Dear Readers,
have you heard of the traveling Sylvanian? It is a custom made cheetah, who travels around the world. This fantastic journey was made possible by LadyLollipop and many great members of the Sylvanian Families forum.
So Damara had arrived in Germany and here is the story about it....
(PS: Somehow I forgot to take the pictures for the beginning of the story. Unfortunately I found out, when Damara was already on her way to her next host >.<. I hope you forgive me)
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An icy wind made Damara shiver. She just left the taxi, which had brought her near the village of Marigold Creek.
The winter had come and Damara was glad that she had packed some warm clothes.
Marigold Creek was a charming little village.
"Good morning, Mrs. DeWildt!", a brown labrador man appeared and immediatly shook her hand, "My name is Bruno Hunter-Smith and I'm very happy to welcome you in the name of all villagers to Marigold Creek!"
"Oh, good morning, Mr. Hunter-Smith!", Damara was a bit surprised, "How did you know that it is me?"
"Please call me Bruno. You are the only cheetah here.", he grinned, "But that is very nice, we rarely have visitors from far away."
"Oh of course! I heard that before on my trip around the world.", she laughed, "Thank you for your warm welcome!"
"My pleasure, did you have a nice trip?", Bruno took the suitcase and accompanied her to a pretty red building.
"It was wonderful, I've made so many new friends and I had great adventures."
"That is fantastic! It would be great to here some of your stories."
They went into a nicely furnished room.
"This is your room for the coming days, we hope you will like it. I will now let you rest - you must be exhausted after such a long trip."
"Thank you so much - the room looks very comfortable.", Damara took a seat near the cozy bed, "I'm awake since 24 hours."
Bruno nodded, "You will feel much better after resting. We have planned a dinner for you in our house later, I hope you like roast with carrots and peas?"
"Very much! It is one of favourite meals!", Damara smiled all over her face, "I'm looking much forward to the dinner."
After Bruno had said goodbye and wished her a nice sleep, Damara first took a bath, where she already slept in.
Fresh washed and with the smell of amber and sandal-wood in her shining fur, she nuzzled herself into the cushions... and slept deeply for the next hours.
It was already late afternoon, when Damara awaked.
"Oh my! Already that late?", she fastly put on some clothes and left the room.
When she arrived at a hamburger restaurant, she suddenly stopped, "Where should I go? I didn't ask Bruno where he and his family live."
"Hello, Mrs. DeWildt.", a black cat looked through the opened door of the restaurant, "May I help you?"
Assuaged she breathed in, "Yes, please. May I ask where the Hunter-Smith's live? They invited me for Dinner, but I forgot to ask for their street."
"Don't worry. They live in the Lavender Street, number 2. If you want I can accompany you. I'm just closing the restaurant."
"Really? That would be very nice, but I don't want to bother you."
The tomcat softly shook his head, "Not at all. It's a pleasure to help. My name is Mason by the way. Mason Tuxedo."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Damara DeWildt, but I think you all already know me."
"Yes.", he laughed, "You were introduced to us on a meeting of our village council. We were all very excited to host you."
After a few minutes the two arrived at Lavender Street number 2.
"I wish you a very nice evening, Damara. Me and my family would be also very happy to invite you for dinner tomorrow."
"And it will be a pleasure to come."
They said goodbye and just a few seconds later Damara was tightly hugged by a pretty dog lady.
"Welcome, dear Damara! I'm Sienna - Bruno's wife."
Three little puppies appeared beside her.
"Hello.", Damara leaned down to them, "And who are you?"
"Dylan, Jack and Helena.", their mother introduced the triplets, "And these are Charly and Ruby." A six year old boy and a seven year old girl said friendly "Hello".
"Nice to meet you all!"
"I'm very sorry that I forgot to tell you our adress.", Bruno felt a bit ashamed.
"Don't worry.", Damara waved aside, "Mason Tuxedo helped me."
They enjoyed a fantastic dinner together - the roast was delicious and Damara was asked about her trip around the world.
"I started my trip in Rooibosch hill, then I arrived in Sycamore springs, where I met the famous Miss Bibbit, then I travelled to Australia and visited Port Lincoln and Jamestown, moved forward to London and visited the Sylvanian Families store, then the country side of England, where I enjoyed a great easter. After that I visited Malta, which was so impressive, then I arrived in California and travelled around the USA. My next visits were in Finnland, where I met two fantastic villages, before I travelled on to Hungary. All my stays were wonderful - I met fantastic people and visited great places!"
