paris, amsterdam, norway

22/4/2011

Today we went to Villette Park, it’s not actually called that I just can’t remember the French name for it, Villette is in it though, the Science Museum there. The park wasn’t very interesting but the museum was really good!  

In the museum (it wasn’t actually a museum, more like Scitech) we got tickets to the Science Fiction exhibition. In the exhibition we saw  things like the original Robots, story boards, movies and costumes from Science Fiction things. 

We also did experiment things with light. It was hard to tell what you were supposed to do because the instructions were in french but we managed to figure it out. Some of the things we saw were light going through a triangle of glass then going through coloured glass  and making more different rainbows, it was pretty. Then we saw this thing, where you have to sit on the other side of a glass wall to a person and try to match up your reflections, it was cool on one side of the glass but the other side of the glass didn’t work. 

Then we went to the luxembourg Park and saw the remote control boats. It was really quite hot so we didn’t watch them long but, they were good and cute. Then we went to the shade and started to look for Ice-creams but, they were not there so we got some chupa-chups and some water. 

On the way back to the apartment we looked saw the out side of the  French Observatory, where the French Meridian line was. It was a little bit unimpressive compared to the Greenwich observatory. 

At the apartment we had dinner and then we went out and had crepes and looked at the Eiffel Tower at night again. The crepes were really good again, I had chocolate and Banana this time and it was better than the Nutella. 

23/4/2011 

Today we took the train from Paris to Amsterdam. We got to the train station about and hour and a half before the train was scheduled to leave so we sat down and got something to eat. 

By the time we had finished eating our train was delayed 15mins and at that point it didn’t matter because the other train times were undetermined. We still had around 45mins before the train left so, I sat down and read my book. 

Then our train time became undetermined and there were no trains leaving. We ended up getting on the train 1hr30mins later than was scheduled. 

When we finally got on the train we found that we had four seats facing each-other with two tables in the middle. I had to do my cutting and sticking (scrapbook) so I got that out, sat, cut and stuck. 

With about 45mins to go we had to change trains because the train we were on couldn’t get into the station because of the delay. We had to wait about 15mins for the next train to arrive but it got there. 

In the train we saw the country part of Amsterdam. There was lost of flowers, vegetables and dutch style windmills, it was a pretty countryside. 

When we got to Amsterdam central we caught a Taxi to our Hotel. The hotel room was really big, there was two beds, it was nice, the bathroom was big and Sam was happy because there was a TV. The man that helped us with our bags gave Sam and I a little box each with two packets of Doritos, a toy, a soft drink, and Amsterdam bike bell and a packet of Mentos, Sam’s toy was a cardboard plane and mine was a ball with a cup thingy that you catch it with. 

We then went for a walk around the block and looked for something to eat. We found an Italian Restaurant and sat outside while we ate. We also had Dessert, it was alright, mine was vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce. 

When we got back to the Hotel (the Albus) we bought 24hrs of Movies and TV. Then we looked at the movies and decided to watch the first episode (double episode) of the fifth season of Doctor Who, it was funny and it was the first episode of a new Doctor. 

24/4/2011 

Today was Easter and when we woke up there was easter eggs! We (Sam and I) both had a trail of Easter eggs (his longer than mine) with a big egg at both ends. We were aloud to eat some eggs before breakfast so we ate them while watching another episode of Doctor Who, this one from the sixth season. 

Then, after breakfast, we went to Anne Franks House. Anne Frank was a Dutch, Jew girl that hid in a House in Amsterdam, with her family and another family, for three years while World War II was going on, she kept a Diary through the years in hiding and then after she died in a Jew camp her Dad published a Edited version of her Diary called (in English) The Diary of Anne Frank.   

We lined up out the fount of the House for about a hour then finally got into the house. It was a one way system and we went through all of the rooms used by the families in hiding. We only saw the rooms though, all the furniture had been removed by the wishes of Otto Frank (Anne’s Dad). The windows were covered by a black material, just as it was in the days of hiding, and the stairs were really steep. In Anne’s room there were posters a pictures on the walls, they were the original pictures that Anne had put up to make the room more cheerful. 

Once we had been through the house we went into a display area where it showed us Anne’s original Diary and some of the sheets and other books she used after her Diary was full. Anne Frank’s House was really good but also really sad. 

After Anne’s house we had lunch then hired a 4 seater pedal boat, so we could ride round the canals. We hired the boat for a hour. 

