Posted Mar 5, 2010, 4:29 pm
I'm ready to leave. Is there someone who wants to host me?
Posted Mar 16, 2010, 4:17 pm
I'm leaving for my first adventure, I just have to say goodbye to my friends and I'm ready to enter the envelope...
Posted Apr 19, 2010, 2:18 pm
Posted Apr 20, 2010, 3:19 am
Posted Jul 10, 2010, 9:35 pm
Posted Jul 10, 2010, 9:53 pm
Posted Jul 10, 2010, 10:02 pm
Posted Jul 13, 2010, 9:07 am
I arrived in Germany today. I was welcomed by my host Katja and the ToyVoyagers Tochi, Squirt, Rafael and Gunter Dagli. Brinda also arrived today.
It is incredibly hot here.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 13, 2010, 9:05 pm
we took a walk in the municipal park in the afternoon. It is close to my current home, about 10 minutes to walk.
A church is hidden behind those large trees.
Soon we reached we park.
This memorial is dedicated to the dead of several wars before World War I.
I saw roses in the flower garden ...
... and lilies.
In the distance you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal.
They have a nursery here in the park.
We had a heavy storm in the morning. Lots of leafs were torn from the trees.
The observatory is situated in the entrance area of the park.
When we walked back home Katja showed us another, really small park. This pillar is showing the coat of arms of Remscheid.
In this quarter of the city you can find many nice old houses.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 17, 2010, 11:08 am
Katja showed me a little bit of the city centre today.
You can find this statue, showing two giant forceps, at the beginning of the shopping street. Remscheid is famous for its tool producing industry.
Here you can see the city hall. Its tower is 48 m high.
We walked along the shopping street. Here you can see the entrance of the shopping mall with a large fountain in front of it. A lot of people are sitting here usually to enjoy the spraying of water when it it hot outside.
I am living in this street at the moment.
This is the local court, first the old building ...
... and the annex which was built a few years ago.
In this part of the city you can find many houses which were built in late 19th century or early 20th century.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 18, 2010, 9:44 pm
we took a walk today to see Germany's highest railway bridge - Muengsten Bridge.
Muengsten Bridge is connecting the cities of Remscheid and Solingen. It overspans the valley of the river Wupper. To walk to the valley took us about an hour. We walked along some pretty rural areas.
Here you can already see the railway track, leading to Muengsten Bridge. You can see it in the background of the photo.
We walked along this nice and shady path, meadows on the left side, the railway track in a hollow on the right side.
We had to walk really close to the railway track for a moment. The bridge is beginning after a few meters.
Our path led us underneath the tracks, to the upper foundation of the bridge. We had a fantastic view across the valley from here.
Have a look at the shadow of the bridge on the other side of the valley!
We walked and walked and saw this nice outlook pavilion.
What do you think what I saw from here? Muengsten Bridge! Katja told us that this would be our last chance to take a photo which is showing the whole bridge. From the bottom of the valley it is nearly impossible to take a good shot.
Muengsten Bridge is made of steel. It is 107 m high and spans the valley of river Wupper, which is marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour town Solingen.
The bridge is 465 m long and was completed in 1897 A.D.
We had to walk downhill than until we reached the bottom of the valley. I rested on this stone in a small creek for a while, cooling down my feet.
Finally we reached the bottom of the valley. A leisure park was built in 2006. A lot of people enjoyed the sun.
This is river Wupper, a really shallow river after some weeks with nearly no rainfall.
We went home by bus than.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 24, 2010, 9:41 pm
today we took took a walk in the outskirts of the neighbour city Solingen. You can find a medieval castle there, Schloss Burg. It is situated in the district Burg, imbedded a large rural and woodland area. Katja's parents went with us and also Nathalie. She will soon visit you, Mummy. She told us that she would travel to you as soon as she had taken a bath. We parked the car and walked to the castle.
Soon the castle came into sight.
This tower once belonged to the castle, unfortunately we don't know more about it. You can find the tower here, two ancient cannon and a memorial dedicated to the dead of both World Wars.
Here you can see a zoomed photo of the castle.
We had to walk through the forest for another 15 minutes until we reached the castle.
When we reached the castle we went to the courtyard.
Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land". Many people believe that it's name refers to the landscape with hills and valleys. (For those who do not speak German: The German word for mountain or hill is "Berg", so many people think that the name "Bergisches Land" means "land with many hills" )
About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the guy on the horse in the courtyard.
