Saturday, August 10, 2013

Vital Announcement



All the new countries from this holiday now added to the map: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece.

End Of The Line

Yesterday we ended our holiday. We got on the train to Gatwick airport and got a plane home.

We were flying with Air Transat. Unfortunately we had to share TV with the rest of the passengers and the films all were mind-numbing but I did get to watch Honey, I Shrunk The Kids on my Dad's laptop. Compared to the last time I flew with Air Transat it was pretty comfy. 

When we got to Vancouver we got a taxi home.

Greatest hits post coming soon. Ish.

Seeing A Tea Clipper And Looking At The Universe

The Cutty Sark
Yesterday we went to Greenwich and went to go and see the Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark is the only surviving British tea clipper ship. It was one of the last built before steam-powered vessels took over.

The ship was suspended by heavy metal beams. The under part of the ship was plated with copper to make the ship go faster and to keep gunk and sea creatures off it.

Also at the front part of the boat they had a water height chart in Roman numerals.

There was a sort of glass enclosure built around the ship.

In the bottom part of the ship was a hole where you went in.

The floor was made out of crates of tea. The bottom deck was used for storage. There was also a video explaining the Cutty Sark's history. At one point it lost a race with another tea clipper and was sold to a Portuguese company.    

Save a lot of time
Afterwards we went to the Greenwich Observatory where you can put one foot in east and the other in the west. There was a long line of people wanting to have their pictures taken in front of a big piece of metal marking zero degrees but it was easy just to stand either side of the zero meridian. All the other people were wasting their time.

After that we went to go see an exhibition with pictures of different galaxies like the Sombrero Galaxy.



Thursday, August 8, 2013

Good-bye Blockley (Boo-Hoo) And Hello London

The front of the Fortress of Blockley
The day before yesterday Auntie Wendy drove us to Morton-In-Marsh and we got a train to Paddington Station in London.

After the train ride we got the Tube a few stops and then we had to change to a different train because something was being done to the tunnel involving a lot of wires.

We had to go do some shopping because Uncle Stuart, Auntie Wendy, Helen, and a few other people were coming over for a get together. 

We ordered pizza except it was rectangular pizza.We had 12 people over. The pizzas took up the whole table. Not all the pizza got eaten.


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

A Day Of Eating And Not Doing Much

Today [a few days ago--we don't quite remember] we didn't do much we only went out for lunch and I had fish and chips.

When we got back Lucy and I a good idea. We knew Auntie Wendy had a photo copy machine and a Monopoly set so we got lots of the 500 bills and photos copied them we got rich in just a few minutes.

Later I made a huge jar of André's home-made lemonade.

OK OK: I'll give you the recipe. Get two cups and put the kettle on. While the water is boiling squeeze the lemons and make some ice cubes. Then when the water has boiled put the water into the empty cup. While the water is still hot put the sugar in and mix in the lemon juice. Then wait for the lemonade to cool down and add fresh mint leaves.

Lazy Days

A country pub
For two days we didn't do much.

On Sunday we went out to have lunch at a traditional English country pub I had fish and chips afterwards we went walking around and saw a few fords.

On Monday we stayed inside most of the day. We only went out for a walk around Blockley and to the village shop to get lemons for making lemonade. It was sunny in the morning and poured heavily in the afternoon. In the morning I put Auntie Wendy's pet tortoise outside in the garden.
Trying to skim stones

The epic fortress of Blockley
There is a square area in the garden made of something that looks like crash barriers. In the enclosure is also a bowl of water and a wicker basket with a hole in it so the tortoise can use it as a hutch or a sun shade house.

In the evening we lit a big fire in Uncle Stuart and Auntie Wendy's big fireplace and roasted some chicken meat on a clockwork roasting device. It's cat TV. The cats sit round the fire squatting gazing at the meat as it turns and the juice drips down.

Dinner round the fire





Monday, August 5, 2013

A Falcon Centre Trip

Three days ago we stayed inside for most of the morning and didn't do much.

In the afternoon we went out to a traditional English inn called The Fleece Inn with one of my dad's old school friends. 

I had some very nice breaded fish with perfectly done chips. With it I had vegetable sticks.

