Goeiemorgen Pandas!

That means ‘good morning’ in Dutch. We couldn’t figure out what it meant when the shop keeper greeted us with the phrase the next morning.

I wanted to tell you what happened yesterday, even though it’s more than a bit embarrassing.

C’mon, Max! It’s not that bad. Tell ‘em – it’s a funny story!

Alright then. As you already know, we had to spend the night on a sleeper sofa. I was really tired and always tend to fall asleep pretty quickly, but I heard Ella mumbling something from the other end of the sofa: “Give me your paw!”. I thought Ella was having a nightmare and needed to calm down a bit, so I gave her my paw. When we woke up the next morning, I was still holding her paw. Ella woke up at the same time and pulled hers away.

Yeah, to tell you the truth, Max, I was talking in my sleep. I dreamed that I stole a monkey from the zoo and had to train him to hold my hand so we could cross the street together and flee in safety. You thought I meant you?

I just wanted to help and then you make fun of me!

It’s okay, Max. It doesn’t matter. Let’s not think about it.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading on to France. I’ve always wanted to go there! Have any of you ever been to Paris?

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

Oh yeah, we almost forgot! We sent you another postcard. The postpanda said he threw it over the spot on Panfu where one can experience the best view during sunsets.

Dear Pandas,

Ella got the idea into her head to get a pair of these funny, wooden shoes, so off we went to Holland, the birthplace of funny, wooden shoes.

That’s not completely true, Max. The country is called The Netherlands. Holland is only a part of it.

Okay, whatever. I was talking about the shoes.

Oh, the shoes! I saw a pair recently in a fashion magazine and just had to get a pair. Apparently they are very ‘in’ at the moment.

We took the train and headed straight to a souvenir shop, right on the border. There was also a cheese shop nearby. The Dutch are known world-wide for their cheeses. But Ella didn’t want cheese. She needed those shoes. She stormed right into the shop, plopped herself down and requested a pair in her size. Boy, did they look funny! She looked like some kind of gnome!

What are you talking about? They looked wonderful! Too bad they weren’t so uncomfortable…

Exactly! Do you Pandas want to know what happened afterwards? We had to go running back to the train station to catch our train, but Ella could only scoot around at a snail’s pace. Or like a little duck! She was so slow that we ended up missing our train!

It was the last train of the day and it was growing dark outside. We decided to go back to the souvenir shop and ask the shop keepers if they knew of a place we could stay. They invited us to stay at their place – apparently they had a sleeper couch we could use in the living room. Ella really didn’t want to share the couch with me, but we didn’t have a choice.

Something kinda funny happened, but I’ll tell you Pandas later.

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

Dzien dobry!

That means ‘how are you doing?’ in Polish.

Are you ready to find out how the story, eh hem, legend ends? I managed to convince Ella to go to the castle with me. At the ticket counter she asked the ticket lady if she new Mr…what was his name?

Mr. Jacek!

Oh yeah, if she knew Mr. Jacek. She told us that he took care of the castle and that we’d find him inside. We went in slowly, keeping on the lookout for both dragons and distressed damsels.

It was pretty creepy in there. And then someone tapped me on the shoulder. Boy, did that make me jump!

Yeah, you made a funny, high-pitched little squeal and I could see your fur standing straight up! It turned out to be Mr. Jacek. He asked if we wanted to listen to the rest of the legend, to which we readily agreed:

After King Krar had made his announcement that whoever slayed the dragon would be allowed to marry his daughter, hundreds of brave men volunteered for the job. There were probably also some in the group who were just bored or maybe even extremely ugly with no prospects of securing a wife in any other fashion, but these details have been lost in the annals of time. Anyway, man after man did his best to kill the wretched beast, but none succeeded. The dragon had a passion for musical theater and made every failed knight act out a part in his production of ‘Cats’.

All hope seemed to be gone for the king to marry off his daughter until one day a lanky organic farmer boy with large feet and an eye-patch appeared at their gate step. He asked and received permission from the king to make his best attempt at the dragon. But the farmer boy had an idea. He took a sheep skin and filled it with salt, pepper, and habanero peppers – spicy ones from the newly discovered Americas. He put this bundled little surprise into a gift basket, placed it at the entrance to the dragon’s lair, and snuck off.

The dragon was delighted to receive such a present – most likely a ‘thank-you’ from one of his adoring fans that had caught his most recent production of ‘Huckleberry Finn on Ice’. Each of the three heads divided up the tasty morsel and swallowed it down. As I’m sure you all know, dragons tend to suffer greatly from acid reflux (hence the fire) and this was no exception. The dragon tossed and turned, his belly burning with indescribable pain. With eyes closed, he let out a great burp and then decided to take a nap and sleep it off. Little to the dragon’s knowledge, his seemingly harmless burp caught his newly-purchased, merlot velveteen curtains on fire. It was a horrible mess and the small, volunteer fire department could do little to subdue the blaze. The entire town feasted on roast dragon for weeks.

You’re wondering about Princess Wanda and the organic farmer boy? They lived happily ever after, except of course from the years 1632-1634, when Wanda was suffering from a horrible dairy intolerance and also 1666, when the couple was being investigated for tax fraud.

Ah, a story with a happy ending. I think that’s great!

It’s a legend, not a story!

What’s the difference?

Anyway, tomorrow we’re going to Holland! We’ll see if they have such great legends there too. We’ll tell you about it on Friday!

Oh yeah, we sent a postcard to you from Poland! The postman said he tossed it over a loud, colorful place. What do you think that meant? But I’m sure you’ll find it!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

Hello Pandas!

