Travelog for: Tilda

On this evening we went to the castle park in Bedburg. I remember I was really sad on this evening because my host told Sebastiaan that he had to leave soon.

Here are the photos we took:

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. When I climbed out of my envelope I was welcomed by my new host, Katja, and the TovVoyagers Sylphide, Pip and Wadworth.





My last host wrote a nice postcard to Katja.



We had some fruits for lunch, peach and cherries.



We'll take a walk in the afternoon. My host told me that yesterday it was raining so she can't wait to get outside.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
in the afternoon I took my first walk here. All the other TVs went with me.

Katja wanted to show us the muncipal park and an old district of Remscheid.

At the entrance of the muncipal park the observatory is built.



We went into the park. Many flowers are blooming there.





There's also a pond in the muncipal park,



Then we went to an old district called "Hasten". This is one of the oldest districts of the town. Here you can see typical houses covered with schist.



This is the museum of local history. Katja promised to visit the museum if the weather should stay bad.



Here you can see an old factory building. Saws are made here. Im Remscheid all sorts of tools are made since centuries.



Remscheid is built on a hill so you often have to walk steep uphill (and of course sometimes downhill). I'm glad I can jump so fast.



In another little park a pillar is standing with the crest of the town and the names of the partner towns engraved. Remscheid has partner towns in England, France, the Czech Republik and in Saxony, one of 16 German states, formerly in the East of Germany.



Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today we helped Katja to cook a delicious soup with broccoli. We had broccoli, some deep frozen leek, green peas, vegetable stock, garlic and some spices.



First we put some fat into a pot and steamed leek, garlic and green peas, later we put the broccoli into the pot and added vegetable stock. It had to boil for a few minutes, then it had to be purreed.





We addef salt, pepper and spices like nutmeg, basil, oregano and mixed herbes from the health food shop. When the soup was almost ready, we added some green cheese and sour cream.



The soup was really delicious.

In the late evening we were sitting on the kitchen's window sill, looking outside. We had two candles.



While we were sitting there and talking we broke a secret. We told Wadworth where we will go next week (we were supposed to keep it for ourselves). We will fly to Munich on Tuesday. We will stay there until Thursday.

Katja told me that there is another animal living here that's called Matilda, but she is a real animal, not a ToyVoyager.

Here you can see Matilda:



Matilda is a pet rat. Here you can see her and her daughters Karla (the grey-white one) and Nicole (the black-hooded). They are very curious and they wanted to play with me.



They are not the only pet rats here. I was sitting with Sylphide in the corridor, where rat girl Jordan and her sisters were running around. The brown-white rat is Jordan, the others were hiding somewhere.





Jordan seems to be a foot fetishist!

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today a new ToyVoyager arrived, just in time. It's Barnardo from England.



We have to pack our things now, we will have to be at Duesseldorf Airport at 08:20 am tomorrow. So we will have to get up very early tomorrow.



Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today we went by train to International Airport Duesseldorf in the early morning. We were booked on a flight to Munich at 09:05 am. After the check-in we went to the observation deck. We hoped to see a few planes landing or starting.







We then got on board of our plane, an Airbus A 320.

when we arrived in Munich, we drove into town by train. We brought our luggage to our lodging and went into the old town by subway immidately.

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany. The town has about 1.35 million inhabitants.

We startet our visiting tour in the old town.

Here you can see Sendlinger Tor, part of the city's former fortification.



We were hungy and had lunch in a fancy doner kebap restaurant: Dönertier. It was opened by a Germany comedian, part of the famour duo Erkan & Stefan. Katja's daughter Alex was very anxious to visit this restaurant.

Erkan & Stefan created the "Dönertier", an animal that looks like a living kebap on it's spit. Alex wanted to buy such a plushy Dönertier.

Inside the restaurant we found a really exclusive interiour decoration, also many pictures showing the Dönertier.





We found a shop where exclusive chocolates and other sorts of sweets are sold. We bought some delicious pralines and a special bar of chocolate for Katja's son.



We made our way though the old town. I saw a lot of beautiful plastered houses.





Here you can see the new town hall, located at Marienplatz.



We then climbed upon Peterskirche, about 300 stairs. From the church tower you have a good look over the city centre.









Here I am in front of the national theatre.



To the same complex of buildings the Residence belongs, which is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs. You can also find the Court Garden in this complex. In the middle of the park in French style a circular temple (built in 1615 A.D.) is crowned by a statue of Bavaria.



We went to English Garden, one of the world's largest urban public parks. We wanted to drink a beer in the Biergarten at the Chinese Pagoda.

First we rested in the Monopterus, a replication of a classical Greek temple.



Katja had a surprise for us. She had contacted another ToyVoyager host who is living here in Munich. We met Pandamo in the evening. She also had some TovVoyagers to show them around.

We met at the German Museum, located on an island in the river Isar.

We saw some interesting things in the inner courtyard of the museum, for example this gigantic turbine, which belonged to a hydroelectric power station in China.



Here you can see a  carousel close to the building of the museum and part of a ship's propeller.



We walked along the river Isar with Pandamo. We made some group pictures with the TVs Mocha, Bestik and Hurley.





We saw the Golden Friedensengel, which is standing on a pillar, 38 metres high. This statue reminds of the peaceful 25 years after the war between Germany and France in 1870/1871.









We walked along the river Isar back to the English Garden to have another beer, but this time "Ein Maß", the Bavarian word for 1 litre beer.

We talked and talked and became really tired.  We went to our lodging in the late evening and fell asleep immediately.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
in the morning we visited Olympiapark. This is the Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Parts of the area are covered with a roof made of  plexiglas, hanging on gigantic poles made of steel.

Here you can see us sitting on one of the anchorage points.









