Europe trip part 12

Wednesday 4th September

 After we packed the car, we looked around Ljubljana. We crossed the Ljubljana river then we went to the castle to learn about the history and some battles. I saw a suit of armor and then the more modern chainmail suits that protected the soldiers in the olden days. It must have been very heavy and uncomfortable to wear in battle!

The castle was restored through the effort of a local man who also helped rebuild lots of different castles in Slovenia. This is due to the owners removing the roof to avoid paying taxes a long time ago. We also walked into the St George’s chapel and discovered a man doing calligraphy so we got some book marks made for us with our names on it.

 We then walked down the hill and went into a market. We got a lovely lunch and set off to just across the border in Italy, where we stayed in a village called Aiella de Fruili with Marcello and his lovely wee dog Argo for one night. After we arrived I straight away cuddled Argo and dived into the pool I spent 2 hours in the pool jumping and diving about.

Then we went to a guitar recital from a local musician. He was really good. Afterwards, we went back to the house and had a yummy dinner - I had Ragu pasta, mum had tomato soup and dad had the same as me. We also had homemade bread, plus tomatoes and zuchinni from Marcello’s garden. Dad said that the tomatoes were lovely! And Marcello offered us a nice glass of white wine. We ate dinner Italian style - at 9:00pm!!!

Europe trip part 11

Monday 2nd September 

Today we said goodbye to Iain, Michelle and Connor and set off for Slovenia. It was quite a long drive so we took the motorway twice we drove in a storm which had thunder and lighting and heavy rain which was quite scary as visibility was hard due to the rain and spray. After 2 hours driving south, we stopped in Graz to stretch our legs and have lunch. I had a really good burger. After lunch we had a good look around the city and mum bought herself a new watch as the clasp on her old one was broken.

We then continued driving to our accommodation of Ljubljana, which is the capital city of Slovenia, where we stayed for 2 nights. After dinner we went for a walk around the neighborhood to find out what the horrible smell was. It was drying sweet corn – there is sweet corn everywhere in Europe.

Tuesday 3rd September

Today we drove to Bled to go rafting. Before that we walked around and saw the lake and the church on an island. We did a 30min walk around parts of the lake then we went to have lunch on the lake front. I had a delicious ham and cheese sandwich. We then got picked up and headed off to the rafting start point. We got suited up with wet suits and booties then we were off on the river on our raft with only foot straps to keep us in! It was a 13km long trip on the river Sava Dolinka.

 We shared the rafting with a nice couple from Belgium. Part way down we did body surfing in the 12 degree river - I was an icicle after I got out. I then did a 250m zip line across the river twice to end the trip which was fun. We had spaghetti and chicken for dinner and then I chilled out on the couch whilst mum organized the packing again!

Europe trip part 10

Sunday 1st September

 After breakfast we jumped into Uncle Iain’s car and went to the central parking garage in Vienna. We walked around and saw these amazing old buildings. We walked through the main old part and saw the City Hall, the House of music and the Opera House.

We also saw the Danube river which flows through the middle of Vienna. It is the longest river in Europe and crosses many countries. There was lots of horse and carriage rides available but Connor said they were too smelly, so we did the Hop on Hop off bus instead.

 We went on the red line first which was by far the most interesting. We saw the City Hall, the House of Music and the Opera House as well as the Hofburg Museum. I had a tomato and Mozzarella pannini, we then did the hop on hop off bus in 2 different areas - these weren’t quite as interesting, but we did see the palace and got a feel for the rest of the city.

 After a long and hot day, we headed home and had dinner at a lovely Greek restaurant - I had a chicken kebab it was yummy. We then had a nice ice cream at a local Gelato shop, it was fantastic!

Europe trip part 9

Saturday 31st August
On the way to Vienna we stopped at the Mauthausen concentration camp. There were 190,000 prisoners there during World War 2, and 90,000 died. Most died of natural causes or starvation within 4 to 6 weeks. There were memorials of all the different countries where prisoners came from and died.

There was also a 380 volt electric fence – the soldiers used to flick the prisoners hats off and make them go and get them. This allowed them to shoot them or force them into the fence where they got electrocuted.

