Travelog for: Minnilotta

Hi, I'm Minnilotta, a wannabe TV!
I'm told that I'm invited to Germany by a friendly rat. I will be on my way soon, so I'm saying goodbye to my friends.

Today is the day! I'm going to Germany! Wow, I've never been abroad before. Give me a hug, mum.

Bye now! I'm on my way!
Rattie Rat is waiting for me. He send me a message to tell me I can share his bed. I don't know about that... 
we have to know eachother a little better first!
I don't know anything about Germany, but I'm gonna find out. I hope it has a tropical climate 

Hello, hello,

this was such a long journey. A whole week from the NL to Germany! I'm so exhausted. But today in the afternoon I finally arrived.

I was immediately helped out of my travel bag.



Rattie is really nice. He was so happy I am here. He hugged me and couldn't stop repeating: Hello, hello, hello...
I gave him my small presents and then he couldn't stop repeating: Thank you, thank you, thank you...  He is so funny.



He gave me a little Easter egg. He said, he saved that specially for me. Isn't that cute?



Then Rattie's friend Beary came to say hello, and he brought a welcome poster along. Rattie forgot all about it, but he made it in the morning.



I am really really tired after this long journey. Rattie's human gave me something to drink and then offered me to have a little nap. I'll do that now.




I hope you and all the little friends are doing well.

Minnilotta

Good morning,

yes, it's me again, Minnilotta.
I just had a nice cup of cocoa and now I'd like to tell you where Alienne took me on Saturday.

Alienne's friend lives near a canal in Oldenburg. Isn't it a tiny bit like in the NL?



Imagine I met my first live rats! Alienne went to help her friend with spotting his rats with Stronghold. He said they scratch themselves a lot and possibly have mites.
So I first watched them doing it. Alienne's friend held the rat and Alienne put a little drop on the neck. Her friend has 18 rats, six of them are half wildies and they could not catch them. They were so fast, I could barely see them run.  But the other 12 were co-operating nicely.

Alienne and her friend took some photos afterwards.

This is Alienne holding me on her lap and feeding her rat Mia a little multivitamin paste.



And on the next two pictures you can see me with two of her friend's rats, Hexe and Seetha. They live together with Aisha. But Aisha didn't want to come out of her house.





We were home late. Rattie and Beary were sleeping already.
But we took the whole day yesterday to talk.

I wonder what we are going to do today. It is not very nice outside. Not sunny at all. And we all hope it  is not going to rain.

My best wishes,
Minni

Hello folks,

Alienne was without internet, so we couldn't update for a while.

And also often  the weather was not nice at all, and Alienne had some other probs,too, she had to deal with.
E.g. on Thursday she found a box with two little rat boys in front of her door. Maybe four weeks old, very thin. We haven't found out who put them there. So sad someone gets rid of them like that.
Alienne phoned a friend who took the little boys in. What an excitement.
We couldn't take photos with me and them because they were so shy.

The day before that the sun was out so Alienne took me along to the local ice cream café where she met with a friend. I was allowed to sit on the table and sip a bit of cappuccino, and also watch the people.



Doesn't the cocoa on the milk look like a big dog's paw??

After that Alienne's friend invited me to her house to meet her two cats, Mi and Mau.

First Mau was not interested in me at all but then he kissed me.





Mi is the older cat. He always acts very cool. He was found behind a dung heap, abandoned from his Ma as a tiny baby and he had to be fed from a little bottle. And- he was first mistaken as a she.
Well, maybe that's what made him what he is now. A little "strange" - in a nice way , though.



We went to see the three old rat ladies who live in a seperate room, too. But they were fast asleep and not to be seen. They are VERY old ladies, so they need their sleep.

Well, that was my adventures last week, so far.

You probably celbrate the troonswisseling today. We will watch it on tv. So in a way I'm with you, Emjay.

Have a great day!

Minnalotta

Look, a lot of oranje

Hi Minnilotta,

You're right: we're celebrating the "troonswisseling" and sitting in front of the telly! Have a good time!

Love,

Emjay

Hello friends,

Here are the photos of me and Rattie attending the troonswisseling celebrations on TV.

We had Rattie's friends watching, too.

Wave, Minni

Hello, hello,

today was a sunny day with a blue sky, but it was rather cold nevertheless. Especially with the wind.

But... Alienne and a friend took me to a nice little village called Dötlingen. Today on May 1st and it was all about gardens and culture there. So we walked around to look in some gardens and farms...
Alienne kept me warm in her coat pocket, but I had a good look over the rim of it. Sometimes she took me out to take my photos, and that was fun.

First I saw some sheep. There was a dog, too, taht looked after them, but I think he is not in the picture.



Then we came along some little lakes.



There was a really old tree and we were not allowed to go near it because it might collapse. Unfortunately the tree is not on focus. But I am in the picture, and that's the most important thing. 



And look at this! There was an old timer parked. And later on some more drove along the street. Wow! I would have loved to drive this one. But my legs are too short to reach the pedals. 



Further along the way there was an old church.



But before we reached it we turned left and visited one of the gardens.




But what I loved most was the "Queen". She was made by a local artist, Elke Tholen.



