Travelog for: TV-TV

TV-TV bear reporter reporting again just outside the city of Sacramento.  This Central Valley of California is hot and dry in the summer, which is why you'll see a lot of brown on the horizon.



Even though it's dry now, it is considered the food basket of the state, with cool rainy winters and much irrigation.  Grapes are a very high-profile agricultural product here.  Table grapes and raisins are very important, but there are also wine grapes, such as these I found outside the city of Lodi.  It's not famous like Napa Valley, but I am told the wine is good.

The sun was low on the horizon, but there was enough light for some vineyard photographs.





I spent my evening being watched by a dog with, I presume, evil intentions.  There are risks inherent to a reporter's life. 

Oh, dear.  Note the eviscerated plushie. 

After a good -- and safe -- night's sleep, I left for San Francisco first thing in the morning, traveling in the same travelope with a native. 

I spent less than 24 hours in Sacramento, but I hope it was long enough for you to have a sense of place.   

TV-TV signing off from Sacramento, California, USA

TV-TV here, reporting for Galileo Big Pictures from the Golden Gate Bridge where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean.  We took short hikes under, on and around this monument to show you a variety of views.  The metal is painted a reddish color called international orange which can be seen for many kilometers except on the foggiest days.  Today actually is very clear except for a fog layer at the Gate.  Fog is known here as natural air conditioning.  The bridge really is quite big compared to my 22 centimeters and the traffic noise is deafening but it's a fun place where you can find both city views and natural trails.

We stopped to check out the cable cars, a wax museum, view of Alcatraz, sea lions, The Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building Clock Tower where we were blessed by a statue of Gandhi, City Hall, and streets so steep they become staircases and footpaths.

My ToyVoyager tour companions are:  Robby, a baby seal from Germany, who has been a traveling toy since 2007, Airi, a cute little girl from Barcelona, who arrived in the same mail delivery as I did, and Cheerio who traveled home with me from Sacramento, quacking all the way, silly duck.  Robby  is following my travelog updates and especially enjoyed the views of the Sydney Opera House because visiting there is one of his incomplete life missions. ToyVoyagers is all about vicarious armchair travel and fun!   They presented me with a ToyVoyager tee-shirt and invited me to stay awhile longer but I am on deadline and must move on today. This is TV-TV, reporter bear for Galileo Big Pictures, signing off.

Good night and good voyaging.

TV-TV on a whistle-stop visit to Warwickshire, England.

I visited Stratford-upon-Avon a picturesque town and the birthplace of the famous playwright William Shakespeare!

Hi, here's TV-TV reporting from Croatia. Today I'm reporting from Pula because a human friend is making a field excursion with his biology class. Pula is a medium large city with a population of circa 60,000. It is located in Istria County, as I said in Croatia. After a long bus trip I'm now at the hotel. The weather is great. In the afternoon we will go to the beach to see the sea, the fish and some other animals.
Here comes the first impression of the hotel complex.

This morning I woke up and the sun was shining and the sky was deep blue. It has to become a good, sunny day.

At lunchtime we had a tour guide who showed us very interesting places in Pula. First we saw the amphitheatre. It is the sixth largest amphitheatre of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately my friend wasn't able to take a photo of me in front of this sight because there were so much people and the guide wanted to continue the tour through Pula, so he had no time to stand still to take a picture. Next station was a mausoleum, which doesn't exist in his complete appearance nowadays because the Venetians took the stones to build new buildings.

Next stop was the gate of Hercules. It is the oldest remnant of the Romans in Pula.

Then we went to the cathedral of Pula. It is a building which is influenced of many different architectural epochs. After that we saw the townhall of Pula.

Beside the townhall is the Temple of Augustus which is one of the most best-preserved temples in Croatia. It was built between 2 BC and 14 AD.

Last stop in Pula was the Arch of the Sergii. It is an arch which was build from Salvia Postuma Sergia in 30 BC.
After that long tour we had to go by bus to Fažana. There we had to take a ship to the Brijuni Islands. The Brijuni Islands are a group of fourteen small islands in the Croatian part of the northern Adriatic Sea. In 1945 after World War II the Brijuni became part of Yugoslavia and President Marshal Josip Broz Tito made the Brijuni Islands his personal State Summer Residence. By 1983 the islands were declared a National Park of Yugoslavia. There is a safari park with many exotic animals, a 1700 year old Olive Tree and a cockatoo named Koki that can speak but only if he wants to.

