Travelog for: Alberto

Hi family,
today we finished the elderbloom wine cooler. Katja' knitting friends would come in the evening, for knitting and enjoying the wine cooler.

Our mixture with blooms, lemon, mint and sugar was strained and poured into a special pot.



A bottle of each white wine and sparkling wine was added.





Cheers!

Alberto

Hi family,

today we had great weather, so we took a long walk to the surroundings of Remscheid. We started in our quarter, a rather quiete one with a lot of old houses.





Soon we reached the city centre. Two towers are dominating the view of Remscheid, the water tower which yoiu can see on the left side of the next photo and as well the nearby tower of the city hall.  The city centre of Remscheid is situated on top of a hill, visible from many places around.



This is the rear side of the city hall, its tower is 48 m tall.



Here you can see a traditional house, probably built in 19th century.



Remscheid is surrounded by rural areas, woodland and valley, you can already see it in the background of the next photo.



We reached a lovely housing area close to the valley. A former industrial site was altered to dwellings.





We reached the bottom of a valley with some industrial sites along the creek. This one is called "Matador". They are producing special tools for industrial and professional users with state-of-the-art machinery - they are not killing bulls



We walked through a small hamlet.



We reached a rural area than, nothing but green around!



In the background you can see the city centre of Remscheid with its characteristic towers.









Walking back to the valley there were more old industrial sites.



To get back to the city centre we had walk an extremely steep path, can you imagine how steep it was?



From here we had to walk just a few minutes to get home.

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

we are having a holiday in Germany today, I think at home in Spain also?

We took a short walk although the weater was not good, Katja wanted to show us where she viewed am apartement yesterday, she is going to move in a few weeks and is still looking for a new apartement.

There are lots of old houses in the vicinity of my current home.



We planned to take a walk in the municipal park. On our way we came across another park, it is situated opposite of the police headquarter.





Soon we reached the municipal park. There is a pond with ducks and turtles.



This is an observatory, also situated in the park.



In the district Hasten I saw lovely houses.



To get back to the city centre we had to walk along this road for some time.



Here Katja viewed an apartement yesterday, on the second floor. She really liked it.



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mum, hi Dad,

we took a walk in the city centre today.



We walked to the central station which was renewed about two years ago. Last year a bridge for pedestrians across two roads was opened.





We walked along the "Route of Tools" than, a special lane for pedestrians and cyclists which was built on a former, now closed track for freight trains. This track was connecting the central station which a station in the district Hasten, about 5 km long. Along this route you can find company complexes and also sort of woodland area. When the track was still active, there were a lot of metal working companies along the track.



Some houses were built extremely close to the former railway track  - or the other way round - maybe the houses were built earlier.



Here is a resting area, with benches and plants.



You can also find some of those signs along the track - company logos. The "Route of Tools" was sponsored by local companies, most of them producing tools, that's why the track is called "Route of Tools". Remscheid has a long tradition in producing tools, going back to middle ages.



Some of the factories along the track are dilapidated.



One of the signs is showing the coat of arms of Remscheid.





We found this wrench pattern stamped into the tarmac.



And even more patterns, showing other tools.





We bought some cheese here and went home than.

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Dad,

after having ugly rainy weather the whole week we took an excursion today. We visited Germany's highest railway bridge, Muengsten Bridge, connecting Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen. This bridge is overspanning the valley of river Wupper.

A smaller creek is running into river Wupper here.



From an outlook pavilion we took a first look at the bridge. Muengsten Bridge is about 107 m high and about 490 m long. It was built in late 19th century, finished in 1897.



Following our walking path, we reached a place exactly under the bridge. It was made of steel with two tracks.



We reached river Wupper than, running through the lovely landscape.



Our path led us through the forest, always close to river Wupper.



We came across some information boards, this one is showing a map of this area.





We walked uphill and downhill along the steep slope of the valley.





A little creek is flowing down the slope, also crossing the walking path.



We reached Muengsten bridge than, on the Solingen side this time.





This is river Wupper under the bridge.



A leisure park was built under the bridge some years ago. They have a crazy golf course, lawns for relaxing, playgrounds for the kids, restaurants and you can also play in the usually shallow river.





This restaurant was opened about two years ago.



To get back to the car we had to walk under a road bridge.



Love
Alberto

Hi Mum. hi Dad,
today we a trip to the neighbour city Wuppetal.

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (Schwebebahn), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. Here you can see one of 20 stations along the 13,3 km long route.











This is one of the stations.







Here you can see the historic city hall of Wuppertal. There is a daily farmers market in front of it.



We were really hungry than and went looking for pizza or anything else to eat.

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mum, hi Dad,
after having breakfast we took a walk in the forest. Our new guest Bzzzzz accompanied us.

We started our trip in a rural district in the West of the municipal area.



We walked in the valley along river Wupper. You could cross it here. Hey, I've already been here last week



We saw foxglove in the forest, lovely flowers, but extremely poisonous.



We took a group photo on this cartwheel.



