Contact me soon please!

Hey- I'm loving your comments but please do not stop! I have not been receiving anything - I would love some more! Thankyou, Nick

A.Q.M.T.T.G.Q.= (A quick message to the Grammar Queen)

Mrs Verri- I thought you would like to know how some countries make plurals. This is it:

France: They just add 's'. They for example say, "Toillete, Toilletes." (They add 'e' to a lot of words)

Germany: They add 'en'. They for example say, "Toillet, Toilleten."

Hungary: They add 'uk'. I can not give you a demonstration of that though!

Confused? Please provide some comments to my last posts A.S.A.P.

Nick

Our 15th day

I am sad- today was our last day. After this my blog will be finished- I will return to Australia. Today was GREAT although, and this is it:
We spent the day in Disney Land again, and we went on some roller coasters we did not go on last time we were there. First, we were about to enter the Indiana Jones Ride, but Jack and I did not reach the height limit. My mum and dad took turns to go on it while the other looked after us. They said we wouldn’t like it anyway. Next all of us apart from my mum, who was on Indiana Jones, went to a tree house where the Swiss family Robinson lived. We went on Space Mountain again, and my dad stayed off. He was sick. Our first ride altogether was ‘Thunder Mountain’, which I told you about on ‘Our Second Day’. We afterwards went to another park, ‘Walt Disney Studios’. After and much later in that area, we went on a roller coaster called "Crush’s Coaster". Crush, the turtle from ‘Finding Nemo’ was the theme of the ride. The ride had opened only a week before, and it was very busy. Just when we were nearly there, the ride broke down, and we had to wait for them to fix it. It was a good ride when we got there; it would spin, twist, drop and go on the side, and afterwards was good, too. We went to what was called Armageddon, and I was told that means, “The Ending of the World”. You walked through after watching an introduction on video, and at the actual thing was a special effects show, and at one point there was fire! When it was over, we went on a studio tour and then we ran to ‘The Rock and Rollercoaster’. This ride was one that you listened to music, had sudden movements. There were lights everywhere, and it was my favorite one that day! Jack bought a Rock and Roll hat, (it had black hair dangling down), and later on we left. We caught the train back and packed when we got there, and we are going out for a nice meal soon!

13th of June

This day was as awesome as the others. We first went to the Louvre, an art gallery of some VERY famous paintings. We saw the Mona Lisa and Jack and I had the privilege to see it up close, as did the other children. No photographs were allowed, but we saw lots of people taking them. There were heaps of paintings, hallways infact. Most of them were like the Mona Lisa, the faces looked like they were real. We also saw La Venus de Milo, and we were allowed to take pictures of that, fortunately. After the Louvre, we went on a walk to see some tourist shops on the way to a tour. You plugged in little earphones, and changed channels to hear it in different languages, with a knob to adjust sound. The tour took us to a palace, and we got a headset in the castle. You keyed in a room number, (which there would be in almost every room) and you heard information. We saw rooms like the King’s Bedroom, the Hall of Mirrors, the Peace Drawing Room and on the outside was a huge garden. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time after the castle to see the gardens. We caught the same bus back to where we started, without the tour. I used my souvenir money to buy a book about ‘the palace of Versailles’, which was the name of the palace. We walked back, and looked at lots of shops. My parents got something each; my dad, a huge metal beer-stein, and my mum, a very nice doll, (not one to play with.) On the way back it was raining heavily, and I changed clothes before dinner.

Dinner was lovely, I again had duck. I liked this dinner even more than the ones I had before in Europe. Jack had duck, too, and I had snails! We all enjoyed our meals, and we had a terrific time!

Extra Photos (Paris, France)

Below, is the Sacre Couer cathedral, with Jack, mum and myself.

Below this text a photo of Jarrod, Hannah, me, Jack and my mother with the EiffelTower in the back-round. This was on the tour-boat we went on. On the right is my dad and Jack, next to me in front of Notre Dame.

On both the left and right you can see the EiffelTower. On the left one, is just me, and on the right is all of us, apart from my dad. In the centre is the Arc De Triomphe with just me, Jack and my mum walking towards us.

