Famiy and Castle

After another couple of days in Provence, with more yummy food (including going to a Michelin rated restaurant) and more fun at different sites, we flew to England.

We flew over Heathrow but landed at Standsted.  We picked up a rental car and it was Porsche . . . nah! But it was a Mercedes!  It was really funny because Mum and Dad couldn't figure out how to get the car out of 'park'. It didn't have a handbrake or gear stick! We had to go back to ask the man how to get the car going.

Then we did work out how to get the car going and we drove to Northampton, to my cousin's house. We saw my cousins Alex and Harley. Alex is nearly 4 and Harley is nearly 7.  We went to watch Harley's rugby practice and then we went to Rugby - the place where the game rugby was invented! Then we watched rugby while eating lunch in a pub in Rugby.

After that my Mum's cousin Jo had organised for us to go to see the show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the local theater, where she works. It was really good. I liked the spies the best because they were funny, silly and really good actors.

The next day we left Northampton and went to Warwick Castle. At Warwick Castle there is the biggest trebuchet in the world. It is 18 meters tall and weighs 30 tons. It fired a flaming ball! We saw a Birds of Prey show there too and lots of swords and armour.

After that we went to my Aunty Joy and Uncle Peter's house in Leicestershire. We have done looking (at shops and old things), walking and dogging! They have a dog called Jaffa. He is a Hungarian Viszla. He is a gentle giant. He likes to walk up beside you and lean on you and bring his bed wherever he goes.

Deadly and Cow

Today I conquered my fear of heights. It is something that no-one knows about, but I have been afraid of heights for about 6 years. Today I climbed a cliff face. It is called the Via Ferrata and it is in Cavaillon.  First we got gear. It is none of that prissy stuff you have at Tree-Top Adventures.  We had carabiners that could probably hold a car each, and a harness with some springy stuff that makes you bounce up and down if you fall. We also had helmets.  Then we climbed                 and UP some more

                                                                                                                            and UP 

                                                                                UP 

Next, we said "Good bye" to solid land for a wee while, clipped on, and dropped over the edge.  The photos don't really show how high we were, because we could only have the camera out at secure places. The rest of the time we were hanging on for dear life. I decided I like being a dare devil.

Then to recover we went and got a crepe ( I had mushroom and cheese) and then we went to a cheese shop, where I met my friend, Daisy the cow.  We bought some French blue cheese and then we went back to where we are staying and swam and played pinball (they have real old pin ball machine, which is a lot of fun).

Travelers tip: If you are afraid of heights, conquer your fear by just doing it - because so long as you always remember to clip on and have three points of contact (two hands and one foot or two feet and one hand) then you will be safe . . . and I will be your guide!

First day in Provence

For those who are in Aviation Club, you may be a bit jealous. When we landed in Nice, it was a really good landing and you could not feel a thing.  I said to the flight attendant, "Can you tell the pilot it was a really good landing - we don't get many of those where I come from in Wellington."  He said, "Would you like to tell the pilot yourself?"  And I said, "OK."  So they let me into the cockpit. I told the pilot I liked the landing and he said, "Do you have any questions?" and I asked him the questions I had. Then he let me sit in the copilot's seat.  The seats are so nice and there were so many buttons. It was much better than flight simulator!!!

As we drove to where we are staying in Cavaillon, we went past Toulon. That is where Ma'a Nonu is playing rugby.

We arrived in Cavaillon and it is beautiful.  In the supermarket it has a massive cheese section. If you put it in perspective in a classroom, it would take up about 1/3 of Mahi Ako!  That's a lot of cheese!.

Another place you should go is a place called Gordes. It has a castle and an amazing market on Tuesdays.  We had Pain au Chocolade, freshly baked, and it was amazing.

Travelers tip: When visiting France go to the cheese section of the supermarket and get some cheese!

Venice

There are some nice things about Venice, like the food and riding in gondolas, but I also found it quite busy.

In Venice the buildings go into the water.  Sometimes people’s front doorsteps were underwater.  There were boats instead of cars.  We on a vaporetto, which is a ‘bus’ and a gondola, which is like a fancy car!

We went to a concert of music by Vivaldi. It was held near the orphanage which he taught music at in Venice.  Sadly, the orphanage is no longer there, but it was nice to be in the place where he taught violin.  The cellist in the concert was very into the music. He was jerking his head and all the expressions were on his face. He was amazing.  We also saw a collection of old musical instruments – violins, cellos and a harpsicord. The oldest violin was from 1595!  As the instruments got older, the wood got darker, but they were still intact and they looked like they could still be played. 

Travelers tip: If you don’t like crowds, then Venice is not ideal for you!

We finished our cruise yesterday.  The last place we went to was a place called Ancona. We went to the Frasassi Caves, which are one of the biggest in the world. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take photos because apparently the flash would disrupt the stalactites and stalagmites.

On the boat, we had a really nice waiter at our table. His name was Kenny and he was from Honduras. He was really cool. We started going to the restaurant - rather than the buffet - for breakfast as well as dinner because he was awesome. The food on the boat was amazing.  I had Belgian waffles on the last day and omelettes and scrambled eggs and fried eggs on other days. They had donuts you could eat at breakfast that were filled with cream and custard. YUM!

On the way back to Venice I slept, then there was a thunderstorm - it didn't rock the boat but the lightening looked amazing.  When we opened the curtains in the morning, we were in Venice and just going past St Mark's Square. It looked pretty cool.

Dubrovnik - no donkeys yaaaay

A few days ago we landed in Dubrovnik.  It has an old city that is very hard to penetrate, because it was built with big stone walls all the way around.  We went on a tour by submarine. Not a real submarine, a boat with glass sides, so that you could see the fish underwater.  You could also see the fort and all the fortifications.

 

Then we went for a walk through the old city and got lunch in a café.  They did not know about small portions! But I didn’t mind.  We saw lots of old buildings and a man with a big hammer making necklaces out of coins.  We had iced tea sitting under a tree where it was cool.  There were too many steps for my liking – they were very steep and very tall, so it was like climbing up a ladder!

 

Never do a donkey ride

Today we arrived in Santorini.  The houses were very white, the sea was very blue and the whole place was very beautiful. We stopped in the harbour and had to catch small boats called ‘tenders’ to get to shore. Then we took another fast boat around to Oia. We rode in a bus up a steep hill to the town and walked around looking at the buildings and the view. Oia is really nice.  Afterwards, we caught another bus back to Fira, which is the town above where our ship was moored.

The only thing I didn’t like was the donkey ride . . . We thought it would be a fun way to get back down the hill from Fira to the boat. The queue for the cable car to get down was enormous – maybe 50 minutes long. We thought we would miss the ship leaving if we waited in the queue, so we chose to go down the track.  Riding the donkey down was really scary because I was too short to reach the stirrups and my donkey kept throwing his head back and head-butting me.  The donkey really was an ass . . .

Travelers tip – Don’t ride a donkey down a steep hill!