Aurelius, Mechterstädt, Germany

iloveletters Posted Oct 29, 2011, 4:18 pm	Hello world - here I come! May I introduce myself? My name is Aurelius von Hippo. I am a Teenie Beanie Baby from Germany. I have lived on my mom's shelf for quite some time. But my friend Nook told me about his travelling adventures around the world and that is why I have decided to start life as a Toyvoyager, too. However, for the moment I will still stay at home with my mom. She doesn't host any TVs right now and feels alone. So I will accompany her for the time being.
iloveletters Posted Nov 1, 2011, 5:14 pm	Halloween!! We went to a Halloween Party but first we had to prepare some spooky food: eyes fingers brain There were also cut off hands and rotten cake. Though it might look awful it tasted great and we had a good time!
iloveletters Posted Nov 1, 2011, 5:17 pm	We got a visitor today! Harold Giraffe will stay with us the next weeks. I welcomed him today. The cats living here also said hello.
iloveletters Posted Nov 5, 2011, 6:27 pm	Today Herold Giraffe and I welcomed a new TV in our house: Hello Monkez from Russia!
iloveletters Posted Nov 7, 2011, 5:15 pm	We had a wonderful warm and sunny Sunday and decided to go for a walk in Finsterbergen. Are we in the USA?! That's what I thought when we came across this Ranch.
iloveletters Posted Nov 7, 2011, 5:18 pm	After a long day we took a rest in the sauna!
iloveletters Posted Nov 15, 2011, 4:46 pm	Today we welcomed a new TV at our house. It is Taru from Germany.
iloveletters Posted Dec 29, 2011, 11:19 am	For Christmas we went to my mom's parents. We sat around the Xmas tree and I also loved the fireplace. The big one... and the small one - just for us TVs! So warm and cosy! In Germany it is typical to have the Xmas pyramids on the table.
iloveletters Posted Dec 29, 2011, 11:25 am	Now it is time to leave home and to travel in the big German RR. Monkez and Harold waved me Goodbye! I think I will be on the journey for quite some time. My aim is to visit all the German federal states. Let' see if I can complete this life mission! My first destination is Baden-Württemberg where I will stay with fam-united.
fam-united Posted Jan 2, 2012, 3:35 pm	I just arrived in Bruchsal, which belongs to Baden-Württemberg. The weather is more than lousy: it's raining cats and dogs. After this long time in my package, although I only traveled within Gemrany, I'm curious to get to know more about Baden-Württemberg and of course to meet all the guests at my host's home. I've heard, that I will meet many other active and inactive toyvoyagers here. I'm sure, that all the other toyvoyagers here will be happy about the sweets I brought with me. Petra says thank you for everything. I told Petra, that it is my mission to get to know a lot about Baden-Württemberg, so she went and brought this book for me to read. I'm not sure, if I want to read so much about Baden-Württemberg and also Petra said, that there might be some old long forgotten stuff in it, because it is from 1987. I liked Mandy Sheep's idea to draw the coat of arms, though. It was fun and I think, I did it really well. Then I got a map and was told to colour the place, where you find Baden-Württemberg in Germany. I coloured it green. It has borders to Bavaria, Hessen and Rhineland Palatinate and to the countries France, Austria and Switzerland. Here I show you Stuttgart and Mandy shows Bruchsal. You see, it isn't far away from the main city of Baden-Württemberg, but I'm not sure, if we will find time to go there. Baden-Württemberg has two main parts: Baden and Württemberg and although they are together, they still are really different. One song is important for Baden: the Badner-Lied.
fam-united Posted Jan 27, 2012, 6:37 pm	The weather isn't the best one, but today we've seen some blue sky I decided to join my host and her daughter, when her daughter delivered a journal of the catholic church to some people. On our way we saw some nice old houses.