Today we made a trip through Istria. First we visited the grotto baredine. It is a grotto near Poreč.
Then we went to the Lim canal. The Lim bay and valley is a peculiar geographic feature found near Rovinj and Vrsar on the western coast of Istria, south of Poreč, Croatia.

Afterwards we went to Rovinj. It is located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula and is a popular tourist resort and an active fishing port. We made a trip through the city along the sea. The weather was perfectly again.

We passed the church of the Great Martyr Euphemia whose bones were found in Rovinj centuries ago. The church is very impressive. The steeple was built along of the lines of St Mark's Campanile in Venice. At the top of the spire there is a statue of Euphemia which rotates in the wind.

Today I took time out. Croatia is indeed a nice country but the program is very hard. Today I decided to stay in the hotel room. In the evening I wanted to take a look outside the window to feel the great atmosphere.

Today the plan was to visit the city of Pula again. My friend's teacher wanted to visit with his class the fish market. So he took me in his backpack and i was allowed to go with them there . The fish market was a little bit stinky but i still live. In front of the market there was a fountain.

After visiting the market I went with some friends to the Arch of the Sergii. It is a realy nice place to relax and to enjoy the good weather.


After a while we went by bus back to the hotel. There we wanted to go to the beach and my human friends wanted to go snorkelling the last time. The sun was shining, so we had 32°C, and the water was blue and warm, too.

My friend fished some animal out of the water. I asked him to take a look at it and he allowed me to do it. I realized quickly that it was a hermit crab. As a good reporter I taught my friend what it is.

As you can see at the picture I wasn't alone in Croatia. A nice friend was with me, schnuffi.

I was on the point of going into the sea to swim a little bit, but my friend said it is too dangerous for me without floaties. So I sit there and looked at the snorkel.

Now I had to say goodbye to the beach and to the sea. I had a last view to the sea before we went back to the hotel. There we had to check out and to board the bus.

Now a very beautiful week was up and we had to sit circa 12 hours in the bus before arriving at Germany. Thanks for having the option to take this trip to Croatia.
Also thank you for reading my report from Pula, Croatia. Hope to see you back on my side!
Yours TV-TV

Hello everyone! After my stay in Croatia I arrived in Bruchsal again. Today the weather is so beautiful, that we decided to go on a sightseeing tour through Bruchsal.
Bruchsal was first named in 976, so the city is rather old. Nevertheless there are only a few old houses, because during World War II. about 80 % of the city was destroyed.

At first we walked through the citizens' park. Here you see the medieval tower and a part of the community centre.




The tower was built in 1358 and is the oldest building of Bruchsal. It belonged to the old castle.




We walked through the Huttenstraße with its beautiful old houses.




Then we arrived at the baroque palace area. All these houses  - about 50 single buildings all together - belong to the "new" palace of Bruchsal. In the far you see the Damian Gate, the end of the palace area.




We're now standing in front of one of the three entrances to the palace church called St. Damian and Hugo. From here you can see the county court, the Damian Gate and the tower of the jailhouse. The building on the left side houses the chamber music hall.




Inside the church you can see these plates, which show the palace during the years. It was built in 1722, started by Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schoenborn and finished in 1760 by Cardinal Franz Christoph von Hutten. On the top photo you can see, how it looked like after World War II. In the last photo we were standing just in the corner, which you see in the middle of this top photo, between main building and church.




The church wasn't rebuilt in baroque style. It is really modern. Somehow that's sad, but the costs were just too high.




Here we are at the backside of the church. You see, that the tower isn't directly next to the church.




This is the backside of the palace. In summer there are weeks, when they play open air theatre and in winter there is a second Christmas market since 2 or 3 years.






This pond is a place for ducks. Children love to go there and feed them.




Next to the main way through the palace garden you find a lot of statues. At one crossing you see in each corner one statue of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Here you see the statue fire.




In one side of the main garden you find a small rosegarden.




Ahonui, Mausi and I relaxed in the arcades.






Back in the mainpart of the palace garden again we walked through a large chestnut-lined way. We found some chestnuts on the ground.






When we were in the mainway again, we came to another crossing. The statues in the corners show the four seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn. Here you see summer.




