Travelog for: Walter

Hi! I'm Walter the lion, and I'm sure you'll agree, that though I might be small I'm a very fine lion indeed!
Anyway, I'm here to let you in on a secret. I don't like my jungle here anymore. A long time ago little children used to play with me and we'd have so much fun, but the last few years? Bah! I might as well be invisible for all the attention I've had, brought to light only to be moved from one dark box to another. Well, I've had enough! I'm leaving!

Well, today is the day! I'm a-going travelling! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see what's out there! Will I see some 'sights'? Meet new people? Have adventures? Try new food? Learn new languages? 
I've had an invitation to go to Germany for a while. Hmmm, that means climbing back in a dark box for the trip, but I can do it! And it'll give me some peace to practise my german before I get there!
Oh, Germany here I come! And I can't wait!

Hi there,
I arrived at my first host's home today. Here are already some ToyVoyagers. They are Murph, Cyryl, a lion like me, Cilly, Wieka and Nala. Katja is my first host.



She took me with her when she returned to her workplace after lunch break. The first photos were  taken in the vicinity of my home.



Many old houses!



This is a water tower, together with the tower of the city-hall it makes the typical silhouette of Remscheid.



And this is the city-hall. The Christmas-market is taking place in front of it, so we cannot take a proper photo of the city-hall.



When we returned home in the evening, we made cookies. Germans usually make lots of cookies before Christmas. Katja got the receipe from another ToyVoyager member from Austria. Today we tried to make them.

First we had to cook cream, honey and butter until the mass was thickening. Than we added almonds and candied fruit, later also some wheat flour.





We made little piles of dough onto a baking tray. They had to bake for about 10 minutes. Than the result was looking like this:



They were already delicious, but Katja added some melted chocolate, which made them even better.



Than I found the mug with the melted chocolate inside ...

Yummy!!!



The first day of my journey was really exciting.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
it snowed and it is about -15°C cold. In the morning we went to the farmer's market to buy some bread rolls. On our way to the market we had a look at the pond in the municipal park.



It looks so pretty!



Later we went with Katja's brother-in-law to buy a Christmas tree. We did not only buy it, we even wanted to fell it by ourselves. We went to a farm where Christmas trees are sold.



We had to drive further into a forrest. There you can fell the tree you like.





Playing in the snow was fun!



Katja's brother-in-law chose his tree. He has brought a large saw with him ...





We had to choose our tree than. Katja did not want such a large tree. Soon we found one.



Here our tree is packed into a net.



We drove back to the farm than to pay for the trees. In the meantime we had a look at the farm. They also have horses here.



They also have a booth here where they sell currywurst, wafers and hot drinks.



When we were home again Katja took us to the attic to have a look out of the rooflight. In the background you can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower.







It is so cold that I went in immediately.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
I'm wishing you a very happy holiday.




Bye
Walter

Hi ,
we had very bad weather again this week. Thank God as an Englishman I am used to bad weather Today it is also not good, but although we took a walk through the city centre.

This is the city hall with an ice skating rink in front of it. It will be removed in about two weeks.



On the pillar you can see the heraldic animal of Remscheid, a lion. The tower of the city hall is 48 m high!



Here you can see one of the entrances of the shopping mall.



This is the public library.



In this cute house a shop for flowers and decorating items was opened recently. Katja loves this shop.



Here you can see the shopping streets with its pedestrian area. Nothing special, Katja said. It looks like pedestrian areas all over the world.



We bought some fireworks today. It started raining again, so I disappeared into Katja's bag.

Bye
Walter

Hi
,
we were invited by Katja's sister-in-law to celebrate New Year's Eve.

First we had raclette for dinner with several sorts of cheese, potatoes, other vegetables and so on. It was delicious.

Later we played a nice board game: Cluedo.



Maybe you know this game, probably it is known almost all over the world.  You have to find out who murded the victim, Dr. Schwarz in the German version. You also have to find out which weapon was used and in which room the offence was committed. We had a lot of fun playing this game.



Almost midnight ...





Happy New Year!

We went outside and enjoyed the fireworks.








Bye
Walter

Hi,
today we took a walk in one of the valleys which are surrounding the municipal area of Remscheid. Of ocurse a creek is running through this valley.



You can see the city centre situated on a hill.







We had lots of fun when we played in the snow.



Bye
Walter

Hi,
I met Katja's pets today. We went into the garden with them to let them play in the snow. Katja is keeping ferrets, here you can see Shiva, she is very curious. She loves to play in the snow.



