Quimper

The next day we spent cleaning and packing until 2. We left home and headed for Quimper, a city about 20 minutes from Locronan. We arrived at 2:30 and walked to the cathedral. Outside the tall gothic cathedral were shops and Darcie had a look inside a department store. When she had finished it was time to go home and we left and drove through Quimper and went home.

Mont Saint Michel

Yesterday we woke up early and headed for Mont saint Michel, an island 3 hours away from Locronan. We stopped at a little medieval town called Dinan, had a hot chocolate and a crepe with white chocolate and banana. It was really nice. Then we drove to Mont saint Michel. Just before we got there we stopped to get a good picture from further away. We parked our car and then walked to the abbey. There were souvenir shops and restaurants on both sides with swords and key rings. When we got to the abbey we had a look around and saw all the large rooms with confessionaries and heard the monks chanting. There were some carvings on the walls and a lot of spires at the top. Afterwards we went back to the car and drove to Saint Malo a city near Mont Saint Michel and had dinner. We had mussels and pizza and crepes for dessert. I really liked the mussels and the pizza too. We went back to the car and then headed home. (Frazer and I fell asleep on the way home.)

Douarnenez

On Friday we stayed at home until 3 and then we went to Douarnenez a town near Locronan and had a look at the port and the marine museum with boats and ships from the past. We then went home and had a fire.

Pont Aven

On Thursday we left home quite early and drove to Pont Aven, a village about 1 hour from Locronan where there was a river and a port. There were a lot of art galleries because a lot of painters like to paint there. We had a walk along the river and a look in the town and then drove to Guilvinec. A town with one of the main fishing ports in Brittany. We looked around at all the boats and then drove home and started the fire.

Pont du Raz

On Wednesday we slept in and stayed at home until about 3 when mum said that we were going to Point du Raz the 2nd most westerly part of France. We went for a walk along the coast and saw the island of the druids, an island where they used to take the dead druids and is now where fishermen live.

Locronan

On Tuesday we had a look down in Locronan and saw all the old houses and the church which had Saint Ronan buried inside a coffin. We saw one shop that had swords and assorted daggers inside. Afterwards we went to a bakery and got some croissants for lunch.

Andorra

On Sunday we left for Andorra early in the morning. We drove the 7 hours there and thought it would be snowy but there was hardly any at all. We slept in a really nice hotel and had a really nice dinner and breakfast. The next day when we woke up there was at least 15cm of snow fall overnight. We headed off towards the French border and the snow there was much thicker and falling heavier and it was -2 degrees. We stopped for a hot chocolate in a small restaurant and saw that people were skiing on the slopes and mum said that we could stop and ski for the rest of the day and stay overnight. We hired the skis and went skiing on the two slopes. Frazer went snowboarding and couldn’t get up the tows to start with, but eventually got the hang of it. We had a lot of fun and about half way through the day Darcie and I swapped to snowboarding. I didn’t get up the tow on my 1st try but after that I had no trouble. The snow was really powdery and dry and would go over my knees in some areas. At 5 we handed the gear back to the hire shop and went back into the hotel. We had dinner at 7 and Frazer and I shared our 2 meals, pig trotters with snails and rabbit. The rabbit was nice and I really liked the pig trotters (they were really soft). Then we went to our room and went to bed. The next morning the snow was even thicker and we had breakfast looking out onto the slopes. Then we left to go to Brittany. We drove for 10 long hours all the way to our house swap in Locronan, a small medieval village near Quimper. It was a really big house that was made of stone and had a large fireplace in the living room.

packing

Hi it's Tait,
For the last couple days in Spain we spent the time cleaning the house. On one day it was the Spanish Christmas and we had a really nice dinner in Javea.

Day at the beach

Hi it's Tait,
Yesterday we went to the beach at a town near Javea we played in the rock pools and caught fish and crabs while Mum worked in a internet café. When we were in the rock pools there was one big pool that we put everything we caught in, we had about 4 fish and some crabs. When we went along the beach further there was a pool that joined the sea with lots of fish and when I was trying to catch them an octopus came and wrapped around Frazer’s foot. We caught it and took it to the pool with the other animals and it ate them all by grabbing them with it’s tentacles and sucking them under it and using its beak to eat them. Then we let it go and headed home. We had pesto for dinner and then went to sleep.

Cap De San Antoni

Hi it's Tait,
Today we stayed at home until after lunch. Then we went to Cap de San Antoni. A cape near Javea. Then we went to the beach at Javea. We played and then went on another small walk. When it got dark we came home and then had dinner of squid and rice.

Valencia

Hi it's Tait,
Yesterday we drove to Valencia, it took around an hour to get there and then we went to Mercado centrum. The huge food market. We looked through it and tried some different foods. One was a typical Spanish food called membrilla. It’s made of wheat, flour, sugar, fruits and honey it is really nice. Then we went for a walk to a plaza and then to plaza de torros, a bull ring. Then Darcie and mum had a look in a large department store and got some clothes, then we tried some paella and I didn’t like it much. Then we walked to the car and drove home. We arrived at 10 and then went to bed.

day at home

Hi its Tait,
On Friday we spent at home. We slept in and then played in the garden and then had a lunch with cheeses and breads and meats. Then we played in the garden again until about 4. At 5 Darcie, Frazer, Dad and I went for a run. When we got home we got ready to go out to dinner and then headed off. We went to a restaurant in Denia, about 10 minutes away. Our dinner was so nice, we ordered a menu with 4 courses and they were all so nice and my favourite meal was the mussels.

day at home

Hi its Tait,
On Friday we spent at home. We slept in and then played in the garden and then had a lunch with cheeses and breads and meats. Then we played in the garden again until about 4. At 5 Darcie, Frazer, Dad and I went for a run. When we got home we got ready to go out to dinner and then headed off. We went to a restaurant in Denia, about 10 minutes away. Our dinner was so nice, we ordered a menu with 4 courses and they were all so nice and my favourite meal was the mussels.

