I'm Off To China Again

Well I can finally announce my exciting news.  I’m off to China again next year. Milana has got confirmation that she has been selected to go to China as a representative of her school as part of Bendigo’s Overseas Learning Experience (OSLE). She is super excited about the trip, although thinks it is too long until departure time. So we are heading off in June next year and not only is Milana going, but Shane is going as a teacher from his school, although Milana is worried he might cramp her style! What’s even scarier is that Shane’s friend Leigh is also going. Who is the brainiac that let those two go to China together. Lets hope that Leigh isn’t in charge of directions. 

This is the same trip that I went on with Shane last year. We spent a few days in Shanghai, which was an amazing place and a few days visiting sister schools in Suzhou. Suzhou is around 100kms North-West of Shanghai.  More than 60% of its area is actually water and it is nicknamed Venice of the East. 

Only 181 days until we go!

 

Some Exciting News Coming Soon.

Oh I have some exciting news coming. I'm going overseas again next year. Whilst I've been to this place before, I'm looking forward to it even more this time because some extra special people are coming along for the trip this time. You might get a clue where I'm going from the picture. 😀✈️. 

Magnificent Phillip Island

Phillip Island is a fantastic place and we love going there. We had a good run down to the Island, sometimes you can get stuck in traffic and it can be a bit of a drag, but I love it when we go over the bridge at San Remo, it makes the trip worthwhile.

It’s the first time we’ve been down there for a while when it’s been holiday time and you can notice difference, there was a lot more people around. People looked at me funny as Sebastian like taking me around to see the sights. 

When we arrived it was just before it was pelican feeding time at San Remo. I had to make sure Sebastian held on tight because I was worried one of them would mistake me for their lunch. We also saw a huge stingray under the jetties. 

We headed down to the Nobbies for some beautiful views of the rugged coastline and the blowhole was pumping out some great sprays. We even saw a few penguins that were sheltering in their boxes. We also did some rockpooling around the rocks at Surf Beach and Sunderland Bay. The sun was shining and it was hard to keep Sebastian out of the water.

Another first this trip was walking to the shipwreck near Kitty Miller Bay. SS Speck was sailing from Peru to Sydney in 1906 when it hit the rocks. Not much is left but it is a great little walk.

We went on a cruise to Seal Rocks. This was the first for all of us. Even though the Captain said it was a calm day, you really noticed the rolling waves once you hit Bass Straight. There are over 30000 fur seals out on the rocks. The inquisitive ones love to come up to the boat for a closer look. Kylie liked this because she got a few close up pictures. The only bad part was the smell when you got to the rocks, but you soon got used to it. The whole trip took 2 hours. Check out the Seal Rock Cruise website. www.wildlifecoastcruises.com.au

As usual I got dragged around to lots of coffee shops, including the Silverleaves General Store and of course Mad Cowes (our favourite breakfast haunt) www.madcowescafe.com.au We went to Café Blue Bamboo. They had the biggest coffees we had ever seen. 

It was another great trip, wish we could have stayed longer.

A Visitor From New Zealand.

New  Zealand has lots of mountains. New Zealand is very close to Australia. New Zealand has volcanoes, it has earthquakes too. New Zealand has a sky tower in the city called Auckland. New Zealand like's cricket and rugby. In New Zealand there is a mountain higher than the clouds. In New Zealand they do wood carving. My mum and dad have been to New Zealand before. My mum and dad have seen wood carving in New Zealand before. The sky tower is 328 m tall.

The Peak

Sebastian says:

Today I went to the Peak. We had to take a tram up there. There was very good view up there. It's so  big and it is so steep. We could see lots of tall buildings below, birds and Eagles in the sky and th the harbour. Then we went back home and had a good day shopping.

Boris says:

The Peak is so steep that when you come down, you have to sit backwards so that you don't fall out of your seat! The steepest point is 27 degrees... The average gradient of Mount Alp d'Huez, the famous climb in the Tour d'France is just 8 degrees. 

In the olden days, they used to carry people up in carriages on poles that men lifted. Imagine that! We got lucky today with a clear day. Often The Peak is lost in the clouds and you cannot see that far. 

London to Dubai to Hong Kong

Today we took  two planes one to Duabi and one to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very busy. Milana and I had a good experience. It is very colourful when it's dark. We went to MacDonald's for dinner. I felt very sick on the plane. I did a lot of stuff on the plane.

Answers for 1EL - Transport

Hello everyone,

The fairytale day sounds like fun and some of the photos we saw on Facebook looked cool. I bet the biscuits were delicious! We haven't eaten much gelato since we left Italy, Hudson. We had crepes in Paris and stroopwafels and poffertjes in the Netherlands. Poffertjes are mini pancakes just a little bigger than a fifty cent piece! I had icing sugar on mine, but Ivar loves his in syrup!

We have been on a lot of different types of transport on our holiday. We've caught buses and trams in Rome and Florence, a hire car in Tuscany and so many trains, Caitlyn, that we've lost count! 

