Travelog for: LiLA Bear

Dear Diary,
Yesterday I had some kind of argument with my tutor. I finally decided to tell her about my traveling plans, and that was really upsetting for her... But really, it's her fault. She's the one who can't stop talking about places she wants to see when she's grown up (and rich...).  So of course she understood everything I said, but the thought of leaving me alone on such a long journey isn't easy for her. Finally she agreed to find some nice people willing to show me the world- maybe they'll even help me with my greatest dreams!
So I really hope there are some friendly guys who like cute little bears like me =D That would also help me to handle my complexes- I was given to my tutor as a christmas present by someone who doesn't really like her...
I'm already so exited =D

People I'll visit:
Marjolein (Netherlands) hosted
clgeorge (UK) hosted
Szandra (Hungary)hosted
Swit (Portugal)hosted
LydiaAbigail (Norway)
Eryah (Netherlands)
MarionJ (Estonia)
Delenna (Finland)
Raptor/+/Rex  (USA)
JaymeC (Japan, but US adress)
Lerie (Australia)
Vicki (South Africa)
BlackCat (Germany)

Dear Diary,
Tomorrow I'll start my journey to the Netherlands- honestly, I was quite disappointed when I saw that tiny envelope... And it was quite sad to say goodbye to Susi, my favourite cat. I'll miss her!

Well, after my tutor hugged me a last time I really had to squeeze in that envelope. Maybe I'll even reach the Netherlands alive =) My tutor told me it's great there, she once was on sailing holidays and loved those little islands =D

Due to some problems in school/life/whatever, my tutor couldn't bring me to the postoffice- she'll do it tomorrow. And at last she found a bigger envelope =D

Dear mum,

Good news! I finally arrived in 's-Hertogenbosch today! The trip was actually quite good, although it took a very loooooong time! Here you see me coming out of the envelop. Nick was welcoming me to Holland





Here I am!!!


I looked at my envelop and saw all the pretty stamps.


And I didn't come alone. I had my diary with me, a pretty card and a book about Graz, where I come from.


I will update again soon! Now I need a looooooong sleep! Bye!

Hello mum,

Marjolein was very excited today because Manchester United was playing in the Champions League final. Uhm, yeah well Marjolein is a big, no HUGE Manchester United fan. So she was constantly screaming during the gaming and pinching me when she found it too scary. Well, there was nothing else to do for Nick and me, then just make ourself comfy and watch the game.



Well, it was excited, Manchester scored a goal, Chelsea scored a goal, there was extra time, a Chelseadude hit a Manchesterdude and the Chelseadude got a red card so he had to leave. But it stayed 1-1 so it all came down to penalty's. Christiano Ronaldo (Manchester) missed his penalty, giving Chelsea some hope.
Edwin van der Sar (the goalkeeper of the Dutch national footballteam) was having a though time at first, guess he was tired.



But Edwin van der Sar did very good. John Terry (Chelsea) also missed his penalty and then Van der Sar stopped the penalty of Anelka (Chelsea) and this means:

Manchester United won the Champions League!!



Marjolein was jumping up and down and screaming and really acting a bit weird. But the people on tv where acting even more strange, but I guess they were all very happy with winning.



Can you see me?




Miss you! Love Lila

Dear mum,

I went to Vlissingen this weekend! Marjoleins parents took us to the province Zeeland. Vlissingen is near the coast and the sea. Nick and me had our own seat in the train!



This is the view from the window of the hotelroom







We took a walk by the sea of Vlissingen. It's the North Sea and we could almost see England haha.















And we took a walk in the city of Vlissingen. We saw some cool graffiti!



It was a beautiful, real Dutch city.



But this wasn't all; we went to the movies! To Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! It was a cool movie with lots of action and humor! And I had this HUGE bag of M&M's just for me!





After all this walking we went to bed in the hotelroom.

The next day we went to Belgium! To the city Brugge (Bruges). We had to drive from Vlissingen to Terneuzen and there go into a tunnel under the sea!





Not long after the tunnel we reached the Belgium boarder.



Nick and me had a very good seat in the front of the car, we could see everything. I thought Belgium looked really cool!





We are almost in Brugge!