African Safari

Hi it's Tait,
Yesterday morning Dad, Frazer and I went for a long slow jog through the orange groves. It was about 5 km and took about 1 hour. When we got home I had breakfast and then we played in the yard for a while. Then we decided to go to an African Safari about an hour from Pedregeur. We arrived around 3 and there was no one there so we played a bit of soccer while we waited. Then we saw some people and they said that you get the tickets in the restaurant. We went to the restaurant and the lady there was English. Then we went into the Safari Park. We drove around and saw donkeys, deer and zebras up the top. Then we drove to the bottom of the area and got to pat elephants. We saw Bulls with huge horns and there were hippos and a white rhino. Then we drove back to the restaurant and saw all the animals in the small zoo. There were 2 lion cubs, a porcupine, pumas and these small little almost things like large guinea pigs. Afterwards we drove home and had pizza for dinner.

Relaxing at home

Today we spent the morning at home and after lunch we all jumped in the freezing cold pool. Then we had a dinner that we had in France.

Relaxing at home

Today we spent the morning at home and after lunch we all jumped in the freezing cold pool. Then we had a dinner that we had in France.

Cave at Benodolieg

Yesterday we stayed at home most of the day playing in the yard and watching a DVD. At about 4 Mum and Darcie came home and told us that they had found a cave nearby, so we went there and had a look. There was a TV screen in the cave showing a programme on Neanderthals who used to live in the cave. There were the remains of skeletons (bones, teeth) from rhinos, hyenas, Neanderthals, bears and deer. We walked through the cave and Frazer and I hid and scared Darcie. There were lots of stalactites and stalagmites in the cave. After looking through the cave we went into Pedregeur and went grocery shopping. Then we went home and Darcie made dinner and then we went to bed.

Moving to Pedregeur

On Monday it was time to go to the next house, also in Spain and outside a town called Pedregeur only 20 minutes from Altea. We spent the morning packing and then went to the beach. There had been a storm when we were driving home from Granada so the waves were huge. We played soccer on the field on the beach for a while and then went to a café for lunch. I had a jacket potato with cheese and bacon and it was really nice. We played on the beach for a while longer and made a rock wall along the hill as a barrier to stop waves getting us wet and it worked. Then we went home and loaded up the car and met Javier who was looking after the key to the house and then he took us there and showed us how to work everything. After Javier left we had dinner and then went to bed.

Tobogganing to Alhambra

The next day we went to the tobogganing run after breakfast. We hired 2 toboggans and then Frazer and I both got a new pair of ski gloves. Then we went tobogganing for 2 hours, it was really fun and we all had a great time. After tobogganing we headed down the mountains to Alhambra a palace built by the Moors over 1500 years ago. In Alhambra there were Arabic carvings on the walls and tiles that were very colourful. The palace had beautiful gardens and water running through it underground and came out in the fountains and small canals about 1 meter wide. Afterwards we headed home and arrived at around 10.

Night in the Sierra Nevadas

Hi it's Tait,
On Saturday we left our hotel after breakfast and headed for La Rabita. When we arrived we played on the beach for a while. Afterwards we headed up into the mountains. We drove over the foothills and then down into a valley, by the road there were almonds and grapes being farmed. We went through the valley and around to Granada and then back up into the Sierra Nevada mountains. When we came towards the top of the mountain there were little bits of snow and when we got to the summit there were heaps of people tobogganing. And dad said that the next day we could go tobogganing. We had to go find accommodation lower down the mountain so we left the tobogganing run and got in the car. We drove to the next town down the mountain and stayed in a small hotel. The hotel had a games room and we played air hockey and another fun game for a while until we had to get ready for dinner.

La Rabita

Hi it's Tait,
On Friday we decided to go to a small fishing village called La Rabita that Granny and Poppa had been to 20 years ago and recommended that we go there and to the surroundings. La Rabita is on the south coast of Spain near Granada. We left Altea at around 12 o’clock and headed off along the coast. Around Murcia there were really nice rocky mountains with the sea at their base and the sun setting in the background. We arrived in La Rabita at around 8 and played in a park on the sea side and then couldn’t find a hotel that was open so we drove to a small town nearby. We stayed in a nice hotel that had really nice dinners. I had swordfish with a salad. After dinner we went to our room and then went to bed.

Relaxing at Altea

Hi it's Tait,
We spent the next 4 days playing games like monopoly, dominos, going to the beach, watching DVD’s and reading.

Barcelona to Altea

Hi it's Tait,
On Sunday we walked down La Rambla to the seaside and had a look around. There was a huge Christopher Columbus statue on a column about 25 meters high and the tour yesterday had said that his index finger was over 50cm long. We got some popcorn and walked along the wharf and saw about 200 fish all eating other peoples popcorn that they had thrown in. Then we walked back along the port to La Rambla. We walked back up through the artists and then had lunch in a small café. We had wraps and mine was chicken with some salad. Then we walked back to the car and headed for Altea. The drive took about 5 hours but the scenery was really nice with the coast on one side and the dry, rocky hills on the other. We arrived at the house at around 6 watched some T.V. and then went to bed.

