Travelog for: Wendy

Hi Mummy,
we tasted the pretzels today. They are really delicious.



Wolle left us today. She is visiting another host in Wuppertal for a few days. Wuppertal is one of the heighbour cities of Remscheid.

Bye
Wendy

Hi Mummy,
we made a hiking tour today. They have a hiking  trail in the neighbour city Wuppertal, it is called "Rund um Wuppertal" (Around Wuppertal). It is surrounding the municipal area of the city and it is about 120 km long. It is divided into several sections. We made two of them today, it must have been about 16 km.

We started our tour in Muengsten, here you can meet the River Wupper once more.



From here we had to walk uphill (we always have to walk uphill, I believe). We saw a lot of cut  trees here, funny faces were painted where branches had been cut off.





Our path was following the outer borders of the municipal area. In the background you can see Remscheid.





We rested on this chestnut tree, Can you see its buds?



We were walking along a valley with  a motorway feeder road running through.



We found some horned violets.





We walked through a small hamlet.



In the middle of the forest we reached a tram station. This is a stop station of a historical tram which once connected several outskirts of Wuppertal. The main track is closed and a "museum-tram" is following a part of the former track on a few days in the year.





Also in the forest we saw this old industrial building, a historical grindery. It was built in the 1850 years.







From a nearby outlook platform we had a great overwiev.



We reached a part of the forest than which is an arboretum, a collection of trees. From the 1820 years "foreign" trees were planted here, from 1900 A.D. trees from other continents were planted. After WW II trees from Northern America were planted in search of fast growing trees.

The arboretum is divided into several parts (one for each  continent) and our hiking trail was running through it.

I don't know exactly what sort of tree this is, but it certainly is not a local tree.



Someone carved figures out of tree trunks. I saw owls, little trees and mushrooms.



This is a  marker is telling you that you are in the region "Northern America".











We went to the bus than to drive home. In the background you can see Remscheid again, the two towers are the city hall and the water tower.



Bye
Wendyl

Hi Mummy,
it's Easter Sunday! Katja's family is visiting us. We are having a wonderful brunch.

We have marinated "matjes", several sorts of chesse and and ham, a carrot soup with ginger and egg-filled toast.





I even tasted sparkling wine - yummy



In Germany everybody is given an Easter basket as a present. They are filled with sweets, cooked and coloured eggs and a small Easter decoration.



In the afternoon we had coffee with some sweets.



Now I'm filled with meringue and cookies

Bye
Wendy

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in one of the valleys which are connecting the city centre with the districts Lennep and Luettringhausen. Both are rather old districts which had their own municipality before they were suburbanized to Remscheid.

You can find forests and pasture land here.





The forest soil is covered with anemones now, we saw white and yellow anemones.



There are only a few houses in the valley.





We had to walk uphill in the meantime. A good overview was the reward for this effort.





We walked into the centre of Luettringhausen and had a look at the historic city hall of the district.



Bye
Wendy

Hi Mummy,
we made walk to day in Remscheid-Hasten. We went through the municipal park to get there. Katja showed me an indoor swimming pool which is only for schools and swimming clubs.



Here are also alltoment gardens. The first flowers are blooming, here it is forsythia. Of coruse I like yellow flowers most of all





Here in Hasten you can find industrial buildings close to dwellings. Here you can see "Keiper", a famous company which produces car seats and custom car seats, also for Formula One cars.



We were reaching the oldest parts of the district than.







It seems as if you'd only walk uphill here



Here you can also see old industrial buildings and new ones between dwellings.



A pretty Patrician Villa came into sight. It is a museum and I have seen it before, but only the rear side.



It was built in the 1790 years.







Do you remember that I have been here when we still had snow?



And here is the pond which was frozen when I was here the last time.





In the park in front of the police station I found more yellow flowers.





Bye
Wendy

Hi Mummy,
I really enjoyed my stay here in Germany but now it's time to visit somebody else

Katja helped me to prepare my envelope and to write a postcard to my next host.



Next stop will be Ukraine! Tomorrow I will hop into my envelope and travel to Ukraine.

Hope to arrive there soon.

Love
Wendy

Great news, Wendy has finally arrived!
This is the very first moment after a release from the envelope:

P.S.: larger size photos will be hosted on my Nokia Ovi web album

It's good to be out of the envelope; but Wendy feel somewhat shy in a new place, so a good observation point is something everyone appreciates in this situation. Just to get used to the course of things 

Today we took a short walk around the city center.
At first, we passed by the St. Vladimir's cathedral, where most of national religious holidays are celebrated.

Then we saw the National Universtity (which my host has been attending for 5 years), and the park in front of it.

The park is a popular place for mid-day walks, and also a gathering point for many elderly people who spend many hours there playing chess and draughts.

In front of the university's central entrance stands a monument to Taras Shevchenko - a great Ukrainian poet and painter, whose name the university carries.

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and went to a local park.
First off, Wendy spotted a large flowerbed of blooming narcissus.

Then we passed by a small artificial lake in the Victory Park.
Local people enjoy feeding the ducks here, as they are rather funny when they eat 

...  and finally we reached our destination for today - the so-called "one wall building" 
From many vantage points it appears as a free standing wall. In reality it is under construction now and actually has a triangular form.