The First Cruise

The Boat

The Cruise Ship that we went on was called the Nieuw (New) Amsterdam and the Holland America Line owns it.  The boat it self is magnificent but not as good as the Radiance of the Seas we went on earlier in the year. 

It has a swimming pool, lovely restaurants including a buffet, lots of sun bathing areas, a kids club (it was really bad though), and several other cool things (no games room though!). 

We spent in total 12 days on the boat and 2 of those days were at sea for the whole day the rest we were in port (sometimes travelling) doing activities.  The cruise was really amazing but I can’t wait for the Allure of the Seas on the Royal Caribbean in America.  

Kotor, Montenegro

Our first port of call on the cruise was a town called Kotor, which is located in Montenegro.  Kotor is famous for it’s city wall that surrounds the older part of the town, back in the 4^th Crusade the English and French conquered the city for the Venetians and they won claiming the land and naming the area after the black mountains.  It is now in an independent country called Montenegro not owned by the Venetians.

What we did in Kotor

In Kotor we did a tour that covered a town outside of Kotor called Budva as well as exploring Kotor.  In Budva we went for a swim and explored the small towns old side.  In Kotor we visited the inner walls, saw some churches and visited the museum, which were all very interesting.

Istanbul, Turkey

Our second port of call was Istanbul (it was used to be called Constantinople), which is part of Turkey (we stayed here for 2 days).  The river that runs through Istanbul is called the Bosphorus and is the boarder between Asia Minor and Europe. 

Some of the major attractions in Istanbul are the Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, The Blue Mosque and the Grand Bizarre.  The Hagia Sophia is 1400 years old and means the “Holy Church of Wisdom”.  It was originally a Christian Church but was converted into a Mosque in the 15^th century.  The Hagia Sophia also has the largest dome in the world and it is said to contain doors made of wood made from Noah’s Ark and they are at least 2300 years old.  The marbles in the Hagia Sophia were cut by using silk (shows you how strong silk is) and the church was made by up to 100,000 slaves and only took 7 years to build.

The Blue Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet the 1^st and started construction in 1609 to 1616.  The mosque has 6 minarets, which was 2 more than you traditionally have to have.  It was a considered a threat towards Mecca because the main Islamic mosque only had 4 minarets.  They decided to add 3 more minarets to Mecca’s mosque so it wouldn’t be considered as a threat. 

Topkapi Palace was built for Mehmet the 2^nd in the years 1459-1465 and is made out of 4 courtyards, it is one of the largest palaces in the world.  Now the palace is open to the public and it contains all of the costumes of the imperial arms and all of the jewelry (including the Topkapi Dagger and the Topkapi diamond, which is one of the largest diamonds in the world). 

Mehmet the 2nd established the Grand Bizarre shortly after his conquest of the city in 1453.  There are several entrances to go into the Grand Bizarre, the most popular being “Gate 1” (so original).  The Grand Bizarre has over 4,400 shops inside and hundreds of streets as well, so there is nothing you can’t buy there.  The Grand Bizarre with all of it’s streets and shops make it really easy to get lost even though there are streets sign and posters everywhere so don’t stray from the main street or you might never return…   

Mykonos, Greece

Unfortunately on the way to Mykonos winds of up to 80km/h were blowing and we had to abandon this port of call, so instead we continued onto Kusadasi a half a day early and spent the night there.

Kusadasi, Turkey

Our third port of call was in Kusadasi, which was once again in Turkey.  Kusadasi is well known because only 10 minutes drive from the center of the town is Ephesus.  Ephesus was a city built 3000 years ago and the Romans lived there.  At the time it was an independent city, which means that if everyone paid their taxes then they could continue living freely without Roman soldiers roaming the streets.  Ephesus is now a destroyed city and only 10% of it has been examined.  We also went to a museum after Ephesus and saw Artemis’ Temple, which was originally in Ephesus but was moved to the museum.  Near Ephesus is the acclaimed house of the Virgin Mary.  It is said to be the place where Mary spent her last years and it is now a museum.  There are several things you can do there, there is a spring that is underneath the house and you can drink the water without it being tampered with, there is also a wall that you can tie something to (e.g. a paper, a tissue, flannel etc.) and you can then make a wish (I made a wish).     