For dessert I had a delicious lemon tart with warm custard.

Noah the owl
Later we went to The Cotswold Falconry Centre.

There you can see birds hunt and do tricks.

The falconer flew five birds: one small falcon, an owl called Noah, an owl called Olly, a snowy owl called Crystal, and a small burrowing owl called Flint.

You were allowed to have a big glove on your hand and have the birds fly onto it.

I got to hold one of the owls and Flint the burrowing owl.

Flint was probably my favourite because he hopped around, stared at people, and made hoarse noises. His burrow was actually a small box they use for transporting pets by air travel.

There was a little trouble getting Flint into his burrow because when the guy put the food bowl into the burrow and closed the door Flint hopped out again.

Also there were a few birds in the cages which were to shy to come and fly in front of people.


A Treasure Hunt And a Tea

The day before yesterday Uncle Stuart and Auntie Wendy had to go to a wedding so every one in my family went to an old house which was child-friendly.

That day they had some sort of treasure-hunting activity going on so my sister and I did that.

We each got a yellow squeeze ball for a prize

We went back to our giant fortress in Blockley and had a tea of two types of cookies, cake, hot buttered crumpets, and lemonade to drink.

Friday, August 2, 2013

A Long Day In London

Yesterday we drove to Morton-In-Marsh and left our car in a Budgens car park and walked to a train station and got a train to London.

We got off at Paddington Station and I had my picture with the statue of Paddington Bear.
Evolve for free
Then we got a tube train to South Kensington and walked to the Natural History Museum (the best museum in London besides the Science Museum)

First we went to go see an area where you could touch shell, skins, bones, and horns. I even picked up two moose antlers.

Afterwards we saw the dinosaurs. There were so many different types from commonly known ones to the absolutely obscure.

I saw a Triceratops. A Triceratops is a herbivore which means it eats plants. It has three horns, two near the top of its head one near the bottom.

Another one of my favourites is one I don't remember the name of, but it has a club-like part on the end of its tail and heavy plating on its back like plate armour on a knight: except ten times thicker and stronger.

One other one I saw was a giant plant-eating dinosaur with a very long neck which almost went up to the roof of the exhibition room.

Also there were some robot dinosaurs. There were two little ones that hunted in packs and killed things much bigger than themselves.

The best one was a mega colossal T. Rex: the king of all the dinosaurs. By the way did you know that the T. Rex had such short arms it couldn't reach it's mouth? Therefore he couldn't brush his
teeth (no wonder they were always yellow). The colossal robot had a room to himself with a sandy floor. On the floor there were some large foot prints, plastic ferns, and a plastic alligator in a fake lake. There were also coloured spotlights on him.

He moved his head around, roared loudly and shook his tail.

The best model I liked was a little dinosaur nest with some dinosaurs' eggs. In it there were a few dinosaurs which were out of their eggs. Did you know some dinosaurs only lived for a few seconds because almost as soon as they were born the apocalypse of the dinosaurs happened?

Those may have grown up to be ferocious and carnivorous but I thought they were sweet.

Dentist says, 'Uh-oh!'
Afterwards my Dad, me, Auntie Wendy, Helen, and Auntie Jacqueline got a tube ride to Piccadilly. On the way I saw different old tube maps made out of LEGO bricks which really interested me because LEGO is one of my favourite toys.

When we got off at Piccadilly we walked to the theatre. We were going to see a play called 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time'. It's about a child who has a mental problem and is trying to figure out who killed a friend's dog. The dog was called Wellington.

After the play we went to Auntie Rosie's house and had a big BBQ dinner. There was Magnum ice- cream for dessert.

We got a big black taxi to Paddington and caught the train to Moreton-In-Marsh. We drove back to our house in Blockley and hit the hay.








What's happening?




Wednesday, July 31, 2013

A Snowshill Manor Trip

Today we drove to a manor house called Snowshill Manor which was owned by a man who liked to collect expensive, old, and beautiful things.

There were all sorts of old toys, weapons, armour, ship models, jewellery, Chinese cabinets, model solar systems, and so many more different marvellous things.

