Travelog for: Rocky Raccoon

Hello Mum,

Today we went to the Zoo of Bremerhaven.

I started with the ice bears. This one was a little tired at the beginning.



His friend was not so tired.






Then we came to the important part of the Zoo for Sean. I met two friendly penguins.






Look – I saw funny feet. Who will this be?



The feet of these birds.



Later I met another tired animal – maybe the penguins were the only one – next to the birds – who didn't sleep.



LOOK – Dicker Kumpel had a surprise for me, too. Some raccoons are living here.



I talked with them, but they were too fast for a good photo. Can you see him?





These are the footprints of us raccoons.



Look – there he jumped.



It was really interesting, but we had to move on.

I saw a seal in the water.





This was my last view over the Zoo – and I saw the two ice bears together.



It was a nice day in the Zoo.
Yours
Rocky Raccoon

Hello Mum,

We went to Hamburg. This was the old part of the port, but now they built many new houses here.



This is the Elbphilharmonie. It is a new building, too – and it gets more and more expensive.



We decided to take a short trip on a boat.





It is great to see the ships and the port from the Elbe River.








This is a really old sailing ship.



Well – maybe I will sail the seven seas in the future?



This building is the ‘alter Elbtunnel’ - a building where you can reach a tunnel under the Elbe River.



We decided not to walk under the Elbe, because it was a hot day.



Here I learnt a lot about the Elbtunnel.



Love
Rocky

Hello Mum,

It was a wonderful day today. I visited the Beatles Place in Hamburg – one of my life missions.



Here you can see the Beatles. The four famous ones  -  and a little far away a fifth member – of course you know, who he was, Mum.



The Beatles Place is in a – well let me call it – not so nice part of Hamburg – that’s why we saw a lot of police cars there.



You can see the surrounding – RikeH told us not to have a closer look in this street.



But back to the Beatles – maybe I am a member of the Beatles now?







Of course I visited the fifth member, too.



Maybe I should go into this street without asking RikeH?



Here you can see the whole place – it is round like a record.



It was great to see the Beatles Place in Hamburg.



Then we continued our walk and visited a park called Planten un Blomen (plants and flowers).

I liked this funny fountain.
 


And they had wonderful flowers.



We went into the tropical house and saw other beautiful plants.





I learnt that this plant is called Mother-in-Law’s chair. Can you imagine why?



It was a wonderful day in Hamburg, again.



Yours
Rocky Raccoon

Hello Mum,

RikeH just gave me your greetings - and I want to send some greetings back.

I have a great time here, hopefully you have a nice time without me, too.

Love
Rocky Raccoon

Hello Mum,

We are on the Amrum Island now. It is a beautiful Island in the North Sea. Today we took a walk.



It seems to be a nice place.



We walked along this wooden path.



And I saw this beautiful lake in the middle of the Dunes.





Then we climbed up a Dune and saw the lighthouse far away.



This is the view to the other side.



Here you see the smaller Dunes – maybe they will be high when I come back in 10 years?



It is a very big beach.



Many birds flew around there.



Mum, I have the strange feeling that the weather looks bad on the photos, but we didn’t have the feeling of bad weather.

Love
Rocky

Hello Mum, 

Today was an important day…but not for us ToyVoyagers. Dicker Kumpel’s Mum  RikeH married her finance on the lighthouse of Amrum today. We TVs were not with them, but we waited at home.



There were only some gifts, because they decided to celebrate their wedding only as a couple.



But someone wrote a huge card! Who was it? Well – how amazing! The ones of you who love Darts will definitely know this man!



Then we looked into a small nice book with lovely poems about love and marriage.



We all wanted to get a piece of the wedding cake!



I liked the flowers!



Later another gift arrived – it was from a very good friend of RikeH. We opened it and found this lovely pair of koala bears together with more nice stuff.



But now I want to say: Congratulations RikeH!

Love
Rocky

Hi Mum,

In the morning I went onto our balcony and saw the ferry.



Fortunately we still have some days here, so we enjoyed the sunshine.





Later that day the weather went much better – and I took a walk to the small beach – and saw another ferry.



Can you see the lighthouse far behind me?



It was great sitting in the Dunes.



And I found some nice shells.



Love
Rocky

Hello Mum,

Today we walked to a small lighthouse called Quermarkenfeuer. We saw nice Erica plants between the Dunes.