The Germans made the prisoners lift 50kg rocks from the quarry up 400 stairs and if they were too weak they would just shoot them. If the prisoners were slacking off, they would make them push each other off the cliff to their certain death. The amount of people supposed to be in a bunk room was 300 but they made them fit 2,000 people in a room. There were 3 high bunk beds and 2 to a bed.

They cremated the dead bodies in ovens and they dumped the ashes outside the electric fence. They also killed over 2,500 men, women and children in the gas chamber which looked grim. There were swarms of insects at the camp as we walked around. It was almost as if they could smell death.

Europe trip part 8

Friday 30th August Today we drove to the Hallstatt salt mine called Salzwelten to see how it gets made and mined. We went up a really steep gondola then walked to the main building where we had to put on these funny suits on. They were like pyjamas and we looked like prisoners.

When we were ready, we walked 200m underground and came across a short wooden slide. We had to put our legs outside the 2 wooden rails and then we had to push ourselves down it, it was so much fun.

Then we watched a short video about the salt getting made. They used water to wash the rock - if the rock has iron in it, it will be red and a yellow rock means it has got magnesium in it. Once it is mined it gets flushed 40 kilometres down a pipe and goes to a salt factory and gets dried and then it turns white as our normal salt.

After the tour we went to keltenblitz (toboggan) on the Durnberg where the run goes for 2.2 km long. The chairlift took 15 minutes to get up the hill – the view was really nice. Connor set off first, then Iain, Dad, Michelle, me and then Mum. I was a bit nervous to start with but then I got brave a went really fast – I caught Michelle up as she was going quite slow. I loved it so dad and I went up again to have a race!

Europe trip part 7

Thursday 29th August Today we are going to visit Hitler’s second headquarters, which he bizarrely only visited 14 times, called the Eagles Nest.

We had to drive 40 minutes to the bottom of the Berchtesgaden mountain then we hopped on a bus which was a convoy of 5 because it was a steep and windy road. When we got off the bus we looked over the edge – it was a long way down.

When we first got off the bus we had to walk through a long, damp tunnel then we got on a lift that took us to the top. Unfortunately the weather turned very quickly and it began to thunder, then we got lightning flashes. Due to the horrible weather, which was like pea soup, we had to stay inside so we decided to have lunch. I had a ham and cheese toastie which was delicious and we ate in what was Hitler’s main meeting room.

When we got back down the mountain we drove to have a look around Salzburg. Luckily the weather cleared up in the afternoon.

 On our walk about we saw Mozart’s house where he was born. He was a famous composer of classical music. We then went into the famous Salzburg Cathedral - the man made carvings were amazing and the frescoes were absolutely stunning. We walked around and admired the old buildings and saw a bridge full of padlocks which symbolises peoples love for each other as they lock the padlock and throw away the key into the river.

After admiring the wonderful sights, we then had a yummy Indian for dinner. When we went home, we played another round of Uno - mum won one and dad won one.

Europe trip part 6

Today we left Teufen and headed for Salzburg. We drove on the motorway which had a remarkable number of tunnels one went for ten kilometers. We crossed the border of Austria were we had to buy a vignette that allows us to drive on the motorway.

 Iain and Michelle went a slightly different route but after losing them for 2 hours we still caught up with them just before the turn off to Area 47 which was quite funny. Our sat nav is very weird!!

We went to a water and adventure park called area 47. Dad, Connor and I went on the hydro slide and the blobber. We went on the hydro slide first it was so much fun it had a 30 degree angle going down, then we went to the blobber were one person gets bounced off the end of a huge inflatable pillow and when someone else lands on it from a height. Some people went really high and some people did belly flops or back flops.

 Then we went to the diving board which was 1.5m high I was scared at first but after I did it 2 or 3 times it was really fun the last time I jumped off I did a front flip off it, it was so much fun. After we got changed we went to the house and had dinner. We played Uno and mum won, she got 511 points. Mum and Dad thought the house was bad because the shower was filthy, the drive was full of rubbish, the oven was not clean and the beds were broken.