Travelog for: Margarida

In the afternoon we took a walk in Solingen, one of the neighbour towns of Remscheid. In Solingen knifes, scissors and swords are made for centuries. They also have an ice rink here. It is coloured with graffitti on the outside walls.



We took a walk on the "Korkenziehertrasse" (Corcscrew Route). It was also built on a closed railway track like the Route of Tools in Remscheid. This one in Solingen is about 11 km long, passing some districts of Solingen. It's name does not have anything to do with products of this town but with the course of this route. It's meandering through the town, maybe you can see it on the sign at the start, the former central station, at the depot.





Along the route you have industrial regions, housing areas and sometimes just forrest.



A really long and dark tunnel lies ahead. Can you see anything in the photo that seem to be .... a little bit wrong?



No? The driver of this car parked it in a really funny way.





The tunnel was illuminated but although a little bit spooky. At the rear end we found great graffitti.





You can have a look into the botanical garden from the lane.



We took the bus to get back to car where we started our walk.

I'll sleep on the heating this night to become really dry. Katja said I'd better make a trip in the washing machine because there still seem to be a light yellow shade around my ears, but not today.

Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
the sun finally found its way to Remscheid today! I could not wait to go outside and see more than rain and orange coloured soup. We were ready to go outside in the afternoon when the door bell rang. A package arrived with Hurley inside. Of course Hurley had to come with us.

We had to go to the next letterbox because Katja had written a few postcards to postcrossing members.





We started our trip at the muncipal park, we only had to walk a few minutes to get there. There is a pond in the park.





Katja showed us the observatory then an a bit of the park.





We then reached a district called "Hasten", one of the oldest districts of Remscheid. You can see many old houses here. Typical for this region are houses covered with schist, haf-timbered houses, both usually with green shutters. Normally they are more than 100 years old.













You can see that there is a lot of woodland in the town.



Here you can see the outskirts of the neighbour town Wuppertal in the background.



On the next photos I will show you a beautiful patrician house, built in 1778 A.D. A museum is situated in this house. Katja said we would visit the museum when the weather will be as worse as last week. To be honest, I don't want to relive such horrible weather again like we had last week here.









I just can't get enough of sunshine and those beautiful autumn colours.





Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
Katja showed us the town hall today.

The town hall was built in 1906 A.D., nearly destroyed in World War II and rebuilt afterwards in a more modern style.



In front of the town hall the farmer's market is taking place twice a week, there is also a pillar with a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.







Here you can see the water tower for the water supply of the city centre.



This is the shopping mall.





Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,

yesterday Theodore, a chipmunk from the USA, arrived. He was very hungry. The only food we found for him were some pecans.



We took a fantastic long walk today, about 14 kilometres. Katja has bought a book with 20 hiking routes in the environment of Remscheid. She met a friend and we went to Solingen-Unterburg by bus to follow one of the described routes.

Burg is one of the oldest districts of this Solingen, situated at the river Wupper and famous for Schloss Burg, a medieval castle. I will show you this castle later.

Here you can see some of the old houses in Solingen-Burg.



We had to walk straight uphill then for a while. After a few minutes walking we already were high above the river Wupper.



Here you can see a bothy for walkers.



We reached Sengbachtalsperre, a water reservoir dam. We were taking a rest on the dam.



Now you can see more of the dam.



We saw large piles of trunks. Katja told us that they had a terrible storm last year which destroyed large parts of the forrests. There are still many trunks that are waiting to be taken away.



We were playing with the falling leafes. I tried to catch them with my feet.



We had another rest here.



We left the forrest here and walked through a district with farms.





I saw goats here.



Our next destination was Schloss Burg. We could see it while we walked towards it.





Doesn't it look great? The castle was built in early 12th century on a mountain over the river Wupper. It was enlarged later, sometimes destroyed in wars and also fires. It was reconstructed in 1925 A.D. This is the gate, facing the street.



We walked through the inner courtyards and reached the main part of the castle ground. You can find some shops here where different arts and crafts are sold.







This equorial monument is showing Count Engelbert II vom Berg, one of the early souvereign of this region.



We walked downhill then. Here you can see a chair lift crossing the lane. We also saw many beautiful old houses.





When we reached the starting point we had coffee and wafers with cream in a cafe.



We also bought some Burger Pretzels, a local delicacy, here. We will eat them tomorrow. After 14 kilometres walking I only want to sleep.

Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,

we tasted the pretzels that we have bought yesterday. They are really good, but larger than me.



Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
we made an apple cake today. The weather is bad so we did not went out.

Yesterday Weasley arrived, a cool alien from Florida. He helped us. I had to wear a headscarf in case I should plop into the dough. So at least my ears were protected.

We started with weighing ourselfes instead of our ingredients.



We also teased Weasley - but only a little bit!





We finally sat down so Katja could start making the dough.