At noon we went to the Biergarten in the park. Here in Bavaria you are allowed to drink beer in broad daylight.



After that we went to the Olympic tower which is 291 m high. At a height of 190 m there is an observation platform. From there you have a stunning view over the town.



Here you can see the Olympic Village, where the athletes lived when attending the 1972 Olympic Games.



We signed the visitor's book on the tower.



We went back to the town centre to see more of the old town.

In the town centre we visited the Viktualienmarkt, the most famous daily market in the town. You can find about 140 stalls and shops here where they sell all sorts of meat, vegetables, fruits, fish, herbs and spices flowers and more.

Katja's daughter tasted original Bavarian white sausages with sweet mustard and freshly baked pretzels.





We are now standing in front of the Hofbräuhaus. A pantomime was standing in front of the beer hall. He wanted Katja to make a photo of him with me and Alex.





Inside we ordered large beers, two "Maß". We also had lunch here. Alex had a Leberknödl soup and Katja had Obazda, a Bavarian cheese delicacy, a savoury blend of smashed mellow camembert prepared with cream cheese, cut onions and spicy paprika.





We were very tired after that. Katja and Alex went to a vegetarian restaurant, we TVs stayed in our lodging for the rest of the day.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,

today was our last day here in Munich. Yesterday in the late evening it started to rain heavily. Today it does not look better outside.

In the morning we visited the Residenz, but you are not allowed to take any bag inside the museum. Photos can only be taken without flashlight. We had to stay in Katja's bag at the warderobe.

Our flight back home was at 3:15 p.m. so we had to leave Munich early.

Here we are at the airport in Munich.



This is our plane, again an Airbus A 320.



I really enjoyed our trip to Munich.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,

yesterday Hendrieke arrived, a ToyVoyager from Austria. Hendrieke is a goose.




today we helped my new host Katja to prepare  her "Rumtopf" (fruit in rum).

We needed cherries (500 g), white rock candy (500 g) and a bottle of rum with 54 % alcohol.



First we had to clean the cherries and to pit them.



Then we had to layer cherries and rock candy into the ceramic pot. Then you have to add rum until cherries and sugar are complete covered.





We put the lid on the pot and put in into the cellar, where it is dark and cool. In two weeks we will add apricots and peaches.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today we met Felix, a travelling bunny. Felix is the main character of a popular children’s books series. When Felix is travelling, he sends letters home to his “host” Sophie. She is the little girl who owns Felix.

It was coincidence that Felix started travelling. In his first book he got lost on a holiday trip at the airport and made his journey round the world until he returned to his home. He became adventurous and started his next journey with the help of Sophie.



Here Felix is exploring space. He writes a letter to Sofie from space. In his books you can find real envelopes and real letters.





… and from the jungle …

[img][/img]

… and from other interesting locations like the sea bottom.

When he arrives safely at home Sophie is over the moon. Maybe she hopes that Felix will stay with her forever but he’s already thinking about new adventures.

Felix is like a ToyVoyager. I also hope to get home safely when I finished my adventures.

Here in Remscheid it is raining. On Thursday the weather will be better, the weather forecast says.

Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today the weather became much better. Since weekend it was not only raining but also  cold. We even had to turn on the heating. But today the sun was shining again.

The first photso are showing streets in the vicinity of my current home. Though you have to walk only a few minutes to get to the town centre with all its shops you have many trees here.





We went to the district Hasten. We walked along the route of tools (Trasse des Werkzeugs) which is a lane for pedestrians and cyclists which is build on a closed railroad line. It was sponsored by local companies. Each sponsor got a large metal sign with his name and a symbol for what the company is producing. In Remscheid tools are made since medieval times.



You can find more tool symbols along the lane, for example here, where wrench patterns are stamped into the tarmac.



Here you can see houses which are typical for this region. They are covered with schist and they often have green shutters. Most of them are build before 1900 A.D.





This photo is showing part of the shopping street of this district.



Here you can see something that is also typical for this region: Allotment gardens. Remscheid is located on a hill. You have many areas at the steep sides of the hill where houses cannot be built. Here you can find many of those allotments here. In Germany they are called "Schrebergarten".



We came back into the town centre. Here you can see a street where all houses survived World War II. In 1943 large parts of the town centre were destroyed but we are here in a part of the town that was not hit by bombs.



At the moment I'm living in the attic storey of the house on the left side.



Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today we went to Hitdorf with Katja's parents. Hitdorf is a small town located at the river Rhine. We took a walk along the river there.

Here you can see a ferry dock. The cable ferry is crossing the Rhine the whole day to bring cars, pedestrians, cyclists and biker to the other side.









These power poles have protection against floodwater.



We rested on a bank.



Many thistles are growing here.



This is the river mouth of the Wupper. The river Wupper is opening into the Rhine here.





On the other bank a flock of sheep is grazing.





Bye
Tilda

Hi Mummy,
today we visited the zoo in Wuppertal, one of the largest, most nicely landscaped zoos in Germany with many rare animals.

Wuppertal is the neighbour town of Remscheid, famous for the worldwide one and only Monorail Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn). The suspension railway travels along a route about 13 kilometres long, about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper and approximately 8 m above the city streets. At one point the railway even crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes. One of the stations is "Zoo/Stadion".











Here I am standing in front of the zoo.



This is the entrance area.



It was so hot today that many animals were hiding in the shadow or in their dens. The penguins were outside because it almost was their feeding time.







I saw Australian birds





and kangaroos!



This is one of the ponds for ducks and geese. The island in the middle belongs to a monkey enclosure. The monkey can run and climb here.



Here are seals.





When we left the zoo it started raining and we heard thunder in a distance. Now it's raining again.

Bye
Tilda