Daisy in Austria

It has been a while that I arrived in Vienna/Austria now. I am staying at a funny family with 3 little boys - so I'm having great fun here. I had a warm welcome from 3 other toyvoyagers staying here: Éireannach, a Russian pig who wants to become an Irish pig, Tanusha, the sexy monkey from the Ukraine and Kleo, a little shy doggie-girl from Italy.

My hosts showed us alot of Vienna. The first place we visited was Schönbrunn Palace. We had a long walk in the park there and even went up a little hill to the point of view "Gloriette" from where we had a wonderful view over the city.
And imagine, we even visited the zoo there!! Have a look whom I met there!!









My hosts also did alot of sight-seeing with me. So one day we went to the city centre and had a looong walk there. We passed by the City hall...,... the Austian parliament and the old imperial theatre.









We played hide-and-seek in the park in front of the Museum of historical arts. We watched these beautiful horses with their carbages (they are called "Fiaker" I was told) in front of Hofburg. Hofburg was the residence of the Habsburg family and it hosts some museums, the Austrian National library and the President's office nowadays.
We also visited this wonderful and very colourful house created by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. There is nothing special inside - just normal flats I was told. Wouldn't it be great to live there? All the citizens have the right to create the surroundings of their windows just as they like - but only as far as they can reach with their arms. Interesting, isn't it?
One day my host announced that we'd go to the countryside for a weekend! How exciting, isn't it? So we all packed our stuff and went to Upper Austria where my host's parents live. We had a wonderful and exciting time there!

We went up a little mountain from where we had a wonderful view to lake "Traunsee" and all the other mountains around. And the grass was very tasty there, yummy !!


Then we went to visit "Schloss Orth". It consists of 2 parts: The "normal" castle and a water castle. Yes, imagine they have a castle here situated on a little island within the lake! Very astonishing, isn't it?









On the next day we went to another lake, "Attersee", also a very beautiful one. I wanted to have a little bath there but it was simply too cold. In Austria you can't go swimming outdoors anymore at this time of the year... But we went by boat - and that was funny, too!!









We also saw something else very exciting! We first saw it quite far away.... .... but then it came closer and closer. y< And finally it landed!!!












Unfortunately after we came back from Upper Austria Éireannach and Tanusha had to leave us and continue their journey. But another Toyvoyager arrived, Decker, a lille lion from UK. Travelling is sooo much fun and it's great to meet other voyagers and find friends from all over the world!

Last weekend on Saturday there was the perfect autumn day so my hosts thought it would be nice to go to the woods and search for mushrooms there. They were not difficult to find, but unfortunately the first one was poisonous... ...and another one... but finally we were successful!!! Eireannach and I were soooo proud of ourselves!
We also did some more sightseing here in Vienna, so one day we visited the famous Giant Wheel. And then we had a look at Danube tower. We wanted to go up but since it was very windy we were a bit affraid and we decided not to do it.
You know that I'm staying at a big family and of course they need to do alot of shopping. I helped a bit and I was very curious to see all the milk products they have here...
The weather didn't get much better since we tried to visit Danube tower. Since the kids already got a bit bored from staying indoors all the time we went to Vienna's technical museum with them. It was interesting to see all these engines, satellites, aeroplanes etc. I even was allowed to push some buttons and to do some little experiments. That was funny!!Well, I stayed in Austria for a while but now I have to continue my trip. I had a great time here but I'm also looking forward to my further adventures.

Good bye, Vienna!

Kamnik, Slovenia

Wow, now that I've seen Paris, it was time to take a look around where I am now... Interesting stuff here also...

First, I checked out the crafts of Slovenia. This is called a "potičnik". It is used to make potica, a traditional Slovene sweet dish. It is made of dough with yeast (a bit similar to bread), that is rolled out and then you put various fillings on it and roll it together again. Walnut filling is traditional, and it's usually made for Christmas and Easter.

Do I look like a nice potica? Usually, they're much bigger, this one is meant as a souvenir, but can be used just like a big one, it's made in the same way. Clay, shaped by hand...




And this is a majolika. You put wine in it and then pour it out into glasses. A bit like something called a decanter (so I was told), but not the same... The wine goes into the majolika from the wine barrel directly, and the decanter is a fancy thing.

The Slovenes really drink a lot of wine, and make even more, so wine barrels make sense- And the majolikas also, the barrels are heavy.

Of course, it's hand-painted, and a typical souvenir of Kamnik. On this one, there is a drawing of Veronika, a lady from the Small castle of Kamnik (an interesting story is connected with her, but I'm not in the right mood for typing it) and it is also the coat-of-arms of Kamnik.

These majolikas actually come in varius sizes, I've seen some smaller than thimbles, but also ones I could get lost in...





Of course, I couldn't just admire the crafts, I also took a walk and climbed the Small castle (Mali grad) hill, to admire the panorama. The weather wasn't perfect, but I could see the mountains. Aren't they beautiful? I've also seen them in sunny weather also, but didn't have the camera with me to document it.







Of course, I have to mention my two companions on this visit to Slovenia. They are Frankie, a giraffe from the Netherlands, and Barclay, an elephant from Australia. We had much fun together, and here we had our photo taken in front of the Small castle chapel, built in the 12th century. A bit older than we are...

We were told it was the only one of its kind in Europe, at least from the Romanesque period - it has two storeys and a crypt!

Tomorrow, I will tell you a bit about my trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital city, and then I'm packing my bags and leaving for Austria.

Paris!

Hello, everybody! I know, no word from me (Daisy) for a long time, but now I'm back! I was down with some kind of flu for the past few days, but now I'm feeling better, slowly thinking about travelling some more...

Let me show off a bit by telling you about the trip I made... I went to Paris! I saw many sights, let me just share a few pictures with you...


Me in the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a wonderful, sunny day... Impossible to imagine that only a day later it would be raining so much...












In front of Les Invalides. Did you know that Napoleon was buried under that huge gilded dome? I didn't... But now I do!













Me at the Eiffel tower. Where else?
I also took a lift to the second floor, I'm not such a big fan of heights, so I was afraid to look down. You know, it's impossible to imagine the crowds there, unless you see them with your own eyes... And the tower is huge!










Of course, no visit to Paris is complete without visiting at least some of the museums. This is where the rain from before comes in... It was crazy outside, but it was nice and dry in the Musee d' Orsay...

Daisy took a really fast plane, so she arrived here in two days! She's a bit tired now, but soon she'll start exploring!

Daisy has started her travel!

At the moment Daisy isflying somewhere and going to Slovenia!! She started hertravel on Monday (the 30th ofJuly). Have a nice travel, Daisy! ;)