HALFWAY BLOG: ISTANBUL to VIENNA

Over the last couple of days, we have been doing a bit more driving and less looking around so Dad suggested that I write a blog about what I have seen so far and what I have thought about it.


He gave me five questions to answer and this is what I wrote:


q1. WHAT TWO CITIES/TOWNS HAVE YOU LIKED THE MOST AND WHY?

• THE TWO CITIES THAT I HAVE LIKED THE MOST SO FAR HAVE BEEN ISTANBUL AND VIENNA. THIS IS WHY-
  
  
  • ISTANBUL: I CHOSE ISTANBUL BECAUSE ITS SURROUNDINGS WERE VERY BEAUTIFUL AND I WAS SURPRISED WHEN I GOT THERE BECAUSE BACK IN THAILAND MUM AND DAD TOLD ME THAT IT WOULD BE SIMILAR IN SOME WAYS TO THAILAND BUT IT WAS WAY MORE ELEGANT!
    
    
    
    Istanbul
    
    
  • VIENNA: I LIKED VIENNA BECAUSE THE APARTMENT WAS VERY NICE EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SMALL! THE FOOD SMELLS ALL AROUND VIENNA WERE ALSO REALLY YUMMY, APART FROM ALL THE SMOKE FROM SMOKING! IT WAS ALSO A VERY PRETTY PLACE!!
    
    
    
    St. Stephensdom, Vienna
    
    
    
    Hofburg, Vienna

Q2. WHAT THREE ATTRACTIONS HAVE YOU LIKED THE MOST AND WHY?

• THE THREE ATTRACTIONS THAT I HAVE LIKED THE MOST HAVE BEEN:
  
  • THE SPANISH RIDING SCHOOL IN VIENNA
    
  • THE BUDAPEST CASTLE
    
  • THE ROMAN STADIUM/RUINS IN PLOVDIV, BULGARIA
    

• THE SPANISH RIDING SCHOOL WAS AMAZING BECAUSE THE BUILDING WAS VERY PRETTY AND AS I SAID IN ONE OF MY BLOGS ALREADY, THE HORSES WERE INCREDIBLE. THE SHOW WENT FOR TWO HOURS AND IT FELT LIKE TWO MINUTES!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• BUDAPEST CASTLE WAS ALSO VERY BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE INSIDE IT IT HAD LOTS OF PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF AND THE WALLS. THE ORGAN WAS HUGE AND I LIKED WALKING AROUND IN THERE!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• THE ROMAN RUINS AT PLOVDIV WERE ALSO REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND I COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD BE ALLOWED TO SIT ON SOMETHING THAT WAS SO OLD! YOU COULD REALLY IMAGINE THAT PEOPLE USED TO FIGHT THERE. IT WAS COOL.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Q3. WHAT THREE THINGS HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT DIFFERENT CULTURES/CUSTOMS FROM THE PLACES YOU HAVE VISITED?

• IN ISTANBUL THE CULTURE IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO THE REST OF EUROPE. IT IS ALMOST ALL MUSLIM AND AS I SAID BEFORE THEY PRAY FIVE TIMES A DAY AND THEY MAKE A LOUD NOISE OVER SPEAKERS TO REMIND EVERYONE IT IS TIME TO PRAY DURING THE DAY AND NIGHT. PEOPLE WOULD COME FROM ALL AROUND TO SAY THEIR PRAYERS IN THE BEAUTIFUL MOSQUES. BEACUSE THEY ARE MUSLIM, SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALSO DRESS DIFFERENTLY TO OTHER PLACES IN EUROPE. SO THEY WEAR A LARGE BALCK CLOTH THAT COVERS THEIR WHOLE BODY AND I THINK IT WOULD BE REALLY HOT TO WEAR THAT IN TURKEY BECAUSE THE WEATHER WAS REALLY SIMILAR TO THAILAND.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES HERE IN EUROPE AS WELL. SO FAR WE HAVE HEARD TURKISH, BULGARIAN, SERBIAN, HUNGARIAN AND GERMAN. THE HARDEST LANGUAGE SO FAR HAS BEEN TURKISH AND BULGARIAN AND IN BULGARIA AND SERBIA, THEY EVEN HAVE DIFFERENT WRITING THAn WHAT WE USE!
  