fam-united Posted Jan 27, 2012, 8:06 pm	In the evening we went to take the stars from a storeroom of the church, where our hosts belong to. Petra takes care for the stars, which will be carried around by the starsingers on 6th January. Some of the stars are old, some don't look nice anymore, so Petra creates new covers and we decided to help her today. Here you see a star, that still looks nice. Nevertheless it isn't, if you take a closer look. Last year it rained a lot and the star got wet. Now you can see white glue running down, where it should be only clear yellow. Some said, that it doesn't matter, but our host didn't like it and she asked us to cut out new yellow transparent paper and a new black star silhouette. We didn't like the yellow side of this star, so we decided to spray it bronze and cut out a new yellow transparent paper and black star silhouette too. We had to work really hard. We also didn't like these two stars and we had to throw one into the bin, because it was broken on the back totally. Then we had to outline the first star on the transparent paper. Priscilla helped to cut it out. But it was rather difficult for her, so Lintilla offered to help her. While we worked, we found some marzipan potatoes. We tried to speak really low, because Mi-Go had been fallen asleep in our back and you know, that he always runs to get it, if he sees something to eat. But we should have knows it better. Of course he also feels, if something to eat is around. He jumped up and caught the marzipan potatoes in the same second. Only Lintilla seemed to take no notice of it. Proud Mi-Go! We tried to keep calm and go on with our work. We had to outline the black star now. Mi-Go was anything else, but no help for us. But to our surprise, he was the one, who asked us, if he could be the one, who was allowed to cut out the black star silhouette. That looks really difficult, but it seems, that he's the one, who knows, how to do it. And yeah, it just looks great. Now you can be really proud, Mi-Go. But, oh dear, we had done a mistake, when we outlined the yellow star. It was the wrong side of the paper and so the star didn't fit perfectly to the wooden star. We were very disappointed. We had to cut out another yellow star and black star silhouette, which fit perfectly then. Then we had a break and read the newspapers. We read, that Wulff is the Federal President and that there are some problems, but they aren't really interesting for toyvoyagers. But it was really interesting for us, that they wrote about a storm, which should hit Germany soon - no toyvoyager weather For me it was interesting to see a photo of the wife of Baden-Württembergs Minister-President Kretschmann. I read, that she doesn't want to be called a First Lady. I did want to read this whole news article, but the others didn't and so we went on to the next page. We saw a photo with a little bit of snow. Wow, there's snow somewhere in Germany. But then we turned to read the Bruchsal news and the first thing we saw, what a nice bird singing and a pussy willow blooming. It seems like springtime here. Did you know, that petrol in Germany is that expensive? I'm not sure, because we didn't know about this. Diesel costs between 1,37 Euro and 1,48 Euro, which means between 1,8092 US-Dollar and 1,9544 US-Dollar. It would be interesting to know, how expensive it is in other countries. On Karlsruhe page on the right we read about a big construction area, where they build a new way for the city tram. Here is an interesting page. It shows items, which you can buy in the newspaper shop. They sell items of Baden. Maybe we should go there and take a look, but surely they will cost some money. And of course it was interesting to read about the weather in our region. Although we took a closer view we only could read, that we will have storm during the night and rain and a temperature of 8°C - rather warm for winter weather. We asked Petra to zoom it, so maybe - if you can read German - you will be able to read about the weather too.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 10:12 am	I like this Christmas decoration on the window. It's on the same place each year. If you like it too and want the originals to cut them out for yourself, please send a note to Petra. It's a nice place for us toyvoyagers, too. It is warm and you can see everything that's going on on the street The first photo is without flash, just to show you, how dark it is outside although it is early midday. If Petra hasn't done a mistake, then there are 26 toyvoyagers sitting together. Some are her toyvoyagers, some her daughters and some are rescued toyvoyagers, which still are at her place and of course some are guests, who will move on again.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 10:48 am	After the big group photo session we finished the stars. The other toyvoyagers were really curious and came to take a look at the beautiful stars. Later a group of starsingers visited our house, but we just had been too slow, so we aren't on this photo. Nevertheless we thougth, that it is a good idea to show you, how starsingers can look like. They don't carry one of our stars, though. They belong to the church region, were our hosts live, but our hosts go to another church, where they lived before. It's a bit complicated In the afternoon we all helped our Petra to bake two cakes. She told us, that tomorrow isn't only Epiphany, but also her husbands 50th birthday and that we will go to the parish hall and carry cakes with us. At first we baked a Hermann cake. It is a cake like a round robin, that's how it seems for me. Petra told us, that she received a part of the cake a few days ago and that she had to stir it and to feed it and that now it is ready to get baken. Of course we added some more stuff like flour, sugar, almonds, cinnamon, chocolate pieces. We read the recipe. Then we had to get some more dishes for the "kids" of this cake. We had been really busy. We also added some apple pieces. We wondered, if this dish would be big enough and decided, that it wasn't. So we took a star for the dough of Hermann.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 1:24 pm	Today some of us joined Petra, when she went to the parish hall to sort the sweets for the children, who walked through the streets as starsingers. They had bags and sorted the sweets so that everyone nearly received the same amount of sweets at the end. You can see the bags on the table. There were about 50 bags. Some of the bags were brought to a day care center, some to a children's home and some to a nun, who knows several poor families, who surely will be happy about some sweets.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 1:32 pm	During the last weeks we had such a bad weather, that we didn't want to go outside. Today Petra and her pupils went to visit the firestation of Bruchsal. It was very interesting to listen to the fireman. He talked about so many things. I had been fascinated, when I saw the big cars. We only took three photos, because Petra had to take care for her pupils in first line, of course.
fam-united Posted Jan 28, 2012, 4:05 pm	Today I went to school to help Petra, when she fixed new papers to the wall. At first we had to remove the flower paintings. Then we fixed the selfcreated posters of the book presentations.
fam-united Posted Feb 5, 2012, 8:23 pm	Bruchsal was first named in 976 A.D., but it surely is older than this. There is a beautiful palace within a large palace area with many buildings. Here you can see the mainbuilding of the palace It is one of the most beautiful baroque palaces of Germany. 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. In the final days of World War II. it was almost completely destroyed, but the reconstruction was finished in 1975. 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". In the right part of the building you can find the chamber music hall. The left part of the building, which just looks like the right part, houses the church St. Damian and Hugo. The local court also belongs to the palace area. In the tower a carillon plays dayly at 4pm or around that time. The Belvedere, a former hunting lodge, was built in 1756. The location was chosen so that the lodge would command an unspoiled view of the palace, town and Rhine rift valley beyond. Today, the Belvedere is used as a venue for concerts and theatre productions. Next to the Belvedere and Stadtgarten you have a wonderful view over the roofs of Bruchsal. The two towers of the church in the far belong to St. Peter, which is close to my hosts' home. The buildings in front of me and also on the left side - as long as they are white - belong to the older people's home. The grey building in the far on the left side is a catholic grammar school called St. Paulusheim. Turning to the right we can see at first the tower of the old castle, the only remain of the ancient castle. Then there are some more church towers. You maybe see, that there are little hills in Bruchsal and then the landscape is really flat. Bruchsal lies at the edge of the Rhine valley to Kraichgau hill country.