We've been on metro trains in cities, regional trains between towns and four fast trains that got up to 300km/hr! Not to mention all the aeroplanes. Guess what? The air host asked us if we'd like to go into the cockpit to where the pilots sit! It was really, really AWESOME!

We've been in Vaporetto, or water taxis in Venice and of course, the gondola! In Amsterdam we rode the canal boats, but that was a tourist boat, like the talking tram in Bendigo. We rode on bikes everywhere (and a tiny bit in the car) in Holten. Maddi, we've seen the double decker buses- they're EVERYWHERE, but the London Underground train system is easier. We can't forget our own legs... We've done soooo much walking everywhere! 

Today is our last day in London... And Europe. 😞 Tomorrow, Hank and Aliza, we start to come home, but we are going to Hong Kong first. Hong Kong is in Asia. It has been really nice weather in London still, Miss Lewis. We can wear t-shirts still because it's sunny and about 20 degrees. Mum and Dad just checked the weather for Hong Kong and it will be about 29 degrees! We are not excited about coming home to winter. Is it cold yet? 

A canal boat in Amsterdaam. 

The scenic train to Switzerland 

Riding up the Holterberg to dinner! In Holten, they call this a mountain. Hehe. (I'm in the white jumper).

One of our fast trains in Italy! So cool.

Boris meets Guard

Today Boris met Guard.  Boris and Guard are having lots of fun. Boris and I went on the London eye it was so big. I went to Trafalgar Square and had a photo with the lions. We went to Big Ben. Big Ben  is so big. Big Ben is not the tower. It is the bell in the Queen Elizabeth tower. Big Ben has 334 stairs to the top. Right now Boris and Guard are having a sleep. 

We also shopped in Portobello Road. Milana and Mum had fun. It was really tiring. 

A Dutch School

Sebastian and Boris say:

Today we went to a Dutch school. They don't wear a uniform, but we do. There was a party in Elin's class for her teachers. She is the same year level as me. I helped give out lollies. The children gave the teachers presents that they made.  The teachers hid presents for each other and some children helped to hide the presents. Milana and I helped too.

Then we went to Viggo's room. He is in the same year level as Milana. Lots of his class mates laughed  because he was very shy to talk up the front of his class. He introduced us and told them about us in Dutch. The children asked us questions in Dutch and Viggo helped us answer them. 

Then we quickly saw Ivar's class practising for their performance. He is in what we would call pre-school. He goes to school until lunchtime every day, but preschool is done at school. So, children in the Netherlands have eight years of primary school, instead of seven years, but really, it is just the same. 

It was a really fun morning. 

The Waag in Amsterdam

 

Sebastian says:

Today we went to Amsterdam. We had a great walk around. We went on a canal boat. We had lunch in a special building that weighed  stuff in the really olden days. 

Boris says: 

Amsterdam is the capital city of the the Netherlands. Amsterdam is full of canals and dykes (like dams). It is built on reclaimed land. 

The special building we had lunch in is called the Waag (pronounced Varg). It was built in 1488 - 300 years before Australia the first fleet arrived in Australia in 1788. First it was used as a gate to the city. It was mostly used as a weighing station. Farmers and traders used to bring their goods in to be weighed. They then received a certificate that said how much they had. This allowed them to sell their goods in the nearby Nieuwmarket (New Market) and pay tax on their profit. This made the city very rich. 

At the market you could buy butter, cheese, eggs, materials, herbs and spices. The Netherlands is famous for bringing spices to the world through the Dutch East India Company who sailed and collected goods from countries throughout Asia. 

There lots of lovely buildings, green trees, canals and bicycles to see in Amsterdam.

Boris and crooked houses

The Waag

The Nightwatchmen by Rembrandt

Lest We Forget- The Holten Canadian War Cemetery

Boris says:

Today in the Netherlands we visited three Canadian War Cemetary Memorial. The cemetery has the 1,394 graves of the mostly Canadian soldiers buried here. There are also 36 British soldiers, 1 Belgian and 2 Australian soldiers who died liberating the Dutch citizens of the area from German occupation at the end of WWII. 

The graves of each soldier has their service eg Navy, Airforce or Army, rank, regiment or battalion, the age they were when they died. They also have a personalised message inscribed at the base of each grave stone. The headstones of the Jewish soldiers also have the Star of David as a mark of further respect. 

Each family in the small town of Holten looks after the grave of a fallen soldier. Each year on May 5 they celebrate liberation and fill the area with daffodils an on New Years Eve they light the whole area with hundreds of candles. 

On top of many graves you find small rocks that visitors have placed. It looks odd, but for the Jewish families and soldiers, they represent tears that have turned to stone. Also, they say that rocks last forever, but cut flowers wilt quickly. I think that is a beautiful sentiment. 

The Netherlands

Today we went to the Netherlands. We got the Netherlands by trains. We took four trains. We met new kids named Viggo, Elin and Ivar. We are staying at Roy and Anita's house. We went to a fun park about   the history of the Netherlands. I got a stamping booklet and so did Milana. There was a playground at the fun park. We had lunch near the playground.

This morning we took the kids to school. All the class rooms are joined together. The school is much smaller than our school, but it looked like it was the same. The classes were the same size and they had a teacher like we do. They didn't wear a uniform to school. 