Sam and Dad pedaled first while Mum and I sat in the back and took photos. After about 3mins Sam discovered that his feet didn’t reach the pedals properly so I took over the pedaling. The canals were really quite pretty, there was lots of spring like trees along the side of the roads and all the dead petals were falling off them. Then Mum had a go at pedaling and also started to navigate. It was not long after that, that Dad started to get frustrated with the steering and then he got grumpy, luckily we were on our way back by that point. 

Then we went back to the Hotel and watched Fantastic Mr. Fox, it was really good and it was funny (we also ate Easter eggs :)). 

We went and got dinner (Italian again) then went to the Hotel and Watched Black Adder (also funny). 

25/4/2011 

Today, first, we went to Madame Tussauds (a wax figure gallery). It started off as an early Amsterdam display, then went to Important and Royal Dutch people then finally into just Famous people. 

The famous people section was the biggest and it included people like, Madonna, Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga, Albert Einstein, Vincent Van Gogh, Robert Pattinson, Robbie Williams and Spiderman. It was really cool, but kinda freaky, you were aloud to take photos and all the wax figures looked so lifelike that it looked like there were just heaps of people posing for photos. 

After Madame Tussauds we went on a 1 hour canal boat tour and it was hot (amazingly). On the boat we went past the dock, on some of the bigger canals and down the little ones to. It was a very pretty trip, but the announcements were annoying because there were around 5 different languages being read out. 

Then we went back to the Hotel, got packed up, checked out and went outside to wait for our booked taxi like thing to the airport. The taxi was half an hour late and by that point Mum was freaking out, so was Dad, but we got there, even though we got dropped off at the wrong side of the really big airport. 

When we were checked in and at our gate waiting we found that we were some of the first people there. 

The flight was about 2 hours long and we got to Oslo (the Capital of Norway) at around 8:30pm with no time change. Before we took off the driver apologized to us and said that there would be a lot of taxing before take-off because he had to drive 8km to get to the right runway.  

When we got to Oslo we had to catch the train to the Centre of the city. When we got out of the train station we looked ahead and there was our hotel, big, white, and 7 or 8 stories high. We checked in, got into our room and it was big, nice and was the first room we had had that had a balcony.  

26/4/2011 

Today we went on the Norway in a Nutshell tour. We started of with a train ride out into the countryside of Norway, it was really pretty, there were lots of mountains and the longer we spent on the train the more snow there was. There were all these ski holiday shacks that looked just a little covered with snow and it was spring, I couldn’t imagine what it looked like in the winter! 

Then we stopped at a station where we had to change trains, so we changed to a littler train that took us through the Flam mountains and gorges. There were 20 tunnels along the way and the length of all the tunnels put together was 6km. There were lots of water falls in the gorges and at one of the biggest ones there was a platform and we were aloud to go outside the train and take photos. 

At the end of the 1hr train journey we got of at a small station called Flam and had to wait 1hr till we got on the boat. While we were waiting a big cruise ship pulled up at the dock, we were amazed at how big that ship was compared to our little boat (ours was 3 stories high). 

When we got onto the boat we went straight up to the top deck and sat in the middle so we could see everything. The chairs were green plastic deck chairs and the sun was shining. As the further away from the dock we went the better the view was, there were mountains and hills surrounding the water, water falls all along the mountains and little villages and town on the water side, it was so pretty. Closer to the end of the journey it got really cold and windy and Sam started to complain so Mum sent him down stairs into the heated room, he liked that and he also got a chocolate from the vending machine. 

When we reached the end of the boat journey we got on a bus that took us through more mountains and around some lakes. This was also a pretty trip but the bus made me sleepy and Dad said I fell asleep for 3 minutes. 

Then we went on another train that took us into Bergen where we were staying. Then we had to walk a kilometer to the Hotel. This hotel was nice but the one in Amsterdam was better. 

27/4/2011 

Today we spent in Bergen. We first went to the Tourist Information Centre and found out about the Funicular and Cable Car (they both go up big hills). Then we went to the Funicular (that was the closest) and bought return tickets. We went up the big hill through a tunnel and in the open air. When we got up we looked at the view and then went to the playground, Sam decided that the playground was too little (for little kids) and then Mum decided that we should go for a walk. On our walk we found a bigger kids playground hidden in the forest (a very thin forest) and this one Sam liked so, we followed it (it was like an obstacle course) and that was enough walking for Mum. We also ate lunch at the top of the hill, for Mum and Dad, Tuna rolls, for me and Sam, peanut butter rolls. 

