Monday 9 May 2016

MY TRIP

4 May 2016 Leaving New Zealand

My trip started with flying over the Mohaka and having delicious food at Auckland airport.
The Mohaka River
Lake Taupo

In San Francisco we were nearly late for the plane because we had chocolate and we needed to go through an x-ray machine. And also there were conveyer belts on the floor that you can walk on. It kind of travels you round faster.

Then we flew to Frankfurt which was another overnight flight. When we got on that Lufthansa plane there were three cameras on the outside of the plane that you could view from (1 tail, 1 underneath, 1 on the front). Usually the front camera wasn't working. When you're flying the tail camera was good to see outside. When there was no clouds and you were over land, the down camera was good because you could see the houses. For takeoff and landing the forward camera was good.

When we got to Frankfurt airport we found a free hot chocolate machine and got a really hot hot chocolate. We are travelling with Melissa and Theo. Theo is 8 and Melissa is his Mum and she is working here. That's basically why we are on the trip. Then we got a small plane and flew to Berlin. We were picked up by rowing people from Melissa's work. They had a really cool van with 2 seats that faced backwards. Then we got to Brandenburg and found the house we were staying in. That house had an upstairs and a nice backyard with table tennis.
This was the supermarket next to our first house. It has a Scout dog symbol.

The next day Lukas, Stefan, Marina and Leon. Lukas and Leon are the kids. They are Mum's friends from years ago. We drove a car into the river with them... It wasn't really a car.

Berlin  My Birthday 7 May 2016
The train ride to Berlin was fun because Theo said sit upstairs. We couldn't find our way around the train station. Eventually we had to ask someone (she was still there when we came back at 4pm). We wanted to make it to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum but it was going to take too long. So we decided to walk to Brandenburg Gate for starters.

On the way we saw a Russian Memorial with two T 34 tanks and 2 artillery
and a big Russian soldier which had a zombie hand (green).




When we got to Brandenburg Gate we found someone with a 7 seater bike. We asked to go on it for a tour. So we started biking and went past the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and also parts of the Berlin Wall and a guard tower from the Wall times. It had a real machine gun in it.






We went past old East German cars painted in cool patterns.

The bike tour was really cool because we went past parts of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was a border crossing in between the walls. The Berlin Wall was put up in 1961. After WWII the Russians had half of Berlin (East Berlin) and the British, US and French had the other half (West Berlin). People kept leaving the east because they didn't like how the country was being run and they didn't have as much freedom and chance to do stuff. So the east put up a wall to stop people leaving.

Reichstag - Berlin

When we were in Berlin we went to the Reichstag. The Reichstag is basically the government like our Beehive. We did a tour and got up to the dome. We walked up the top of the dome. It was a beautiful view because it was made of glass with mirrors in the middle. When we got down we had a giant pretzel. Then we waited for Dirk, saw lots of dogs, then had a picnic with Dirk and his kids. Dirk is another friend of Mum's. We all went to the holocaust memorial. It's a bunch of big rectangular stones in a square. And we played tag and a bit of hide and seek.





8 May 2016 - Braunschweig
Braunschweig is the town where Lukas and Leon live. We went to stay with them for one night. In Germany lots of people live in apartments so they can buy a garden that they can bike to or drive to or walk to. We had a little play at their garden. It had a little house with an attic which you could sleep in (2 mattresses) and a really cool train set. Downstairs it had a sofa with a tv and bit of a kitchen. The tap was outside.





We had a BBQ and we had mushrooms with cream cheese which were delicious, some beef, squid rings (which were my favourite) and also potatoes.

When we were going for a walk with some friends we saw this burnt down house.

