Travelog for: Owen H.M-Fips

Hi I'm Owen Hankgozo Monkeyfips!

I'm so excited!

Today I became an official TV!!!

I can't wait to start my trek across the world!

I wanna go everywhere and see everything and take lots and lots of pics!!!

I even met with some seasoned TVs already! Baaarnaby, Laura Giraffe and Minidog! They are the best! Oh the stories they had to tell!!!
I've taken a photo with them!
You can see me, my friend Bernie R.G. Bear (who will soon become a TV as well!), Laura Giraffe, Minidog and Baaarnaby!!!
I also got to meet two other TVs, Miss Plum and Poppy the Dog!!!

I haven't even left yet and there's one of my Missions completed!!! YAY!!!

I'm off now in search of some lovely hosts!!!

Wow!!!

What an exciting day it's been for me!

I've gotten some lovely hosts now so I'm finally going to be on my way tomorrow!!!

I'll be off to Germany first!!!

My mom made me a nice little travelog to carry around with me!
And I'm taking a little gift for my host!

I'm too excited to go to sleep but I'll try!
It's a looooong way from home!
But I'm safe and snug and all ready for my adventure!

Germany tomorrow...next...THE WORLD!!!

See you soon!!!

Hi Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. I was welcomed by a whole bunch of ToyVoyagers:



My new friens are Honesty, Klaus, Vakinas, Twix  and iluaP ruhtrA, and of course my first host Katja. She told me that a little turtle, Squirt, also was a ToyVoyager hosted by her. Squirt is on a holiday trip with her parents at the moment.



I brought some presents for my host, she really loves the biro and the sticker. She also loves my diary.

Katja promised me that we would take a walk later in the afternoon.

Love
Owen

Hi Mummy,
as the weather was fantastic (after weeks with lots of rain, like Katja told me) we outside to take a walk. The first photo was taken close to my current home, an area in the city with a lot of nice old houses.





Remscheid is an old industrial town. Tools are produced here since middle ages. You can find a lot of old industrial sites among older dwellings.





The city centre is situated on top of a hill, which is surrounded by valleys with many forests, rivers and creeks and also rural landscape and farm land.





We reached one of the oldest districts in the municipal area than. It is called Hasten. You can find many of those houses here, which are typical for this region, half-timbered houses and houses which are covered with slate, both with usually green shutters and doors.



Those houses were usually built from late 1700s years until early 1900s years.









In this district you can also find a lot of industrial sites among dwellings.



They have a little quarter center here with shops, restaurants, banks and so on.



Those houses on the left side of the next photo are some of the oldest here in this district. They were built extremely close together.



This Patrician Villa was built in 1778/1779 and is one of Remscheid's landmarks. It was built by two brothers, rich merchants. Later the city's mayor was living in this house. Nowadays a museum is situated here.





Next we walked through a housing area, mostly you can find one-family houses here.





We came back to the centre of Hasten, here you have many companies and crafts enterprises.



When we already were tired from walking so long Katja told us that we would have to walk uphill now, we took a path in the municipal park, which is really large, extending along this hill with the city centre on top.



That was a very interesting first day in Germany, but now I'm tired. I need a banana and than I will probably fall asleep immediately.

Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
Katja took me and the little raccoon to her work place. In our lunch break we took a walk in the city centre. Because Katja is working close to the city hall this was our first stop.

The city hall was originally built in 1906, but was nearly destroyed in World War II and than rebuilt in a more modern style. Its tower is 48 m high.



The large open space in front of the city hall is the market place. A farmers market is held here twice a week.



There is a pillar with a lion statue on this place. The lion is the heraldic animal of Remscheid. In the background you can see the shopping mall.



This is the water tower, close to the city hall. As Remscheid was built on top of a hill, you can see those two towers (water tower and city hall) from far away.



Those tenaments were painted recently.



We found this shady playground...



... and lovely traditional houses.







Back in the city centre Katja showed us the central bus station.





Here you can see the company building of the local newspaper "Remscheider General-Anzeiger".



And this is the public library.



We reached the rear side of the shopping mall than. You can also see the city hall tower and the theatre on the left side.



Katja decided to get something for lunch - we were almost starving. We went to the shopping mall and bought french fries with onions.



Later I was invited by Katja's colleage to go on a short holiday trip with her to Palatinate Forest. Forest sounds great

I'm really curious - this forest is a designated nature park and the largest forest area within Germany.

Love
Owen

Hi Mummy,
I'm ready to go with Elke



Love
Owen

Hi Mummy,
Elke's home is decorated autumnally. Let's see how high I can fly with this kite.



This guy is looking sort of grumpily, but he seemed to be friendly although.



Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
we made a short stop in Cologne. Close to the central station you can find Cologne Cathedral. Its spires are almost hidden in the fog.



Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
today our trip to Palatinate Forest started. I took care that Elke packed everything into the suitcases.



Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,

I found a friend. He is looking really sad but although he can laugh out loud.

[img]Hab einen Kumpel gefunden. Er sieht zwar immer traurig aus, kann aber ganz herzhaft lachen.[/img]

Owen

Hi Mummy,
today we visited the "Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Vosges du Nord", one of 15 biosphere reserves in Germany. I wasn't sure if I liked this kind of artwork.



Thankfully this creature was not a real one.





Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
we visited a small town, Bad Bergzabern. Here you can see part of the old city wall, it is called "Stork Tower".



This is the "Deutsche Weintor" (German Wine Gate), which is marking the Southern beginning of the German Wine Route. This route was established in 1935 to connect all vintners villages to boost the wine sales.



Those chestnuts must be delicious - they are made of chocolate.



Those mushrooms are only decoration items. I want to visit a real mushroom forest!



I know this one exactly: It is a highly poisonous fly agaric. (Although there are no flies in sight and this mushroom cannot fly itself). But I know why it is called fly agaric. In the past people cut this mushroom into pieces and put it into sweetened milk. Flies tasted this mixture and died shortly after this.



We reached the parking lot of a historic castle. From there I had a great overview later.





We enjoyed a local delicacy: Tarte Flambée and Federweisser, the product of fermented freshly pressed grape juice, known as must. The term in principle includes all stages of fermentation from must to finished wine.



I don't know the name of this mushroom, but the whole forest smells like mushrooms.







What is this? A  troll aking a bath!



Our trip through the forest came to an end than.

Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
today we visited the "Technik-Museum" (Technical Museum) in Speyer. I've seen fascinating things there.



This are not toy cars - they are all on a scale of 1:1.





Four days passed  too fast, we were on our way back home than.



Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,
because of the fantastic weather we had to go out in the late afternoon, just to enjoy the warm sun.

I am living in this street at the moment.



The local court is close to my current home, the large building in the middle of the photo.



We went away from the city centre towards the district "Reinshagen".







Our path followed a railway track for a while.









We walked through a rural part of the city.









On the following photos you can see a very modern church, the tower is hidden behind the trees.



Bye
Owen

Hi Mummy,

we walked along a pilgrimage trail today from Wermelskirchen, one of the neighbour cities, to Altenberg Abbey in Odenthal. We followed the valley of the Eifgenbach (Eifgen creek). We walked through beautiful landscape and lovely hamlets.







This is the symbol of this trail, the Way of St. James.











We enjoyed the autumn sun.





After about 18 km walking we reached Altenberg Abbey.