When we got down the hill we went to the Aquarium. We go there at about 2:30 and the man at the front desk told us that they were feeding the seals at 3:00. We wanted to watch the seals so we went to see the reptiles first (we though they would be quicker) and in the reptiles we saw Spiders (they were gross, big and hairy, yuck), Crocodiles (only small and medium sized ones), Lizards (they were huge) and Snakes (they were big, fat, small, yellow, brown, fake, eating, scary and gross). 

The seals were cool, they were doing a training session, rehearsing for their new show, and they were really cool. The only bad thing about them was the trainers were speaking in Norwegian. 

After we went back to the Hotel to eat waffles we went to the old part of Bergen and looked at all the wonky buildings. We also looked for dinner but, after a while we decide that we were too full (from the waffles) to eat a restaurant meal so we went to a 7eleven and bought two folded pizzas to share. 

28/4/2011 

Today we started our 3 day journey home to Australia. We went on two around 2hr flights today, the first from Bergen to Oslo and the second from Oslo to London. I didn’t like being in the airport because checking in to both flights I got chosen for a random checking thing going through the security gates (not good). 

When we got to London we caught the bus to the Airport Hotel and just stayed there. We had dinner at the Hotel Restaurant that had a perfect view of the landing runway. We played a game while we were eating where you have to guess the country that the plane comes from and the winner get nothing! 

paris, mainly ...

16/4/2011 

Today is Lucy’s Birthday, Happy Birthday Luce, hope you had a great day and liked our pressie. 

Today we left England and went to Wales! The drive was quite long and we didn’t really do anything along the way apart from going to petrol stations and having toilet stops. I did get the Brit Awards 3 disk CD though. Sam and I also made a Playlist on the Family Ipod and we listened to it, it’s good. There were lots of sheep fields and lots of fields of canola flowers, they were pretty! 

When we got to Wales we decided to go for a drive, again, we went through more fields of sheep and canolas then we got on a little steam train that went along a road in the countryside, next to more fields of sheep and along the river, it was the last ride of the day so we couldn’t get a return pass and the walk back to the car was to long so Dad drove the Van along the road near the track and took pictures of us in the train. 

On the way back to the campsite we saw a sign that pointed to Boughton’s End, so we decided to take a quick drive to the end of the road to see what was there. When we got there all we saw was a little town like thing that was probably home to many Boughton’s.  

17/4/2011 

Today we went to Warwick Castle, a big castle that has lots of different activities to do with the castle and the Lancastrians that lived in it. 

The first thing we did was get tickets outside the castle. There were three actors outside the castle walls and they were acting as King Henry the VIII, Queen Victoria and one of the Kings of the Lancastrians, they were all very good at acting their part especially King Henry the VIII. 

When we had the tickets we went to see the Merlin Tower. The first room was like kinda like the London Dungeons but not scary. The actor was pretending to be a new apprentice of Gaius, Merlins teacher, and he was looking for a person in the audience that could do magic. He found a little girl that could supposedly do magic in the audience and she had to lead the rest of the audience to the next room and then she had to read a magic spell that would summon the Great Dragon. The dragon was a big screen with an animated 3D like picture of the dragon in Merlin with a person behind the screen making it move and interact with the audience it was really cool. 

Next we went and saw the Castle Trebuchet fire a 20kilo rock into the air and across the lawn. It was really interesting and there was another actor that was giving a running commentary and a story of what the Trebuchet would have been used for. 

Then Sam had a go at Archery. He got taught how to shoot the arrow and then he shot 12 arrows onto a target, he only missed two! 

After the Archery we went and had lunch and watched a bird show. I had a Jacket Potato with Beef Chili, it was really yummy. The birds were good to, there was two Eagles and a Vulture that a trainer was telling us about then let them fly about a bit.  

Next Sam and Dad went and herd a story in the court yard ad Mum and I went to the Princess Tower. The Princess tower was not very good, it was based at about 4 or 5 years old and was nothing like I thought it was going to be. It was actors again and they were Maids of Honor and a Princess, they were planing the princesses sisters wedding and it was lots of stuff about fairy tales. 

Then we went up the castle wall thing and into a tower (up and down lots of spiral staircases) and looked at the view. You could see quite a bit from up there. 

