Travelog for: Dottie Mouse

Today we went to a place called the Shinikean Gardens. It was very beautiful! Its been inscribed by the World Heritage Organization as an important historic spot. It was the Imperial Gardens for the Ryukyu Kingdom back before Okinawa became a part of Japan.


The first thing we saw when we went in was the guard house.



Then we had to walk down a little pathway through a forest.



Where we had to pause to examine a snail.


After that we got our first view of the rest home here, it was quite large for that time in history.


Unfortunately there wasn't much to see inside besides the set up of the home, but we took a few pictures anyways.



Looking outside you could see the beautiful water, and a rock bridge.


There was also another small rest house.


This picture is quite funny in a way. Okinawa is quite a small island! However, the Ryukyu Kings did not want their adversaries to know how small it was, so when they came to visit they brought them to this place to show them the outlay of the land and how large it was. Its one of the very few spots on Okinawa where you can see no water! I haven't seen another spot on Okinawa up high where you can't see water actually.


After we were all done here I had to get bundled into my envelope for my next exciting journey! Oh I hope its somewhere fun!
Write more when I arrive,
Dottie Mouse

Hola!

I have arrived to Tenerife

There were 3 other ToyVoyagers welcoming me; Stuart The Lion, Purple Bun and Wieka and also my new host Katja's cat Felix.


We went to have a look around the house (well the terrace really) with Wieka because she's only been here a couple of days and hadn't really had the chance to have a look around yet.

Hi!

Sorry that I haven't been updating much. My host has got an extra job not long ago and she's still trying to get used to not having so much time off. Today we've been to her fulltime job. She works in a small clinic as an interpreter. Here are some photos from the clinic:

This is me and Dottie Mouse in the reception.


This is us again, still in the reception.


This is just outside the reception.


This is where the doctors attend patients


That's us on an x-ray machine.


We were thinking of having an ECG done but then we realised that we were too small for their machine...

Today it was raining but it was also fairly sunny and we could see this lovely rainbow. Unfortunately it's not very clear on the photo

A few days ago we received another ToyVoyager to keep us company; GIRAY. I hope he will have a great time here with us

Wieka is leaving tomorrow so we organized a small leaving do for her. First we had some chicken kebabs. They were really nice.


And then we had some desserts


I hope she'll have a great time in Malaysia

Hello!

Today we've been to a Mexican restaurant...the strawberry margaritas were lovely

Hi!

I'm sorry it's taken such a long time for me to update. My host's mum has been over so she hasn't had much time for the computer.

On the 28th of November we went up to "Mirador de la Centinela"..a view place. Here are some photos from there.





There was some cross up there too.

Hola!

Today we walked up Montaña Roja (the red mountain) in La Tejita. The view from the mountain was great!











This is the mountain on the background


This is the beach next to the mountain


Our host's boyfriend Dave carried us in his backbag.


Here's the mountain once more

Today we went up north, to a religious town called Candelaria. We visited a church there.

A Jesus statue




There were statue's of men outside the church




Here's a picture outside the church


And here you can get a better idea of the church and the statues.

Today we decorated the Christmas tree (I'm sorry the update's taken a while..my host has been really busy)

Can you find us?


Ok, here's a closer picture


We also decided to take a photo with the poinsettia


And a group photo too

A few days after this photo, Purple Bun had to leave to Estonia.

Today we've been baking Christmas desserts because my host is working on the 23rd and also on the 24th so she won't have time otherwise.

First we made some English mince pies.


Then we made some Finnish Christmas pastries. They are very easy to make, you just buy a packet of ready rolled puff pastry and cut in into squares like on this photo


Then you cut each corner of each square same as on this photo and add a bit of plum or apricot jam in the centre of each of the squares


TThen you just fold in the same side of each cut corner which will form stars like these


And then you just put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes (or depending what your pastry instructions say..and the final result is this

Pretty, aren't they?

Then we also made some filled bread eventhough it's not really a xmas dish


Tomorrow we'll bake the ham

Today we baked the Christmas ham

Merry Christmas!

Our host was working all day yesterday so when she came home this morning she opened all her Christmas presents. She was so excited to open them that she even forgot to wait for us to help her open them.. She had a lot of things to do this morning, especially as she brought in another cat she had found at work!! So she couldn't let us help with the rest of the cooking so we could just enjoy the final result which was this



And here's us with the new cat too

Happy New Year 2009!!!

We spent the new year's eve at home. First we had a sauna


And then we relaxed on the terrace for a bit as we were feeling so hot!


Then we had some pizza for late dinner and then it was already 1st of January 2009 and we went out to check out the firework displays