Ice Skating Day

Today we went ice skating. The rink was outside; you can't do that in Australia because it is so hot and all the ice would melt. It was snowing while we skated. I started off with a Penguin and Blair started off with no Penguin. A Penguin is something you hold on to when you skate.

We loved it so much that we asked Dad to take us back again. We went at 4pm when it is dark here, and so all the christmas lights were on and it was very beautiful. This time I started with a Penguin and ended without Penguin, and thats why I got really good at it. The first session I fell over 3 times, and the second session I fell over twice when I skated without a Penguin.

We went ice skating because there was nothing else to do. The car and the roads were covered in snow and we couldn't go anywhere. When we got home it was snowing really heavily so that the snow was about 10cm high.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Today was a day full of snow. I made a tiny snowman and I think it will last through the night because the nights are so cold. We went to a shop and I got Hannah the happy ever after fairy book (Rainbow Magic). There was a man with a broom and he was in the street sweeping the snow to the side to stop the road from getting icy. I saw a big pile that he had made and I used it to roll a snowball and his dog came up to me and I patted it until the man called the dog away.

Snow falls as tiny flakes. When lots and lots has fallen it becomes thick as you can see in my picture. When you press the snow it turns hard and becomes a snowball and if you throw it at someone it will hurt them.

Aircraft Museum

Today we went to an aircraft museum and I was bored. There was nothing VERY interesting. There was a Concorde which is the fastest passenger plane ever. We were able to go inside. It didn’t carry people, it was a test aircraft.

For a special treat Violet got a lemon cupcake, Blair got a pasty and I got a gingerbread man. We bought them in a village called Castle Cary. We like to go charity shops and look for secondhand books by Enid Blyton and Judy Blume.

It said it was going to snow on the news, but it was wrong. Today I heard on the news that the day we are leaving it will start snowing but we will be gone.

Bath

Today we went to Bath which is a town in the south west part of England. We visited the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey. Bath Abbey is a church and the Roman Baths are all about baths and hot springs. The Roman built the Roman Baths 2000 years ago. The Romans used to write curses on pewter and throw them into the water to ask for the Goddess’ help. We used audio guides, whenever we saw a number we would type it into our audio guide and it would tell us about the thing we were looking at.

Lots of people died and got buried in the Abbey. The windows were colourful, and they had a mirror on a table facing upwards to see the ceiling better. The ceiling was a fan vault and was very impressive. On the memorials sometimes the letter s was written as an f.

In our apartment I found a book called Blubber by Judy Blume. I read it in one night, except for a tiny bit which I read in the morning. Its about what happens when you tease someone. Before, she was teasing someone, but in the end she was the one who got teased.

To the countryside

Today we headed for the countryside and it was so so cold that Blair got a new jacket and I got a new jumper. All I had on was a t-shirt, a jacket with a hood, some gloves, a hat,  some socks and some boots so I was the coldest. We went to Blenheim Palace and it had an adventure park and a maze which we didn’t see. We saw where Winston Churchill was born and grew up.

Last Day in London

Today was our last day in London because tomorrow we start driving around the countryside of England. We went to see St Pauls today, which is an Anglican church in the centre of London. It has a large dome which can be seen from just about everywhere. There is two domes in St Pauls. First he built the outside one, but on the inside there is another one. One for good looking on the outside, one for good looking on the inside. We had audio guides which were headphones with an ipad and you clicked on things and it played demos. We went up to the whispering gallery and down to the crypt. We saw the graves of Nelson and Wellington. We didn’t see Christopher Wren’s grave because it wasn’t available to view until 3pm.

We caught a bus and that bus went through the Christmas lights in Oxford St. We also saw the Christmas lights in Regent St and Carnaby St. Hamblys had shop windows with the three little bears.