We then saw a Knight Show that involved three actors showing us how to fight and told us about the different weapons and things that they used in war. It was funny and informative at the same time. 

18/4/2011 

Today we had to take the Campervan back:( We drove to the farm thing where we picked it up and they checked it, to see if it was in good form then we got a lift back to the train station. 

When we got to london we went to our Hotel and dropped our bags off (we weren’t aloud to check in yet) and went for a shop. 

We first went to a Game shop and Sam bought two games, Ningago and Star Wars 3, then we went to a Show ticket place and we bought 4 tickets to see We Will Rock You that night. We then went to a Forbidden Planet shop (a shop for NERDS) and had a look around. Sam ended up getting Dalek and a Harry Potter wand and glasses and I got the Time Turner (from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I’m a Big Nerd:D). Then we went into a Sport shop and I got a pair of sunglasses for 2 pounds 99 (about $5) and Dad got a Red collared shirt and two pairs of shoes. 

Then we went onto the Going Out Shopping. We went into two or three shops looking for Mum and Dad. Dad got Black jeans, a Red T-Shirt, a White T-Shirt, a Black Shirt and a Black Cardigan and Mum got Black cropped pants, a Blue T-Shirt, a light Brown T-Shirt, a light Blue T-Shirt and a Black cardigan and when Mum was shopping she was stressed out. 

Then we went back to the Hotel and got ready to go back out again and see We Will Rock You. When we got to the Theater it looked like the inside of His Majesties Theatre, which I said was the fanciest of the theaters in Perth and this was not the fanciest of the London Theaters. We went to the shop thing and bought some Malteasers (Yum) then got seated and ready for the show. 

We Will Rock You is a musical based on Queen songs. It is set in the year 2300 and non-computer generated music is banned. There are two school age kids that are not part of the GaGa club (the kids that are following the rules) that get captured by Killer Queen’s police and taken to a prison like place, they escape and find refuge with the Bohemian’s (the other Rebels) and find out about the secret writings. Gallelaya (Gaza) and Scaramoosh (scary bush) the two school kids find out that Gaza is the one chosen to bring back the music to Planet Mall. Gallelaya and Scaramoosh then go off to find the instrument hidden in a rock some place on the planet, then find it at the entrance to Wembley Stadium and rock and roll comes back to Planet Mall. 

The show was really, really good. 

19/4/2011 

Today I started off by going out to the shop with Dad to go find a bag to put all our stuff that won’t fit in the suitcases in and a pair of Converse shoes for me. We had to be back before 11:15 so we could get to the train station on time so it was kinda rushed. We found a big black bag that fits all the stuff in and I got a Pair of Black Converse, they are cool. 

We got back 5mins late so Mum was panicking and we had to walk fast to St Pancras station. The train we were catching was the EuroStar to Paris, France! We bordered at about 12:25 and the train left at 12:28 London time. During the ride I read my book then we had lunch on the train then I read my book again, the ride wasn’t very interesting because we spent a lot of time in tunnels, one of them under the ocean! 

When we emerged from the under ocean tunnel the countryside looked pretty much like England country side but without the drystone walls. Then we got into the City and it looked completely different. It is quite a dirty city, it’s mush bigger than Perth, it’s way busier and it is Paris! 

When we got off the EuroStar we caught the Metro (Metropolitan train line) to Abbesses and walked up the big hill in Montmartre to get to our apartment. Getting up the hill was really hard, we were tired and the bags were heavy and the road just kept getting longer, but we made it to the apartment and it’s awesome! It’s big enough for the 4 of us (kinda) and its not at the very top of the hill. 

We then went for a walk around the city (close city) and Sam was very grumpy so we went home, got food for dinner on the way, had dinner then watched Night at the Museum 2, it’s quite good. 

20/4/2011 

Today we spent our first proper day in Paris doing lots. We started off by going through the Tuileries gardens to get to the Louvre. The gardens were really nice and the weather was nice enough to ware shorts! When we got to the Louvre the line to get tickets was extremely long, we/Sam didn’t want to wait that long, so we went to back to the Metro and went to the Notre Dame. 

We didn’t spend a lot of time at Notre Dame because the line was too long, again, we just looked around the back garden. 

