Travelog for: Theodore

Hi Mummy,
I want to show you my new furry friends today. They are really kind and hoggish. They always try to steal my pecan nuts.

This is Jordan.



Here are Karla and Jordan. Karla is one of the youngest pet rats and the most curious one.



The rats have a really funny furniture in their large cage. This is a trouser leg which is filled with scrap of paper. The rats love to hide in it.



Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
today we helped Katja to decorate the christmas tree. Yesterday her son went with his uncle to a farm where you can cut down your christmas tree. He found a really nice little spruce.






First we had to attach the christmas lights. It's not as easy as it seems.



Hanging up the christmas  tree ornaments was more fun.



I had to be careful because the ornaments are made of glass.

I like our christmas tree.





In Germany we are celebrating christmas eve. Katja invited her family. Her parents, her sister with her husband and her son and Katja's aunt will come.

I'm so exited!

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
it's christmas eve today. Most people in Germany are celebrating christmas today and the following two days.

Here we were sitting with the christmas presents, watching over them.





In the afternoon we had coffee and self made cookies.



Later we were sitting next to the christmas tree. Katja put all the christmas cards onto the dresser.





For dinner we had a fantastic meal: Savoy cabbage with several sorts of fish and pasta. Katja's daughter had cooked the whole meal on her own.

After dinner the presents were changed. What an exciting day!

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,

after eating too many sweets during the last days we decided to take a long walk today. Katja's daughter had to go to work, her son had planned to visit his Dad and Grandmother so nobody was missing her. The sun was shining although it was really cold. Outside everything was covered with hoar frost.

We met Katja's friend Erika, she also likes to take walks through the forrests and surroundings of Remscheid. To meet Erika we had to walk to the district Hasten, one of the oldest districts of Remscheid. We walked through the muncipal park to get there. From here we already could see Hasten.



In Hasten you can see many old houses.



This is the church of Hasten.



We than walked to Katja's friend to pick her up.





From here we left the streets and walked into a woodland area.





This is one of the typical houses.



Here you can find grazing land and cropland.



Later we had a rest on a tree trunk.





This is also one of the outskirts. Only here you can see overhead lines, usually you have underground cables.



We walked for about three and a  half hour. We had a last rest when the sun already began to go down.





We went home by bus. It was already dark when we reached our house. It was a fantastic trip, I love all the different trees here.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
the weather is fantastic here. It is cold and the sun in shining. The sky is as blue as in Florida. So Katja took us out in her lunch break when she had to do some shopping.

You can see the city arms here. Did I show it to you before? I don't know, so here it is.



This route is about 5 km long and is leading from the central train station to the district Hasten. Today we started somewhere in the middle of the route and walked towards the train station.

On the backside of a supermarket replications of  pictures of a local artist who died in 1988 are installed.





You can also see abandonded factory buildings.



These buildings are part of the former slaughterhouse. This complex is under preservation order. Nowadays these buildings are used by different companies.



Here are more signs showing names and company logos of sponsors.





We reached the central railway station. Oh dear, the whole railway station is a complete building site. You can see it in the background of the following photo.





I like the St. Andrews cross.



We went shopping then. We even bought some firework. We are invited by Katja's sister-in-law to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year, Mummy!

Theodore

Hi Mummy,
we were invited to spend New Year's Eve at the home of Katja's sister-in-law and her family. We went there at dinner time.

We had raclette. In Germany raclette usually is not made only with cheese and potatoes but also with several sorts of vegetables like sweet pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, sweet cornand sometimes meat or shrimps  which can be boiled on the of the raclette grill. We also had bread, potatoes and several salads.



You take your little pan, fill it with vegetables and put chesse over it. Then you put it into the raclette grill and it will be scalloped. It's delicious!

After dinner we played a card game whose rules are similar to Uno. We had a lot of fun.



Shortly before 12:00 pm.



                Happy New Year!

At midnight we toasted with sparkling wine and than we went outside to launch our fireworks.









We went home at 03:00 am.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
although Katja still has a bad cold we took a walk today. The sun was shining but it was really cold. So we went into town because Katja had to exchange something that she had bought. Here she showed us one of the churches in the town centre. In the foreground you can see a funny fountain.