fam-united Posted Feb 6, 2012, 2:08 pm	Today we drove to the Michaelsberg in Untergrombach. Untergrombach is one of Bruchsal's suburbs with about 6000 inhabitants. 3500 to 2600 BC there were frist human signs on the Michaelsberg, which gave this culture the name "Michaelsberger Kulturkreis" 1502 AD Joss Fritz from Untergrombach planned the "Bundschuhaufstand" during the time of Peasant's Wars. In the far (right side) you see some houses, which belong to Bruchsal. Bruchsal and also Untergrombach are located at the edge to the Kraichgau. Here you see the Rhine Valley. If the weather is sunny, you can see the Palatinate Forest in the far. The chapel is on top of the Michaelsberg.
fam-united Posted Feb 8, 2012, 9:35 pm	We had a short stop at this place to take a look at Obergrombach, which is lies between the small hills of Kraichgau hill valley. Obergrombach and Untergrombach are suburbs of Bruchsal. All together there are five suburbs: Obergrombach, Untergrombach, Büchenau, Heidelsheim and Helmsheim. Bruchsal has about 42 000 inhabitants, if you also count the inhabitants of all suburbs. Somehow you hardly can see the houses. I'm sure, it is because of the sun and the little snow, but where you see the trees in the middle, you also should see some houses
fam-united Posted Feb 8, 2012, 9:36 pm	Back in Bruchsal we took a photo of the city sign.
fam-united Posted Feb 8, 2012, 10:15 pm	Karlsruhe is the third largest city of Baden-Württemberg. It is the main city of the Baden part. It is located close to the German - French border, only about 25 km from Bruchsal. We arrived at Karlsruhe after a drive of about 25 minutes. We first tried to find a parking place and then crawled out of the car. Wow, was it cold outside. We all didn't have the right clothes for a walk, so we had to hurry. 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. Due to similarities to the United States capital city, it has been speculated that Karlsruhe was a model city for the cityscape of Washington, D.C.[4] Both cities have a center — in Karlsruhe the palace and in D.C. the Capitol Building — from which the streets radiate outward. L'Enfant, Washington's city planner, had been given the plans of Karlsruhe (among numerous other European cities) as an inspiration. (you can read this and more on wikipedia) In 1715, Charles III William, Margrave of Baden-Durlach established Karlsruhe (Charles' repose), where he built his residence. The city was planned with the palace tower (Schloss) at the center and 32 streets radiating out from it like the spokes of a wheel, or the ribs of a folding fan, so that one nickname for Karlsruhe in German is the "fan city" (Fächerstadt). Here's a photo of the palace. We really wanted to see more, but it was so cold, that we hurried back to our car. When we looked out of the car window, we could see the State Art Gallery. Here am I with Poppy on the road next to the palace. We are on the way to Durlach now. Behind the trees is the Federal Constitutional Court. It is really close to the palace. On the left you see the Volksbank building. And this building belongs to EnBW. Without EnBW it would be really cold at my hosts home and they would have no electricity.
fam-united Posted Feb 8, 2012, 10:17 pm	I said good bye to my host family and I'm curious to get to know more German States. See you later, Aurelius
LadyButterfly Posted Feb 9, 2012, 1:14 pm	Hello mommy!  I arrived saftly but a little bit freezing in Saxony! It is icecold and I was very happy when I got in the warm flat. It was a long way from Baden-Württemberg till here, but my journey wasn't very long. Luckyly the post wasn't a snailmail today! When I was unwraped (sorry LadyButterfly made photos of it, but then the memorycard was damaged) I saw many nice, friendly and new faces. They all belongs to TVs!  I was so happy when I saw the nice welcome-sign! I will tell you their names! From left to right! The two guyes (green and pink) are Arty Bunneh, the blue dog or bear (he doesn't know it ) is Frankie_Blue, the little blue guy is LadyButterflys TV Kilimanjaro, the black sheep is Taru, the santa is Santa  and on his head another of LadyButterflys TVs this is Santas_lil_helper, but he hasn't a page now here, that will follow! They are all very nice to me! Then I took a little walk through the flat! And I met Mary, the cat of LadyButterfly. The best on Mary... she is a he! Yes you read right! LadyButterfly got him, when he was really young and knowbody knows she was a male cat. Weeks later LadyButterfly found out he's male, but never found a good male name. So he kept his female name Mary! A funny story, isn't it? He kept me warm for some minutes and his fur is sooooooo soft! And then I risk a few out of the window. Not the best view, as LadyButterfly said and the snow makes it much worser. And then, in the sleeping room... I met a star! Yeah Johnny Depp is living in LadyButterflys sleeping room! You don't believe it? Watch the picture, I was able to sit on his shoulder! Ok, you got me! It's just a picture, but a really big one! Oh mommy, I have to hurry now. We will leave Ebersbach in some minutes and travel to Sornßig, but I won't tell you what is there! It's a surprise! I miss you very much mommy! Love Aurelius
fam-united Posted Feb 21, 2012, 4:30 pm	We decided to drive to Durlach to climb the Turmberg. Our hosts told us, that the view from Turmberg would be just perfect. So we are really excited. You can see the top of the Turmberg just straight ahead.