Me with samurai helmet
My favourite room was a small room which had very little light and whole suits of samurai armour. There was also creepy low-note music playing a bit like the empire theme tune from Star Wars. 

Felt like putting two heavily loaded
stamp albums over my head
The last time I went there the samurai were lined up and they had red lights in the eye holes that made them look like they were possessed or alien—something like that. This time the same samurai were around a model camp fire and a few standing up at the sides of the room. The samurai had no red eyes. Instead of playing creepy music there was the sound of wind, armour clanking against a body, galloping horses hooves, and someone saying something in Japanese.   



A Mostly Inside Day


Yesterday we stayed inside for most of the day.

We only went out to go shopping at Tesco and to go have a traditional English tea.

For tea I had freshly made apple pie, warm, with custard.

It tasted great.

In the afternoon I played a board game called QUORIDOR with Helen. She took it easy on me and I took advantage and beat her.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Off To England!

Yesterday we had another big buffet breakfast in our hotel in Thessaloniki and then caught a taxi to the airport in Thessaloniki and got a EasyJet flight to England.

To get to the plane we had to get a shuttle bus.

The flight was nice the seats were comfy and the food was all right.

When we got to England we caught a big bus to Oxford.

When we got to Oxford we waited at the station where we got off for Uncle Stuart to pick us up in his old car which smells a bit like a farm yard.

When he picked us up he drove us to Blockley where his house was that we were staying at.

I had a nice big comfy double bed all to my self and I had a pleasant rest.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Grand Day Out

Today we went to the middle floor of the hotel and had a nice big American buffet breakfast I had a boiled egg, some bacon, a few small sausage pieces, a few small cakes, and some home made apple pie.

We went back to our room and got ready for a trip to the beach. We took two buses to get there.

On the second bus we didn't get any seats and a rude old lady insisted on putting her folded up beach umbrella behind where we were standing. We argued with her and did our crossest looks and she went off.

One person shoved their chest into me. Just my rotten luck.

Finally we reached the beach. We sat on the board walk and I had a mega chocolate milkshake. After that I felt like I had gone to K.F.C. and eaten one of the mega burgers plus a large plate of fries with extra salt and ketchup. 

First I dug a hole with my M&M beaker (which I got for free back in Amersfoort when I went to see Despicable Me 2) to put my feet in.

I got tired of that eventually and tried building a sand castle with my M&M beaker instead but it toppled over so I tried using sand which wasn't as wet but that toppled over, too, so I quit making sand castles.

I decided to go swimming for a bit. I saw a few fish with orange stripes. The fish were about as big as a small Snickers bar [Marathon bar to older Europeans. Ed.]. Also there were some tiny little lizard things that were sand coloured and seemed to teleport whenever you tried to catch one. I think they lived in tiny holes that I saw in the shallow areas on the sandy ocean floor. Also there were small forests of thin slippery weeds. I think that's what the striped fish feed on.  

After a little while I took my beaker and went treasure-hunting for shells and that sort of thing. 

This is Hermit Ville II
At one point I saw one of the shells moving. It turned out to be a hermit crab. I put him back in the water and went swimming a little more, then I decided to make Hermit Ville II (see posts in Los Roques from last year).

I filled the beaker with sea water and a few grains of sand. Soon the bucket was nearly full and the crabs were having an every crab for himself fist fight (or should I say claw fight).

Then we went to the boardwalk and had lunch. We shared fries, fried calamari, fried anchovies, and a salad. I had orange juice and water to drink. The fried things were cooked perfectly and the salad was nice and fresh.

We stayed a bit longer. I built Hermit Ville III and Hermit Ville IV right next to each other. Some crabs got transferred from one settlement to another and the fight was even harder in the III and IV settlements than in the second one. 

Hermit Ville III (left) and IV (right)
Unfortunately all the settlements fell to ruin and it was as important history as the fall of the Roman Empire or the invention of lemon-scented paper napkins.

The second one fell because I had to have lunch. The third one fell because we had to go home and the fourth one fell because of a rather forceful tiny wave.

