Vienna and Cousins

While boarding the train to Vienna from Prague my dads wallet got stolen (pickpocketed) and we were left with only 7 euros for the whole time we were staying in Vienna!  How would we survive?  We managed to sneak onto a train at the Vienna train station and we found our hotel.  My dad spent the whole night trying to get some cash but only managed to fail.  The next morning (after treating ourselves to a delicious cheeseburger at McDonalds) we went on a bike tour around Vienna and it took some time to get used to the bikes again since we hadn’t been on one for quite a while.  We went around a ring round that goes around the major attractions of Vienna and we saw Roman statues and buildings, stables and heaps and heaps of horses, some famous libraries, gardens and we even managed to enjoy ourselves at lunch (even though we only had 4 euros left)!  At the end of the tour we went to go and collect some money from the bank and walked out with 300 euros (at least we can afford something now!).  We asked if our cousins that we were meant to pick us up a day later would pick us up and they said they’d love too!  They came and picked us up at 3:00pm that day and we started the 2-hour journey to their house in the center of Austria in a small town called Bruck (pronounced Brook). 

Our Cousins

After arriving a day early at our elderly cousins house they had to think of something to do with us so we decided to talk about the family.  It turns out that Hubert (one of our cousins) was once a skiing instructor and a rescue skier, which is a pretty cool job since it always snows in the winter in Austria!  We went into the small town of Bruck and visited the small stores and the old church and realized that it wasn’t that small after all, actually between the size of Havelock and Hastings!  The second day we were staying with our cousins they took us for a “walk” (walk being huge hike!) and we climbed the hill up to their house and then back down and up again and the Austrian hills are very steep and in the winter it’s even harder because there’s snow on the ground, which makes it slippery!  We also went out further into the Austrian country and visited a huge lake up in the cliffs, but when we arrived it sadly started raining, we got absolutely soaked.  The third day we went out once again into the Austrian countryside and visited another lake, this one was a little bit smaller though.  My brother and I spent the whole time going on the flying fox and going on the swings and by the time mum dad and our cousins got back from their walk around the lake we decided to go for an Austrian lunch.  I had a delicious chicken schnitzel and for dessert a banana spilt (not necessarily Austrian though!) and we ventured back home to relax and do some maths (Mr Green I’m almost finished all of my sections!).  The next morning we were treated to a delicious boiled egg and some lovely toast as well, we then sadly went to the train station to go to a town on the boarder of Austria and Italy (it was on the Austrian side though) called Villach (where we hopefully wouldn’t get pickpocketed again) and then we were to take a 4 hour bus journey down to the canal ridden, swamp lands of Venice (hoping that it didn’t stink that bad)!

Josie and Hubert (and Steve)

Steve and I looking out through their valley

The Lake

The Bike Tour:  Vienna Opera House

The Stairs to their House!

  

Prague

After getting on the train in Berlin we took a train to Prague (or Praha as the Czech’s call it) and the train ride was a lot different than the train to Berlin since the carriages were completely different.  We arrived at the station and started walking towards our hotel when we actually found out we got off at a different train station to the one we thought we would have gotten off at so we walked for an extra 30 minutes.  We finally arrived safely at our hotel and went off to explore the old town of Prague.

The Old Town of Prague

We walked once again towards the famous and beautiful area of Prague called the old town square where some very tall and magnificent buildings stood.  We managed to go to the top of the tallest one (not as big as the empire state building though) that was also slightly on a lean.  The view that you could get from the top was amazing and I could see most of Prague in the surrounding landscapes.  At 7:00pm every night all year round the bells go off at that tower and several feature move like a skeleton that pulls the bells with his bony hand and some very strange witches that move also.  A trumpeter also comes out and plays a tune on the four sides of the tower that sounds like the Queen is arriving.  We finished of the night with a lovely dinner in the square and spent the night with the fan full blast since it was so hot and the next day was going to be even hotter!

The Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge is located on one of Prague’s many bridges overlooking the Volta River.  The Charles Bridge was named after Charles the 4^th since he was a ruler back in the late 1300’s A famous story about the Charles Bridge is that while the king that ruled after Charles the 4^th asked the priest for the queens confessions he refused and was tortured and still didn’t confess so the king threw him off the Charles Bridge and into the river but before he hit the river a halo appeared above his head to show that he did the right thing.  A memorial of the priest is on the bridge and married people place there hand on the priest and the cross and it shows that they will be together forever.  The bridge is built to last forever and is the most beautiful bridge in the whole of Europe with its 342-metre length stories and wonder!

The Segway Tour!

Those of you that don’t know what a Segway is, it’s a machine (a very smart one) that moves when you lean forward and backwards and when you move sideways it turns sideways!  I got the hang of it straight away since it was reasonably easy but my brother and dad didn’t get it so easily.  We started the 3-hour tour around a circuit that took you up into the surrounding hills of Prague, what a view it was from the top!  The Segway’s were a really easy way of getting around since Prague is mainly made up of hills and long drives, I managed to learn that the Czech Republic used to be called Czechoslovakia since Slovakia used to be linked with the Czech, in the end (after WWII) they split up and became The Czech Republic.  I also learnt that the biggest castle in the world (in square metres) was in Prague as well!  The Segway tour sadly ended but on a good note and we managed to visit the old square once again before heading back to the hotel to prepare for our trip to Vienna the next day. 

The Castle in the Old Square

The Charles Bridge

The Clock Tower in the Old Square

My mum saw Sonny Bill on the Plane on the way to Sydney!!!!!!

The Old Town Square

The Priest's Memorial of when he fell of the Bridge (it brings good luck)

I'm on a Segway!!

 

Germany

After spending the night at our relative’s house the next morning we drove to the Koln (pronounced Kolone) to take a train to Berlin (we left our mum in Belgium and we’ll meet up in Venice).  The train journey lasted 4-5 hours and we travelled in first class, it was quite an experience!  After arriving we found our way to the exit and met our cousin and we stayed with her for the time we were in Berlin.  The traffic was terrible and it took almost 1 hour to get to the apartment.   The apartment we were staying in was spacious and was a lot better than I thought it would be and the good thing was that we were right next to several restaurants, so we didn’t need to walk far to get some food!

A Tour through Berlin

The second morning we were in Berlin we went out and travelled on the metro to go to the Berlin city center.  Once we arrived we went around on one of the double decker buses and we toured through and learnt about Berlin’s main sights, like: Checkpoint Charlie, The Victory Statue, The Berlin Wall and much more!

Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall

Throughout WWII Berlin was split into 4 different parts all run by different countries, which are, The Soviet’s (Russians), The English, The Americans and The French.  This is because the whole of Germany was split in half during the war (the West and the East).  The Russians controlled the whole of the West side of Germany and the West half of Berlin and decided to build a wall between the two sides and in the middle was no mans land.  The West side of Germany was the wealthy side and could afford to build and renovate buildings and to get food and water.  In the East side there was no money and it rapidly started to deteriorate so many people tried to escape and go to West Germany, unfortunately that was very hard to do.  The only way to get between the two sides was through a very highly barricaded gate that was called Checkpoint Charlie.  Some people started making smuggling trucks to get people from the East side to the West and regularly failed.  One boy tried climbing over the wall and was shot in the leg in no mans land and left there to bleed to death for 24 hours.  Soldiers came to help from the East side but he was already dead by the time they got there.  The soldiers who shot him were convicted and were sent to jail for 10 years because they shot him without orders.  A part of the wall is still there today to remember what happened back in WWII (there is a lot more info but that is just the summary).

A German Dinner

After a long day of travelling around Berlin we finished the night with a very tasty traditional German dinner.  The waitresses that served you were dressed up in a German outfit that I was told was a very traditional thing in the 1800’s.  For dinner I had a leg of pork with a ring of crackling around the top and it was amazingly tasty and was the best pork I had had in my life!  For drinks I had something called a Spezi (pronounced Spetshi), which is a mixture of Coke and Fanta and was better than the two of them apart.   For dessert I had a delicious apple pies and one other thing (I can’t remember the name). 