Then we saw the Quermarkenfeuer.



Look- there was an aerial photo of it.



I stood next to the small lighthouse and had great views over the Dunes – and to the North Sea.





What a nice small lighthouse!



We had to walk this way!



With a little rest in the erica.





Then we went to a place called Vogelkoje. I learnt a lot about it on this sign.



Ducks were caught in these traps in the Past.



This is a nicer place – insects can live in it.



On our way back we stopped next to this wonderful mill. It looked so great!



Yours
Rocky

Hello Mum,

Sunday was our last day on Amrum – and we relaxed on our beach chair.







We thought that it was boring to sit next to each other, so we all searched our own place.
Can you find me?



Yes, here I am!



Later that day we drove home to Sülfeld. I had two nice days there, but now it was time to say good-bye to Dicker Kumpel. We had a lot of fun together.



All TVs gave me a big hug – now I am on the way to my next host.



Bye
Rocky Raccoon

Hi Mummy,
I arrived at my new host's home today. There were Kirin, nosyblue and KoalaMimi and of course my host Katja to give me a warn welcome.



On Friday evening Katja usually is meeting a few friends, they are having their knitting evening than. Today there would be only one friend. In the late afternoon we took a walk to meet Katja's friend Kerstin and her dog halfway to her home. She is living in another district of Remscheid, in Luettringhausen.

Within the municipal area of Remscheid there are large woodland areas and valleys, so there is always a way to get to another district by taking a nice walk. So we went out to meet Kerstin.



This quarter is called Steinberg, in the background you can already see large open spaces.



We walked through a large allotment area.





This street is so steep that trucks are not allowed to drive downwards.





In the valley we walked through a lovely housing area. Someone seems to like lighthouses



There is an old factory building in the valley. There were many of them like Katja told us. They settled along the creeks since late mddle ages.



These are elderberries. This weekend we will go into the forest to pick a lot of them for cooking jam.



We rested under a tree for a short while, enjoying the sun.



We nearly reached Luettringhausen.





A large flock of sheep was grazing in the valley.







In the meantime we met Katja's friend and her dog. Now we walked a bit around with the dog.



There was a lovely house in the valley, unhabitated at the moment.



At the weekend we will also look for blackberries. There are still lots of ripe fruit waiting to be picked.



Hawthorne would also be great for jam, Katja told us.



We came a long a riding stable with large rural areas around.



The small city in the background is Luettringhausen.



Can you see the hill in the background, with the two towers? This is the city centre of Remscheid, with the water tower and the tower of the city hall.



Corn! Yummy



Later we went home, taking Kerstin with us. Than the ladies had a nice evening, knitting anything. Katja promised to knit a tiny sweater for me when it will get cold outside.

Bye
Rocky Raccoon

Hi Mummy,
hostmum 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.



First all the berries had to be sorted and washed. Washing was my job, of course 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.



(Why did I have to wash them when Katja made such a mess later?)

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
Rocky Raccoon

Hi Mummy,
today we cooked more jam, this time we used oranges, rosehips, hawthorn berries and the sloe fruits.

First the seeds of the rosehips had to be removed.



Than all the berries were cooked in a little bit water for about 10 minutes and given through the sieve mill.



A few oranges were filleted and mixed with the berries and gelling sugar.



We also helped Katja to create and print labels for the jars.



After hours of hard work here is the result:





Of course we tried both jams - yummy!

Bye
Rocky Raccoon

Hi Mummy,

today it is Bundestag elections day. After Katja went to the polls she took us on a walk to the municipal park.

It took us only a few minutes to get there. On our way there we came along those nice dwellings.





Here is a large playground, but no kid in sight.







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







We went to the municipal park than.



There is a pond in the park. Ducks and abandonded turtles are living here.







In the entrance area you can find the observatory.







This memorial is dedicated to the dead of several wars which took place before WW I. The momorial is placed in a lovely flower garden. There are still flowers blooming, although it is already autumn.











We left the park to reach the historical district Hasten. Here many lovely old houses remained while large parts of the city centre of Remscheid were destroyed in WW II.



Hasten has its own small inner city with several shops, bars and restaurants and also several industrial units, some of them working in historical buildings.







