Travelog for: Freya

Hi Mummy,
today we visited the historical district Lennep. My host's daugther is living there. Lennep is the second largest district of Remscheid with about 25.000 inhabitants. Lennep once was one of the most important cities of the region Bergisches Land.

Lennep has an historical city core based on a medieval structure. There were several large city fires, the last one in the year 1746 which destroyed most of the city. It was rebuilt afterwards. Lennep received its town charter between the years 1259 and 1276- In 1929 Lennep was annexated to Remscheid.

We started our trip at the remains of the city wall, parts of it remained after the last city fire.



Katja showed us picturesque and narrow lanes with those lovely timber-framed houses.





Here you can see an historical door knocker showing a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.





Klosterkirche (minster) is the oldest sacral building in Remscheid, built in the years 1677 until 1696. It is now a cultural centre, a restaurant is also situated in the building.



Wow! Blue hydrangea!



Do you know Lennep's most famous former citizen? It was Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen who produced and detected x-rays. He was born in Lennep in 1845. Here is the Roentgen Museum.



Katja took us further to show us his birth house.



He was born in this house.





We saw the loveliest houses everywhere.





This is the market place, close to one of the churches.





Later we visited my host's parents, they are living on the seventh floor - what a gorgeous overview!



That's all for today
Bye
Freya

Hi Mummy,
today we visited a medieval castle in the neighbour city Solingen, Schloss Burg, It is situated high upon a hill above the River Wupper. Around the castle you can find many lovely old houses.



Indeed, this house is the oldest here, built in 1673, which means that it is 340 years old!



This is the castle.





There are some shops in the courtyard, they were still closed. We came here early because later it will be terribly hot. We knew than that the shops do not open before 10:30 a.m. The shop owners are mostly doing an "old" handcraft, for example handmade brushes, brooms, soap, lovely yarns and wooden knitting needles, toys like swords and helmets and of course souvenirs.



Schloss Burg was built in 1133 by Count Adolf I von Berg on a hill above the river Wupper.That's why this region is called "Bergisches Land".

About a hundred years later it was enlarged by Count Engelberg II von Berg. This is the man on the horse in the courtyard.



In Thirty Years War (17th century) large parts of the castle were destroyed. It was rebuilt then, but it was used for industrial purposes for many years. In the end of the 19th century they began to rebuild it as it appears today.

The round tower was the powder tower, it was restored about some years ago. There would be going on something later, there were beer stalls everywhere.



You have a fantastic overview from here across the valley of river Wupper.











There is a shop in the forecourt where they sell fruit wine and other kinds of wine. They had beautifully carved chairs to sit and enjoy the wine - but not in the early morning





We left the castle ground to take a walk in the beautiful surroundings. We walked through a small hamlet with beautiful gardens.



From here we walked into the forest.









We left the forest and came to the next rural hamlet.





This really sounds like a rural area



Katja helped me to take a lot of photos of beautiful flowers I saw in the gardens. Here they are



Bye for now
Freya

Hi Mummy,
a new guest arrvied today - it is Kirin from Chile. She has been here in 2011 already. She liked Germany so much that she asked if she  maybe could once more. Here she is!

#

In the afternoon we took a walk to the municipaol park, Katja, Kirin and I. The frist picture was taken close to Katja's former flat.



In this quarter you can find many old houses which survived World War II.

This is the police headquarter with a small park in front of it.



Soon we reached the municipal park.



The municipal park is really large, mostly a landscape park with old trees.



Not only trees, but also flowers like those lilies.





We found more flowers in the perennial garden.









Here you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and the neighbour city Wuppertal in the backgrond. Katja told us th at we would visit Wuppertal on Friday.



Love
Freya

Hi Mummy,
today we visted the neighbour city Wuppertal. After finishing work at 1:00 a.m. Katja's daughter met us and we went to Wuppertal by bus.

After having lunch we took a short walk through the city centre.

This is the market place in front of the city hall...



and one of the nearby shopping streets.



Our host suggested to visit "Hardt", a large landscape park in Wuppertal-Elberfeld. The botanical garden also would be situated there. That sounds great



On our way to Hardt Katja showed us a funny bridge. A funny bridge?

Yes, have a look - a Lego-Bridge!



This bridge is a concrete beam bridge which crosses over the Schwesterstraße. This bridge belongs to a former railway track was repainted as this Lego-Bridge in 2011. It even won a prize!





From here it was a short walk to Hardt, along a large allotment area.





Soon we reached the parkway. Those greenhouses belong to the Botanical garden. You can already see the greenhouses and Elise Tower, which was built in 1838 as the garden's focal point.



We strolled around the fantastic park, enjoying the sunshine.







In the Botanical garden you can find all kinds of plants, both trees and flowers, bushes and different kinds of grass, also herbs.







This is a bog garden with carnivorous plants.



Here you can see the former country house of a textile manufacturers named Eller, which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings,







When this large tree came into sight Kirin was jumping for you It is an araucaia from Chile, Kirin's home country.

Here is a close shot from the araucaia's branches. It looks like something living







We found this insect hotel, built as a miniature of Elise tower.



We also visited the greenhouses. Katja told us that today it was the first time that the temperature outside was even higher than inside the greenhouses. I found a banana plant.





Something you would have liked, Mummy





We left the park than to walk back to the city centre. We walked along river Wupper where Katja showed us the district court and of course the famous Schwebebahn (suspension railway). Unfortunaltely it is out of order currently due to repair works.