The Lovre is on the left, and the Verssailles Palace in the hall of mirrors is on the right.





These are only selected photos, but I might show you more when I get back soon!

Extra Photos (Berlin, Germany)

On the left side is the water clock at the Europa Centre in Berlin that I was talking about and below is Jack and I eating crepes.

This is Jack and I in front of the Sansoucci Palace and the picture on the right is us in front of the castle where the famous Postdam conference was held.

Here below is me, Jack and my dad in front of Checkpoint Charlie.

This is the four of us in front of the Brandeburg Gate and the picture on the right is at the Russian war memorial.

12th of June

Another morning we spent with Hannah and Jarrod; we woke up and went to the Eiffel Tower, very early. We caught an elevator up to the very top, and it was FREEZING! There was an extended part to go higher, and after looking, we went to the second level, the temperature rose, but not by much! I wanted to take the stairs, but my mum’s exact words were, “NO!” After the tower we went to the Arc De Triomphe, which is a place where the Emperor Napoleon marched his armies through to celebrate if he was victorious. We then had some lunch on the Champs Elysees, the most famous Boulevard in Paris. We then said goodbye to Jarrod and Hannah, and went to the De’ Orsay museum, and saw famous paintings by artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, La Trec and Renoir. My favorite painting was by Monet and it was of the Giverny Gardens. We went out for dinner later, and I had snails! Yum! Jack and I shared lamb chops, my dad had steak, and my mum had veal liver, which I tasted! It was yum!

The 11th of June

We woke up and went to the buffet. My mum and I had French bread with camembert cheese. I also had sausages and the French bread in a vinegar dip. Later on we went outside to go and see places with Jarrod; my cousin that lives in London. First, to start, we went to a church called Sacre Coeur a marketplace called Montmartre where we bought two water-paintings, which my dad managed to reduce the price of sharply! We went on a boat to see one among the most famous churches in Europe, some famous mansions, big bridges, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. The river was called The River Seine. After that we went to another church, called Notre Dame, which was a church that you could go on the rooftop. Talk about huge! On the inside was crafted angels and kings on the walls, and there was a place where some saints were buried such as St. George. We walked around for a bit; Jarrod went back to his hotel with his wife, Hannah, and they did it because Hannah was pregnant and not feeling well. While we were out, Jack bought a miniature statue of the Eiffel Tower, and later we were back at the Novetel. By the time we were back, our toiletry bag was there, which relieved my mum. We went into our room and here I am typing now! Soon we will go out for dinner and perhaps see the Eiffel Tower at night-time.

Our dinner tonight was the best we have had in Europe! I had duck with potatoes as my main meal, my mum had Escargot which is snails for her starter, my dad, soup for his entree, and for Jack's main meal, pasta with salmon. My mum's main course was veal and my dad had Foie gras (duck liver). That was the best meat we had ever tasted! I hope you're not jealous, but we all shared desert, which was Creme Brulee. Tasty!

Day 10 and day 11

In the morning we packed, and then we gave our bags to the man that we rented the apartment from to look after. We caught a train because my father and Leith had been at the printing show all week and hadn’t seen any of Berlin; we walked around to show them the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, and Checkpoint Charlie. A bit later in the afternoon, we caught a train back to the where the people were keeping our luggage. We then caught a maxi-taxi (and you would think it was huge) to the airport. We had a problem at the airport, though, and they said our bags were past their maximum weight, and that they would let us get away with it - ONCE! We caught an airplane to London, with Leith and where we caught another flight to Paris. We had to wait almost an hour before we left because there was an error and they had to order an emergency crew. When we arrived in France, we picked up our luggage - that is of course, except our toiletry bag - which was left in London as they had forgotten to put it on the plane. There were lots of people that had the same problem and we will not go on British Airways again! When we eventually were at the hotel, it was half-past ten at night, and when I sat down to wait, I fell asleep! At our room, which is 504, Jack collapsed; but who could blame him? I did, too.