How was your weekend? Did you get our postcard? We’ve travelled across the border to Krakow, which is in Poland. It’s not such a far trip from Berlin. It’s a very nice city and long ago was the home to royalty of great importance. They lived in the Wawel castle, which is on top of a great big hill. We wanted to go pay a visit, but we’re not so sure. An old man told us a creepy story while we were riding the train…

That was no story! It was a legend.

Well legends are stories too, aren’t they? I don’t know. Anyways, here’s how it went:

A long time ago King Krar and his daughter Wanda lived in the Wawel castle. The whole city loved their good-hearted king and his beloved daughter, Wanda.  Everyone was happy and content until one day, an evil dragon decided to take up residence in a cave underneath the castle. He was gigantic, with three heads and a body covered in scales. Whenever he was hungry, fire and smoke shot out of his three mouths. The town was terrified. Every day the dragon demanded a sheep as his dinner and he threatened to kidnap Wanda if he didn’t get his dinner. The king was annoyed (and also a bit scared) of this dragon pest, so he called on the bravest knight in the whole land to slay the dragon. As a reward, the knight would get to marry the king’s daughter.

The man didn’t go any further with the story. He told us to come to the castle tomorrow, and there he’d let us know the rest.

I’m a bit worried…what if the dragon is still there? Or even worse – a horribly arrogant and impolite knight killed the dragon, poor Wanda was forced to marry him based on her father’s promise, then spent her life wining and dining that horrible man, and now her angry and revengeful ghost is haunting the castle, armed with a frying pan in one hand and a knight’s sword in the other?

Ummmm…I guess we’ll find out tomorrow! We’ll tell you the rest of the story on Wednesday.

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

Hello Pandas!

We told you yesterday all about our first day in Berlin. It was so cool – but the next day I woke up and noticed that Ella was nowhere to be seen. Where on earth had she gone? Was she kidnapped? I mean, Pandas are pretty rare…I ran through the hotel wearing only my pajamas and out into the street. I wanted to cross, but they started honking at me. Haven’t they ever seen a Panda in pajamas?! Right when I managed to get across, I spotted Ella. She approached me, as if nothing was wrong with a big smile on her face and a paper bag in her hand.

I got us some breakfast! Really, Max, you worry too much.

You should have told me you were leaving!

I did! But you were sleeping pretty deeply. It’s not so bad. You found me again!

Good thing, too!

Anyways, after breakfast we went on a nice boat ride down the river. What’s it called again?

The Spree. (pronounced shpray)

That was it! We sailed through Berlin and around an island with great, big buildings. The captain said it was called Museum Island. I could tell Max wasn’t listening, though. He was feeding the ducks instead. Once he was leaning so far that he fell overboard. That was embarrassing, eh Max?

The people were just jealous that I have such a good relationship with the ducks…

Sure…Tomorrow we are taking the train to Poland. I’ll make sure that we don’t lose you out a window, Max!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

P.S.- We sent you a postcard via airmail. The plane flies over Panfu and throws the card out of the window, wherever it happens to be. It can land anywhere on Panfu. The postman must think he is pretty funny. He did, however, give us a hint: he mentioned that he hopes it didn’t get wet because of splashing Pandas…Good luck searching and go ask Professor Bookworm if you need more information! He’s probably in his laboratory, as usual.

It’s Ella’s birthday! So I thought we could sing her a song.

Altogether now:

Happy Birthday to you,

You live in a zoo,

You smell like a monkey

And you look like one too!

Wonderful, Max. You wipe that grin off of your face! Oh…a present? For mwuah?

Take a look! It’s a hand puppet. I made it just for you out of a sock!

Out of one of your socks?

Don’t worry, it was clean. Look here – I glued some blonde hair to the head. It looks just like yours! And I did a good job with the button eyes and eyelashes, eh?

Ha ha! Actually, it’s pretty cool. You did a great job, Max! Thanks!

Be good Pandas,

Max and Birthday Girl

P.S. – Don’t forget! In celebration of Ella’s birthday, today is Gold Panda and Level Day! Go have fun!

Dear Pandas,

Boy, is this exciting. Max and Ella have set their paws in the real world! Where did you think we’d go first? Of course, to the Panfu headquarters in Berlin! We wanted to meet first-hand the architects who made Panfu what it is today. The headquarters are right in the middle of the city, really close to the Film Tower.

Max! That’s the Fernsehturm! That means television tower in German.

I knew that. It’s the giant tower with the big ball on top. I think it kind of looks like a cherry with a toothpick going through it. Have any of you Pandas ever seen it in real-life?

Not far off is Panfu Headquarters. It’s a big building with lots of windows.

We were totally excited to ride the elevator. Neither of us had ever ridden one before! It shot up to the top floor like a rocket. We got out, and there we were, standing in front of the monstrous bamboo doors of the Panfu offices. Had they ever seen Pandas so close before? Would they be scared? Would we be scared?! We pushed open the door and were greeted by the entire Panfu team. We all got hugs and scratches behind the ears. Then they invited us to go sightseeing.

Our first stop was to get some German sausage, or Wurst as they say in German. Max just had to try a Currywurst…and another…and another…

Hey, I was hungry! And then I was sick…

I couldn’t go to sleep because of your rumbling belly!

Ha ha, well, I sure did sleep well! I got up with the sun, stretched my limbs a bit and then looked over towards Ella’s bed…but she wasn’t there! Where’d she go? We’ll let you know tomorrow! Now it’s time for a little more sightseeing.

Be good Pandas,

Max and Ella

P.S.- Tomorrow, Saturday the 11th, is a very special day for Ella! We won’t tell you why just yet, but what we can tell you is that we will celebrate it by having another GOLD PANDA AND LEVEL DAY!! So don’t miss out and be sure to log in tomorrow!