The Berlin Zoo

The Berlin Zoo claims to have the most species of animals in the world (approx. 1670).  We used the metro to get there and the zoo wasn’t very exciting mainly because we had seen already heaps of animals on the trip already (Africa).  But we saw heaps of new ones at the zoo too that you couldn’t see commonly in the wild, I managed to see tigers, black panthers, the Black Rhino (we saw the White Rhino on the safaris), a lot of nocturnal animals and animals that live in the arctic like the penguin and the polar bear.  The zoo takes about 3 hours to cover if you’re walking continuously and taking the quickest route, for us it took about 4 hours.  The zoo takes up about 30 hectares of land and has a big wall around it that sort of intimidates people in the feeling that you can’t get out.  The exit we went out of was the original entrance and exit and has an archway with two elephants holding it up (I wondered how long it would last).  We finished the day with smiles on our faces unfortunately knowing that the next day we were going on a train to Prague (or Praha as the Czech’s call it) in the Czech Republic.

We found an Angry Face on the Boat Tour

A Baby Leopard!

A Black Pantha

Me and Steve at Checkpoint Charlie

My yummy German Dinner

Me at the Jewish Memorial that remembers the Jews who were killed in WWII 

Me Touring

A Sleepy Polar Bear

Me at the Brandenburg Gate

A Tiger!

The German Cathedral

A Black Rhino (we saw white ones)

Holland 4/8 - 8/8

Holland (or the Nederland's) is a flat expanse of land that stretches for miles and miles.  Back in the 1600's it was at risk of being flooded so the Dutch (the name for the people that live in Holland) used windmills to pump the water in different directions to avoid their piece of land being flooded.  Holland have hundreds and hundreds of canals flowing through it, which are usually halve salt and halve fresh water.  A canal is a small river that is man made and is used to transport people and items of food, clothing and animals etc.  They are commonly found in Holland, Venice and Bangkok.  The canals play an important part in Holland since they stop the land from going under sea level causing it to become a swamp land.  These are just a few of the facts that I learnt in Holland.

The Day we Arrived in Holland

We flew from Heathrow airport to another airport in Schiphol, Holland, which I found out is actually 9 metres below sea level (I found that a bit scary)!  When we arrived we took the overground train to a small town called Delft, which was where we were going to meet my mum again.  We arrived and were taken to the house we were staying in, which was considered big in Holland.  The relative we were staying with was my 2nd cousin and we looked almost identical (but she was a woman) and we even had the same personalties!  I was invited to go and collect the chinese that we were having for dinner that night on her tandem so I said yes.  I found that as we were riding there were not many cars around the place.  That is because most people get around on bikes and most don't even own cars!  We collected the food and headed home, we all ate and talked about my mum's side of the family (my dad had his turn in England) and I found out that I was related to so many people and many of them were my 2nd or 3rd cousins that I didn't even know about!  Lucky for me most people in Holland speak English, in fact they now start to teach English to preschool kids so they now the full language by the time they finish high school (maybe we should learn Dutch).  We settled for the night after an extremely complicated family tree discussion and I knew that I would sleep well (that's before I knew that the sun rises at 3:00am in the morning!). 

The Market in Delft

The second day we were in Delft we visited the local market, which was located in the middle of town in the market square.  It is said that the market square is the oldest part of town since it is where everyone met, sold and traded goods.  At one end of the town was a huge tower that was actually on a lean (not as much as the Tower of Pisa though) and looked like it was on the verge of collapsing when I was told it was completely safe!  Since it was a Sunday the market wan't busy at all and there weren't many stalls and shops open, the main day to come is on a Thursday since that is the main trading day.  We did manage to go into some stores to take a look (maybe we bought a few things) but we mostly just looked at the surrounding houses and structures.  The pavements of Delft is made of cobblestones and are sometimes quite uneven so when you took a step you had to look where you were going.  When we finished looking through the market we went over several bridges that went over some of the canals that made there way through the town.  Most of the bridges were exceptionally low to the water and were only about 1-2 metres above the water (how could you fit a boat through there?)!  I enjoyed myself touring the small town of Delft and finished it off with a lovely nights sleep (in the daylight since the sun goes down at 10:00pm!).

