Travelog for: Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today we made a trip to Venlo, a small town in the Netherlands. Venlo is a city in the southeastern Netherlands, near the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg. Venlo is well-known as a city for shopping; lots of Germany are travelling to Venlo at the weekend to buy foodstuffs because some of them are much cheaper there. We went to Venlo by train, it took us 90 minutes to get there.

In the Netherlands millions of people are using their bikes.



It was just a short walk until we reached the city centre.



There are lots of lovely houses with shops, restaurants, cafés and bars.



Next we took a walk to river Mass, we had a coffee here.



There is an interesting contrast between the old town and those new buildings.









Do you like this historic building? I did!





There is a large market place in the city centre. You can buy all kinds of goods here, food like vegetables and fruits as well as flowers, fabrics, electrical equipment, candy ...



... and of course ... cheeeeese!!!



(Katja loves cheese, she bought some of it.)

Unfortunately it started to rain than and it did not stop any more. Later we went back home by train. Katja did not only buy cheese here, but also a very special beer from a British shop. A rather funny brand, I'll shop it to you later when we will enjoy it.

Love
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today we went to Remscheid-Lennep. My host lived in Remscheid since late summer 2014, and she grew up in the district Lennep.

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.

Katja's parents are still living here; her father in his appartment, her Mum in a nursing home. First she showed us the school she attended.



Next we went to the historic old town. Most houses are framework houses or they are (partly) covered with slate, traditionally with green shutters and a green door.



This church once belonged to a convent, nowadays it is used as a place of cultural interest, there is also a well-known restaurant.



Isn't this a lovely view, all those picturesque houses?





Here you can see _Mishuta_ and me sitting on the remains of the original city wall. It was used until about 1790, than the population were growing too large for the small city core. The city had to be enlarged and parts of the city wall were pulled down.





We found this fountain showing the heraldic animal of Remscheid, the lion.



We strolled through the old town and its narrow lanes. Here we came closer to the market place, you can also find one of two churches here.















This is a cozy place, it seems to invite you to sit down and order coffee But it is a private house, so no coffee is offered



A famous person was born in Lennep. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who produced and detected what is nowadays known as x-rays in 1895, was born in 1845 in Lennep. His birth house is still existent, but it was under construction and respectively hidden under a scaffolding. But they have a museum here dedicated to Roentgen.





The museum has a large new annex with a large ...



... X in front of it.



The building on the right side was an indoor swimming pool once, it was re-built to a youth center in the late 1970 years. When Katja moved to Lennep with her family in 1971, it was still a swimming pool, later she liked the youth center



We went to a nice park then.







As we had still enough time to spend until Katja could visit her Mum in the nursing home, she even took us to the outside of the city core. Here the houses were completely different, of course due to their later origin.





Soon we reached the end of the outskirt.



Behind those houses there just was green landscape waiting for us



Back to civilization.



Then it was time for Katja to meet her Mum and even later we met Katja's daughter who is living in Lennep with her boyfriend. That was a really exhausting day

Love
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

have a look at the new flowers





Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

in the early evening we took a walk with Jule, the dog. We went to Hardt, a small hill in the middle of the Wupper valley. It is partly covered by woodland and it contains a fantastic landscape park as well as the botanical garden of Wuppertal. It took us about 25 minutes to get there.

There are stairs everywhere to make it easier to walk uphill, often with more than 100 steps.





IN the background you can see the insurance company building I showed you last week or so.



Soon we were high enough to have a good overview. Can you see "Wicküler City"? It was a brewery once, nowadays there is a shopping mall in the former brewery complex.





It is highly visible that it is autumn now!



A few minuter we reached the top of the hill. Here you can find Elise Tower, one of the most famous landmarks of Wuppertal.



Elise Tower is marking the botanical garden. 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.



There are also greenhouses in the entrance area.





As it is not allowed to take dogs into the botanical garden I just had a quick look behind the fence.





We walked further and reached the landscape park.



In summer you can find lots of people relaxing on the lawns.





From the distance the tower is also a lovely view.







On the way downhill back home we crossed river Wupper.



This place is close to the court centre.





This is the Schwebebahn station "Landgericht", it was re-built in its original historic style some years ago.



Here you can find both local court and district court, in addition also the industrial court.



This is Wicküler City, the shopping mall, seen from the main street.



We made a side stop at a playground.





Huuu, our walk took longer that we thought



Katja showed me our home from the rear side. Can you spot our balcony?



Afterwards we played with the pets. Did I already show you those furry monsters? I don't think so ... cute little things with sharp teeth and a monstrous appetite!!!

Bye
Anton Bear

Hi Mum,

we were enjoying the sunshine on the balcony. My host was knitting. Looks nice what she is knitting.



I asked her if I could learn to knit, too. "Of course", she said.



It's not too difficult



Ups! Maybe it is more difficult than I thought



I was knitting and knitting .... and I made progress.





Today I met the pets. Look, there were four ferrets jumping around, they were curious to meet me.

This is Shiva, one of two oder ferret girls. The other tree are called Zaehnchen, Charlotte and MollyMops.



Zaehnchen was only showing her back.



The ferrets love to play on the balcony, but of course they are living inside, in an enclosure in the living room.