What we did in Kusadasi

The first night after arriving early in Kusadasi we decided to go and explore the “Grand Bizarre” of Kusadasi (it definitely wasn’t as big though!).  We bought leather jackets, a few T-Shirts and other souvenirs and later had dinner at a lovely fish restaurant overlooking our cruise ship. 

The second day we were in Kusadasi we went to the house of the Virgin Mary, which was an experience and later visited the remains of the famous city of Ephesus!

Santorini, Greece

Our third port of call was the spectacular Santorini in Greece.  Santorini was built on a moon shaped crescent island that was made by a huge volcano that erupted about 3400 years ago and spread dust into the atmosphere which covered the whole earth for a year.  But it also sunk the surrounding landscapes and the whole of Santorini is made in a horseshoe with islands surrounding it.  The main town in Santorini is made on a huge cliff face 370 metres above sea level and there used to be only one way to the top.  You could choose walking the zigzagged path that has 600 steps or you could get a donkey that would take you right to the top in less than 10 minutes.  Now in the old port a very rich couple bought a cable car that went from the top to the bottom and back again, this has helped tourism in Santorini.  Now there is a new port called “new port” that has a bus route that goes to the top instead of having to take the stairs (a lot easier)! 

The houses in Santorini are always blue and white (mainly white) because white reflects the sun and the blue reflects the sky and the water, which means that the inside of the house is going to be cooler.  The main moneymaking business in Santorini is the tourists and the wine.  The wine is made not like in New Zealand or in any other part of the world, they wind the roots of the vines when they are young so they are like baskets, this helps when it is very windy so they don’t get blown away.

What we did in Santorini

In Santorini we went on a hidden villages tour throughout the narrow alleyways throughout Santorini, which was great fun and I thought a great place to play hide and seek.  In the afternoon we had a lovely lunch and some ice cream and took the steps back down towards the old port where we took a tender boat back to the cruise ship.        

Split, Croatia

In Split we had a quiet day and went on a relaxing bus tour around the coast and to a small country house where we had lunch.  Croatia isn’t a very big country, all together it has 4.5 million people and Split is the 2^nd biggest city (if you could call it a city) and has 200,000 people, which is considered a lot to the people that live there.  I enjoyed the day in Split and thought that I could come back when I was older.

My Highlights

My highlights on this cruise was going to Santorini (even though mum made me walk the stairs) and seeing how many houses are on the crescent island.  I also thought that Ephesus was really interesting because of all the old ruins of the city and how long it stayed above ground.  I also enjoyed the boat itself and I would definitely go on it again if I could, but explore other cities and towns next time I went on it.   All in all it was a wonderful cruise and I really enjoyed it.

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus

The Grand Bizarre (well a part of it)

Our Boat from a View

In Venice on a Boat to the Cruise Ship

The Cruise Ship

The Remains of Ephesus Gladiator Stadium

Ephesus Rubble

The Library of Ephesus

The Blue Mosque

The Hagia Sophia Dome

A Topkapi Palace Entrance

A Topkapi Pakace Entrance

The Hagia Sophia

A Church in Kotor

The Kotor Wall

The House of Mary and me putting a tissue on the wall

Me on a Tour Bus!

A Common Santorini House

A Santorini Church

Having Fun in the Water in Santorini

The Houses of Santorini

Santorini on a Cliff

Venice

After saying our goodbyes in Austria to our cousins we headed off on a train towards Villach and then to take a 4-hour bus ride to Venice.  We set off on the train this time not getting pickpocketed and made it to the train station in Villach and sprinted towards the bus terminal since our bus was going to leave any minute.  We made it there in one piece and got on the bus and tried to get some rest and go to sleep since we were about to travel through the windy mountains of Italy towards Venice.  When we finally arrived in Venice it turned out that the bus stopped 30 minutes walk away from where it said it would go so we took the monorail towards the water taxi stand.  We almost missed our taxi and had to pay another 30 euros since we were late but we were on our way towards our hotel; Hotel San Moise.