Harmonica

Today I got a harmonica from the music shop on the Ramblas. It had lots of instruments including guitars and banjos. We caught the Metro to Tibidabo to go to the Science Museum Cosmocaixa. It was cool. You should try putting two fingers fingertip to fingertip and horizontal in front of your eyes and looking past them. What do you see? It’ll take a while to see it. There was an aquarium, which was a forest. It had stingrays and fish and turtles and birds and turkeys.

Then we went to the Sagrada Familia. It is a big church designed by Gaudi, like lots of things in Barcelona. He died before it was finished and they’re still building it. They seem to have almost finished, they just need to do the staircase. The floor was slippery and slidey. There were colourful windows, especially blue. It showed us how he got his ideas. Like for twirly pillars he had a cylinder of sticks that twirled around. He drew his inspiration from things like beehives, trees, palm fronds and all nature.

Barcelona

When we got to Barcelona it was 10pm. We had to go straight to bed even though we wanted to play with our kinder surprise toys. In the morning we went to the markets and Harrison (Blair’s friend) would hate to see it because he’s a vegetarian and its all about dead animals. Some animals like crabs and crayfish they left alive so everyone knew they were fresh. There were dead rabbits, and chickens with their feathers still on.

Then we caught the 24 bus to Parc Guell and it was built by Gaudi who was an architect who made many buildings. One of his buildings is skull-like. There were patterns everywhere in the park, and lots of musicians, and I saw people dancing to some. On the way back we went to Placa Catalunya and there were heaps of pigeons there and when we ran through them there was a flock but they didn’t fly, they stayed on the ground because they liked being there because people fed them.

Barcelona has beautiful big buildings like Paris, but they are more decorated. The shops are open late like Roma, and there are lots of people around. We haven’t seen many churches yet.

The Ferry

Today we did the ferry. We got our room. Mum and Dad and Violet slept on the top bunks, and me and Blair went on the bottom bunks because last time I was on the top bunk I fell off and hurt my arm. The second day of the ferry I got seasick and went all dizzy like it all wasn’t real or true that I was on the ferry. We had lunch at the restaurant, chips and pasta and spaghetti and fizzy water that I didn’t have any of because I hate fizzy water, and I will never ever drink fizzy water.

On the top deck, the first time we went up there it wasn’t windy at all but the next day it was really windy and my hair was going everywhere. Mum tried to take a photo but my hair was going so fast that it made it all fuzzy.

Lots and Lots of Gelato

Today we walked about 250 miles and first we went to the Colosseum. It would cost about $100 for the family to go in so we just looked from the outside. Then we went to the icecream shop in the train station across the road, and bought icecream cones with 2 flavours. Mine was fragola e cioccolata.

Then we went back to the Pantheon but we couldn't go in because they were having a mass. So we went to McDonalds and we got the same as yesterday. And then we went to the Trevi Fountain and we through coins in to help us return to Rome and we made wishes. I'm not going to tell you my wish because then it won't work.

In the evening we went out again. We were going to go to the park but it was getting dark so we walked to the top of the Spanish Steps and along to the Piazza del Popolo. This was great but it was full of African men trying to sell us wizzy dizzy things and roses. I call them wizzy dizzy things because they go round and round and must get dizzy, and when they go round they start to wizz. Then we had another icecream and went to the shops and bought some food and came home.

Park Of A Lifetime

Today we got another icecream. I got another strawberry, Violet got mixed berries and Blair had cookies and vanilla. We wanted to go to the Vatican but the queue was too long and we would have had to have waited an hour to get in. Instead we caught a tram to get to the Villa Borghese Park

First Blair and I went on the go-karts and Violet went on the bouncy castle, but Mum took me off half way through so I could have a turn on the bouncy castle. On the castle I met a boy called Giorgio and he spoke Italian, so I only knew his name was George when his Mum told me. On the bouncy castle there was this big thing that you use to train for karate and when I kicked it with both legs I fell on my back. While I was doing that Blair and Violet played air hockey, but Dad wouldn't let me go on it. I didn't want to go back to our hotel, and I kept pulling on Mum's arm and saying "I don't want to go home ... or ... back to our hotel".