Later we went to Remscheid, we were invited to have (late) breakfast with a friend. After leaving the bus we had to walk a few minutes. Katja showed me the shopping street with the shopping mall.





These large forceps are a symbol for the tool producing industry here.



In the background you can see the city hall with its tower.



As we still had some time to get to Katja's friend, we walked around the streets. In this part of the city many old houses "survived" World War II.







Later we took a walk to a district which is about 6 km apart from the city centre, it is called Luettringhausen. We chose a nice route to get there.



When we walked through the outskirts we saw many old factory buildings among the dwellings.



Soon we reached a lovely valley with a creek running through it.











When we reached Luettringhausen Katja showed me the city hall. Luettringhausen is one of the historic districts, a bit like Lennep.



In Luettringhausen a market was taking place, called "Herbstmarkt". You could see lots of agricultural products and also historic tractors were exhibited.



If you had apple trees in your garden you could have taken your own apples here to make juice from them.



The narrow streets were crowded, so we enjoyed a beer and went back home.



Bye
Anton

Hi Mum,

we took off today for a short vacation in Northern Germany. We will stay in Owschlag for a few days. Owschlag is a small town in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein. We will live in the house of Katja's friend's parents. We arrived here in the afternoon and took a walk.





There are lots of lakes in the surroundings, from our house we can see the so-called Heideteich. The lake on the next photos is from a gravel plant.





Back home



Bye
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today we visited Eckernförde, a city on the coast of the Baltic Sea, exactly at the Eckernförde Bay. First we took a walk along the promenade to the harbour and later into the city centre.



In the spa gardens I found this sculpture.









There were lovely ships in the marina.











This is the market place.







Behind this building the church is hidden.











Then it was time for a walk along the shore! We drove to a parking lot just at the end of the city. We had to walk through the forest for a few minutes to reach the sea.



Here in this region there are forests close to the shore.









Forests gave way for meadows with cows.





Katja and her friend enjoyed a beer in a bar on a nearby camping ground. Afterwards we had to walk the same way back to the car.



There were large rocks along the beach which made it difficult and exhausting to walk there.



Everyone was tired then.

Bye
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today we made a day trip to Sylt. We went by train to Germanys northernmost island, located in the North Sea. In 1927 a dam was built

Sylt is connected to the German mainland by the Hindenburgdamm, a causeway with a railway line on top. We left the train in Keitum. Keitum is located on the Wadden Sea side of the island.

Houses like this are traditional in Nordfriesland.





This is the Wadden sea side of the island, the eastern coast. The Wadden Sea is famous for its rich flora and fauna, especially birds. In many areas you can even find seals.



The Eastern coast of the island is partly rather flat.





We found a map of Sylt.



We rested for a while in a  Strandkorb. You can find them everywhere along the German coast.







In the dunes there were lots of roses bushes, all with rosehips now.



We reached another interesting area, heathlands this time.



Wooden paths were leading through this area, you were not allowed to leave them.



It must be a lovely view when all the heather is blooming.



We reached the town Kampen then.



Here we crossed to island to get to the opposite coast, the western coast. We saw broad dunes here, with lovely houses hidden in them.





We walked towards the beach then.





Finally the sea came into sight.



Here we found a broad sandy beach and a beautiful cliff line.





We decided to rest for a while in the beach bar you can see in the background.



Cheers!



We walked further towards Westerland, the most famous town on this island.



In Westerland a special event was taking place - the Windsurf World Cup Sylt 2015. The award ceremony was going on when we reached th is place.



The promenade was crowded with people, it was a bit difficult to get through.









I found this statue on the promenade of Westerland.





My host and her friend were starving, so they only thought of getting something to eat

Bye
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today we visited Schleswig, a town in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein. The city lies at the western end of the Schlei Förde.The town history of Schleswig goes back to the year 804 when it was mentioned first.



We walked along the water and saw the cathedral.





We visited Holm, a historic quater where fishermen once lived and worked. The small houses were lovely.



Church and churchyard in the centre of the quarter.







Next stop was the cathedral.





There is an outlook platform in the tower, about 55 m high. Katja took me and _Mishuta_ up there.





Ah... the harbour!



Later we strolled through the city for a while.



Water from a higher located pond was flowing downhill over this water wheel.





Bye
Anton Bär

Hi Mum,

today is the last day of our trip to the Baltic Sea. Tomorrow we will have to go home. So today Katja and her friend wanted to take a walk along the coast outside the Eckernförde Bay. We drove to Schwedeneck, a small place at the coast.





Sailing boats were lying on the beach.



It was rather stormy, the sea churning.



We had to leave the beach and had to walk on the cliff through the forest instead.



Back on the beach ...





Back on the cliff because the waves were overflowing the beach.





Here we left the coastline and walked towards the inland.



We walked through a small village which was surrounded by farmland.





Later we walked back to the beach and then back to the car.

Bye
Anton Bear

Hi Mum,

the socks for my owner are done Katja told me I did a really good job.



Today we packed my things because I will leave tomorrow. Of course I collected some souvenirs, I especially  like the tiny seal wich I bought on the island Sylt.



My next destination will be Florida!!! This is really great. I said goodbye to _Mishuta_, Katja and the ferrets.

Bye!
Anton Bär