A Tour through the Canals

The third day we were in Delft it was pouring with rain and it would not stop!  I was annoyingly woken up a 6:00am to close the windows since the rain was coming in.  We decided that day to take a canal tour through a town called Leiden, which was close to Delft.  Once arriving we got tickets and went in a boat, which was very unique and designed for going under the bridges and going through the canals.  The boat was above the water by about 1 and a half metres and was submerged below the water by about 2 metres and there were seats in it.  It had a roof made of glass (which was very dirty) and had the style of a venetian canal boat (you might have to search it on Google) and was very comfortable to sit in.  Other than the fact it was pouring with rain we had a smile on our face since the glass roof was stopping us from getting saturated!  The views that you could get from outside the window were great and we learnt about the history of some of the bridges using the talking guide that you could listen to using headphones (mine didn't work so I didn't hear very much!).  Some of the bridges date back to the 1600's and most of them are still in the same condition that they are today (some had to be restored and rebuilt).  We made it through all of the bridges even though sometimes I thought that we would get stuck and made it back to the dock.  We then returned home, visited the market (the rain had sort of stopped by then) and spent the night chilling out (we couldn't watch TV since they didn't have one).

The Parade

The last day in Delft we spent the morning replying to emails (some from 8PG) going for a short walk into town and in the afternoon watching a water parade that took place going through the canals.  The parade was well set up and included some spectacular decorations and singing (some of which I couldn't understand since it was sung in Dutch) and I was really impressed.  The parade went on for about an hour and through that time I got to see different types of floats, some were Fruit and Vegetables, Fantasy, Extreme and many more!  I managed to get through my 5th book so far in this holiday and I'm hoping that I'll get through some more.  By the end of the parade I was really excited but also sad since we were leaving the next day to go to a party and stay the night at a hotel, no more chinese take-away :( .

The Party

The next morning we travelled to a relative of ours 70th birthday party where we would meet 100 adults all who I am related to and 1 another 20 kids again all of whom I am related to!  The party was at a train station and we were going to go around the place by steam train, which I thought was rather nice after a long days traveling (half an hour) to get there.  The train was a nice journey and went around the coast of Holland and I saw some of the spectacular levy's that stop the water from flooding the canals around Holland.  The train journey lasted a few hours and it turns out that I was actually a very good train conductor by the looks of it.  We finished the party at a lovely restaurant on the beach and the weather was shocking!  The wind was blowing, it was raining but luckily it was half indoors and the outside halve was covered in a tent.  The food we had that night was tasty and mostly made of chips (it wasn't as bad as it sounds) and everyone was having a good time.  In the middle of the party we found out that someone had brought there togs with them and had gone for a swim, they came back to the party a bit wet but still looking presentable.  After the emotional speeches we managed to make a move and get out of the restaurant and by that time it was 9:45pm and we were quite tired.  We went to the hotel we were staying at and spend the night sleeping in the comfiest bed so far in the trip (why did we have to stay there only one night?).

The following morning we drove for 2 and a half hours up to another of our relatives, which was on the border of Holland and Belgium, knowing that tomorrow we were going up on a bullet train to Berlin.   

A Low Bridge

Look how low we are to the water in our Canal Tour Boat!

The Canal Tour Boat

A Canal

The Leaning Tower (it is leaning it's just hard to get with a camera)

The Market Square (when it's not busy)

Me with my mum's glasses on having lunch

Me on the Train

Left:  My cousin.  Middle:  Me.  Right: Steven (Brother).

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

The Train we went on at the Party

An Olden Day Windmill

  

The Olympics

Since you guys have been so interested in me going to the olympics I have decided to tell you what it was like actually visiting the grounds and the stadium!  I hope that this answers most of your questions.