  
  
  Bulgarian
  
  
  
  Serbian
  
  
• THE FOOD IS A LOT DIFFERENT TO THAILAND AS THERE IS A LOT MORE MEAT. MUM AND DAD HAVE BEEN HAVING SOME PROBLEMS BECAUSE OF THAT BUT THE KIDS HAVE BEEN FINE!
  
  
  
  Yummy schnitzel

Q4. HOW IS LIFE DIFFERENT IN EUROPE TO THAILAND?

• SOME THINGS I HAVE SEEN ARE:
  
  • PEOPLE DON'T TAKE THEIR SHOES OFF TO GO INSIDE
    
  • THEY EAT WITH A KNIFE AND FORK NOT A SPOON AND FORK. I AM FINDING THAT HARD TO GET USED TO!
    
  • PEOPLE SEEM RICHER BECAUSE THERE ARE HEAPS OF AUDIS AND BMWS...JUST ASK PADDY!!
    
  • THERE ARE NOT MANY BUDDHAS AROUND HERE.
    

Q5. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE TRIP?

• I AM MOSTLY LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO HOLLAND BECAUSE IT IS COLD AND I LIKE THE COLD. I ALSO WANT TO MEET OUR FRIENDS THERE AND STAY IN THE HOUSEBOAT IN AMSTERDAM.
  

THANKS FOR READING!
LOVE CLARE
XXOO

Prague 16-19.9.13

Prague – two days in one blog!!!!!


The weather in Prague was not that nice so we did not go out as much as we would have, so I am going to write about our two days in Prague in the one blog...hope you like it!!


So in those two days, we went to these places:

• Wenceslas Square
  
• Prague Castle (on the tram)
  
• Golden Lane and the Armour Museum
  
• A cool cafe (of course)
  
• The old Jewish part of town with lots of beautiful houses
  
• The Clock Tower in the Old Town Square
  

Wenceslas Square was the first place we went to and it was named after the man called Wenceslas who was the patron (Mum taught me that word) of this country. Dad told me that on this square lots of famous protests happened and it was a massive place!

A photo of a photo Dad took of protests in 1989 on Wenceslas Square

Next, we caught the tram to the Prague Castle. There were thousands of people everywhere and it was really cold!! We went into St. Vitus Cathedral which they started to build something like 600 years ago and finished in the 1920s – so long! The Cathedral had my favourite – stained glass but it was all really modern made by artists in the 1920s. The church also had where Wenceslas was buried which I thought was a bit funny to be buried in a church.

Where King Wenceslas is buried

We then walked to the Golden Lane which had lots of tiny houses. In one, we climbed some stairs to look at a museum full of old armour and weapons. One of the best ones that Paddy really liked was the armour that had a special dude protector! He laughed so much!!!

What made Paddy laugh!!

Dad had found a cafe for us to visit that was non-smoking. So many of the cafes and restaurants here are smoking and it is yuck! At this one, I ate a piece of honey cake and it was yummy!! Then we went home so the little ones could have a rest.


After rest time, we went for a walk to the old Jewish part of town. Once upon a time it used to be really poor, but looking at the houses and shops now I would think it is rich! Daddy told me that back in the old times the Germans came and took heaps of Jewish people away which was a horrible thing to do. I think that also happened in a few other places we visited too.

A Jewish synagogue

Beautiful houses

On the morning of the second day we went to the Old Town Square to watch a clock ring the bells. It wasn't that great, but the clock was really old (from 1400 or something). We climbed the tower and it was like a birds eye view over Prague! It was so high that Nana and Grandma would have been very frightened!! Also up on the tower there were little signs saying what you were looking at which made it interesting as well.

The old clock

Looking down from the tower

Of course, we went for another coffee but even though it was so cold, all the kids had ice-cream. Patrick had passionfruit, Bridget had chocolate and I ate mango. It was yummy! Dad's cake looked the best and it had yummy pastry as well!

Dad's pastry. It was yummy!!

That afternoon, it was raining so we stayed at home, played games and watched a movie. Mum and Dad packed the bags before we went out to dinner.


Tomorrow we are driving down to a town that Nana and Pop told dad about which is called Cesky Krumlov.


Love


Clare
xxoo

Vienna Day 3 - 15.9.13

Vienna, AUSTRIA!!!

Today was our last and BEST day in Vienna, Austria!!! The 3 places that we went to today were: The Spanish Riding School, The Stadt Park and Zanoni & Zanoni.

