Travelog for: Paddington Bear

Hello Mummy,
I arrived in Remscheid today. My journey did not last too long, although I had to travel by ship or train.



Now I'm waiting to go outside.

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
today we finally took a short walk through the city centre. Katja is working close to the city hall. So this was the first reason to take a photo.



We went to the shopping street than. Here you can see a sculpture showing two large forceps. In Remscheid tools are produced since the middle ages, so the forceps are a symbol for the tool producing industry here.



Here I am in front of the shopping mall. The large fountain is still covered, it will be until there will be definitely no more frost in the night.





The next two photos were taken in the vicinity of my current home. In this part of the city you can find mostly old houses which survived World War II.



You can often find half-timbered  houses or those wich are covered with slate  here. They usually  have green shutters, it is a very special "green", it is called "Bergisch Green". (This region here is called Bergisches Land).



That was enough sightseeing for today

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we are celebrating a really important commemoration day today: The Day of German Beer. Since 1984 the issuance of the "Reinheitsgebot"  (German Beer Purity Law) is celebrated by the German brewers.



We also did



Cheers!

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the suburbs of Remscheid. We started in Remsched-Hasten, which is one of the oldest districts in the municipal area. In Hasten you can find lots of pretty old houses. They are often half-timbered houses or covered with slate. Usually they have green shutters.







This is the creek "Morsbach", this valley is named after this creeek.





I saw a running water wheel here.



Several creeks are running through this valley. This one is dammed to a fish pond here.



We walked uphil through a shady forest than.



The shady forest changed into a sunny forest ...



From here you had a good look at the city centre in the distance. You can see the tower of the city hall and the water tower from here.





We walked along a small hamlet.













That was a really long  walk, more than two hours.

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we had to buy a few things in our lunch break, so went into the city centre.

This is a nice home decoration and flower store. The chair in front of the house is about 4 m high!



Pink blooming trees everywhere !



This is the public library.





This is a nice beer garden, but unfortunately it is not opened yet.



In front of the shopping mall 16 trees are planted with an stone pillar in front of each tree. The pillars are showing the coats of arms of the 16 German states. This one is showing the coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state where I'm staying at the moment.



We went into the shopping mall than.



You can buy home decoration, dishes, glasses and other stuff here in those shops.



Time to go back to work now.

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
Katja's parents visited us today. Katja told about us ToyVoyagers. She also mentioned that I would like to make a boat trip because her parents will go on vacation to one of the East Frisian Island, to Juist, this weekend. You can only get there by ferry or plane - no cars are allowed on the island.

I'll go with Katja's parents to Juist on Sunday

I will stay with them for a few days and then they will send me back to Katja. So you will have to wait for news for a few days.

See you soon
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we are waiting for the ferry which will  take us to Juist.



Do you know where Juist is? It is a really small island in the district Aurich in the German State Lower Saxony. You can see it here on this map:



The island is 17 km long and - depending on the level of tide - only 500 m wide. The island is situated about 13 km beeline apart from the mainland. The ferry will take a large curve to get to Juist. The passage with the ferry will last about 90 minutes.

I am a little bit nervous because this is my first boat trip. I hope I won't need a barf bag.

Hi Mum,
we are on the ferry now, leaving Norddeich harbour. Hey, I'll fulfill one of my life missions now



It's windy here on board, I'm glad to wear my hat.



I'm really enjoying the trip - I don't need a barf bag.





Land in sight!






Soon we will have reached Juist.



Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we took a long walk on the island today.

You can see a lot of green here



I rested here, enjoying the sunshine.



Here you can see more green, some houses and the lighthouse.





The sea mark is the new landmark of the harbour.



What a nice place to enjoy the sun!



Oh, it looks like falling tide.





All the water left.





This sign is welcoming the visitors to Juist. Can you spot me?





Finally we went to the beach.





It is rather cold here, only 5 °C, that's why nobody is sitting in the strandkorbs. (Hey, they are using the German word in England!)