We reached the historical district Unterburg in the neighbour city Solingen. This church was built in late 17th century.







This creek is flowing into river Wupper here.





This statue is showing a "Kiepenkerl", hard working men who carried all sorts of goods through the rangy landscape in their panniers.



Have a look at this beautiful house!



We still followed river Wupper until we reached this bridge. We crossed the river here and walked back on the other bank.



In the meantime a medieval castle came into sight, Schloss Burg. Unfortunatelay we did not come close enough for a better photo.



Our path led us uphill for some time, in the valley you can see Unterburg.



Here we saw more lovely houses with narrow lanes.



It started to rain than, so we all disappeared into Katja's bag  while she and her friend became wet, we still had to walk back to the car for an hour

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Daddy,

we went to a DIY-store today, we had to look for wall paint and other thngs. We went there in Katja's lunch break. Because the weather was really great, we took a walk to the DIY-store through the city centre. First Katja showed us the entrance area of the shopping mall, Allee-Center. There is a large fountain in front of it.



When we reached the end of the shopping street Katja showed us another fountain, a very colorful one with funny water games.





Oh dear, this area does not look so nice ... Katja told me that DIY-stores often were situated on industrial estates and those often do not look to nice.



Here we looked for wall paint.



On our way back we came along the station area, it was built about three years ago, a bridge for pedestrians was opened last year.





This is the new bridge. Cyclists and pedestrias can now reach the city centre much faster than before when they had to cross severeal streets to get there.





On our way back to the office we bought a few things for lunch, we were starving!



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Daddy,

today we started to paint the walls in Katja's new apartement.

After protecting the edge of the ceiling and the  washboards we started to paint her favourite colour in the bedroom.



We even managed to paint the wall without getting terribly dirty



That's all for today, a load of work was waiting for us!

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Daddy,
at the moment we are doing nothing but paining the walls in my host's new apartment. We were not sure how to paint the kitchen walls. We already painted the upper parts of the walls with an off-white color. We tried to make Katja's favourite color.

Some cream-white color, a bit blue color and t......oise color....



Guess what is her favourite color!

We mixed it perfectly!



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Dad,
we moved to my host's new apartement last weekend. Still there is not everything fixed and finished, tools are still everywhere





Nontheless we took a walk in the late morning because the weather finally became better after two extremely rainy weeks. We went to the outskirts in the West of Remscheid.



It did not take long until we reached a forest.



Walking downhill we reached a creek which is flowing in the valley.



Here we found hogweed, a plant which originally came from Eastern countries, from the Caucasus mountains. Although it looks pretty people do not like it. Its sap causes phytophotodermatitis on human skin.



Can you see the markings for hiking trails on the tree? The encircled "R" stands for a hiking trail around the municipal area of Remscheid, about 63 km long.



At home a lot of work was waiting for us, so we went back home.



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Dad,

today we went to Wuppertal again to visit the Botanical garden there. Unfortunately the "Schwebebahn" is closed due to repair works.



The Botanical garden is situated on a hilled called "Hardt", we had to climb umpteen stairs to get there.



The closer we came to the Botanical garden the more lovely were the dwellings, mostly beautiful mansions.







You can find the former country house of textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings, and the Elise Tower (built 1838) which provides the garden's focal point.



We saw different kinds of gardens, like this rockery...



... and different flowers.





Here you can see the Elise Tower once more.





These are Angel's trumpets, originally from South America. Angel's trumpets are beautiful flowers, but extremely poisonous.







There is also a pond in the Botanical garden.



We rested in the shade of this Phoenix plant.



We also had a look at the greenhouses in the entrance area. I found lunch here Bananas!



There is an exhibition with butterfly sculptures.









Later we went to the city centre to pick up Katja's daughter from her work place in a restaurant. On our way there we saw this great fountain in front of the city hall.



We had a large ice cream and went home than.

Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Daddy,
in the afternoon we took a walk with one of Katja's friends in the outskirts of Remscheid, often rural areas. This one also, with meadows and horses and lovely gardens.





From here we walked towards river Wupper. Along the path we found some rocks with engraved boardgames, Nine Men's Morris here.



Ahh, I recognized the path, I have been here before It is the path which is leading to Muengsten Bridge.

We walked uphill than until we reached the abutment of the bridge. You have a fantastic view into the bridge from here. Katja told us that this path is not very common.



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy,
it is incredibly hot today. We are spending the day inside. We helped our host to  sew curtains for the bedroom.



It was quite easy and soon they were finished.



Bye
Alberto

Hi Mummy, hi Daddy,
I am going to leave tomorrow, so I said good-bye to my friends and to the ferrets.

This is cutie Zaehnchen (which means "Little tooth"). Sie is extremely curious.





This is Brighty. She loves to hide in the fabric tunnel (and to jump out of it to pinch your feet ). Katja calls her a "carpet moray".



The third one, Shiva, was playing somewhere in the kitchen. Now I'll have to look for my T-Shirt.

Bye
Alberto