Blou Beer, Bremen, Germany

Katara Posted Jan 10, 2012, 8:24 am	Today I went on my first outing as a Toy Voyager!  I went hiking at the Groenkloof Nature Reserve in Pretoria together with Sweetie, Marty and Hase. They are Toy Voyagers who are visiting South Africa. We did a 5km hike and it was fantastic!  Everything in the nature reserve is nice and green and the wild flowers are beautiful! After the hike we rested for a bit in the picnic area I had a great time and I can't wait to start travelling to other countries!
Katara Posted Jan 13, 2012, 4:53 pm	Katara and the other visiting ToyVoyagers surprised me this morning with a delicious breakfast of freshly made flapjacks! The breakfast was made in my honour as I will be embarking on my first international journey tomorrow. I'm very excited about it! GERMANY HERE I COME!!
beelicious Posted Jan 27, 2012, 4:14 pm	Hello!!! My long journey is over. I arrieved safe in Germany. At my host I was very welcome! I was greeted in Afrikaans! Here are 4 another TV's: Rapunzel from Switzerland, Boofle, BineHH and Sir James are from Germany. I show them on the PC where South Africa is. I have a journey of over 15,000 km behind me. I'm a hero  ! Here it is very different as at home .... Look! A little bit snow! Puh... He is very cold! Many Greetings from Germany! Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Jan 30, 2012, 1:18 pm	Hi mum! You should have warned me how cold it is here  ! -10 Degrees! Last night it snowed a lot! But it's so beautiful! The other TV's and I played in the snow. I  help to clear the snow. Together we built a snowman. Love, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 1, 2012, 9:06 am	Hi! Today is a sad day ... Sir James is leaving us. We tell him  "goodbye" and wish him a good journey. Bye, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 4, 2012, 7:02 pm	Hi! Today we were in the "Brot & Spiele" (Bread & Games) This is a very nice game-pub in Schweinfurt. The owner Steffen is a good friend of my host-mother. So many games! Do you see us? For me, it got a "Platzverweis" (place reference). This is a very delicious non-alcoholic cocktail with cherry-juice, lime and crushed ice. We played "Mow," a game with cards. It was a little bit boring ... Than we played "Wer hat die Kokosnuss geklaut?" (Who stole the coconut?). The title is a children song. It is also a game for kids. Then we played "Deutschlandreise" (Germany travel). BineHH shows me where the Tegernsee  is because she were there last week. BineHH and I snuggle a little. It was a very cosy evening! Many greetings, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 4, 2012, 7:05 pm	Hello Mom! Brrrr! Here it's very cold ... The small lake across our house is frozen. The children do iceskating! Then we've played together Monopoly. Bye, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 6, 2012, 4:01 pm	Hello family and friends! Today: Cooking! There are: Salmon-Couscous-Parcels with lemon and orange Blou Beer want to eat a salmon once in his life - now it's time! The name "Couscous" is derived from Berber "seksu" (meaning well rolled, well formed, rounded). First the couscous in a bowl. Moreover vegetable broth and cinnamon. I give  boiling water. Then waiting 10 minutes. In the meantime, I rasple a carrot. In the bowl of an  lemon and  orange (organic, not waxed) rubbed. Then place the salmon on it and rub it back lemon and orange. On the salmon now comes a little olive oil ... ... and some orange juice. BineHH and I cut a green onion. Done! Now we have cut the orange and lemon slices. The couscous is now on parchment paper. Then, the salmon is placed with the carrots. Even orange and lemon slices on top to give. The paper closed as a candy. Throw it in the oven! By the time the food is ready, we are helping to dispel the dishwasher. The salmon is finished? Of course, we help to set the table! After half an hour it's done! Please to the table! Does not that look delicious? The salmon tastes really yummy! Whoa ..... We are soooo full :-D! But the selfmade chocolate ice cream we do not say no! So to me it has excellent taste :-)! Yours, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 6, 2012, 5:06 pm	Hello mum! Today we made a trip to Bamberg. Some information about Bamberg: Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located in Upper Franconia on the river close to its confluence with Regnitz the river Main. Its historic city center is a UNESCO listed world heritage site.   