Barcelona tour - north

Hi it's Tait,

On Saturday we left Maite’s house at about 10 o’clock and walked to the tour bus stop and hopped on. We drove for about 3 minutes and then hopped off at the Casa Battlo stop and had a closer look than yesterday it was the Gaudi house with all the different colours and the small verandas. Then we kept walking and had lunch in a bakery, I had a sandwich with cheese and ham with a hot chocolate. Then we walked to the nearby Gaudi house, La Pedrera, it had huge stone carvings on the roof and it was all sandstone. After that we walked along to the next bus stop and hopped on the first bus that came. We stayed on the bus for a couple stops and then hopped off at another Gaudi design, the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that is still not finished. It was a bright cathedral and was full of squarish carvings and amazing stain glass windows. Out the front of the cathedral were heaps of artists that had painted things in Barcelona like the cathedral, Casa Battlo, La Pedrera and Guell park(also by Gaudi), we walked through all the artists to the bus stop and then caught the bus to Guell park. we hopped off and walked about 1km to Guell park an old real estate area that a man owned and asked Gaudi to build houses and have a large forest in it so he could sell them off. although they were nice and in a really nice area they were not bought. there were 2 houses out the front, one with blue and white marble tiles broken up and stuck to the roof and large tower. then we saw a rock wave that curved over and then touched the ground in an arc. then we had to go home as it was getting dark. we drove home past the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s home ground and back to La Rambla and then we had dinner after we had walked back to Maite’s house.

Looking around Barcelona

Hi it's Tait,

Yesterday we had a look around Barcelona. It was very interesting, we walked along La Ramblas and saw pet shops selling ferrets, hedgehogs, chameleons, tortoises, turtles, rabbits, doves, pigeons, chipmunks, iguanas and chinchillas an animal native to Spain that can climb trees and looks similar to a possum. We kept on walking after looking at the pet shops and saw people doing funny poses in costumes they might jump out at you. One man painted all over black with glasses and a penny farthing scared Darcie. After that we walked to the tour bus stop and hopped on. After the first stop we saw the most amazing two houses both designed by a world famous architect Antonio Gaudi. The first house was 4 or 5 stories high and was all curvy it had little balconies for every floor. The other one was similar but the roof was covered by randomly smashed marble tiles that were made into little pieces and then arranged to cover the roof. We kept driving on the bus and then saw the longest shopping place in the world, the whole 4 km street was covered in only shops. We hopped off at a bus stop near a cable car and went on the cable car up to the top of the hill to a fort where we hopped of and had a look around. They had a great view of the port and had all the huge machine guns still out there. Afterwards we had some lunch, a croissant with ham and cheese and then we hopped back on the bus. We drove through the port (one of the most important in Europe) and then through the gothic part of town where we saw amazing houses and the cathedral designed by Gaudi. We hopped off at La Ramblas and went to the main square. There were over 300 pigeons I think and a man gave us a bag of seed each, I held it near my shoulder and had a pigeon on it in no time. He was there while we walked around until a car back fired and he flew off. After feeding the pigeons we walked through the market, it was so colourful. We saw pig heads for sale and lots of fruit and vegetables, Darcie went crazy when she saw the lollies and chocolates. On our way out we saw got a juice each from a stall, they were really nice, mine was pineapple, strawberry and papaya. Then we walked to a small tapas and got two wraps to share. Then we went home for a while. We went out to dinner at 9 in a Spanish restaurant and we got a huge feast each starter (4) was nice one was this cod dish with crust bread the next was an assortment of fresh fish that were really nice. Then there were mussels done in a Catalan style and the last starter was a type of really nice seafood noodles. By then I was full but there were still more I had baby squid and then a dessert of ice cream and cake. Then we walked home and went to bed at about 11:30. I have decided that so far my favorite city that we have been to is now Barcelona.

Le Sappey En Chareuse to Barcelona

hi its Tait,
Last night we had snails and they were so nice that I had seconds. They were covered in a garlic sauce with butter and parsley, they were chewy and really tasty. But today we to pack for Spain all this morning. There was so much snow, at least 60 cm. We left for Barcelona at 2 but before that dad dug the car out from the snow while mum packed. When we stopped for petrol near the border of France and Spain, there was so much wind and it was so strong that it made the door so hard to pull shut. We arrived at Maite’s house at about 10, we met her husband and son and then had pizzas for dinner. They had a dog and we made him jump really high by attaching pizza to a peg on fishing line. The pizza was really tasty and had a really thin base. We had 3 pizzas, one cheese, one smoked ham and one with dried lamb sliced really thin with olives on top. Then Mum and Dad went to an apartment that they are staying in which was about 3 blocks away. We are in the middle of downtown Barcelona and Maite’s apartment is 180 years old right next to one of the most famous streets in Barcelona La Ramblas.
Adios amigos

SNOW!!!!!!!!

There’s so much snow!!!!!!!!! This morning when we woke up I did a lap of the yard in bare feet through 15 cm of snow. We played in the yard for an hour and then went to les 3 sommets. A mountain near here and went on the toboggans but we went hardly any where, the snow was to powdery and thick and we stopped almost as soon as we started. After tobogganing we went home and had lunch and then Frazer, Luca and I went to biathlon training. When we first arrived we had a bit of laser shooting practice and I was hopeless. Then we got cross-country skis but we got no poles and so went into the snow we did some exercises and then played a game of rugby on skis it was really fun. After rugby we had some races and then practiced going down hills. Once fell over and really hurt my thumb. Then we went inside and had more shooting practice, I eventually got the hang of it and could hit all 5 laser sensors in a row. Afterwards we all walked home and played chess. Tonight for dinner we are having escargot (snails) and I can’t wait to try them.

a long hike

Hi it's Tait,
Today we drove up to a mountain over looking Grenoble and the village we are staying in and looked at the really nice veiw of Grenoble and the alps behind it. We walked along a long ridge and then cut down into Le Sappey en Chatreus then we went through the village and back to the house. When we arrived I was so tired and we had been hiking for over 2 hours but I think I was so tired because of the last hour of the hike where we had to go down the mountain and my legs got tired trying not to go really fast and falling over. After we got home we had some lunch and then played chess for a while. After Luca, Charlotte, Marie and Darcie got home from school we had a fondoo, it was really nice!!!
Au revoir

School with Lucas

Hi it's Tait,
On Monday I went to school with Luca, who we are staying with. The school was in Grenoble and took 15 minutes to drive to. We met all Luca's friends. His first class was sport. We did circus routines like juggling, unicycles, trapeze and tight rope walking in the gymnasium. We had to go in groups of 4 so Frazer and I joined Luca and his friend James, who could speak English quite well.