Then we went to Galeries Lafayette, a big, three building, 7 level shopping centre, and had a look around. We first went to level 4, the casual fashion level, and had McDonalds. It was not the best meal that I have ever had but that is just McDonalds. After lunch Mum and I had a look for Jeans in the jeans section and Dad and Sam had a look at the CD’s. I found some jeans quickly and bought them even quicker so, I looked for some T-Shirts. At the end of the shopping trip I had bought a brown, long T-Shirt with blue birds on it, light blue skinny-leg jeans and a blue scarf. 

After shopping we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and got in the line to take the stairs to the top. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the front of the line! When we finally got to the stairs it took us only a couple of minutes to get to the first level, but the view was pretty good. You were able to walk all the way around the tower and there were signs that told you what you were seeing. 

Then we walked up to the second level and that is as far as we got. The view was just the same as the first level, just higher. The only way to get to the top was by the lift and the line was really quite long, so we decided that we didn’t want to get there that badly so we went back down. 

When we got to the bottom of the tower we sat on the grass and had a ice-cream and looked at the view. The ice-cream was really good!  

At about 6:00pm we went to the Louvre again and entered through the bottom of the big glass triangle, through the shopping center under the museum and there was no one there! 

The Museum was mostly Art but there were things like Ancient Egyptian writings and coffins and statues and things like that, it was good. The art was good, we saw the Mona Lisa, it was the original and it was smaller than I thought it would be, and Venus de Milo, also the original but the size I thought it would be.  

21/4/2011 

Today we woke up late and didn’t get out till about 11. We went to the Champs Elise and looked for a place to eat lunch. We ended up eating at a cafe in the outside section, it was very nice. I had Spaghetti Bolognese, Sam had a huge Hot Dog, Dad a Salad and Mum a quiche, our starter was Escargot, it was alright.

Then we went along the road and went into a clothes shop, I bought a brown, baggy top and a white top with all different summer clothes on it, shopping is fun. 

Then we went to the Musee D’Orsay, an Art gallery, and looked at all the art. We first went and saw Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, Sam wanted to see them because Vincent Van Gogh is in a Doctor Who episode, they were quite good then we looked at all the other artists art then left. It was a really good gallery. 

After we had dinner, at the apartment again, we went out to the top of the hill and got some crepes, with Nutella and Banana for me, they were really yummy! We also saw the Eiffel Tower at night, It was really, really pretty and cool!! 

Climbing!

12/4/2011 

Today was Archie’s Birthday, so Happy Birthday Archie, I hope you had a nice day.  

Today the first and only BIG thing we did was climb Ben Nevis, Ben means mountain in Scottish. We started climbing Ben Nevis at 10:20 and got back at 4:25 so it took us 6hrs and 5mins. 

When we started climbing it wasn’t that cold (probably because we were walking  up a hill at that point), the path was rocky and we weren’t on the mountain yet, we were on the hill next to it. The path was quite steep and there were lots of rock steps and big rocks just lying around. 

At 11:30 we reached the part of the hill that joined to the mountain and there was a big lake just of the path on the hill side. We then started to walk up the mountain but when we had been walking for about 10/20mins it started to snow! The snow was real snow, the type that looked like the cutout snowflakes and it was wet and windy to! 

When the snow died down we walked on, crossed a river, the path turned rocky like the beach and it got colder and windier. 

Further up the path was still little rocks (but they were smaller, more crushed) and we had reached the lightly snowed on part of the mountain. At this point of the trip I had my trackies, long-sleeved T-shirt, short-sleeved T-shirt, Jumper, wind/water proof jacket and my New Zealand ski gloves on (and I was still kinda cold). 

Then came the proper snow. We walked for about 40mins on snow and ice covered paths, then for another 45mins through just plain snow! The snow was deep, the path wasn’t clear and this was the steepest part of Ben Nevis but we kept walking till we got to the top. 

At the top there were two war memorials and a hut thing (that was packed). We were surrounded by clouds so, everything was white. Then the hail came, it was really weird hail, it was like the snowflakes we saw earlier but balled up. 

We then started to walk down Ben Nevis. Going down was colder, wetter, slipperier and felt a lot quicker but was only 40mins quicker. 

When we got down we were so tired that we decided to have McDonalds for lunch (we forgot to pack food), it’s the same around the world. We drove back to the campsite and then had Spaghetti for dinner, played a few rounds of Uno, a few rounds of 500 and then went to bed. 

13/4/2011 

Today we were sore. 

