Venlo, Netherlands - 12th September 2015
By: olgamaus
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
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Posted Sep 14, 2015, 8:43 pm
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Remscheid-Lennep, Germany - 19th September 2015
By: olgamaus
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
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Posted Sep 20, 2015, 1:32 pm
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Wuppertal, at home, Germany - 20th September 2015
By: olgamaus
Hi Mum,
have a look at the new flowers
Anton Bär
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Posted Sep 20, 2015, 1:35 pm
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Wuppertal, Germany - 23rd September 2015
By: olgamaus
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
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Posted Sep 25, 2015, 5:18 pm
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Wuppertal, at home, Germany - 27th September 2015
By: olgamaus
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Posted Sep 30, 2015, 9:16 pm Last edited Sep 30, 2015, 9:41 pm by olgamaus
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Sylt, Germany - 4th October 2015
By: olgamaus
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
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Posted Oct 7, 2015, 6:12 pm Last edited Oct 20, 2015, 9:43 pm by olgamaus
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Wuppertal, at home, Germany - 11th October 2015
By: olgamaus
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
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Posted Oct 20, 2015, 9:38 pm
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