Our eleventh day was huge as well. We went to Parc Asterix. It started by us catching a train from our hotel to the airport, where we waited for a bus to go to it. The first thing we did was line up to go on a roller coaster called Le Vol d’lcare. It took quite a while to get to it and after we went on another roller coaster called La Trace du Hourra which was my favourite one that we went on. This one went up and down and was VERY high! After that we had lunch, which were hot dogs and watched some characters from Asterix walking around the park. I got a photo with Asterix and another character called Obelix. There was a cool village that we walked through called Les Gaulois and we saw Obelix’s house. We watched a comedy show (in French) that was really funny – it was like Le lob de put na to me! I didn’t understand a word but it was funny! We kept checking lines on other rides but they were all HUGE. We walked through a miniature France and went to Les Artisans where we saw an old fashioned potter, a sculptor and other artists. There were so many souvenirs there and we bought an Asterix comic book for me, a hat, and a unicorn with a warrior sitting on it and a nice looking T-shirt. Jack got a warrior too, an Asterix PSP game, an Asterix colouring book and a T-shirt as well.

After catching the train back to our hotel station we went to a French restaurant for dinner and it was beautiful!

Extra Photos (Disney Land)

This is me and Jack at Disney Land, infront of the ride, 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Underneath is me at Terror Manor with the Wild West ride in the backround. Both of these were fun and still are. This is Jack and I again infront of the Disney Land Castle. Next to it is

the three of us in the tea cups- spinning away like mad! On the far right is a photo of dad, Jack and I at the Disney Land Resort, inside the pool.

Below is me on the big waterslide and if you look carefully you will see the pretend monster head at the end. On the right, is a clearer view of it.

The eighth of June

The eighth day was really good, we caught a train to a town called Potsdam (just outside of Berlin) and we went on a tour! We were on a bus, and you got on and off at places, like palaces. We saw the New Palace, Sanssouci Castle, Cecilienhof Castle and the Old Market. While we at these places, we saw other things, too, like while we were at the Sanssouci Castle, we looked at the grave of Fredrich the great. We could only look at the outsides of the palaces, and we came back later to some and see if we could get inside. My favorite place on the tour was the New Palace, where the king lived in one castle with his family- well, not quite with his family- the king had a small palace outside the New Palace- which no-one could enter except him, which he would sleep, listen to music, and do all the personal things he wanted to do. There was also a separate palace for all of the stewards and butlers where they prepared food. When the food was prepared, the stewards wheeled the food through to the castle underground, and get this- they had to whistle the whole time. Can you guess why? They whistled to tell the king they were not eating the food they made for him! As a souvenir I used my vacation money to buy a book about the history of Berlin and a bookmark that had pictures and information on the kings in the past from 1701 to1918, which is two-hundred and nineteen years! Jack got a pencil with a plastic crown on the top- which was very typical for Jack. The Sanssouci Palace had a statue of three women on the top, holding a crown. This was done because the king was not happy with the women in real life, and he said, “I shall forever put you on my rooftop to support the throne after your nasty deeds!” and each of the three’s behind pointed out to their own country, (Russia and two others.) Later on we caught a bus to the train station, and caught a train to meet Leith, my dad and one of his friends. We then all out for dinner. Jack and I had meatballs and vegetables in sauce. Pretty much all of the adults had the same thing too. We went out for ice-cream afterwards. I didn’t have anything- (as usual.) At about eight we were on the train- leaving to go back to Berlin- but I thought it was great!

The sixth and seventh of June

For these past two days my family and I have been in Germany. Unlike the rest of the trip, we will stay in Berlin for four days. I think this is really good, because we won’t have the hassle of unpacking and leaving soon. This is what has happened so far:

On the 6th of June, we went on a subway train to Lego Land. It was at the Sony Centre, under the ground. Everywhere there was Lego men and women, and at the front were two tiny Lego people, one male and the other female. The man held a huge Lego tube of tooth-paste, which said, “Dr. Tooth”. The woman held a giant toothbrush. You walked right past them, down a stairway to Lego Land. At the start was a Lego Film, a pretend Lego factory, where you would see how Lego was made, which was quite interesting. After that, I built a building of Lego and put it on a place called the “Gravity Table”, where you put your creation on the table and turned a knob. If you turned it to the right, the table would shake violently. You could turn the knob left to turn it down. The objective was to see how sturdy your piece was. After that we went on the Lego Safari, which you have seen photos of. One thing I did not mention was that there was questions on the way of things like, “How many lizards can you find?” or “What does a Hippo eat?” Later we went to “Mini Berlin”, and you have seen photos of that, too. Then, we went on a ride, and it was about a dragon and a German village. A four dimensional movie was what we did at half past twelve. It was about an evil wizard and war between good and bad. There would be occasional 4D effects, and it did frighten me at points. We left after that, and went on to a hop-on hop-off bus tour around the city, and saw HEAPS of things. Three of them are: A statue put up by the French to represent peace, Checkpoint Charlie, (a separation between the West and East) and the Reichstag. That is it for the seventh day we had!

Our eighth day was great, infact, one of my favorites! We caught a train into the city to look at some shops. In the middle of the entrance to the shops was a huge water clock. How it worked was it had big jugs from one to twelve on the left. The jugs filled up to the correct hour. On the right were jugs from numbers five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and so on all the way to sixty. You determined the minutes when the water filled to the right height, which was labeled. When the water was filled in between, you would say it was roughly about two point five minutes over the jug before. I was the one to figure it out! After we had a crepe, I had strawberry jam, and my brother had chocolate. We also went to a look at a church. On the roof on the inside were angels and kings as well as gods carved through stone. The church was not very big, but a stairway led up to where people would come on Sundays. That area was cut off for visitors. Then, we grabbed another quick snack, a German bread pretzel! They were great! Next, we went to the zoo, the largest zoo in Europe. There were crazy animals, ones you guys probably haven’t seen! I will send you a slide soon of pictures; you might think they’re not real! After the zoo, we caught a train and went to dinner with my dad and Leith, which was funny, because the food we had was Mexican – but Jack and I had hamburgers! Ha ha! Although, we both did have Mexican entrées, which were strips of spicy chicken. I am not sure of what the grown- ups had, but I can guarantee, my dad had something VERY hot!

Extra Photos (Budapest, Hungary)

This is a photo taken by my dad of his uncle and aunt, me, my mum, and Jack in front of Fisherman's Bastion. The photo on the right is Jack and I on the balcony of our room.

Above is Mathias Church.



On the left is the bridge leading to our hotel, and on the right is a photo of the indoor thermal pool. The indoor pool had an opening in the roof.

If you wanted to see the house we went to for lunch, here it is! On my dad's right is an old friend that he used to know and the others are relatives. They were all really nice.

Quick Thank you

Hi everyone
Just wanted to say thank you for all your comments - I love reading them and look forward to seeing them everyday. I am having a great time and hope everyone is going well at home. I will talk about our days in Berlin when we get back to our apartment tonight.
Nick

Extra Photos (Vienna, Austria)

Here is a close- up view of the Coburg Palace:

Isn't it old- fasioned?

The photo on the right is St. Steven's Cathedral. Look below:

This is me infront of the Vienna Concert House. It is on an angle! Ha Ha!

Below, a statue of Johann Strauss, a famous muscian, is standing playing the violin.

Can you see Jack? He looks really funny doesn't he?!!!?!

Below is an image of us at dinner, at the table eating. On its left is us infront of it from the outside of the restauraunt - this is the oldest restaurant in Vienna and was opened in 1430.

PS - For the third photo I bet you turned your heads didn't you? Ha Ha!

Extra Photos (Lego Land)

AAAAHHHH! A TURANTULA! RUN!!!!

This photo on the left was shot in Lego Land. This one was a turantula, and it was even bigger than me! This was in a lego safari, which had huge animals from the jungle, like monkeys. Infact, there was a lego monkey, and this is it:

It looks as if it's not lego, doesn't it? Another animal in the lego safari was the black pantha. Take a look:

Now let's not leave out such a big, fat, grey mammal, the hungry hungry hippo!

Now, last but definitely not least, the king of the jungle, the lion!