9 May 2016 Heidelberg
Now we are in Heidelberg. Theo and I have been making huts on the bunk beds. I'm up the top and way under the bed and he's on the bottom. He has completely covered his bed with towels and blankets so you basically can't see through it.

in the making

10 May 2016
Today we went to old Heidelberg and saw the castle. Some of the castle was ruins and some was restored. There was a museum of old medicines and a museum of wine barrels. The biggest wine barrel size was 7m X 8m. That was the biggest wood wine barrel in the world. It was made of 180 oak trees and could house up to 220,000L of wine. After that we went to the shops and got a scarf.





11 May 2016
Today we went back to old Heidelberg and found a candy shop and saw them making toffee. After a while of watching the man making the toffee made a toffee lollipop and gave it to me. (It was very hot.)

After that we went to the old bridge and walked halfway across it.

Before all that we went into the city and had lunch at Bismark square and there were some parkour rocks with water fountains and in one of the gaps there was a dead fat rat.😲😲( ͡° Ê–̯ ͡°)

12 May

Today we spent the whole day on the train. We went on 4 trains. On the last train we saw a husky.
Now we are in Switzerland.

13 May

Today Mum went to the doctors. (Vidy med.) Because she has bronchitis. It took 3 hours. After that we went to Melissa's work and had lunch. Then we went to Ouchy (Oo-she),  where we found a pool and next to the pool there was a fair. There was lots of shooting games a few spinny things, some roller coasters, giant bungee tramps, dodgems and lots of food stores. We got an ice cream and got to go on the dodgems.



14 May

Today it was Melissa's birthday and we went to a book shop on the way to a cafe and we got a hot chocolate and I ate 2 bags of sugar.

15 May

Today was awesome! We went to France to go to this awesome tree parkour place. It had archery (arrows weren't sharp: they were flat), bouncy castles, tobogganing and tree parkour. There was one where all you needed to do was zip line. After a while on the other ones your hands got really cold because the wire was cold. It was cold because we were high up in the mountains and high up in the trees. It was a ski area in the winter. We were doing it with some of Melissa's friends. They had two kids, one called Ben who was 7 and a half. The other one was called... Nathan aka Nathan 2.0! He was 4.









After we finished we went to their house for dinner. Nathan 2.0 chased me, Theo and Ben around. (The house was 3 storied.) We had dinner there which was pasta.


16 May

Today we went to a town called Vevey. The town is on the lake front Lake Geneva, Switzerland. We went to Vevey we had lunch on the rocks on the lakefront and I saw a big rat and 2 fish. After lunch we went on a pedal boat. It was also scout's birthday!








17 May

Today we went to the pools and at the pools there was a wave pool which was awesome. We spent around 2-3 hours there. When the waves were on we went down were the wave generator was because that is where you get the biggest waves. (The waves went right up to the concrete.) After the pools we went to the wafel shop on the corner and got waffles with ice cream.

18 May

Today I shot theo in the hand with a cannon. HA HA HA LOL. I did at the medieval factory. So today we went to the medieval factory and the park. at the medieval factory there was a cannon and catapult and down stairs you could make stuff I made 3 things 1. A boat 2. An ant trap A.K.A duck tape 3. An ant tube.






19 May

Today we went to the olympic museum. At the museum we saw all the olympic torches. Outside there was an 100 m race track. In year 2000 the olympics was held in sydney and they had to swim under water with the torch still lit. They did that by making it's heat up to 2000oc.

20 May

Today we  are going to London. At the station we saw someone playing crossy road... IN REAL LIFE>>> RUNNING ACROSS THE TRAIN TRACKS>>> AT THE BUSY TRAIN STATION> CRAZY!!!!!!!! (All in caps. full stops too.) Ok now when we got on the train we went up stairs. We took the train to Geneva airport then took the plane to London. On the way we flew over paris but it was cloudy so we didn't see anything. At London airport we saw a CONCORD.

21 May

We are going to the Imperial war museum woooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took a few minutes to get there but we made it. At the entrance there were 2 huge big guns. When we got inside we saw a spitfire, V1 rocket, (A.K.A the doodlebug) V2 missile and a Harrier jet. The first level was WWI, level 2 was WWII, the third level was today, fourth level was not finished and the fifth level was the holocaust. (14+ only.) We only went up to the third level.

