Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 18th June 2011
By: Toolakha
My name is Haiku Cow and I am new to Toy Voyager. I am adopted by two sweet people, Toolakha and Munen. Our residence is in Rotterdam in The Netherlands, where Munen was born, just like me!
I love to see more of our beautiful country and meet new people. That is why it was extreemly joyful to me to find that Henrietta Hippo is also staying with with Munen and Toolakha for a long holiday.
Anyway because Henrietta is here too, I don't feel so alone and I can talk about all the new experiences I am having. Henrietta has already travelled a lot and she has been telling me about her trips to with so much enthusiasm. Her home is in Round Rock, Texas, USA but she has already travelled to Taiwan, to various places in Germany (Attendorn, Menden, Wilde Wiesen, Lenhausen, Biggesee, Listertalsperre, Hönnetal and Cuxhaven) and to Ireland with Toolakha and Munen.
I hope that she'll become a close friend for she's such a great hippo to spend time with.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 7:48 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:16 pm by Toolakha
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Plaswijckpark, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 21st June 2011
By: Toolakha
In Rotterdam they have a fun park for children. It has a zoo, a garden, a play garden and a traffic garden. It is called Plaswijckpark.
It is usually open during the day but this evening they had a Midsummer evening. This gave us a unique opportunity to see the park in a different way. Toolakha and Munen joined us while my new friend Henrietta and I were going to discover the park.
We first visited the gnome park which was a lot of fun. Hilarious was the fact that even though Toolakha and Munen have annual season tickets for the park and they go there on a regular basics, they have never seen the gnome park before. It is really beautiful though. They will have to show it to Munens niece the next time she comes for a sleep over.
After the gnome park we walked through the zoo area. But a lot of animals were already asleep. Though Henrietta did have her picture taken with some wallabees and the lama and emu. I was more interested in going for the play garden. And when I saw the slides I didn't want to wait any longer. So with Henrietta I rushed to the slides and whooooeeee....we slided down. Then we went for the ropes and the stepladder. After this we finally got to the swings. Lucky for us we could share a swing so we didn't have to wait our turns. .
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 8:04 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:17 pm by Toolakha
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Monte Bianco, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 21st June 2011
By: Toolakha
After we had so much fun in the park Munen and Toolakha took us to the ice cream parlor Monte Bianco. There Henrietta and I shared a big and delicious ice cream. Munen and Toolakha say it's the best ice cream in Rotterdam, so hopefully we'll be coming back some other time again.
Anyway after this delicious ice cream and all the excitement of the day, I was happy that I could get to bed and get some sleep. I was really tired and I could tell Henrietta felt the same.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 8:07 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:18 pm by Toolakha
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Shoppingmall at Schmett, Luxembourg - 2nd July 2011
By: Toolakha
Yesterday evenening we arrived at our caravan in the Belgian Ardennes. Regretfully the weather was not as good as we hoped it would be. So we decided to go shopping at the mall in Schmett, which is in Luxembourg, just across the Belgian border.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 8:28 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:29 pm by Toolakha
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Saint Antoine , Belgium - 2nd July 2011
By: Toolakha
Near our camping you find the chapel of Saint Antoine. So on our way back from Schmett we decided to stop here.
The sanctuary of Saint-Antoine ( Manhay) is one of the oldest places of pilgrimage of Belgium. According to a legend it al started when a shepherd, lost in the large forests of the Ardennes, called upon Saint Antoine of Padua in order to find his way back. At acknowledgement he built a small chapel. From that day on more and more pilgrims came to this place for prayer.
In the chapel we burned some candles for our beloved ones who have gone but who are not forgotten! Toolakha's stepdad, who died in 1996 as well as Toolakha's grandfather, who died in April last year and her grandmother, who died in May last year (after 68 years of marriage). We also burn candles for the remembrance of and on behalf of some other dear friends.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 8:38 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:39 pm by Toolakha
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Grand Bru, Belgium - 3rd July 2011
By: Toolakha
We have a caravan at the camping called Grand Bru. Toolakha's family has been a visitor of this place for many, many years.
So when the sun came out today Toolakha and Munen decided to show Henrietta and me around at the camping site. At least I am expecting to come back with them to spend more weekends here so it would be nice if I could find my way around here.
The camping was very quiet at the moment. There were many birds around and Toolakha's uncle (who has a caravan there too) enjoys feeding the birds. So this enables us to see and hear all kinds of birds like the great titmouse, the bluetit, the sparrow and many other birds. I hope that one day I will be able to get my picture taken with one of the birds.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 8:44 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 8:45 pm by Toolakha
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Haarlem, The Netherlands - 9th July 2011
By: Toolakha
Today we went to Haarlem to meet two of Toolakha's highschool friends. When we passed The Hague by train you couldn't see much of the tall buildings because it was pouring with rain. But when we arrived at the railway station in Haarlem it was dry and the weather only improved during the day.
When we met the friends we decided to go for a drink first which also enabled the women to catch up on the past year. After this we decided to go for a walk and search for a nice place to grab a bite.
We found a hidden and tranquil garden at a flower shop where they also served lunch. The place is called Tuiz and Tuin which is a flower shop but they have an outdoor cafe in the garden at the back of the building.
We then went back to the "Grote Markt" where we were going to meet our guide. Toolakha's friend had arranged for a guide to take us on a tour through Haarlem. We were meeting him in front of the City Hall. The guide took us on a tour to a great variety of Haarlem's hofjes.
The word 'hofje' just means small garden, because the hofjes are generally small houses grouped around a community kitchen, garden with a water pump. Often they were attached to a larger field for bleaching linen or growing orchards, but today those fields have been long used for city expansion and only the central gardens can still be seen.
