Archive for ‘Education’

Posts about the (hopefully) successful back-seat education of our children

The Knights Templar

**Delayed posting 6/12/18**

Today we drove to Lisbon. On the way we stopped at a Knights Templar monastary called Convento de Christo. It was on a big hill and it was huge. First we walked around the walls. There were big orange trees and Daddy stole 2 oranges. And we took some bay leaves for having with spaghetti bolognaise.

Then we went inside the ruins. Inside there was a 16 sided church with lots of paintings of stories from the bible. We could also see where the knights slept and ate. There were lots of carvings on the walls.

The knights templar were monks who fought with a sword, they had a symbol of a red cross on a white background. The knights templar order was very rich, even though the knights had taken vows of poverty. A lot went to fight in the crusades.

December 9, 2018 1

Porto

**Delayed posting 5/12/18**

Yesterday we had a lazy day and Daddy did some tinkering on the the car. We did a walk to the beach and walked back along a boardwalk. We played lots of football too.

Today we went to Porto. We had to walk 3km to get to the train station. After the train we walked down the main street.

Then went to the Palacio da Bolsa. We did a guided tour and the first room was the Hall of Nations. It had the coats of arms of all the countries that Porto traded with. We even saw the UK. The floor was a pretty mosaic. Then we walked up a staircase with lots of carvings, which took 40 years to make. It was made out of granite, which is very hard rock. The best room was the Arabian room which had 20kg of gold leaf on the walls. It was all carved in plaster and painted, see the pictures. It was amazing! There was also a room that looked like it was made of wood, but it was actually plaster painted like wood. You couldn’t tell the difference when you looked at it, but I could feel the difference when I touched it.

After this we went to Igreja de Sao Francisco. This was a church that had lots of wooden sculptures all covered in 100kg of gold leaf. The best one was a tree with Jesus at the top and 12 Kings of Judah around him. We didn’t take photos in the church. We also saw the catacombs. This was a bit creepy, there was a big room with lots of wooden doors in the floor, with numbers on them. Lots of people were buried there and it smelt a bit funny.

We had lunch by the river, and I had a hot dog with cheese and a real orange juice.

After lunch we walked over the bridge to all ‘wine caves’ where you can taste Port. Port is a type of wine that Mummy and Daddy like. We went to one called Porto Cruz. They have a woman in a black dress as a symbol.

I had to put on a helmet with glasses and earphones and I was flying over the fields with grapes and then a factory where Port was made. (Virtual reality goggles) It was amazing! Mummy and Daddy tried some different ages of tawny port, 7 years, 10 years and 30 years.

Then we took a train home, and had to walk down the road in the dark. I liked Porto.

December 9, 2018 1

Wieliczka Salt Mine

***If viewing on facebook, please open link for full article, with pictures***

Yesterday we went to a Salt Mine. We had a guide whose name was Maia. We had to go down 378 steps to go to the first level. The walls and floor and ceiling were all made of salt. Genevieve licked it! Salt was very important and used to be used as money.

There were three dangerous things for miners. The tunnel caving in on them. Explosions from methane gas and water, because it dissolves salt.

The miners transported the lumps of salt by a hand cart called a dog. (Though Geneveieve thought it should be called a mouse, as it squeaked) They used horses till 2002. They also had a machine called a hand cross. Genevieve and I had a go and had to push it round and round to raise the salt up a level.

There were lots of statues in the mine made of salt, or of wood, because the salt has preserved the wood.

There was a big chapel with scenes from Jesus’ life, all carved from salt.

There were some lakes, but the water was full of salt, so it was not dangerous.

The mine was very interesting. We had to squeeze into a tiny lift to get out. Then we drove from Poland to Slovakia and into Hungary.

October 16, 2018 4

Trakai Castle

***Delayed publishing 12/10/18***

***If viewing on facebook, please open link for full article, with pictures***

Today we went to the Lithuanian Folk Museum. This was very big with lots of different houses. There was a man working on a loom and a lady making baskets. There was a church with wooden statues and lots of nativity scenes set up. There was also a well and I had to pump to get the water up.

Then we drove to Traikai castle. It was on an island so we walked over 2 bridges. The castle was very big and had a tall courtyard in the middle. There was lots of porcelain princesses. There was also some beadwork that mummy liked. There was a treasury and you could see coins that had been saved in a jar. Daddy put his head in the stocks and then went in a cage called a gibbet.

We have also been spotting lots of big nests that were used by storks.

October 16, 2018 2

The Cold War Museum

***Delayed publishing 11/10/18***

***If viewing on facebook, please open link for full article, with pictures***

This morning we visited one of Mummy’s work friends and had some nice Lithuanian sweets.

Then we drove to where my Great Grandfather was a Prisoner of War in World War 2. It was called Stalagluft 6, but there was nothing left as it was demolished by the Soviets.

Then we went to a cold war missile bunker hidden in a forest. Daddy was very excited. There were 4 missile silos, and on the ground you could only see the concrete lids. Then we went underground and saw the silo. It was very big. We saw the world’s smallest nuclear weapon – 1kT artillery round. There were models dressed in Soviet Uniforms. I wouldn’t like to live underground with bombs.