For our cake we needed

125 g butter
125 g sugar
1 vanilla sugar
3 eggs
200 g flour
3 tsp baking powder
3 soup spoons cream
50 ml light rum

4 apples, peeled and cut into quarters
200 g sour cream
75 g sugar
2 eggs
1 p vanilla sauce powder
salt



In the meantime I tasted Katja's coffee - Ugh!



Now the cake had to stay in the oven for 12 minutes.



In the meantime Katja tried to make the cake topping but somehow the beaters were missing ... Of course she found them!



We put the topping onto the pre-baked cake and than it had to stay in the oven for another 50 minutes.



The cake was ready then. And as you can see we already tried it. It's really good.



Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,

we visited Venlo in the Netherlands today! We met BlackCat with six more ToyVoyagers and went to Venlo by train.

Venlo is situated close to the German border. Many peple from Germany like going shopping in Venlo because you can buy some food much cheaper there than in Germany, due to lower taxes. Venlo's history goes back to Roman times. It developed into an important trade post on the river Meuse.

Look, here we are with BlackCat's guests.



There were also Odette and Titch, they did not want to come out of BlackCats bag - they were a little bit shy.

This is the post office, decorated with the national coat of arms of the Netherlands.



We walked through the old town then. You can see typical dutch houses here, made of bricks with gables showing to the street side.



This is the town hall of Venlo.



We went to the market then. Here you can see a cheese stand.



We took a walk to the river Meuse then. We wrote a postcard to another ToyVoyagers host. We hope she will like the card.











Back in the old town ...

Many people use their bikes in the Netherlands. The land is flat and you have cycle tracks next to almost every road, that makes it easer. You also have parking lots für the bikes.



These funny pink bunnies were the decoration of a a lingerie store.



A fountain in the old town ...





This is a store for home decoration. The store itself is decorated like a halloween party.



We saw a store which had a soap  bubbles machine installed at the front door. Soap bubbles without an end!



Then it was already time to go back to the station. In Wuppertal we left the train and went home by bus.

Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
today the weather was still fantastic and we took a walk in the forrest.

We started our trip in Remscheid-Hasten, one of the oldest districts of Remscheid. Soon we reached the border of the muncipal area.

We planned to walk to Wuppertal-Cronenberg. Wuppertal is the neighbour town of Remscheid. To get there we had to cross a valley and walk up steep uphill through the forrest.

We rested on a bench and enjoyed the sun.



The next rest took place on a barrier.



This little house is even situated alone in the middle of the forrest, like a whitchhouse in a fairy tale.



Later we had to cross a creek, there was no bridge, we had to climb and jump over stones.

When we reached Wuppertal-Cronenberg we saw lots of nice old houses and a church, built in 1767 A.D.







We we walked back home it already began tp get dark. We were all very tired afterwards.

Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
today we took a walk in Wuppertal-Beyenburg. Wuppertal is one of the neighbour towns of Remscheid. Beyenburg is a very old district, located at the river Wupper. In former times they had many dye works and weaving mills in Wuppertal along the river Wupper.

First we wallked through the forrest.





Here you can see a papermill, also located at the river Wupper. They are producing wall papers here. Can you see the weir?



Later we saw this fly agaric in the forrest.



I also want to show you the "Schwebebahn" of Wuppertal. Schwebebahn is a suspended monorail, travelling about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper, about 8 metres above the streets. At one point the railway crosses a motorway.







Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
Katja is knitting socks. It rather looks like a sleeping bag for little bunnies.



Margarida

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk through the town centre in Katja's lunch break.

When we leave our apartment in the morning to go to work is still dark, when we return home in the evening is already dark. We have very good weather today.

Here you can see the public library.



This is one of the churches in the town centre. A small farmers market is taking place here on Tuesday and Friday.







In this beautiful house a music school is located.



In this modern building some areas of the municipality are located.



This coal lorry is a present of Remscheid's twin town Wansbeck in Northumberland, England.





From a bridge you can see another district of Remscheid which is located on the highest hill. From there you have a fantastic view.



This little park belongs to the music school I showed you before.



From the bridge you can also look across the central bus station to the tower of the town hall.



Here we are back close to the town hall where Katja is working.



We bought something delicious for lunch. Even a bunny loves it.





Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
Katja knitted a pair of socks and a scarf for me! She said that my feet would be really dirty from holding me for taking photos. She called me a piggy. That's why I took a look at the inside of the washing machine.

Now I'm clean and fragrant.

Have a look at my new socks.





Bye
Margarida

Hi Mummy,
I'm on my way to BlackCat now.

I think I will arrive there tomorrow.

Bye
Margarida

Hey,

I arrived at my new host in Essen today. Here were some other TVs waiting. Tilda and Dieuwerke which I already knew from Venlo are there, too. I will meet other TVs later, maybe. But now we are 3 TVs.

Have a nice day,
Margarida