In Thirty Years War (17th century) many parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.
In the castle courtyard you can find souvenir shops and shops whose owners are doing an "old" handcraft. For example someone makes soap, another makes brushes, then you can buy things that were used by knights for the kids, like swords and helmets.
This monument is showing Count Engelberg II von Berg.
In middle ages they stored gunpowder in this thick round tower.
You can see that the castle really is situated high above the valley.
We left the castle than to continue our walk in the forest. We came to this outlook pavilion. It looks exactly like the one I saw last week! Katja told us that those two outlook pavilions indeed were "twins". They were created by an architect who put them at two places with a gorgeous overwiev.
The ceiling of this pavilion is painted with the crests of the surrounding cities. The one with the lion and the sickle is the one of Remscheid.
Yes, the sight onto the valley of the river Wupper is great.
I tried to climb up this rock.
We reached a place from where you can see the city centre of Remscheid in the distance. We had to take a zoomed photo. I can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower.
We left the forest than and walked through the district Hoehrath, a rural area where you can find many horse breeding and riding stable.
We also saw a sawmill.
Katja told us that you usually can find a lot of horses on those meadows. Maybe the horses were already brought back to their stables.
This was a very nice walk.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 26, 2010, 4:40 pm
we helped Katja to prepare soused herring in red-wine-marinade today.
First Katja gave us all the ingredients for the receipe:
about 10 soused herrings
1/4 l red wine
1/4 l red wine vinegar
200 g white rock sugar
3 tsp black pepper
3 tsp mustard seed
4 bay leaves
2 carrots
2 onions
We helped to cut onions and carrots ...
... and to measure off wine and red wine vinegar.
All ingredients except of the herrings had to boil up.
While we waited for the wine to boil up we enjoyed coffee and cookies.
Herrings and stock were layered into a bowl than. The herrings will have to stay there for at least three days.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 26, 2010, 4:53 pm
Nathalie took a bath today. She hopes that she will be completey dry tomorrow.
Bye
camilla
Posted Jul 28, 2010, 8:53 pm
we took a walk today in the afternoon. We had really bad weather from Sunday until yesterday. First I will show you where I am living at the moment. I am living in the attic storey of this pretty house which was built in 1904.
Close to my current home you can find the local court.
I saw this funny fountain.
We went to a housing area called "Hohenhagen". It is situated on a hill opposite of the city centre.
You can find all kinds of houses here, nice old houses as well as new built family homes and social housing.
This TV mast is also situated on this hill.
We walked a bit further and left the housing area. Soon we reached open fields. In the backgound you can see the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal.
You can see the city centre in the background of the next photo, those two towers are the city hall and the water tower.
This barley already seemed to be ripe.
We decided to walk back than.
The nice weather seemed to disappear.
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 1, 2010, 10:30 am
today we took a short walk with Katja's parents. The weather was not really nice. First we had a short stop in a beer garden.
We enjoyed a delicious large beer.
We were sitting here so long that we decided to take only a really short walk. ]
We reached a small hammock with traditional old houses, I escecially liked this skew-whiff half-timbered house. Katja told me that those houses were probably built in 18th century.
Aren't those roses wonderful?
We walked back to the car than. As soon as we reached it, it started to rain.
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 7, 2010, 9:30 am
we took a walk today in Hohenhagen, which I lately visited with Squirt and Katja. It is one of the highest-located districts in the municipal area of Remscheid. We had a great overview from here.
We rested in the soft moss for a while.
We reached a nice valley than.
What a lovely place to live!
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 13, 2010, 9:37 pm
we met Katja's friend Erika today to take a walk together. We picked up Erika at her house. Erika is living in the district "Hasten", one of the oldest districts in the municipal area. You can find lots of typical "Bergische Häuser" here, usually half-timbered houses or those which are covered with slate.
We walked through a garden area, I saw blackberries here, not ripe yet.
We walked towards the forest than.
In the garden of this house I found parts of historic machines.
We reached the forest than.
I saw some trail markings here. Katja explained that the encircled "R" and "W" mean hiking routes around the cities of Remscheid and Wuppertal, about 59 and 110 km long. The other marks are marking shorter hiking trails, usually between 5 and 15 km long.
This is a fish pond.
We rested on this pile of tree trunks for a while.