His next class was French and Frazer and I read our own books as we couldn't understand anything. After French was Maths for 1 hour. Then we went to the cafeteria and had warm lunch. I had couscous, vegetables and chicken + icecream for dessert. After lunch we played soccer with Luca and his friends.
In the afternoon Luca had a German lesson, but it was full, so we went instead with one of Luca's friends called Aubin to an English class. They had to mark their tests, and then the teacher asked Frazer and I to answer questions from the other kids about Australia. After English school was over and we came back to the house and played in the garden with Luca and James. Then we got dressed in snow gear and drove to a skiing area higher up the mountain. We took a tobbogan and some small things that you sit on. It was really fun. When we got home we had dinner and then went to bed.

Berlin to Le Sappy en Chatruese

Hi it's Tait,
I'm in Le Sappy en Chatruese in the French Alps. We left Berlin on Saturday morning and headed to the south of Germany. It snowed on the way. We stopped for dinner and played in the snow. We stayed on the island of Lindau in the Bodensee, a large inland sea that borders Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The next morning we looked around Lindau at all the old buildings and the harbour.

Then we left and drove around the Bodensee, via part of Austria, then on to Lichtenstein. We had a brief look around Vaduz, and saw the castle style residence of the Lichtenstein family. Then we drove into Switzerland and saw some of the Swiss Alps. Then we drove through Zurich and Bern. Then on to France and the city of Grenoble. We drove through Grenoble and then up into the mountains to the village of Le Sappy en Chatruese where we are staying for the next 4 nights with a local family.

Tour of Berlin

Hi it's Tait,
Today we went on a tour of Berlin. We hopped on a double-decker bus and then rode around Berlin and saw all the main sights. We went passed checkpoint Charlie again and saw the Brandenburg gate. We saw most of the embassies and also all the German parliament buildings, most of the rivers of Berlin 3 of the 5 and also the historical churches and buildings. It was very interesting and we had a really nice tour guide that could speak English very well . after seeing all the things in Berlin we went to look in Nike town a huge Nike store. The weather was rainy and windy and so we went back to the hotel and had a swim. Tomorrow we are leaving for France in a village in the alps near Grenoble in the South of France. We will probably sleep in Switzerland on the way there.

Berlin

Hi it's Tait,
In Berlin I have had a really nice time and have had great fun ice-skating and swimming. Darcie had her birthday here and we have seen checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin wall and been to the Berlin zoo. It was very nice to meet a lot of people and I also had some foods I have never tried before like jellyfish, cow tongue, ox, and pig intestines. I have really liked the buffet breakfast and staying in this really nice hotel. The main bad thing in Berlin was that Mum and Dad have been working in the ICEF workshop heaps and we have spent most of our time in the hotel.

Slovakia to Berlin

Hi it's Tait,
On Wednesday it was time for us to leave for Berlin. We said our goodbyes and then left for the North of the Czech Republic in a city called Teplice. On our way through Prague we saw a shopping centre and stopped because Frazer and I needed a haircut. We found a hair salon and Frazer and I got our haircuts and then Mum, Dad and Darcie all decided to get haircuts too. After leaving Prague we went to Teplice and arrived at around 10 at night. When we woke up the next morning on Thursday we left to go to Berlin on the way we stopped right near the Border to Germany and looked at all the nice sandstone and the forests surrounding. Then we continued on to Berlin. We arrived at the intercontinental hotel at around 6:00. We unpacked and then had a really nice dinner with the whole of the ICEF team.

Bratislava

Hi it's Tait,
On Tuesday we went to Bratislava. When we arrived we had to go to get winter tires from the outskirts of Bratislava. After getting the tires we had a look around Bratislava. We had some soup in bread and it was really nice mine was mushroom. Then we went to the palace where the Hapsbergs all got crowned every generation. It had a great view of the whole of Bratislava. We had to leave at 2:00 to get our tires put on the car in Senica. After the new winter tires were on we drove to Scalica to watch an ice hockey game. Scalica were playing the last placed team in the league, there were lots of goals and the end score was 6-1 to Scalica.

Laa an den Thaya

Hi it's Tait,
On Monday Dad stayed at home and worked but the rest of us went to Laa an den Thaya in Austria. At Laa there was a really nice aquatic area that we spent 3 hours at there was a whirlpool, pool, slide, massage pool with hot water and jets for your back, salty really hot pool and a cold pool. It was really nice and I really liked the slide because it went completely dark and then dropped really steeply into a pool. After swimming in the pools at Laa we drove to Brno in the Czech republic and looked around.

Wien (Vienna)

Hi it's Tait,
On Sunday we drove to Vienna in Austria we arrived in the night time around 5:30 when it was beginning to get dark. When we got out we looked around and saw that we were parked right near a large cathedral with huge stone spires. We walked further away from the car and looked a things like the theatre and the Austria parliament house. We saw another large cathedral and also a palace of the royal Hapsberg family who ruled over most of Europe for hundreds of years. After looking around Vienna we drove back home and arrived at about 11:00 at night.