"Wow!", Ruby said, "I'm so jealous! When I'm grown up I want to do that too."
Her brother nodded fastly, "Me too."
Long after midnight Damara felt in her bed. It had been a great evening.
The next morning started early. After breakfast Cassandra Maces, the village pharmacist, welcomed Damara in her little house.
"It's so nice to meet someone who is also interested in herbes!"
"My words!", Damara laughed and took the tea, which Cassandra gave her, "Do I smell Lavender and viola?"
"Correct."
"And honey?"
Cassandra nodded happily, "Right. So I guess you are also making your own tea sorts?"
"Yes, I do. I especially like figuring out new sorts of rooibos tea."
"That sounds fantastic!", Cassandra was excited, "I never tried rooibos tea before!"
"I have always a bit with me, we can try it later, if you want?"
"Oh yes, that would be great!"
Together the women put on a warm jacket and walked outside in the forest of Marigold Creek.
"Here you can normally find stinging nettle, daisies, peppermints, camilla, dandelions and many other herbes, I can show you later in my herbarium.", Cassandra started to explain, "But because of the cold
, they won't grow at the moment."
Damara nodded, "May I ask for what you use dandelion? I normally use it for salad."
"It tastes delicious with a good sauce!", Cassandra agreed, "But dandelion can be used for dewatering and it is also depurative - so you can use it for detoxifying the blood."
"That is good to know! Thank you."
Cassandra walked along the way, "And here you see scurvy-crass. It's also growing in the winter. You can use it to stimulate the metabolism or in case of a urinary tract infection."
Damara listend interested, she was glad to learn about new herbes.
After more information, they talked about Hildegard von Bingen, who was a famouse German nun from the medieval. She wrote a lot about naturopathy and medicine.
Unfortunately Damara hadn't the time to visit Bingen, because her travelplan was very strict and she had to move on soon. But before that, another adventure was planned...
Damara spent the evening with the Tuxedos, they had lots of fun.
On the next day she discovered Marigold Creek. She visited the Village Store...
...enjoyed hamburger with Sienna...
... and tried on lovely new shoes (Unfortunately she hadn't enough space for more clothes in her suitcase).
Then it was time for a visit in the human world.
Bruno and Sienna fetched her from her room, took the bus and drove to Trier - the oldest city in Germany.
It was found by the Romans and they called it Augusta Treverorum, but before the Romans Celtic tribes lived there - the settleman is dated long into the Neolithic.
"Wow, what an impressive building!", Damara said, looking at a black coloured Roman looking building.
"That is the Porta Nigra, which means "black door". It once was one of the city gates of Trier, during the medieval times it was a church and now it's a sight. The Porta Nigra is the town's landmark.", Sienna explained.
They moved forward into the town center, where lots of pretty buildings encircled the market place.
The whole market place was covered in Christmas decoration and little lovely market stalls offered tons of Christmas stuff: ginger bread, Christmas cookies, handmade stuff, jewellry and of course Glühwein (hot wine punch). For the children they offered hot chocolate or non alcoholic punch.
Damara was excited, this was a typical German Christmas market. She had never seen something like this before, so she was busy trying all the nice foods and smelling the scents of cinnamon, cardamom, honey and anise.
"Have you seen this little Christmas store inside the pyramide?", Bruno asked and showed Damara the shop.
"Oh that is nice! I would love to visit it."
As soon as said, they walked into the shop.
After that they visited the Dom of Trier, which is a big cathedral built in the medieval. Beside the Dom was another church, called the "Liebfrauen Kirche" (lovely women's church). Both of them were connected with a cross-coat, which made Damara feel like she had travelled back in time.
"That was fantastic!", Damara said, "Thank you so much for showing me Trier!"
"It was our big pleasure.", Bruno smiled, "Now, let's enjoy some Christmas cookies and ginger bread together."
"A perfect ending of the day!", Damara smiled and nuzzeled herself in the couch. Damian jumped on her lap, "A story, please!"
"Oh yes! A story please!", all other children yelled.
"You are a great storyteller.", Charly smiled.
A soft pink coloured Damara's cheeks, "Thank you sweethearts. Of course. What about a Christmas story?"
Excited the children agreed and Damara started to talk...
It has been a wonderful time in Marigold Creek and Damara was sad to leave it, but another adventure was waiting for her in Iceland...
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I hope you enjoyed the story. I'm so busy at the moment that I have less time to write new stories or renovate my builings.
But there will be a post about regency hotel soon.
Yours Kyra
