My final blog!!!!!!!!!!!

My final blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dad gave me two questions to answer for my final blog. One I had to do an interview of the family and the second was about what I thought for myself.

The first question was: Ask each person in the family what their favourite memories of the trip were and why. I did that and this is what they said:

DAD: He said he had two memories and one lasting impression. His first memory was when we walked around Sofia one afternoon. It was more beautiful than he expected it to be. He also liked that the dinner we had at the traditional Bulgarian restaurant that night too. His second memory was how the people in Holland treated us like we were from their family. That made him feel very special and grateful to have such lasting friendships. Dad said his lasting impression (something he will always remember) was how amazing it was to spend five weeks and to travel to so many incredible places with his beautiful family. He thought it may be an opportunity that never happens again, but I hope not!

Sofia in Bulgaria

Travelling with the family means eating ice cream!

 

Mr. PATRICK: Paddy told me that his favourite memory was Ard’s farm because he had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline in the sun. He also thought seeing the cows was cool and that driving the tractor with Ard was the best! Paddy also said that the Transport Museum (Budapest) and the Nature Museum (Salzburg) were also something he would remember because of all the things he saw there like cars, trains, snakes and dinosaurs.

 

 

MADAM: Bridget said she loved playing on the trampoline and playing in the playgrounds, but she might have just copied Patrick! She also loved going to Margot’s because Margot put Teddy’s eye back on, even though it was a red one! I asked her if she liked the food and she said-yes.

 

 

 

MUMMY: Mummy told me that her memories will be of Vienna. Even though we had bad weather there, Mum thought that the buildings and the parks were beautiful. She also said she had wanted to go to the Spanish Riding School since she was little and to be able to do it this time around was like a dream come true. She also said she was really happy to be able to go with me as well. I loved it too, but it was not one of my memories (sorry, mum). Mum was the same as dad because she also thought making a holiday like this with the whole family was very special. That is something that Mummy said she would remember and treasure forever.

 

For the second question, I had to interview myself!!!!

QUESTION: What are the lasting memories you will have from your trip? Explain.

CLARE: My lasting memories are that it was freezing, meeting all the Dutchies, doing gymnastics on the trampolines and last of all the doner kebabs in Turkey. I also sometimes think about how many countries we went to, the different money and the different languages.

I will also remember that it was so cold because I think mum and dad didn’t put enough warm clothes in! We had to buy rain jackets. Next time, I will only take long clothes!!!!!! I will remember bouncing on the trampolines because each time I did it I was trying to do a trick my gym teacher was teaching me before I went away. One of the last times I did it – a back flip connect with front somersault! Cool!! Last of all…I really loved the doner kebabs in Turkey. They were so tasty! But I also liked the schnitzel in Austria, the Goulash soup in Hungary and the sausage in Serbia. I did NOT like the apple cake or the fries with mayonnaise in Holland. Dad told me I was not a Dutchie at all, but I have a passport and he doesn’t!!

I loved meeting all the friends of mum and dad’s in Holland. They were all lovely to us and I’m really glad I got to meet Marijke because she is really sick which made me sad. Everyone gave us lots of food and had big smiles when we came to their houses. I would love to go back and see them all again!!!

Margot and her sister, Tante Miep in the woods near 't Harde

Super yummy!!

 

 

Dad told me that to drive between Melbourne and Perth is about 3500 kilometres. We travelled about that far on our whole trip (Istanbul to Amsterdam) and we went to ten countries, ate lots of different traditional food and tried to speak in lots of different languages. When you drive from Melbourne to Perth you are still in Australia, so Australia must be massive!

I loved my trip and I can’t wait to go back again!!

Thanks for reading my blog – I hope you enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love

Clare xxoo

 

Prague to Amsterdam in review

Second half Review: Prague to Amsterdam

Dad asked me three more questions to finish off my review of our trip. The questions were:

1.  What 2 places did I like the most and why?

2. What 2 activities did I like the most and why?

3.  Were the people in Holland like I thought they would be? Why/why not. Give some examples.

Hard!!!!!

Here are my answers:

1.          The two places I liked the most were both on Holland. I liked Elburg and de Efteling the most. I liked de Efteling because it was a fun park and it was super fun going on all the rides.

 

 I liked Elburg for two reasons: 1) the old town was beautiful when we walked through it and we got to eat ice cream as well and, 2) Bert and Marijke live in Elburg and we got to visit them. I loved that because their dog was so massive and lots of fun and they were also loving people and extremely kind.

2.         I chose three activities because I couldn't decide which one to leave out! The three activities that I liked the most were: seeing the castles on the way to Fussen in Germany, de Efteling again! and the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I chose the castles because they were amazing and the tours were also interesting and not too long. When we walked out onto a bridge to look at one of the castles (Neuschwanstein) I wondered what it would be like to live there and wished I could!!
 

 

De Efteling was unreal for heaps of reasons!!! But the main reason was the cool roller coasters because they went fast and one even went upside down for a long way. It was awesome!!!!
 

 

The van Gogh Museum was really interesting because I found it amazing that they had so many paintings by van Gogh. The information on the paintings was also really good and I thought that microscopes with the paint under them was really cool. I had done some study on him at school but I learnt a lot more by coming to this museum.
 

3.          Some of the people in Holland were like I thought they would be and others were not. Some were in the middle!

Margot was not like I thought she would be because for some reason I thought she would be younger and have brown hair. But she was as old as grandma and grandpa and had grey hair like dad so I was wrong! She was also really lovely which I didn’t know if she would be like that or not before we went.

 

Dad told me Derk Jan was really tall and he was very tall indeed-so dad was right about one thing! But one thing is Derk Jan looks older in real life than some of the photos in Margot’s house.

 

Marijke was like I thought she would be because mum and dad had told me a lot about her and I had seen photos of her from when I was a baby and also from when dad went to visit her a few years ago. Dad also told me Marijke spoke perfect English and he was right – her English was amazing. I thought all the Dutchies spoke perfect English so they are clever aren’t they!?!

My last blog will be about a couple of questions dad asked to do about the trip in total.

Love

Clare

xxoo