You see pictures of Henrietta and me in the Lutheran hofje and in the Brouwershofje. But we did get to see many more locations. These hofjes were very tranquil and peaceful and it was only when we got back to the city center that we realized how crowded and busy it was. And then to think that these hofjes were also situated in the city center. But it just blocked out all the noises.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 9:02 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 9:05 pm by Toolakha
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Haarlem, railway station, The Netherlands - 9th July 2011
By: Toolakha
To get back to Rotterdam from Haarlem we needed to take the train again at the Haarlem Railway Station. The current building was built between 1905 and 1908. It is the only train station in the Netherlands that is built in Art Nouveau style.
It's a beautiful location and Henrietta and I were happy that we could get our picture taken in this remarkable place.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 9:09 pm
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Cafe Engels, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 10th July 2011
By: Toolakha
On sunday Toolakha was going to meet another friend for High Tea and Henrietta and I could come along. Because of the great weather we were able to get seats at the roof terrace of
Grandcafé Restaurant Engels. The high tea contained all kinds of cakes, scones and sandwiches and it was very delicious. Henrietta and I were also enjoying the marvellous view on the city.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 9:13 pm
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Blijdorp Zoo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 11th July 2011
By: Toolakha
Today we went to the Blijdorp Zoo. Toolakha and Munen go here on a regular basics for they have annual season tickets. In fact they fell in love here at the zoo.
We were able to spot many different animals. Vicks, the new born ice bear (born in December 2010) was out playing with his mum. We also were able to take a to glimpse at the new born baby hyena (born in April). He was cudling up close to his mum and sleeping. And we also saw the baby sea lions (born in July). They were also cute. It was also great that I got the chance to be in a picture with one of my cow relatives at the zoo (which is one of my life missions).
But the highlight of the day was the fact that Munen proposed to Toolakha. She was flabbergasted for they have been together for 5.5 years and they have been very happy together, but she never expected him to pop the big question at that particular moment. Munen offered Toolakha a little present in the shape of a wedding "cow" couple. But she didn't realize this meant he was proposing. So he got down on one knee and asked her hand in marriage. Off course she accepted. It was so exciting, Henrietta and I were witnessing it all. I am so happy that my mummy and daddy will plan for their marriage next year. I am so looking forward to it.
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Posted Jul 13, 2011, 9:28 pm Last edited Jul 13, 2011, 9:37 pm by Toolakha
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The Efteling, Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands - 23rd July 2011
By: Toolakha
On this beautiful saturday we went to the Efteling (armed with our umbrella's for a lot of rain was predicted), together with Toolakha, Munen and Munen's little niece of nearly 4 years old.
The Efteling can be compared to Disney but then it's the Dutch version. It started out with it's Fairy Tail Forest where you can find the fairy tails of the Brothers Grimm but it has expanded to a theme park which is interesting for young and old.
We had so much fun there. They had predicted a lot of rain but we didn't have much of that (only when we were planning to go home it started to pour....so at least the umbrella's did come in handy).
We were lucky for although it was high season it wasn't busy at all (probably due to the weather forecast). So we could do and see all the things we wanted to, without having to wait in long cues.
See Henrietta and me having fun. In Henrietta's log you'll see some other pictures of the two of us.
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Posted Jul 28, 2011, 9:05 pm Last edited Aug 8, 2011, 7:47 pm by Toolakha
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Rotterdam, the Netherlands - 27th July 2011
By: Toolakha
Today Henrietta and I were reading the exiting story of The Gruffalo. We both liked it a lot but it was very exiting. Munen reads the story to his little niece often. He also showed us the video they have of it to make it even more real. I could hardly sleep that night....
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Posted Aug 8, 2011, 7:53 pm
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Parc Chlorophylle, Dochamps, Belgium - 31st July 2011
By: Toolakha
Today we visited Parc Chlorophylle in Dochamps, Belgium. It's a 9 hectares large, recreational forest. Here the visitor can discover the forest in a unique way. Henrietta and I really enjoyed ourselves here and we learned a lot about the nature and wildlife of the forest.
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Posted Aug 8, 2011, 8:06 pm
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Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 8th August 2011
By: Toolakha
We did a tour through Rotterdam today. Toolakha and Munen first showed us where they love to go to the theatre to see performances of comedians, singers/bands or even some musicals. It's the red theatre called The New Luxor.
We continued our trip towards the Erasmus bridge, people also refer to it as "the Swan".
When you look on the left you see the Northern Island (Noordereiland) with the old railway bridge to the right. But when you look to the right you can see the famous Euromast which is 185 metres high (or 606 feet). From this tower you have a great view of the city and it's surroundings, especially on a clear day.
At the end of the Erasmusbridge you have a good view on "Boompjes", the street where many offices (tall buildings are situated). Here you see the first skyscraper of Europe called the White House. "Het Witte Huis" or White House is inspired by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the Art Nouveau style. The building is 43 metres (141 ft) tall and was the tallest in Europe at the time it was built.
Also on the right you see the "red" Willemsbrug, the Northern Island and in the far back, the old railway bridge.
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Posted Aug 8, 2011, 8:46 pm
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Rotterdam, The Netherlands - 8th August 2011
By: Toolakha
We have our own Walk of Fame in the Netherlands. We took pictures with Bon Jovi and David Lee Roth. But I was also happy to be able to pose with a painting of our singer/painter Herman Brood who died too young.
We then took a walk at the harbour side of the Leuvehaven where we saw some old boats, a crane and also an old locomotive.
When we crossed the street we saw this beautiful old building called The Schielandhuis. It is now a museum and it is one of the few historic buildings of the 17th century in the neighbourhood of the Coolsingel that remained intact during WWII.
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Posted Aug 8, 2011, 9:05 pm
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