the Truth -  Murph finds mushrooms in the wintertime. First we went to his famous mushrooms in this time.  Weren’t they beautiful?  They are called scarlet elf cup and they are very rare in Germany. Oops – we had a problem. Where should we go – the whole path was icy! Fortunately Murph knew another way. So we went to our next mushroom. It was very small! Can you see the small point in Front of my nose? It was the hairy black cup. We were happy to find flowers – maybe the spring is coming now? I am sure that most people know the next mushroom.  You certainly ate it in a Chinese Restaurant. It is called jelly ear or Mu-Err. The last mushroom is rare in Germany again – it is the spring hazelcup. I didn’t know that you can see so many mushrooms in the wintertime. At home I said goodbye to Orpheus and Murph. I had a wonderful time with Murph. Now I look forward to my adventures with Noisy. Love SunnyHH
Noisy Posted Mar 4, 2012, 3:52 pm	Hey Mom! After a short travel I reached Noisy's home and was welcomed by a group of other TVs! They kept a pleasant seat for me. We snuggeled many hours about our adventures and fall asleep lately. I think, I will have a great time. Lovely greetings from Hesse SunnyHH
Noisy Posted Mar 19, 2012, 6:34 pm	Today Noisy brought a basket full with packages and envelopes to us. There was a nice postcard of Gypsys travel to London. And a big yellow envelope with a Flat Stanley inside. He visits Noisys son. And a package with an easter-surprise for Noisy from Yosemite. Ther e was a little sheepgirl inside, too. She still has no name, but she is soooo cute. Then there was another envelope. Mooky has sent  an invitation to Kurt last week, but he didn't asked Noisy. So she was very surprised of Kurts arrival. But she wasn't very angry. But cheeky Mooky has used Noisys amazon-account without a permission of her and ordered a drum-set. tststs...
Noisy Posted Mar 19, 2012, 7:10 pm	just some pics from a walk in the forest...
Noisy Posted Mar 20, 2012, 6:16 pm	Hey Mom! Today I was allowed to visit a primary school. Each tuesday Noisy is helping some children with their homework. I looked around in the classroom and found a little teddy sitting there. He told me that the pupil sometimes are very loud and that he's glad when the school is over in the noon at 3:15 pm. But he told me, too, that he has learned a lot of interesting things since he lives in this classroom. There were posters at the wall showing what happens in the nature in March and much more. And I looked at the nice pictures and the calender. The pupil have made posters of our planet-system. good job!
Noisy Posted Mar 20, 2012, 7:20 pm	Noisy has got an invitation for sending one of her TVs on the ETVT, and she couldn't choose one herself. All possible candidates were very cute and each one has its own character. So we decided to make a lottery, the one and only prize was the traveltag. Fiete was the fortune. And the winner of the travel-tag was Joesys sister YoYo! I wish her a lot of fun and very nice hosts on her adventures.
Noisy Posted Mar 25, 2012, 6:46 pm	Today is the first day of spring and we have really great weather. So we walked around the house and looked for the flowers Noisy told me that she is looking forward to the first crop of the rhubarb
Noisy Posted Mar 25, 2012, 7:11 pm	Because I have to move soon, Noisy showed me the farm today. Now in spring there is a lot of work on a farm. There are some calves This are the young cows, they will get their first calves soon This bulls soon will be very good steaks  ...and this bull has more fortune: he gets a new flock of cows
Noisy Posted Apr 1, 2012, 6:55 pm	Today Noisy showed us a place in garden, where we were allowed to create a "TVs Garden" After that we made great plans! ...and I learned a lot about carrots  Look! What a fun to do with some carrots!
Noisy Posted Apr 1, 2012, 7:22 pm	Look, what Noisy brought to home! can you see me? They are only two days old and soooo cute!
Noisy Posted Apr 1, 2012, 7:53 pm	On our walk through the forest we learned a lot!
Noisy Posted Apr 1, 2012, 8:44 pm	Today we have worked so hard :-( And Noisy didn't tell us why we had to bring all this heavy things to the garden... I digged... ...took stones... ...seats... ...ufff... ...wood... NO MORE WORK TODAY!!!
Noisy Posted Apr 3, 2012, 6:36 pm	Tomorrow my friends I and Fiete will continue our travels. We decided to make a campfire. We all sit beside the warm fire and talk untill the night came. I was very sad because I have to leave my new girlfriend, too. Mom, I will send her to you, please take care for her. Maybe I will be papa in about 28 days  Love you! ...and my girl  You can see on the photos: Mooky, Fiete, SunnyHH and his little girl-bunny, YoYo, Kurt, Plato, Sheepy and Barnabas, the little Teddy.
Noisy Posted Apr 3, 2012, 7:08 pm	On my way to the postoffice, where I continue my voyage, I made a trip with my girlfriend on the vespa through the nice old city Weilburg. we passed the Landtor the orangerie drove to the schlosspark met Fiete Schloss-church castle of Weilburg in the court of the castle After that trip I gave my little bunny a kiss, hopped into my travelbox and Nois y brought me to the postoffice. See you in Thuringa! SunnyHH
Noisy Posted Apr 3, 2012, 7:14 pm	MOM! Look what I have done! Noisy promised to send me my carrots, wherever I will be, when they will be harvest! After I had fullfilled my lifemission I could play on our new playground in our own TV-garden
Noisy Posted Apr 3, 2012, 7:36 pm	I have told it yesterday, but the other TVs couldn't believe it. There is a playground, where we have worked so hard! Look there is a swing and a little pond, soon the tipi will be ready! We have had so much fund this noon!
Noisy Posted Apr 3, 2012, 7:47 pm	Today we should take a bath. But all the monkeys were gone! Only Fiete, Plato and I hopped into the water!
iloveletters Posted Apr 5, 2012, 4:30 pm	Dear Mommy! I arrived at my next host of the Big German RR. When my box was opened I was very surprised because of who looked into it: my old dear friend KalliHH! Noisy had packed some  lovely presents again! We love the Easter book and began to read immediately. There are nice stories about Easter and songs and lots more! As you can see I am fine and looking forward to my adventures here in Thuringia! CU mommy!
iloveletters Posted Apr 10, 2012, 11:05 am	Today we got ready for Easter and baked an Easter Bunny! First I read the recipe. Let's see what we need... Here I have all the ingredients. And the baking dish. First I have to weigh all the ingredients. Hey, let's see how much I weigh! KalliHH joined me. Ok then, let's put all of it together in a bowl and stir well. I butter the dish before I put in the dough. Before I put the bunny in the oven I set the alarm clock. Don't want him to be too hot for too long! And voila: there he is - my fellow Easter Bunny! What a pity that he will loose his life tomorrow
iloveletters Posted Apr 10, 2012, 12:31 pm	For the Easter Weekend we went to Berlin to visit my host's brother. We also took some time for sightseeing. We started our tour at the Alexanderplatz. With the world clock and the TV tower We wanted to go to the top but the queue was too long so we did not stop. Next was the red town hall and the Neptune Well. I met Marx and Engels. And then we moved on to the Berlin Cathedrale and the Museum Island. Let's take a rest. Our last stop was the Pergamon Museum. We were lucky to jump the queue because we got online tickets!
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:05 am	Today a new guest arrived here. Voi Nam came from Italy and travels on the ETVT. I said hello to him and think we will have lots of fun!
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:10 am	This evening we enjoyed a beer - a huge beer! I felt a little dizzy afterwards....
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:37 am	Today we went for a walk at the Altenberger Lake near Eisenach. My little human friend carried me and showed me around. A little house? There must be other small creatures living here. I said hello to them. And, ah, what's that?  This goat tried to eat me - no way! Run SunnyHH, run! There is also a camping site and we stopped at this caravan to have coffe and muffins, yummy!
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:42 am	My host is a teacher and  has to work again after the Easter holidays. So she took me along to her school. The campus is nice with old buildings and a park. It is a very old school, over 200 years! There are two busts of the founder and a famous teacher.
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:45 am	A lazy day at home! I wanted to play with the 2 cats living here: Bonnie and Clyde. But they kind of ignored me and Bonnie rather wanted to take a nap than to play
iloveletters Posted Apr 18, 2012, 9:45 am	We received a wonderful card from olgamaus and Nook the other day. Thank you very much!
iloveletters Posted Apr 22, 2012, 12:53 pm	I used the time to find out a little more about where I am. Mechterstädt is a village in Thuringia and Thuringia is the central state of Germany. I got some information from the internet. Thuringia is the 6th smallest state by area. The capital is Erfurt and this is the coat of arms. Mechterstädt lies between Gotha and Eisenach. Can you see where I point on the map? On Tuesday we might go to Eisenach and then I will show and tell you a little more. CU mommy!
iloveletters Posted Apr 25, 2012, 4:16 pm	Hello mommy! As I told you , we visited Eisenach today. The town is about 15 km from the village so it is not a long drive. Today we did not go by car but we took the train. I twas only 10 minutes to go! Eisenach  is the town of Luther and Bach. First we went to  the market square. with the old city castle And here I am in front of the Luther house where Martin Luther lived as a child. We moved on to the Bach house. The old part is the house where Bach supposedly was born. The new part was added as a museum some years ago. We also came across the 'Wandelhalle'. And there are texts of information about what else to see and do in Eisenach. Today we did not go to the Wartburg castle because we did not have a car. But we will go there later - promised! On our way back to the train station I saw the narrowest house in Eisenach. It has a width of only 2.05 m! People live in it and so it is maybe the smallest half timbered house in Germany that people live in.
iloveletters Posted Apr 30, 2012, 12:52 pm	Weekend! And so it is time for baking a cake. I decided on a rhubarb cake with fresh rhubarb - yummy! First I cook the rhubarb. Then the dough: And finally the cake is ready to go into the oven. After 40 minutes it is ready and smells soooo good!
iloveletters Posted Apr 30, 2012, 12:58 pm	Today we went for a walk  in the woods near Eisenach. I love spring: Everything is so fresh and green! After some kilometres we come to this scultpure lawn. And then we see the castle Wilhelmsthal. It was built in the 17th century. Unfortunately today it is run down but there is some construction work  going on. We took a rest in the park and enjoyed the sunshine!
iloveletters Posted May 4, 2012, 8:40 pm	Hello mommy! Now I can tell you why  I was a bit late travelling to my new host. But: I promised to visit Wartburg Castle and the only chance to go there was today, and I did not want to miss it. So I stayed a little longer in Thuringia. With me went Voi Nam and Claire Tamias. Wartburg Castle is very famous because it is a UNESCO world heritag site. But before we could see the castle we had to climb the steep hill. Which was not a problem for Voi Nam and  Claire Tamias. But I was really slow and it was hard for me to jump all the way. So Claire Tamias  offered me to climb on her back and she carried me to the top! When we arrived we had a beautiful view on the castle. The evening sun came out and all these purple lilac blossoms were so nice in the background! After we entered the main gate I read some information about the castle. Wartburg Castle was founded in the 11th century. The buildings that you can see today were mainly built in the 19th century with some older remaining parts. Then I took a walk through the castle grounds, the inner gate and saw the palace. On our way back down we took a rest in the evening sunshine and enjoyed the view over Eisenach.
iloveletters Posted May 4, 2012, 8:44 pm	Today a new TV arrived here. It is Claire Tamias, the chipmunk.
iloveletters Posted May 4, 2012, 8:45 pm	I am on my way to the next host in Bavaria! CU, mommy!
Pandamao Posted May 9, 2012, 9:42 pm	Yippee, I have arrived - Munich is waiting for me
Pandamao Posted May 20, 2012, 10:25 pm	Today I visited the Olympic park to go swimming. It is nice and green and lots of people use the park for leisure. I also saw the TV tower. The architecture of the sports stadium is special.
