Denmark and Sweden

We went on a holiday to Denmark and Sweden. I did lots of fun things and some boring things.




Denmark

First we flew to Copenhagen which is the capital city of Denmark. One of the boring things was a boat trip on the canals of Copenhagen. We saw three houseboats and three churches. One of the churches had a spire with found dragons that twisted around each other.

Tivoli
Tivoli is a theme park in the centre of the city that was built in 1843. We went there at night and there were lots of lights. In Tivoli we went on an octopus roller coaster ride. There was also a roller coaster ride I really wanted to do but I wasn’t tall enough to go on it. It was called the Demon. We went on some dodgem cars. Leo and me were on a team trying to bump other cars but not each others. The park closed before we got a chance to do two other rides we really wanted to do.







Vor Frelsors Kirke
We went to a big church with a spire that went really high. We climbed up 400 steps to get to the top. The last section was a climb around the outside of the spire. It was freaky because it was windy and there wasn’t much protection. You could see all of Copenhagen from the top.









Guiness World Record Museum
We went to the Guiness World Record Museum. I read about some ocean world records. You get to try to beat some of the records. I tried to beat the drumming record. You get one minute and the record is 1071 drum hits. My best try was 607. There was also one where you had to punch this boxing bag to beat the biggest knockout in a boxing match. You get points for how hard you hit the bag and you had to get 100% and my record was 29%. If you hit the bag really hard sometimes it would only give you 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5% weirdly.

We saw a model of a French person called Monsieur Mange Tout (which means ‘Mr Eat All’). He has eaten a small airplane and he ate lots of other metal such as bike wheels.







Roskilde Viking Museum
After Copenhagen we visited Roskilde. There was a museum where there was the remains of real Viking ships. They could only find some bits of the ships under the water because they were more than 1000 years old. We watched a boring movie but at the end we got to dress like Vikings and played on an old Viking ship.







Legoland
The best part of the trip was when we went to Legoland (a theme park in Denmark). The best ride there was the Technic ride. At first you go slowly on a turn, then you go up and turn around really fast and then you go straight down through a tunnel and straight up again. You have really sharp curves and because the doors are open you feel like you are going to fall out and you are really high up. Then you go straight down again but less fast and then through a thinner tunnel. Then you go on another turn and then it goes more slowly to warn you that it’s the end of the ride. When you are getting out and in it’s hard because the car doesn’t stop moving.







There was a Temple ride where you move around and you have to shoot little colours and you get points. The highest is purple because it gives you 1000 points.



There was a ride where you go in a mini rollercoaster and there is stacks of Lego inside a castle and when you go out it goes very fast and there is a lot of curves and turns and then you go back inside.


The whole theme part is Lego. There is a big Lego shop and an Atlantis aquarium. We stayed in the Legoland hotel. There were lots of Lego things. At night you do a competition where you do a quest and you win a Lego prize if you are one of the winners. One of them is finding and counting crabs and another one is where you for some papers and when you find the numbers have to go and match them with a code to get the letters to enter the competition.





Before we left Denmark, we visited the very top of Denmark

Sweden

We took the ferry from Denmark to Sweden and we had to drive our car onto it! In the ferry I got an apple juice and a pizza. We went on the deck and saw how much foam was created by the big engines on the back of the ferry.

Gothenburg
We went on another kind of boring boat ride. The only thing that made it fun was that there was a bridge so low we had to get off our chairs and duck down while we went under it.


We went to a cool museum called the Universum. I was reading really interesting stuff about the polar regions.

We saw three live anacondas, some little tiny monkeys, a crocodile and some frogs.

We went to a ‘beautiful but deadly’ section where saw a lion fish, some other fishes and an octopus, some jellyfish and lizards and some other snakes.

At the end we went to a play section. Leo and me versed each other in a race and we played soccer in a soccer net.

When we were in Gothenberg, we stayed at a hotel called Riverton and we still have the pen from the hotel.

Then we did a really looooooooooooooooooooong drive to Stockholm.

Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden. The first day there we did a long walk. First we went to the palace where the royal family live. We saw royal guards wearing b right blue uniforms and carrying guns with bayonets on them. It looked like they were going to do something to you because they were walking around with their guns in position.

We took a ferry across to an island where there was an open air museum called Skansen (it is the world’s first open air museum). We saw glass blowing and I got to keep some glass crystals.

We saw an old pharmacy and how they used to make medicine. We saw some weird animals, like reindeers, bears, lynxes, mooses, elk and foxes.

At the end, we saw heaps of humungous spiders, most of them from South America and some from Africa.

The next day we went to the Modern Art museum. We did a quiz there and they gave me a postcard of one of the artworks in the museum. I also got a cute doorstop in the shape of a leaf. I got a green one and Leo got a red one.

In Sweden and Denmark they have lots of cool designs and we saw some really good ones at the museum.

I miss you and will write again soon.

JULES

LIFE IN FRANCE

Since coming back from Germany, we have been doing some fun things in France. Here are some of the things we have been doing...

WALIBI

Recently I went to Walibi, which is a theme park. It has lots of rides, some in the water, some out. The first ride we went to was called La Bamba.