The Canals in Venice

There are no cars in Venice since it was built on a swamp and also some artificial ground so people get around Venice by boats through the canals and stop at small docking platforms to go where they like.  There are still streets in Venice and there are a lot more now than there was back in the 15^th and 16^th century.  This transformation was caused by the introduction of the trains in the late 1800’s, linkin main land Italy to Venice. Venetians got around only by boat but with passengers off the trains, they did not have boats, they had to walk so the Venetian authorities decided that some of the canals should be filled in so there is more space to walk around.   Over 60% of today’s bridges were built after the trains.

Back in the days when there were canals all over Venice people didn’t get around using water taxis that could reach high speeds they used to use gondolas. In fact there was over 11,000 Gondolas in Venice, today there are around 400, and only used by the tourists.  Gondolas are a thin boat that was traditionally painted in bright colours, but with the advent of tourist it was agreed to have them all painted black.  They can fit up to 6 people max and in the old days had a roof that gave the people in the boat some privacy, there was also someone driving the boat called a gondolier.  The gondoliers wear a striped black and white shirt (like a French mime) with long black pants and highly polished black leather shoes.  The wealthy people in Venice usually used to own a gondola and they regularly used them to get around, and the poorer people used to just stay in one area.

The houses on the canals have doors that go straight into the water so the people could just step into their boat and away they went but now because of the water level rising many of the doors get flooded, which usually causes the house to flood as well.  People now stop this in Venice by placing metal barriers in front of their doors that stop the water from leaking inside.  Since Venice was built it has sunk some 6 feet, and in the last century, 15cms caused by the building of industry on the mainland that drew on the underground water, causing the Venice basin to shrink.

Sadly now the gondolas are no longer used by the Venetians but are a major tourist attraction but if you wanted a job in Venice go for a gondolier since it is quite expensive to ride on a gondola.

The front of the houses back in the old days used to look over the canals and since they didn’t really have roads people used to decorate the front of their house as much as they could so now when you walk through Venice (since some of the canals have been filled in and there are more streets) people only see the back of the houses not the front so they are not as impressive.   To see them you have to go by boat.

The houses on the canals in Venice are built on the swamp and are built up in layers.  The way the olden day Venetians built the layers on the swampland was very clever and they used to start from the bottom layer being made out of wood, which was always underwater causing it to petrify, then stone, and bricks.  The inside was made of wood as stone and brick would be too heavy.  The outsides of some of the buildings were covered with marble, giving a sense of grandeur.  The buildings cover many different architecture from The Renaissance,, Baroque and classical.  Some of the owners in the houses used to cover the bricks with plaster and this makes the house look better and easier to decorate on.   As Venice is sinking the water level is now past the stone level and is seeping into the brickwork.  This makes the plaster on the building fall off after a short period of time.  You can see salt on the outside of the buildings as evidence of the rising water level.

In Venice one big canal runs straight through the middle of Venice is called the Grand Canal.  Originally only one bridge was successfully built called the Rialto, which we walked over most days.  Now days there are several bridges over the Grand Canal for people to walk across.    

The Doges Palace

Back in the times when Venice wasn’t connected to the mainland a ruler of Venice called the Doge would take control of what happened around the place.  He planned where bridges were built, houses were built, gave permission to do important jobs etc.  There were several Doges back in the olden days but there was only one Doge at a time and they he lived inside of a palace called the Doges Palace.  The palace is richly decorated with pictures from very famous artists and the whole ceiling was made of gold.  To become a Doge back in the olden days the noblemen used to vote like today but only the men got to vote and whoever got the highest vote was crowned the Doge.  Some of the Doges were very mean and cruel and were very selfish so they ordered people to do whatever they wanted and they didn’t last very long in the palace.  But on the other hand some of the Doges were very nice and helped the poor and did some very great things, which pleased most of the people in Venice.  

St Marcs Square

A Gondola in Venice

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