Lednice

Hi it's Tait,
On Saturday we went to an old chateaux that belonged to the Lichtenstein family. It was in a town called Lednice in the Czech republic. It was very interesting and there were stuffed eagles, skulls of reindeer with the horns still attached and a sculptured horse with a horn of a narwhal and they said that it was a unicorn. After the tour we walked through the gardens and we saw a reindeer swimming through a lake to a small island in the middle.

bojnice and the ice hockey

Hi it's Tait,
On Friday we saw an old Slovakian castle that was the most visited castle in Slovakia. It was really big and had a moat around it. We did a tour and looked around inside. They had lots of weapons on display. It was built in the 1300’s, but remodeled in the late 1800’s. At the end of the tour, the took us through an underground tunnel that lead into a garden overlooking Bojnice.

After the tour we drove back as quickly as we could to the border of Czech Republic and Slovakia, to a town called Skalica. We were 10 minutes late for the ice hockey match. It was really cool! They were all really, really fast on their skates, and it was very violent. Skalicia were loosing 1-0 for the first period of 20 minutes (3 periods of 20 minutes), and then in the 2nd period, they were drawing 1-1, and in the 3rd period they ended up winning 3-1. It was really fun to watch the game and I was cheering and jumping up and down when ever Skalicia scored. We met the Steiner family (our hosts) in between each 20 minute period, and we tried some local fast food. Last night Bystric invited me to go to another game on Tuesday. Can’t wait!!

Olomouc

Hi it's Tait,
On Thursday, we looked around Olomouc, and heard the town hall clock chime. With each chime, figures (carved workers) would start to move and hammer things. After looking around Olmouc, we drove to Slovakia, where we met Veronika in the house we will be staying in for the next week. We went shopping, got some money and had dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

Kutna Hora

Hi it's Tait,
On Wednesday we looked around Kutna Hora. We saw the cathedral with all its frescos, paintings and statues. It was built in 1368, and we also learnt that Kutna Hora had the deepest mine in the world at that time. We looked in shops and got some clothes and things for the snow. I got ski pants and ski socks, as well as Xcountry ski gloves and glasses to wear in the snow.

I liked Kutna Hora because it was very most of the buildings were 500 years old. They still had the old town wall which ran along a lane way that was named after the daughter of the burgermeister (town mayor), because she was locked into a cupboard by her father and left to die!
After looking around the old town centre, we drove to Sedlec. We visited an ossuary (church and graveyard). During the plague of the 1600’s they ran out of space in the graveyard, so the dug up all the skeletons of the people who were already buried there. There were thousands and thousands of bones. The new dead plague victims were buried in the empty graves, and the bones were arranged by an artist/woodworker inside the ossuary. There is a chandelier made of every boned in the human body. There are family crests and his name was signed in bone! After the Ossuary, we drove to Olomouc, a university town in South Marovia.

Marianske Lazne and Kutna Hora

Hi it's Tait,
On Sunday we left to go to Kutna Hora at around 12:00. After about half an hour we arrived in Karlovy Vary. There were lots of old houses, large hotels and a huge eastern european church with gold plated tops that looked like huge onions. We found a small restaurant and had a really nice lunch, I had pork ribs with heaps of side dishes. After lunch we drove to Kutna Hora. We arrived at about 6:00 and started looking for a hotel. We decided to stay in the hotel Anna it was quite nice and really well positioned near the middle of town.

Marianske Lazne

Hi it's Tait

On Saturday we had breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel and then Darcie, Frazer and I climbed the ski slope and played in the snow. When we came back we got Mum and Dad to come up too. So we walked up the slope again and this time we all walked through the snowy forest and to a look out tower with views of mountains and Marianski Lazne. The tower was really old and had exactly 100 steps. Then we walked through the town looking at the singing fountain (which played a song every 2 hours) and all the old buildings and looking in shops. At around lunch time we went into a café and had some really nice pancakes. The flavour I picked was strawberry, cream and ice-cream, it was delicious. Afterwards we walked back to the hotel. When we arrived half the snow was melted but we still walked up the slope again and Darcie, Frazer and I went sliding on the ice. When we got back to the hotel we had dinner in the restaurant downstairs. I picked wild boar with blackberry sauce. It was really nice. When we were done I was so full and I went up stairs and got ready to go see the singing fountain light display where they have lights in all the water shoots that go according to the music. The lights were really good. Afterwards we drove back to the hotel and I fell asleep really quickly.

Alphen aan den Rijn to Marianske Lazne

Hi it's Tait,

On Friday we had to pack up and clean the house in Alphen aan den Rijn to get ready to leave for Czech Republic. We left at about 2 o’clock to go to our proposed destination, Marianske Lazne in west Bohemia on a small mountain. We drove through the Netherlands and Germany. When we got to the German and Czech border it was strange because we had to do heaps of things with the police and then they let us through and dad started to drive off when men started to yell at him to come back so he reversed back and they told him that they had gone through the German police and they were the Czech police so we had to tell them everything as well. When we arrived in Marianske Lazne it was snowing and the hotel we stayed in was next to the ski slope and the forest. Dad was booking rooms but it took ages because the man at the counter could not speak English. Dad ended getting a room and by the time we got to bed it was about 11 o’clock.

Ajax vs NEC

Hi it's Tait,
last night was so cool, we drove to Amsterdam Arena and parked about 300 meters away from the Arena. Darcie, Mum and Frazer went to have dinner in Amsterdam and Dad and I went and collected the tickets for the game. When we got tickets they gave us the last minute package, we ended up getting first row seats and we were right next to the play. In the first half there were some close shots and the Ajax goalkeeper saved a penalty by NEC. In the second half Ajax scored but it was called offside even though it hit a defender and goalie and then was knocked in by Hunterlaar. There were a couple more really close chances and NEC were unlucky a couple of times with long shots. I liked that game more than any games in Australia because everyone were chanting and singing the whole time. After the game Dad and I were walking to the train station when we saw a whole heap of people chanting something and we went to see what was happening when we walked straight between some hooligans throwing beer bottles at police with bats and shields and some police were on horses. It was pretty scary because they could have had a huge fight at any moment and we were between the police and the hooligans. After we got through the middle of the hooligans we walked to the train station and got a scroll and some really nice juice, we finished that and then waited for Darcie, Mum and Frazer to arrive then we all walked back to the car and drove home.