   

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Car Ride To Thessaloniki

Today we got into a car by the front door to go to Thessaloniki. A town in Greece. The car was nice and big. Our driver managed to get us us the borders very quickly. We saw a lot of luscious green valleys which was surprising because we hadn't seen a single cloud. We also saw a lot of old abandoned factories and a solar farm.

We checked into our hotel and went out for lunch.

When lunch was over we had a small rest in the hotel and went out for a walk.

While we were walking we saw a building which had been infested with swallows.

We stopped for a cold drink and found a restaurant shortly afterwards.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Going To See A Monastery

Saint Pantelejmon Monastery
Today we went to see a monastery. We walked a bit of the way and went by taxi for another bit. It was called St. Pantelejmon. It had light blue roof tops. While we were just getting out of the car a herd of goats went out of the door of the courtyard leading to the church.

When we got in we noticed it had lots of frescoes which looked a little faded and not very well looked after.

One fresco at the top showed a person who had no face.

Talk about blank faced.
We went to a restaurant near the monastery and I had a small smoked chicken kebab and some french fries.

We walked a way down the hill and saw all different types of weird fruit trees.

We stopped at some small fountains to rub water on our

selves. It was marvellously refreshing.

Later we brought some sweet orange juice from a small shop about half way down the hill.

When we got to the main road at the bottom of the hill we flagged down a taxi to get home.

Also I saw some bright red painted London-
style double-decker buses apparently made in China! Seriously can you believe that! London style double decker buses made in China!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Déjà Vu Train Ride To Macedonia

Yesterday we had another train ride that was ten hours long train ride. There wasn't much to do and it was a few minutes late.

When we got to Skopje in Macedonia we got a taxi to our apartment.

The apartment was huge it had a fully equipped kitchen, two big bedrooms, a giant living room, and a big balcony.

Afterwards we went to a near by mall and went into a place called The Dish. (There is also a restaurant                    
in Vancouver BC called the same thing.)

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A Great Day


Today we went to a hotel and had a big hotel breakfast. I had srambled eggs, salty bacon, a small heart-shaped waffle, a sausage, a small chocolate chip muffin, an orange, a chocolate doughnut, and a small type of cake. 

We went to some fortifications after breakfast and saw some giant tanks and cannons. There was a funny tank which had blue-and-white camouflage.
Attack!

Most of the fortifications I have seen on this trip were made of stone but these fortifications were made of brick.

We went to a nearby zoo and saw birds of prey, brightly coloured budgies, an elephant, a very energetic marten, two or three leopards, a lion, a siberian tiger, a lot of ferocious snakes, a grumpy looking alligator, and lots more animals. 

We had lunch and went home afterwards and had a break.

An All-Day Train Ride


Today we got a all-day train to Belgrade in Serbia. We went through the mountains and through an uncountable amount of tunnels. It was very crowded, there was no aircon, and there was the disgusting smell of people smoking in the aisles between the compartments even though there was no smoking allowed. I think smoking is disgusting and uncivilized. 

The train was covered in graffiti. At one point it was very crowded. 

A long while later the engine broke down and we were delayed for three hours.

Eventually we got off the train tired and hungry. I was a bit cross.

We walked to our apartment and hit the hay almost as soon as we got there.

One Day in Bar


Two days ago we gave the apartment back and got on a bus to a small place called Bar where we had rented a two-star apartment.

We checked into the apartment and went out for lunch. I had a ham-and-cheese sandwich with pita bread instead of regular bread.

After lunch we went back to the apartment and had a rest.

We went to the beach afterwards but it wasn’t very nice because it was just pebbles and the sea was too cold to go in. 

Later after drying off and changing we went out for dinner.

A Day-Trip to Albania


Three days ago we got a rental car and drove into Albania.

It was really hot and sweaty and the sun was scorching.

After a bit of driving we got to the border. It took a long while to cross the border and it was exhausting.

Eventually we got to Albania and had lunch. After lunch was over we drove up a big hill and saw a giant castle. According to the guide book it would close just as we got up. My dad wanted to go up there just to get annoyed. I told him that there was no point in it but we went up and surprisingly we got in. 

A lot of it was in ruins but there were some great veiws.

