Travelog for: Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today the weather became better and we took a walk from Wuppertal-Ronsdorf back to Remscheid. We went with Katja’s fried. We walked through the forrest along the dam of Wuppertal-Ronsdorf back home. The dam is a really small one.

Here you can see us having a little rest on a pile of trunks.



Along the path you can find some charts with information about the forrest. This one is about different trees and their leafes.



We are standing on the concrete dam, you can see here that the dam is really a small one.



Here you can see a popular country inn. It’s existing here for about 100 years.



In the forrest we found these beautiful foxgloves. They are under under wildlife protection in Germany.



We are now at “Steffenshammer”, a historical location with a museum. On the right side you can see a water wheel, that was driving hones in ancient times.



This is another building that belongs to this complex. It is typically “Bergisch”. We are here in the region that is called “Bergisches Land”, butn ot because of the many hills and valleys, but it is named after the earl vom Berg who reigned over this region in the early medieval times.



We are all sitting in a big wheel in the front garden of one the houses here.



I will show you some more photos of typical houses, either with schist or truss walls, in any case with green shutters.





But the weather became bad again. We reached the house of Katja’s friend and it started raining again.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
we are watching the UEFA European (Football) Championship on TV just now. Germany is playing against Austria. For Germany it's neck or nothing.



Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today Katja showed us the town hall. The scaffold at the tower is still not dismanteled completely.

This is the view from the market place in front of the town hall onto the tower and the pillar with a lion. The lion is the heraldic animal of Remscheid.



This is the side of the town hall.



Here you can see the water tower. From here the whole city centre is supplied with drinking water. The water is beeing pumped from Remscheid's dam to the highest point of the town centre.



Katja promised us to visit the dam soon. This dam in Remscheid was the first dam for drinking water at all that was built in Germany, in 1891 A.D. it was opened.

When we arrived back home we took a look at today's newpapers. Yesterday Germany has won 1 : 0 and will play in the quarter-final.



While Bertie and Percy were reading the sports news I took a look at Katja's book shelf. It is crammed with paperbacks. But ... oh .... blood and thunder almost everywhere. I can see almost only thrillers. And cookery books with green stuff.





That's right, here in this household a good dinner will not be cooked or roasted but cuddled and petted!!!

Hey Mummy, Percy and I are trying to catch the smallest rat but Katja is having an eye on them. That's not fair.


Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,

today we made a wonderful trip. First we went to Wuppertal by bus. We did not stay in Wuppertal but we had to change from bus to train there to get further to Essen, our real destination.

Here you can see me in front of the concert hall.



The penguin is one of about 200 penguins that were designed in 2006 A.D. for a campain because of the125-year existance of the Wuppertal zoo.They could be bought by companies for benefit of the zoo. They were designed and painted. You can find many of them in the town now. This is one of them.



From here we went to Essen by train. Essen is a town in Ruhr District.

When we arrived in Essen we were welcomed by another ToyVoyager host – BlackCat. She also carried some ToyVoyagers with her.

First we went by streetcar to Zeche Zollverein, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany.

The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen. It was inscribed into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in December 2001 and is one of the anchor points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.





Outside there is a 3D-model of the whole complex. Here you can see the four of us and BlackCat’s TVs Burrimul Memu, Chocolate Moose and Hueso. She also had three of her own toys with her.



We went into the visitor centre. You could get there by escalator or by walking up relly long and steep stairs. The banister illuminated with orange light. We rested a little bit there.







These are the stairs in the main building. It looks a bit spooky.

Outside we saw many information charts. This is one of them.





Then we went to Gruga Park.

The Gruga Park is a large park which is existing here since the 1902s. In 1965 the German Federal Garden Show took place here. It was designed then the way it appears today.

This is the entrance area.



This is the Hundertwasser house. It was built for parents of critically ill childred who are getting medical care here.



I saw many exitic plants from all over the world.

Sort of prickly palm tree ...



this one is also prickly and needs a lot of heat and almost no water ...



This plant has giant leafs ...



Of course we also had lunch.



We had a lot of fun today but we are very tired now. We better go to bed early because tomorrow we have to get up at 5:30 am! We will fly to Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, South Germany tomorrow. Katja has to join a meeting of the rat keeper’s association. I am really excited to fly in a plane without being stucked into an envelope.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today we had to travel to Stuttgart in South Germany. We went to Düsseldorf airport by train. After the check in we had time to go to the observation deck for visitors.

Here you can see me in the terminal and on the observation deck.



I am now on the obersever deck.

Hi Mummy,

Katja had to join a meeting in Stuttgart. We did not have much time to explore the town. What we saw from driving through the town looked very nice. We only had an hour to have a little walk before we had to go to the central station to get home by train.

This is the central station.