In 1973, the town celebrated the 1000th anniversary of its founding. Bamberg extends over seven hills, each crowned by a beautiful church. This has led to Bamberg being called the "Franconian Rome" - a running joke among Bamberg Although's tour guides is to refer instead to Rome as the "Italian Bamberg". Bamberg prides itself with being on seven hills, as it symbolizes similarity to Rome. The hills are Cathedral Hill, Michael Berg, Kaulberg / Upper Parish, Stefan Berg, Jacob Berg, Altenburg Hill and Abtsberg. First, we are the "Altenburg" from up there. The old castle is located at the highest of Bamberg's seven hills. It was mentioned for the first time in 1109th. Between 1251 and 1553 it was the residence of Bamberg's bishops. In 1801 doctor AF Marcus bought the castle and it completely repaired. His friend, the famous German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, who was very impressed by the building, lived there for a while. An old cannon. A beautiful view of Bamberg. This is the Cathedral of Bamberg. The cathedral is a late Romanesque building with four grand towers. It was founded in 1004 by the emperor Henry II, finished in 1012 and consecrated on May 6, 1012th. The cathedral is 94 m (ft 308) long, 28 m (ft92) broad, 26 m (85 ft) high, and the four towers are each about 81 m (ft 266) high. In addition, with the tombs of emperor Henry II and Pope Clement II. This is the "Neue Residenz". The Neue Residenz (New Palace, 1698-1704) was initially occupied by the prince-bishops, and from 1864 to 1867 by the deposed King Otto of Greece. Klein-Venedig ("Little Venice" ), a colony of picturesque fishermen's houses from the 19th century along one side of the river Regnitz. Beautiful housefascade from  "Altes Rathaus" (Old town hall). (The informations are from wikipedia.com  and Yosemite  )
beelicious Posted Feb 6, 2012, 5:44 pm	When we came back from Bamberg, a small yellow package was in the postbox. What is inside? It is Leopoldi, Boofles adopt-brother! Welcome Leopoldi! Boofle goes to Dortmund. I say Goodbye to him. Have a good journey and good luck! Best regards, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 8, 2012, 10:49 am	Hi mum! This morning it was very cold again! And what you need when it's so cold? Exactly! Slightly sweet! We bake a cake, an Orange-Eggnog-Cake. For this we broke butter. Sugar and then .... eggs. Stir all. Flour and .... Baking powder. Stir again. There is rum and .... orangejuice into it. Put the mixture into a mold and bake. In the meantime, we make the filling. We need milk, eggnog and... Vanilla puddingpowder. Mix everything. And put it in the micowave. We see whether the cake is ready. He is finished! Now the cake has to cool down. In the meantime, we rub off the peel of one unwaxed orange and ... cut them into pieces. When the cake is cold we can cut him. Now half of the cream on the cake and ... to give the orange pieces on it. Another half on it and ... give the rest of the cream on the cake. To decorate with the grated orange peel and grate dark chocolate on the cake. Done! Now for a few hours in the refrigerator. The eggnog is empty ... hicks  ! Yummy! Now we have so much energy from the delicious cake that we go a round ice-skating. This is fun! Kind regards, BineHH
beelicious Posted Feb 8, 2012, 4:30 pm	Hello again! Today it was an envelope in the post again. Maybe an another TV? Look! It is Khaled from Seesen (Lower Saxony, Germany)! He is a very sweet camel. And what a great name! He told us that his name means "eternity". Nice .... I was allowed to ride it once very briefly. He was tired from the long journey. It greets you, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 14, 2012, 9:24 am	Hello! Today it' s called "Time to Say Goodbye". BineHH leaves us, because she has an invitation for a ski trip. We wish her luck and  fun on her trip! Bye, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 17, 2012, 8:44 am	Hello! I miss my home town a little ... I have an idea! I cook South African food! Khaled and Leopoldi get an invitation. I make Bobotie. I need meat. With: apricot jam, mango chutney, vinegar, pepper, ginger, tomato paste and raisins. I rasple a carrot. Soak bread in milk. Cut an onion. Mix everything and pour into a mold. Mix an egg and milk, put over the meat and bake it in the oven. For Bobotie with Geelrijs. Rice with turmeric, salt, cinnamon cook, raisins and butter. For dessert there is Malva Pudding. Mix cream and sugar. Butter and apricot jam to. Heat everything slowly. For the dough: Mix butter and sugar. Baking powder, flour and milk mix and stir everything together. Put the dough into molds, then give the cream over it. Bake it in the oven. Khaled and Leopoldi are there. I sing the South African national anthem  . We enjoy the food. It was delicious! Bye, Blou Beer
beelicious Posted Feb 22, 2012, 12:30 pm	Hello there! It's time ... I have to travel further. I travel to the beautiful north of Germany, to Bremen. I say goodbye to Khaled and Leopoldi. Good luck on your journey! See you soon, Blou Beer
juls Posted Feb 28, 2012, 6:33 pm	Moin from Bremen!  Hey Mummy, I already arrived in Bremen! There is another TV here: SammyFire. We became good friends already. He will leave soon to continue the Germany RR, but another RR TV arrives then. Juls is invited to a big party tomorrow and we had to prepare cakes. We made small sponge cakes filled with custard cream and a soda cake. I helped! (Now my tummy hurts a little from eating too much dough, but that was definitely worth it!) Anyway here are some of the scrumptous pics! Delicious greetings!
