Travelog for: Owen H.M-Fips

Yesterday we went to a Christmas party. So first we wrapped the presents.



It was a surprise party so the others would not know who gave them their present.

And we had a very delicious meal at the restaurant: roast vension.

Yesterday my host had to sing at a Christmas Market. So I went along.
We practiced in a building nearby where they keep the plants from the cold. It was funny to sing Christmas songs between orange and palm trees







And of course we enjoyed a cup of Glühwein!

On Saturday we went to Zwickau to visit the automobile museum there.

First we had to find our way through snowy streets.



Then we found the entrance of the museum. Horch was one of the first car producers in Germany and he built his cars in Zwickau.



Let's take a walk trough the exhibition and take a journey through time, starting at the beginning of the 20th century.











I listened to the man at the petrol station and his stories:





A car and its seats from the inside:











An old GDR state car used for parades.





And then the story of the Trabant, THE eastern German family car started:









The 1,000,000th Trabant that had been produced. All together about 3 mio were built until 1990. After the reunification no-one wanted to buy this car anymore. Nowadays it's a cult car with lots of fans.

Ho Ho Ho!
Merry Christmas mommy!

I hope you had a great time.

We went to my host's parents for Christmas celebrations.

Here you see the Christmas tree.



Everyboday also gets a plate with sweets underneath the tree - yummy!



And this is the huge pile of presents which my host got!



And the pile of her brother:



On Christmas Eve we had a special dinner from Besserabia where my host's dad comes from. It's made with Sauerkraut, rice and meat balls. Very delicious!



We had a lot of snow. Look at the garden - everything is white.

On December 28th 2010 we had a winter BBQ.
First we went shopping at MARKTKAUF.





We got drinks.....



some food for the cat too.



I had a look at the DVD section too.



It was already dark outside when the BBQ started. We put candles in the snow hills in the garden.



To keep warm we lit a fire in a bin.



I helped with grilling the steaks and sausages.







But we also had salads to eat.



And we had some Gluhwein to drink.

Going by car these days is interesting.
First because streets can be very icy and one has to be careful while driving.
Second because the countryside looks great. Everywhere snow.





And the trees all frozen with ice and snow. They were glittering in the light.





Entering the village again:

Over new year we went on a trip to Potsdam, about 350km north, next to the Capital Berlin.

We stayed at a nice hotel and were welcomed with an interesting fruit plate. I had never seen a Salak fruit before.







On Thursday night we went to Berlin to visit the Circus Roncalli with their winter revue. What a great show with clowns, horses, acrobats... I loved it!









Sorry that pictures are not as good, but it was dark outside and with the flash... Inside we could not take photos durin the show.

Before circus we had dinner in a restaurant at Potsdamer Platz. There was a huge light show at the Sony Centre.





The restaurant we went to had Bavarian food, which is pretty strange considering we were in Berlin and Bavarian is very untypical for the region. But tourists seem to like it....





The meals looked delicious. The Schnitzel was giant.







The beer too. I had a Mas (1 litre) of Weißbier. Hardly managed to drink it.



The wall of fame at the restaurant - a lot of actors, politicians, musicians have visited there.

Today we took a stroll around the hotel grounds, along the lake Griebnitzsee.







In this area, which is near Babelsberg the German film mekka, there are a lot of villas that once belonged to film stars. Also politicians stayed here in 1945 after WW II for the Wannsee conference.

This is the villa Truman stayed in.





Here lived Marika Röck, German film star.



This is Babelsberg castle in the park.







Before the reunion of Germany the Berlin wall seperated Potsdam from Berlin, the lake was the natural border. That is why there are sings saying ' Mauerweg' ( wall path ).




At night we went to the Silvester Gala of the hotel and celebrated until 2am the next morning.



Happy new year!

Well, mommy, I still have to show you some pictures of when we
were in Potsdam. Sorry it took longer to post them....
but my host is very busy.

We took a bus tour to all the sights in and around Potsdam on our last day there.  The region is famous for all the castles and parks and they are all part of one UNESCO world heritage site.

The old church in Potsdam:



In front there is a huge construction site where they want to rebuild
the castle that was once there.

Then we went on to the Big Palais:









Castle Sanssouci:





On the grave of King Friedrich people put down potatoes to commemorate his introducing of potatoes as a main vegetable in Germany.



Then we went to  Castle Cecilienhof:



Were the last German emporer lived.







We finished our tour in the Dutch quarter of the town.





Back at the hotel I had a look into the minibar and found this:



A can with .... nothing to drink but a sour cucumber - strange, these Germans...

The weather here is getting nicer and nicer each day. No more snow. Today it was very warm in the sun, very spring like, so we took a stroll through a village nearby. It is called Thal.




Mh, where to go?



We went up to a little castle on the hill.



What a steep path!



But we had a great view over the region.





On top:









Look at that blue sky!

Dear mommy,

During the winter holidays in Germany we went to the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranien Sea.

We started from airport Frankfurt:



We stayed in a small hotel in Port de Soller. This is me on the balcony enjoying the view of the mountains in the north of Mallorca.



We walked down to the harbour on our first day. The weather was a little rainy and windy though.









We walked up the moutain to hike to Soller.









Though it was cloudy and cold we had a great day out.

On one day we went to Palma on the historical train that connects Soller and Palma. We had sunshine all day long-phantastic. The views were brilliant!











We strolled along the harbour of Palma, went to the beach.





We passed the cathedral on our way. Isn't it a huge building!?



Let's see what is explained on the panel:



The lovely blue sea:





Collecting shells on the beach:









We had a great time!

Hi! I've arrived in Finland! I'll be staying here in the Toyvoyagers' Foster care Home untill my mentor contacs me. People and tv's here seem to be very nice The FosterMom said she'd take me out for a photoshoot later!

Iloista joulua! Merry xmas! God jul! Buorrit juovllat! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! And so on!


And have a great new year - 2012!

Hi mom! It was good to hear from you! While you look for hosts for us we got to go out and explore the recently fallen snow  It's really really cold but our "FosterMom" says it's "only" -5 degrees Celcius.

Wohoo! Bernie and I are going to Germany! We'll pack tonight and leave tomorrow