After the safari, we went to discovery land, a miniature place of little buildings and the city of Berlin. It even occasionally switched from daytime to night! Below in the middle, can you guess what it is? It's the Hogwart's Express! Additionally, next to it is a model of the Berliner Dom.

Finally, the photo above on the left side left is the Bellevue Palace. There is so much detail!

We also went to a star land. There was photos we took of them, too, but I won't show you them. Lego Land had a ride aswell where you hopped on and saw people move, but flash photography was not allowed. In conclusion, Lego Land was awesome!

Day 6

After breakfast today we went swimming in the hotel pools which were very famous thermal baths. There were outside pools – one was heated, one was a wave pool and there was a section of children’s pools – this was the only area where Jack and I could splash each other. The pools were magnificent, with marble steps and all of these really old statues all around. There were two inside pools as well – one was hot and the other one was cold. I put my back against the hot water coming from a lion statue’s mouth and Jack tried to block it! After that we went to the outside pool again and waited for the waves to start again. A bell would ring and then the waves would start. I nearly crashed into other people when they came! We then went back to our room, picked up our luggage and went to the car. We then drove to the airport in Vienna and on the way we stopped at Schonbrunn palace. It was very big – the place was spread wide and in the middle was a large fountain. This palace was the home of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary. We then went to the airport. It was a bit confusing at first and we didn’t know where to go. After asking several people we finally figured it out! After going through all of the security there was a bus that arrived and carried us to the outside plane. The plane trip was about 34 minutes and while we were on it Jack and I played and were a bit silly. Now we are sitting at Nurnberg airport in Germany waiting to catch a plane to Berlin!

After the flight, which took around an hour, we ordered a cab. We then went to where we are staying, and met Leith. He has come from Spain, and tomorrow my dad and he will go to a printing show. My mum, Jack and I will be on our own, and it will be a HUGE day!

Day 5

We woke up early. We went swimming, which was insisted by Jack. We tried the pool but it was cold so we went to the spa pool. We stayed for a while and got going. After we had gotten dressed, we had breakfast. I had sausages, lots of them, and a croissant. Soon we went to the car with my dad’s uncle and aunt, and went off to Statue Park. It was a place that had statues of the Russian Communists like Lenin and Stalin that took Hungary over. They were put so far away from Budapest because they had made their lives more miserable and the Hungarians wanted them out of the main city. It was quite interesting. One statue of Stalin was chopped off at the feet as a symbol of hate that the Hungarians pulled down in 1956. We hopped back into the car and went to the villages that my grandparents grew up in. On the way we stopped at the construction of Europe’s longest bridge (it was 100 metres high) and saw Lake Boloton. We climbed up to a really high lookout and saw over the lake. We then drove first to my grandfather’s village and met my dad’s family and one of dad’s old friends and had lunch at his aunty’s house. After lunch we went to my grandmother’s village and saw the house that my grandmother and five other people lived in – it was smaller than my bedroom! We then went to a cemetery and saw some relatives and then off to see the Mura River. On the other side of the river was Croatia. After that we went back to dad’s aunty’s house and had some afternoon tea of strudel and pastries. Soon we saw dad’s uncle’s house. He had a large dog that was a bit ferocious and was tied up on a chain. After saying goodbye to everyone we and hopped back into the car to drive back to Budapest.

Our fourth day

When we woke up, very early, we first got dressed. Before we ate we packed. We then went down to the buffet, and I had bacon, waffles, French toast, sausages and a little bit of fruit at the end. I loved all of them, especially the waffles and French toast. After we tried to go to a palace, but we evidentially realised that people were giving us the directions to a whole different hotel! Next, when we gave up after looking at lots of statues and old buildings, we went back to the Marriot. When back at our room, we picked up our luggage and headed for Hungary. We climbed into the car and we were off. It was about a two and a half hour car- trip, and when I looked out of the window I noticed that Hungary had lots of land and much fewer buildings. We were soon there, and when I exited the car I was greeted by the smiles of my father’s uncle and auntie unexpectedly. We spent the day with them, and went on a bus tour around Budapest. It was quite interesting, and I really liked a building that had gun marks from the Second World War. Like Vienna, all of the buildings were old and a bit decayed. There was also a place called Heroes Square, where there were lots of monuments of the seven tribes that concurred Hungary. There was also another part of it of famous soldiers. We then went for ice-cream, (I had caramel again), and went out for dinner. Jack and I had schnitzel again, and I tried a bit of my mum’s desert (chocolate pancakes called a Gundel crepe). It was tasty! We then went to a church that was inside a cave and back to our new hotel - The Gellert. We all had a big sleep.

