Travelog for: BertieTheDuck

Hi everyone!

I've finally been told that I can start going out and that I might even get to visit Dublin, Finland and England with my foster parents and Dirkie How cool is that! I have been told that I might start travelling on my own before my foster parents go on their holiday so we'll see what happens. Yesterday I had some pictures taken with my friends.


This is me, my cat friend Felix and Chester


This is me and my fish friends


That's me and Chester sitting on an aloe vera


And that's us again trying to hide in the cat grass


And here's a photo with our friend Katie

Hello!

Today I've been helping my foster dad Dave together with Chester to fix the washing machine. I was also posing on a mini aloe vera


This is me with my screwdriver


This is me and Chester looking for some tools in Dave's toolbox.


And here's me on that small aloe vera plant which is actually growing on the wall of a sauna. Maybe they will let me try the sauna soon *wink, wink*

Hi!

Today we came to work with Katja. She works in a small private clinic as an interpreter and her shifts are 24 hour long so we even have to sleep here. Here's some photos.


That's me on the desk in the reception


That's me and Chester on top of the printer


And that's us posing on the x-ray machine


Can I give you a jab?


That's me with some sterilized instruments


This seems a bit too complicated for me...


...let's leave it to the doctors


I think these goggles weren't designed for ToyVoyagers...


And that's us going asleep.

Good night everybody!!

Hi!

Today we've been driving around a bit so I've finally seen some outside world Here are some photos


That's us just leaving home. You could actually see the vulcano, Teide, from here but unfortunately the camera didn't catch it.


Some houses there on the background...


That's the TF1 motorway and some palm trees...


...and a bridge. Today's not been a good photo day for me!


Tenerife has got many hills.

Hi!

Today I had to say goodbye to Chester He didn't get to see much of Tenerife because during the past week or so it's been really cloudy and it has even rained a couple of times. I'm going to see what the north of Tenerife looks like on Friday because Katja will have to go have an x-ray taken of her teeth in Santa Cruz as she's going to have her windom teeth pulled out in a week or two, ouch... I hope it's sunny on Friday so that we can take loads of nice pictures...if Katja dares. Here are some pictures of todays farewell..


It was really sad to say goodbye to my dear friend and brother Chester. I hope we'll meet again!


I helped to wrap him up so that he wouldn't get hurt on his way to Estonia.


Bye, bye!! 

Hi!

Yesterday I went up north with my foster mum Katja. We didn't get many good photos because it was very difficult to park near anywhere nice and Katja couldn't take photos from the car as she was driving. There wasn't anything nice near the hospital so we just got a few shots from the car when we parked up.


Here I am in the car at Al Campo shopping centre parking


Katja went shopping to Ikea


But I was left in the car


This was taken at Carrefour parking


This is just on our way out from Carrefour parking


It was a cloudy day, once again. This was taken on our way home.


Some view from the motorway near a place called Güimar


There's the sea!!


On this one you can see a bit more sea


We were trying to get the windmills on this photo


Ok, there's a better photo of the windmills.

I've been told that tomorrow, if it's sunny, we'll go to the beach!!

Today we've finally been to the beach It was really cloudy home in Guargacho, same as it's been for a while now, but we decided to see if it was any better closer to the coast and it sure was. It was nice and sunny on the beach until about 6 o'clock when it started getting cloudy. We were there only for a couple of hours as we didn't get there till 4 because Katja and Dave weren't sure if it was worth trying. But we were all glad that we went

Here's some pictures:




See the fountain on the background, you will see it better in a bit


I was really enjoying the sun!


Katja's flip flops there on the backgroud


San Telmo


There's a better picture of the fountain and it's working too


Once it started getting cloudy and we left the beach, Dave and Katja decided to get some kebab nearby, this picture was taken near the kebab place, show's you a bit more of the beach


And here's another similar photo


And this was taken already on our way home


And this one as well. They have awful lot of road works going here in Tenerife


Just getting of the motorway here and arriving to Las Chafiras


There was this boat by the road


You can see it better in this one


And then they had this huge sheep by the road too near home

Hi everyone!

Today Katja's been to a hospital in Santa Cruz to have her wisdom teeth taken out. I had a chance to see a bit more of Santa Cruz but only fom the car because Katja didn't feel like going out with her puffy face..

First some photos of a long street called Rambla de General Franco:






And here's some other photos of Santa Cruz...when we were trying to get out but Dave who was driving got lost...














On our way back home:

I've finally got myself a tag and a notebook and I'm finally ready to start travelling!! My first stop is with olgamaus in Germany. I will begin my trip tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Well I was supposed to start travelling today but just as I was going into my envelope, another suspicious envelope came from the US and I thought, wow, another ToyVoyager!



And then we opened the envelope and look who came out, Dirkie!



I was kind of sad because I knew I didn't have much time to spend with him and I decided to stay another day just to show Dirkie around the house a bit



I showed him the terrace first

That's the parsley plant

Some more plants

Then we had a look around inside and I introduced Dirkie to Felix, Katie and the fish. I think he was quite exited to meet so many animals











Then I showed him my friend Chester on the computer (the baby food is for my mommy who's had 3 wisdom teeth taken out on Saturday so she can't eat much now)

Today I have finally said goodbye and I'm on my way to Germany now! I hope to get there soon!


I only met Dirkie yesterday but he became a good friend


Bye bye!! Auf wiedersehen!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived at my first host's home today. When Katja (her name is also Katja - that's funny and easy to keep in mind) arrived from her work she found my envelope crammed into the post box, partly lolling out.

She took me into her apartment and opened my envelope. I was welcomed by Katja and little bear ToyVoyager Finja.



She emptied my envelope and found my notebook and some  cute stickers. She was really delighted.





