Travelog for: Torsten

Hello world,

here I am. A little dog with a big heart.

I am searching for hosts, so if you want to host me, write my mummy.

Thanks,
Torsten

Hello,

Today we went to the coal mine complex Zollverein which is an UNESCO WHS. We had a lot of fun while jumping around on an old wheel.


Can you see me? No?




Here I am!

There was a miniature complex as a card. So you were able to see where you are and where you want to go. We made a picture with the tower of coal mine Zollverein.



And as we wanted to see the real tower as well, we went there.





That was a lot of fun. I really liked it there.

Love,
Torsten

Hey,

it was such a nice weather today, that we decided to drive to Witten and have a walk at the Hohenstein. There is a memorial place called Berger-Denkmal. It was built as a memorial for Louis Constans Berger. He was one of the founders of Witten.

Here you see the tower, which was built for Louis Constans Berger.





You have a really great view over the Ruhr valley from there.





Here the tower from the other side.





We found an overview map of the view.






And then we made a group picture.





It was a nice day and I really enjoyed it.

Love,
Torsten

Hello !

Today we welcomed another dog Voyager. His name is Droopy. I really hope we will get to know each other a little, before I will go on my first travel.



Love,
Torsten

Hey,

today we watched a lot TV. Fabi said something big will happen today and we should watch it. We were all excited and then Fabi told us what we will see live in TV.

The last landing of the Discovery.

Wow, this is a big thing, isn’t it? They said in TV it is a big step for the space travel in America. So we were all excited.

And then they showed the Discovery which was over Florida.





Everyone came to watch it.







Then they showed how it looks from the Discovery itself.



Can you see the clouds?

We were all excited.







It is coming closer.







And then: THE LANDING.





















It was a nice time in front of the TV. We watched some kind of history. Really cool.

Love,
Torsten

Hey,

today we welcomed Herlinde here. She is a really nice dragon. The photo is not so good, but Fabi promised to make better ones later.



Love,
Torsten

Today Fabi decided to have a walk with us in Herten. You know, she has the guest Herlinde and she is a dragon. So Fabi wanted to show us another dragon near her hometown Essen. We didn’t know what will be waiting there for us, so we were all excited to meet a dragon.



And then we arrived. It was a bridge. A dragon bridge. Wow. Really amazing. What do you think?



Love,
Torsten

Hello again,

Today there was good weather outside and Fabi was feeling good, so we decided to go out to the Gruga park. We saw a little playhouse which is closed at the moment, due to problems with the roof.



After that, we saw a house which was built for the parents of children, who have to stay at the hospital near the Gruga park. It is a Hundertwasser house. The parents are able to sleep there, when their children are in the university hospital of Essen. That is really nice, isn’t it?



Love,
Torsten

Hey,

today we met some famous persons. I was so excited. Fabi said we will go to Madame Tussauds and that there are a lot famous persons. We weren’t able to make much photos, as it was so crowded there, but we made two group pictures.

Here we go.

First we met Anne Frank. Her diary of the Second World War was published. Every child here in Germany reads it in school, normally. Did you read the book?



Later Fabi said she will be a politician now. We were all excited and asked to join her. So she allowed us and we did. We had a speech with Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany.





It was really great there. I really wish I could have seen more.

Love,
Torsten

Hey,

This photo is from the Berlin cathedral. The Berlin Cathedral had never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop.

Right from it you can see the “Alex”. The television tower of Berlin.



That was a long walk and a long day was over then. We were all tired when we came back to the hotel. So we slept really fast.

Love,
Torsten

Hey,

So this is the last update for our Berlin holidays. Fabi bought some souvenirs today which she wanted to share with you. You know in Berlin they have a Ritter Sport chocolate shop. Fabi was in there and got all crazy. She bought a 2kg “surprise” bag with a mix of chocolate inside. And now we want to share with you what was inside the 2kg bag.





And no: She doesn’t keep it all for herself. Some of the chocolate will be send away to friends and others will be eaten by her brother or her boyfriend. So she won’t eat 2kg of chocolate all alone.

So that was our Berlin holidays. I hope you like the pictures and enjoyed it as much as I did.

Love,
Torsten

Hi mom!

Today I arrived in the Netherlands. It's a bit crowded over here with a lot of ToyVoyagers but some of them will be leaving soon. At the same day I arrived Misty Rose also landed here. I think we'll have a lot of fun together!

Hello, mom! 

I arrived today to Finland, and that was a really great timing because tomorrow Henna is going to start a voyage towards Lapland driwing a wagn, and so I get here just in time to take part of the adventure!




Here I am on the field of the cottage we live here in Nuuksio.



This is a very sympatethic nearby church I just wanted to send to you because it is so cute. 


So, mom, i will not be able to make updates while we are on our trip, but i will tell you everything about it after we have come back after about two weeks.



This photo shows you how every place around our home here is filled with lupines. Very beautiful! 


So, mom, see you after about two weeks time! 
I´m sure i have lots of things to tell you about then!!!
Warm kisses from your Torsten 

Hi, mom!!! 

