Travelog for: nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
today I was invited to go on a vacation trip with Katja's sister to Ireland. That sounds fantastic! We will take off on Saturday and will stay in Ireland for three weeks.



Love you
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
I am now at Katja's sister Ina's home. Guess who I met here?

More plushies with blue noses! I am no the only blue-nosed plushy





Tomorrow we will fly to Ireland - I am so happy I will travel in a blue suitcase - blue suitcases for blue-nosed sheep!



Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,

greetings from Kilkee in Ireland!



Kilkee is a small coastal town at the West coast of Ireland, a popular seaside resort. There are those fantastic cliffs at the coast of the Atlantic ocean.

Later we visited a graveyard where Ina showed me this cross with typical Irish patterns.



Next we visited Carrigaholt Castle. It was built in about 1480 at the end of a fishing pier.



Bye for now
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
today we visited a fascinating location - Poulnabrone dolmen, a portal tomb. It is dating back to the Neolithic period which means it is about 5.000,maybe more than 6.000 years old.



Later I tried a beer in a pub in Ballyvaughan. Cheers!



Love
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
we visited the cliffs of Moher today. What a fantastic view!





Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
say hello to my friends!



Greetings from all of us
nosyblue & friends

Hi Mummy,
today there was a special event for me on the schedule: a walk on the Sheeps Head, at least a short walk

The Sheeps Head Way is a long-distance trail, about 88 km long,which follows old roads and tracks around the peninsula from Bantry to the headland and back. Sheep everwhere!







The did not have blue noses, but at least a blue spot on their coat.



Love
nosyblue

Greetings from my friends!



nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
we visited Aughnanure Castle today, a tower house built in 16th century.





Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
today it was time to pack, we will fly home now.



Good-bye Ireland!

nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
I'm back from my holiday  trip to Ireland.  I brought some lovely souvenirs with me



My photos will follow soon.

Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
we went to Cologne today to attend a meeting of German members of a worldwide community for knitters and crocheters, also spinners. This meeting was taking place in the German Sports and Olympic Museum. To get there we had to cross river Rhine first.



You can see Cologne Cathedral and the old town and also excursion boats.



The bridge in the background is Hohenzollern bridge, the most heavily used railway bridge in Germany.



It was only a short walk along the river until we reached the German Raveler Meeting.



To show you that the meeting really was taking place in a museum we took a shot of Michael Schumacher's racing car.



We saw wonderful knitted clothings and tons of fantastic yarns.









There was also a contest for handcrafted things themed "I love Germany"



Lunch time!



Later we went to the city centre to have a look around.



The old town is situated along river Rhine. Cologne was originally founded by the Romans around the year 50 A.D. Although the city centre of Cologne was nearly wiped out in World War II there are still parts of medieval Cologne with its narrow lanes left.







This is Heumarkt, a famous place with lots of bars and restaurants.



Here you can find this equestrian sculpture of Frederick William III of Prussia, placed here in 1878 A.D.



The Cologne carnival is one of the biggest street festivals in Europe. There are shops selling costumes during the whole year.



We went to the shopping streets than. There is also a Hard Rock Cafe.





Of course Katja also showed us Cologne Cathedral, city's most famous monument.  It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. It is a World Heritage site since 1996. At the moment peace demonstrations are taking place on the large place in front of the cathedral.







Cologne Cathedral is called "the eternal construction site" because constructions works are taking place every time. Some building parts are placed on the ground.







We had to walk back to the car than which was parked on the opposite side of river Rhine. This time we used Hohenzollern Bridge to cross the river. Four equestrian statues showing Prussian emporers and family members of House of Hohenzollern are placed at both ends of the bridge.





The fences of the railway track are covered with love padlocks.









Good-bye Cologne!



Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
Katja told us that we would visit the neighbour city Solingen today, especially the botanical garden. That sound great! Before we left, she took one of her used books to take it with her because there was a public bookcase in the park. She said she always takes a book there and another one will be taken home.



So we went to Solingen by bus. Usually we would have taken the  train but due to repair works at Muengsten Bridge no trains are going to Solingen at the moment.



The botanical garden is subdivided into several sections. There are areas with trees, bushes or flowers. We started here.



There were many funny sculptures like this reading bird.



Lots of flowers were already withered, but not these asters!







Katja also showed us a sun dial. It was .... 15:55 p.m.





We found a  tree with  really large leafes.







We found more sculptures, stylized birds this time.



Look at this giant butterfly!



Katja told me to have a look at its back. Wow! Isn't it beautiful with its glass mosaic?





There you can see it sitting on the lawn.







Another creepy-crawly



We reached the public bookcase than.



We took a real classic with us and put the book whe brought from home into the bookcase. We took "Jaws". Katja told us that she had watched the movie at least a dozen timed, but  never read the novel.



We found more weird and interesting trees, like this one ...





... or this one.







We left the garden and decided to walk back to the city centre along the Korkenziehertrasse, a former railway track. It it now a lone for pedestrians and cyclists, meandering through the city. That's why it is called "cork screw" lane. Katja did not know how long we would have to walk so she recorded the track.







There were some tunnels along the path, this one covered with graffiti inside.









Obviously we were coming closer to the city centre. There were more and more industrial complexes next to the lane.





We reached the station Solingen-Mitte than.



Later we had a look at the recorded track. We found out that it was a 4,2 km walk.

Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
today we are having a rainy day, so we decided to stay at home. We helped Katja to prepare lunch. We made Vietnamese stye summer rolls today. We took rice paper, glass noodles, carrots, crisphead lettuce, chili pepper, shrimps, coriander leaves and Thai basil.



We chopped the vegetables and put everything in place. First the rice paper had to be submerged for a few seconds to soften it.

We put it onto a damp kitchen towerl and filled it.



The result was not looking really professional, but the summer rolls tasted great with oyster sauce and peanut sauce.



Bye
nosyblue

Hi Mummy,
Katja went into the forest today to pick berries with a friend, without taking us with her! When she came back, she brought a large bag and two large plastic cans full of berries with her. She told us she wanted to make jam from the berries.



First all the berries had to be sorted and washed. There were elderberries, blackberries, hawthorn berries, rosehips and a few sloe fruits.



Elderberries and blackberries were given through a sieve mill to separate the fruits from the seeds.



In the meantime empty jars were prepared.



Than the fruit purree was mixed with apple juice and gelling sugar and was cooked to a delicious jam.

Tomoroow we will cook another jam from the other fruits.

Bye
nosyblue