We decided to walk back home than. This did not mean that we would be home within a few minutes. First we had to walk back to the bottom of the valley and than walk back uphill to the city centre, we would still need at least 45 minutes to get home.
We saw old factory buildings when we crossed the road in the valley.
We walked through a hamlet where I found beautiful flowers.
What a lovely old house!
When we walked towards the city centre we had to walk uphill for ages, like it seemed to me.
This is a small park, situated in front of the police headquarter.
This column in the park is dedicated to the town twinning with Quimper in France.
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 16, 2010, 6:27 pm
we took a walk today on a pilgrimage trail, the Way of St. James. We had planned to walk to Altenberg Abbey, but it was too far away. So we followed the trail for about an hour and than we walked back to the car. We followed this lovely valley most of the time.
Close to a restaurant in a small hamlet I saw this barn, it was decorated really nice.
Next stop was a place called "Markusmuehle".
We played "Hide and Seek" in this stack of wood
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 16, 2010, 6:41 pm
we went to Duesseldorf today to take a walk with three dogs along River Rhine. We parked the car in Duesseldorf-Niederkassel.
The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, about 1,232 km long. The Rhine is divided into sections, here in Duesseldorf it is called "Lower Rhine" (Niederrhein).
We saw transport ships.
We played in the sand, we even found shells!
I took a look to the dike.
Duesseldorf airport is on the opposite site of the river, we saw lots of planes starting.
White willows are growing here, really close to the waterside.
We reached a marina. We left the strand and walked to the dike to return to the car than.
Bye
camilla
Posted Aug 24, 2010, 8:42 pm
after a week with horrible weather we went to Katja's friend Kerstin to take a walk in one of the rural districts of Remscheid, close to the Wupper dam. On our way to Kerstin's house we took a short walk in the district Luettringhausen's pretty old town.
We saw this historic mail box which is still in use.
You can buy handcrafted doll's houses.
Later in the afternoon we took another walk with dog Pepe.
We walked along a really narrow path between some fields.
We reached Wupper dam than. Katja told us that there was not much water in it. Usually cou cannot see this "bridge" between the water in the foreground and the background.
We soon left the dam area and walked back to the car, again along harvested fields.
This corn is not ready yet.
Bye for now
camilla
Posted Sep 3, 2010, 8:22 pm
it is raining cats and dogs outside, for some days now.
Bye
Camilla
Posted Sep 5, 2010, 8:33 pm
it's time to leave Germany. Bussi is also leaving. He bought some funny neon-coloured glowworms for breakfast - yummy!
Honesty arrived this week, she also liked the glowworms.
I'll be on my way to the USA soon. I'll bring some German HARIBO Gummibaeren with me, I hope my next host will like them as much as Katja.
I hope my journey will not last too long.
Bye
camilla
Posted Sep 6, 2010, 3:55 pm
I'm on my way to Arizona now.
Bye
camilla
Posted Sep 12, 2010, 2:17 am
I made it to Tucson, AZ! My host, Kristee, was very excited to get me! She's going to be taking me to the All Souls Procession at the beginning of November! It's going to be so much fun!
Until then, we're just going to hang out and find things to do around here. Kristee will be posting pictures soon, she has to go get ready for work though.
Just thought I'd let you know I made it here safely!
I miss you!
~Camilla
Posted Sep 13, 2010, 1:27 am
Yesterday I made it to Tucson, AZ. I was greeted by my host, Kristee, and her family of stuffed animals--Brownie White, Pear, Nike, Teddy Bear and Everett.
I think that Everett and I are going to be great friends!
Kristee loved the postcard and gummy bears I came with! Thanks olgamaus!
Kristee gave me a tour of her apartment and then I helped her light a candle in honor of the lives lost on September 11th, 2001 (9 years ago).
Then Kristee had to go to work. She works at a local bar/restaurant/nightclub called the Wildcat House. She's the cashier at the front door. I got to help her stamp people's hands and work the cash register!
It was a long night, but we enjoyed ourselves. Once we got home, we headed right to bed--it was late and we were exhausted!
Today we just relaxed at home, Kristee's been sick and she needs her rest.
I miss you!
~Camilla
Posted Apr 9, 2011, 4:28 pm
I traveled out of the desert tortoise style, just enjoying the oases, taking my time smelling the cacti along the way, I’m very laid-back now. I felt very much at home being greeted by Nicky who is also a water-loving ToyVoyager. He introduced me to the rest of the TVs and Bowtie Bear who is a permanent resident here. Soon we were giggling and telling stories about our adventures “on the road,” as Aslan puts it.