We have come back from our trip trough Finland.
I didn´have much time to get to know my other toyvoyager mates when I arrived here, but I´ve heard people say that travelling is the most effective way to learn to know our mates, and that´s certainly true! No time to be shy or occupied when everthing is so exiting! 


So I had almost only had time to say "Hi!" to Rendolph, Zoe, Veronica, Orkku Orava, Henna and her partner when we allready started our trip, first towards eastern Finland.



This is where we stayed our first travel night, in a summer cottage of a friend of Hennas, in the yard of an old farmhouse, which is haunted!  We didn´t learn out that fact until we had already arrived and Hennas friend called, and then it was too late to back off. 



This is the haunted house itself.
We didn´t see any ghosts.. although there was something going on with some white pillowcase, and Zoe and Rendolph giggling like hell and Henna screaming at some time during the night, but I was too sleepy to take part. 



This is the harbour of a little town called Kristiina near by, we stopped to admire the boats.



We walked three kilometers trough forest to a place called Astuvansalmi, on the shore of the lake Saimaa.



We went to see a rock art site from the neolithic stone age. The pics where mainly showing elks and reindeers, boats and snakes and humans and handprints.
It was somehow great to see a handprint of someone who lived about 5000 years ago! 



Here we are all posing in the shore of lake Saimaa.  Five seconds later Veronica had fallen into it! 
My toyvoyager mates are very very nice, but a bit restless!



Next day our trip continued towards north. Here we have stopped in a town called Kuopio, to admire the old steamboats still sailing on the lake Saimaa.



We climbed a hill called Puijo to see the skijumping towers..



This is Seitenjärvi, a lake near Hyrynsalmi. We stayed the second night on its shore, sleeping in the car. 
Henna had mattrasses, sleeping sacks and cooking utensills, with which the car was turned into a very nice hotell room. 






here we are spending the evening in the shore. The sun didn´t set at all! 

I´m wondering how does it effect the minds of creatures living here - the neverending day on summertime and and the neverending night at vinter!



The next day in Hyrynsalmi we saw Santas helicopter! 
Rendolph and Zoe almost get a guarrel going on on the subject if Santa flies with a helicopter or with a sleigh pulled by flying reindeers.. 
Veronica and orkku Orava (who are from Finland) told them that as far as we are talking about the finnish Santa (who, by the way, is called Joulupukki) he isn´t flying at all, he just travels by a sleigh pulled by reindeers. Rendolph got rather exited by this news.



Huh! The cloudberries grow very big indeed in Ranua!  



This pic is the first taken in the area considered to be Lappland. It is a rapid called Auttikoski.

Now I have to let Rendolph here to make some updates too, Zoe made hers allready because she won the eating competetion, I was second best! 

I´ll continue soon!
Your Torsten

Here I am again, mom, ready to tell more about our trip to north! 

During our trip I learned to say "Good day!" in two languages, finnish and sámi. You should be very proud of your little doggie, mom!

Here I write the expressions:

In finnish: Hyvää päivää!
In sámi: Buorre beaivi!




So we drowe towards north.
The trees were getting smaller - shorter and narrower, and the weather was getting cooler, the sun was high on the sky troughout the night and the amount of the mosquitoes multiplied. 

We stopped in a village called Tankavaara to see a small museum about the life of the men who came here to search gold from the rivers.



This is a small turf hut the sámi people were making high up in the fjells when they stayed there some days catching salmon or making the annual reindeer counting. 



here we are driwing a small steam engine in the museum village. 


After Tankavaara we drowe to Inari, where we went hiking into Pielpajärvi wildernes area. 



The wildernes area was a wonderful mixture of swamps and pine forest and small streams and mosquitoes. 

Henna told us that this amount of mosquitoes is nothing!
When it is the real peak time of them there can be so much of them around you that it is hard to see through the cloud they form around you. The cloud is called "räkkä". 



This is the northernmost proper pine forest in Finland. From this area upwards the pines become rarer, the spruces disappear totally, and the main tree species is a fjell birch, which grow only maybe 1,5 meter tall. Then high in the fjells even the birches disappear. It is too cold.   



It was a nice walk. Rendolph especially was exited all the time, speaking about "returning to the homeland of his foreparents" and running here and there investigating everything. 



We found this nice place to have fire and wanted to spend the rest of the night there.
Henna was a bit doubtful at first - "And how can I be sure I´ll still find you anywhere near if I shut my eyes even for a wink?"
We all told her in a choir we will sleep like good toys near the fire, but I saw Zoe and Veronica crossing their wingtips behind their backs. 



Anyway, we lit the fire and had some tea and then we went to bed, but sometime at night Zoe woke me up and asked if I would like to go with her and Veronica to collect some herbs we would need next evening to make some midsummernight spells. Of course I wanted! 
Henna was snoring slightly and didn´t notice anything!

So we wandered trough the forest and swamps and collected each of us twelve different flowers, and then we sneaked back to bed. 






Next morning we walked some more kilometers and saw Pielpajärvi wildernes church - a church in middle of forest, no ways leading there, the only way to get there being the same way trough the forest we had hiked, or rowing along the rivers and lakes. 








I´ll go to bed now and go on again tomorrow with this. 

Kisses from Torsten!