We walked along the route of tools again. We saw that trees must have grown through one of the  bordering walls once. They were cut off.



Back home we were sitting in the kitchen window, looking to the town centre. In the background you can see the water tower and the town hall. Look how beautiful the red sunlight looked.



Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,

we went into the town centre with Katja today. It is really cold here, about -9°C. Katja told us that it hasn't been so cold for at least 15 years. It also snowed on Sunday, but not too much.

After work we took the first photos out of the office window, you can see part of the town hall, the shopping mall and the market place. The skating rink will be removed this week.



We had to walk only a few steps to reach the shopping mall. We took a few pictures here.





Again the town hall.



We went home then. The next photo is taken in the vicinity of my current home, in the crossroad.



Back home we went to the attic to have a look out of the roof light at the snowy roofs of the neighbour houses. You can also see the water tower and the town hall's tower. The moon is also visible.





We also took a look out of the living room window, at the front side of the house.





When Katja's daughter returned from work we took a walk to the muncipal park. It is only a few minutes to walk from here to get there. This time the duck pond is frozen up.



In the background you can see the outskirts of Remscheid and Wuppertal, the neighbour town.





We enjoyed the last sunrays on a bench.



Then suddenly I heard something plopping onto our bench ...



There was sitting a chipmunk girl!

She followed us from now on.

She climbed onto a tree when I did ...



... she climbed through this pile of tree trunks when I did ...

...

... and she followed me to play in the snow.



She even kissed me on my nose.





Then she disappeared into the forrest. Oh dear, I fell in love, I believe. I hope we will visit the muncipal park again tomorrow.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
the weather is still fantastic here, so we took a walk in the outskirts of the neighbour town Solingen.

We parked the car in Solingen-Unterburg and walked along the river Wupper. Everything is snowy and looks beautiful.





On the next photo you can see a pump which was used at Sengbach dam, a drinking water dam in the vicinity,





We saw an old building with a water wheel.



We reached the hamlet Balkhausen. Here we saw nice old houses.





We walked into woodland again and came along farmland.





Our path followed the river Wupper, we reached a point which is called Wupperhof.



We walked further and reached the parts of the town which are at the border to Leichlingen, another town which is adjoining to Solingen.

Here we saw old industrial buildings, one of them is now a tenement.



Here we rested on the axis of a large water wheel or another ancient machine for a while. This Alsation dog accompanied us.



Here we had the possibility to cross the river Wupper and walk back to the car.



This is our last picture, we were sitting at the banks of the river Wupper and had wet bums afterwards. But this beautiful photo was worth it.



Later in the evening, back home, Katja showed us in Google Earth where we had walked. We saw that we walked about 17 or 18 km.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
in the evening we helped Katja to make snowballs. No, not outside but in the kitchen.

Katja had promised her sister-in-law to bake a cake for her. She was celebrating her birthday a few days ago and will need two cakes tomorrow to celebrate her birthday at her working place in a elementary school.

So Katja decided to bake snowballs.

But how can you bake snowballs?

By the way, two new ToyVoyagers, Germania and Tiger Lilly, also helped to make snowballs. Germania and Tiger Lilly will start their journey soon.

First you have to bake a sponge cake, or you could buy one.

Then you prepare a cream containing curd cheese, creme fraiche, whipped cream, some sugar and amaretto. Here are the ingredients:

250 g curd cheese
150 g creme fraiche
125 ml amaretto
50 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar
400 ml whipped cream
2 packets Sahnesteif (a white powder which keeps the whipped creme tight)
200 g desiccated coconut




First you mix curd cheese, creme fraiche, sugar and amaretto. Then you have to make whipped cream and stir it to the other ingredients.



Now you have to rip the sponge cake into small pieces. Put the crumbs into the prepared cream and mingle both.







Put the desiccated coconut into a larger box. Then you have to form little balls with wet hands and to roll them into coconut.



We put the snowballs into paper muffin cups. Ready!



They are delicious!

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,

a new ToyVoyager arrived today. It's Fluffytail, a squirrel.



We took a walk to the  muncipal park in the afternoon. We came along the playground, in the background you can see one of the churches in the town centre.



