Travelog for: Mira

Hello everyone.
I can't wait to begin my travels all over the world.
I am a little dog with a big heart.

I have travelled to Brisbane on the train and met a few toys, but my adventure will begin when I get to your place.

My friends have told me what fun travelling is.

After a detour around Australia and after a very long flight in a small envelope, I arrived in the Netherlands today! I was very much surprised to be welcomed by both Sylphide and Yolanda. They were very kind to me and assured me we were going to have a great time together! Well, I hope they're right. Right now I'm going to rest a while and get used to my new Dutch surroundings.

I didn't have long to recuperate from my journey. It was time for dinner and Charda asked me if I wanted to help! Of course I was willing to do so. This is the sauce she was using as the basis for the meal. The other ingredients were chicken, vegetables and rice.

And this is the final result. Because I'm such a small dog, I don't get my own plate, but I'm allowed to eat from my host's plate. Just as long as I don't make a mess of it and don't eat too much

I already found another dog in the house. He's a bit bigger than I am, but he was really nice.

Ehm, I didn't feel so comfortable here in between these kittens. Someone? Please? Get me out!!! 

At night we played a game of memory together. It was really nice. During the game I told the others about the animals we have back home in Australia, like the big spiders, though Yolanda didn't seem to like that story very much. Sylphide told us about the local French animals.



It was a close call between Sylphide and I, but I won!

Look at me with my medaillion! I'm so proud! Charda told me the red/white/blue stripes are the colours of the Dutch flag. I feel like a Dutch champion now! 

This morning Charda took me with her on the way to work. This is me sitting in a tram. Since you can't really see it, I don't yet consider my life mission to be completed, but my host has promised me that she will take me on a public transportation ride again and will take a better picture then. The second picture is me in front of the window in the tram, but it isn't really clear neither.


At night my host went to a Greek restaurant with her boyfriend and his family and of course she took Sylphide and me along as well! This is me after the first 'ouzo', the original Greek beverage. That's quite a bit of alcohol for a small dog like me!

Here I am goofing around in the empty ouzo-glasses. The food on the plate is my host's dinner, a dish called 'moussaka'. I got to eat along with her. It tasted really nice!


And this is the most important menu of the whole restaurant. It's the list of desserts! That's why I'm studying it in detail of course!


Here I am looking at the world sideways from the shirt of Charda's boyfriend.

Ah, finally the dessert arrived! I especially liked the whipped cream!


After dinner they served this special orange liqueur. First I got this really big glass, but I just couldn't reach it! So they gave mine to Sylphide and they gave me a smaller glass. That was really great, because now I could reach it. It tasted fantastic!



Since the restaurant where we ate was really close to the Peace Palace in The Hague, we quickly took these pictures in front of it. It's a really impressive building.

Today another ToyVoyager arrived. He came all the way from Germany and his name is Trafalgar. He's an English bear and he seems kind of stiff, but maybe he's really nice, I don't really know yet.


This afternoon we went to Park Clingendael in The Hague. We went there by tram and this is a picture of me in the tram.

My host told me that she will have to work a lot next week and the week after that, so we might not get out much in the next weeks. But today the weather was nice, so we went outside. This is me in front of a typical Dutch scenery with the cows.


This is the name of the park where we were.

There were lots of pretty flowers all over the park. Here you can see some of them.





One of my life missions is to see a baby. Does a goose-baby count as well

Weird stuff here on this tree. It smells funny.





This is the sign at the entrance to the Japanese Garden. It is only opened a few months a year, so it's quite special that we were there.










This stork stood perfectly still for a very long time. Charda tells me that storks are the signature birds of The Hague.



Well, this was about as much sightseeing as I could bear, being a little dog and all. Now I wanted to lose some energy, run around and play! So here we are playing with a ball. I was with Jason, Sylphide and Trafalgar.





After playing with the ball we just lay down for a little while. There wasn't much sun to sunbathe in, but it was nice and comfortable, also because we were tired from walking through the park and playing with the ball.

Well, my host had to work again today, so she took me along and tried to get a better picture of me this time. I think these picture prove nicely that I've been on a tram What do you think?

This morning we accompanied our host Charda to the supermarket. We didn't take any pictures there, but here is a picture of us in the rental car.

In the afternoon we were quite bored, until Yolanda came up with a great idea. "Let's play hide and seek!" she said. All of us were very excited and eager to participate. "Where is Troddy? He has to join us as well!"

"There he is, reading a magazine. Something about history it seems. Let me see if I can convince him to play along with us."

"Come on Troddy, get your nose out of the books and play with us!" *sigh* "Well, okay then."

Trafalgar joined the others. They decided that Yolanda was the one who would try to find the others.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ready or not, here I come!"