To show me a little bit around Katja took me with her to the veterinary. She had to buy some medicine for one of her pets.

On the way to the vet she showed me the vicinity of my new home. I am now living in the house on the left side. It was built in 1904 A.D. Katja told me that we are living in a district that was not destroyed in World War II. Many of the old houses are still existing here.



This church is close to our home. Because the church is surrounded by large trees we could not make a photo of the whole church.



Here you can find many nice houses like these.



In front of the police station this little park is planted.



Here we are at the vet's house.



We bought the medicine and went home. Katja wanted to show me the ducks in the munciple park's pond. They even have ducklings but they were hinding somewhere. Next time we will feed ducks, maybe then they will come closer.



Can you see the fish in the background? It is the replication of the "Stinthengst". A "Stint" is a fish called "smelt" in english. The replication reminds of the historical tradition from East Prussia. East Prussia belonged to Germany from 1871 A.D. until 1945 A.D. In World War II this and other eastern regions were captured by Russia. Nowadays these regions belong to Poland.

The Stinthengst (king of fish) is a mythical creature that lived in the waters of the East Prussian region Nikolaiken. The king was caught one day. He promised the fishermen to fulfill all their dreams if they saved his life. They did, but to benefit from his magical strengh they chained him to a bridge, stuck into the net. The outflanked king of fish had to keep his promise and is fulfilling wishes even nowadays.

On this sign the story of the "Stinthengst" is written. Remscheid is related to Sensburg, the capital of the former region East Prussia, in a way similar to a twin town. Many people from this region are living here. They were displaces persons from World War II.



Here you can see the pond from another side.



We went home then. Later we will walk into the town to buy a bus ticket for Alex, Katja's daugter. She will go on a school excursion to a zoo tomorrow. Maybe I will go with her.

I like it here. It is not so hot like Tenerife and here are many trees and shady places.

We decided that I'd better not wear my sash all the time because every time it is bended a little bit this point will remain white. We will keep it safe in my envelope with my notebook. For "official photos" inside the house I will wear ist because then I don't have to be hold.

Bye
Bertie

Hi Mummy,
today the weather was really horrible. It was raining like hell. Have a look:





It never stopped raining so we were not able to take a walk. Instead Katja showed me her pets. Do you know what they are?







They are baby rats! Katja is keeping pet rats. The babies are about six weeks old. They are cute, cheeky and curious. They tried to steal my sash. They did not bite but they tickled me with their whiskers.

We made dinner together. We had pancakes filled with onions,  tuna and cheese.





We had raw vegetables with it, cucumber, sweet pepper and kohlrabi. It was delicious.



I was feeling a little bit homesick because of the bad weather but Katja had a good medicine against homesickness. Guess what?



She made sangria for us.  That was beating all thoughts about bad weather.  Katja told us that in other parts of Germany heavy rain caused flash floods and mudslide, so we should not complain about rain. (But the weather is bad bad bad!)

Finja will leave tomorrow, she is going to Austria. We made a nice good-bye-photo.



Maybe tomorrow another ToyVoyager will arrive. We have to fetch a letter from the post office tomorrow, one that is too large for the mail slot. Maybe it is Percy, the owl. We'll see!

Bye
Bertie

Hi Mummy,
today Katja took me with her when she returned to her workplace from her lunch break. The weather had become a little bit better but the sky was still grey.

This is the local court.



Now pictures of the pedestrian area are following.





When we came back home we found an envelope on the kitchen table. We could not wait to open it. The envelope came from abroad so it only could be a TovVoyager!





Yes, Percy from Okinawa arrived. We were very happy, Percy also. He was stuck in this envelope for 14 days. Percy is a mail owl and he's carrying a package of beautiful postcards with him. Every person that will host him is allowed to take one of the cards. Katja chose a really beautiful one.



In the afternoon the weather had become much better. So we decided to take a walk and show Percy a little bit of the town.

We started with a walk through the munciple park.



We climbed into a trellis. The roses smelled really good.



On this pillar the names of men that died in several wars from the early 1800's until World War I are engraved.



Percy wanted a photo of us sitting on a mail box.



We will go to bed early because we are going to a trade fair for pet supplies tomorrow. Katja is a member of a association that is exhibiting at his fair. Of course we will accompany her.

Maybe we will buy some duck food for me.

Bye
Bertie

Hi Mummy,
today we went to Rheinberg, we had to drive for an hour. We visited the trade fair “Tier & Wir” (animal & us). The Germand pet rat keeper’s association was exhibiting there. Katja is an active member of this association. They are informing interested people about pet rats keeping, about their needs, how the cages should look like, what they eat and so on. They also sell things from their own shop like coffee mugs, biros, t-shirts with their own logo printed on, books, stickers, stuffed rats, crafted things  and much more. The income from this sale will be used for animal protection.

We arrived in the morning. First we helped to put everything at it’s place.





Later we walked around and watched a lot of animals. There were guinea pigs, rabbits, reptiles, American minipigs, birds, chicken, fishes and horses.





They also had a petting zoo with lamas, sheep and goats. Percy and me met real goats.



You can buy all sorts of pet supplies like food and housings here, for dogs, for cats, for all sorts of rodents, for equitation, aquaristics and terraristics and also craftwork.





These are toy ducks for dogs.



This photo is taken outside of the fair buildings.



Katja fell in love with a cute plush mouse dressed perfectly and carrying a shopping bag. She simply could not resist to buy her. Of course she will become a travelling mouse though she already has two travelling mice.



We are looking foreward to dinner now. We are all very tired because we had to get up early. It was exciting today. A lot of people asked why Katja was taking photos of toys everywhere. She explained the ToyVoyagers idea to those people and they really liked it. Maybe one of them will have a look here.


Bye
Bertie