Here we are in the muncipal park. The duck pond is still covered with ice, while the snow already melted away. The signs is showing something really typical for Germany: A prohibition sign. It says that you are not allowed to enter the frozen surface.



Here you can see more of the park.



This is a very special thing: A garden for blind people. All descriptions are made in braille and the flowers are planted at a convenient height. In summer they have flowers, herbs, sounds, stones and more.







This is the memorial for the victims of several wars.



I met the sweet chipmunk girl here a few weeks ago.



I want to meet her again, so I was looking for her. Elston and Fluffytail helped me, but they did not see her. I also did not find her. I'm a little bit sad. Katja tried to comfort me. She said that I can go the muncipal park as often as I like to look for the chipmunk girl.





We left the muncipal park, walked downhill and walked back home along the Route of Tools. Here we were back on  the street. These slate covered houses with green shutters are typical for this region, they are called "Bergische Häuser".



This steep street is leading back to the muncipal park. You have to be in a good shape to take walks here.



Bye
Theodore

Hello Mummy,
we had delicious fruits in the evening. Katja said we all should lose some weight, so we had fruits instead of a real dinner.

We had banana, a golden kiwi, an apple, physalis and honeydew melon.



We helped to cut all fruits into pieces.



We watched "Hundkatzemaus" on TV. That's a tv show about pets. In English the name would be "dogcatmouse". You can learn a lot about pets. I had also some peanuts, I shared them with Fluffytail, the squirrel.



We enjoyed it.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk in one of the many forrests today. We walked to a completely different directioin today.

In a small park in front of the police station I saw this pillar with the engraved coat of arms of Remscheid.



This is the view from the town centre to the south of Remscheid.



We walked along the industrial ruin of a former brewery, Kipper Brauerei.  Here you can see how it looked like before the buildings were demolished.



We rested a little bit on one of the remaining walls.



From here we walked into the forrest.





This sign says that this forrest is a nature reserve.



A creek is running through the forrest here. It is carrying a lot of water now because we had lots of rain this week.



Our last break on a tree trunk ...



No, it wasn't our last break, but at the least the last one in the forrest. The two ladies were hungry and had to go to .... I think you know where they had to go after walking two hours through the cold.

Our favourite break 



From here we got home by bus.

Bye

Hi Mummy,
today we visited Düsseldorf, the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is situated on the River Rhine and is renowned for its many events and also for its fashion and trade fairs.

We went there by train and walked to the town centre.

We saw this interesting pyramide, a fountain which is put out of service in winter,



this is a church, Johannekirche.



This is an equestrian sculture showing Emperor Wilhelm I, one of the former German Emperors, who lived from 1797 until 1888 A.D.



We reached Königsalle, the most famous shopping street here. They have stores of the world famous designers here. Königsallee is called "KÖ" here.







The small river Duessel is running through the town.



From here we walked to Altstadt (old town). Here you can see the town hall.



From here it is not far to river Rhine.











This is the Landtag of the state North Rhine-Westphalia, the provincial government, also situated at the river Rhine.







Here you can see an information board regarding to Rhine tower.



In Germany they definitely have too many traffic signs, even on footways.



Now you can see Rhine Tower.



It was already getting dark than. The river lookes so beautiful with the sun going down that we made more pictures.





Sunset in the haven.



We walked along the backside of the Landtag, here a library is situated.



When we returned to Altstadt all the pubs at the waterfront were illuminated.



Katja and her friend hat a few delicious beers later and an even more delicious mojito.

Bye
Theodore

Hi Mummy,
today Katja asked who wanted to take a walk. Only Theodore and I wanted, Elston's and Kelly's feet were still hurting. They are not used to walk so long. I'm sure they will get used to when  they stay here for a month.

Katja and her friend Birgit wanted to walk from Remscheid-Hasten to Wuppertal, to one of the outskirts that's close to Remscheid.

This is Haus Cleff in Remscheid Hasten. A museum showing domestic culture of the last centuries is situated here. The house is a beautiful patrician villa built in 1778 A.D.



Here you can see more very old buildings in an area called Steffenshammer.



This is a pond which belonged to a smithy. In the past they were run by a water wheel. The pond is still frozen.



We than walked uphill where you can often find farmland.





Bye
Thedore