We first we drove to a cable car (I finished my book ‘Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl’, it had a sad ending) that went to the middle of a ski slope mountain. At the end of the line we got out and walked 13 meters up the mountain, looked at Ben Nevis properly and then went back down the cable car. 

Then we drove, on our way to Ayr (air), for our last night in Scotland. On the way we stopped at the side of a loch and had lunch (Tuna and Corn for Mum and Dad and Chocolate Hazelnut spread for Sam and I) then went on driving. 

When we got to Ayr we went for a walk around the town. We looked at all the shops we could before they all shut (the game shop and the sport shop for sam and dad) then went to look at the beach, it was an actual beach, with sand and all! There was also a sign that said, if you walk from one end of the beach to the other you will burn 110-180 calories. Sam and I then played on the beach side playground, I only went on the sitting flying fox. 

Then we had dinner at, as Sam called it, a fancy pub, the dessert was really good, it was a biscuit made into a cup, by heating it up so it is soft, with ice-cream and caramel sauce. The reason Sam said it was a fancy pub was that the bathrooms had loads of mirrors. 

14/4/2011 

Today we drove from Ayr to Coniston, in the Lakes District. The drive was sort of long and we crossed the English border again so we are now in England, again. 

When we got to the campsite we went for a walk. We had little booklet with five easy to follow walks around Coniston Water and we did the first walk backwards so we could get to the town at a reasonable time to have dinner. The walk was quite easy and it went through some of the sheep fields, in one of the fields we saw about 7 sheep jump over a wall from one field to another, it was really funny. 

The town of Coniston is not very big and is surrounded by fields or water, but we still managed to get lost on the way home.  

15/4/2011 

Today we spent in Conistion, we walked the same track that we walked yesterday into the town. We posted a postcard and got some money out then went to find the track up Old Man Coniston (it’s a BIG hill, it’s 200m off being a mountain). 

The first part of the track was through someone’s farm, there were lots of little lambs, they were so cute. Then it went on to a rocky kinda steep path along a river, this was nice and if it was summer the little pools in the river would have been very inviting, then it just looked cold. 

Then we went onto a muddy, rocky, not so kinda steep path along the side of a smaller hill next to Old Man Coniston. At this point we couldn’t see the top of the mountain because of all the cloud and fog up there. Sam was complaining at that point too. 

We got to a lake at just over half way up Old Man, the lake was named low water lake but it was not low, it was on the same level as the path at that point. There was lots of fog over the lake and you only just see the other side of the lake, it was pretty though. 

As we walked up it got foggier, cloudier and colder, the path also got rockier, steeper and muddier, now it was raining to. 

At the top we had lunch, it was eaten really quickly because it was freezing! I was eating my hazelnut spread sandwiches with my ski gloves on that was how cold it was. Then we remembered that at the top of Ben Nevis it was colder, snowing and hailing and we felt warmer (just a bit). 

We climbed Old Man Coniston for 3 things, number 1, because Mum said that if you are in the Lakes District and you don’t climb a big hill or a mountain you will have nothing to do. 2, for the fitness and 3, for the view, we got none of that because it was white, there was nothing to see until we got down to the fake top. 

Scotland!

4/4/2011 

Today we drove from Castleton to York, a town with a Medieval wall around it. After  we went to the Caravan site we drove to a Park-and-Ride place and caught the Bus to the City center. We walked around for a bit then we had lunch a the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK), I had a chicken and salad burger with chips, it was good. 

When we finished lunch we went to the National Train Museum (NTM) and saw lots of old trains and a couple of new ones.

Then we went for a walk along the wall, it was really quite high! We walked till we got to Clifford’s Castle, then went to the Castle Museum. In the Castle Museum we didn’t really see much about the Castle (if any at all), but we saw lots about the history all the things we use in life like, houses, clothes, baths, toys, streets, shops, music and prisons. 

Then we went for a walk along the Shambles, a shopping road just for people to walk down, and had dinner at a pub at around 6:00 so we could take the bus back to the campervan.  

5/4/2011 

We spent most of our time today in the campervan, driving between York and Kielder Water, near the border of Scotland. On the way we saw Hadrian’s Wall in the town of Wall. Hadrian’s Wall was built around 2000 years ago by the Romans to stop the Scottish from invading their land and taking their food and stock. 

When we got to the Kielder Water campsite it was raining and Mum wanted to go for a walk, we walked a little around the lake that the campsite is overlooking. Along the way both mine and mums umbrellas were turned inside-out lots. Sam fell over once and got really muddy. Sam also found lots of worms and made dad pick them up because he didn’t want to hold them.  

