Travelog for: Mr. Forest

Finally, my mum bought me home.
I am settling down at my new home.
Then, I will find someone to host me in other countries.
Can't wait to start my journey.

My mum helped me and my older brother to setup a blog which is in both English and Chinese.
Not much to update now but soon it will be full of pictures of me!

Check it out.
THE SUPER SWEET ADVENTURE

Hi Mummy,
I reached my first travel destination - Remscheid in Germany, in the German state North-Rhine Westphalia.

Some more ToyVoyagers, Lamikins, nosyblue, Anna Pineapple, Sidney L. and  my host Katja gave me a warm welcome.





I arrived just in time to help preparing a German delicacy  - elderflower wine cooler. My host brought elderflowers from a friend's garden. Lemon, sugar, fresh mint and water was also needed.





We used the juice of one and a half lemon and some lemon slices. Everything was given into a large bowl.



Water was added and now this mixture has to rest for one day at room temperature, covered with a plate. Tomorrow it will have to be strained, given into the fridge and later cool white wine and sparkling wine will be added.

Than Katja made tea for me I immediately felt home here.





Good night!
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,

today we made the wine cooler. First the elderflower-mixture had to be strained.



The result was a slightly yellow, fragrant liquid.



A little bit was given into the glasses and white wine and sparkling wine added.



Cheers! This is a really yummy cocktail

Love
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the outskirts of Remscheid, in the district Lennep. When we parked the car I had a look at those skyscrapers, Katja told me that there were not many of them.



From here we went through a rural area with different fields. Here is growing  barley. It is used for brewing beer, Katja told me.



We went into a forest than. The ground was very wet and muddy, soon our feet and shoes became really dirty.



The branches of those larches were soft like fur.





All along the path foxglove is growing. Do we know foxglove in Hong Kong? Foxglove are looking beautiful, but they are poisonous.



The heavy rainfalls we had here during the week created a small creek across the path.





In a secluded hamlet we found this little church, it is called "Forest Church" (Waldkirche).

Out path led us along Wupper dam, a large barrier lake. River Wupper is dammed to a large lake.



On our way back to the car we walked along some more scenic hamlets.



In another barley field red poppies were growing.



Soon we reached the car and went back home.

Bye for today
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
today Katja promised us to show us an historic location while taking a walk. So we left the house and walked towards a valley, picking up a friend who wanted to come with us.





We walked through a rather old district where we saw many of those traditional houses, they are covered with slate.









Deep in the valley we came along this steelworks where stainless steel is produced.



We left the roads and followed a hiking path through the valley.





We found a fantastic place in the forest - an historic hammer mill.
Iron and steel was produced here since 15th century.





The hammer mill was run by a water wheel, all those hammer mills and forges were built at a creek or river.









A large millwheel was lying on the ground.





When we walked back home we had to walk uphill all the time

Bye
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
we visited friends today They are living in the neighbour city Wuppertal.

We went to Wuppertal by bus. Before we went to their house we took a walk in the city centre. Here you can see the historic concert hall.



Wuppertal is situated in the valley of river Wupper. From this place close to the concert hall we had a first overview.



Here you can see the concert hall once more. Sort of dancing contest was  taking place here today, everywhere you could see people dressed in fantastic dancing costumes.



This is a swimming bath, it is called "Schwimmoper" (swimming opera). It has room for 1.600 spectators.



We went down to the city centre than. The first thing you see is the Schwebebahn (Suspension Railway).



It was built in late 19th century and was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River. Most of the track is built over river Wupper.  The whole route is about 13,3 km long. Taking a trip from one end the other takes about 30 minutes.

Katja promised that we would take a short trip with the railway, so we went to the next station.



In Wuppertal you can find modern buildings and historic things close together, like this old bridge in front of recently built houses.



This is one of 20 stations along the track. The stations are built in different styles, this one is a really modern one, while you can also find stations in their original historic style.



Inside the station ...





Can you see the incoming train?



We took a short trip than, only three stations.



We got out of the train in a more industrial area, there were factory buildings built at the river bank.





This station was refurbished in its original style.



We walked back to the city centre.





We even saw the "Kaiserwagen", an historic train which you can hire for special events.



This is the court building, also situated close to the river.



Here you can see another of the more modern stations, built with a lot of glass.



In those buildings you can mostly find offices, but also bars, surgeries and smaller factories.





Our trip ended here and we went visiting our friends.



Bye
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
it is really warm here, too warm to go anywhere in the afternoon.

In the evening we viisited a friend of Katja, one of her knitting friends. We sat there on the balcony, enjoyed a cold beer and knitted.



Bye
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
this is my last day in Germany. It is incredibly hot here, the flats even do not cool down at night. We only took a short walk in the city centre to buy a few things. Our new guest Freya accompanied us.

This is the city hall with its tower ...



and this is a statue showing two giant forceps as a symbol for the tool producing industry in this city.



From here we went along the shopping street where you can find this large fountain in front of the main entrance of the shopping mall.





Later we found another fountain, a funny looking fountain tiled in many colors.







We went into the supermarket and spent some time in the cooled area for dairy products

In the evening I will say good-bye to my friends here and tomorrow I'm going to leave.

Love
Mr. Forest

Hi Mummy,
today I said good-bye to my friends and my first host and climbed into my travel envelope. When you are reading this, I am already on my way to .....