Pandamao Posted May 20, 2012, 10:37 pm	I helped my host to build a high bed in her littel garden plot. A high bed is sort of a big box filled with soil and you can do your gardening without having to bend down. The high beds come in different materials (wood, plastic ...) but we have chosen one made out of steel plates. As I only a tiny rabbit we had to get one that is not too heavy and easy to build. This one is very light, just a lot of screws to handle
Pandamao Posted May 20, 2012, 10:42 pm	We carried lots of bags full of earth/soil to fill the boxes. And finally I planted my first seedlings
Pandamao Posted May 20, 2012, 10:58 pm	Today I visited the cemetary at Perlacher Forst. This is the place where several members of the White Rose are buried. The White Rose (German: die Weiße Rose) was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator Adolf Hitler's regime. The six most recognized members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo and beheaded in 1943. I think it is important that they should not be forgotten
Pandamao Posted May 21, 2012, 10:01 pm	I want to show you the little garden of my host. It is only 240 square meters but nice plants grow in there - saxifraga (little red flowers), some other smaller pink flowers, wonderful iris flowers, tulips ... ah, and the lilac ....I just love to smell the lilac
Pandamao Posted May 22, 2012, 10:34 pm	Went shopping on one of Germany's largest shopping streets - Kaufinger and Neuhauser street. I entered via the Stachus - that's the colloquial name of the place that is officially the "Karlsplatz". Ooooh, there are so many people!
Pandamao Posted May 22, 2012, 10:40 pm	Passed the Opera House at Gärtnerplatz - I stay very close by that place. It is a nice little quarter, small shops, lots of pubs/restaurants and by walking the dog around the European Patent Office I know all the dog-owners living around the corner by now
Pandamao Posted May 29, 2012, 11:10 pm	There is a nice church in Sendlinger street - it is called Asam church. You cannot see a separate building like a normal church as it is in one line with all the houses alongside. That's because it was a rich merchant that built it .... he had his own door so he could walk from his rooms right into the church. Inside it is nice, all gold and ornaments.
Pandamao Posted Jun 9, 2012, 10:32 pm	The weather was bad the past days - rain all the time  So we just went out for a drink at the Hofbräuhaus.
Pandamao Posted Jun 9, 2012, 10:39 pm	Saw some nice alley-ways today - I would not have thought that behind the big houses facades' such nice small places exist.
Pandamao Posted Jun 17, 2012, 11:53 pm	The weather being bad I just spent the day in the apartment looking at the beautiful African Violets my host keeps.
Pandamao Posted Jun 18, 2012, 12:00 am	The balcony of this aparment is a djungle - lots of plants grow there, tomatoes, little raddish, inka cucumbers, mint plants, I even found a strawberry - unfortunately it was still not ripe enough for eating. I love to eat strawberries!
Pandamao Posted Jun 18, 2012, 8:41 pm	I paid one last visit to our little garden before I have to move on to the next host. Amazing, how the plants from all the seeds have been growing!
Pandamao Posted Jun 18, 2012, 8:46 pm	Pooooh, today I am really exhausted. I traveled with my host to a little town in the North-East of Bavaria. But it was no pleasure trip. We had to set plants for a grave. I helped a lot.
Pandamao Posted Jun 18, 2012, 8:49 pm	Good-bye Munich, I learned a lot about gardening and different plants/flowers. Now I have to move on to the next host.
fam-united Posted Jul 5, 2012, 6:53 pm	Hi Mum, I arrived in Bruchsal and now I'm waiting for some sightseeing and meeting the other toyvoyagers here. I'm curious to learn more about Baden-Württemberg too. Until then I will take a rest Bye, SunnyHH
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 3:42 pm	Today I met my host's pupils. They were on a rallye through the town and my host showed them the ancient tower of the old castle of Bruchsal. The castle keep is 38 metres high and was built in 1358 - making it the oldest surviving building in the town. In the far you can see buildings, which belong to the baroque palace. The tower belongs to the palace church. The high tower belongs to the church close to the market place. We call this church "Stadtkirche", city church. The roofs to our feet belong to the Buergerzentrum-  the citizen hall. The two towers in the far belong to the baroque church St. Peter, which is close to my host's home. In the second photo you can also see trees of the citizen park. Here is still the citizen park and the grey building in the far is a catholic grammar school. It seems like an old castle too. The Buergerzentrum built around the tower is home to the town theatre, the city library and other cultural and gastronomic facilities. This fountain is at one side of the market place close to the church "Unsere liebe Frau". The yellow building is the old townhall of Bruchsal.
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 6:54 pm	I joined my family, when they drove to Grötzingen, because they wanted to go shopping in a model train shop. So we had to drive through Untergrombach, which is one of Bruchsal's suburbs.
fam-united Posted Sep 4, 2012, 6:59 pm	Then we drove through Weingarten, where is the Walk´sches Haus, a great restaurant - so it's told, but my family never was there. I like it anyway, because it is a nice halftimbered house.
fam-united Posted Sep 5, 2012, 12:46 pm	On our way home we drove through Karlsruhe. We passed EnBW, which is a publicly traded electric utilities company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany.
fam-united Posted Sep 5, 2012, 1:12 pm	During the last weeks, my host sat in front of the computer and wrote many messages to send out IDs and answer questions. Did you hear of Galileo Big Pictures? Then you know, why she had to do some work here Today she had to bake six quiche lorraine, all of them the size of three usually round cakes, and we had been happy to help her. Her husband celebrates a late 50th birthday party. One sort of quiche was with cheese, ham and eggs, the other sort was with cheese, salmon, onion and eggs. At first we had to read the recipe. Then Cassiopeia weighed 600gr flour. Fiona added 300gr butter. Cassiopeia helped TV-TV to get some salt on a spoon. They needed one and a half teaspoon. I had a lot of fun climbing on Mr.Zwie-Muellers head while he tried to get water on a spoon. He had to add 15 tablespoons of water to the dough. Then I had to stir the dough. My host said, that I hadn't been really a help doing it. Who knows why? Scotty made the dough on aluminium foil, because it had to rest in the fridge for two hours. Later Kari had to open 9 eggs for the stuffing. You see I had some fun again, while someone mixed the eggs. In the measuring cup we have 3/4 l cream and 3 grains of salt. Someone also added 375gr cheese and 600gr cutted ham. I can tell you, it tasted really good. And for the salmon quiche we just replaced ham with salmon - some said, it was even better.
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2012, 6:10 pm	After a while we were so tired of working in the kitchen. We knew, that it was the opening night of the Olympic Games in London, so we sat in front of our hosts' tv and were really fascinated while watching it. Just take a look at a few impressions of this night.
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2012, 6:14 pm	Today we had to warm up the Quiche again before the guests arrived. Doesn't it look yummy?
fam-united Posted Sep 7, 2012, 9:14 pm	Today we drove to Angelbachtal. Angelbachtal is a municipality in Kraichgau, between Sinsheim and Bruchsal. The name Angelbachtal comes from the valley of the Waldangelbach, which flows through Kraichgau, and from the municipality of the same name. There live about 5000 people. Today we were here to go to the medieval market and meet Zandy, yosemite and takata there - and of course all the toyvoyagers, that travel with them. I learnt how to spin wool. A knight had to wear really heavy clothes. I think, it was a rather difficult time back in the Middle Age. We had a lot of fun sitting on a bench all together in front of the merry-go-round. Then we tried some ribbons. Do you think, it fits? We were really curious to learn more about the way, a monk makes a chain shirt. It takes 200 hours to finish one of them. At last we watched the knights tournament. I was so excited.
orangesunshine Posted Sep 24, 2012, 5:11 pm	hello mommy. i don't know how long i slept. but finally i arrived in ... errr ... somewhere on an airport. well. this could be an airport everywhere in the world. a shopping mall ... check-in counters. finally a nice guy came and picked me up. and hey, i took a look on his licence plate: i have arrived in berlin! that's great. we drove and drove and drove. the driver told me he is called bunny, little bunny. well, how funny: since he is taller than me. when we arrived, a group of plushies where waiting for us. funny guys. they were very curious. i had to tell them everything about my travels. i think they are all nice. i felt very welcome here.
orangesunshine Posted Sep 24, 2012, 5:45 pm	hello mommy, your little sunny speaking. today was a sunny day. so i decided to take a small walk in the city. the plushies said, gendarmenmarkt, a nice square in the centre of berlin would be a good walk. in the middle of the square there is a famous concert house. this is the french church, built by a prussian king for the french faith refugees. after that i walked through the surrounding streets. oh, look, what a gorgious panorama: berlin cathedral, television tower and the tower of the red town hall: hopefully there will be some more time to have a closer look some day. for now it was enough, i had to return to the concert house for a nice concert. bye bye mommy, see you soon your little sunny-bunny!
orangesunshine Posted Sep 30, 2012, 8:48 pm	hello mommy, for this weekend, little bunny (the resident rabbit here) and i have made a short trip further south. how would we go? in a shopping trolley of course! we started at a funny museum somewhere in central germany. funny things are exposed here. then we decided to explore the landscape. a couple of hours later we found someone sitting in the grass eating little yellow flowers. "hey, how do you do?" i asked. and this little rabbit answered: "well ... i think i am lost." this little rabbit was hase, a girl on her way to berlin. since we had some space in the trolley we offered her a ride. we also were not sure where we were. no wonder: look at the strange signs. jeehaw! trolleys can be fast. finally we found a cloister. and where is a cloister ... ... you can drink fresh beer. yummyummyummy! after that we proceeded further to a strange village: just before winter they crotched trees to keep them warm ... ... and gullies ... ... hihi ... and fences! before sunset we collected some chestnuts. good, that chestnut trees deliver helmets for our security. falling chestnuts hurt like hell! two of us started our little trip. now we are three. hase is a nice girl. see you soon mommy!
orangesunshine Posted Oct 1, 2012, 9:03 pm	hello mommy, today was a sunny sunday. so we decided to roll through a very beautiful town in thuringia: meiningen. here we wre in the courtyard of castle elisabethenburg. in this old pub we had some coffee: the walefish - wale or fish? both! blue graffitti main church of the town on the large market square old houses on the market square wow: nice houses nessi in the river meiningen has a very famous theatre. bye bye mommy!
orangesunshine Posted Oct 3, 2012, 9:49 pm	hello mommy, today we were on our way to berlin. we had to drive past potsdam and this beautiful castle. this is frederik the great's castle "sanssouci" - which means without sorrow. nice name for a nice castle. later we entered potsdam through this beautiful gate. it is called brandenburg gate. this is a street in the famous dutch quarter. the prussians were lacking handicrafts, so they invited dutchmen to potsdam. they got land and materials to build their own houses. this cafe is called "flying dutchman" - we went in to have some sweet ice creams. then we left the town of potsdam. oh look, there is another castle ... ... babelsberg castle. it was built in english style. uuuuh: petrified dogs don't bite - hopefully. we have found these lovely flowers. they sounded like trumpets. at last we have seen this bridge: the left half belongs to potsdam, the right half to berlin. do you see the different colours? hasta la vista mommy!
fam-united Posted Oct 7, 2012, 6:42 pm	We only knew since one week, that we will go on a holiday in Sweden and now it's the day to say goodbye to Bruchsal and sit in the car for hours. Here we were passing Hamburg harbour and driving in the Elbe tunnel. Sorry, it is a "bit" blurry. We've seen the Kiel Canal, but it was difficult to take a photo with it.
fam-united Posted Oct 7, 2012, 7:09 pm	Over night we stayed at a hostel. It was small, but we slept well. We had a lot of bags with us, so we hardly found a place to sit down. We were rather thirsty and happy, that we had some Coke to drink. We had to share it with the humans, though. We went on a small sightseeing tour: St. Nikolai-Church with the market place is the biggest church of Flensburg. It is a gothis hall church. They started to built this church in 1390 so it is rather old. The Holy Ghost Church is the main church building of the Danish church. It is also a gothic hall church, built in 1386. These sailing ships are for tourist tours.