fam-united Posted Feb 21, 2012, 7:04 pm	Durlach is a borough of the German city of Karlsruhe with a population of roughly 30,000. It was chosen by the margrave Charles II in 1565 as residence of the rulers of Baden-Durlach, and retained this distinction though it was almost totally destroyed by the French in 1689. Margrave Charles III William decided that he needed more space which led to the foundation of Karlsruhe, which in 1715 became the new capital until the state was merged into the grand-duchy of Baden. We only drove through some narrow streets, because it wasn't far from sunset.
fam-united Posted Feb 21, 2012, 10:44 pm	The Turmberg ('tower hill') is a vineyard-covered hill of the northern most part of the Black Forest. A castle ruin with watch-tower are located on top of the Turmberg. The watch-tower in particular offers fine views of Karlsruhe towards the west and the Rhine River valley. On very clear days even farther west the Vosges in France can be seen. The Rhine River is the border between Germany and Alsace area of France. The South and East offer nice views of the Black Forest, and since the Turmberg is the northern most tip of the Black Forest you have hills more than actual mountains. This flag shows that we are in Baden.
billalein Posted Mar 5, 2012, 1:00 pm	Hi Mummy, now i reached Bonn. After a cold night, i crawl out of the envelope and my new host welcome me heartly. So i went around to discover my new "home"...and there are funny things i saw... So, my new host has no more time at the moment..he has to go to work... Bye, Aurelius
billalein Posted Mar 20, 2012, 7:23 pm	Hello Mummy, Spring Greetings from Bonn. It was a very sunny day today an my host show me some sites in Bonn. First, i visit the "Kreuzbergkirche" on top of a hill over Bonn. This church was build in 1627. By the way, i could have a look northside to Cologne at the horizon. But I can't see the "Kölner Dom", because it was to misty. Quickly a view to the east side over Bonn.... After that, we drive downward belongt to river rhine. It was early in the morning, so there were only a view people on the way... My host told me, that Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn. Here you can see the back of the "Beethovenhalle".... ..and in Front of the hall....do you know who it is?... It was a funny day and now i'm tired.... Bye Mummy!! *kisses*
billalein Posted Mar 25, 2012, 1:44 pm	Hi Mummy, sunny greetings from Bonn. It's a very fine day and my host takes me to his work. While he worked, i sneaked around to explore the world..... See you soon.... *kisses*
QuamQuam Posted Apr 4, 2012, 1:32 pm	BERLIN HERE I AM! Hey Mummy, as you can see I arrived safely. billalein put me in a very big envelope and so I didn't get claustrophobia during my journey . I was welcomed by my host Marie and a real Easter bunny . His name is Hoppsi and he comes from Germany and spends Easter here, too. As we have so many common grounds I'm sure we'll become friends very fast . Today Marie showed me some things in her flat: an old telephone, a wooden flamingo, the calendar picture for april (so beautiful) and her two guinea pigs. Awwww, they are so cute. The brown one is QuamQuam and the black one is Klea. I think my time here will be great Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 6, 2012, 6:05 pm	Hi Mum, today I went to the Eastgate, a big modern shopping center. It's really cool there . I especially liked the Easter decoration.