6/4/2011 

Today we went to Alnwick Castle (the Castle used in the first two Harry Potter Movies). Some of the outside of the Castle was very familiar, the inside was not. We went inside first and saw the home of the Duke and his family, it was a really big house, a Castle, and the rooms were full of things like crystal chandeliers, big wood tables, huge mirrors and books. The Library was huge, it was full from top to bottom with books, any books you can imagine! 

Then we had a tour of the grounds, the tour guide was from Northumbria and was really hard to understand, but the tour was really good. He talked about some of the scenes from the Harry Potter movies, showed us the places they were filmed, told us some of the Warner Brothers secrets to making the movies good then finally told us some of the history of the Castle. 

After Alnwick Castle we drove to Edinburgh (the Capital City of Scotland!) and caught the bus to the City centre. We walked around the city (it looked kinda like London with  a little of Scotland in the surrounding mountains) and went into a Music and Game shop to look at music and games (funnily enough). Dad went straight to the music, Sam went straight to the games, Mum went with Sam and I went with Dad. Sam bought two DS games, Harry Potter LEGO (years 1-4) and a Doctor Who game. We looked in some more shops, walked for a bit, then we went looking for something to eat. We ended up eating in a Pizza Express place, and it was packed but good. 

7/4/2011

Today we spent in Edinburgh. First we climbed up Arthur’s Seat (a small mountain or a big hill), when we got to the top it was really windy, the view was really good though. The walk up wasn’t a hard as it looked and the walk down was easy. 

Then we went to Edinburgh Castle, the Castle where no one lives, like the Tower of London. This was the first castle we had been to where we didn’t have an audio tour or a normal tour, it was nice to not have to be rushed with a tour and just look around. We saw lots of cannons, St Margaret’s Chapel, the Prisoners Of War (Pow’s) Dungeons, that was the set up of a dungeon with speakers with the type of conversations that would have been going on, the War Memorial, the Great Hall and the Scottish Crown Jewels, they were not as good as the Tower of London Crown Jewels but the lead up was better. 

After the Castle we went shopping again but this time we went to look for wet weather coats and stuff. We went to two shops before we found anything, the in the second shop I got a rain jacket with a normal jacket in side (you can take the inside jacket out). 

We then had dinner at a Italian Restaurant, I had carbonara, it was very creamy but it was good.  

8/4/2011 

Today we drove from Edinburgh to Banchory, a little scottish town. On the way we saw quite a bit of snow on the mountains, then we saw some  right near the road and couldn’t resist the urge to go touch it. We ended up having a snowball fight of the hottest day we’v had yet (Sam was in thongs).  

We got to Banchory at about 2:30 then we went for a walk along the river. The river took us into town, where we got a ice-cream, then we went on a 2.5km forest walk, the forest was really pretty but we didn’t get to see any Deer or Red Squirrels. The walk took us till around 5:00 and we decided to go find something to eat. 

We went to a Bar/Restaurant and ordered some drinks, then Dad got Haggis Balls for an entree (we all tried some), we all ate our Mains then Sam and I got another ice-cream. 

We were walking home and Sam, who had clearly had to much sugar for one day, went rolling down the hills at a play ground, and just being crazy. We had to walk through the bush, along the river, with a crazy 8 year old, it wasn’t that bad.   

9/4/2011 

Today when we were driving to Colloden we stopped at a Whisky Factory. We got there 15mins before the next tour started so we went to the Cafe and had a drink. Mum and Dad had a Coffee and Sam and I had a Hot Chocolate, with cream and lots of Marsh-mellows. On the tour we went around the factory and warehouse and it was only us on the tour, no one else was there at that point. Our tour guide also told us how to make Whisky on the way.  

In the first room out guide told us what ingredients are used to make Whisky, Barley, Spring Water and Yeast, then she let us taste the Barley when it hadn’t been crushed and showed us how it was crushed. Then we went into the actual production area and our guide showed us the first stage of the making, all the crushed barley goes into a big metal mixer and three sets of the spring water go in all at different temperatures. Then, the second stage, all the barley, some of the water and the yeast go into a big wooden mixer and (somehow) after a while it turns into alcohol. Next, the liquid goes into two, big , copper tanks where it is boiled and then separated into three parts, the Head, the Heart and the Tail, only the Heart is turned in to Whisky, the rest go back into the wooden mixers. 