Then we reached the entrance of Brugge. Too bad the bridge was up.



But after some waiting we can go through!





We parked the car and went checking out Brugge by foot. It is a really beautiful and old city! Marjolein said it was the most beautiful city she had ever seen!









After some sighteseeing we went to a real Belgium museum: the fries museum (Frietmusem)! Fries where of course invented in Belgium and it what's they're famous of.



Fries are called 'friet' in Belgium. In Dutch the mostly call it 'patat'. The museum first showed the history of the patato. This is me witha bunch of patato's.



I also baked some fries. Well okay not for real it was just pretend.











And at the end of the tour it was of course time to taste some fries! And these fries weren't pretend!





Well my belly was full, so of into the city again. Of course I wanted to be in a picture with the famous Belgium poet Guido Gezelle.





Do you see me sitting at his foot?



We also went into some churches. This is inside the 'Onze Lieve Vrouwe Kerk'. This is Madonna with child.



Children are baptised in this thing, it's like nothing I've ever seen before!



In the street I saw puppets sitting in the window! Maybe if they're done drinking tea they could join ToyVoyagers.



But fries aren't the only Belgium thing. They also have Belgium chocolate! So we went to the chocolatemuseum. Man, these cocaobeans are really big!



Aah I'm falling in!! I'm gonna die!! Help!



O no you're not falling! I will save you! Nick said.



Pfieuw happily Nick was there to save me!! I was really scared!

They had art completely made out of chocolate! I really liked the chocolatefairy.



And Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean.

That evening we went back to Vlissingen. I wanted to had my picture taken with lots of other stuff in Vlissingen to show you!

It was sad moment when we had to go home again. But I've enjoyed the weekend in Vlissingen en Brugge very much! And there was a surprise waiting for us when we got home! A new tv had arrived! It was Pingu from England!







He told me and Nick his journey had been good and he is looking forward to spending time with us in Den Bosch!

This was my story of this weekend. I'll be back soon! Love you!

Another tv arrived today! It was Roots Bear! He has already had a long yourney, because he was lost on his way to the Ukraine and ended up in Saudi Arabia! But now he is here and we will show him a good time

Dear mum,

Today I went sightseeing in the city 's-Hertogenbosch, or Den Bosch as the Dutch (lazy as they are) call it. It is a beautiful city! Marjolein took me on her bike. I could see everything from basket.



We drove into the citycentre where we arrived in a couple of minute because Marjolein and her boyfriend Kasper live very near the centre of Den Bosch. They just live here since September 2007. They have two rooms in a small house they share with another couple and they live above a snackbar! The people that own the snackbar are also the owners of the house above it. Marjolein and Kasper share a kitchen, bathroom and toilet with the other couple. They are from Den Bosch and know lots of people here. Marjolein and Kasper don't really know anyone so Marjolein is glad the tv's come to visit her now. Of course her friends and family visit but because Marjolein is from Groningen, which is in the north of the Netherlands and about 350 kilometres away, they don't visit often.

But we went to the citycentre.



This picture is not of a church as you might think. It actually where Marjolein and Kasper's docter and pharmacist are!



At this photo you can see the building of the docter better, it's built against the building that looks like a church.



Now, this is a church. And it has some weird art in front of it. It's called the 'Sint-Jacobskerk'. A 'kerk' is a church in Dutch.



This is just a really cool street.



And this is the Sint-Jans Cathedral on the marketplace called the 'Parade'.







This is the Hinthamerstraat (straat=street), the biggest shoppingstreet of Den Bosch.



And the inner citycentre, the market place called the 'Markt'. And you can see by all the stands it actually was a marketday.



They are working on the market. Renewing the bricks and stuff. And Marjolein told me there was a big statue of Jeroen Bosch (the person the city was named after, a writer) but he has been moved and Marjolein doesn't know where he went.

We also did some shopping. We went to a secondhand store. Do you like Marjoleins new shirt?



This is the most Tourist street of Den Bosch, from where you can take a trip in a boat all through Den Bosch. The innerwaters are called the Binnendieze. (binnen means inside) You also have the Buitendieze. (buiten means outside). Marjolein went on a boattrip in the Binnendieze when she just moved her and she says it is beautiful.