We walked through a small gate, which you can see on the right side of the next photo. Here you see the mainbuilding of the palace.




At last we read something about the palace history. It is a bit small, I'm not sure, if you can read it here, too.




This is the county court with the Amalienbrunnen (fountain).






The Amalienbrunnen is called Schnecklesbrunnen ( in Bruchsal dialect), which means snail fountain.






A last view back to the palace with the part, that houses the chamber music hall on the right side.




In the Damian Gate you can visit art exhibitions.




Here's the jailhouse of Bruchsal. It is a very interesting building, at least from outside. There were and are some "famous" prisoners in it.




I also read something about it here:




Then we walked to the hospital with its beautiful old part with the small tower. In the far you maybe see the statue of a nun. We will go there at next. There is the entrance to the small hospital chapel.








Here's the back side of the hospital.




The hospital is next to the prison, which you can see here again from the back side.




There are some beautiful old houses next to the Stadtgarten, another park. This house is one of them.




In the park I saw this beautiful lime tree.




This fountain is called Ferdinand Keller Brunnen. Behind the fountain you can see a part of a grammer school called Schönborn-Gymnasium.




The Belvedere is situated at the other end of the park. It was a former hunting lodge. Nowadays it is used for open air theatre during summer, too.




From this point on top of the Andreasstaffel you have a wonderful view over Bruchsal. You already have seen the medieval tower. The next tower belongs to the City Church Our Holy Lady and the next belongs to the Lutherkirche. The houses, which are in one line right in front of us, belong to the Huttenstraße. We had some difficulties to take these photos, because the sun was shining so brightly.




Here you see the baroque church St. Peter in the far. If you take a look at the middle part of the photo right to the edge to the wood, you can see a big house. This house is called Sancta Maria. It is a school for social education and it is still home for Franciscan nuns.




The buildings right in front of us and the white building in the far on the left side are all part of the old people's home. The big grey building behind the white is another grammer school called St. Paulusheim.




Once more we saw a beautiful house next to the Stadtgarten.




Here's the St. Paulusheim. It is a private grammar school, founded by patres of the Pallotti order.




The wall to our right side still belongs to St. Paulusheim. In the far we see St. Peter again, where we will go at next.




The church St. Peter is located at the edge of the graveyard. It is the only church, which survided the bombing on 1rst March 1945.




We took a view back to St. Paulusheim.




Then we went to read about a memorial stone and about the baroque church.






The view into the Petersgasse is our last photo of the walk through Bruchsal. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.



I travel back to the tv-studio now to get things finished for the tv-show.

Hey everybody,

I returned back to work after a great journey around the world. I had such a great time in Asia, Australia, Amerika and Europe!! Thanks to all my hosts and all people who helped to make this project work!
Our show will be on German Television this Thursday (Oktober the 20th, Pro7, 8:15 pm).
By the way: Here´s one screenshot of me and the show-host in our TV-studio where we filmed the presentations.

Thanks again to all the lovely people!
Talk to you soon,

best wishes,

TV-TV

Hey everyone!

I´m sorry I haven´t been online for so long! I had so much to do after my tv-report was broadcastet. Lots of fanpost and business trips... 
But so I travelled a lot which was great!

The most impressive destination I´ve been to was MADAGASKAR!
I travelled a few weeks around - from the capital city Antananarivo to the south coast.

I´ve met some really cool but unfortunately endangered species who only exist on the island of Madagaskar. And I´ve talked to many people there. Nearly all of them wanted to keep me... They were all very friendly but nevertheless I wanted to go home again.
See my photos, I think you´ll get a good impression what Madagaskar was like.
See you soon,
love,

TV-TV

Hey everyone,

some more photos from a beautiful island calles MAURITIUS. It was another great journey and I enjoyed sightseeing. I´ve seen waterfalls, the seven coloured earth, some hindu temples and animals like a huuuuuuuuuuuge turtle. But I think the pictures speak for themselves...
Hope you enjoy them.
Best wishes,

TV-TV

Hi everyone,
just a little note to say that I´m going on a journey again. I´m on the way to my new host and am looking forward to see fam-united again. She was a great help for my big journey last year and I´m going to see her and her ToyVoyager-friends soon.
I´m off and very excited!
Best wishes,
TV-TV