When I visited the stadium it was absolutely packed and my family and I sometimes got lost and had to regroup at certain points throughout the park (tho is why I suggested that we bring a walkie-talkie with us)!  The grounds were full of different people and the different flags and different areas of the park was amazing but unfortunately we didn't get into any event since the seats were all booked out and when we managed to watch it on TV there were heaps of missing people in the seats.  I think it's a scam!  The ticket prices are also really expensive and it costs sometimes up to $200 a ticket and that's only for a child sometimes!  When we did watch the Olympics though we watched it on TV and the England coverage is really good, there is something called the red button on the TV that lets you choose what event you want to watch.  It's really efficient!  The best thing that I got from the Olympics (gift wise) was a keyring with the London 2012 symbol on it, that was given to me by our friends.

I hope that this answers most of your questions and keep the questions coming!  (Not too many though!)

London 27 July - 4 August

We started the sad journey out of Cape Town in the pouring rain and flew up to London Heathrow airport to start another part of our journey in Europe!  The flight up was exciting since we were on a brad new plane and it had all of the new gizmo's and gadgets.  Once our flight landed we went straight to the rental car pick-up area and got our rental car and we got really lucky.  My dad managed to pick up a new BMW 500 series diesel and we drove out in style (with me in the front seat of course).  We drove on the outskirts of London and turned off towards the countryside of Kent and went to my dads town that he used to live in when he was little, it was an experience for him because we drove past his old house and stopped by at dads best friends house and said hello.  We then continued onto the place we were staying at which was our Uncles house.  When we arrived we were greeted by many, many little kids who I found out were actually my cousins and we enjoyed a nice dinner when I found out that they were to be sleeping in my bed for a little while since they were to young to stay up.  After a long days travelling I managed to get to bed early and woke up the next morning with hopefully something to do.

The Olden Day Towns of Kent

The next day we went out and explored the country side of Kent and drove through several towns along the way.  The roads inside the towns were exceptionally narrow and I definitely thought that at some point we were going to get stuck.  The roads are so narrow because in the olden days when London wasn't modern people got around on horseback or on carriages so they didn't need to be that wide at all.  The houses throughout most of the towns that we past through were almost on the break of collapsing and looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa!  Yet again we still survived and weren't crushed.  England is famous for it's pubs, if you go round to a friends house they will always say "do you want to go to the pub?" even little kids say that.  They are everywhere, if you go into a town with no more than 10 houses in it one of those will be a pub.  The most common thing men and woman will ask for in a pub is a pint of beer and some small food accompaniment to go with it.

The Bluebell Railway

We sadly left Bert's house after 2 nights and continued onto another very close relatives house Mary and Lindsay's with the same last name as me (Black if you forgot).  It took 20 minutes to get there and by the time we arrived we were tired and wanted to get some fresh air, so we were taken out to the Bluebell Railway Line and we went on our second steam train.  The train was powered by steam not smoke as some people sometimes think and consisted of 5 carriages 1 of those the first class carriage.  The journey lasted for almost 2 hours with stops along the way and the countryside was beautiful and full of wildlife.  We went through 1 tunnel on the way which we made the most of scaring each other in the pitch black darkness and at the other end getting revenge.  The journey was heaps of fun and by the end I felt like I would fall over where I stood!  We went home and enjoyed a lovely dinner and shared photos of my dad when he was four and it was hilarious!

The Beach made of Flint

The second day we were with Lindsay and Mary we visited the famous White Cliffs of Dover (Mr Green you can type that up on the internet and get some good photos since it was pouring with rain when we were there) and also saw the 7 sisters.  The entire stretch of beach was made of flint and the cliffs made of chalk with bands of flint forming all the way through them going on for miles and miles.  I sadly couldn't make a spark with the flint since I needed steel but I tried my hardest.  I found out that if you hit flint with a stone it breaks and the sharpness of the flint can be used to cut leather with and cut raw meat with too, that's pretty sharp!  We later continued onto another beach made of flint 30 minutes away but this time surrounded by houses and a huge wharf, I tried my first English flavoured ice cream here and it wasn't very tasty.  We went back home and had a Chinese take out which was actually very tasty.  

