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






:)

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!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

@ The Airport

Yay!

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

Four Days!!! :D

Hi,

Only four days to go!!!

Unfortunately we haven't packed yet. :(


Bye!!!

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. :(