First me and Mum went to The Spanish RidingSchool!!!:-) The Spanish Riding School is a school that has the most BEAUTIFUL HORSES in the world. They actually are the most beautiful horse around the world! It was my favourite place out of all of the places we havealready been to in Europe!!!!!!!!!!

My favourite types of horses were the Green Horses. Now when I say green horses I don't mean the horses were Green, I mean that there were 3 different colour zones and they were – Red, Green and Gold! The Red colour Saddle Cloth meant that all the Red horses would stay on the ground. Then for the Green horses they were the jumping horses. Then the Gold was not exactly a full colour one, it was there for the Chief with just Gold fringes!!!!!

Now getting onto why I loved the green horses! I loved them because they did all different kinds of jumps which looked SUPER COOL!!!!!:-) My favourite jump that the horses did was when they put their whole body in the air and way more!!!

The Red horses were also amazing because in one of the parts it showed the riders were not sitting on the horses they were standing behind the horses and still doing all their GREAT tricks!!!!!!:-)

Me and Mum did not notice the Chief with the Gold fringes, but Mum bought a book saying that he was on the course! The riding show went for two hours but it seemed more like 2mins!!! After the BEST EVER part me and Mum went home, and after Patrick and Bridget woke up Mum and Dad took us out to a park called “Stadtpark”!!! My favourite thing to do in that Park was climb like a Spider Web type thing!!!!!:-)

Then after we went to The Park, we went to a place called Zanoni & Zanoni! (I know its a weird name!!!) Zanoni & Zanoni was a Ice-Cream place with 100,000,000,000 Ice-Cream flavours!!! I had Caramel ice-cream and it was so YUMMY!!! Next we all went home and Mum went out to get take away Pizza!!! I got my favorite type of pizza! - SALAMI!!!!!!!!!!! After Pizza I went to bed!!!!!!!!!!!:-)

CLARE XXOOXXOO

 Stables at the Spanish Riding School

Inside the Spanish Riding School before you were not allowed to take photos anymore...

The red horses

A green horse

A green horse jumping

Johann Strauss in the Stadt Park

Playing with Paddy

Zanoni&Zanoni Ice Creamery - look at all the flavours!!!!

The shop

Vienna-Day 2 14.9.13

Today was our second day in Vienna. So far, the weather has not been very good (as you can see in the photos). We went to four main places today: Schloss Schonbrunn, Aida Cafe, the Naschmarkt and then a pub/cafe for dinner.

Schloss Schönbrunn is a beautiful palace that the Hofburg family also lived at. Inside the palace we again saw some of the royal rooms. My favourite was the dining room because: 1. of the silk hanging on the wall like wall paper, 2. the table was huge and it had beautiful flowers on it, and 3. to look around this room and to imagine having dinner there was like magic!! The gardens were also huge and we had a bit of a walk around even though it was raining. We didn't stay long though.

We caught the U-bahn back into Vienna and found a cafe near the train station. It was called Aida and they had even more cakes than the cafe from yesterday if you could believe it! This time mum chose the cake and she chose chestnut mousse cake with whipped cream which sounded disgusting but was actually OK. It was then time for rest time and mum went out to the shops, dad watched the football and the kids all rested!

After rest time, we walked up some streets and found a really interesting market called Naschmarkt, or 'snack market'. People were selling heaps of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and spices but my favourite thing to see were all the lollies in the jars! Daddy bought some chewy nougat and it was really sweet but good. At the end of the market was another market. Dad said we wouldn't go into that market because it was where people came to sell their rubbish (but dad used a different word). He called it a flea market which sounded weird!

Then we went walking for ages looking for a restaurant out of the Lonely Planet. When we found it, it was closed so we had to find somewhere else to go. We found a place that served really great food. I had a burrito  and mum and dad ate schnitzel again!! After dinner, we walked home and when we walked through a park, the three children all had a big game on the grass. It was fun! When we got home, we were all tired so we went to bed.

Love Clare

xxoo

It was really yucky weather when we went to Schloss Schonbrunn

The gardens were amazing!

Mum and Dad at Schloss Schonbrunn

More cake!!

A different cafe this time

The Naschmarket - which means 'snack market'

Different types of seasonings and oils

Beer and schnitzel...Dad was happy!