"I think I see Jason already."

"Yes, that's him. Why did you hide there, Jason?"

"Well, I couldn't see you, so you couldn't see me, right?"

"I don't think the teapot is supposed to look like that. I think I found Mira!"

"Aw, you found me so quickly. I thought I had a nice hiding place."

"Let me continue my search. Hey, that looks like Sylphide's wing!"

"Yep Sylphide, found you!

"Your wing was sticking out of the drawer." "Yeah, I thought I felt something, but I had to be quick and quiet."

"Okay, now let's find Troddy Trafalgar. Where would I be able to find him? Hey, that book is not supposed to be there!"

"Just what I thought: a book with a fuzzy creature behind it!

"Up here Troddy!"

"Hmm, too bad you already found me. I was enjoying that book. I love Dickens "

"Well guys, that wasn't too difficult. I found all of you. I think that means..."

"that I won!"

Yesterday we had taco's for dinner. They were a bit too big for me, but I liked the ToyVoyager-sized tomatoes

Today we didn't really do that much. We did have these nice 'bitterballen' as a snack in the afternoon. They were great, and not even that big for me!

Yesterday was a very special day for me. I accompanied my host to Amsterdam. I had never been there, so I was really excited. This is me in the train on the way to Amsterdam.


When we arrived in Amsterdam, we walked to the Dam Square. This is the monument in remembrance of the victims of the Second World War.

And this is the Queen's Palace (one of several, but the only one in Amsterdam)

Here I am in front of a building. My host couldn't tell me what the building was for, but she liked the sculptures. The three white crosses are the sign of Amsterdam, like the stork was for The Hague.

And since we travelled straight from work to Amsterdam, we still had to eat! So what better place than Burger King for a quick meal

This was the coolest bit of all and the reason why we travelled to Amsterdam. I went to a popconcert! We went to the concert of A.J. McLean! He is one of the four members of the Backstreet Boys. My host is a fan of theirs, so she was really excited when she heard that one of them was performing in a small concerthall in Amsterdam. A.J. performed songs from his new solo-album which is to be released in the end of 2008. It was a great night! If you wish to see video-footage, just look at YouTube and search for A.J. McLean and for the night where I was, you can add Paradiso Amsterdam. It was the best experience I had so far!


And here I am in an almost empty train compartment on the way back. The concert was over way too quickly, though my ears were still ringing a bit from all the loud noises. I'd go again anytime!

Since my host had to work all week, there haven't many updates this week. And unfortunately, next week will be the same. But we did something this week. On Wednesday we went to The Hague. First we ate at Burger King.

After that we walked past the 'Binnenhof'. This is where the government convenes, so this is where all the decisions are being made.

There was a really strange mountain of ice here. I don't know what the purpose of this was.

Hi!

Here's a real quick update to show that I am still alive and doing well! Like she said, my host has to work all week, but here are some pictures to show you I am still fine!
These are the cards my host is going to send to fellow Postcrossers. I thought the pictures were very pretty.

And today two new friends arrived! They are not ToyVoyagers, at least not yet, and they are here to stay! My host got them on the forum and in return sent two bears to Threadbear in South Africa. Here are the two friends that came crawling out of the envelope. I immediately went to the dog and I sensed we would be very close friends. Just look at those eyes...

And this is a group picture of all of us together. I tried the dog's position, and I must say I quite liked it. The cat took an immediate liking to Jason. I do think they look alike. Both cat-like, both the same posture...

Hi!

Here's an unexpected update. Today another TV-friend arrived, a true TV this time! Her name is Ceryni. These are our first pictures together:

Hi!

Last night we watched a movie together with our host. It was a BBC miniseries about the life of Charles II. Here you can see us watching it.

Unfortunately, most of us didn't really think it was that interesting, so we fell asleep on the couch, except for Trafalgar. He was enjoying it thoroughly!

And tonight we helped our host assemble the envelopes for a Postcrossing Round Robin. Just look at all those envelopes with tea! I'm just glad that I won't be leaving yet in one of those!

Yesterday evening we had lasagne for dinner. This is us around the dish

Tonight we watched television. There was a football match on TV. It's a very important match between Italy and the Netherlands in the European Championship. None of us are usually in favour of the Netherlands, but since we're here, we'll try our best


Our host's boyfriend said we should drink beer while watching soccer. We looked at the bottle and we decided against it.

This bucket of ice cream looked much more attractive than that bottle of beer!

The Dutch team won from Italy with 3-0! Everyone is really excited here! Except for my host, because she hates soccer. But everyone on the streets is yelling and shouting and singing, and cars are honking. I'm quite excited the match ended this way!