juls Posted Mar 9, 2012, 10:08 pm	Hey Mum! Last week I helped Juls prepare decorations for the Easter holidays! We used pieces of colorful paper and glued it onto small paper letters and huge plastic eggs. "O-S-T-E-R-N" is german for "Easter". We had a lot of fun. The weather was terrible so there wasn't much outside activity possible. But seems like the its improving and juls promised to take me into town one of these days to do some sightseeing! Greetings!
juls Posted Mar 12, 2012, 11:31 am	Hey Mum! We took a quick walk down to the river Weser, because Juls wanted to show us the gorgeous yacht that is currently being repaired in the docs on the other side. There are many shipyards lining the left side of the Weser. Some for repairing, some for constructing and some for interior design. It was very posh. Roughly: 1m = 1 million euro. That is before taxes. And before interior design. Anyway it was a treat to see one of them. They frequent here a lot and are then forwarded to Dubai, America... Hey, maybe I can make cruise one day.... More soon! Blou Beer xxx
juls Posted Mar 20, 2012, 1:23 pm	Hey Mommy, here is more news from Bremen. Spring has finally arrived and we took a walk around Knoops Park It is a famous park close by. They do some construction works there right now, but keep the old building facades for heritage reasons. Looks rather funny... It was named after the merchant Ludwig Knoop who was born here, he bought the estate that stood in the area had a small castle added in the vicinty (The castle was demolished long ago, but the estate still exists and is now private property). He asked the garden architect Wilhelm Benque to design the park. Benque also created the Bürgerpark. The people's Park in the City centre. Knoops park is situated right next to the river Lesum an some 65 hectare large! We visited the Jünglingshöhe which offers a splendid view across the river and towards Oldenburg. Unfortunately the park doesn't look too nice around this time of the year  Juls says it looks much nicer in summer. More soon! Love
juls Posted Apr 1, 2012, 5:04 pm	Hey Mum, the other day we went to a castle museum! It was so exciting. It has a lot of regional exhibits from Bremen, from all time periods. We saw the femur of a mammoth!!!!!!! It was found near Bremen. And then there was this funny bike which people used to cycle on. I can't imagine how that must have looked. There was the original kitchen from back when the castle was built and exhibits on the man who built it, he was a real adventurer: he brought stuff back with him from all over the world. Peacocks from China, shrink heads from Africa.... Juls also took me on her holiday trip to Scotland. More on that asap :-* Blou Beer
juls Posted Apr 1, 2012, 5:18 pm	***ADDENDUM*** Juls is a bit forgerful. While roaming her picture folder for the Museum pictures she found a couple of pictures she had not posted so far. She posted them for 10th March (so you will find the entry a bit further down) It's pictures from when we went into the city centre to see some of the historical monuments of Bremen. Apologies.
