Sunday, April 18

Hey... :?

Hi,

I would be really surprised if anyone was reading this, and we are just doing this to get more goog-bot traffic, so please ignore this:

REALLY AWESOME WEBSITE

Friday, January 8

At last... Internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elllllo

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while (once again).

At St. Malo, we found our B&B and went to sleep. In the morning it was a beautiful morning, and Janet was feeling very sick. We went downstairs to have breakfast, and then we got in our car to explore the region and do out laundry. Nothing really interesting happened that day... apart from a REALLY yummy lunch at a crêperie.



The next day me and Natasha woke up to the sound of "Jamie, Natasha, look out the window" Natasha got up alot quicker then me, and so my waking up was sped up by Natasha throwing snow on my face! We ran outside and played in the snow for ages, then we had breakfast, then we played in the snow again, and then we drove away to Mont Saint-Michel, an abby on top of an island / peninsula depending on the tides. It was really cool and (of course) it was covered in snow. After Mont Saint-Michel we drove to Caen (after skidding quite a few times). When we got there we had dinner and went to our B&B.


The morning after that it was still snowing, and we went shopping to buy Natasha some boots. We ended up buying her a pair of boots, a pair of slip-ons, a skirt and some trousers. Then we drove to the train station, and we took our train to Paris. Four hours later we got off the train and (surprise, surprise) found our apartment.


This morning we woke up (without snow) and got on a metro to the stop called Tour Eiffel which happens to be at least a kilometer from the Eiffel Tower. After a lot of walking (and lunch at an Italian restaurant) we got to the Eiffel Tower. It is SOOOOOOOOOOO huge. Me, Natasha and Peter got on a lift and went up to the second floor (the third floor being closed). It is so high up there, and the view is amazing! When we got back down and met Janet (who had been freezing to death) we got on a boat and had a cruise up and down the river. Then we got a metro to this cybercafe. Soon we will have dinner, and go bact to our apartment.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :)

Tuesday, January 5

Charlie, you need to talk to the weasel!!!

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!




Yesterday was our only full day in Poitiers. The first thing we did was get in the car to go to futuroscope (a huge theme park with... err..... ummmmmmm... sort of virtual ride thingies???) and just after we pulled out, our rental car (a bmw!!!) made a loud "PING!!!". We looked around trying to work out what had happened, when Peter saw the flat tyre symbol on the dashboard. After over one and a half hours, not being able to find a spare tyre, and several calls to Avis, a mechanic came all the way from a town 40 kilometers away, and pumped up our tyre. By the time we had driven all the way there, it was around midday, and everyone except me was hungry. Our ticket price had included lunch at one of the cafes at Futuroscope, and by the time we had walked passed all the cool buildings and attractions, we found the cafe... and it was closed. After walking around for ages, one of the staff members showed us another cafe where our tickets would work. The food was disgusting! I had what was supposed to be roast chicken with chips, but I would call "thing that if you really use your imagination, tastes sort of like some sort of meat" with "puddles of fat with potato in the middle". After we had all eaten, and I had nearly thrown up, we went out to do some of the rides. The first thing we did (not including Janet) was called "Dances with robots" we sat in a chair on a robotic arm, and got tilted sideways and upside-down, backwards and forwards in time with the music. I was very surprised that I didn't throw up.  The second thing we did was an IMAX - 3D - dome - movie - thingamajig about animals under the sea. After that we did the gyryotour, a 50 mt. high observation deck that spirals around in circles. Janet was a bit reluctant to go on it, because last year it got stuck up the top, and everyone had to abseil down. Later, we did "The animals of the future" a virtual safari, where we had binoculars that made animals appear. Then we watched a dynamic movie (a movie with chairs that move with the action in the movie) about the reigon that we were in (Vienne). Later, we did lots of other rides that I can't remember anything about. At 6:30 we watched a show called "The blue note mystery" that didn't seem to have much of a plot, but had lots of cool fireworks and light!


Today Peter got up early and fixed our tyre, then we all drove to st Malo.

Saturday, January 2

Swiffer!!!

Hello


Sorry I haven't blogged in a while (again)





Today is our first half day in Poitiers. We haven't done much toaday. First we woke up in Vannes, then we went to FNAC (a French book / music store) and bought some CDs for car trips. Janet also bought 6 French books (after claiming that she would only buy one!!!). After FNAC we took some photos of Vannes and had lunch. After lunch we drove to Poitiers (via Nantes, and the IKEA in Nantes), arrived at ten past six, parked illegally, discovered that we were parking illegally, parked legally, and walked to the the center of town to have dinner.