Roma Day 2

Today first we went to the Spanish Steps and I don't know why they are in Italy they should be in Spain. And Mum won't tell me. At the top was a church called Trinita del Monti, and we dipped our finger in water and then put it on our forehead, our chest then our left shoulder and then our right shoulder. 

Then we bought a gelato, I got strawberry, Violet got mixed berries and Blair got melting chocolate. They were really big and I was the last to finish, and I had to take mine out of the shops because we left so early. There was even a nutella flavoured gelato, and lots of unusual ones like pistachio and limoncello.

Then we went to Borromini's church. Mum told us a story about Borromini and Bernini, both architects at the same time. Borromini was very smart but not as successful as Bernini, so Bernini got all the fame. Borromini helped Bernini, but Bernini didn't want to admit that and took all the credit for Borromini's work. But then Bernini made a mistake and put towers on St Peters which caused it to crack and they had to be taken down. Bernini was in disgrace and Borromini became famous instead. But then Bernini built the statue of Santa Teresa and became famous again, and Borromini was so angry he committed suicide. Borromini's church was great. If you looked up into the lantern (a hole in the ceiling) you saw the holy spirit. On the sides there were lots of pictures of Jesus going up to heaven (I'm saying this in case you're not Catholic).

Then we went to the park and it had a great playground. It had lots of moss and trees and a giant rock which Mum wouldn't let us crawl under. Then we wanted to go to Bernini's church but it was closed.

Then we wanted to go to the Pantheon but we went to see the Colosseum instead but we didn't go too close so that we can go another day. We were going home when we saw a sign saying there was a McDonalds at the Pantheon and it said it was 50m so we walked 50ms that way but we didn't find it so we went to the Pantheon and 50m away was a McDonalds. We got a milkshake each, a large packet of chips and 9 nuggets to share. We ate them on the steps of a fountain. On the way back to our apartment we passed by another fountain and in it was a giant seagull called a Pacific Gull. It was funny to watch it looking for fish. We thought it thought it was in the ocean.

Roma

Today we had a 4 hour train trip from Venice to Rome. At the train station we met a lady called Jan and she showed us some photos of her puppies. She is from America, and she was with her husband. She stayed with us on the train even though she was meant to be in coach 07 and we were in coach 03. She bought us some mini chocolate biscuits and some tuc, which are Italian crackers. When we got to Florence, she went back to sit with her husband.

In Rome we got to our hotel on the metro. When we were going down some escalators, two of them stopped suddenly and we had to walk the rest of the way. There was lots of grafitti in the metro station, and the train was very crowded. We hopped off at Flaminia and walked through the Piazza del Popolo. We are staying in a big apartment which has a picture of Las Meninas on the wall, and there is a statue of a cow which looks like it is made of gold. There is terrace out the back which Mum calls a deathtrap.

Venice

Today we came to Venice and when it floods it is really flooding and we couldn’t get to our hotel room. When it went down we thought that we shouldn’t stay there in case it floods again tomorrow and we can’t get to the train, so we stayed in another hotel. When it is flooded you use big plank walkways to get around or wear big galoshes. We went to St Mark’s square and it was completely under water, and the shops were filled with water too. There were seagulls swimming in St Mark’s Square.

Later we went back to St Mark’s square and all the water was gone. People are selling clothes that hang low to the ground and when the water was gone the clothes were wet. We went into St Marks Basilica. The floors were tiled with mosaics, and the ceiling was covered with gold mosaics.

The Overnight Train

Last night we went on an overnight train and we got a bedroom instead of having to sit in seats. There was a top bunk bed, a middle bunk bed and a low bunk bed, and there were two of each. Blair and I got to sleep on the top bunks and I fell off in the middle of the night. I would have broken my arm but I fell on a lower bunk and bounced off it, which broke my fall. After that Mum and Dad got scared, and took Violet down to a low bunk, and Blair to a middle bunk, and I had to share Mum’s bed. I was on the side that Miss DelCaro slept on when she took an overnight train trip with Mum.