juls Posted Apr 1, 2012, 5:24 pm	Hey Mum! We finally made into town  So at last I got to see some of the famous sites of Bremen. The town musicians, the famous chocolaterie "Hachez", the cathedral. Spring arrived at last and it was nice to go out for a bit. We had bubble Tea. THE drink that is currently en vogue. Little shops are popping up all over town. It was Juls first Bubble Tea too (she didn't like it - so we could have it all!) Later that night we went to visit a friend. They own this huge fish tank! It some 2m wide! And it was so many colorful fish inside! Finally I met "Socke" (engl. socks - yes the clothing). He is such an enormous cat. He looks a bit scary but he is a dear and would even hold still for a couple of pictures! love Blou Beer xxx
juls Posted Apr 7, 2012, 4:29 pm	Greetings from ye olde Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. For a long weekend I accompanied Juls on her holiday up north! Sadly the weather was less then good. We had coast fog on a daily bases. That is why most of the pictures we took liked like this: The 1st picture actually shows me some 20m in front of Edinburgh castle! here's a link in case you want to see what it looks like: castle
juls Posted Apr 7, 2012, 4:32 pm	Hey Mum, look what I found: sunshine! Once we left the city for a day trip around the country, the weather improved. So this is me at Glen Coe. Nasty piece of scottish history took place here: The clan of Campbell slaughtered the clan of MacDonald. Their graves can be found a on a wee island on Loch Leven. There is a even a song about the massacre. (Juls thinks it's too nice a song to describe this terrible event. But what do you think?) The Corries - Massacre of Glencoe
juls Posted Apr 7, 2012, 4:36 pm	Same day - new location! Later that day we reached Loch Ness! I was looking out for Nessie- but it never showed itself. This is me in front of Urquhart Castle. It is only a ruin, but it's nickname was Guardian of the Glen, so it used to be a mighty stronghold. It sits right at the shore of Loch Ness. It is pretty cool. It was built round about 1230 AD. Here we went for a little hiking and we had a good view of the Glen. Loch Ness is the second largest body of fresh water in all of Britain! The largest is in Scotland too: Loch Lomond. Anyway the Highlands are so cool!
juls Posted Apr 9, 2012, 3:05 pm	Hey Mum, tonight Juls took us to the bonfires! It was so amazing. It is traditional to light bonfires on the saturday before Easter. I believe it is some left over of the pagan rituals of the pre-christian era. (I ask Juls, and she is not entirely sure herself. So she looks it up for me so I can tell you what it really is about). As it turns out: it is common tradition since the 15th century. Pre-christian roots are not verified. Since Easter is at the beginning of the spring season, the fires symbolise the chasing away (burning) of the winter. Anyway I loved it so much! It was a real big event. There are many bonfires tonight all over the city. Maybe some 100 in all of Bremen, but maybe more...!!!! We had a clear sky and the fire was huge and blazing. Tomorrow we will hunt for easter eggs and start preparing the food for monday. I'm on fire! hugs and kisses Blou Beer
juls Posted Apr 9, 2012, 3:30 pm	HAPPY EASTER MUMMY! This morning we we slept in and juls got up early to hide the eggs. Or rather: she instructed the Easter Bunny to hide some extra nests for us TVs! Here is what I found. Chocolate eggs and golden bunnies! I ate some right away and shared one with Juls and Mandy Sheep but I will save the others for later In the afternoon we prepared food for tomorrow. We helped cut the asparagus for the soup, mix the tuna and fry the chicken, make a salad, and roll the dough for the sweet bunnies. It was hard work. I hope you had a great day too mummy and found some sweet easter eggs yourself! Love Blou xxx
juls Posted Apr 26, 2012, 10:56 am	Moin Mummy! Finally some more news from Bremen. Yesterday we went into town again. This time we saw the famous "Schnoor". It is part of Bremen's old town. It goes back all the way to the 13th century when they built the convent which still exists today. Most of the houses aren't that old though. They are from the 18th century. The name derives from the old craftsman who lived here. "Snoor" is old low saxon for "string" or "cord". Bremen's ropes for ships were crafted here. It was also a suitable name for the architecture. The small houses are so close together that some of the passages (streets) are only a 80cm wide!! Some of it was destroyed during Word War II but then reconstructed to save the heritage. The passage way "Wüstestätte" (wasted ground) was where the most damage was done. Afterwards we walked across the dutch flower market, passed Bremen's newspaper publishing company "Weser Kurier" and  had a coffee at Starbucks. Lots of love Blou beer

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