Travelog for: Flummi

Hi Mum!

It's another beautiful sunny day today, so hostmum suggested we go for a short drive to see something called 'The Angel Of The North'.


It was only a short drive away.  I hadn't expected it to be so big - it's 20m (66ft) tall!  And the wings are 54m (177ft) long.  Apparently it's considered to be a landmark of the North East of England.


Since it was so hot, hostmum treated me to an ice cream, yummy!


Then we made our way back to hostmum's home.  It was still lovely weather, so we all decided to make a fruit smoothie to take outside and enjoy.  Here we are with all the ingredients - raspberries, strawberries, orange juice and ice.


Then we got to work - it was my job to press the button on the blender.


And tada - the result!


We then went outside to enjoy the sunshine some more - with our smoothie of course.


Then later we had a little snack, some olives.  They were actually quite nice.


It's been another great day today.

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Today was both a happy and sad day.  It was sad because both Tobbi and Hippy left for their next travel.  So we all said goodbye to them.


First I said bye to Tobbi and wished him a good journey.


Then I said bye to Hippy and wished him good luck on his first voyage.


I was sad to see them both go, but almost as soon as they'd left, two new packages arrived!


Sheela, Paula Hip, Huhn and I started opening the first envelope.


And out popped Lizzy!


Then we all started to open the second envelope.


It was _Mishuta_!  Here we all are.


We decided to go and visit Brunton Turret, which is another part of Hadrian's Wall.  It's really close to hostmum's house as well.


Here I am!



Then we took a group photo by the turret.


On the way back down, some friendly sheep came to say hello.


Here's another picture of me with the English countryside in the background.


It's a shame it wasn't a sunny day like we had last week, but it wasn't cold, just cloudy.

So Mum, as you can see - a lot happened today.  I said goodbye to two friends and met two new friends, as well as explored more of the area around hostmum's house.

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum!

Today we went to Durham, where hostmum studies at university.  We went to one of the university colleges to meet up with a friend of hostmum's.  It was Gizalba!

It was nie seeing Edelweiss again, and I also met Tapsi.  Together we all explored the college grounds.

Here we all are by the pond.


Then we saw this war memorial statue - it's dedicated to those that lost their lives in the First World War.




Behind me you can see the memorial, as well as Durham Cathedral.


And look Mum -  a rainbow!


Here we all are again - if you look in the background you can see Durham Cathedral again.


It started to get cold, so we all went inside and started playing 'Monopoly' on a machine in the bar.  I got this answer right!


And to finish the night off, we all had a cocktail.  Don't worry Mum - I was very sensible and only had a little bit.


Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum!

Today we had an Alice in Wonderland themed party - it was so much fun.  We started the party by watching the Disney Movie, which I had never seen before.  The Mad Hatter is very funny.


Then we went outside and boy - it felt like I had drank the magic potion from Alice in Wonderland - every thing was so big!

Here I am in the trees, which were decorated with hearts, for the Queen of Hearts.


Then we went bowling - and guess what, my team won!


The next game was checkers.  Look how big it is!


And I won this game as well.  I felt so small though... like the characters in Harry Potter when they rode on a chess set!


To finish the day, we played four-in-a-row.


I didn't win this game though, as I was on the green team.


It was such a fun day, but I'm now utterly exhausted!

Bye,
Flummi

Hi!

Today another package arrived.  I wonder who it could be...


It's HelgaHH!


But... wait a minute, she's not alone - Niiskuneiti was travelling with her.


Boy, there sure is a lot of us now!  There's Paula Hip, Lizzy Lizard, _Mishuta_, Niiskuneiti, Sheela, HelgaHH, me and Huhn.  8 of us in total!


HelgaHH and I decided to play a game of 'Tres', which is quite fun.


I'm the Blue player.


Here I am - though it feels like I'm surrounded by HelgaHH's pieces!


And guess what?  I won!


Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Today I saw the Olympic Torch!

We had to go into town early, to make sure we had a good view.  Luckily we had taken a seat with us, so we could sit and relax.


Then things started to get quite busy - there was a lot of police around.


This van said that it was my moment to shine - do you think I shine Mum?


And then we saw it; the Olympic Torch!


It was pretty cool seeing it!

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Today we went to Derwent Resevoir.


This is only a small part of it.  It's just under 5km wide.  It can hold up to 11 million gallons of water and provides water for almoost half of the North East of England.


There's about 7km of coastline around it.  Isn't it pretty?


We walked for quite a while, and came upon this river, which runs into the resevoir.


Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

We've been staying at hostmum's Grandparents' house.  We haven't been able to go out much as hostmum has been busy helping around the house.  But that's okay, I've managed to keep myself entertained.  With what, you ask?  Why, all the animals of course!


Here I am with their dog, Summer.  She's lovely.


This is Honey - she's such a sweetie and very playful!


Here I am with Jessie.  She's 15, which is quite old for a cat.  She spends most of her time sleeping, but she loves cuddles.


This is Tosca - isn't he so fluffy??


And finally, here I am with Mr. Pickles, the tortoise.

As you can see, there are lots of animals to play with and have fun with!

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Essex was a lot of fun.  I'm now back in Hexham - we arrived back early Sunday morning.