We’re going out today, just strolling around. DuDu isn’t coming along because he couldn’t sleep last night and is now exhausted. He stayed up and stared at Miss Kate’s travelogs. His girl friend, DuDette is staying with Miss Kate. We will look for a yellow vest for him like the one DuDette saw on the dancers. DuDette is so cute but then so is UrselHH who arrived in the same mail as I. UrselHH is putting on a dress, I’m already wearing my shell which is all I ever need.
Your slow moving friend,
Camilla
Posted Apr 15, 2011, 8:35 pm
UrselHH, Aslan and I took a walk past some wisteria, a sure sign of spring, and then went down by the water and met a bronze tortoise! and then explored a big boat. The old-fashioned furniture is in the captain’s quarters, look how they save space by hanging the glasses from the ceiling.
We met a nice man and his little girl at the mermaid fountain and told them all about ToyVoyagers. Mister, if you are reading this, please contact my mentor about hosting me. I would love to travel to your house because I already like you and your little girl.
I am so slow to type this up that Aslan is already back home with his mum visiting with my host’s TV, DuDette. We were very sad to see Aslan go and there were lots of hugs all around. It is very hard to say goodbye to someone you just met.
Camilla
Posted Apr 18, 2011, 3:03 am
UrselHH and I went to the Community Garden to see Nicky off on his adventure getting back into the wild via geocache. I will miss my brave water-loving duck voyager friend.
Then I asked DuDu to go to the Easter Parade with me; he needs to get out more. We are going to enter the Easter Bonnet competition, will need to add some flowers or little eggs, “no, not the red one, DuDu.”
We are just friends, not dating. I’m having fun, Mom; my host will take me to see more water places soon.
Ciao,
Camilla
Posted Apr 22, 2011, 5:00 am
I got the honor of putting our birthday wishes for kcrawfish on my travelog. My host suggested posting it a few days early because once we get into the Easter baskets, we might be in a sugar coma for days and unable to post anything.
Kate, we thought you might like these Spring tulips.
Camilla, UrselHH, DuDu and friends.
We stayed home today and defrosted the refrigerator so it would be all clean and roomy for the holiday food. DuDu has been practicing balancing on his nose in imitation of his sweetheart, DuDette.
Bye Kate, bye Mom, Happy Springtime, everyone,
Camilla
Posted Apr 23, 2011, 10:45 pm
We are having a lot of fun clowning around getting ready for the Easter Parade. We each found a hat except UrselHH; but when a butterfly landed on her head she kept it in her hair. DuDu is getting very good balancing on his nose, don’t you think. He keeps us laughing.
Bye,
Camilla
Posted Apr 25, 2011, 5:23 am
Ciao,
Camilla
Posted Apr 29, 2011, 5:07 pm
After I helped my host prepare a hearty breakfast she took me out on a special outing, just me because she wanted to show me something. After going to a museum exhibit and seeing a strange bronze creature outside and then doing some geocaching, we found a neat geocache near this tree. Then finally we came to the special viewing, can you see what they are?
Ciao,
Camilla
Posted May 5, 2011, 7:23 pm
After all that food we needed some exercise so we walked to a near-by neighborhood and checked out some houses. That area did not burn in the 1906 fire so there are older houses there. The block where I am staying is just inside the fire zone so the houses are 1910 and newer.
Then we caught some sun at a park.
Mom, thanks for finding another host for me. Soon I will pack up and travel far far away from here, getting closer to home.
Ciao,
Camilla
Posted May 9, 2011, 6:23 pm
This is where I’m going next, it’s, like, the other side of the globe.
I have a lot of friends on this big world and my San Francisco friends gave me lots of hugs and good wishes as I prepared to get into my puffy travelop.
The cowboys here sing “happy trails to you, until we meet again.” So many of the TVs I’ve met here and with previous hosts are still traveling; I might meet them again.
I’ll write again soon. “Keep smiling on ‘til then.” Ciao,
Camilla
Posted May 12, 2011, 3:12 pm
I have arrived at my new temporary home!
My host absolutely LOVED the chocolates i brought with me and is currently showing me around! Just a quick note to say im here safe. Will hopefully be getting some pics up soon once im settled in!
Love and hugs,
Camilla! xxx