The second ride was the Mini Rally, which was a motorbike race, and I came second because the guy behind me kept on bumping into me. I also went on a roller coaster called the Boomerang and it’s really scary and hurts your stomach when it goes fast upside down.

We went to this ride called the Ladybug of the mountains. We all went to it and it wasn’t scary at all but it hurt your elbow. I went to a ride called the Zig-Zag; it turned around by surprise and the turns were really sharp so it looked like you were going to fall out. We also went on a water slide called the Aquafall. It has several bumps and the first bump splashes water all over you.

In the water section, we went on slides called the Serpent of the Sea and the Hell Shark. They are almost the same except the Hell Shark is a closed slide and the other one is open. On another slide, you lay down on a mat and slide down really fast. I also swam a little.

The last ride we went on was called the Tam-tam tour. You go on this boat and it is really boring because it is too slow.

There is one thing Australian in the park. Can you guess?
(answer: the wallibi - this is how the French spell wallaby). Weird...

CHAMONIX

One day, we went to Chamonix, a town at the bottom of the Mont-Blanc ('Mount White'). The Mont-Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe, it is 4810.45 metres high.

We took a mini train up the mountain. It went through 9 tunnels and was very steep. It is called the Montenvers train.

We saw a glacier called La mer de glace (the sea of ice). The glacier is melting because of global warming. The snow on Mont-Blanc never melts though because it is so high. That is why it is called mount white.

We took a lift down and took another 319 steps down to an ice cave. It was like a house, there was furniture made out of ice. Afterwards, we climbed back up and went to a crystal museum and heard about a dog called a Saint Bernard that saves people from avalanches. My favourite part was the ice cave because I enjoy the darkness inside.

ANNECY

Annecy is very different from Melbourne in many different ways. There are mountain creatures here such as marmottes and bouquetins. Bouquetins are very good mountain climbers. Marmottes sleep all winter.

A typical mountain food is potato, dry meat and melted cheese that is made from cow’s milk.

There is also fish from the lake that you do not find in the ocean (filet des perches). We ate some in a restaurant and it was so yummy that I had 3 serves of fish, 2 serves of hot chips but I had only 1 serve of salad.

Typical houses in the mountains are often made of wood and stones. In the summer, you can go hiking up the moutains and you will get a great view but then you have to go back down.

We also went to the gorge and walked on a very narrow bridge. The rocks are formed by the water eroding them over time. Some look like human faces.

I hope you are all well. I will write soon.

JULES

Trip to Germany

Voyage to Berlin

On the trip to Berlin the brand of the plane we took was called “Easy Jet” but I decided to call it “Hard Jet” because you have to check how big your suitcase is and how many bags you have and the lines are full and they didn’t even announce our flight was delayed. The car company we rented from was “Avis”.













Boat cruise

I went on a boat cruise and they give you these little machines that tell you the names of the places around you and also some information in six different languages.















It was so hot that we went down but down there it was freezing so we went back up.

TV Tower

We also went to the top of the TV Tower, which is the tallest building in Germany. We went 207 metres high even though the building is 368 metres high. From our view it was like watching a miniature Germany.

Berlin history

We went to a huge wall which used to divide East and West Germany. The West was controlled by England, America and France, and the East by Russia. In 1989 the Hungarians started to let East Germans cross to the west and it led the wall to coming down. After the Wall came down, artists came and painted on bits that were left.

DDR museum

We also went to the DDR museum, a museum showing what life in East Germany used to be like, and we got squashed coins there. Inside, there was an old East German car, called a Trabi:













Our apartment

We stayed in a apartment with a family friend called Sabastion.


I hope you are all well. I will write soon.


Jules

Arriving in France and visiting Holland

IN THE PLANE

In the plane it was uncomfortable because it was very messy and packed with sleeping equipment. The first plane took fourteen hours and the second took six and a half. After the first plane we were in the Abu Dhabi airport. The next airport we arrived in was in Switzerland. During the flight, we flew over Australia, a bit of Asia and a bit of Europe.

SETTLING IN FRANCE

Settling in France is difficult partly because of all the different beds we have to sleep in. And another thing is, they have lots of yummy stuff. I don’t get much so I have to stand being tempted for six months without getting what I want [opposite].








There are lots of other things that are hard to get used to in France. But it is also very fun.

FIRST BORDER-CROSSING

The first country we went to was The Netherlands. The trip took ten hours in the car. In Holland we went to a place called Madurodam. Madurodam is Holland except in miniature. Here are some pictures:






















































































Holland was in the world cup final against Spain. The world cup final was played in Johannesburg. Netherlands lost the world cup 1-0.
















There are lots of differences between Holland and Australia:

-They speak a different language
-Holland’s team is better than ours
-The houses are bigger and joined together and are sometimes covered in leaves.
-Australia is way bigger than Holland
-Holland is more supportive to their soccer team, e.g. they have flags everywhere.
















14 JULY - FRANCE'S NATIONAL DAY

On 14 July, France celebrates its national day. We watched fireworks over the lake in Annecy.
















On Thursday we are going to Germany.

I miss you and I will write soon.


JULES