Hasten is surrounded by woodland, in the background there are the outskirts of the neighbour city Wuppertal.







This Patrician villa was built in the late 1790 years. Nowadays a museum is situated in the building.





The German Tool Museum (Deutsches Werkzeugmuseum) is also situated on this estate. Here you can see some of severeal outdoor facilities, the large garden on the museum's estate.













Another calm residental area ...





From here we had to walk for about 20 minutes to get home.

Later that afternoon we met a friend to take  a walk along river Wupper. We went to Solingen-Unterburg and than into the forest, close to a filter plant.



Katja showed us a weir.



We had a lot of fun following the river.







We found an ear trumpet which intensifies the sound of water running down the rocks - in rainy months a waterfall! Katja warned me to put my ear into it - maybe I could fall inside!

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There are information boards along the path, showing hiking trails and information about forest residentals and also plants.



Later we left the river bank and went uphill into the forest.



Katja showed us there tinder fungus. Already in ancient times tinder - what is found inside the tinder fungus - was used to light fire.



This is the chairlift to Oberburg, where a famous medieval castle is situated.



Later Katja showed us lovely old houses in Unterburg when we went back to the car. Most of them were built in 18th und 19th century..



... this one even in mid 17th century.



This creek - Eschbach - is mouthing into river Wupper here.



And here is the chairlift once more.



That's all for today.

Love
Rocky Raccoon

Hi Mummy,
today we went to the neighbour city Wuppertal to meet another ToyVoyager member, Strunki. She is also living in Remscheid.

Wuppertal is situated at the valley of the river Wupper. With about 343.000 inhabitants it is the largest city of the region Bergisches Land. Wuppertal is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks.

First we walked along the shopping streets.



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. Here you can see one of the stations in the city centre. This station is built in a modern style while others were restored in their original historic appearance.





Inside the station we found a route map.



Soon our train was coming in.



Inside the train it was rather narrow and the train was rocking along the curves



We left the train at the station "Landgericht". This station was restored one or two years ago in its original style, looking like a timber-framed house.



Here we met Strunki! One last look out of the station!



Strunki and Katja decided to drive to the Botanical garden. That sounds great! Inside the car we met some toys, accompanying Strunki in the car all the time. Of them them, the little polar bear, was very interested in our stories and we managed to wheedle him to become a ToyVoyager too. He seemed to be a bit shy



Soon we reached the Botanical garden. There are greenhouses and a lovely tower in entrance area - Eilse Tower.



The garden dates to 1890 when a botanical school garden was first created on a smaller terrain. Between 1908-1910 it relocated to today's site, the Villa of a textile manufactor named Eller, a former country house which contained a villa (built 1820), orangery, residential and farm buildings. Elise Tower was built in 1838 A.D. as the garden's focal point.



This is the villa.







The villa is decorated with mosaic patterns.





We explored the garden than. We found meadow saffron.



There is a bog garden with carnivorous plants.





Sunflowers ...





Next we visited the kitchen garden with herbs and crop plants like pumpkins.





There were also exotic plants like this banana tree.







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



These are tamarillo with edible fruits, originally from South America also.



There is an insect hotel shaped like Elise Tower.





Wiothin the villa complex there is a permanent exhibition showing cones from all over the world, from the smalles to the largest cones.





We went to one of the greenhouses than. An exhibition showing exotic butterflies and moths.



The greenhouse was secured so no butterfly could escape.







There were "snack bars" everywhere



This butterfly was black and brillant blue.







We hoped that a special butterfly would come to this banana plant, but unfortunately it did not.



The Botanical garden is situated on a hill called "Hardt". The Botanical Garden is only a small part of a vast landscape park. We strolled around for a while.



There is a Bismarck monument in the park, one of actually 173 within Germany in honour of the long-serving Prussian minister-president and first German Reichskanzler, Prince Otto von Bismarck - there were even 240 of th em once.





We found this weird piece of art work in the park.



At least it offered a good overview



We said good-bye to the park than to visit another attraction.



Katja told us that we would than visit a Lego bridge. Lego? Every child knows what Lego is, but a real Lego bridge in a city? We were really excited. Finally OleOrangescarf was brave enough to visit the bridge with us.

Indeed - a Lego bridge! It seemed to be made with giant Lego bricks.



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!







Good-bye for today!



Love
Rocky Raccoon