QuamQuam Posted Apr 6, 2012, 6:52 pm	Heyho Mum, Hoppsi and I baked cupcakes today . My job was to mix the dough. As you can see I did it very well . Then I helped to put the little baking pans on the baking sheet. They can also be cool hats . Finally I could fill the dough into the baking pans and then we had to wait 25 minutes. During this time Hoppsi and I ate the dough which remained in the bowl and washed the dishes. When the cupcakes were ready I felt like something was missing... and I was right! We nearly forgot the cream which turns a muffin into a cupcake . THE CUPCAKES ARE READY   I wish you could try one Mum. They are yummy. Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 9, 2012, 5:44 pm	HAPPY EASTER FOR EVERYBODY I spent a wonderful day in Biesenthal at the home of Marie's uncle and aunt. We painted eggs there. Look at mine, it's the best . Then we explored the forest which was only five minutes away and played "Eiertrudeln": We rolled eggs wrapped with aluminium foil down a versant. The winner was the one whose egg rolled farthest. This was so much fun . Unfourtunately neither Hoppsi nor I won. The winner was Marie's sister. But we all got a prize: We could eat the eggs . In the evening we went back to Berlin by S-Bahn. Hoppsi and I had our own seat. It was badly needed because we were very tired. Good night Mummy Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 9, 2012, 7:19 pm	Yippie, today the Easter bunny came to hide some presents, I was so excited . We searched in Marie's flat because it was very cold outside and she is a bit ill. We looked into all corners of the living room but we found nothing . After a few minutes we found some sweets, what luck! As I looked behind a sofa cushion I even spotted a toy cat. I found it very cute . At the end of our search the "spoils" looked very impressive . I'm already looking forward to the next Easter. Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 10, 2012, 3:25 pm	Hello again, today I tested an Easter present: a little set to make bouncy balls. I never did something like that before and so I found it very interesting. First I had to open the little envelopes with the powder for the balls inside. Then I put all colours I wanted into the bouncy ball form. When the form was full, I placed it into water for a short time. Then I waited three minutes and the bouncy ball was ready. Looks nice, doesn't it? It bounces very well but Marie said in two or three days it will become so hard that you could use it as a weapon . Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 14, 2012, 7:19 pm	Hey Mum! Today is Friday, the thirteenth. Just a day like any other one I thought - I was SO wrong, I rather would have stayed in bed . When I woke up and went to the bathroom, a black cat crossed my path (Where did it come from??). I know that it brings bad luck, especially on a day like this. And I was right, a few minutes later I slipped on a banana peal (didn't know where this came from, too...), ouch . Later I wanted to eat an egg with salt, of course. But I knocked the saltshaker over. The table cloth became dirty and the saltshaker was empty, WHAT A DAY . I hope your day was better as mine, Mummy Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 21, 2012, 2:45 pm	Hello, I just came back from the Ritter Sport Shop. You know Ritter Sport? It's a company which produces chocolate. And this shop was full of chocolate, YUM! Small chocolate bars, big chocolate bars and even giant chocolate bars (but the giant ones were just decoration I think...). Of course we bought some chocolate but I also learned something about it: Did you know that you need cocoa beans to produce chocolate and that they come from Africa? Interesting, isn't it? Later on I watched a film about the production. At the end there was a funny information: The television tower is 30.666 chocolate bars high .                  Chocolatey greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 29, 2012, 12:11 pm	Hi Mummy, today Marie took us to many famous sights of Berlin . We started our tour at "Alexanderplatz". It is a central place and traffic junction in Berlin. There we had a look at the world clock, a clock showing times around the world. We went on to see the television tower. With it's 368 meters it looks very impressive. Right next to it was the "Marienkirche", one of the oldest chirches in Berlin. From there we had to go only a few meters to see the "Neptunbrunnen". Isn't it beautiful? We also saw the "Berliner Dom". It's also a chirch but it is much bigger than the "Marienkirche". Later we had a break and enjoyed the view at the "Spree". The last sight we saw was the "Brandenburger Tor". It looks sooo nice and marks the border between east- and west Berlin. So that was my day. I made a wonderful sight seeing tour and know much more about Berlin now. Many greetings Mummy, I miss you <3 Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted Apr 29, 2012, 7:00 pm	Heyho, today the weather was so nice that Marie decided to go on the balcony to sow some seeds. Hoppsi and I helped her, of course. I sowed cress seeds, can you see them? After sowing I covered the seeds with flower soil and then I watered them. Now they have all they need to become nice and healthy plants  . Puh, planting things is really exhausting! As I relaxed I had a look at some beautiful flowers and enjoyed the view from the balcony . Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted May 1, 2012, 5:06 pm	Hello Mum, this evening Marie, her family and I went to the Estrel Hotel to see the show "Stars is Concert"!! We arrived there a bit too early but so we had time to explore the area around the hotel. And it was really beautiful, as you can see. "Stars in Concert" is a show where very good doubles of famous singers perform songs of them. Unfourtunately it was not allowed to take photos during the show but Marie took some of the stage and the wonderful costumes before it started . The show was great! I saw Marilyn Monroe, Joe Cocker, Elvis Presley, Bette Midler, Louis Armstrong and Freddie Mercury live on stage . When the show ended I was very tired but also very happy about this nice evening. Mummy, when I come back home to you we have to visit a concert together! Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted May 2, 2012, 5:21 pm	Happy first May! Hoppsi and I made a little May walk: We went to the Müggelsee. We saw a playground in the forest around the lake. It looked nice and of course we played a bit and had much fun . Near the playground there was a sign which showed us how precious nature is. The text means: "One tree can be used to produce one million matches. One match is enough to destroy one million trees." It's worth to think about this... . Anyway, before we went to the lake we discovered a bit more of the forest. It was really beautiful and so green . Most of the time Marie carried Hoppsi and me in her bag from where we could see a lot. But then we wanted to move ourselves and climbed a tree. Can you see me there, Mummy? Finally we reached the Müggelsee and relaxed on the shore. You see, I had a wonderful first May day and I hope you had one, too. Greetings Aurelius