The today, I said goodbye to two of my new friends.

_Mishuta_ is travelling to Germany.


And Huhn is travelling to Switzerland.


Hopefully I'll meet them again at some point!

Bye Mum,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Oh my goodness, what a night last night was!  Hostmum and her family went out for the night, so we had the house to ourselves.  Of course, we all took advantage of that and decided to throw a house party for all the toys in the neighbourhood!

First we had to get everything ready.  Along with Lizzy and Helga, I put out the drinks.


Once all the toys from the neighbourhood had arrived, we all started dancing the night away.  You know what Mum - I'm a pretty good dancer!


As the night wore on, some started drinking, others continued dancing and I got chatting to Wellie, a sheep from Wales.  He had some great stories to tell.


It was a great night, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, along with Niiskuneiti and Wellie.


I tell you - waking up on a couch the morning after a party isn't fun!  But it was a great night, and we even managed to tidy everything up before hostmum and her family came home, so she was none the wiser.

So, sssshh, don't tell her!

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

What a busy and long day today was!  I woke up at 3am.  I thought it was far too early - I didn't want to leave my bed!

First we all said bye to Niiskuneiti and wished her a pleasent journey, as she's travelling back home.


Then there was a mad dash around the house as we were all getting together some last minute things needed for the trip.  Once we had double-checked that we had everything, it was time to go.


We spent most of the day either in various airports or on planes.  I'm now in Istanbul, in Turkey.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures, as by the time we had unpacked it was too dark to take any!

Bye,
Flummi

Hi Mum!

Today I went to the ancient city of Troy, in Turkey.  Troy made the history books for their 10 year war with Greece, which started when - legend has it - the prince of Troy fell in love with the married queen of Greece and kidnapped her.  For 10 long years the war was fought, until the Greeks decided to build a big wooden horse.  I'll come to that later.





Troy is one of the oldest cities in the world - it's over 5000 years old!


Right, so the horse!  According to legend, the Greeks build a massive wooden horse and left it outside the walls of Troy.  The Trojans thought that the horse was a gift from the Gods and meant that the Greeks had surrenderd.  What they didn't realise was that the Greeks were hiding in the belly of the horse, so once all the Trojans were in bed asleep, they came out of hiding and voila, the war was won.


After visiting Troy, we went to see the small village of Canakkale.  It was very pretty, and I loved sitting by the beach with the warm sun shining on me.


Then we came across this horse - another replica of the horse from Troy, only this one was the one that was used in the movie 'Troy', with Brad Pitt.


Finally, after such a long day, we went back to our ship, and relaxed on the balcony.


Bye!
Flummi

Hi Mum,

Today we arrived in Rhodes, which is a Greek island.  Isn’t it pretty?


This church was built in the 15th Century.


Along one of the pathways leading away from the church are 12 plaques depicting Jesus in his final moments before he was nailed to the cross.


After visiting the church, we walked in to Rhodes and came across this charming market.  It’s so colourful!


Then we entered Old Rhodes – which is the medieval city of Rhodes.  Old Rhodes is surrounded by walls to protect it from raiders.  New Rhodes has been built around it.


Here you can see the old castle.


This used to be a hospital a long time ago, but now it’s an archaeology museum.  Apparently, to get treated in this hospital, you had to give your house to the doctors and priests that ran it!


This is part of an old statue from the 2nd century BC and represents the God ‘Helios’.


And finally, here we are on the cannon balls – they’re also from BC.


As you can see, it’s been another fantastic day!

Love,
Flummi

Hi Mum,

We’ve spent the entire day at sea today, and I had a lot of fun.


It was very hot though, about 37C.  The heat didn’t bother me so much; after all, us kangaroos can handle the heat!  But it did bother the others a bit.  So I joined them in the shade for a chat and to relax.


And I also saw ice being sculpted!


The man had managed to create two dolphins out of a block of ice, in only 15 minutes.  It was great to watch, and to see it slowly start to take shape!


Love,

Flummi

Hi Mum,

Today has been another brilliant day.  Our ship docked in Cyprus, so we spent the day exploring this small island.

The view that you can see behind me is called Aphrodite’s Bay.  According to local legend, this is the birth place of the Goddess Aphrodite.  The legend also says that if you bathe in the sea here on a full moon on Friday 13th, then Aphrodite will make you look 10 years younger.


This date tree was nearby, and I spent some time relaxing in its shade.  It was quite hot today – about 35C.


Here I am in the Tomb of Kings, which is a very old burial ground.  The name is very misleading however, as no kings are buried here.  These tombs were for the very rich.






There is a sad story attached to this tomb.  The body of a 5-year old boy was discovered here, who is believed to have been the brother of Cleopatra.  They think that Cleopatra had her brother killed, in case he tried to take the throne away from her.




We also went to the house of Dionysos, where very old mosaics are kept.  These mosaics are from the 3rd Century BC.  This one is a scene from a vineyard, with people picking grapes etc.


This one represents the four seasons of the year.  In the middle is a man that represents the year, and in the four corners are the different seasons, and the images are pictures from each seasons.


After that, we explored the small town of Paphos, which has a very nice harbour.


It was another great day today, Mum!

Love,
Flummi