It was an interesting day, and I was glad it didn't rain.

Wave,
Minnilotta

Hello,

for today just a few notes.
Alienne had to make a short trip to Oldenburg and took me with her.

Here we are waiting for the train:



And these are two views at the Oldenburg market place.

An old restored house:




And the Town Hall and Church:




Enjoy,
yours, Minnilotta

Yes, it's me again, Minnilotta.
Hello!

On Friday afternoons Alienne usually meets up with friends at a friend's house. She is the one we were in Dötlingen with on May 1st, and Alienne always used to say she has a far more nicer garden than all the garden we got to see on the Garden Tour.

So she took me with her to see for myself. And yes, she is right. It is a fabulous garden. It was set out by her husband who unfortunately died in December.
It was the first time this year all friends could sit outside in the garden and have coffee and tea.

This is the entrance:



But usually only strangers use this entrance, friends enter from the side door.

Here you see me with the chicken:




All these are views I found in the different corners and places:















Look,here you can see Alienne in the background. 





Andlook, what I found! "Klompen"...












Now, isn't that a fantastic garden?

This was a nice afternoon in the sun. I hope the weather will stay...

Take care,
Minnilotta

Wow! What a day!

Hello, hello,

Alienne took me out on her bike to see some sight of the small town she lives in.

There's a little brook running through the town, and we had to follow it. First to reach the cloister area.





Here you can see the cloister area ahead of us.



There's a n old water mill.





Some views in the area:











Here are the ruins of the old cloister.



And this is the old cloister church, still in use.






Before we cycled on Alienne took a photo of our shadows on the ground.Can you see me?




Again we went along the little brook, and partially we came through a little grove.









Look, there were some grove windflowers.





And finally we reached the "Bank of Sculptures". It is not a bank, but a meadow really. But it's great. All the sculptures are made by a local artist, Wolf E. Schultz.

















You see, I had some exciting days. And I hope you enjoy my pictures.

Have a great Sunday. I'm thinking of you.
Minnilotta

Hello Emjay,

What a day! So many impressions!
Alienne took me sightseeing in Bremen. Bremen is the town of the Bremen Town Musicians, four animals - a donkey, a dog, a cat and a cock - who set out to find their luck and happiness and found it in Bremen, making music.

First Alienne took me to the Schnoor. It's a name for the oldest quarter in Bremen, the roots of this hanseatic city. The passages between the houses were often associated with occupations or objects, e.g. an area in which ropes (German"Schnur"/Schnoor) and cables were produced .























These were some views of the little and narrow streets. The oldest buildings are said to be from the 15th century, most are from the 17th and 18th. The quarter was restored and rebuild from 1959 on.

In some shop windows you can see the Bremen Town Musicians. Tourists want to buy them.







There were also some new houses in the area, very colourful I like that.

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Then we went over to the river Weser. It is not far from the Schnoor.



There's a foot and bike path along the river and via a little tunnel we could get to another historic part of Bremen, the Böttcherstraße.

The history of Böttcherstraße goes back to the Middle Ages. It was an important link between the market and the river. It was traditionally inhabited by coopers (Northern German: Böttcher).



Paula Modersohn-Becker, an important artist/painter in the area, has a museum here.



This is the "Glockenspiel Haus". You can hear it chime three times a day. If you want to hear it now you can click the audio file here. 



From the Böttcherstraße you get to the market place.

The Rathaus (town hall):



In the back you can see the "Roland" statue. We missed to take a photo with it because our attention was drawn to something else. You will see later.



These are the so-called "Giebelhäuser" (gable houses)



St. Petri Dom



The "Schütting" (former guild house)



And now you see why we forgot to take a photo with the Roland.
Suddenly we spotted this little fellow, a may bug. Right on concrete in the middle of the market square. Of course we took the little one with us to find it some plants to sit on.



The highlight of course was the visit of the Four Town Musicians.



Then we took our way back to the railway station and passed the "sows" ( old German word is "söge") at the beginning of the Sögestraße.





At last we passed the old rampart with the windmill.



Here we were met by two old women who asked why Alienne was taking a photo with me. When she told the story the two women thought that was a very nice idea. And they were astonished about the possibilities nowadays.

It was an interesting day, and when we came home my head was full of thinking material.

Have a great day, too, Emray.
Thinking of you,
Minni

Hello Emjay,
last Saturday a friend asked Alienne if she’d like to accompany her to a warehouse sale of farbenmix.de. She had to hurry because the train would leave in 20 Minutes but still she thought of asking me if I’d like to come along.
Of course I did!
We were picked up in Oldenburg at the station and then went by car to Schortens.  The sale was all about sewing. First of all there were all kinds of ribbons, but also fabrics. The proceeds go to a sewing project in the Cameroon.
On one wall there was an exhibition of handmade bags. So colourful!





There was also a display of the bags the Cameroon women made.



And this was Alienne's favourite bag. I liked it, too.



Today it is rather cold and rainy again. We don't like it.

Hope you are fine,
Minni

Hi Minnilotta,

Thanks soooo much for your lovely card and drawing!

Love,

your mummy Emjay & all your friends at home.