But there is a time of sightseeing and a time of going to the grocerystore, so we went to the Albert Heijn to get some milk.





On our way back we also saw some pretty sights.

And another tv arrived today! Another? Yes another! It's getting very gemutlich here! It was Chompers!!





He came from Remscheid, Germany and he brought a nice card!



Miss you! Lila

Dear mum,

I went to see the Dutch national footballteam today!! In the footballstadium of PSV Eindhoven in Eindhoven. The match was between Holland and Denmark. It was so cool!





Before the match, there was a giant toy on the field! He had a drum with 'Dutchy' on it. Marjolein told me this is the mascotte of the Dutch team. I said he should also travel but Marjolein doubts he will fit into an envelop. She told me a little secret: there is actually in man inside that lionssuit!



But then the match began. First it was time for the national anthems. The Dutch anthem is called the 'Wilhelmus' named after Willem I, king of the Netherlands in the 16th century. The song has 15 verses but they only sing one at the footballmatches. Most of the Dutch only know this verse.



That's the goalkeeper of the Netherlands, Edwin van der Sar, on the big screen. We also say him on television when Manchester United won the Champions League!



And they're off!





Do you see all the people nicely dressed in orange? Orange is the Dutch national colour. This is because their royalty's (queen Beatrix and family) are called Oranje (orange in Dutch).



Rafael van der Vaart (number 23, footballer of HSV, in Germany) took a cornerkick for Holland.



And Holland scored!!



Chompers was so excited! We couldn't see anything!



But I was also partying!


So when the second half of the match began, it was 1-0 for Holland.



But then Denmark got dangerous!



O no! Denmark scored!!



And that was the end of the match. The first half was very good, but the second half the Dutch team played sloppy and they let Denmark make a goal. I hope they will do better at the European Championship next month! This game was just for practice.



The stadion of PSV Eindhoven is a very beautiful stadium, also on the outside. It's called 'Philips Stadion' because Philips is their sponsor. Philips is a factory that makes lamps and other electric stuff. Eindhoven is therefore also called the 'Lichtstad' translated something like The city of Light. That sounds beautiful doesn't it?



Miss you! Love Lila

Hi mummy!!

We went to the biggest Bingo of Holland today! There where lots of Dutch singers and Marjolein and Kasper also won something! They both won a replica of the t-shirt the Dutch national team whore during the World Championship of 1974! It was so cool!

This all happened in the footballstadium of the club Vitesse, the Gelredome, in Arnhem (or Arnheim in German). It didn't really look like a stadium, like the Philips Stadion. But that's because the Gelredome was also built for things like performances of big artists and of course superbingo's hihi.



It was really big and there where about 36000 people inside!





Gerard Joling, who is a famous Dutch singer, presented it. He looks a bit weird in is golden suit but Marjolein said that's because he is gay.





Jan Smit also performed. He is from Volendam and he has is own real life soap. He has been a famous singer since he was very small and he sang a song for his grandmother. Marjolein has got one cd of him and she thinks he's cute. O and she has some underpants that say: Mrs Smit, as if she is Jan's wife haha. Marjolein got them from Kasper, he is a bit weird too.



Politicus Agnes Kant was also on the party. That is because the goal of the Bingo was to raise money for playgrounds for Dutch children. Agnes Kant also wants more playgrounds.



And of course was Rene Froger singing on stage! He also sings in English so I could finally understand some of the songs!



That's me in the photo with Rene Froger! It's a bit hard to see because Marjolein forgot to turn of the flash, but it really is me!



This is Edsilia Rombley. She went to the Eurovision Songcontest for the Netherlands twice. She never won.





Pingu filled in the Bingocards for Marjolein.



The biggest act was Frans Bauer! All Dutch people love him because they think he is so normal. The Dutch don't really like it when people are to drama. Frans did kidnap this child on stage but she seems to enjoy herself.







The Bingo was also the final for a program called 'Kinderen zingen met Sterren', which means Children sing with Stars. There where 4 teams on stage. The team that sang with the duo Nick and Simon from Volendam won.





We had a great time!

Love Lila

When we got home from the Gelredom a new tv had arrived! It was Davy! He is really sweet!