Kroller-Muller museum

Hi it's Tait,
Today was really fun. We went to a place called The Kroller-Muller Museum, a large art gallery with originals by Picasso,Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Remior. It was in a huge national park with heaps of bike paths all through it. The reason there were so many bike paths were just for going into the park you could have the option to get a bike to ride on for free. So we got a bike each and rode about 3km to the museum and looked around at all the artwork. It was very interesting to see all the art work painted by some of the best known artists ever. My favourite painting was one that was sort of a patterny, big and colourful. After looking through the museum we had a hot chocolate with cream and biscuts. Then we rode all through the national park, it was great, there were so many different landscapes. We rode about 2km and then stopped at a little restaurant with a playground outside. Mum had some wine and we played in the playground. After the playground we left to go back to the car, when we left it was raining but it quickly fined up. It was 8km to the car and as we were riding through the plains the sun was setting and I felt so relaxed. When we got back to the carpark we left for home. When we got home it was about 7:00. We watched animal planet (in english) for about half an hour and then left to go to the shopping center for dinner. We found a really nice little seafood and bought some dinner. Darcie doesn't like seafood so we went to a shop and Darcie got some chicken. While everyone was getting chicken I went to a sport shop around the corner and was looking around when I saw a whole heap of socceer jerseys all half price. There were heaps of teams, Holland, Real Madrid, Italy, Liverpool, Man U, Cameroon, Brazil, PSV Eindhoven and Spain. Darcie had been saying she would get me something really good for my birthday and Christmas because she normally doesn't get me anything. So I asked her if she would get one for me and she said ok. I was looking through all the jerseys and picked a Spain adidas one. I was extra happy because she said I could have it as an early present. After that we came home we had our dinner, it was great. Then we had a cake for dessert.

Thats all for now,

Bye

Tait

Kinderdijk

Hi it's Tait,
Today we went to a place called Kinderdijk. It was a large area listed for world heritage with I think about 17 old style windmills. 1 was a museum and the rest were homes. We walked through the one that was a museum. it was very interesting to see all the cogs and that close up the sails spin soo quickly, but I guess today was quite windy. There were so many different types of windmills, thatched, stone, wood, metal and one really strange one that was the only one of its type. After looking through Kinderdijk we went to a small cafe where we had apple pie with cream and a hot chocolate. Afterwards we took the slow way home but we got to see a lot of different things than you would going on the highway like old towns. They were really interesting things we saw. In one village there were canals along all the houses and one house had a kind of garage with water in it so they could park their boats.

Amsterdam ArenA

Hi it's Tait,
Today dad left to go to Bonn by train really early. After mum dropped dad off and came home and we had to get ready to go to Amsterdam. We left later than planned and arrived at Amsterdam ArenA about 11 o'clock and then went into the ticket office to try and get tickets for the game on Saturdaybut they said we had to be members and to call a phone number to get the tickets, so we called dad and he got the tickets. Then we decided to go on a tour of the stadium. It was so cool we got to go down behind the goals and on the edge of the field. I learnt heaps about the stadium like its stands are the third steepest in europe behind the San Siro and Santiago Bernabau. It was the first stadium to have an opening and closing roof, it's grass is replaced 4 times a year at a cost of €150,000 each time, it can seat 52,000 people and it is the largest stadium in the Nederlands. after the tour we had lunch in Soccer World. After lunch we walked to the train station and saw that the next train was 25 minutes away so we went to one of the sport shops near the station and looked around. We found some soccer shoes that were really good and I tried them on. They were Umbro and cost €30. They fitted me so we bought them and went to the train station and saw that the train had just arrived so we ran up the escalator and got there just as the train was starting to leave. The next train was another half hour and would leave at 4:50 and so we decided to go home because it would be quite late by the time we got to Amsterdam.

Staying at home

Hi it's Tait,
Today we had our car serviced and were planning to go to Amsterdam again but we got the car back later than expected. We ended up staying home all day but we spent most of the time in the park. it was fun we caught frogs and met some more children and one of them could speak quite good english.
Bye for now,
Tait

Maduradam

Hi it's Tait,

Today was great, at 12 o'clock we drove to the capital of the Nederlands, Den Haag. Den Haag was huge. We drove to near the centre of Den Haag to a place called Maduradam, a place where they make miniature models of the most interesting things to see in the Nederlands in a scale of 4% of the real thing. It was very interesting to see every thing there. It was in great detail and even had moving trains, cars, planes, boats, windmills and even theme park rides. There were a lot of carp in the water, they were huge. We found a huge group of about 30 in the miniature Rotterdam bay and fed them little bits of biscuts, they swarmed around it and were attacking each other to get to it first. In the mini Amsterdam there little tour boats exactly the same as we saw yesterday. They had the princess Beatrix lock to keep the water at the right level with boats going through as the doors lift up and the water gets to an even level.

Amsterdam

hi its Tait,
im in Alphen Aan Den Rijn. Yesterday we went to Amsterdam, i really liked it, it had so many canals. We arrived at the amsterdam arena where Ajax play. We parked underneath the stadium, then walked past the Ajax museum and into the train station were we caught the train to Amsterdam Central. When we arrived we walked along the canals and through the red light district. Then we went into a really nice restaurant were we had lots of meals to share. My favourite meal was the pita bread with lamb kebabs and tzatziki. It was so nice! Afterwards we walked to the Anne Frank museum. Anne Frank was a teenage girl who was a Jew during the 2nd world war. she lived in hiding in a house for 2 years. She had to stay quiet in daylight hours incase the people in the office next door heard them. I found the museum very interesting. After leaving the museumwe walked to Leidseplein Square where there were people playing instrumentsand artists painting pictures. After we left Leidseplein square we found a board that said the train we needed to get on was in 10 minutes so we all ran to central station and just made our train back o Amsterdam Arena.