On the first level we found a gift shop, a T34 tank and this really cool tunnel type place that had lots of interactive things to do. My favourite was this big bench which had a projector above it. It projected down things that you had to make for the soldiers. You had to fill shells with explosives, wrap bandages, pack cookies, make shoes, cut wood, make food and get petrol for them. There was also lots of guns and artillery. Also a squashed car.

On level two we found a big Sherman tank, the nose of a Lancaster bomber and a bit of the wreckage of the Tirpitz (one of the biggest German battleship in WWII.

The first thing that we saw on level three was the atomic bomb called 'little boy'. It was the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Above us there were heaps of missiles. Then we listened to a talk on the Berlin Wall and saw that Harrier jet again.

On the way there we found the road that we live on, St Georges Road.

22 May

Today we are going to the HMS Belfast. The HMS Belfast is a WWII battleship. It is famous for destroying the Scharnhorst which was a famous german battle ship. When we saw the Belfast up close it was way bigger than we thought. It cost 28 pounds for us to get on and there was a baggage check. When we first got on board I spotted the way to the gun turret. In the turret it had 17 people inside in war. When they fired it got really smokey. Then we found the way inside the ship and looked around. It had a dentist and post office. Also a shop and mini hospital. We went downstairs and found a huge torpedo. It was about 7 metres long. Then we went down to the shell storage room number 1. It had two round shell holders. On the way back we went past the store room, kitchen and bedrooms. The sailors slept in small hammocks. The ship had a cat that we found in the storeroom eating a rat (model cat and rat). The cat had a hammock too.




23 May

Today we are going to the Tower of London with June, Mum's old work mate. It used to have a zoo out the front. When we first went in there was a baggage check. Then we started the Beefeater tour. The Tower has lots of Beefeaters. Beefeaters are people who work at the Tower as tour guides now but in the olden days they were to protect the King or Queen from everything. That meant they even had to test the King/Queen's food. We walked around the tower walls and guard towers. Then we went and saw the King's and Queen's jewels. They were huge.

Then we went to the White Tower (it is the centre of the place) and in the White Tower there was the armory. In the armoury we saw heaps and heaps and heaps of armour. There were two whole walls of chest plates and displays of armor on horses.

Then we went to the gift shop and bought these catapult pencil sharpeners which actually shoot.







24 May
Today we are going to the Natural History Museum with Mum's cousin Anne. When we entered we the big diplodocus, aka Dippy. The first area that we went to was the blue area. The blue area had sea creatures, dinosaurs and mammals. When we first came into the mammal and sea creatures part there was a huge blue whale. A lady showed us the big bone and we had to guess what type it was and what animal it was from. Mum guessed it was a tooth. Turned out it was a hippo tooth.








25 May

Today we are going to Hamleys Toy Store but first we are going to stop by Jacob's baby group. It has a big climbing playground. When we got in, Theo and I played tag and we slid everywhere on our bellies.

After we had finished there we got the underground to Hamleys. When we arrived a guy from the shop photo bombed us.

It was huge. When we got inside we were greeted and told that Hamleys has 7 floors. We visited 5 floors because two were completely pink. First we went downstairs and found the nerf guns. Then we went upstairs to level 4 for remote controlled cars and drones and magic tricks. Theo chose a car and I chose two magic tricks. It also had a lolly shop and we tried the free sample.

26 May

Today I woke up really late and wondered why Mum didn't wake me up because we had a plane trip back to Switzerland really early. So when I woke up I went downstairs and Mum said that the flight had been cancelled. Mum was trying to find another flight. A few minutes later Mum said she had a flight and it turned out to be a Swiss Air flight (I was pleased because I like Swiss Air). We went to the West Hampstead Underground Station and went to Paddington Station and then got the Heathrow express train to the airport. When we got duty free we found another Hamleys. We also found a mini Harrods. At the end of the plane ride Mum wondered if we'd get a Swiss Air chocolate (they usually give you one). They did! As we got off the plane. Theo said he was starting to get hot and he felt sick. Then after all the security and customs stuff we got a train ticket from Zurich to Lucerne and Theo vomited 4 times.