QuamQuam Posted May 2, 2012, 5:27 pm	This is my last update from Berlin. I had a great time here with Marie and Hoppsi. He and Marie got a BIG hug from me, I'll miss them both . Hoppsi helped me to get into my envelope and then Marie carried me to the post office. Bye Mum, see you at the next host Aurelius
juls Posted May 10, 2012, 6:51 pm	Hey Mum!! I have arrived in Bremen and met Juls. It is really nice here. Though- the weather isn't. Humidity is high and we have thunderstorms all day. So there was no chance yet to go outside. But I had a look around Juls' place and found lots of sweets, and gorgeous flowers and met this huge bear. We became friends immediately. Look, I found this funny poster of the "brehmer Townmusicians" called "Buschgruppe a" I asked Juls weather they really look like this. But she said this was a parody. Not only does it spell "Bremen" wrong but it really consists of a donkey, a dog, a cat and a cockerel. But I like the parody better There should be one with a hippo! Also I dressed up a little with this cool purple-glittering hat I found. It is slightly too large don't I look fabulous? Also we had a little welcome party for me. With fresh strawberries and homemade cake. It was delicious. More news soon! Love Aurelius
juls Posted May 20, 2012, 4:51 pm	Moin Mum! We were on a great excursion today. Weather is still on off sunny. Today we went to the Rhododendron park. It was brilliant- there is only a very short time when the rhododendron is in full blossom. Only for 2-3 weeks every year. Some are early bloomers some are late... but the main mass is blooming now. Some of these colours are really rare! Or special breeds, hybrids cultivated here Many bushes have cool names. You can see me with some: Kolibri, Snow Fire, Feenkissen... but some are just so fantastic I have to tell you: Polarnacht, Madam W.R. Coe, Twin pink, Wilhelm, Daphne, Tootsie, Matterhorn, Olympia gold, Sunset... I had to make Juls stop at almost every bush to take pictures!!! There was also a small Bonsai garden and a botanic garden with all the local plants in it. Even some poisonous! But I also took a picture with rhubarb. XD So here are the pictures: Love Aurelius
juls Posted May 28, 2012, 2:36 pm	Hey Mum, Today we saw the Schulschiff! It is a sailing ship and real huge Afterwards we took a walk around the old historic harbour and had cake and pineapple in the garden that afternoon! It is really sunny here at the moment- nice and warm. Juls promised that we are going to do something cool around Pfingsten (little hint: it's a road trip) Pictures will follow soon <3 Love Aurelius
juls Posted Jun 1, 2012, 7:33 am	Dear Mum, so this is it: the promised road trip! We went to the ocean on Sunday. The weather was so brilliant and the beach was great. I plunged into the sand dug in I wasn't the only one really. Lot's of kids were building sand castles or digging holes... (later when the high tide came and we walked along the shore, lots of people would trip in the holes made by the children, because the water would cover them... every other moment there was a scream and someone vanished...) very funny. You can see the huge cargo vessels drift by. They look really close... Have you ever been to the ocean here? It is warm and nice. The water was really warm. Juls took me off shore a bit- high tide, and time for swimming is just about 2 hours, then the water returns... I even found a shell... it's tiny but I like it. This was a great day! Love Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jun 25, 2012, 9:00 pm	Hi mum, Someone found my envelop in the letterbox and picked me up. Then a heard some curious voices: "Please open! What is in it?". I decided to have a look out of the envelop: Four other Toyvoyagers looked at me! We had a little chat. My new hosts are Clairchen and LewisHH. UrselHH is another guest. And SammyFire joins the Big Germany RR like me  They showed me their favourit toys and we played with it. I especially like this fishing boat with a fish on the rod. Then it was time to say Good Bye to SammyFire. He travels to Noisy in Hesse. We wish him a very pleasant time. All the very best Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jul 4, 2012, 8:11 pm	Hi mum, This was an amazing day! My friends and I traveld to Bavaria to visit the highest mountain of Germany - the Zugspitze! With airplane and train we went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is a very nice town in the south of Germany. See me in front of a typical house for this region with the so called "Lüftlmalerei"- the painting on the house wall. From Garmisch-Partenkirchen a train goes up the mountain. After one hour we arrived the Zugspitze Gletscher (ice-stream) The sun was shining and we had a fantastic view. There is a small church near the train station. Then we went to the top of the mountain. It has a high of 2.962 m. See me in front of the "Gipfelkreuz" (summit cross). This was funny: The Zugspitze has also an austrian part. You can go to the federal state Tirol on the Zugspitze  At the top of the mountain the weather became worse. We stood in the middle of a cloud. But no problem! We decided to have a hot chocolate before going down. All the very best Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jul 7, 2012, 9:10 am	Hi mum, on our way home from top of Germany we had a very short stay in Munich. But we used the time to see the townhall and the surroundings. See me in front of the townhall. It is very imposing, isn't it? I also liked these two buildings. Then it was already time to go to the airport. All the very best Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jul 8, 2012, 4:21 pm	Hi mum, it`s weekend and we had