 Yesterday (New years day) we all slept in untill 8. We then had a quiet morning at our hotel, and got picked up at 12 by David (Wellington girl's old French assistant) and his family. With the we went to a couple of small French towns and saw some big fields of menhirs. Then we drove around and looked at some beaches, and went round to David's place and had galettes for dinner.

On New years eve we woke up on bed in a train, in a small, cramped, room with two other random weirdos, got up, went to a very smelly toilet, had a terrible breakfast and got off at a small train station in Paris (half an hour late). We then went outside, down a huge staircase to the metro, into the giant lines for metro tickets, ended up buying a ticket from a scalper, through the one working ticket - checking - gate - thingy, through the corridors and into the train. It was all very well until the train broke down between two stations! After about five minutes and a message saying "please be patient, we have a problem with the signals", and another message saying "please be patient, we have a very big problem with the signals" we eventually started moving again and stopped at the next station... for about ten minutes! We eventually decided to get out and take a taxi to the train station where we would take our TGV to Vannes... the one that was leaving in ten minutes! We eventually got there and ran down the platform to our carriage. We were in carriage 13, but unfortunately the numbering went: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12... 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13. Luckily it was all downhill from there. We had somehow got into first class, We got there on time, David was waiting at the station, our hotel was nice, and then there was dinner at David's. First came pre - entree entrees: smoked salmon, chips of some sort, goose liver pate, and then entrees: Shrimps, Prawns, Sea snails, Oyters (which I still dont like), lemons :), cockles. Then the main course: fish and rice, And then, of course, dessert: a caramel and apple cake, and a chocolate cake. After that we stayed up until after midnight, and drove home (I wasn't tired at all during this whole experince, mostly due to drinking around ten glasses of Coke light).



























The day before was our second and final day in Venice. We left our hotel just after nine, to be able to see Venice in one of it's famous high tides. After that experience, I never, ever want to do it again. It took us ages to find a way through the streets to the grand canal, where we wouldn't get our suitcases completely drenched. Then we went to a laundrette (very exciting) and had lunch. After that we went to murano to see some glass blowing, and came back to have dinner at the same place that we had lunch. Later we went to the train station and took an overnight train to Paris.



BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 29

Veniceamafacationnessamafacation!!!

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are in Venice now!

Our hotel is really cool! It's right beside a canal, and just a few minutes walk from the grand canal! The grand canal is SO huge! St marks square is really close to our hotel as well. St Marks has got these big platform thingies that you can walk across when it's high tide and the square is completely flooded.


Yesterday we went to the archaeological museum in Naples, and we saw lots of really cool art from Pompeii and Herculaneum, and we had a really cool tour guide who knew lots about all the art. After we did that we got on an old, budget aeroplane to go to Venice. When we got there we walked to our hotel and had dinner.

Today we went to some museums in Pizza San Marco, then we looked in some shops. I bought a cool mini gondola driver's hat.






BYE :P






:)

Sunday, December 27

Naplesness!!!

Hi!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, I haven't been near an internet connection. We have just spent our first night in our hotel in Naples! Our hotel in Naples is really cool, it has modern art everywhere and it has really yummy, free breakfasts!!! A LOT has happened since the 23rd (the day after the Vatican) so I will start from the top!


In the morning of the 23rd we got on a squished train with all our suitcases and bags, to go to Brindisi. The trip was 5 or 6 hours long, and we ate lunch on the train. When we arrived, we were greeted by an excited auntie Kate, but not Granny or Grandad because they had both driven home to check the oven! Later that day, we went to our apartment, which is 50 Metres from granny and grandad's apartment and a giant UN base! After we had got used to our apartment, we went with Granny, Grandad and Kate across the harbour on a ferry to a restaurant to have dinner. I had a steak with what was supposed to be salad, but was actually 3 small lettuce leaves. One thing that we have noticed in Italy is that you can't get fresh vegetibles in resturants. Then we went back home to bed.



The next morning we got up (I am no longer jetlagged!) and had breakfast (cereal and toast). After breakfast we went to two small towns. One was called Alberobello and the other was called Ostuni. They were really cool and they were full of old buildings and narrow streets (and toilets with no paper). In Alberobello we went to this really awesome nativity scene. Alberobello mostly has Trulli (circley houses with pointed roofs) instead of normal houses! After that we went back to Granny & Grandad's place for christmas eve dinner. It was really good. There were about five times as much appetisers as there were main courses, but it was still really good.


The morning after that it was christmas day!!! We called grandma and grandpa to wish them merry christmas, and then we went over to granny & grandad's for christmas breakfast. It was REALLY REALLY REALLY YUMMY!!! We had croissants, bacon, eggs, buns, apricots, toast, cereal, yoghurt, orange juice and pepsi! After that we had presents. I got a Italy top, a wii game (mariokart), chocolate, a mini globe, raindeer antlers, 2 pencils, 5 books and some earmuffs! Natasha got an Italian jacket, earmuffs, santa earmuffs, 2 books, chocolate, jewellery and some other stuff. I gave auntie Kate a nikau palm brooch, Peter a book, Janet a necklace and me and Tash got Granny & Grandad 4 bars of Cadburys chocolate! After that we went to Lecce, another small town!


