Travelog for: Calixte

Hi there !
I'm Calixte, a black duck living with Mistigree.


Today I was asked by Snegovik who has been visiting us for 3 months to help him hanging his tag on his back, for he has to leave tomorrow. I was very interested when I read the tag about ToyVoyaging and I decided, by mutual agreement with Mistigree, to become a ToyVoyager too.


I wanted to have a nice picture taken with Snegovik before he leaves as it is thanks to him that I'm going to travel as a ToyVoyager !

I have to say I'm mad about roadsigns... I like to open the dictionnary at the roadsigns page in order to learn them and their meaning by heart !


When I wander on the street, I play and try to recognize them ! The following ones are very easy to understand and I think they are quite the same in all countries.



Bike roadsign especially for Mistigree because she only has a bike as a means of transport.


Take care, there is a school around and children may cross the road !


This one is called "dos d'âne" in France (that means "donkey's back"), but I know the english word for that is "sleeping policeman" ! And in your country, how is that called ?


Be careful ! If you're not correctly parked, your car may be impounded !


This one shows the way to go to the tube station here in Toulouse.

I'm very curious to see if the little green and red men that we can see on traffic lights are the same everywhere in the world. Here are the French ones.

It may seem a bit strange, but I like to watch car traffic. Sometimes I just stand on bridges over bypass or highways and I look at cars.


What I prefer is when there are traffic jams because it makes me laugh imagining people moaning in their cars !

What I would like, if you host me one day, is having my picture taken with the sign that indicates the town or village where you live in ! Here is the one where I live for the moment !


Any others signs with towns written on them are welcome !


I'm also fond of streets signs or streets that have a special or funny name ! "Rue du canard" means "duck street", a street just for me !


Mistigree told me that this sign is well known here among the bookcrossers from Toulouse because they often hide books between the 2 faces of it !

People sometimes stick decorative stickers on the back of their cars, and I like to watch the different stickers !
I really would love to see what stickers can be found in your country !

For exemple here, you have 2 stickers that you can often find here in Toulouse.
This one is the official sticker of the "Stade Toulousain" (the name of the rugby team of Toulouse)


And this one with "TLSE" means "TOULOUSE", the name of the town.


Others people put stickers of the places they have been on holidays.



Sometimes, we can find animals !



Some of them have protest messages ! Here is one against the construction of a second airport near Toulouse.


And one that encourages recycling !


64 is the number (postal code) of a French Region (where Mistigree comes from, and where her parents live)


And here, you have a baby on board !

I left France on Monday, I'm going to visit wmphimu in the USA as a first stop. Mistigree dreamt that I was still there, she said she saw my shape on her wall...

Hello! I arrived today in Virginia in the United States! It was a bumpy ride but a quick one - I thought it would take longer, so I settled in for a long nap. Imagine my surprise when Plaid Moose opened my box today!

He welcomed me to Virginia and to my host's home!

Plaid Moose told me that they are expecting a big ice storm here tomorrow. I'm not really sure what that means, but I'm excited to see it! I've only ever seen ice in Mistigree's freezer - ice falling from the sky will be interesting!

I am having a great time so far in the United States! Lots of things here are different than at home in France, so I am having fun practicing my English with Plaid Moose and getting to see new things! Friday we were supposed to have an ice storm, but it wasn't like I thought it would be - just rain like we have at home that froze on the ground for a little bit. So after being inside for awhile, we went this weekend on some errands. First, I looked at some of the signs outside my host's house. This one is her street sign...

She says that these are the kinds of signs in neighborhoods, and that we can see some bigger street signs later. There was also a no parking sign...

...and a sign with the speed limit on her street...

I was confused about the street sign until they explained to me that it's miles per hour, not kilometers! Then we got into the car, where I spied a sticker on the back for her favorite sports team, the Boston Red Sox.

Then we were off. She said that the traffic wouldn't be too bad today since it's the weekend, but there were still lots of cars to look at.

The most cars were in the parking lot - this is crazy!

I also saw a sign to Washington DC as we were driving home. My host said that Washington DC is about 20 minutes from here, which is why there is always a lot of traffic!

We've been busy here, but my host took me on a quest this week to find the sign for her town. It's different here than at home - there aren't really signs for each town, but each neighborhood has its own sign - even the little neighborhoods like the one I'm staying in. So, first, I asked to have my picture taken with the sign for her neighborhood...

Then we drove around a little bit, hoping we could find a city sign. We did find LOTS of traffic & traffic lights, so even without the sign it was a good trip for me. Here we are stopped at a light long enough for my host to grab her camera:

Finally, we were ready to give up. Then we spotted it - a sign for Fairfax! I am so excited - another mission for this trip completed!

We had a busy weekend, and I convinced my host to take me along on a quick trip into Washington DC to see her sister-in-law (MarthaWWF here on the ToyVoyagers site!). I was surprised at the highway, especially with the intersection that people around here call "the mixing bowl". Not because they are baking a cake, but because of how many highways come together all at the same spot! I also got to ride on the Beltway - they talk about the Beltway all the time on the news here, because Washington DC is "inside the Beltway" and DC outsiders are "outside the Beltway"


Then we drove past a bunch of monuments. I was too busy looking at everything to get my picture taken, but I did get one picture near the Washington Monument as we were stopped at a stop light.

I also saw a lot of Washington DC traffic! (which I liked, but the humans didn't as much)

And near MarthaWWF's apartment I saw a sign for the metro!

My host says that we'll go into DC again for some actual sightseeing before I leave on my travels!

I am really starting to become a cultured duck! I went today with my host to the new library in her town. I liked seeing the library sign...

And inside the library I could tell why everyone is excited for the new library!

After getting some books, we enjoyed the sunlight, and walked around historic Fairfax a bit. Near the library I saw some cool signs - a sign for the bus (two different buses - the metro bus that goes into DC and the CUE bus that goes around Fairfax at George Mason University) AND a street sign - all of the streets here have names AND numbers...people know the small streets by name and the big streets by number!

Then we walked to the old courthouse. The sign said it was built in 1800, and it's still used today!


There was also a monument there to the soldiers from Fairfax who fought in the Civil War (and 2 cannons as well!)

What a weekend we had! There were big storms here in Virginia, and we lost our power and internet! But we're ok - ducks don't need a lot of light to be happy! After all that excitement, we decided yesterday to get our of the house and take a walk to see a few more signs. There was one near Mara's neighborhood that I had never seen before

She said that community groups can "adopt" a section of the road to take care of. This one is taken care of by a fraternity at nearby George Mason University. Then we walked down the hill and looked at the traffic lights.

Some of the people in the cars looked at us funny, but neither of us minded. Then we looked at the walk/don't walk lights. There is a sign with a button to push to cross the street

While we were waiting to cross, we took a picture of the "don't walk" light - very different from the one at home in France!

And instead of walking, we took another picture of the "walk" sign!

After all that, Mara decided we needed a treat. So we went to her favorite place - Starbucks!

She was right - even for a duck, Starbucks was the perfect end to our afternoon out!

It was an exciting day today! A package arrived. Resi is on her way, so maybe it's her...

It is!

She's just in time, since we're going to go sightseeing this weekend in Washington DC!

I have been having so much fun in Virginia! Yesterday, Plaid Moose decided we should all take a trip into Washington DC to see some of the sites!

First, we took the metro into DC. I checked the metro map to figure out our route...

Then we got on the train!

Because Mara lives in the suburbs, we had a long trip, and had to switch stations a couple of times. But it meant that we got to see a couple of neat things...the Masonic Temple in Alexandria and Washington National Airport!


Finally we were crossing the Potomac River and into the city