orangesunshine Posted Oct 12, 2012, 7:09 pm	hello mommy, today i have made a little sightseeing walk in the city. here you see the second largest department store in europe, the kadewe. only harrod's in london is larger. this is water klops, a modern fountain ... ... in front of europa center. i also was on a special market. well first i bought some carrots - i was so hungry. then i was on the pumpkin market. there i saw orange pumpkins, yellow pumpkins, big ones, smaller ones ... you name it! well, those were no pumpkins ... hihihi little green pumpkins ... ... and stripy ones. i liked this market. bye bye mommy!
orangesunshine Posted Oct 12, 2012, 7:13 pm	huhu mommy! today i was in spandau. this was a bridge with helmets in the ballustrades. this bridge leads directly to nice castle, the citadel of spandau. it is the best preserved rennaissance castle in germany ... ... and has a big tower, where once the prussian state treasure was stored. i have also visited the old smith shop. here i was at the secret little habour. what are these? many petrified kings and counts. marquis albrecht the bear, the first german leader in this region. there are now good castles without a pillory. then we were heading to the old town of spandau. this is my good friend hase. there behind is saint nicolai's church, the main chruch in spandau. left you can see the old town wall. this is an old pub, closed unfortunately. on a bridge i found those little locks. why do people leave their locks here? did they try to prevent the bridge from being stolen? spandau was a nice little town. see you soon, sunnyHH!
orangesunshine Posted Oct 14, 2012, 9:53 pm	hello mommy, today we (me, hase and our guide little bunny) were in the favorite park of my host. in this season the leaves of the trees change their colours. autumn begins. we saw some animals grazing. little bunny said these were pullover pigs. many leaves were lying in the grass. look: these are called goose flowerlies, said little bunny. they tasted kinda good. ooops, what was making that strange noise? a small railway going through the meadows. little bunny promised a surprise: a field full of dahlias. well, let's see. they have lots of beautiful flowers here. later we went to a big lawn where a big dragon fest should take place. but the wind wasn't strong enough. we decided to rush downhill. huuuuuuuiiiiii ... we had to cross a bridge. some trees are really colourful that's the great thing about autumn. bye bye, mommy - your little travel bunny!
orangesunshine Posted Oct 19, 2012, 8:10 am	hello mommy, last night we wre strolling around in berlin. it's festival of light in berlin. all the famous buildings were being iluminated very colourful. at last we have seen the most famous of all buildings: the brandeburg gate. sorry, the pictures are a bit blurry, but i didn't want to keep them back from you. see you mommy!
fam-united Posted Oct 20, 2012, 7:36 pm	Finally we are on the road again. The night was a bit uncomfortable for us, because we had to sleep in the bag. Now we are happy to see the bridges, which lead over the Great Belt and the Öresund. It was so foggy, that we rather could see the water. We had to pay for driving over the bridges.
fam-united Posted Oct 20, 2012, 8:48 pm	We arrived at the holiday house in the afternoon and drove to our host son's girlfriend as soon as possible. She waited for us and of course especially for him. She worked in a library for half a year and we all decided to visit her there. There was also an exhibition of old and new furniture.
fam-united Posted Oct 20, 2012, 9:07 pm	Our house is in Bjoerkoeby, Djuvanaes and the lake is called Lillnoemmen. The weather is fine, so we decided to go out and see the lake and some horses, which belong to the farm, where we stay. We've seen many anthills there. This is our private little pier, where is also our private little boat. I hope to go out with the boat soon. Smaland seems to be a land of heather. I love it. While sitting here we watched some acrobatic flying, which they did for a wedding, that took place on the other side of the lake. We chatted a while, but then we felt really cold and decided to go back to the house.
fam-united Posted Oct 20, 2012, 10:06 pm	You surely know Michel aus Lönneberga, who originally was called Emil of Lönneberga. Astrid Lindgren began to write about him in 1963. Today we wanted to follow the way of Astrid Lindgren. Hässleby kyrka was built between 1857 and 1859. First there was a wooden church before the was an ancient stone church. This could have been the church, which Michel's (Emil)'s sister had seen from the top of the flagpole. In the book she said, that she could see the church of Mariannelund.
fam-united Posted Oct 21, 2012, 11:45 am	Then we drove to Katthult, where Emil/Michel lived. Katthults real name is Gibberyd and have been in the same familys possession since the 19th century. It was a normal swedish farm until 1970, when a production team went up and asked for a premission to record a film a the sight. I really don't know, what happened to the photo of the house and me, but I can't find it Here I'm in the shed, where Michel/Emil carved his wooden figures. I would have liked to buy these books, but my host told me, that they are written in Swedish and that I don't understand Swedish. Did you know, that Emil was called Michel in Germany, because there was a book of Erich Kästner called Emil and the Detectives and they didn't want to mix up with the names?
fam-united Posted Oct 21, 2012, 1:31 pm	The Rumskullaeken (named after the town Rumskulla) or Kvilleken (named after the hamlet Norra Kvill) is a common oak [Quercus robur] close to the National Park Norra Kvill in Småland in Sweden. It is between 900 and over 1000 years old. With an extent of 13 to 14.75 meters in breast hight the Kvilleken is known as the oldest and biggest tree of Sweden and one of the oldest and biggest, if not the oldest and biggest oak of Europe. The trunk is half dead. These parts are fixed with ropes to the rest of the trunk. The area around the tree is fenced. The Kvilleken was first mentioned in year 1772 by Magnus Gabriel Craelius in his book Försök till ett landskaps beskrivning. (wikipedia, translated by me)
fam-united Posted Oct 21, 2012, 2:28 pm	Vimmerby is a city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 7,934 inhabitants in 2010. Vimmerby had its charter as early as the fourteenth century. The main street, Storgatan, still has the shape in which it was built in the medieval time. There are also many old wooden houses in the city. Vimmerby is currently a tourist attraction due to historical links with Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). When Astrid Lindgren wrote her books about the country boy Emil in Lönneberga she used much information from her own upbringing in the rural areas of Vimmerby. Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson was born here, at the farm at Näs in Vimmerby more than 100 years ago. Her father was tenant farmer at the rectory. This is where Astrid climbed in the "lemonade tree", played with her siblings, jumped in the hay and listened to stories in Kristin´s kitchen. Her childhood home is still intact. The house is open for guided tours all year round.
fam-united Posted Oct 21, 2012, 4:27 pm	On our way to shopping in Vetlanda we stopped at a resting place called Föreda. There was a small small island connected to the land over a bridge and we walked there to see it. The rest of the day we relaxed and didn't take photos of it.
fam-united Posted Oct 21, 2012, 5:57 pm	Today we drove to Växjö, which has a population of about 64,200, out of a municipal total of 83,000 inhabitants. In contrast to what was believed a century ago, there is no evidence of a special pre-Christian significance of the site. The pagan cultic center of Värend may have been located at Hov, a village nearby. Växjö got its city charter in 1342. Växjö Cathedral (Swedish: Växjö domkyrka) in the centre of Växjö, Sweden, is the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Växjö in the Church of Sweden. Saint Sigfrid allegedly lived and died in Växjö, and was buried in the cathedral at his death. At an outside wall of the cathedral we found this runestone. Then we drove to the Glasriket, what means Kingdom of Crystal, museum. Their history can be traced back to the 18th century at least. The glassworks have become part of the culture of Sweden.
orangesunshine Posted Oct 21, 2012, 8:48 pm	hello mommy, this was a wheather! warm and sunny like summer. the perfect day for a sightseeing tour! here you see the berlin cathedral. the prussian kings felt like being the heads of the lutheran faith. thus they built a big church with a big dome. behind us is the large square in front of the cathedral, called garden of delight. hihi ... those prussian kings! the temple-like building on the other sight of the garden is the old museum. we moved on ... this is saint mary's church next to the television tower. do you know what television meens in english? right, it means far looking. therefor it's a tower to look far. look: what a funny gully! it shows the most famous sights of berlin. this is the main townhall of berlin, the red townhall. next to it is the nicolai quarter, the oldest part of berlin. only a few original house are still standing ... ... plus saint nicolai's church. this is the old armoury, now the german historic museum. main building of the humboldt university, named after the two most famous prussian scientists and discoverers: alexander and wilhelm von humboldt. behind us stand the old fritz, a statue of king frederick the great. houses on the boulevard "unter den linden". here is the start of "unter den linden" ... ... right at the most famous of all german buildings, the brandenburg gate. this is reichstagsgebaeude, the german federal parliament. opposite to it is the federal chancellory, the building that looks like a giant washing machine. hope you like our photos. kiss and hugs, mommy!
orangesunshine Posted Nov 4, 2012, 7:54 am	hello mommy, what a wonderfull sunny day. probably the last sunny day this autumn. so we decided ... ... to visit charlottenburg palace. and to play some hide and seek in the palace gardens. it really was fun, hopping on the lawns. mommy, do you know, why the prussian eagle always gazes? we also visited the front court of the palace. ooooh! cobble stone is not nice to drive on with a shopping trolley. this palace was built as the summer residence of the prussian kings. so it did not have a heating. frederik the great, who wanted to live alone in his palace "sanssouci" (which means without sorrow) let his queen live here in summer and winter. brrrrr, those royals ... but we have had fun here. i love you, mommy, and will soon be on my way back home to YOU.  ps: this palace is a castle too, isn't it??????
orangesunshine Posted Nov 4, 2012, 8:06 am	mommy! i am coming back home! but first i want to show you the pictures of our farewell-and-helloween-party. here it is custom to paint silly faces on oranges and wear stupid wollen hats. it was a great party. many people came. even some fly ones: *flappflappflappflapp* and we have had some funny colourfull pills, that made us sing and dance! see you soon!
fam-united Posted Nov 13, 2012, 10:20 am	This day stood under the sign of railway and trains. At first we visited the Nässjö railway museum(Nässjö Järnvägsmuseum), which has the focus on regional and national history of rail traffic. Nässjö was for a long time only a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point was the construction of the Swedish railway system. The southern main line railway, finished in 1864, passed through Nässjö. Later, other railways were inaugurated, whereby Nässjö, due to its geographical location in the country, became an important junction. Nässjö is the only city in Sweden, where still six differnet railroad lines meet.
fam-united Posted Nov 13, 2012, 2:25 pm	The Match Musem in Jönköping is the worlds only. It is located in the beautiful building that once was the first match factory in Jönköping. In the museum, living match history is told. Encounter the people and machines that built up the match industy and developed it into a global operation. Johan Edvard Lundström was born in 1815 in the town of Jönköping, Sweden. Johan Edvard is most of all recognized to have improved the safety match and made it possible to commercially exploit it. I will show you parts of the old way to produce match sticks. It was really hard work, which had harmful effects for health. Here we were in front of the museum. It had been raining again. We crossed this place and found a radio museum. We thougth, it would be a good idea to go inside and it was really interesting to see all the old radios, grammophones and more.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 7:48 am	On our way home we visited the graveyard of Huskvarna.  The Huskvarna church was built in 1907/08. The church is built of wood in national romantic style, built in style of a stave church. The difference to old stave churches is, that they used the wood horizontal and not vertical.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 8:17 am	Aneby is a locality and the seat of Aneby Municipality in Jönköping County, Sweden with 3,367 inhabitants in 2010. In the north of Aneby we saw the Stalpet waterfall, which is about 20 meters high.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 8:35 am	Today we visited a small church in Nässjö. It is close to the camping site Lövhult and we had been lucky to get the key and be allowed to go inside the chapel.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 9:47 am	Later we walked around the lake called Runnerydsjön in Nässjö. We met a lot of geese there.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 3:22 pm	Today we decided to walk around the lake LillNömmen, which is the lake in front of our house. We had to walk about four hours and came back home very tired. The weather was mixed, but mostly dry. We only had the chance to take two photos, but I hope, you will enjoy them.