The South Tower

Today we went to Notre Dame. That's where the Disney movie of the hunchback of notra dame is set. Notra dame is 130 metres long, 48m wide, 35m  high. Notre Dame was built between 1163 and 1345, around 900 years ago. There was a bell tower on the  top. That's where Quasimodo lived. Quasimodo snuck out a few times. His master was a very mean. He tried to burn all of Paris. His master tried to kill him, but in the end his master died and Quasimodo was free.

Boris adds: Quasimodo is a fictional character from a story by Victor Hugo. BUT there was a shy stone carver with a hunched back who worked on the cathedral during some restorations in the 1820s when the story was first written. The stone carver and author may have known each other. I really liked the Disney movie version. People should just be nice to others. 

Here are some photos and then some replies to 1EL.

Dear 1EL,
Ava, Lucy, Hudson and Miss Lewis: What other food have you tried? I have tried crepes, but NOT SNAILS! Mum forgot to buy them tonight. Oh well, too late. The macaroons tasted delicious. They are my favourite so far and so is bolognaise. Hudson, you can buy macaroons at McDonalds in Bendigo. They aren't as good though. 

Kylah: Do you want to come home? Not yet. I'm happy and having fun travelling, doing my blog, flying on planes, going on trains and seeing lots of famous landmarks.
Alexus: Are you having fun? YES, I'm having super-duper fun. Going up the Eiffel Tower has been the best fun in Paris. 
Caitlyn: How many hotels have you stayed at? We been to seven places so far. 
Clancy: How tall is the Eiffel Tower? It is 324m high. 
Aliza: Do you miss us? Yes. 
Maddi: Have you had fun with Boris, how is he going? Boris is going very well. He loves travelling and me helping him answer questions from my class. 
Mietta: What is the food like? The food is delicious! I love buying strawberries from the markets and eating croissants. Mum and Dad love the espresso coffee. Dad loves the chocolate croissants and Milana loves the pasta! 

 

Boris in Paris

Ooh la la! Paris is never disappoints. Musicians in the subway, dogs on leads, and a boulangerie (bakery) on every corner. 

The Eiffel Tower was as impressive as ever, but Sebastian has talked about that. I will tell you about the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and Sacre Coeur in Montemarte. 

The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum. It is beside the Seine River in Paris. More than 9 million people visit it each year.

The Louvre was once a palace until Louis XIV moved to Versailles, and the Louvre became an art museum. You can find Egyptian antiques, ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, paintings by the Old Masters, and crown jewels and other artifacts. 

The most famous painting there is the Mona Lisa. The painting is also called La Gioconda or La Joconde. She was really beautiful. She was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. There have been lots of stories about her, but her story is quite simple. She was the wife of a silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, but her real name was Lisa Ghererdini. She and her husband were from Florence in Italy. 

We also visited Sacre Coeur, in Montemarte. Sacre Coeur means the the Sacred Heart of Paris and it is the second highest point in France, after the Eiffel Tower of course! If you look carefully, you might see a man playing a harp on the steps. 

Pablo Picasso used to paint in Montmarte and he used to pay for his lunches with a drawing for the owner. There were many painters there today as well. It is one of my favourite places in Paris so far. 

The Eiffel Tower

Today we  went to the Eiffel Tower. I was so excited! We went all the way to the top. There was a great view. You could see everything in Paris from up there. It was very cold weather up there. We got macarons in a cafeteria in the Eiffel Tower. My macaron was yummy. We had a great experience. During World War II , Hitler visited Paris. He got to the elevater but the cables were cut, so he had to walk all 1,665 steps to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. They only built the Eiffel Tower for an expo. It wasn't supposed to stay. They tried to take it away, but too many people loved it, so they didn't take it away. There are 2,500,000 bolts in the Eiffel Tower. That's a LOT of bolts! 

About 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower each year! 

Sebastian's Answers To His Class

Aliza: How is your neck after Milana put sap on it?  It's fine now.

Kylah: Did you see any other animals being made at the glass factory? No we didn't, but the were other animals in the showroom, like bears and swans.

Alex: I hope you have a nice day?I'm having a nice day. It is nice weather. 

Clancy: What is the name of your hotel you are staying in? It was glamour apartments. We could see the Duomo! 

Riley D: I hope you are having a nice holiday, how long is it until you come back? About three weeks.

Mietta: We really liked the picture with the white peacock. 

Ava: What does the church look like inside? It had lots of colourful windows 

Hank: I hope you come back soon.

Maddy: We liked the photo of you in your gondola hat? It wasn't my gondola hat. It belonged to the man rowing our boat.

Caitlyn: How many churches have seen? I've seen lots. The main ones were St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Duomo in Milan where we went inside both.

Hudson: Can you bring a horse for me? To late we have all ready left Venice. Today we are going to Paris in France! 

Miss Lewis: Sebastian it looks like you are having a wonderful time, those biscuits look delicious. We really enjoy reading your blog and looking at your brilliant photos. We look forward to reading your responses.

Thanks everyone! I love answering your questions.