Ferrets are predators like me, in the evenings they share their raw flesh with me.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
today the weather is great, so we took a walk through the city.

These pretty houses are a restaurant with a beer garden and a gallery.





This is the central bus station.



This is one of the churches in the city centre.



Here the shopping street is beginning.



From here you can see the central station area. On  the left side there is the new built station and large industrial plants.



We walked to the Trasse des Werkzeugs (Route of Tools) than. This route is a lane for pedestrians and cyclists, built on a closed railway track. It is about 5 km long, leading from the central station to the district Hasten. The building of this route was sponsored by local tool producing companies - that's why it is called Route of Tools.



The railway crossing gates were closed right now ...



A train is crossing the street.



Close to the railway station you can find many industrial buildings along this route.



You can find signs showing the logos of some of the sponsoring companies.













This is the former slaughterhouse, the building complex is under monument protection. Today smaller companies and offices are situated here.





You can also find some dilapidated factory buildings here.







We left the Route of Tools here because it is only a few minutes to walk to our home.



Katja told us that this was only about half of the whole distance. Maybe we will see the rest soon.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
I helped Katja's daughter to cook goulash today. Not only me, but also Murph and Cyryl.

For cooking goulash you need beef, sweet pepper, onions and some spices.





We were waiting for the pressure cooker to open.



This smells delicious.



Bye
Walter

Hi,

we went to Cologne today. First we had to appompany Katja's daughter to the airport. She went on a class trip to Prague in the Czech Republic today.

Afterwards we went to the city centre. When you leave the train station the first thing you see is Cologne Cathedral.





Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church, seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and is under the administration of the archdiocese of Cologne. The cathedral is a World Heritage Site.

Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete; a period of over 600 years. The cathedral is he largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and one of the world's largest churches. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world. Its medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship of the Holy Roman Emperor.

It is so large that you cannot take any good photo from here.

We went to the shopping streets than. Here you can see the old brewhouse of "Früh", one of many "Kölsch"-breweries here.





Carnival season started on November, 11th. The residents of Cologne love carnival



This is Neumarkt. Can you see the large ice cream cone on one of the buildings?



This is one of the most famous buildings in the shopping street, the "whale" of Peek & Cloppenburg. You can see more of it here.



We went to the old town than. You can find old houses here which were built in 13th century. Not all of them, of course, but the old town still has this medieval character with its narrow lanes.



They have a lot of pubs here in the old town.



The remains of the old town are close to the river Rhine.





Opposite of those buildings there is the jetty of one of the excursion boats.



We walked along the rivr bank until we reached the old harbour. Nowadays several companies settled here and you can find extraordinarily expensive appartements here.



Two museums are also situated here on the Rhine peninsula, the Imhoff Schokoladenmuseum (Imhoff Chocolate museum) and the Deutsches Sport- and Olympia Museum (German sports- and olympics museum).





Those large buildings are partly still under construction.



We walked back to the city centre than.







From here you can see more Cologne Cathedral .



We went back to the train station and went home.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
we took a walk today in the outlying districts of Remscheid. We saw this fantastic "snowcat".



We walked through some rural districts.



In the distance you can see the city centre with its two towers: the city hall and the water tower.





Bye
Walter

Hi Mummy,
we visited the neighbour city Wuppertal today. Katja met a friend to take a walk. She said that the forrests are still covered with ice on the ground, so you cannot walk comfortly there. So she decided to visit Wuppertal.

We went there by bus and got off the bus in the city centre with its shopping streets.





The name of the city Wuppertal is made up of two words: "Wupper" is the river which is running through the city and "Tal" means valley. This city was built in the valley of the river Wupper. On the next photo you can see how steep it is going uphill.



Before climbing out of the valley we needed refreshments.



Than we went uphill ....



Most parts of the city were built in 19th century. For pedestrians more than 500 stairs were built in the steep slopes to connect the streets. We walked up and down some of them today.



We walked to the "Nordstadt", one of many districts, where we saw lots of pretty art-nouveau-houses.







We walked back downhill through a small park.



We walked to another quarter than, "Briller Viertel" where the rich factory owners built their mansions, mostly in 19th and early 20th century.









We took those stairs to walk back to the valley. These stairs are under monument protection, like many of them.



When we walked back to the bus station we walked through a street called "Löwenstraße" (Lion Street). Cilly found a street named "Bärenstraße" (Bear Street).



We went home by bus than.

Bye
Walter

Hi,
I am on my way to my next host in Poland now.

Bye
Walter