27 May

Today Theo is better. Yay!( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) We are going to the World Cup Rowing. Melissa is working there. First we have a bounce on the trampoline and a play with Troll, their dog where we are staying. Troll is a giant chocolate poodle. It was hot at the rowing and not that busy. I had a sugar and lemon crepe there. We saw the New Zealand team. Afterwards we had a swim at the house that we were staying at.

28 May

Today we are going up Mt Pilatus with Theo's dad Todd and his friend. We get the two buses then we had to walk a little bit until we got to the gondola launching shed. At the shed we met Todd and Stefan and Stefan had brought his Jaguar (not the cat but an old car). It was the main tourist attraction. Then we got the tickets to go up the gondola three quarters of the way. In the gondola we had a perfect view of mountains and lake.( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) When we got there we found a cafe and the tree parkour park. We started off with the yellow (easy course), then went to green (easy too). Tree parkour parks are lots of bridges, obstacles and platforms up in the trees. You strap in with a harness to make sure you don't fall off.( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) There are also zip lines to zip between trees. It was awesome. We even did the brown hard course to finish with.( ͡o ͜Ê– ͡o)

29 May

Today was the last day in Switzerland and the last day( ͡° Ê–̯ ͡°) of the rowing. It was pouring with rain.
( ͡° Ê–̯ ͡°) We left where we were staying (and Troll( ͡° Ê–̯ ͡°)) and watched the rowing in a big tent. Everyone cheered( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) when their team came past. There were lots of hooters. New Zealand got 8 medals.( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) We went to the media centre to see Melissa. The media centre is where all the journalist and photographers do their work. There were massive cameras and computer covers so you could see your screen in the sun still. After it was finished Theo and I played on the floating meal presentation place and skimmed stones.
Then it was off to the airport. Some army guys took us there.

30 May

Today we have arrived in Singapore.( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) We are staying at the hotel Peninsula. When we get there the man directs us to the elevator so that we can go to the lobby floor and get our key card. While we are getting our key card I see the pool, the piano that plays by itself and the gym. After that we go to floor 19 (that's our floor) and find our room. The room had a bathroom and a bedroom and a little food storage place. It also had a cupboard with a safe inside. When we opened the curtains the view was amazing.
( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°)( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°)( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) We could see half the city. A few minutes later the light show went on which was awesome. Then we went to the ground floor and to the mall next door. In the mall we were looking for food but we found a lot of tech things. When we found food I had an egg, a sausage, some prawns and dumplings. Then we found an ice cream shop. I had an ice cream. We went upstairs back to the tech area and found a 3D printing shop( ͡° ͜Ê– ͡°) and we saw them making something. We also found gaming shop.

31 May

Today we are meeting some old montessori friends (James and Luke) and going to Sentosa Island, which is an island resort. We are going to a tropical beach part. When we get to the spot that we are going to we found a seat then we hopped in the pool. Soon we went to the beach and the water temperature was like a spa. After Sentosa we went back to the mall and got a 3D printed turret. Soon after that we went to the gardens. They were not just average gardens, they were big wooden trees that light up at night with bridges between them. There was also a water park. Then we walked home.  



1 June

Today we are leaving Singapore
I coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 comments:

  1. Good work Nathan...keep the pictures and commentary coming - it's very good and informative. Well done

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Nathan! Your trip looks amazing! Thank you for sharing everything with us. I will make sure that Room 4 children come and take a look. Your description of where you have been is very informative. I can't wait to read more! Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow Nathan that looks fun keep the info coming the hole class and I would like to here more keep it up.

    ReplyDelete