Travelog for: Voi Nam

Hi Mom!

Today we made lingonberry jam! My host mom told me that making this jam can be hard work as you have to sort the berries: The good ones in the pot, the others in the trash... It's like in this old fairy tale, you know 
So we sorted the berries and then squeezed some lemon juice over them and added lemon zest.
Next was the special jam making sugar: You pour it over the berries, let it rest for a few seconds, then mix it.
Then you put the pot on the stove and heat it. You can then see the sugar melting and finally all starts to cook. We let it cook for 5 minutes and then had a look if the jam was ready.
The next step was to fill the hot jam in glass jars. I was not allowed to help as the jam was really really hot.

I had fun making jam!

Hi Mom!

We found really cool flat peaches on the market. They are called Saturn-peaches...I have not seen them before. On the inside they are more white than yellow-peach colored.
My hostmom decided to make some small cakes. So we took a package of puff pastry and put it into muffin tins. Then we sliced the peaches, marinated them with sugar and lemon juice and put them on top of the puff pastry.

Mmmhhh...those were delicious!

Hi Mom!

Today we did some sightseeing. So we took the U-Bahn to get into the city. The first thing we saw was this tower, decorated by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The tower is part of a district heating power station. There we changed to another U-Bahn line and went to Karlsplatz. Mom showed me an Art Nouveau building. You can find many buildings made in this style. When we turned around, we saw this huge church, the Karlskirche.
We then went on to the Musikvereins-Platz and the Musikvereins-Building. This is the building where the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's concert takes place and also home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. We picked up some tickets there and then Mom showed me a kind of Music Walk of fame, with stars belonging to famous composers or conductors.
After having picked up the tickets we went back to the U-Bahn und drove to the Kettenbrückengasse to visit the Naschmarkt, a famous Vienna market. We bought some veggies and a speciality of Vienna: Salzgurken. These are pickled cucumbers, but not with a sweet and sour taste, instead they are really salty!
Our feet were hurting, so we decided to stop for some lemonade at Starbucks before heading back home.

Servus!

Hi Mom,
this weekend we went back to Graz, my host-mom's hometown. And I know you must be thinking that my host-mom is baking all the time, but she showed me how to prepare an Austrian sweet speciality: Guglhupf.
We were weighing the flour and sugar, separated egg yolk and egg whites, mixed the egg whites until stiff.
As you can see from the pictures, I helped a lot! We then put the dough in some tins and put it in the oven. While we were waiting for the Guglhupf to bake, we had a cup of coffee.
And later, we had some of the mini-Guglhupf! Mmmmhhhh

Hi Mom!

We are travelling quite often between my host mom's two places, Graz and Vienna. So I get to spend a lot of time in trains.

I study the itinery and whenever I get bored, my host mom let's me play withe her iPad 

Hi Mom!

Today I went to the office with my hostmom. She had much work lately, so we did not get to do a lot of fun things...
But in the office, I enjoyed playing around with the telephone and I took copies of me 

I also discovered the secret sweets  Nomm...nomm...nomm...

I think I had fun at the office - luckily I did not have to do mom's work 

Hi Mummy,
I am back in Germany now, in Remscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia. A lot of ToyVoyagers and my new host Katja gave me a warm welcome.



Although it was already late afternoon we took a walk, just because the weather was so nice. The first photo was taken in front of my current home. There is a little park just opposite of the house. By the way, Luc Zeke accompanied us, he also came here today.





There is a large playground close to my home.



We walked along an allotment garden area. In the background you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal.





We walked into a forest than, having fun while we played in the fallen leafes.



Soon it was too dark to take more photos.

Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
the weather forecast promised great weather for today, so we decided to take a walk around Muengsten bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge.

Muengsten bridge is connecting the cities of Remscheid and Solingen, crossing the valley of river Wupper.

We walked through the forest, there are some playgrounds. Here we found those rocking sheep.



It only took a short walk to reach the bridge, that means, one of the places where it is fixed to the slope of the valley.





The bridge is 465 m long and 107 m tall at its highest point.
Here you can see the bridge overspanning the valley, river Wupper underneath the bridge.



Our path was following the valley, with partly rocks along the way.