Day 3

We spent the day, in Vienna, Austria. My father hired a car to drive to our hotel; he said it was hard to drive on the right side! I thought we would crash! It was such an experience! The entire place was covered in old and grand buildings; each one so very unique. Our hotel – the Marriot, was five- star. It overlooked the city and was bathed in sunlight during the day. What an evening! The restaurant first opened in 1430, and let me tell you, Austrian food is delicious! As an entrée, we had bread dipped a cheesy sauce. Vienna Schnitzel was Jack, my dad and myself’s main course. My dad had salad on the side, but Jack and I replaced the salad with chips in Balsamic Vinegar. Afterwards we went for a stroll on the town and bought and ice-cream each. Jack, being himself, got a chocolate one. I ordered Honeycomb, my mum, cherry, which my dad commented was so good when he had a bite, and himself Lemon and Tiramisu. Being the slow one, I finished last, but I didn’t mind. We then went for another enjoyable walk in the breeze. The buildings were the best I had ever seen. We saw a church called “St. Steven’s Cathedral”. Every now and then we would stop for a photograph. When at the Marriot, we looked at the pool and went to our hotel room. Here I am typing now!

Our second day

I am sitting at the hotel- and it looks great! There is a pool with two waterslides, (one very long and the other shorter), a massive playground and a little pretend- ship for playing. It feels so good after twenty- four hours on a plane. There was some stress before; (the people at the French airport took very long for them to find a taxi for us to catch from there to here), but it’s worth it! We will go to Disney Land soon!
Disney Land was awesome! First we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was more of a display ride than a roller- coaster, although it did have sudden twists and turns at certain points. Next, it was Thunder Mountain, a roller- coaster that we had to line up to for heaps of time to go on. The Phantom Manor was next, which was like a ghost train. It had comedy in it though, infact, skeletons was singing and dancing at one point, it was fun! After that, we went on a star tour; a Star Wars ride, which you sat in a seat which moved up and down, side to side, while watching a movie appropriate to the actions. It was in space! Space Mountain: Mission two was afterwards, which was also a space ride. At first you went almost directly upwards, then it went down and around, it even went upside down! At the time, I had my jacket off and when I got on the ride, I put it between my legs. We bought a photo of us on the ride after, and that, I thought Was the best ride in the entire park. When we moved, especially when we were upside down, I would desperately try to keep it between my feet! By then there would be a show on, ‘Honey, I shrunk the audience’. (Which was a grammar mistake) and was four- dimensional. It actually looked as if it was leaping out at you! It’s a small World we did after, which like Pirates of the Caribbean only without the occasional fright. Lights went everywhere and you traveled on a small boat across the water on it. There was lots of singing. Next were the tea cups, which my dad and Leith stayed off on. You would sit in a huge cup, with a steering wheel rising from the floor in the middle. You then had the chance to spin the metal wheel and with it, the cup would spin. My mum said that by the time she got off she was dizzy. We had spun furiously and I thought that perhaps we were spinning the fastest by far. The last but not least ride was Pinocchio, a fair performance. In conclusion, June the first was an excellent day, and tomorrow would be the day we go to Vienna, Austria. We each got a great souvenir

Our first day

Yes, it’s finally come, it’s the day we leave Australia! Ahead of us is an eleven- hour plane trip, followed by another plane trip, only thirteen hours long. On the first
plane we will use the televisions to keep us entertained as well as a nice book, some lollies, our DS’ or PSP and some good puzzles. On the second, we will have a long sleep, because of the late time. Leith, a man that works in my dad’s business, came along to for a printing show this year. He was fun to play with, too.