When the Heart is separated it goes into the warehouse, put into big barrels and left undisturbed for at least 12 years. 

Then we went on driving until we got to Colloden (where we were staying), got set up then walked to the Colloden Battle Fields. The Battle of Colloden was a battle against the Government (all the supporters of the King at the time) and the Jacobites (all the supporters of Prince Charles who was the actual heir to the throne but didn’t get there quick enough to get the crown). There had been many battles between the two armies before and the Jacobites always won. But, the night before this battle the Jacobites tried to sneaking up on the Government army, they failed and had to march all the way back to their camp therefore being very tired for the battle the next day. The Government army was clearly bigger than the Jacobite army and they were rested and well fed they had and advantage. The Jacobites were beaten that day, they had to retreat so that at least some of the army would survive. Prince Charles then went into hiding, he dressed up as a girl and made his way to France. The visitors centre was really interesting and we got an audio tour of the Battle Field. 

Then we had dinner at a diner near the Field, it was really full but the meal was good. 

10/4/2011

Today we drove from Colloden to Loch Ness, the biggest Loch in Britain and home to the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie). We got to the Loch between 10:00 and 11:15am and bought our tickets for a Boat ride along the Loch and 1hr at Urquhart Castle. When we got on the boat we sat on the top deck (it was cold) and had our cameras ready to take that million dollar picture of the Loch Ness Monster. The boat ride to the Castle was 30mins long and we unfortunately did not see Nessie. 

At Urquhart Castle we saw a 8 and a half minute movie about the history of the castle, it was really good and at the end the curtains behind the screen were drawn and there was a view of the castle. Then we went to the castle, there wasn’t much left as it was blown up from the inside, and saw some of the old rooms and dungeons and went up a tower. 

At 12:30 the boat came back and this time we sat down the bottom so we could watch the depth radar thing. The lowest depth we saw was 750 meters down and still going. 

After, we went to the Loch Ness Visitors Centre Cafe and had lunch, Mum and I had Ham and Cheese toasted sandwiches, Sam had Chicken Teddies and Dad had a BLT. 

Then we went into the actual Visitors Centre, it was made up of 6 movies all about the Loch Ness Monster and if it is actually there. 

The first movie was about the history of the Loch and all the animals that have lived in there and some of the animals that Nessie is thought to be, the Second movie was about all the myths and Legends involving the Loch. The third movie was about all the photos that people have sent in and haw what they saw was something very different from the Loch Ness Monster like a floating log moving down the Loch, boat waves still lasting long after the boat had gone and swimming deer. The fourth movie was about the underwater cameras,   small submarines and underwater capsules  that have gone to look for the Loch Ness Monster or what people think is a Monster. The fifth movie  was about the radars that have picked up traces of something big in the Loch, and what they possibly were, if it wasn’t the monster. Finally, the sixth movie was about all the reasons why the Loch Ness Monster couldn’t exist like how there wasn’t enough food in the Loch for a Monster of the explained size to eat and then it explained the reasons for the difference in rock colour up the sides of the Loch. They were really interesting presentations and they suited everyone by not saying that the Loch Ness Monster doesn’t exist but saying that it was up to you to believe or not. 

When we got to the Campsite we walked along the river and up , Sam, Dad and I, played Touch Rugby, badly, then had our emergency tinned food, Scotch Broth followed by Baked Beans and Vegetable ravioli. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Mum then made Sam and I introduce ourselves to some of the kids that were riding around. We met some people (little kids) that came from Denmark and we also met a brother and sister from Perth (in Scotland) it was quite funny. We ended up playing Touch Rugby with the Scottish kids, Katlin and Scot ( Scot from Scotland), it was kinda fun.  

11/4/2011 

Today we went from the campsite to the island of skye and drove for a bit on the island. Then it got a bit to cloudy to see the sights so we decided to keep driving toward the campsite in Onich. 

At about 12:45pm we stopped at the Little Chef Cafe to have lunch, Mum and Dad had burgers, Sam had spaghetti and meatballs and I had Fish and Chips, Dad didn’t like his meal but I thought mine was alright. 

We then drove on to the Harry Potter Train Bridge and it started to rain and then it hailed! We were trying to take a picture of the bridge but every time it stopped raining it started to hail. 

When we got to the Campsite it was sunny! This campsite is right on a Loch and it is really pretty.