We made the following photos while we walked around a little bit. The pedestrian area is looking like every pedestrian area, but we also found some old and more interesting buildings.

This is a castle built by Wilhelm I, king and emperor of Germany who lived from 1797 until 1888.



Now I will show you some nice old houses in Stuttgart.







We went home by train. We returned at about 09:00 pm.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
we are prepared to watch the first semi final of the UEFA European (Football) Championship between Germany and Turkey.



It will begin in a few minutes.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today we took a last walk with four TVs. The sun was shining again though in the morning it was raining.

We walked to Hasten, one of the oldest districts of Remscheid.



This district is surrounded by wooded areas.





On our way back home we walked along the route of tools. Here are many blackberry bushes, they are full with blackberry flowers. They will have many blackberries here in late summer.



Katja told us that she made a delicious liqueur with blackberries last summer. Therefore you need vodka or another "white" hard liqueur. Into one bottle of this stuff you put about 200 g blackberries and 200 g white rock candy. Then you keep it in a cool and dark place for at least two months. The rock candy has to be dissolved completely. Then you strain it into a new bottle and then enjoy it chilled.

Maybe we should come back in winter to taste it.

Tomorrow Percy and BertieTheDuck will leave. Bertie is going to Switzerland and Percy is going to Australia.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today Katja took me and Aquila with her to walk through the forrest to Solingen-Unterburg. Solingen is the neighbour town of Remscheid. Unterburg is a very old district that was built along the river Wupper.

In the forrest we found woodland strawberries. We wanted to taste them, but Katja warned us to do so because all the dogs that walk this way are peeing over the green. Besides they could be contaminated by tapeworm. What a pity, they looked really good ...



On one side of the path large areas are abundantly covered with fern.



The next photo is showing a small part of Unterburg. You can find many restaurants here. It's very romantic with the river Wupper and the creek Eschbach running through.



Here you can see the creek Eschbach. Last year in summer they had a horrible rainfall in this region. The creek and the river overflowed their banks and all what you can see here was flooded.



On our way back to the car we walked underneath Germany's highest railway bridge, Müngstener Brücke. This bride is built of steel and it is 107 m high. When we went to the airport last week we crossed the bridge by train. From top of the bridge you have a really stunning view over this beautiful valley.



Of course we will watch the final of the UEFA European (Football) Championship today. It's Germany : Spain.

Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
we are watching the final of the UEFA European (Football) Championship. Of course we keep our thumbs pressed for Germany, but to show that we also appreciate Spain we have a really delicious Spanish drink: Medcladas Túnel de Mallorca. It is a green liqueur with different herbs. It tastes really good.



Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today we made curd cheese with strawberries. Therefore you need curd cheese, strawberries, yoghurt, a little bit of sugar and vanilla sugar.



First you have to clean the strawberries and to cut off the leafes. Then you cut them into pieces and puree them. We put some strawberries aside for decorating the curd.



Then you mix the curd chesse with sugar, yoghurt and vanilla sugar, put the strawberry mash to the curd and mix it. At last
you fill it into a bowl and put some pieces of strawberry on top.





Really delicious!

Later in the evening Katja had to clean one of the rat cages. She had to put the rat kiddies out of the cage and put them into a plastic box. We had an eye on them because they tried to get out of the box. I was again thinking of .... but no, I'm not hungry.

These are Nicole, the black hooded one, and Karla, the grey husky coloured. They are 8 and 9 weeks old now. Exactly the right size for me... I'm trying hard to avoid thinking of having one for dinner.



Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy
today two new ToyVoyagers arrived. You won't believe who arrived today: PIP, yes, our Pip. Sylphide also arrived. Sylphide is an elf.

I'm so happy to see Pip!





Bye
Desmond

Hi Mummy,
today we went to Müngsten Bridge, one of the touristic highlights in this region.

The Müngsten Bridge is the highest steel railroad bridge in Germany. The bridge is 107 metres  high and spans over the valley of the river Wupper, connecting the cities Remscheid and Solingen. Originally the bridge was named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke (emperor Wilhelm bridge), to honour emperor Wilhelm I. After the end of the monarchy the bridge was named after the district between Remscheid and Solingen.

Here we are on our way to the bridge. In the background you can see a little look-out pavilion. From there you have a stunning view over the valley.



Now you can see us under the bridge.



We walked along the promenade and had to walk uphill. Here you can see the valley with the bridge.



Later we rested in the sun. We were sitting at the bank of the river Wupper.



Here you can see to the other side.



Close to the parking space we saw this map. I made a yellow marking at the place where we are living at the moment, the red one shows Müngsten Bridge.



It is really hot today. The weather forecast is expecting a thunderstorm in the evening. We'll stay at home in the evening.

Bye
Desmond