Ingtham Mote

On the last day we were with Lindsay and Mary we visited a very famous sight called the Ingtham Mote which was built in the early 1300's by a very wealthy family and lasted all of the way to 1980.  The house was built on a river and and mote now surrounds it.  The mote was built for the sewage and drains towards the sea but sometimes overflows near a road causing a minor flood and sewage to go all over the place, which was very unsanitary.  In the 1980's the Ingtham Mote underwent a major restoration project to rebuild the fallen or deteriorating structure and they succeeded and it is now a major tourist attraction for people all over the world!  We managed to get a quick tour in before it started bucketing with rain and finished off with a couple of scones (we are very naughty!).

Charles Darwin
I'm not sure if you've heard about the famous Charles Darwin, the man who discovered the theory of evolution.  Well I visited his house.  The second day we were with Lindsay and Mary we visited the household of Charles Darwin.  In the early 1800's Charles went on a voyage around the world to collect species of animals for experimentation and to show people how evolution really occurred.  He was considered in those days a monkey and not human for not believing that God created humans and didn't evolve from monkeys.  He was regularly drawn in newspapers as a monkey with sings underneath him saying things like "Human Beast" and "Non Believer".  He finally managed to convince some people about his theory of evolution and when he died he died with honor and is now buried at Westminster Abby.

The Tower of London
We left Lyndsay and Mary's house the next morning and continued onto another one of our relatives house but before we arrived we visited the famous London Lego Land which I'm sure some of you must of heard of.  We arrived that night and got to bed slightly earlier than usual and woke up the next morning ready for an adventure.  The next day we visited the famous Tower of London getting there through the underground train (the tube) located on the Themes River near the London Bridge with the Olympic Rings on it.  It was definitely an experience for everyone and I thought that it was very interesting, I learnt that many of England's famous leaders were executed there and reigned there also.  The castle dates back to the early 1000's and has been built bigger and bigger every century.  The Tower also holds the Crown Jewels, which I saw as well, they were definitely beautiful and the doors guarding them were very heavy and thick.  I was thinking what would happen if I got trapped inside.  The castle was an experience of a lifetime and we finished it off with a lovely dinner on the edge of the Themes with our relatives.

The Olympics
I sadly didn't get to watch any events live but I went though the Park which I thought was really cool.  Everyone was dressed up in their country colours and looked very supportive don't worry I had my NZ flag up!  I met up with a friend there and we chatted for a while and it turns out that he was watching the swimming finals which I thought was pretty cool.  We went on home through the endless crowds of people and took the tube back to the house and settled down that night definitely overloaded with memory space after a long days learning experience.

Windsor
The next day we went down the Long Road as it was called (since it was 3 miles long) and lead up towards one of the Queens many residences Windsor Castle.  We walked up the road and diverted into the town of Windsor and had a coffee there and continued on down towards a small part of the river Themes.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch and went back to the house to go and set up a fire (with Flint and Steel!) and when we arrived there we went out into the neighboring forest to go and collect firewood.  The fire was started just after dark and we told each other ghost stories and everyone got scared (especially with my ones!).  I managed to get to sleep without scaring myself and found myself awake in the morning on the sad day that we were to leave.

The Flight to Amsterdam, Holland
The next morning we were spoilt with a cooked breakfast and left the house at around mid day saying goodbyes to England and to our relatives.  On the way to Heathrow airport my dad luckily realised that we had left the computer behind so we quickly turned around, said our goodbyes once again and headed back to the airport this time stuck in traffic.  We were lucky not to miss our flight since the traffic was so bad and finally arrived in the next leg of our journey, Holland where we would meet more relatives and hopefully nothing bad would happen.  

The Wharf at the Flint Beach

Ice Creams are yummy!

Partying at the Beach

View out to Sea

The London Bridge with the Rings

The London Bridge

The House of Charles Darwin

Us at Charles Darwin's House

Bands of Flint in the Chalk

Crabs are also yummy

The White Cliffs of Dover

The Ingtham Mote

The courtyard of the Ingtham Mote

The Billiard room at Ingtham Mote

Steve sitting next to a Ghost

A Sign with me in the Background

The Steam Train

Me!!!!

A misused Carriage

Our Steam Train

The Olympic Rings

The Crow's at The Tower of London

The White Church in the Tower of London

The Long Road at Windsor

A Guard Patrolling

Windsor Castle