Gilbert: My First Solo Adventure

Hi everyone!
I'll be taking over accompanying our owner from Sullivan, and he told me that next to him showing me how it's done, I should also try some outings without him, so I can learn by doing. That sounds just like an experiment. There you also learn by doing something and seeing what happens. Our owner suggested we could start small with a trip into town.


This is the New Church in Groningen.
You've probably seen it in Sullivan's post, because it's his favorite church in Groningen. The 'New' refers to the fact this church was newer than the old Saint Walburg church. In the 18th century they also called it the Northern Church. It was build in 1660.


I can understand why Sullivan likes this church. It's a beautiful building and the trees and grass all around the church make this church like a tiny oasis in the middle of a busy city.

Once in the city center our owner did some shopping and I tried to memorize all the shops and streets we visited. I spotted some more places Sullivan had mentioned on his blog.


We sat down at a small coffee shop and I got to try Spicy Chai Latte. It was like a mix of tea and hot chocolate with a hint of gingerbread. We also got two small cookies, those were a bit hard, but dunking them in the Chai Latte made them nice to eat. I suggested we could try the Mango Chai Latte next time, and our owner thought that was a good idea.

I think I did well on my first trip without Sullivan.


*Sullivan's comments: For a first outing I think Gilbert did well, but I'll have to train him to see more good picture opportunities.*

Small Houses and Medieval Stuff

There were also miniature houses at the dinosaur forest.


There was a miniature Martini Tower!


We had to pose with the tower of course.


The train station of Groningen was there as well.
But wait...


The statue of Uncle Loeks' horse was on top of the station, and there was a dinosaur as well!


Oh, I know this place. We visited a couple of years ago.
I think it's called the Menkemaborg. Maybe that would be cool for Gilbert to visit.


This is the cloister of Ter Apel.
My owner's friend Patricia, who was with us told us we could visit it for real later that afternoon.


One of the dolmen we have here in the Netherlands.


More dinosaurs! They were causing mayhem on a square in miniature Leeuwarden.


Luckily the miniature people were smart and ran from the dinosaurs.


Finally we left the Dinosaur Forest and went on to our next adventure of the day:


Medieval Ter Apel.
At the cloister Patricia told us about there were all kinds of people dressed in medieval clothes and doing medieval things.


There was a real joker!
He did tricks and those were really cool and funny.


There was a lady with wool dyed with natural ingredients. We checked what she used. Having a brother who can give you a boost is very handy.


Yum, yum, that soup smelled delicious.


There were small trebuchets as well! How cool.


An a really big loom.


This was about preparing stuff to make clothes from it.


So many tasty vegetables.
Those French fries were quite a while ago, all that food made us hungry.


Luckily they sold food as well, so we had a really yummy broth with bread.


We had a look inside the cloister.
My owner forgot to take a picture of the outside to compare to the miniature cloister though...




An apothecary table.
Gilbert examined some of the stuff while I kept an eye on him in case he was reckless again.


Outside we spotted this shield, which is an outrage!
The knight should be lucky he wasn't there or he'd have had a problem with us.


A castle made out of hay.


After seeing all the fun stuff there was to see we sat down for a drink before we had to go home.


It was a really awesome day and Gilbert was now convinced that traveling with my owner was something he'd love to do. It might be time for him to try a short trip on his own soon.

More Dinosaurs

After escaping from the Pterodactyl we continued our walk through the dinosaur forest.


This dinosaur was a bit grumpy, but didn't attack.


He even reluctantly posed for a picture.


We saw another dinosaur hatching!


This dinosaur dame also posed for us.


And with us.


More bitey dinosaurs!
We kept a safe distance.


This crocosaur had a snack, so we could safely take a picture.


A triceratops and her young.




This dinosaur offered us a ride in his mouth...


We declined, but let him pose for a picture.


Gilbert wanted to ask these dinosaurs if we could pose with them, but I think they were velociraptors, so stopped him.


This dinosaur had lovely colors in my opinion.




And this dinosaur was our absolute favorite!


He also loves French fries!


We got to pose with this Dragosaurus.


The T-Rex was still chilling out and enjoying the weather.


Gilbert almost got attacked by this creepy centipede!
Luckily my owner saw the creepy beastie and saved Gilbert.


Not sure what kind of eggs these are.


After we saw all the dinosaurs we had French fries!


Coming next: small houses and medieval stuff.

An Important Announcement, a Brother, and Dinosaurs

I have an important announcement, somebody to introduce you to, and dinosaurs!

As you might know I've been traveling with my owner for over 10 years now. I've also been reading and collecting books for a long time. The time has come for me to step back from traveling and concentrate on all the books I still want to read and review.

Yes! You read that right: I'm going to retire as a traveler and focus on my review blog. Some of you might have seen this coming as I've been more busy on my review blog than on this one the last few years.

Still I'd feel bad if my owner had to travel alone, so I had a talk with my brothers and one of them stepped up to take over accompanying my owner on any trips she is making. He still needed some instructions and training, so I have taken him on as my apprentice for now. But soon he'll be the one traveling and posting about it instead of me. You'll still find me on my review blog though.

On to the introduction of my apprentice and dinosaur fun!


What better way to start training my brother than going on a trip to see dinosaurs!
On September 7th we visited dinosaur forest Tenaxx.

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Meet Gilbert!
Gilbert is my twin brother. He is a bit more serious than me and until recently he thought traveling wasn't for him, as he likes experiments and discovery. I told him that every travel is one big experiment and there's lots to discover as well.


The dinosaur forest was really fun.
There were dinosaurs hidden in the woods and most were really friendly. This one let us pose with him.


Another friendly dinosaur.


Even the T-Rex was relaxed enough to pose with us.


These guys didn't even notice we were there.


Another friendly dinosaur let us ride on her back.


Gilbert fell!
He's clearly not used to adventure yet.


Luckily he was alright and climbed right back on.


And he soon learned how to keep from falling.


This dinosaur tried to scare us!


We also found one that was just hatching.




What's this?!
Aggressive dinosaurs?


This one was locked in a small shed.
Looks like there are some scary dinosaurs here as well.


This one luckily didn't notice us as he was too busy snacking on another dinosaur. This dinosaur forest was more dangerous than we thought.


We found a nice spot on an arch to take a short rest and ponder our next move. We wanted to see all the dinosaurs, but now knew we needed to be alert and ready for danger.




As we walked on Gilbert was sure he heard a weird noise...


We looked around, but at first couldn't find where the noise came from.


It was a pterodactyl!
We spotted him just in time to escape luckily enough.

Gilbert's first trip was a bit more exciting than I thought it would be.


Coming next: more dinosaurs!