fam-united Posted Nov 14, 2012, 9:42 pm	Ljungby is a city with 15,205 inhabitants in 2010. Much of the town centre was destroyed in a fire in 1953. The (at the time) modern style of the rebuilding characterized by e.g. Hotel Terazza remains controversial locally. In 1986, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton died in a bus accident close to Ljungby. There is a memorial stone by the Gyllene Rasten parking. We walked over a bridge, which leads over the river Lagan. Read, what we've read on two signs: We visited the Museum of Legends and had a lot of fun. It is very interesting and you shouldn't miss to go there, if you ever come to Ljunby. By the way: Some places are just too dangerous for someone like me, you will see.
fam-united Posted Nov 15, 2012, 9:39 am	We just had been at home for a few minutes, when it started raining cats and dogs. Brrrrr!
fam-united Posted Nov 15, 2012, 3:16 pm	Today we enoyed a great day in Kalmar. Kalmar is a city in Småland in the south-east of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010. From the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, Kalmar was one of Sweden's most important cities. Between 1602 and 1913 it was the episcopal see of Kalmar Diocese, with a bishop, and the Kalmar Cathedral from 1702 is still a fine example of classicistic architecture. It became a fortified city, with the still mighty Kalmar Castle as the center. After the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Kalmar's importance diminished, until the industry sector was initiated in the 19th century. Geographically Kalmar is the main route to the island of Öland thanks to the Öland Bridge. Later we visited Krustenstiernska Garden and had a picknick there. The first thing, that you see of the garden, is a high wooden wall and closed doors. But at 11am the doors were opened and everyone is allowed to come in. There are many tables and chairs and you just can sit down and eat things, that you brought with you. After this rest we had a little sightseeing tour in Kalmar. We've seen the lighthouse and the cathedral inside and outside. Interesting for us to see was, that in Sweden it is common to have a special corner for children, where they can sit and play. Two plushy guys invited us to sit on their table and told us a lot about their life in the cathedral. Then we walked back to the parking place and had this wonderful view to the castle.
fam-united Posted Nov 16, 2012, 3:00 pm	The weather is fine, so we decided to drive to Öland to visit the old castle in Borgholm and the new palace Solliden. We were at Borgholm castle for nearly three hours and walked back and forth and took many photos. Because Solliden was still closed, we drove to the city then and enjoyed walking through the streets. Solliden Palace is the summer residence of the Swedish Royal Family. Queen Viktoria let it build from 1903 to 1906.  King Carl XVI. Gustaf inherited it as a four year old. The palace itself is closed, but during summer you can visit the palace garden, if the royal family isn't there. This is the playhouse, in which once a gardener lived with his whole family. This is the Italian Garden. We enjoyed sitting on this bench and imagined Crown Princess Viktoria comes to meet us. Then we drove to the coast on the east side. We've seen the big cross and the remains of a chapel. These are the remains of St. Brita's Chapel, the largest chapel in Öland. Although associated with St. Bridget (Brigitta) the chapel was the Celtic St. Brigida to begin with. The chapel was 27 metres long and 12 metres wide and it was probably built on account of the growning numbers of visitors attracted by the market here at Sikavarp. It was getting so cold and windy, that we hurried back into the car. Of course one sign we weren't allowed to miss while being in Sweden. See this one:
fam-united Posted Nov 16, 2012, 9:01 pm	Gränna is a small town with about 2,553 inhabitants in 2010. It was  founded in 1652 by Count Per Brahe. The town is situated at the foot of Gränna mountain and is characterized by its steep streets and old wooden houses. Gränna is known for its red and white polkagris (literally "polka pig" in Swedish) stick candy, also known as peppermint rock. The balloonist Salomon August Andrée, who died in an attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon, was born in Gränna. The Grenna Museum hosts an exhibition of the expedition together with a comprehensive collection of related objects and photos. A model of the castle of Visingsö Gränna is located at the edge of the lake Vättern, which we have to cross to come to the island called Visingsö.
fam-united Posted Nov 17, 2012, 10:59 am	Visingsö is an island in the southern half of the lake Vättern in Sweden. Visingsö lies 30 km north of the city Jönköping and 6 km west of Gränna from which two car ferries connects the island. The island is 14 km long and 3 km wide, with a total area of 24 km². According to legend, a giant named Vist created Visingsö by throwing a lump of soil into the lake so that his wife could use it to step over the lake. I took photos of the signs next to the castle, so it is easier to imagine, how it looked like and to get to know something about the history of the castle. I'm sorry, but I'm not included in these three photos. The second link is only in German, sorry. On a little walk we found this tower of a stave church next to a graveyard. Because we only had a little time on the island, we had to hurry to get back on the ferry then.
fam-united Posted Nov 17, 2012, 1:09 pm	Today is the second last day in Sweden. So we all decided to do things, that we wanted to do. Everyone had one wish. One wish was to go on Lilla Nömmen with the boad. We had a lot of fun paddling on our "home"lake.
fam-united Posted Nov 17, 2012, 1:48 pm	In the early afternoon we left our Swedish house and started to drive home. We had decided to stay in Frederikssund in Denmark overnight. On our way to Frederikssund we had to drive through Copenhagen or København (Danish pronunciation: [kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn], which is the capital of Denmark and its most populous city, with an urban population of 1,213,822 (as of 1 January 2012) and a metropolitan population of 1,947,944 (as of 1 October 2012). We had a short stop at the railway station. Wow, this is a big city, really crowded and we all were happy, when we had been out of the city again. Nevertheless it seemed, that there are some nice places, which would be worth to see one day.
fam-united Posted Nov 21, 2012, 7:55 am	We stayed over night at a motel in Frederikssund/Jaegerspris. It was a nice place. In the morning we had breakfast outside in front of our room.
fam-united Posted Nov 23, 2012, 8:55 pm	Today we visited the park around Jaegerspris castle, called Jaegerspris slot. Jægerspris is a town and a former municipality (Danish, kommune) in Region Hovedstaden. It lies in the northern part of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. A significant portion of the north end of Jægerspris is covered by forest. There are also stretches of sand and dunes along the municipality's western side. The town of Jægerspris has a population of 4,065 (1 January 2011) and lies 6 km. northwest of Frederikssund. The town was established ca. 1870 around Jægerspris Castle, which is surrounded by kilometres of hiking and biking trails in the Jægerspris forest.
fam-united Posted Nov 23, 2012, 9:18 pm	We are back in Germany and stayed one night at a hotel called Stadtschänke. The hotel is in Walsrode and there are several nice places around Walsrode as there are the Rischmannshof Heath Museum, the Walsrode Bird Park and Lüneburg Heath. Nevertheless we only were in the hotel, had dinner and fell in our bed as you can see. We slept all night and then drove home to Bruchsal again. Oh, don't wonder about the little dirt on the pillow. It is no dirt, it is a piece of chocolate. One piece of chocolate for all of us. I'm sure, you can imagine, how it feels if you only receive chocolate as big as a flea, because we had to share it with our host, too.
fam-united Posted Nov 28, 2012, 3:50 pm	When we were at home again, we needed some time to relax, because it was a long travel. But today we had to go to Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe is the third largest city of Baden-Württemberg, near the Franco-German border. Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city-states. The town surrounding the Palace became the seat of two of the highest courts in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) whose decisions have the force of a law in many cases, and the Federal Court of Justice of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof), the highest court of appeals in matters of civil law and criminal law. It therefore considers itself the home of justice in Germany, a role taken over from Leipzig after 1945. Washington's city planner, had been given the plans of Karlsruhe (among numerous other European cities) as an inspiration. At first we visited the the Bothnical Garden. The Karlsruhe Palace (Schloss) is an interesting piece of architecture; the adjacent Schlossgarten includes the Botanical Garden with a palm, cactus and orchid house, and walking paths through the woods to the north.
fam-united Posted Nov 28, 2012, 4:58 pm	The Turmberg (German: "Tower Hill") is a hill (elevation: 256 m) located in Durlach, a suburb of Karlsruhe in Germany. It is home to a castle ruin. The Turmberg can be reached by the Turmbergbahn, a funicular railway. The original railway used water to weight the rail cars, but now it is run on electric. wikipedia This is written on the sign: This tower is the remain of the ancient castle, which was built by Count von Hohenberg during the 1100s, extended during the 1200s and destroyed by Konrad von Lichtenberg, bishop of Strasbourg in 1279 A.D. This tower was built between 1230 A.D. and 1250 A.D. If the weather is nice you have a view to the Black Forest to Karlsruhe and theRhine Valley, the Palatinate Mountains and Alsace to the Kraichgau (Bruchsal is located at the edge of Rhine Valley to Kraichgau) Durlach
fam-united Posted Nov 28, 2012, 8:51 pm	I really waited for this day. I wished to see more of Bruchsal and finally we went out to go to the sightseeing places. Bruchsal has about 42 000 inhabitants, if you also count those in the five suburbs, which are Heidelsheim, Helmsheim, Untergrombach, Obergrombach and Büchenau. It was first mentioned in 796 A.D., but there had been an older settlement. 80 % of Bruchsal had been destroyed during World War II. on 1rst of March 1945. So you hardly find really old places. Here you see the tower of the old part of Bruchsal's hospital. In the building you find different doctors. The hospital is in a newer part. Just turning on your heels you can see the interesting building of Bruchsal's prison. The prison, constructed ca. 1848, is nicknamed the Cafe with Eight Corners or "Cafe Achteck". Today it is a high security institution and predominantly houses individuals convicted of violent crimes and convicted terrorists, such as members of the Red Army Faction. Schloss Bruchsal is one of the most beautiful Baroque palaces in Germany and the only episcopal Baroque residence on the Upper Rhine. The foundation stone was laid in 1722 by Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn, Prince Bishop of Speyer, who made the palace the centre of his absolutist dominion. After being almost completely destroyed in the final days of World War II, the main tract was painstakingly reconstructed according to the original design and work was completed in 1975, including the magnificent dome, Marble Hall and Prince's Hall. The staircase designed by Balthasar Neumann is considered to be an architectural tour-de-force and has been described as the "finest staircase in the world". Back part of the palace, first photo with the tower of the church St. Damian and Hugo, which sadly isn't baroque anymore. There are many statues in the palace garden. For of them show the four seasons. This one is summer. There are also the four elements fire, water, air and earth. This one is water. Then we went to the rose garden. This is the gate called Damianstor. It is the entrance to the palace area. I also want to show you the main entrance of the baroque palace. Here is the county court of Bruchsal. In front of the county court you find the Amalienbrunnen, a fountain with snails. The Belvedere on the edge of the "Stadtgarten" was built by Leonhard Stahl in 1756 as a hunting lodge for Prince Bishop Franz Christoph von Hutten. The location was chosen so that the lodge would command an unspoiled view of the palace, town and Rhine rift valley beyond. Especially worthy of note are the two towers, each of which has a viewing platform topped with a Chinese-style baldachin – an example of the fashion for chinoiserie prevalent at that time. Today, the Belvedere is used as a venue for concerts and theatre productions. At top of the Andreasstaffel, high stairs, you have a great view over Bruchsal. The houses below belong to the oldest part of Bruchsal. You also can see the tower of the ancient castle and of two churches (from left). The flat roofs belong to the older peoples house. In the far you can see the church St. Peter, a really nice baroque church. All the houses with flat roofs and the white house on the left below this grey building with little tower belong to the older peoples house. The grey building is a private catholic grammar school.
