Travelog for: Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
something happened during the night ...



It looks like terrible cold.



Bye
Lady Katherine

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
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
have a look at  this ugly mess:



Hanging around in the law firm is not so exciting, but better than having wet feet

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
today the sun is shining and we had new snow in the morning. In Katja's lunch break we took a short walk in the city centre.

The city hall is close to my host's work place.



This is the main entrance of the shopping mall - I have been here before!



A shop for flowers and decorating items is situated here.



This is the public library. We had to go there to return an overdue DVD - it should have been returned two weeks ago.



This building was the company building of the local newspaper RGA (Remscheider General-Anzeiger).



Here you can see the central bus station.





Soon our lunch break was over.

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
today we went to a DIY-store to buy a new lock for the letter box.

Huhh... was so cold that I closed my wings.

This is one of the churches in the city centre.



The shopping street is beginning here.



All the trees on the space around the church are decorated with pretty yellow stars.



We walked to the station area next.





The station was built only a few years ago. The old building was demolished and the new "station" is only a small waiting zone along the track. But at least the whole area around the station was also rebuilt with a small shopping mall and a bridge for pedestrians to reach the city much easier.



When we reached the DIY-store the whole outdoor facilities were full of snow shovels and road salt. A horrible sight, that made me freeze even more!

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
today in the early evening Katja met her colleague to enjoy an eggnogg on the Christmas market.



Cheers!



(I'm going to tell you a secret: The ladies did not only have one eggnogg, no, they had four of them and they had a terrible hangover the next morning )

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
I helped Katja to wrap the last presents. Look what her sister will get!



Good-bye. little vampire!



I wish you a merry Christmas!

Love
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
today we met Katja's friend Kerstin and took a walk with her and her dog.

We went to Wuppertal, to Scharpenacken, a former army training area. This area was used for military purposes until 2004 A.D as a shooting range. Today there is a local recreation area with vast open areas, but also woodland.



The whole area will be renatured in the coming years.





A lot of people come here with their dogs to let them run and play.





Katja told me that Pepe, the dog, in summer usually is taking a bath in the creek which is running through the meadow.





Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
we went to Katja's sister-in-law's family today to celebrate the last day of the year. When we arrived, there already was everything prepared for Raclette.



There were lots of vegetables like sweet pepper, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, than there was beef and chicken meat, prawn, bread, potatoes and much more. Of course there was a lot of cheese

Later we called a tile-based game called "Rummikub". Do you know it?

At midnight we all had a glass of sparkling wine when we went outside for the fireworks.



Happy New Year!

Iit was raining the whole time, so the fireworks did not show up as nice as they could have had.



Love
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
today we made a trip to the neighbour city Wuppertal.

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. The Schwebebahn is crossing some streets and even a motorway!





Here you can see one of 20 stations along the 13,3 km long route. This one is nearby the local court and district court.It was rebuilt last year in its original historic style. It's the one we just had left.



We made a side trip to the Botanical garden because one of the TVs, Suny had a special wish which Katja tried to fulfill. The Botanical garden is situated high upon a hill called "Hardt" and we had to climb stairs after stairs for what felt like an eternity.

You can find the former country house of a 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.



Katja showed me a special tree in the garden, this one.



It looks more or less like a dangerous animal, but not like a tree. It is a monkey puzzle tree, (Araucaria araucana). It originally came from South America, from Chile and Western Argentinia. Due to similar climate conditions it can grow here.

Because a Botanical garden is not so exciting in winter we walked back to the city centre because we had only about 90 minutes until it would get dark.

Walking stairs downhill was much more fun



In the city centre we recognized that Wuppertal is much larger than Remscheid. The pretty city hall was hidden behind a scaffolding.





We saw the Schwebebahn again, next to a bank and a car park.





Here you can see one of the other stations, a modern one this time.



Later we met Katja's daughter here and we spend some hours in the shopping streets.

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
in the afternoon I played with the ferrets. There are three of them, but only Zaehnchen and Brighty had fun with me. The third one, Shiva, was sleeping.

Ferrets love to play rough games.



They are cheeky little things, trying to frighten me, but they have never met a vampire before!



When my host came home from work today she brought a large bag full of fruits. She is working in a law firm and a client brought those fruits for the staff  from his home in Greece in Southern Europe. He is doing this every year. He brought tangerines, kiwi fruits and lemons.

Katja told us that there were so many fruits that we would have to eat nothing but kiwi and tangerine for at least four days. She had a better idea: Let's cook jam!



First the tangerines were peeled an put into a sieve mill to press the juice of of them.



The kiwis were cut into small pieces, lemon peel and lemon juice were added and also a vanilla bean. We had to weigh the mixture, than the same weight gelling sugar was added.



This mixture had to boil for about four minutes.



It was pureed and filled into jars. The jars were placed upside down for a few minutes to create a vacuum which helps to preserve the jam.



Tomorrow we will try the jam for breakfast.

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
the weather is still ugly, nobody wants to go outside. Instead we helped Katja to prepare a veggie dinner.

First we fried zucchini and dryed tomatoes in a pan and added tomatoe sauce. Than we prepared feta to scallop the vegetables with it.







We cut the remaining feta into pieces and fillend them into a jar with garlic, herbs, spices and dried tomatoes.

GARLIC?! Oh noooo ...... Katja should know that vampires HATE garlic!



We filled the jar with olive oil than to preserve the cheese.



Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,

today we had the first day without rain since mid December! That's why Katja  already planned to take a walk in the afternoon, but first a new guest arrived, Stoker. Another vampire! Although Stoker believed he was a bat.



We walked to a nearby valley.



Soon we left the streets and walked towards the forest, through a rural hamlet. I met Cameroon sheep here.





This pretty house is hidden in the valley. Katja told me that those half-timbered houses were typical for this region.



It was rather cold - about freezing point!



We reached the district Luettringhausen than, one of the historic districts of Remscheid. When we came here the sun came out for a few minutes. Of course I would have preferred a dark cloud.



The weather forecast said that we would have better weather soon, even with sunshine at the weekend.

Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
the weather forecast was right - we are having fantastic weather. We decided to visit Muengsten Bridge, Germany's highest railway bridge.

Here you can see river Wupper, marking the border between Remscheid and the neighbour city Solingen. Muengsten Bridge is crossing this valley. Before it was built, it took people more than 40 km to get to the nearby neighbour city by train.



Here you can see the bridge overspanning the valley.



First we walked uphill on the Solingen side of the valley.





Muengsten Bridge was built of steel, completed in 1907. It is about 480 m long and 107 m tall. There are extensive repair works going on in the last few years, and there will be more this year from April till at least October.

All the puddles along the path are frozen!



Later we crossed river Wupper here at this small bridge.



We walked back on the Remscheid side of the valley than.





On the very first photo you can see an outlook pavilion. We came here on the way back and had a fantastic overview across the valley.



Bye
Lady Katherine

Hi Mummy,
we are having snow again! Not much, but enough for having cold and wet feet.



Bye
Lady Katherine