Month: April 2012
Musée d’Orsay
Disneyland
Rothenburg – Germany
We arrived in a pretty, small town. There was only one catch. Almost a secret. It was……medieval.
We arrived after another few trains and headed for our hotel. We loaded off our suitcases that we had been lugging all day long. The hotel was snug and cosy. We even got some ‘Welcome Chocolate’. It was good chocolate too.
We wandered and walked and wandered and walked until we reached the Criminal Museum…..Mwah hahaha. We saw some torture items (I have some ideas for people that get on my nerves – Dad said he had some too… ) One of the things that were used were actually quite funny. If you acted like a pig you had to wear a metal mask shaped like a pig. For a woman there was a mask with big ears, big eyes and a long tongue. This symbolised that the woman was being punished because she heard and saw everything, then blabbed about it. There were also other things that would hurt soooo bad. Like the stretch ladder….
Rothenburg was so pretty. At a particular place they had decorated real eggs and hung them over a hedge. The atmosphere felt as if I had stepped out of our modern time and into an older place. The buildings, pavements and shops had an old-world feeling and made me stop and stare. While we were there we also climbed a tower where we saw the whole town in one spot. It was truly spectacular.
It was definitely a place to remember.
From Courtney
Railway waiting
Paris
Amsterdam
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Germany – Munich
Munich was a little ripper. It was a great start to a new country. It was very different to Italy but it was a good different. There were little tiny details that made you smile when you saw them – or big things that made you laugh.
These were some of the cute things that I experienced:
-Little bike pedestrian lights
-The footpath was cut in half – half for feet, half for bikes
-There were lights just for the red and green men
-In the beer halls the waiters and waitresses were dressed up, which added to the atmosphere
-Locals even dress up in the beer halls – one guy had a massive hat with a massive feather
-Parking for dogs in shops
These were only some of the aspects of Munich that caught my eye.
At Marienplatz in the centre of the city stood a big clock. On the first day we missed it, but on the second we were there minutes before to see it do its show. There were characters moving and it made the sound of a wind-up music box. It was unlike anything you would see in Australia.
We also scattered ourselves through many shops. The shops were big with escalators in lots of them. Some were up to 5 floors. There is a shop called United Colours of Benetton and on the one street there was 4 of them spread out. Seriously – 4?! There weren’t many places to eat on the main street and so we stuck to the same place. When Dad, Mum, Shannon and I went wandering through the back streets we discovered more places to eat.
On the second day my family went to the beer hall. It was called The Hofbrauhaus (Munich’s biggest beer hall). I drank half a litre of lemonade and so did Shannon. Of course Mum and Dad had beer. There was a lady walking around selling giant pretzels and the staff were all in costumes that we all had a good giggle at.
These were only some adventures in Munich and we will remember them for the rest of our lives.
From Courtney
Dog parking facilities at a department store in Munich
Venice
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, but that didn’t stop us because we were on a mission to make the most of the last stop in Italy.
As I roamed the wet streets of Venice Mum and I held hands. We stopped at street stalls and lots of leather shops. Venice was full of masks since there is a 10 day festival called “Carnevale”.
We also had a 2 hour tour on each day. These are some things that I learnt:
-Venice is made up of 118 different islands connected by over 400 bridges
-Venice is 95% man-made
-Venice sinks 4cm every century
-There are over 6000 wells in Venice
-Half of Venice is under the water: the concrete and ‘upside down forest’ that holds it up
We also saw lots of different churches and old, stolen goods. One of the interesting things was the 4 bronze horses and the whole of St Mark’s church was covered in mosaic!
On the last night we went for a stroll to St.Mark’s Square. There were huge puddles from all the rain and so the board walk/benches had been set up. They are there for the flooding when it happens, even though it didn’t flood. The puddles were the biggest I have ever seen though. Dad showed off as he just stepped over them! Frederica (our tour guide) explained that Venice floods around 70 times a year! There is also a famous clock. Statues strike it on every hour. This has been happening for 500 years.
My last stop in Italy was enjoyable and I learnt a lot. It is so different to Australia and if you went there your jaw would drop with amazement.
From
Courtney