I found an interesting piece of artwork than, consisting of  four columns with a bronze statue of a man, running into the sea.



He is already having wet feet here....



... a wet bottom ...



... from here he will have to swim.



Oouch! The ilex is pricking me!



Tomorrow I will travel back to Katja. I really enjoyed my short trip to the North Sea. I'll write a postcard to you

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
I returned to Remscheid today, with a postcard and an USB-stick full of photos in my luggage.



Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
I met Katja's pets today. I was already wondering where the cat is. Here is a scratching post and a scratching ton, a litter pan, but no cat.

This is ferret lady Brighty. I told her to turn around and look into the camera, but she kept on nosing at my paw.



This is Shiva, Brighty's sister.



Both are really cute, but extremely playful. They are running around, chasing each other, climbing into drawers, onto the sofa, underneath the blanket on the sofa - they are EVERYWHERE.

I like them

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk today in the neighbour city Solingen, in the valley and hills of the river Wupper. We started our trip in Solingen-Widdert. From here we walked downhill to reach the Wupper valley. In those rural districts you can often find the traditional old houses, called "Bergische Häuser".





This is the river Wupper. About 20 km from here the Wupper will flow into river Rhine close to Leverkusen.



We followed our path uphill until we were about 120 m above the valley. You have great overlook from here.



We walked through the forest, over hill and dale. Sometimes we had to cross smaller creeks.



We took a group photograph ...



... at the foot of this impressive rock.



We had to cross another creek. This is the bridge that was once leading across it.



We had to balance over a few stones instead.

Finally we reached the river Wupper again.





We walked through a hamlet with lots of pretty old houses.





One of the local farmers is selling potatoes, eggs and honey here in this booth. Nobody is watching over the goods here, you can take what you want to buy and put the money into the savings box. We bought potatoes and eggs.



Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we went to Remscheid- Lennep today. Lennep is the oldest district of the municipal area, with own municipal law since the 1260's years. This district belongs to Remscheid as part of the city since 1929 A.D.

Lennep still has its medieval  city core. Many of the old houses are under monument protection.







This the the place where the farmer's markt is held twice a week.



Some of the old lanes are really narrow.



This is the "Roentgen-Museum". Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, the founder of the x-rays, was born in Lennep in 1845 A.D.





This is the school which Katja attended until 1982.



Here you can see another school building next to it, a former agricultural school.



Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk in the city in Katja's lunch break. She told us that we would know the whole surroundings of Remscheid, but not the city itself.

The first photo was taken in a street close to my current home. All around are pretty old houses.





Here are allotment gardens. Katja told us that you can find lots of allotment gardens here because Remscheid is situated on a hill with really steep slopes. You cannot build houses everywhere, but it's great for gardens.



In the background you can see Wuppertal.





We reached a housing area, a former working-class quarter. Some of the houses are really small.





This is a German telephone booth. Errr ... there is no booth, only a pink coloured telephone.



Here is the entrance to another large allotment area.



All around it is greeeeeeen!





Back in the city centre ... the city hall in the background.





In 30 minutes we'll have to return to Katja's workplace.



This is the water tower. The drinking water is pumped uphill from a dam in a valley. You can see the towers of the city hall and this water tower from everywhere around.



Than let's go back to work.

Bye
Paddington Bear

Hi Mummy,
the sun was shining, so we could not wait to go out. We took a walk in the early evening, of course in the forest

The first photo was taken in Hasten, I have been here before to admire all those pretty houses.



We picked up Katja's friend Erika and walked along Morsbachtal. We saw a flock of sheep, they had a lot of recently born lambs.





What a lovely surrounding!



We crossed the road which follows the valley.







Soon we reached another forest.



Finally we took the bus back home. Can you see the two towers in the background? They are really small, the city hall and the water tower. We would have had to walk uphill for at least another 40 minutes, so the bus was a good idea.



Bye
Paddington Bear