Afterwards we drove to the old town. Most of the shops were closed, also there was hardly any noise at all. We walked around a bit and then we found a gelateria and I had a double-scoop ice cream cone with banana and chocolate. After the ice cream we went to see a bell tower that was slightly pink.

We drove home after that.

Monday, July 22, 2013

A Church Island Trip

Two days ago we woke up early and got a five-minute-long boat ride in a small white boat to a man-made island with a church on it. The church was small and it had baby-blue-coloured tower tops.

We couldn't go into the nave because there was a service. 

While were waiting we had a look at the exterior of the church and heard the bells ring.

I looked off the island and saw some small fish which swam in big groups called schools. There were some bigger fish as long as a ketchup bottle with the lid off that swam in twos or threes. Also I saw a stone table with the legs made of carved stone figures holding up the table with their backs and their mouths cupped in a sort of oval shape.

After a while we were able to go in the nave. Unfortunately we ended up having more bad luck. There were two big tour groups so it was hard to enjoy it with the tour groups pushing and shoving.

There were lots of faded pictures of people reading books.

Afterwards we caught the boat back to the mainland.

I'm so scared.
When we got back to the mainland we walked around a bit and went to a small museum which had some naval weapons. The most interesting thing in there was a sword which was all wavy and looked like it was for ceremonial purposes instead of for fighting. It had some crazy name like the blazing fire sword of doom.

We went back home after that and had a cold drink.

Later we went out and climbed a bell tower.

While we were buying the tickets a lady said to us, 'Please don't ring the bells.' I thought that was a bit funny because wouldn't ringing them lose me ten good years of hearing or more?

In the tower there were a lot of bird droppings.

After looking in the tower we went out for dinner.
Don't look down.




  


Saturday, July 20, 2013

Going to Perast And Seeing Kotor

Yesterday we packed up our things and caught a two-hour bus to Perast. I mainly just sat around on the bus and didn't do much.

After we got off the bus the guy who owned the apartment drove us there.

The destroyer
We put our bags in the apartment and drove us to a small nearby town called Kotor where the buildings are made out of white stone. There we had lunch.

After lunch we walked to the maritime museum of Kotor and saw some model ships and weapons.

Then we walked around Kotor for a bit and did some shopping and caught a bus home. While we were walking around we saw a giant clothes line with giant clothes.

No idea what this was about
We went out to dinner when we got home at a nice little outdoor restaurant overlooking the bay and I had stuffed squid tentacles with smoked ham and cheese. The atmosphere was pleasant, it was nice and cool. There were swallows flying around in the sky. Out of a window of a house overlooking the restaurant we saw a little terrier looking out at the view.

Then when we got home I had a bath in a mega bath tub with jets and flashing colour changing lights.

A great view of Perast and the Bay of Kotor
All that was missing was a cocktail or a bottle of beer.
 


'I'm hungry.'

'See any mosquitoes?'




Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Day We Hardly Did Anything

Yesterday
we didn't do much we only went out to go see a fort, reclaim my dad's sales tax, and get some ice cream.

First we went to the fort which wasn't very big but we did get some good views and some cannons to sit on and pretend to fire.

When we had finished looking at the fort we walked round the new town to try to reclaim my dad's sales tax.

After a while we gave up and had lunch in a small restaurant.

After lunch we got a bus back to our apartment.

Then we walked to an ice cream place which gives you huge scoops of ice cream. I had a really delicious After Eight flavoured ice cream. I really liked it a lot.

Then we went home and played the Settlers of Catan (the best board game ever).


Long Car Ride And Great Food

Yesterday we rented a car and drove for a long time to Bosnia-Hercegovina because we were going to Mostar. My dad thought it was a good day to get out of town because there were lots and lots of cruise ships and buses. The scenery consisted of large mountains and trees. Sometimes we saw cows and goats on the road! They weren't wild. The fields didn't have fencing.

A short while later we came into Bosnia-Hercegovina turned right and drove out again. Eventually we drove back into Bosnia-Hercegovina and walked around over an old bridge and had lunch at a small white stone restaurant. One thing I noticed was that was some of roofs were made out of stone instead of clay tiles. We sat on the restaurant terrace. Also half of the people are Muslim and half the people are Christian. 