Urk

hi its Tait,
The last couple days have been good. Yesterday we were going to go to Amsterdam but in the morning I wasn't feeling well so we stayed home until about 2:00, then I started to feel better and Frazer and I went out to the park. we were walking around when we saw a small island in the canal. We found the crossing some kids had made and went over there. There were ducks swimming near by and a couple trees on the island.

Today we went to a town near the sea called Urk it had dikes all along the coast and a lot of wind farms near by. we parked on the main road and then we walked to a light house. we looked out to the sea for a while. Afterwards we walked around the town for a bit then we stopped in a seafood restaurant and had lunch. It was delicious! We had salmon, herring, chips,prawns and crab salad. My favourite food was the salmon dipped in crab salad. After our lunch we walked a bit more and found a very nice restaurant overlooking the sea. We stopped there and had a fanta and Darcie and Frazer went down to the sea, we ended up staying there for a while and then had some dinner. after that we drove home and played soccer with Chooby.

Bonn and Cologne

hi its Tait. I'm in The Netherlands.

the last few days have been very interesting. On Sunday we said our goodbyes to Biggi, Hauke and the rest of the family. Then we drove all the way to Alphen An Den Rijn, the trip took 5 hours. We drove through the border of Germany and The Netherlands, past Utrecht and into Alphen An Den Rijn where we met Rein and Beatrice (the owners of the house) and got to know them a bit.

The next day we stayed at home but Darcie Frazer and I played in the park for ages. We played soccer, in the playground, fed some sheep and played with Danker, Toby and some other kids from the local school.

On Tuesday we woke up at 5:30am and left for Bonn at 7:00. We arrived at about 10. The trip took about 45 minutes longer than normal because of a traffic jam in Holland. When we arrived in Bonn we looked around the ICEF office and met everyone there. Then we left and went for a walk and looked in shops until 6pm. Then we went to the ICEF office, picked up dad and walked with Markus and Sandeep to our hotel and left our stuff and then Markus took us to an Italian restaurant. I had spaghetti carbonara - it was delicious.

Yesterday we went to Cologne. It was interesting. We went on the train which took about 25 minutes. When we first arrived we walked out of the train station and right in front of us was the Cologne Cathedral. Made over 1700 years ago, it was huge. All the windows had different pictures of religous scenes. The floors were made of tiny tiles all different shaped and sizes to make pictures and coats of arms. After we left we walked for about 15 minutes before we got to the Lindt chocolate factory, it was interesting to read about all the steps involved in making chocolate.

On the first floor there were a lot of pictures and information boards to read on all the steps of fermenting and drying the cocoa. On the 2nd floor they had a chocolate fountain where a lady was giving out free wafers covered in melted chocolate. They also showed the little square Lindt chocolates being made. On the 3rd floor they showed how they make hollow designs like rabbits, etc for Easter chocolates. On the 4th floor was a museum displaying old chocolate mkaing equipment.

Afterwards we caught the train back to Bonn. We got on an ICE train, which is the super fast Inter-City Express. It took 15 minutes instead of 25. We only had tickets for the regular train. When the conductor asked Mum to show the tickets he was very kind and did not even ask us to pay the extra fee. When we arrived in Bonn we had dinner at an Asian restaurant. It was so spicy. Then we left for Alphen An Den Rijn and arrived around midnight.

Today we stayed at home until 2pm. Then we went to the park across the road and played soccer with some other kids. Some of them were really good players. We played with them for a few hours, and then came home. Later on a boy named Chooby came to our house and asked us to play soccer again, and we did. I had to stop early because my toe was hurting so when I got home I had a cut on my toe and my sock was red from blood.

Darcie cooked tacos for our dinner. Tomorrow we'll go sightseeing somewhere. That's all for now.
Bye,
Tait

Alphen on de rijn

hi its Tait,
i'm in Alphen On De Rijn, Holland. I'm sorry I haven't been writing but I haven't had time.

On Friday we went to Budingen about half an hour from Nidderau, when we arrived we walked to the Schloss (castle) it was about 300 years old and was now a hotel. afterwards we walked through the main part of town. There were a lot of shops and one of them had things that looked like roller blades but were called offroad skis. While we were walking through the town we saw a cafe that sold only icecream. There were so many different flavours and there were even icecream spaghetti dishes and icecream steak (chocolate). I had a big chocolate sundae with cream and chocolate shavings. then we were on our way to the car when we saw a bakery and stopped and bought a whole heap of different German cakes. when we got home we ate dinner then had all the cake. After that Darcie, Kerstin and i made chocolate mouse and mayonaise.

On Saturday it was Hauke's birthday. We went to the Hanau markets it was mainly honey, meat, flowers and fruit and vegetables. we got given a lot of things for free like huge gherkins, honey lollies and meat. When we went home we had a sm all lunch and some chocolate mouse. Then we went to Monicas house (Biggi's sister) and had a bit of cake and slice. Afterwards Darcie, Frazer, Kerstin, Mohar (Kerstin's boyfreind) and I walked to the school soccer field and were playing for a while when a group of teenagers came down and we asked them to play with us. They said ok and we started playing, I scored our first four goals and Mohar and Frazer scored the last two. We won 6-1. Then we went home and played German monopoly, Darcie won. After that it was dinner time and there was so much food. There were heaps of German things, and also lots of other stuff like garlic bread and sausages. After dinner Darcie, Frazer, Julia and I played darts. It was really cool because the dart board was electric and kept score and counted the points even if the dart didn't stick in the dart tips were plastic and the board had holes all through it so the darts could stick in. Then we went home and went to bed.
Bye
Tait

Hessen Park & Marborg

hi its Tait,
yesterday was great we went to hessen park, a place where they take old houses from villages and rebuild them in the park, most houses were from the 1700's.while we were there i had my first German pretzel and it was huge, I loved it. We also saw an old style potting wheel, with a lady making pots. It was very interesting, and she did it so quickly.