RikeH Posted Dec 2, 2012, 12:45 pm	Hello friends, I am home again. First I saw my good friend Dicker Kumpel. He told me that he had a big surprise for me: my girl-friend waited for me. I am so happy. Then Dicker Kumpel introduced me to his new girl-friend - Kleine Fee. I am happy that we will have a lot of fun together! Thanks to all my hosts over the last years! Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Dec 23, 2012, 10:02 pm	Hello friends,  Christmas is coming – and today my girI-friend and I helped decorating the Christmas tree. We started with the Christmas baubles.     These two baubles were so funny!     We had more decorations for the tree.         We loved this happy couple most! Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Jan 20, 2013, 10:20 pm	Hello friends,  I love Christmas! My brothers, my sisters, my girl-friend and I sat in front of Rudolph and Snowy  - two close friends of Santa Claus.         We all had fun and sung a Christmas Song for both.     We must have been great, because we received a lot of chocolate.     Merry Christmas!     Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Apr 30, 2013, 9:16 pm	Happy Easter! I celebrated Easter with my sisters and brothers. My girl-friend and I found a lot of chocolate. Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted May 7, 2013, 9:17 pm	Hello friends,  I am so excited – an old friend of me invited me. I visited her in 2009 – and she asked me to visit her again. Thanks Daisydz. Before I jumped into my envelope – I went through the garden. I love tulips. But other flowers are nice, too. Well – now I started my trip to the USA. Love SunnyHH
Daisydz Posted Jun 24, 2013, 3:54 am	I am so happy that I can meet my old friend Daisydz who held me in 2009 and brought me from Shanghai to California. and for this summer, I'm going to explore some certain areas in northeastern U.S with daisydz again. yayyy After daisydz's exam on June 1st and her tense start of internship, we got a little break for the weekends and went to Acadia National Park. The scene is just sooooooo beautiful! We stayed in a nice hotel named Atlantic Oceanside and had some nice hiking and food in Maine. Everything is just perfect. Mummy, please dont worry about me.
Daisydz Posted Jul 11, 2013, 3:53 am	It was Independence Day in the U.S. and we had a long weekend. yayy So a group of Daisydz's friend and Daisydz took me to Cape Cod. it was very nice!!!! sunshine, beach, we rent bikes and ride on the bicycle trail, visit the lighthouse and hottest gay and lesbian town in the northeast! loll On the beach we can see the milky way very clearly in the night.  we just had a very pleasant vacation. after we came back, we were so tired. but still, i'm looking forward to the trip back to CA in August.
Daisydz Posted Sep 8, 2013, 7:03 pm	The summer is pleasant in Boston and we went to sail boating on Charles River, where ppl are hanging out for outdoor sports during summer time and had a nice meal in North End, the little Italian town in Boston. yummyy Boston is a city with history and modern development. we passed by the city hall, Quincy Market and Hay market. I also take a photo with a stele with the famous provocative poem on it: First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Daisydz Posted Sep 8, 2013, 7:10 pm	Daisydz and I visited the old friend in Southern California again. The first day, we went to the famous beach Santa Monica, which is so beautiful and the sunshine is still so bright and strong. I miss the laid-back life here. LA has the largest Chinatown in the US. we went there for delicious Chinese food too. haha, California Dreaming
Daisydz Posted Sep 8, 2013, 7:16 pm	After a nice lunch in BJ's, we arrived the Idyllwild town, which is a really relaxing, laid-back town. Most of the residents are retired people. feel kinda lazy and warm though. We went on a hike to the peak of mountains and got a really nice view of this area. Beautiful California!
Daisydz Posted Sep 8, 2013, 7:21 pm	In Ca, there is a brand of bottled water named Arrowhead. And the the Lake Arrowhead is actually located among San Bernardino National Forest. the lake is private and we didn't get a boat rent there. so just sat down and chill. the view is beautiful.....but HELP! HELP!
Daisydz Posted Sep 8, 2013, 7:24 pm	Before we left for Boston again, we hang out in Oceanside for the sunset. the sky color was amazing! I love California and hope I can come back again sometime soon. loll
RikeH Posted Oct 9, 2013, 7:39 pm	Hello friends,    Great news – I am back again in Sülfeld. At the postoffice I met Soeren, who wanted to go to my home, too. So we went together. Dicker Kumpel was really surprised when he opened the door. He saw a me between 4 brown legs. Surely it was Soeren behind me. We went onto the blue chair, where all TVs live here in Sülfeld. Well – it is great to be at home again. Then I said hello to the other guests here. The best was that my girl-friend waited for me! It is wonderful to be with her again! Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Oct 22, 2013, 5:58 pm	Hello friends, Many greetings from sunny Madeira.  Yes – I am on this Island again. I’ve been here in March 2009 with my good friend Tobi. Tobi – we all miss you! This time I live in another part of Funchal. This is our holiday house. In front of it there is this nice small palm tree. And there are more wonderful flowers and plants in the garden. And this is the best place of the house. Can you see the Cruise Ship behind me? This is the Atlantic Ocean – what a wonderful view! Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Oct 29, 2013, 3:55 pm	Hello friends, As you can see on the photo, we visited the botanical garden of Funchal today. What a wonderful view! Of course I found beautiful flowers here. This was a lake – with a waterfall! Do you know these flowers? Well – I already told you that I liked this view! Maybe we should plant something like this in our garden? Then I found a delicious fruit… … and a big cabbage. Maybe we should buy a big garden and create something like this? I had a great time in this garden! Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Oct 30, 2013, 7:04 pm	Hello friends, I had an awful day today. Imagine this - I sat in the sunshine with my twin Kleiner Kumpel. Can anyone see a difference between us? No - no one! But what happened? RikeH came and told me something about a dirty littly bunny. I had a bad foreboding. And I was so right! Help!!! But I had no chance! Can you see any difference to the first photo? No, of course not. My dear hosts and Mums and Dads of us TVs - we don't need any baths in our life!!!! Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Nov 3, 2013, 6:55 pm	Hello, NiliHH, Freya, Tommi and I visited the Fort Glory today. Some cowboys said hello to us. I found a great place. Freya saw something interesting – so we all looked over the fence. And that was what we saw – a big pirate ship. I jumped onto the ship and talked to these exciting men. Maybe I will become a pirate one day! Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Nov 6, 2013, 8:09 pm	Hello friends, I went to a nice place called Pico dos Barcelos. From there I had great views over Funchal. What a beautiful big flower! Then we drove into the mountains and stopped at a point called Eira do Serrado. What a wonderful place! Back home I went through the garden and found new beautiful flowers. This yellow bloom was so nice. It is great to see so many blooming plants in October. Love Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Nov 17, 2013, 5:07 pm	Hello friends, I had a great time in Portugal. Before we leave I want to show you my nice room here! This was the place I really liked – on the big couch together with my friends. But then we found this place – with a great view out of the window. Soon we will fly back to Germany. Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Nov 28, 2013, 8:16 pm	Hello friends, I am back in Germany and have a nice time at home. Today it was a sad day because Soeren had to go home. We have had so much fun together! He invited me to come with him. Great!  We said goodbye to the others! And of course I had to leave my girl-friend. But we are used to it - hey - I am a ToyVoyager! Love SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 10, 2013, 9:42 pm	Dear mummy, I arrived safely in Paderborn. Sitting in my envelope I heard some discussions outside cause the TVs were waiting for me AND Soeren. They lifted the envelope up and concluded that it was too light for comprising an elk... So I openend the enveloped, crawled out and explained Mefito, Sargent Froggo, Josie and OleOrangescarf that Soeren really wanted to visit Strunki and his old friends. So he turned off to Remscheid. But we'll meet on December 14th in Dortmund and then he'll come back home I explained. Than my new friends hugged me and we sat together eating yummy chocolate I've brought with me and talking about TV-life... Love you Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 11, 2013, 4:34 pm	Dear Mummy, yesterday evening hostmum said we could put up a boot in front of the flat door for St. Nicholas. Perhaps he would fill the boot in the night on his way round the world. So we did. Of course we all wanted to see St. Nicholas so we sat behind the door staring through a door gap. "No", hostmum said, "you've got to go to bed and sleep. St. Nicholas won't come to somebody sitting behind the door." So we did. We tried to stay awake but no chance... In the early morning we raced to the door and the boot has been filled  Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 11, 2013, 4:56 pm	And in the evening we visited a friend of hostmum for having a comfortable St. Nicholas evening. First we had a yummy dinner. Suddenly we heard somebody playing the harp. It was a friendly owl. Of course we asked the owl to become a ToyVoyager but unfortunately his mum didn't allow... Then we explored the flat that was a gold mine for ToyVoyagers as you can see  Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 11, 2013, 5:14 pm	Dear mum, today evening we drove to Detmold for visiting the Christmas fair in the open-air museum. In the big area there're many old houses and two windmills you can visit for getting an idea of bygone times. Today the old houses and mills were illuminated, it looked fantastic! For finding the path in the dark there were torches at the wayside. There were many stands with nice things to buy and in the old houses you could buy things, too. Of course we bought some yummy hot punch  And look what hostmum bought for us: a wooden sledge  Now we're just waiting for some snow... Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 13, 2013, 4:55 pm	Dear mummy, today morning we accompanied hostmum to work. It was very cold and cause we drove by bike we were wraped up to the nose. Hostmum works as a social worker in an old people's home, but unfortunately today she didn't make any music or other interesting things together with the old people but sat in front of her computer the whole morning. On the way back we had a great view to Neuenbeken, hostmum's home village. Love you yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 13, 2013, 5:18 pm	Dear mummy, today we drove to Soest by train for visiting the Christmas fair. So many lights...it looked great! Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 15, 2013, 7:08 pm	Dear mummy, today we drove to Dortmund by train for meeting Strunki and olgamaus. After visiting the a big St. Nicholas, a big Christmas pyramide and the very big Christmas tree we went into a café together with all the other ToyVoyagers. It was great to sit there with GustavHH, Charlotte, Hase, HelmutBluepant, Kirin, Soeren, DottyCroc, Dutchy the Lion, Mefito, Josie, UrselHH, Frederik, OleOrangescarf, Störte, Sargent Froggo and *Nick*. Nice to be together with my brother and sister! When it became dark we visited the Christmas fair with the illuminated big tree, all the lights and candles...it was such a great day!! Love you yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 16, 2013, 8:58 pm	Dear mummy, today Soeren told us that he was invited by Murph on yesterday and he'll leave us only two days after meeting  But I'm sure we'll meet again...have a good journey! And special greetings to Murph! Love you, mum, yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 19, 2013, 7:17 pm	Dear mummy, today Mefito's and frederik's little sister Lille has come home! We were happy to meet her after a long journey and we all hugged her. I think we'll have a nice time together. Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 21, 2013, 5:41 pm	Today noon a mysterious parcel arrived. We were not waiting for another ToyVoyager so we wondered what could be in it. Hostum said that it was a Christmas parcel from Strunki so we should wait until Christmas. But suddenly we heard a voice: "Set me free!!!"  Under this circumstances of course we were allowed to open the parcel as fast as we could. A funny face appeared. "Hi, I'm Paris the dromedary and I'm no ToyVoyager and I don't want to become a ToyVoyager. I travelled from Christmas fair to Christmas fair my whole life and so I would be very happy to find a real home", Paris the dromedary said. Hostum was as happy as we to meet Paris and invited her to stay in her home. "Great", Paris said, "now I've only to ind a place where I can jump up and down but that's not urgent." And then she showed us a nice postcard, nice Pictures and yummy chocolate she brought with her from Strunki, her TVs and guests  Thank you!!! That's for today yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 25, 2013, 11:44 am	MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL CREATURES ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! And guess what we've got: a shopping trolley filled with yummy chocolate  For the rest of the evening we were completely occupied by pushing each other in the trolley and eating chocolate  Merry Christmas, mummy, yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 28, 2013, 11:02 am	Dear mummy, in the afternoon we drove to hostgrandma and hostgrandpa. We climbed the Christmas tree and visited the crib. Frederik decided to stay there for the next weeks being a member of the crib. After playing hostgrandpa's organ for more than two hours we rested in hostgrandma's armchair for a while... In the evening we went into the city for visiting the illuminated cathedral. Great! 