The Schwebebahn was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. There are 20 stations along the track which is about 13 km long, crossing some streets and even the A1 motorway.





The stations are built in different styles, this one is a modern one. Ther are also some stations which were kept or restored in their original historical style.



We went to Luisenviertel than, an old quarter, well known for lots of bars and restaurants, boutiques and small stores with jeweily, toys, home decoration and much more.





Did I already mention that it was incredibly hot today? After strolling through the city for more than 5 hours we enjoyed a large beer and small dinner in Luisenviertel.



We collected my photos taken with flowers for you



Love
Freya

Hi Mummy,

we took a walk today in the district Hasten, one of the historic districts. You can find lots of lovely old traditional houses here.







In the background the outskirts of Wuppertal are situated.



A museum is situated in this Patrician villa, built in late 18th century.







The "German Tool Museum" is situated on the the same estate. There are also outdoor facilities, some historic workshops and different machines.









I found  this statue in the garden behind the museum





Katja showed us more beautiful houses.



Here in Hasten you can often find factory buildings close to dwellings, mostly the factories were here at first.



Hasten is situated in the North of Remscheid, with a lot of woodland and rural areas around.









More factory buildings ...



Than Katja took us to a narrow lane.





From here we went back home, walking uphill for some time.

Bye
Freya

Hi Mummy,
today we took a walk in a woodland area around Hohenhagen, a housing area surrounded by woodland. We followed a forest track for some time.



There are four tracks for nordic walking created, with different lenghts. These signs are showing where to walk.



We had some rain during the last nights, so mushrooms are growing.









We went down to the nearby valley, here some houses are hidden.



These are dragon flowers, growing on a meadow.



Raspberries! Katja is looking foreward to the end of the month or early September, when many more berries will be ripe. She loves to cook jam from all kinds of fruit, also from wild fruit like elderberry, blackberry, rowan, hawthorn, blueberry or rose hip.



Along the path you can often find piles of trunks.







Bye
Freya

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
Freya

Hi Mummy,
today we managed to take Katja's adult son out to a walk. He wanted to have dinner with us, this meant also taking a longer walk with us

We started our trip downhill to Morsbachtal. We came along some older industrial complexes.







This road following the valley is one of the oldest parts of the city area.





We went into the forest than. All along the path these flowers were blooming - Himalayan balsam.



A farm was situated at the walking path. Here we saw geese ...



... a flock of sheep ...



... and a curious horse. It came to the fence to get cuddled, I believe.





What a lovely valley!





Katja also showed us this historic factory building (with an ugly pond in front of it )



Later we had to walk uphill for an eternity to get back to the city. Katja's son was a bit faster that I was.



After leaving the forest we still had to walk for almost half an hour to get home.



Here is one of three allotment areas in the municipal park. In the background you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and Wuppertal.



Let's have dinner now!

Bye
Freya

Hi Mummy,

it was not as hot today, so of course we took a walk. First we picked up one of Katja's friends and went to the city centre.





On this Sunday there were no kids playing in the fountain.



We walked down the shopping street.





We found this funny graffiti.



For a short while we waked through a forest where we found these cameroon sheep on a farm.



Too soon we left the forest to reach the district Luettringhausen/Goldenberg.



Does this also count as a flower picture?



Later we had to climb one of the steepest paths through a vast allotment area to get back to the city. Again the outskirts of Wuppertal were visible in the background.



Bye for now
Freya

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.



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







There were interesting sculptures showing insects, like these ants.



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







We found a  tree with  really large leafes.









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.



One last look at the city before had to look for our bus.



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

Bye
Freya

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
Freya

Hi Mummy,
autumn came over night! It is raining, it is ugly outside. Katja  told me that RikeH was waiting for me. So we packed my things and bought a local delicacy. Katja told me that it was enjoyed here dipped into coffee. I hope we can try it soon

I said good-bye to nosyblue and Kirin.



I enjoyed Remscheid, but now it is time to visit Rike.

Bye
Freya

Hello Mum, hello Dad,

I arrived in Sülfeld and met Dicker Kumpel. 



He introduced me to his guests.



I showed all the things I brought with me. RikeH and Dicker Kumpel say thanks to olgamaus!



We talked a lot - and then Dicker Kumpel told me, that you will come and visit us tomorrow! I am so excited!

Love
Freya

Hello Mum, hello Dad,

It was a great day today. Murph and Nathalie came and visited us!



We got a gift.



Later it was time for a surprise. Dicker Kumpel built a Time Machine for us.



We all were very surprised.



He had to tell us more about the technology inside and hoped that we would try it with him. It went darker and darker.







He opened the door. Should we trust him and try it out?



Yes, we did!



We all went into the machine.



Bye – it will start soon!







Love you Mum! Love you Dad!





There was a big silence inside the Time Machine and we only heard the noise of the Machine.






Then the noise stopped and the door opened.



Wow, what a trip!







We all felt fine – but where were we – and WHEN were we?





Murph and Dicker Kumpel jumped onto the Time Machine – it worked. We travelled through the time – it is Murph’s Birthday!



Yours
Freya

Hello Mum, hello Dad,

27th of September! 

It was Murph’s birthday and we created a wall out of mushrooms for him. It looked great!





Then we sang a wonderful birthday song for Murph.



And he got some gifts!





Then it was time for dinner. We had a marshmallows barbecue.





It was great sitting around the fire with friends.



Our marshmallows were ready.





It was delicious!



In the evening RikeH and HoBi had a great surprise for us! A firework!



It went darker!



It started!







What a wonderful evening!
Love
Freya