Moscow!!!



I hope I will arrive there within the next two weeks.

Love
Mr. Forest

Greetings from Moscow, dear Mummy!

Today I've safely reached the second destination of my trip - Moscow! I was so excited to visit this city! As my new host told me, Moscow is one of the largest European cities and also the capital of Russia. There are a lot of sights to see and explore and I hope my host will show me eveything within these three weeks!



At host's house I've met a duck called Ducky. Ducky is the oldest (she'll turn 17 soon!) and the most favourite toy of the host. She loves her so much because she's a gift from her parents for her first birthday. Sounds very cute!



And now we're going for a walk on "Vorobievy Gory" (Sparrow Hills)! In the evening I'll tell you, my dear Mummy, how it was!

Lots of love,
Mr. Forest. ♥

Dear Mummy,

In the evening I went to Vorobievy Gory (or Sparrow Hills). It's one of the best and beautiful place in Moscow besides Red Square (host promised me to show it next week!). There are a lot of trees and the air here is so fresh and clean! Also it's located near Moskva (Moscow) River which makes the place more wonderful! A lot of citizens like to spend their free time and weekends here. I saw a lot of people who were cycling, roller-skating, running etc.



So, to see the river, we went down to the embankment.



There we rented a bicycle and we were cycling for two hours across the embankment. It was really nice!









While cycling, we found a memorial plaque, dedicated to the War 1812. My host loves history and she told me about this war. War 1812 is known by a famous Battle of Borodino which happened on August 26 (September 7 by a new calendar), 1812. It's the hugest and bloodiest battle of the war. The winner wasn't defined because French won tactically and Russian won strategically.



Also, the host showed me Luzhniki Metro Bridge (you can see it behind me). It's a bridge which connects Luzniki and Vorobievy Gory and it has two levels. The upper level is for cars and the lower one is for metro. There's located a metro station called "Vorobievy Gory". Great bridge!



When the renting time ended, we decided to take a little walk near the river.





Do you see a huge building? This is Moscow State University which was founded in 1755 by Mikhail Lomonosov (as I said before, my host is a history geek). Also she said that Moscow is located on seven hills. No, it's not that too real, it's just a historical name of several elevated territories which Moscow was built on. So there are seven high buildings, commemorated to this legend. I saw one of them and I hope my host will show me the remaining six.



Some purple flowers near the river! ✿ ✿ ✿



After such a long stroll, we decided to go back to the car. Here I had a little break with delicious chocolate sandwich and black tea with caramel flavour. Very tasty!



Afterwards we continued to explore Vorobyovy Gory. There's an observation area where almost the whole Moscow can be seen. Unfortunately, we couldn't go there due to a huge amount of people (because it's weekend) but host promised me to come back here on a weekday.



We walked near Moscow State University which I've seen from the embankment. The building is really magnificent!





Then I wanted to play a bit in the green grass, it smelled so good!





Can you see me, Mummy?



In the end of our stroll, I decided to explore some trees around there. So this is a thuja.





And this is a spruce!



I got so tired during such a great stroll and we decided to come back home and take a sleep.





I like Moscow very much, Mummy! Thank you so much for allowing me to travel here!

Lots of love,
Mr. Forest. ♥

Dear Mummy,

Today I'm going with my host to visit her grandpa at his dacha in Moscow Region. My host explained me that "dacha" is a Russian name for a cottage in countryside. There's no good Internet connection, so I'll not be online for 4-5 days. But I'll try to write a blog from host's mobile phone. So no worries, Mummy, I'll be okay!



Lots of love,
Mr. Forest. ♥

Dear Mummy,

Today I've returned from amazing trip to the dacha! It's located in about 90 km from Moscow and the nature differs a bit. There were a lot of flowers, trees and grass! I liked that place because the air was really fresh.

There I found a lot of trees! All these trees were planted about 20 years ago by host's grandfather. He still takes care of them!

So this one is plum. It's purple and how my host said, it's soooo yummy!



This is an apple-tree. There I discovered a red apple! But we couldn't eat it because it's forbidden to eat apples from own trees before Savior of the Apple Feast Day which is celebrated here on August 19 every year.



But it smelled wonderful!



Then my host showed me some corn. It will be ready only in the end of August.



Afterwards I went to the garden! There were a few flowers because most of them blossomed in June-July. But anyway I found some!

This is "shrubby cinquefoil" which white flowers are very cute!





And yellow of course!



I was very lucky to find an orange lily!



Smelled good!



I found some pink phloxes in the graden! Unfortunately, a lot of flowers have already faded away.



Am I fabulous?



And then, after discovering around the garden, I decided to teeter on swings. Nice!



In the evening, me, my host and her family had a wonderful tea time with samovar! Samovar is a device to boil and heat water in it. Usually samovar is used for boiling water for tea. It's very popular in Russia and it's one of the symbols like matryoshka doll, balalaika..etc. By popular I mean samovar is a Russian tradition, all Russians use electric teapods now!





It was really fun to visit dacha!

Lots of love,
Mr. Forest. ♥

Dear Mummy,

Today me and my host spent all day in a mall to search some gifts for host's best friend.
That was very nice!



I found there amazing fake butterflies. Fake but beautiful!



We went through a lot of shops and in the end I got SO tired!



Lots of love,
Mr. Forest. ♥