Yesterday we didn't do much. We just said goodbye at the airport, got a rental car and drove to Naples (where we are now).




Out of all the days in our trip so far, today has been one of the best! First we visited Pompeii. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool! It's like a small town, except nothing has a roof or most of its walls intact. After Pompeii we drove up mount vesuvius. unfortunately, the path to the crater was closed due to fog :(



OK,
BIE!!!!

Tuesday, December 22

Vaticanness!!!

Hi,

Today we left Italy for a few hours and went to the Vatican museums (in Vatican, not Italy).

We saw lots of really cool bits of art, especially the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We saw lots of exhibitions, among my favourites were the Egyptiaon art exhibition, the really long hallway with roman and Greek statues and the modern Christian art exhibition.


We spent quite a lot of time driving around on a bus, trying to get to the forum, but when we finally got near it, it was about to close, so we took a metro back home!

Bye!

Colosseonessamafacation!

Hi,

It's 1:40 AM here (jetlag)

Yesterday we went to the Colosseum (which I discovered the Italians call Colosseo) and st. Peter's church








We took an open-topped bus audio-tour thingy around all the places we went, and we were given free bright green headphones that work with my MP3 player!


The Colosseum is really cool and we had morning tea at a food stall thingy. Our tour guide was really nice and we had a 45 minute tour with many references to the movie "Gladiator" and lots of laughs.

After that we had lunch. We went to a self service cafe thingymajig and I had fush and chups (quoting beached whale, a youtube video).


After lunch we went to st. Peter's church. It was really, REALLY, REALLY HUGE! After we had looked around there for a while, we took the bus home.




I once again went to bed at around 3:00 PM, and was dragged out at seven for dinner.  Now it's quarter to two in the morning and I can't sleep. One thing I have noticed here alot is that in numbering, Italians swap "." and "," around. One of the funnier examples was a car that seemed to cost "8.000 Euros" or what looked like 8 Euros but was actually 8,000 Euros (or $16,000NZD).


BIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, December 21

In Rome!!!

Yay, we're finally in Rome!!!


We have already slept a night in our hotel/apartment thingy and i'm really jet lagged (it's 4:00 AM here at the moment.)Our apartment is really cool. Here are some photos:





Our plane trip to Auckland was pretty fun, and so was the one to Singapore, but the one to Rome was sort of boring because I had already watched all the interesting movies, interesting TV programs and played all the games. Luckily when we come back there will be new movies, etc. Me and Janet both threw up on the on the way to Rome :(




The airport in Singapore is AWESOME!!! It has these skytrain thingamajigs  that take people to other parts of the airport (with nobody driving them), it has travelators, it has hundreds of shops, it has a hotel thing and it has giant Christmas decorations. We stayed in the hotel for 6 hours in between our flights.




The first four things I noticed on the way to our apartment were the pollution, the big factories, the smokers and the mini santas hanging off the windows of all the apartments. EVERYONE seems to live in an apartment building here, or sit on the street begging for money. I have seen four beggars already.

Going through customs was a relatively painless experience compared to going to Rarotonga. The were no queues or anything, we just walked straight through the nothing to declare gate, and to the train station. On our way to the train station three people tried to get us to take the airport shuttle instead of the train, including the person selling us the train tickets!

The metro was really crowded and it took nearly a minute to squeeze in. I couldn't reach a handrail, and if I could have actually moved, I would have fallen over when it started!

Some random guy came up to Janet yesterday and offered her some flowers. He followed us around for ages trying to get her to take them. The city is FULL of street sellers. There was even a cafe where they had put some tables outside, and there were five men walking around, trying to get people to eat there.


Bye!!!

p.s. This blog post took me over two hours to write
p.p.s. :)
p.p.p.s. :D
p.p.p.p.s. :P

Friday, December 18

@ The Airport

Yay!

We're at the airport in Wellington with free internet! :)


Monday, December 14

Four Days!!! :D

Hi,

Only four days to go!!!

Unfortunately we haven't packed yet. :(


Bye!!!

Saturday, December 12

Six Days!!! :)

Hi,


I'm Jamie and welcome to my blog.


In 6 days we're going to Europe (Me, Tash, Peter & Janet)!


I will update this blog as often as I can, and I will put up videos and pictures when possible.


I made a movie of where we are going:





Sorry I pronounced Edinburgh wrong. :(