Not Much

Today all we got to do was go to the Louvre because of the weather, and we saw the Mona Lisa and dad helped me film lots of things and say something funny about them. Example: there was a guy with a sword in his head, and we thought he was saying to the woman next to him "Don't you use a knife, because they are all dirty, and you might end up with it in your head like mine". We were about to go to the Cluny Museum and Sainte Chappelle, but it started pouring and the umbrella we bought was broken so we had to go home. Mum went to those places on her own.

Disneyland

Today we went to Disneyland. First we went to Disneyland Park. Blair, Dad and I went in Space Mountain Mission 2, and it looked quite real. When we went down my chin was stuck to my chest and I couldn't lift it up. We were travelling around a super nova (in case you don't know what that is, it is the biggest star or fireball ever). Mum and Violet went on the little rocket thing that goes quite slow and is really lame. Mum couldn't bear it and wanted to get off it.

It was freezing. I was frozen. We didn't have enough clothes on and Blair wouldn't stop complaining so they bought him some gloves, but not us.

Then we went on a Star Wars simulator.

Paris

Today was the day I went to Paris. I've never seen so much graffiti in my life. I had to go by train and it took 150 minutes to get there, or two and a half hours. All we had time to do today was visit the Eiffel Tower. There were lots of black men trying to sell things. There were these things that change colour and you shoot them up. They are like helicopters and they spin down to the ground. Mum wouldn't let us climb to the top of the Tower.

We saw the Tower light up and sparkle, and even though there was light on it before, the sparkles hurt my eyes. We saw a merry-go-round. There was also a merry-go-round near the London Eye. Everywhere there is something special there is a merry-go-round. And then we went home.

One Thousand Planes

First we went to a playground in Hyde Park. Its theme was Peter Pan and it was really good. Blair and I played a game with two other kids we met and Blair was the Captain. At the end I hid in the deck so that I didn't have to leave and when I got out my pants and t-shirt and boots were all full of sand. Then we walked through the rest of Hyde Park with Beth and went to the Natural History Museum. We went to the dinosaur part. There was one giant dinosaur and I filmed the dinosaur while Blair read the signs.

Then we went to the RAF museum and there were lots of planes, and Blair and I took turns filming them. At the end we went into a flight simulator and it moved and there was a movie that showed where you were going in the plane. It was really fun, but Dad wouldn't let us do it again. When Violet was being measured she stood on her tip toes so that they would count her. On the way home we bought plums and grapes.

This is our last day in London. Tomorrow we head to Paris.

The Day of the London Eye

Today we went to the National Gallery and we saw that The Ambassador's trick really does work. When you go to the side and the ribbon like thing turns into a skull. We bought postcards there to send to school.
Then we caught the Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich. This is different to the Tube because it is overground and the carriages are newer and quieter.

Before we went on the ferry we went to a museum. It had a big mirror like the one in Westminster Abbey and we could see the roof. The other museum we went to after that was the Maritime Museum. I was half asleep for most of the time there so I didn't learn much.

After that we caught the ferry to the London Eye. Where the London Eye was there were lots of people performing for money, one was dressed as Donald Duck and another was dressed as Spiderman. Others pretended to be statues painted silver, but they tapped their feet and looked at everyone. There was also a merry-go-round but we didn't go on that, we went on the London Eye instead. It turned out that the London Eye wasn't so tall. I wonder why James' mum almost fainted like he said she did. Then we caught the Tube home. We had chicken for dinner and Mars Bar icecreams for desert (2 each).

The Very Rare "No Bus Day"

Today was a day when the bus we wanted didn't turn up.

First we went to Westminster Abbey and we went around on a Children's Trail. We found the graves of Queen Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell and other famous people. In one of the rooms there was a really loud echo, and they had taken up the carpet and it showed a beautiful floor of medieval tiles. There was a garden that we were allowed to go in, and it was very beautiful.