The Old Bridge
I had a four shish kebabs with french fries and pita bread. Just as I was about to tuck into my first shish kebab there was a deafening splash! What happened was some people got paid to dive off the old bridge into the river. The reason they made money was because of the river was shallow and there were sharp jagged rocks. The shish kebab was tasty and the french fries were good but I think there was a bit too much salt. By the way, want to know who invented the shish kebab? The narwhals did (watch the YouTube video Narwhals Song). 

When we had finished our excellent lunch we walked back to the car and drove back to Dubrovnik stopping in a small town for some apple juice. 

When we got back to Dubrovnik we went out to a pizza restaurant for dinner. Despite having a pretty hefty lunch I still managed to eat four between middle and large-sized pieces of pizza. I still haven't got tired of pizza. The pizza was just as yummy as usual.

For dessert we went to an ice cream shop which had one scoop ice creams that were as big as I three scoop ice cream. I had chocolate ice cream and the chocolate was nice, thick and creamy.    

Fortifications And An Old House

Kaboom!
The day before yesterday we walked to Dubrovnik's fortifications and walked along them and got some great views of the harbour and the town. There were a few cannons and I sat on one and pretended to fire it.

When we had finished looking at the fortifications we went to a small maritime museum. They mainly had model ships, portraits of ship captains, and navigation instruments.

After we saw the maritime museum we went to a small nearby café and had some lemonade.
A handy rail

Next we went to the Rector's palace and I saw two interesting things. The first one was that on one of the hand rails on the stairs leading to the top floor the parts holding the bar were carved stone hands. The second was some chests for holding money which had snake shaped metal parts in complicated locking mechanisms.

I told you so
Next we went to a cathedral which had a room filled with leg bones, arm bones, shoulder bones, and skulls in cases shaped like the body parts they were holding. It was really creepy. One box had (supposedly) Jesus's diaper. I am not making this up.

The holy diaper
After a brief lunch we went to the house of a famous Croatian playwright which I thought wasn't very interesting at all.

Just before we went home we went and saw a monastery with a cloister. In the cloister were a few butterflies.

Later I went with my mum to the beach and swam about a bit. It wasn't that much fun because the sea was freezing cold.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Dubrovnik, Here We Come!

Today we packed our bags and got ready for a bus ride to Dubrovnik.

The bus ride was four hours long. Mainly I just read my books and looked out of the window. 

Three quarters into the journey the bus stopped and we had a break.

When we got off the bus the nice lady who owned the apartment we were staying in picked us up in a car and drove to the apartment. 

The apartment was very big and inviting. It looked very comfy.

When we had finished looking about we went out to pizza place. I think pizza in Italy and Croatia is much better then the pizza at home. The best things about the pizza in Italy is that the crust is much thinner and it is much less salty. The secret to a good pizza is a wood-fired oven. 

When we were done eating the delicious pizza we went to a glasses shop and brought a pair of sunglasses for my dad because his old ones got broken. I advised him on what pairs looked cool and which pairs were lame looking.

After buying the sunglasses we walked around a bit and then had a look at the beach. We decided it was worth going to and went back to the apartment to get our beach things. 

My dad looking cool
When we got to the beach I made a fort of big rocks against the waves. It was good exercise because I had to run and lift weights. After half an hour of doing that I went home.  

Going To Trogir

Yesterday we went to the bus station to see if we could get a bus to Trogir, a small old town reached by a bridge with narrow streets of houses made from white limestone. 

The fort at Trogir
We found out that the there weren't any seats available for an hour. So we went to the local bus station and caught a local bus there instead.

The bus ride took a long time and it was quite boring.

When we got to Trogir we walked around a bit and looked at an old run down fortress and climbed the highest tower and got a great view of the town.

When we were done looking at the fortress we went to a small restaurant and had pizza for lunch. The pizza was a little bit salty but it was ok. 

Then we went to the bus station and and caught a bus home after walking around a bit. 

When we got off the bus we went and had ice cream. 

We went back home after the ice cream and had a rest.

Later in the evening we went out for a stroll and had a small pasta dinner, in a friendly restaurant in a small square with someone around the corner playing guitar atrociously.