a plan what to do today. So we went to Blankenese - a district of Hamburg. Yes, we arrived in Blankenese. See me in front of the station square. But after 2 minutes it began to rain. And it became worser and it a thunderstorm came. Not the right time to visit Blankenese! So we decided to go back home. See me sitting in the rapid transit line while it is raining outside. Back at home my friend LewisHH had a great idea: he organized a alcohol testing. Look at me and my friends in front of the selected alcohol. First Lewis explained a banana liqueur. Quite sweet - but I'm a sweet tooth  Then a rum followed. Hmmm..... very strong! I liked the white Port. A great aperitif! Oh look, we compared two Madeira wines, one from 1987, the other from 1999. I prefered the older one. This is a 43 (cuarenta y tres) - a spanish sweet liqueur. The next one is a ten year old red port wine - strong and fruity. This was the beginning. Now we had a full glass of Aperol Spritz. No, this was a joke - I only tried a few drops. The rest was for Scilly and Richy. But now we tried this delicious austrian chocolate liqueur. But never fear! I only tried a few drops of every glass. And Lewis did organize that we drank a lot of water in between. I think I am now a expert for alcohol. What do you think? All the very best Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jul 16, 2012, 7:51 pm	Hi mum, today we visited the port of Hamburg. It is Germanys largest port. See me in front of the famous Landungsbrücken. It is a very popular place in Hamburg with some museum ships, a lot of souvenir shops, some restaurants and cafés. The ferries to other parts of Hamburg  and to the isle of Helgoland starts here. Look at the Rickmer Rickmers behind me - an old sailing ship. It was built in 1896. Nowadays it is a museum ship and also one of Hamburgs landmark. I wanted to take a boat trip. These are two typical ferries in Hamburg. We passed the old fishmarket in Altona. Look at the the dry-dock behind me! This is a place where ships can be overhauled. We saw some container boats and a lot of tower cranes. And then we saw a real royal ship: the Queen Elisabeth. Oh look, the town harbour of the Queen Elisabeth isn't Southampton in UK anymore. It is Hamilton on the isle of Bermuda. Next to the cruise center we saw this funny building! All the very best Aurelius
ScillyHH Posted Jul 26, 2012, 9:16 pm	Hi mum, finally summer has arrived in Hamburg. And we visited the towncentre. See me in front of the really nice and imposing town hall. There is a lot of small canals in Hamburg. Look at the lock behind me. Here I am standing in front of another canal and the Alsterarkaden, a historic shopping lane. And just another view over a canal. Then we went to the Binnenalster - a lake in the middle of town - with the big fountain and some white passengers boats. A lot of people like to sit by the lake and enjoy the sun. There is the smaller Binnenalster and a larger Außenalster. There are many sailing boats on the Außenalster. Look, some pedaloe boats. See me in front of the Rabenstraße boat station in the middle of Außenalster. This was my last adventure in Hamburg. Time to say Good Bye to my new friends. My next host will be Murph. All the very best Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 2, 2012, 8:20 pm	Hello Mum, I am so happy that I arrived at Murph’s home. It was so hot inside my envelope! I showed the things I brought with me. Can you see how hot it was? The chocolate melted. Murph showed us  a wonderful forest. Can you see these fantastic rocks – just like in old Karl-May-movies. At least we found a tent! From this point it looked really small. There was a tower in the forest. But we didn’t climb on it, because it was a little foggy. Unfortunately we were not allowed to go into this herb garden, because it was closed. Then we found a really funny mushroom. It looked like a soccer-ball. And it is yummy. The name is giant puffball. At the end we saw these beautiful cows. Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 4, 2012, 8:16 pm	Hello Mum, Today we visited the Castle Salder in Salzgitter. There was a beautiful lake in front of the Castle. There was a little train. Can you see the man on the roof? Hopefully he won’t fall down. We found a great mill in the garden. Maybe this was Don Quijote? What do you think? This way looked thrilling. Where will it bring us to? Wow – I never saw such a big rhinoceros from the Ice Age. There was a nice cabin for us. We wanted to stay there! You won’t believe, who I met. A big and friendly mammoth.  Mabye it is Manni from the movie Ice Age? What an exciting trip! Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 5, 2012, 7:28 pm	Hello Mum, We visited a ruin today. This catapult was really huge. There was a big wall around the ruin. This big gate was the only entrance to the Castle. I learnt all about the tower on this sign. There was a nice view from the tower over the ruin. You won’t belive it! The people had a heating in the past. The thing with the holes was the heating. We had a great view from a big wall. What will be there? It was the garden of the Castle. There were many different herbs in the garden. This weekend I will go on holiday with Murph. But up to now I don’t know where we will go to. Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 8, 2012, 8:00 pm	Hello Mum, It was time for a big sight-seeing-tour. Although it was very hot, I want to show you some photos. Do you know this city? Maybe it is easier now? Right – I have been in Dresden. And here are some photos of the ‘Zwinger’. This is a famous Castle in Dresden. The well-known Semperoper. And there were flowers in Dresden! This was the „Stallhof“. Isn’t that a wonderful painting on the wall? But I liked the back side, too. Finally I saw the very famous church: the ‚Frauenkirche‘. Dresden is a very beautiful city. But it was so hot. Hopefully it will cool down soon, we have so many things to do! Tschüssi (all people here are saying this instead of bye) Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 12, 2012, 6:57 pm	Hello Mum, These are photos of the village where we are living at the moment. These are famous rocks! We see them every day. They are called „Schrammsteine“. There is a funny lift in Bad Schandau – its height is 50 meters. We had a stop at this fountain, because it was very hot again. This is the Elbe, a very big river in Germany. Then we went to the „Lichtenhainer Wasserfall“. It is only a small fall; it gets water every 30 minutes. On these two photos you can see the wonderful landscape here. It is called the „Sächsische Schweiz“ (Switzerland of Saxony) and I will show you a lot of more photos of it. Look at the sky – we had to hurry back home. Regards Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 12, 2012, 8:44 pm	Hello Mum, Today we visited a big and famous fortress. The fortress Königstein was built in the Rock. It looks impressive. I was so curious how the fortress looks like. There were many cannons. Look – we tried to use it, but we were too small. We went all around the fortress. This was great – these were the casemates. I definitely wanted to have another photo with the cannon. There were so many of it around. The fortress was really beautiful! This was a funny sign – maybe we will visit the museum in the next days. Love Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 15, 2012, 8:50 pm	Hello Mum, I found the Paradise for ToyVoyagers! Look! So many things are here! There were Castles and Rocks! And everything is in the right dimension for us! We can fly! These houses were perfect! Maybe we should move into it. We found trains! And enough storage for all our trains! We could use the lift to go onto the rock. Another great house – maybe we should take this? There was enough work to do in this quarry, but we didn’t want to do it. A fountain and a river! I would love to play at this famous rock every day. Can you see it?  PinkyHH decided that this will be the best house for us. I think that I will stay here with my friends. Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 17, 2012, 12:17 pm	Hello Mum, It was an exciting day today. We took a trip by boat. It was a paddle steamer – and it was already 116 years old. Here you can see the paddle of the steamship! It looked great! It was a really nice trip with the boat. We had a wonderful view of the Rocks in the port of Rathen. We definitely wanted to have a photo with this bear. Then we went along this Lake. The rock that you see is called locomotive.  Can you see the loco? Later we walked a really famous Path. It is called ‘Schwedenlöcher’ ( holes of Sweden): It looked exhausting. So many steps! The way was really narrow. We crossed narrow holes in the rock – and went along nice cliffs. What a wonderful landscape. But to tell the truth – I was so happy that Bine carried me. Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 18, 2012, 2:58 pm	Hello Mum, Again we took a nice trip through the wonderful region. We went to the Castle ‚Burg Hohnstein‘. In the Past criminals were bounded with these wooden chains – and then they were pilloried on the market place. This was the viewing tower. We went along this wonderful rock on our way to the „Hinterhermsdorf“ . There was a beautiful retaining lake in Hinterhermsdorf. But can you see it? Stairs again- so many steps!!! But the way was worth it. Look at his wonderful forest. The lake was inside a narrow gorge. Small paths everywhere. And the water was so bright – we were able to see the bottom of the lake. Finally Murph showed me a delicious mushroom. Unfortunately we had no basket with us. yours Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 24, 2012, 1:11 pm	Hello Mum, Today we visited the Castle Pillnitz. A really big garden belongs to the Castle. We found this house there – it was an „Orangery“. Look what I found in front of the house. It was an orange, but unfortunately not mellow yet. This was a very famous tree. It is a japanese chamellia and it is 230 years old. The house behind the tree will protect it from the cold in the wintertime. We saw a nice lake and a wonderful pavilion in the garden. It was a really beautiful castle. From the terrace we saw a paddle steamer on the River Elbe. Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 26, 2012, 4:35 pm	Hello Mum, As a last trip in our holiday we climbed up a famous hill. And can you imagine what we saw? Yes, right, stairs again. The rocks here were really impressive. We had to continue our walk. Then we nearly finished it. It was not a long distance to the viewing tower. Have you ever seen a tree, growing on a rock like this one? The last part of our way was narrow again – and had steps… We reached our goal - this is the famous cliff – called Barbarine. After the long walk we took a rest. Later – back on the parking lot we saw the fortress Königstein. I have been there – can you remember it? Unfortunately this was our last trip in the holiday. Tomorrow we will go home. Love Aurelius
HoBi Posted Aug 31, 2012, 2:31 pm	Hello Mum, Today I went to Lamspringe with PinkyHH and Murph. There is a big abbey. The river Lamme starts here - it is a small river – and it flows through Bad Salzdetfurth later in its life. There was a mill in the garden. In the Past they produced flour for the abbey in it. Unfortunately they repair the wheel at the moment. This statue was funny. It is art – what should it be? Many years ago criminals got this ring around their necks and were in the pillory. Suddenly PinkyHH was away. Where was she? Where did she hide? Then we found her. On this sign we read a lot about the church of the abbey. It is a really big church in a wonderful park. We wanted to seesaw on the playground – but Murph was too heavy. This was funny! Many greetings Aurelius
HoBi Posted Sep 4, 2012, 8:46 pm	Hello Mum, It was my last day in lower Saxony. I decided to explore Bad Salzdetfurth. Here you can see the emblem.   Bad Salzdetfurth is a small town with many old houses. I really liked this beautiful flower. Bad Salzdetfurth is an old mining town. There is a museum about mining. There were many old machines. On this sign I learnt a lot about the history of the mining industry. This was an old pit wheel. Bad Salzdetfurth is a really beautiful small city. Then I said goodbye to  my friends and jumped into my envelope. I had a wonderful time with Murph. Now I look forward to my adventures with Noisy in Hessen. Until soon Aurelius
iloveletters Posted Oct 9, 2012, 6:25 pm	Wow, after several months on the German RR I am finally back home. And so I fulfilled one life mission! My other mission: It is a pity I have not visited all the federal states but still I had so much fun and many adventures. Now I will rest a little at home until mommy finds a new host for me and then..... let's see!

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