100 hugs, yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 28, 2013, 11:15 am	Dear mum, today evening we celebrated the second Christmas day together with hostdad's daughters in the flat of the older daughter in Bad Lippspringe. Look, she's got a Christmas tree with eyes and hat  Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Dec 31, 2013, 5:50 pm	Dear mummy, today the sun was shining, optimal conditions for our 'First Silvester Shopping Trolley Outdoor Race'  We went to an hill where Paris marked starting line and finishing line. Than she sat down at the finishing line with her stopwatch...the race could begin! OleOrangescarf was the first starter. He pushed the trolley, jumped in and raced downhill. "14,99 seconds!" Paris shouted and noted down the result. Mefito was the next one. "14,92!" Then the first team started: Sargent Froggo pushed the trolley with me in it and jumped in..."14,71"!!! Then the the girls  started... "14,98!" Paris shouted. So we had the winners: Sargent Froggo and me!!!  Back home we had a presentation ceremony. My Partner and me got gold medals and certificates. It was great and so much fun!!! Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 1, 2014, 5:08 pm	HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We had a Silvester-party at some friends of hostmum and hostdad. First we played 'Don't be annoyed' (in German 'Mensch ärger dich nicht') with 'Mainzelmännchen' as pieces  It was very exciting and at last OleOrangescarf was the winner! Then we visited the crib with a miniature Christmas fair. At midnight we had great fireworks!! Unfortunately hostmum wasn't really able to took good pictures at the right moment  All the best, mummy, SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 3, 2014, 6:36 pm	Dear mum, today we said goodbye to Lille and Sargent Froggo. Lille will travel to her next host and Sargent Froggo will travel back home. Take care, my friends!! Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 12, 2014, 11:11 am	Dear mummy, today we decided to help hostmum with the housecleaning. First we had to do the washing. Together we put the laundry into the washing machine (hoping that hostmum didn't hit on the idea to put us into the machine as well  ) After cleaning we had to pull out the wet clothes of the machine and hung it onto the clotheshorse. Puuuuh, housework is more exhausting than we thought... Then we helped hostmum doing the hoovering. That wasn't exhausting at all, we sat on the Hoover directing hostmum and spuring her on  She was very grateful to us for such a fantastic support and so we got yummy chocolate deservedly  Many kisses yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 16, 2014, 5:43 pm	Dear mummy, yesterday a mysterious envelope from Australia arrived. What could be in? A very flat ToyVoyager?  I opened it and crawled in...and guess what I pulled out: the flying carpet of Mefito's brother Sidney L. But where was Sidney? The enclosed postcard gave the answer: Sidney has travelled to Alaksa and has forgotten his flying carpet in Australia!  How has he travelled without flying with his carpet? We must ask him when he'll be back home... Of course we all tried to start the carpet but unfortunately nothing happened...we didn't know the magic word for starting it  Dear Sidney, come home safely some day, Mefito'll keep your carpet... Thank you, fleursmum for sending the carpet home  Love you, mum, yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 17, 2014, 10:14 pm	Dear mummy, today morning we were just playing hide and seek in the garden when a strange figure appeared  When he came nearer we saw that it was Monsti pulling a pirate ship!! Of course we asked him where he came from with such a ship and then he told us a fantastic story: fitted out with a map he started from his hometown Stuttgart many days ago. He wanted to travel by train, bus and hitchhiking. Wow! The first stage worked very well but after a while he found no Train, no bus, no car and hat to go on travelling by foot  So he walked along some rivers and suddenly he saw an abandoned pirate ship! With this ship he sailed this far on many different rivers! The last kilometre he had to pull the ship and now he was here! Great! When we looked closely at the ship Mefito recognized: it was the ship of his brother Störte which he had lost on his journey from Austria to Remscheid! What a chance!! He'll be so happy to get back his ship when he'll come home Then we went in, sat together and talked about our adventures while eating the yummy hamburgers Monsti brought with him  Yours SunnyHH
mcdaniels Posted Jan 22, 2014, 8:27 pm	Dear mummy, I'm coming hoooome! And I won't travel alone, Mefito will accompany me  So we said goodbye to OleOrangescarf, Monsti and Josie. Perhaps we 'll meet again! See you soon, mummy, yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Feb 1, 2014, 10:37 pm	Hello friends, I spent a nice time at Mefito’s home – now it was time for him to visit my home. Dicker Kumpel gave us a warm welcome. Then he introduced us to his other guests here. We showed our nice postcard and the candies you sent with us. And I showed my medal and the certificate of my victory in the shopping trolley race. It is great to be at home again – but thanks mcdaniels for the great time with you! Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Feb 13, 2014, 6:42 pm	Hello friends, great news - I have an invitation to one of the best hosts of the world. So I said goodbye to Dicker Kumpel, packed my bags and now I am on my way. Until soon SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 16, 2014, 6:29 pm	Hi Mummy, I arrived in Remscheid today. My new host Katja and two travelling plushies, Zhia from Alaska and napoleon from Berlin gave me a warm welcome. Because the weather outside was really ugly, we stayed at home for the rest of the day and enjoyed the sweets I brought with me Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 16, 2014, 6:40 pm	Hi Mummy, today we decided to take a walk at Wupper dam ( Wupper-Talsperre ). This dam is extremely large, you can not circle it when you just want to take a walk. Our track led us through a forest first. This part of Wupper dam is situated in the district Lennep. Finally we reached the lake. Beyond that bridge in the background you can find a large camping area, also weekend homes and a large area for swimming, pedal-boats and canoeing. We left the lake area than to walk back to the car, through a rural area this time. If only the weather had been better! Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 20, 2014, 9:37 am	Hi Mommy, today we went to the neighbour city Solingen to visit the greenhouses in the Botanical Garden. These are usually closed during winter, but today they were open and guided tours were offered. There are several greenhouses, one of them with desert plants, one with bromeliad plants, a tropical garden and orchids. First we had a short look at the tropical garden. Next stop was the desert These golden barrel cacti, also called Mother-In-Law's-cushion, are well known. This is a money tree, common as a houseplant worldwide. An orchid ... Next we went to the greenhouse showing bromelia, originally growing from Middle America down to South America. Yummy banana! Once m ore we went to the tropical garden. Of course we also took a short walk in the Botanical Garden itself. You can find a lot of funny sculptures here, like this reading raven. Suddenly ... What was UrselHH doing here? She is visiting Katja's friend Strunki and was also visiting the Botanical Garden today. We found some spring flowers, like snowdrops. There is a giant butterfly sitting on the lawn, made of metal with glass mosaic. In the meantime it started raining, so we hurried back to the car to get home. Bye for today! Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 24, 2014, 2:28 pm	Hi Mommy, today we took a walk, just strolling around for more than an hour. First we went to the nearby municipal park. Katja showed us the police headquarter with a small park in front of it. There is an observatory located in the entrance area of the municipal park. Here, at the steep slopes of the park, you can find allotment areas. We walked to one of the valleys than. In the background you can see the city centre with the tower of the city hall. We reached a housing area than, one of those built in the 1960s and 1970s years. But even in this district you can find those lovely old houses. Before we went home we bought a few things in a supermarket. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 27, 2014, 3:00 pm	Hi Mommy, we had fantastic weather today, the sky was blue in the morning, so we could not wait to go out for a longer walk. Katja met a friend and we went to the neighbour city Solingen, to the historical district Unterburg where you can find picturesque houses. We left this small district and went into the forest. In the background you COULD SEE Muengsten Brigde, Germany's highest railway bridge, if it would not melt with the surrounding landscape. We went along a path which was following the valley of river Wupper towards Muengsten Bridge. Here you can see Muengsten Brige, overspanning the valley of river Wupper. Repair works are going on here since several months and will go on until summer, so no trains were crossing this impressive structure. We almost reached the bridge. [img][/img] All the walking paths are covered with porch roofs to prevent people and and travelling toys from being battered to death by dopped tools or construction elements. On a nearby playground we found rocking sheep. We went downhill until we reached the bottom of the valley and the leisure park underneath the bridge. Here we found this information board. In the leisure park you can find lawns and benches for relaxing, a crazy golf course, playgrounds for kids and restaurants. The bridgte is 107 m tall and about 480 m wide. It was opened in 1897. We walked back to the car, finding rocks with engraved lyrics or pictures, like these hands. Finally we reached Unterburg. (Katja's smartphone app told me that our walk was more than 11 km long!!!). Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 27, 2014, 3:35 pm	Hi Mommy, I met Shiva and Brighty today. Although they are looking like cute toys, they are predators. I don't want to think about what they are eating there! Katja said it was chicken, but who knows? Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Mar 2, 2014, 8:58 pm	Hi Mum, we took a walk today in the municpal park and as well in the historic district Hasten. First we went to the park where Katja showed us a pond. She told us that ducks and (probably abandonded) turtles were living here. Someone has stolen a local celebrity, the Stinthengst, a legendary creature from waterbodies in Masuria, around Mikołajki, which is one of Remscheid's twin towns. The fish was stolen because this pond is an extremely soiled and fusty pond, smelling not so great in summer. The local newspaper is telling about this story several times a week. We strolled around the park and found th is interesting bush, it is Witch-hazel. In this perennial garden the first leaves are sprouting. From here you have a good overview to the green outskirts of Remscheid. In the background you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal. My host will start a new job there on Monday We went downhill than to the district Hasten, one of the historical districts of Remscheid. You can find lots of lovely old traditional houses here, also shops, restaurants, bars and museums. A museum is situated in this Patrician villa, built in late 18th century. It has the traditional doorknocker, showing the heraldic animal of Remscheid, the lion. The "German Tool Museum" is situated on the the same estate. There are also outdoor facilities, some historic workshops and different machines. Thankfully this rusty machine did not collapse while we were sitting here for this picture That's all for now Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Mar 2, 2014, 9:05 pm	Hi Mum, we went to Lennep today, another historic district, to visit Katja's Mom. Of course we took a walk around the lovely old town before. 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. You can find narrow alleys and cute houses, some of them looking rather skew-whiff. This is the market place with bars and cafés. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who produced and detected what is nowadays known as x-rays in 1895, was born in 1845 in this house. You can find the Roentgen-Museum here in Lennep. Can you spot me? Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Mar 25, 2014, 9:17 pm	Hi Mummy, I scared everyone to death when I fell asleep in the travelling box of Katja's ferrets. It seems that it was kind of hibernating, but than the warm sunshine woke me up. In the meantime Katja started her new job in a patent attorneys firm. Today I went with her and we had a look at the "Schwebebahn" (suspension railway). The first photo was taken in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, one of two terminal stops. Here in Vohwinkel the track is built over the main street, while in the other districts the track is following river Wupper most of the time. We took the Schwebebahn until we reached Wuppertal-Elberfeld where we left the train. A train was passing by! In the city centre we searched for some clothes. I hope I am allowed to stay another two weeks or so to take a ride with the Schwebebahn for the whole almost 13 km. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Mar 30, 2014, 6:21 pm	Hi Mommy, today we went to the neighbour city Solingen to take a walk around a drinking water dam, Sengbachtalsperre. The weather is fantastic and it is rather warm. We started in Hoehrath, one of the outskirts of Solingen. Here we met a funny guy, a wood frog. A lot of bushes and spring flowers are blooming. We went into the forest than. In the valley the lake was already visible. napoleon and I enjoyed the lovely weather relaxing for a while. We found felled trees everywhere. The path was going uphill and we were high above the lake than. Isn't this a lovely view? The bright spot in the background is Remscheid, we also took a zoomed photo. We reached the concrete dam, which was under construction for almost two years, as Katja told us. Back in the forest, I found a tree with a giant root. Katja showed us Schloss Burg, a medieval castle, situated in Solingen-Burg. Unfortunately we did not have time to take a side trip to visit it. Here you can see the dam and the distance we covered today. Thankfully I am used to hop around for hours - I am a tough hare! Later that day I hopped into the ferrets transportation to take a short nap. I did not know that this box is usually stored in the attic, so I could not ask Katja to let me out. Everyone thought that I was lost and everybody was sad. (Two weeks later I will be found - so don't worry ) Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Mar 30, 2014, 6:27 pm	Hi Mommy, still having good weather, we took a walk in the outskirts of Remscheid, in Westhausen. A beekeeper was working here. We went into a forest than. We could hear mice rustling in the dry foliage on the soil. Everybody at home here ?! Once more I could see Schloss Burg from a distance. Springtime is here really soon this year. Too soon our walk ended. Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 5, 2014, 2:40 pm	Hi Mommy, we decided to take a walk when Katja finished work in the afternoon. We went to the Botanical Garden, Katja's colleague accompanied us. Soon we reached the Botanical garden. There are greenhouses and a lovely tower in entrance area - Eilse Tower. 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. Here you can see an araucaria from Chile. This is the villa. Lots of beautiful spring flowers are blooming - viola, tulips and hyazinth, We explored the garden than. This is a special kind of pear tree, a willow-leaved pear, native to the Middle East. These are chess flowers. Next we visited the kitchen garden with herbs and (later in the year )crop plants. This is fennel. There was already a peony blooming. These cacti were growing outside, not in a greenhouse. Than Katja showed us the tiniest tulips. I found a map showing the Botanical Garden. The Botanical garden is situated on a hill called "Hardt". The Botanical Garden is only a small part of a vast landscape park. Here we strolled around for a while. There is a memorial for the dead of WW I. From here you have a good overview across the city. In the end we came back to the Botanical Garden. Unfortunately the greenhouses were not open yet. It is so good that we are having spring now! Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 7, 2014, 8:51 pm	Hi Mummy, today we visited Duesseldorf. I went with Katja and her daughter who was applying for a job in a local hotel. Duesseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is situated on the River Rhine, and is renowned for its many events and also for its fashion and trade fairs. We went here by train and started our trip in the city centre. We came past the Koenigsallee, the most famous shopping street here,(and the most expensive one ), famous for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides. Here you can see the "Kö-Graben". It was raining a bit. From here we walked towards the old town. Errr... this is not a really exciting view! This is the old town with lots of bars and restaurants and lovely buildings. The historic city hall is situated here in the old town. The equestrian statue in front of it is showing "Jan Wellem" who was born in Duesseldorf in 17th century. We were rather hungry, so we went into a cozy bar and ordered "Flammkuchen" and - of course - a local beer. A special beer is brewn in Duesseldorf - Alt. Yummy! Than of course we walked towards river Rhine. We reached the Burgplatz. Here you can see Burgplatz (castle place) with the Schlossturm (castle tower). A view to the opposite side - here you can see Rhine Tower and Media Harbour. We decided to walk along the promenade. Lots of people were taking a walk and enjoying an ice cream or a beer here. Close to the city the promenade is full of bars and crowded with people. Katja showed us the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the parliament,. situated at river Rhine next to Rhine Tower. A really interesting buiding. We still walked along river Rhine until we reached Rhine Tower, a telecommunication tower. It is 240 m tall, built from 1978 till 1982. This tower is one of the most famous landmarks. A rotating restaurant is located behind the windows at the top of it. Close to the tower the harbour is situated. This part of the harbour is called Medienhafen (media harbour). For decades the harbour has been an area of workers, industry and trade. After the Mannesmann company had discontinued its tube production in Düsseldorf, parts of the central harbour were no longer needed. As a result the eastern part of the harbour started to be redeveloped. Nowadays you can find media companies, but also fashion and design offices here, lots of gastronomy also. You can find some spectacular post-modern architecture, most famously three twisted constructions by Frank Gehry, here. The building shaped like a reversed "U" is called Stadttor (city gate). This is the main entrance area of the Landtag, averted from the river. Unfortunately we had to return to the station than. Before we reached the tram which would have taken us back to the station I shook hands with a former Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and President of Germay - Johannes Rau. He was standing in front of another government building - the office of the President of the Parliament. Good-bye Duesseldorf! (Another life mission fulfilled, I suppose ) Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 21, 2014, 9:29 pm	Hi Mummy, see your tough hare among those terrifying (and terribly cute) ferrets Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 21, 2014, 9:52 pm	Hi Mummy, after work we took a walk in Wuppertal, in an area which once was a shooting range of the army. You can find open ranges here as well as woodland areas ... and a wonderful park. Murmelbachtal .... this sounds as it was taken from a book of fairy tales It looks like a little zoo in the background: Goats, sheep, alapacas, chicken and ducks ... We reached the garden than - Vorwerk park. This lovely landscape park was founded in early 20th century by Adolf Vorwerk (founder of the well known Vorwerk company). In the park you can find a stone pit, a grotto with a waterfall, swimming lakes and lots of rhododendron. The park is situated at the slope of a valley. We had to walk straight uphill to reach the upper parts of the park. There is also an area planted with fruit trees. On our way back we came along the alpacas once more ... Can you see what was coming towards us from the background? (It made "määhhh, määäähhhhhäää ....) Katja told me the that those giant open ranges are "mowed" by sheep. There is a shepherd who is taken his flock of sheep to another of those lawns each day. In the early evening they are taken back to their night quarter somewhere else on this large estate. The flock of sheep went into the forest and we decided to follow them. Ah, there they coming again! Good night, sheep!! Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 26, 2014, 11:02 am	Hi Mummy, today we took a longer walk in the outskirts of Remscheid. We even managed to persuade Katja's son to walk with us We went to Hasten first and then to districts Westen and Grund. We reached Morsbach valley, this creek is Morsbach. This house is all over grown with ivy. We walked uphill towards the hamlet Westen than. In the background you can see a housing area which belongs wo Wuppertal. This time you can see the city centre of Remscheid in the background. Here in Westen you can mostly find single family houses, but also some of the lovely older houses which are usually a bit larger. This district is situated at the outer end of the municipal area of Remscheid, the hamlet in the background also belongs to Wuppertal-Ronsdorf. This is Grund, also a smaller hamlet with mostly old houses. Katja told me that in autumn I could pick tiny apples here We were already on the way back home, again in Morsbach valley. From here we had to walk uphill for more than 30 minutes to get home Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 26, 2014, 11:20 am	Hi Mummy, Happy Easter! In the late morning we went to Wipperfürth with a friend, a small town in the so called Oberbergisches Land. We had about 25 km to drive to this dam, Neyetalsperre. We parked the car in a rural area. This lovely forester's lodge is located just above the concrete dam. We found an information board showing an aerial photo of the dam. It is embedded in a lovely landscape. The weather is not as nice as last week, we did not know that we would become terribly wet later! We walked around the dam, always close to the water's edge.The length of the entire walk around the lake is about 11 km. Not all trees are having their leaves yet. This moss or whatever it is instead looks like something from outer space The concrete dam came into sight again. Someone did a good job when he repaired a pothole on the concrete dam Almost back to the car ... Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Apr 27, 2014, 10:43 am	Hi Mommy, today I went with Katja and friends to a riding stable in the neighbour city Radevormwald. The riding stable is located in the outskirts of this small town, close to Wupper dam. You can find Icelandic horses here. Here the air was not too good Can you see me riding on Dunja's back? Dunja accompanied us on a walk to Wupper dam. Have a look at the beautiful surroundings. We found an information board. Strawberries! Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 5, 2014, 9:24 pm	Hi Mommy, today we took the ferrets (and of course me ) to Strunki's garden. Zaehnchen was having fun ... and also Brighty. I even met NiliHH here! He is Strunki's guest at the moment. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 5, 2014, 9:26 pm	Hi Mummy, Katja is celebrating her birthday with her familiy today. Of course I helped to prepare the table and to bake a delicious cake. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 5, 2014, 9:35 pm	Hi Mommy, today we are celebrating once more - Katja's friends will come in the evening. We had to prepare dinner. We started with a wasabi pâté. We studied the receipe. The white part was already done, the green one had to be prepared with buttermilk, wasabi, cress and gelatin. This is MY plate! A friend brought these delicious cheese balls. Also two kinds of spread with oriental spices and herbs... These are white mushroom filled with different kinds of cream cheese - also yummy. We had lots of fun until the late evening. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 11, 2014, 11:02 am	Hi Mommy, unfortunately the weather changed to rain, but in the late afternoon the sun was shining for some time and we visited alovely landscape park in Wuppertal-Barmen. It is called "Barmer Anlagen" and was founded here by a citizens organisation 150 years ago. It is part of a larger woodland area. You can find some memorials here. This is a  horse trough, also suitable for small bunnies Inside the park ... A rather large memorial An open air exhibition is here from April till early June. It is showing "everyday people" in life-size, made of a special kind of concrete and hand-painted. You can find those figures everywhere in the park, always showing an "everyday" situation. We climbed upon this building, looking like a castle. It was not a castle, just another entrance to the park, with a great overview across the park. NiliHH also visited the park with his host Strolling around the park, we found this group of people - they were playing musical chairs. Next we found a very interesting memorial. Once there was a rack railway going uphill from the city in the valley, it was closed in the year 1959. Here you can see a zoomed photo of the city in the valley. On our way home we stopped at a place with a great overview across this part of Wuppertal, but you cannot see where Katja is working (this is another district). Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 21, 2014, 10:48 am	Hi Mummy, we are having great weather again, so we decided to take a longer walk. First we went to pick up our friend Strunki. Katja told me that she lived in this street until summer 2012. In the background you can see the local court. To get to Strunki's home in a district in the South of Remscheid, we went to the station first, finding more and more industrial sites along the route. We followed the "Trasse des Werkzeugs" for some time. Thoses houses were built rather close to the former railway track. We almost reached the station. We crossed the track here and walked towards a valley. Looking back ... We had to cross the valley to reach Strunki's home. I had to rest for a little while. From here you have a great overview to the city centre at the opposite side of the valley. In Strunki's garden I had a look at all those lovely flowers, like these columbine. We went into the forest than where we had to cross a creek. We just followed the creek, it is called Eschbach. This is an ear trumpet which intensifies the sound of the pouring water. This is a fish pond. This cute house belongs to the local boy scouts. Soon we returned to Strunki's home, later we took the ferrets out in the garden (but this time I stayed at home ). Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 21, 2014, 10:59 am	Hi Mommy, today we went to Hohenhagen to help a friend to pick elderflowers, Katja's friend wanted to make syrup from them. Hohenhagen is a housing area which is surrounded by both rural areas and woodland. In the background you can see the Southern outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal. Hawthorne is blooming ... ... and wild cherry ... ... and dog rose. We were walking along the outer rim of an industrial area. Time for  a little rest. Of course we found elderflowers Too soon we returned to the car. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 21, 2014, 12:01 pm	Hi Mommy, today we went to the DIY-store to buy a light bulb. Katja bought a new lamp but did not have the perfect light bulb for it. Look how lovely the small park in front of our flat is looking Katja remembered that she did not take me to the city centre a single time! That's why we went to the city hall to have a look. This is the rear side of the city hall, not the front. There is a large open space in front of the city hall, you can find a pillar with a lion on top of it here. The lion is the heraldic animal of Remscheid. This is the front of the city hall with a small restaurant in front of it. Here you can see the main entrance of the shopping mall with the large fountain. This painted lion is one of a lot of lion figures. They will take part in a large lion parade in late summer, when Remscheid is celebrating its 85th birthday. We had to cross the railway tracks to get to the DIY-store. This bridge is leading to the station. Done! Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted May 23, 2014, 1:52 pm	Hi Mommy, we made a trip to Wuppertal-Barmen today. We went here by train. Here you can see the Schwebebahn-station "Alter Markt" in Barmen. Some years ago there was a pengiun parade in Wuppertal, in honor of the 125th anniversary of the Wuppertal zoo in 2006. The penguin is the "heraldic animal" of the zoo, 200 of them were painted by artists, kids, clubs and companies. Nowadays you can find those penguins all over the municipal area of Wuppertal, like this one in front of a pharmacy. This is the city hall of Barmen ... ... and this, much more interesting, the brewhouse We had planned to walk along the "Nordbahntrasse", one of those now closed railway tracks Katja loves so much. It is not finished yet, there are still construction works going on. Did you see this dilapidated building in the last picture? Someone painted a minion onto it We walked across several bridges. It's great to see the city from above. In the meantime we had left the railway track to walk to a nearby park. Here is another (former) brewery. "Nordpark" is located along the slope of the Wupper valley, of course we had to walk uphill for an eternity to get here. The overview was worth it. Here, on the hiighest point of the park, you can find a playground and several sports facilities. We went back to the city than. While we walked downhill, it started to rain heavily and I had to hide in Katja's bag. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jun 1, 2014, 2:00 pm	Hi Mom, today we enjoyed a longer walk in the surroundings of Eschbachtalsperre in Remscheid. Eschbachtalsperre was Germany's first drinking water dam, opened in 1891. It is embedded in a lovely landscape. There was a doe walking in the forest, I am afraid you cannot see it on the next picture. We left the woodland and reached a more rural area with farms. Look, I met a snail. Katja told me that this was a wild cherry tree. Last year in autumn she made a delicious liqueur from its fruits. In the background you can see the Southern districts of Remscheid. Too soon we reached the concrete dam and also the car. Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jun 1, 2014, 2:31 pm	Hi Mom, today we went to the Nordbahntrasse once more, this time we wanted to walk into the opposite direction, towards Elberfeld. Our new guest, MrBear from sunny California accompanied us. Most of the railway tracks were removed, one stayed for handcar trips. You can find signs telling you to remove your dog's poo everywhere. (What about bunny poo? - Katja said is was too small to be noticed ) The next "station" ... We found fondly created gardens along the route. What a funny flower pot! This seems to be a handcar for teddy bears In a tunnel we found gorgeous graffito. We reached a very special bridge than - the Lego-bridge. Katja promised that we would visit it on street level when we will visit the Botanical garden next time. Can you see the green hill in the background? This is Hardt with the Botanical garden, I already visited this place in early April. We walked and walked ... Inside a tunnel ... whoooo - blue light! Look at all those pretty houses. We reached another bridge than. The other bridge you can see in the photo is the A46 motorway. Outside the next tunnel: What a funny inscription Graffito everywhere. You can also find historic factory buildings along the track. Here we had to leave the Nordbahntrasse. Beyond this former station it is not finished yet. We decided to walk downwards to the Schwebebahn to get back to the car we had left in Barmen. We walked through a district with extremely lovely houses. Hey, this is the Kaiserwagen, a historic Schwebebahn train! You can see it barely because it is not a regular train. This is the station "Robert-Daum-Platz". Inside the station ... From here we went to Barmen where we found the car soon. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 11, 2015, 4:41 pm	Hi Mummy, since I would have too many pictures to upload since this website was closed, I decided to show you some of my adventures in each month. On June 6th I visited Wuppertal again, the Botanical Garden with its greenhouses, Elise Tower, flower beds and the Hardt Park this time. Of course we visited the famous nearby Lego Bridge. On June 7th we met friends in Dortmund: First we had lunch. After a short trip though the city centre we went to Romberg Park, a really lovely place in this crowded city. A terrifiying creature A family reunion On June 11th we celebrated my birthday. The party was  taking place in Strunki's garden. Katja did not only create a carrot torte for me, but also a carrot soup. More delicacies ... Have a look at this very special beer I even got a present. We visited Ohligser Heide in Solingen once, a moorland landscape. We spent most of the month searching for an apartment in Wupertal. Katja was fed up with spending so much time to get to her new work place, so she decided to move to Wuppertal. At the end of the month she found the perfect apartment in the middle of the city with a small balcony. On June 28th a fantastic event was taking place in Wuppertal: Der Lange Tisch. This event is celebrated every five years. We took a short walk along river Wupper where Katja showed us some artwork. I have seen some of those people already in a park in Barmen, in early Summer The weather became bad then. After listening to this band we went home by train. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 11, 2015, 5:28 pm	Hi Mummy, in July we started to paint the walls in Katja's new apartment. The carpet was replaced by another floor in a wood design. We were too busy for any more adventures for a longer time. Moving was adventurous enough  Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 11, 2015, 5:39 pm	Hi Mommy, in September we went to Mallorca in Spain. We intended some hiking tours. We had rented an apartment in Paguera in the South-West of Mallorca, a really lovely place. Departure was on September 26th. This was the view from our balcony, across the city of Paguera. We started one of the hiking tours in Port d'Andratx. In Sollér... this trip was leading from a water reservoir in the mountains downhill to the valley. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 11, 2015, 5:47 pm	Hi Mommy, in November it felt like late summer We went to the city and had sushi for lunch. We took several longer walks since we had this lovely weather, this time at Scharpenacken, where I had been before in April. Another trip led us to Barmen. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 11, 2015, 5:53 pm	Hi Mommy, in December we visited the Christmas markets in Wuppertal. As well we went to Dortmund again. I tried Katja's eggnogg We did not bake cookies, but made delicious florentines. After Christmas we finally it finally snowed! Here is the view from our balcony. Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:16 pm	Happy New Year! We are having fantastic weather and we want to go out. We planned to visit one of Wuppertal most famous landmarks, a water tower which is called "Atadösken". This tower was built in 1927 and is 43 m high. Ata is a scrubbing powder and was sold in the 1920-years in a packaging wich was shaped like the water tower. Of course Atadösken is only a nick name, not the official one Here you can read a bit more about it. The water tower is situated on the opposite, which means Northern slope of Wupper valley and we can see it everytime we leave the house. Close to it there is also a television tower, we hope to see them both. We met Strunki and PieksiHH! We started our walk in an allotment garden. Hell, all the paths and roads were icy! We found an abandonded sledge here in the park. Soon the water tower came into sight. Can you see the pink tower? While we walked closer the television tower also came into sight. There it is already! Those two towers are really close together. We walked back to the car then. This is one of 469 (yes - four hundred sixty nine) public stairs in Wuppertal, 23 of them under monument protection, like this one - Hamburger Treppe. That's all for today. Katja promised that I would have to climb a lot of stairs in the next weeks Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:22 pm	Hi Mummy, today we took a walk with our neighbour and her dog Jule. We often take Jule out for walks. This time we had planned to take a route through several allotment areas. Like in Remscheid you can find allotments all along the steep slopes of the valley. You  have a great overview across the city. This is the university. You can see it like this only from the walking path in the forest. Almost home ... Katja is living in this quarter, the so-called Südstadt. Large parts of Wuppertal were destroyed in World War II, most houses had to be re-built afterwards. Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Jan 25, 2015, 5:03 pm	Hi Mom, it snowed again In the morning we went to town to buy some things for the weekend. The whole area in front of the station is a giant builing site. It will be so for the next three years as this place will be completely created newly. In the afternoon we went to the forest to take a long walk with our neighbour and her dog. In a nearby park the kids were sledding. We enjoyed the snow Love SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 16, 2015, 5:15 pm	Hi Mommy, today Katja had only to work until noon. In the afternoon we took the neighbour's dog out on a long walk in the forest. The weather was fantastic! Out route led us through several allotment areas. MrBear and I enjoyed the sunshine. The large building in the foreground is a school, in the background you can see the valley of river Wupper with the district Barmen. Back in Elberfeld where Katja is living ... Almost home We will try to call PieksiHH this evening to talk about travelling home toghether. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 22, 2015, 11:10 am	Hi Mommy, today we to Wuppertal-Barmen after work, it was almost dusk. Of course the Schwebebahn is running through the city here also. We found a place to see both Schwebebahn and the railway tracks at once. It was rather cold, so we hurried home than. Bye SunnyHH
olgamaus Posted Feb 22, 2015, 11:14 am	Hi Mommy, on Thursday PieksiHH came with me so we can travel home together. We said good-bye to the ferrets. Here you can see Lotte, Zähnchen and Shiva, having their breakfast. I collected some souvenirs during my stay with Katja I enjoyed my one-year-stay, but now I am happy to come home to you. Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Dec 10, 2015, 12:19 pm	Hello friends, Together with my brothers and sisters I am on a Cruise Ship. And what are you doing on a Ship? Yes, relaxing. But what is more important – we wanted to have a party! We knew, where the good drinks were! There! But they were high above us, what shall we do? Good news – HelgaHH can fly, so she flew to the drinks… …threw it to us and jumped back to us. We brought it back to our place and everybody chose his or her famous drink. Look, what I chose. And I took some delicious chocolate! Well – it was fun – I shouldn’t say more. Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Jan 12, 2016, 4:05 pm	Hello friends, You see me on a bus – exploring Muscat, a nice town in Oman. There were some fortresses on the hill. We stopped at the beach and had a nice view. The clouds looked darker than they were. This was the famous and beautiful opera house. We drove back into the city and saw the clock tower. We drove through some hills and saw the sea again – this time with a small port. Our last stop was next to the palace of Muscat. I loved the way to it. Behind me you can see the Al Alam Palace. When I turned I saw small towers in the hill. Near to the Palace there were other nice buildings – can you see me in the flowers? Look, I had my own tourist entry permit. Back to our ship we saw this funny building on the top of a hill. Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Apr 30, 2016, 12:32 pm	Hello friends, I have been in Norway. We had a wonderful holiday home – with great views and a lot of snow! My siblings and I enjoyed the sunshine. One day we went to another Fjord today – the way to it was beautiful. What a wonderful place. Behind the curve was the Grotfjord. A really nice place! Back home we sat at the fireplace! Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Aug 28, 2016, 3:43 pm	Hello friends, In the afternoon we celebrated Dicker Kumpel’s birthday. We wished him a happy birthday and sang a song for him. He loved the couch that Murph gave him as a birthday present. We played soccer, because it was EM! Then we went on the swings… …and into the sandbox. I had a great place.   Then we sat in the sunshine and talked a lot. Oups, nobody should see this – we took some drinks with us. Cheers! Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Sep 20, 2016, 7:41 pm	Hello friends, I am on a cruise again. We arrived in Ajaccio - the view from the balcony was beautiful. We started our excursion – and went by bus through narrow roads and serpentines. It was a nice mountain region. It was so exciting at some places. At noon we visited a small place called Porto – and had lunch there. It was a beautiful here. Small tourist boats start here – unfortunately we didn’t had time for it.     I had a nice view from the bridge. Then we went to the beach. It was so hot! Then we drove to the Calanches – beautiful rocks. Unfortunately the stupid bus driver didn’t stop there – and I didn’t get nice photos. At the next stop there were no more Calanches to see. Then we arrived in Cargèse – this was the town hall. There were two churches in this town – close to each other. This was the first one. And this the second one. We wanted to have a photo together. Rike was not able to take a good photo of us – but the background was nice. But back to the churches – the interior was beautiful. The harbor of Cargèse. In the evenings we saw a beautiful sundown. Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Feb 7, 2017, 1:58 pm	Hello friends, I am in Australia with my Mum and my sibblings. It was Stoker’s birthday today. Murph stayed at home this day – and prepared everything for Stoker’s birthday party. Al least he told, that he did it… When Stoker and the others came back, there were two couches waiting for them and us – and we talked a lot. Then we went to the nicest views with our flying couches. When it was getting dark, we went to the fireplace. The evening ended with a yummy bottle Bundaberg, the famous Tim Tam cakes and surely chips. Love SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Feb 12, 2017, 5:46 pm	Hello friends, You need to visit a beautiful lighthouse in every holiday! This was the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. We saw so many tourist here as never before during this holiday. I wanted to show the flag. This is one of the houses, where the light keepers lived with their families. Wow – this lighthouse is the highest in Western Australia and the third highest in Australia. We were not allowed to leave the ways, because there were snakes in the grass. The lighthouse was so beautiful! And I loved the view here. This was a great point – two oceans meet here. Yours SunnyHH
RikeH Posted Mar 11, 2017, 7:27 pm	Hello friends, Time to climb under the ground. We visited the beautiful Mammoth Cave. We were allowed to visit it on our own. We had an audio-guide. The first hall was very big! This cave was famous, because they found fossils there. Here we saw a bone. There were more bones. It was a great visit. But it became exhausting at the end – we had to climb up 200 steps. Love SunnyHH

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