Archive for ‘Roaming’

Posts about our travels…

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.

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Santiago de Compostela

We took a ferry to Spain. We had one night and one day on the boat.  It was a bit rough and I got a bit sick.  But there was a colouring competition and I won!  We arrived in Santander and had to drive in the dark to a campsite.

The next day we did lots of driving, but we had a nice lunch stop by a rocky beach. It started raining, and it rained and it rained and it rained.

Then we went to Santiago de Compostela. It was very hard to find a car park, but a nice English parking warden helped us.  We went into the Cathedral which is the end of a pilgrimage route. The bones of Saint James are there and Genevieve and I got a blessing. The cathedral had a big nativity scene set up – it was the biggest I have ever seen and some of the people were moving!

I emailed my friend Col to learn about doing a pilgrimage, because he has done this one! It was very interesting. We looked for scallop shells which mark the way, and a long time ago people got a shell as proof that they had done the pilgrimage.  There were lots to buy in the shops. Daddy said we couldn’t buy one.

Then we drove to Portugal.

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Colditz Castle

Yesterday we went to Colditz Castle. This castle was a prison in World War 2, used for soldiers that were either high ranking or because they had escaped from other prisons. Lots of people tried to escape. Some soldiers made a glider (but it wasn’t used because they didn’t finish it before the war ended). Some dug tunnels. One soldier dressed up as a woman. Some people escaped, but lots didn’t make it.

Then we did a very long drive to Cologne. The first campsite was closed, but we saw Daddy’s friend Christian. So we went to another campsite on the river Rhine. We walked along the river to a restaurant, where we met Daddy’s friends Michael and Gabi. Michael is actually a real giant. I had chicken nuggets – but it was called Donald Duck!

Then we drove back to England. There was a big storm and it was very windy. We went on the Eurotunnel. We parked the car on a train. It was fun.

In England, the car broke down about 1 mile from our house. Daddy had to crawl under the car and he took off the broken bit. Then we got home.

It is nice to sleep in my bed.

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The Bone Church

After Austria we drove to the Czech Republic.  We had a campground under an apple tree.  The apples kept falling on our tent.

Then we went to a Bone Church. Inside there were the remains of 60,000 people. Most were from people who died in the plague – it was called the black death. Some were warriors, and you could see holes in their skulls where they had been whacked with arrows, swords or maces. Lots of the bones were piled in pyramids. Some of them were arranged in a chandelier of bones. It was a bit creepy.

After that we drove to Goerlitz and had lunch with Raik and Julia. I had a yummy pizza.

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Austria

After the German castles we drove to Austria. We went on a very steep, twisty, turny mountain road. The Taniwha did not like it. We had to stop because we could smell burning, and when we stopped the front brakes were smoking like a dragon! But it was a good place to stop because we could see a big waterfall. They are called the Krimml Waterfalls and are the highest in Austria.

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Then we drove to Kaprun.  This is Mummy and Daddy’s favourite place.

The next day we had pikelets for breakfast. Daddy said to eat lots because we were doing a big walk. We took a bus to the bottom of the mountain. Then we took two ski gondolas up the mountain. We were so high we even went through the clouds! Then we took the Gipfelbahn right to the top of the Kitzsteinhorn. We were at 3029m. We had a hot chocolate and a yummy chocolate cake. You could see lots of mountains and people skiing on the glacier.

Then we took the Gipfelbahn back to the alpine centre, (2450m) and we started our walk. It was very slippery on the snow, then we found a path. In the sun the path was narrow but easy to walk on. But in the shade there was lots of ice.  We had to slide on our bums to get over the ice. Daddy helped a lot. It was a bit scary.

Then we walked along a razorback ridge. There was one handrail and it went straight down on both sides.  Then we walked in the trees and there was a dirt track. We walked all the way back to Kaprun. The whole walk took 6.5 hours! I was very tired and hungry and my legs felt like jelly.

We went for dinner at Hilbergers. It had dried corn hanging above our table. We had a big dinner. I had cordon bleu, it was schnitzel with ham and cheese in it. Then I had the biggest ice cream for pudding.  It was vanilla ice cream with hot raspberry sauce.

It was a good day. The mountains were very beautiful.

 

 

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