Then we went to the Embankment and had a picnic, and then we went to the Science Museum. It was really interesting and it showed past light bulbs, past cars, and really weird cars of the present. We went to the force field, and it had a show called the Legend of Apollo, and the seats shook a lot and when the capsule crashed into the water, water splashed on us.

We filmed us talking about things and we made symmetric pictures. There were fish on the floor and you needed to make the picture of water ripple and it made the fish swim away. It took a long time to get home. We waited about an hour for a bus, and then we had to catch a taxi, which was annoying because a no. 10 bus could have come along at any minute.

The Imperial War Museum

On the 2nd Nov I went to the Imperial War Museum. My favourite part was the swingy-magigi in the submarine display.  The thing me and Violet are leaning on is a shell and the thing next to us is an oversized gun.

At the first hotel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, I'm at the first hotel in London, it looks very beautiful, all the buildings are so tall. In the planes when I looked out of the window I saw a giant map, in front of me I saw a tiny T.V.  I watched Toy Story 3, half despicable me, half Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Shrek 4 and Nanny McPhee and the big BANG!

About to take-off

I am at the airport about to take off and I am very excited!! I don't have much time, I might get called to the plane at any minute. Greg dropped us here in the stretch limo and it's our last trip in it because Greg is selling it. It is hot and there are lots of flies in Perth, so I'm looking forward to cooling down.

IT'S TOMMOROW

The day I'm going is tomorrow.
I am so excited.
I'm sure it'll be a great success.
I'm sorry your not invited.

At the twelfth hour I'll be at the airport.
At half past three I'll be in the plane.
Oh I know, it's approximately.
Things will never...be...the same.

When I'm Going

When I take the plane to England it will be the first of Nov.

When I take the underwater train to Paris it will be the sixth of Nov.

When I take the train to Venice it will be the ninth of Nov.

When I take the train to Rome it will be the eleventh of Nov.

When I take the ferry to Barcelona it will be the fifteenth of Nov.

When I take the plane back to England it will be the nineteenth of Nov.

When I drive to Frome it will be the twenty third of Nov. 

When I drive to Hastings it will be the twenty seventh of Nov.

When I take a flight back to Australia it will go over night so it will be the first and second of Dec.

My Expectations

On my holiday, first I'm going to Singapore but only for a bit in the Singapore Airport so we'll skip that part OK.

In the plane, I'm going to do nothing but watch movies, apart from eating and sleeping and things like that.

In England, I'm going to ride on trains and double decker buses and see beautiful buildings and churches especially St. Pauls.

In Paris, I'm going to go Disney Land and  see the Eiffel Tower.

In Venice, I'm going to go on all kinds of boats and see the Bridge of Sighs.

In Rome, I'm going to see the Colosseum and Ostia-Antica

In Spain I'm going to visit Parc Guell and  visit a chocolate mueseum

In England again, I'm driving all over the country side visiting beaches and stuff.

In Singapore again I'm not getting out of that Airport.

When I get back home I'll move house.

Where I'm going

First, on my holiday I'm flying to Singapore ( but only because I cannot get a direct flight from Australia to England).

Second, I'm flying to England ( if you were smart  would not have to tell you that).

Third, I'm  taking an underwater train to Paris ( in France).

Fourth, I'm taking a train to Venice (in Italy).

Fifth, I'm taking another train to Rome (still in Italy)

Sixth, I'm taking a ferry to Barcelona (still think I'm in Italy? Well you're wrong I'm in Spain).

Seventh, I'm flying back to England (why are you wondering why I said BACK to England)

Eighth, I'm flying back to Singapore (but only because I can't get a direct flight from England to Australia).

 Ninth, I'm flying back to Australia (if you were smart I would not have had to tell you that).

Who I'm going with

On my European holiday, I am going with ...
My brother,
 my sister,
my mum,
my dad,
and me.