The first houses of the district Burg came into sight.



On the hill opposite of us Schloss Burg was visible, a medieval castle. This district was named after it.



Burg is one of several historic districts of Solingen, also in the valley of river Wupper.



To get back to the car we walked along the opposite bank of river Wupper, here was the last opportunity to cross the river.



We reached the bottom of the valley than. A leisure park was built under the bridge a few years ago. You can find a crazy golf course here, lawns with benches for relaxing, playgrounds for the kids and restaurants.









This walk took us more than two hours, much more than we had expected

Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,

when we went home from the work place Katja showed me city hall.



The city hall was originally built in early 20th century, was nearly destroyed in WW II and was rebuilt in a more modern style afterwards. Its tower is 48 m tall! There is a pillar on the open space in front of it, showing a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.



Later, in the afternoon, we took a walk to the municpal park.

We came along a large playground.



This is the police headquarter, close to the park.



There is a pond with ducks and turtles in the park.



The municipal park is more or less a landscape park with really old trees.



An observatory is also situated in the park.







This memorial is dedicated to the dead of several wars earlier than WW I. Is is placed in a rose garden. Of course there is not a single blooming rose left in November.





A nursery is also situated in the park, a training company for young people with a poor school diploma or even without any diploma.



Now as it became darker it also became cold, so we hurried home.

Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
we are having fantastic weather today, so we took a walk to the municipal park in the afternoon.

We came along a large playground.



This is the police headquarter, close to the park.



There is a pond with ducks and turtles in the park.



The municipal park is more or less a landscape park with really old trees.



An observatory is also situated in the park.







This memorial is dedicated to the dead of several wars earlier than WW I. Is is placed in a rose garden. Of course there is not a single blooming rose left in November.





A nursery is also situated in the park, a training company for young people with a poor school diploma or even without any diploma.



Now as it became darker it also became cold, so we hurried home.

Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
it snowed during the night!



Katja promised that we would go out later.

Voi Nam

We went out about two hours later. Unfortunately it was not cold enough for the snow, it already was melting slowly when we went out. But nontheless we had a lot of fun in the snow. Soon I was wet and cold (hopefully I will not get a cold!)



We walked along the so called "Route of Tools", a former track for freight trains. Many tracks were closed and were built to lanes for pedestrians and cyclists. Remscheid is an industrial city, famous for the tool producing industry here. Building the route was sponsored by local companies, so it was called "Route of Tools".







The route is about 5 km long, following the former track from the central station to the district Hasten. You can find a lot of industrial complexes along the route, as well newer ones as historical ones. This complex was a slaughterhouse once.



The closer we came to Hasten, the route was crossing more dwellings than industrial sites.



Someone is collecting souvenirs from the former railway track





You can also find signs with the logos of sponsoring companies here.



Later we went home through the municipal park.



Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
last weekend's snow melted away really soon, but today it started to snow again. Today it is about freezing point outside, so the snow will not melt too soon.





We went to the municipal park. Here you can see one of the churches in the city centre.



Soon we reached the park. All those snow covered trees and bushes are looking beautiful.



I played in the snow with  Arimbi, m y new friend from Indonesia. Poor Arimbi is not used to this cold, but she already likes snow.








Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
on Friday usually two or three friends are visiting us, Katja's knitting friends. Today I also met one of Katja's pets - she is keeping ferrets. Ferrets are cute little predators, really playful, curious and cheeky pets. This one is Zaehnchen, sitting on the lap of Katja's friend, enjoying liver sausage paste.



Later Katja prepared eggnogg for her friends. Eggnogg is a popular winter drink in Germany, you can often get it on Christmas markets. To make it you need milk, cream, egg liqueur, rum, triple sec and amaretto.



First you have to mix and heat milk, cream and egg liqueur - it must not boil!



Than you add the spirits and fill it into glasses. Served hot with whipped cream on top it is perfect



Bye
Voi Nam

Hi Mummy,
soon after having fun in the snow it became warmer on Sunday. Some of the snow already melted away, the whole city is a muddy mess



I decided to come home now, maybe in Heidelberg I won't get wet feet. My new friend Arimbi is a bit sad now, but she promised to be brave



I'm coming home now!

Love
Voi Nam