Travelog for: K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
on this wonderful day we could not resist to pick up a friend from her work place and walk for about two and a half hour.

Starting from this business area we reached the forest within a few minutes.



This is a lovely place to live.



For a few minutes out path was following the A1 motorway.



We rested in a valley with a small creek running through.



Only a few more weeks and everything will be green here!



Than we had to climb out of the valley to walk through a housing area...



... only to cross a street and walk downhill towards another valley



This cat was not in a mood for playing.



Oh, that's not good ... a digger on our path! We had to climb along the slope to get past this building site.







These are blooming willows with their soft catkins.



Here is another business area, situated at a creek.



From here we had to walk uphill towards the city centre and our home.

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
the weather was bad today, it was a little bit boring. I recognized that Katja is knitting like a maniac, knitting needles and knitted socks everywhere.







I asked her if she could knit something for me. She said that a Finnish teddy bear should be used to winter, besides here would be spring time soon. No sweater, no scarf ... She suggested that maybe she could knit a bag for me. That's a great idea! First I had a look at the wool stash, at a box with small leftovers.



Here I did not find the perfect colour. But of course Katja found something suitable.



Perfect - isn't it?

Oh dear, this is looking difficult - five needles for such a tiny bag!



Katja showed me a box full of buttons, I should choose one that I would like to close my bag.



I picked out those three buttons, I'd like any of them.



Half an hour later ...



Now I have my own bag

K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
today we made a trip to the neighbour city Wuppertal to take a long walk.



In Wuppertal they have a walking- and cycling trail built on a closed railway track, it is called "Sambatrasse". Is is beginning in Wuppertal-Cronenberg and is leading to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, about 10 km long. We walked a short part of it in Cronenberg. Here one of the old trains is parked.



In Cronenberg we walked through the town center. I saw a school of arts here.



Cronenberg is an old district with lovely old houses.



Springtime is coming!



An arboretum is situated here, a collection of trees. Fiona was eager to see the trees of North America, so we walked along the trail showing those trees.









You can find artwork in the forest, for example those carved owls.



At the end of our tour we found a map.



When we walked back home, we saw more signs of springtime in the gardens.



I hope you at home are also having such wonderful weather!

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
we went to the city centre in our lunch break. Today we visited some places I have already seen, but also some new places.

This building belongs to the shopping mall, it is part of the parking deck.



We went to buy some treats for the ferrets, here in this large pet shop.





We made a side trip to a nearby cemetary.







This is the main entrance of the shopping mall. The large fountain will be deactivated until late April.





We had to hurry back to work than.

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
I met Katja's sister at her workplace. She invited me to stay with her for some days, so I went with her.

First she showed me around  the garden.









Oh dear, this is really high!









In the evening I was very tired from exploring all the plants.

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
today I met some more teddy bears at Katja's sister's home.





Later that day I helped to bake muffins.

First we had a look at the receipe book.



Than we got all the ingredients like apples, brown sugar, flour and so on.









After preparing the dough we filled it onto the muffin pans.





After baking they looked fantastic!



Later we enjoyed them with coffee.



In a few days I will return to Katja.

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
we took a walk along the river Wupper today, in Solingen, the neighbour city. We started our trip in Balkhausen, a small hamlet in this rural area. Here we saw a lot of those typical half-timbered houses.





Most of those houses have a garden.



We met a ladybug sitting between the flowers.

Suddenly the ladybug asked us if we were ToyVoyagesr. How could this ladybug know this?! You won't believe it, this ladybug is also a ToyVoyager, her name is Lady.



Lady told us that she hibernated in a barn here. She even told us that she knew our host Katja, she already was hosted by her! So Lady decided to come with us.

Such a lovely rural area!



Meadows, cows and horses ... perfect!



Finally we reached river Wupper, in the background you can see it in the bottom of the valley.





This is river Wupper. Katja told us that usually there would be more water.





This place for resting is made of the old axis of a water wheel.



The old factory building was altered to dwellings.



We crossed the river here.



I asked Katja if these were cherry blossoms. She was not sure but she rather considered them as apple blossoms.







We rested in the country inn "Wupperhof" for a while, enjoying the sun in the beer garden.





We had a large beer



We even found more toys here, relaxing in a beach chair.



We tried to persuade them of also becoming ToyVoyagers, but Teddy Bear and Bunny liked their life in the beer garden.







What a gigantic cooking plate!



We had to walk back to the car than.

Part of the river can be separated here, this part of the river a protect zone for fish, so they can grow to adult size. Angling is forbidden here.



Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,

in the afternoon we went out with Katja's friend and her dog.

We went to Wupper dam, one of three barrier lakes along the river Wupper. Here we took a long walk.

Where is the water?



Katja told me that we would have to walk for about 20 minutes until we reached the dam.



Unfortunately we left the path along the lake, but we walked through a lovely rural area instead.









Here you can see our little group.





We played among the dandelions.







The fresh air made me tired, so I will go to bed now.

Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
yesterday it started raining. Usually nobody likes rain, but Katja told us that everyone was waiting for rain after some sunny and warm weeks. She said if we wanted our lakes filled and the nature green, we would need rain.



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It's my host's birthday and she had to prepare dinner for her friends who visited us in the evening. Our host is a (almost ) veggie, so we had to make lots of delicious vegetable dishes.

First we prepared tomatoes with mozzarella.







Next we helped to fill mushroom heads with cream cheese.



This was quite easy. The mushrooms will be baked later.



Katja bought tons of different cheese.



This looks like a good party!



In the meantime the cheese tray was nearly ready. We had cheese from Spain, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and of course Germany.



Katja's daughter is a cook in a restaurant (not yet, her final examination will be in May and June). She prepared gravlax, the half of a salmon.



Finally everything was ready and the guest were here. Now it's time to celebrate, not for taking photos



A friend brought this plate with antipasti - delicious!



Bye
K-Bear

Hi Mummy,
I just want to let you know that I am not my way home now



Love
K-Bear

Hello everyone,

I just came here to say that I arrived back home safely some time ago. I had fun with Katja, but it was nice to come back at home and meet my old dear friends - and also some new friends.

There were so many TV's at home that it took a lot of time to chat with them all. I told all about my adventures in Germany to them and they told me about their lives.

Today we all went to a park. It was a nice, warm and sunny day so we sat on a bench talking and enjoying sun shining. After that we went to a small café for a latte and goodbyes. Blinchick and Gwennie were leaving us and travelling to England. A few tears, big hugs and then they were gone. That was a bit sad, but I know they'll have fun at the places of their new hosts.

Hmmmm, I think I'd like to travel somewhere soon too. I wonder if there's anyone who'd like to host me....

K-Bear

Hello everyone,

I've been at home for a few years now and I'd like to travel again. My friend Bernd the Bread left Finland this morning and I feel so lonely without him. Is there anyone who would like to host me?

Love, K-Bear