After Hessen Park we went to a roman fortress. it was almost 2000 years old. we went into the mueseum and looked at everything that was found by archeologists when they looked through the area. The things i found most interesting were all the kitchen utensills... like a funnel and a kitchen sive. I also found it interesting that their garden tools were the same shape as those we use in our own garden. There were also shoes and bits of woollen fabric that had been preserved because they had fallen into a well, and kept away from oxygen. They were over 2000 years old. After going through the mueseum we went for a walk in the forest and Darcie, Frazer, Julia, Alf and I had an akorn fight. It was fun!

Today we went to Marbourg, the birth place of Martin Luther. We went in the castle there and it had an exhibition about a princess called St Mary who built a hospital and nursed sick people. then we drove down to the town and walked around shops with lollies, artwork, music and clothes.

We went to a restaurant and had three traditional German meals. One with Bavarian sausages and a mustard and herb dip, the 2nd was noodles with onion, cheese melted on top and baked in an oven, the 3rd was potatoes with sour cream and salad that had a yogurt based herb dressing. We ate on a balcony overlooking the town. Then we walked around a bit more and stopped in a lolly shop. We saw lots of chocolate things like soccer balls, soccer players, cars, beer bottles and horses... all made from chocolate. Afterwards we walked a steep hill and back around to the car and drove home.

hi its Tait,
im in nidderau,
on monday we went to an animal park about 20 minutes away from here. In the park there were elk, reindeer, an animal like an ox, wild pigs, lynx, wolfs and we saw some squirrels. most animals were native to in and around germany. when we left we stopped in hanau an old town near here. We walked around and had icecream in the town square.

The next day, after lunch Darcie, Frazer and I went with Rebecca to excercise her horse, Genty.
We rode on Genty for about an hour, then we walked back home and got ready to go to Frankfurt. we went to a large shopping area in the centre of Frankfurt and went shopping in a shop called C & A and i got jeans and a jumper. After shopping we went to a cathedral called The Frankfurt Dom that was started over 1500 years old. It was huge and it had the biggest pipe organ and it was so loud had to almost yell to talk to everyone. Then it was time for dinner so we went into a huge shop and went to the top floor (5th or 6th) and had chocolate mouse and a strawberry dessert. after dinner we were walking to the car and I noticed something was missing Frazer's bag I yelled ( it had my wallet with 50 euro, my nike track suit and Darcie's and Frazer's wallets too.) so we drove to near the shop where we had dinner and Rebecca and iI had to run up to the top floor and ask for the bag. We asked the lady at the counter if she had it and then she started speaking German to me asking questions about the bag. All Iunder stood was "head" so Rebecca had to translate for me. In the end they had Frazer's bag, and we drove home.

hi its Tait,
im in Nidderau. Yesterday we drove through the mountains to a castle called Burg Eltz. It was next to a brook in an oak forest. It was one of the biggest castles in this area and the guide said parts of it were over 900 years old. It was finished in 1400, and it was fully furnished. There were 80 rooms, 4o fire places, and 20 toilets built in. It was the first castle to have toilets, and they were designed to flush when it rained!

After leaving the castle, we drove along the Mosel river to a small village called Beilstein. We stopped at cafe decorated with coffee grinders, and each had huge slices of German cake! We walked through the village on the cobblestone road and headed for the ruined castle that overlooked the town and river. On the side of the path were verticle grape vines. They were planted on really steep slopes. I don't know how they harvest the grapes!

On the way home we stopped in Boppart and walked along the Rhein. When we went into the town square, there was a band playing because they were having a winefest. Lots of people were drinking wine, but we had icecream. Mine was wild berry. I fell asleep on the drive home.

hi its Tait,
im in Nidderau still. Today we went to Frankfurt by train and walked to the zoo. I saw lots of animals I've never seen before, like the slender lori, different types of lemurs & monkeys & others. I patted the rhino you can see in the picture. It's skin was really tough, but it's face was quite soft. A small monkey like animal came over to us, turned around and started to pee towards us, but luckily there was glass between us. I also patted a baby bat, it was so soft and fluffy. For afternoon tea we had waffle with cinnamon and icing sugar. It was delicious and I got cinnamon and icing sugar all over my teeth. Afterwards we went back to the house by train.

hi its Tait,
I'm in Nidderau, near Frankfurt, in Germany. It's a village with lots of old houses like the ones in this picture. We are staying with some friends in a house that is several hundred years old. The streets are really narrow and it's scary with Mum driving on the right side of the road. Today on the autobahn Dad was driving 151 km per hour. It's legal to go as fast as you like on the autobahns. Today we went grocery shopping. I saw some vegetables I've never seen before that looked like cabbages with handles.

Bye for now. Tait.

i'm in singapore

hi its Tait,
im in Singapore. The airport is cool and there's just so many shops. It's 10:00 here but 12:00 at home. I'm so tired i feel like falling asleep on the computer. So bye for now.
Tait

hi its Tait,
im at home getting ready to leave. Im so excited we are only 4 hours away from leaving to the airport. It's the first time i'm going out of Australia.
Bye
Tait