The title says it all really. Mum and Dad decided we could watch it because Gemma and I were starting to get slightly desperate. We also wanted a break from museums and walking around cities.
The movie was excellent, but there were some slight disappointments to do with keeping true to the story. It was good that there was nothing major like the Weasley’s House in the sixth movie. Anyway, I could go on for ages but I’ll wait until I get back to Australia so we can discuss it.
Talking of back in Australia, I’m thinking of meeting up with all of you. We get back on the 25th and I would probably need the 26th to rest, but 27th until when school goes back I’m doing nothing so if you can’t come over any particular day please tell me so I can organise everything.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Boxing Day in Rotterdam
On Boxing Day we went to the Bojmans art gallery (pronounced Boymans). We saw some very famous paintings like the Tower of Babel by Breugle and a large Salvador Dali collection. The highlight for Jonathan and I, though, was the ‘performance’ art at the front of the gallery. This was essentially a cage which you could play soccer in because it had two small areas added on opposite sides for goals.
We then went to the hostel we were staying a to have a rest before going back to Paul and Wendaline’s house for a good sized dinner before settling down.
Jonathan and I playing soccer outside the Bojman's art gallery.
We then went to the hostel we were staying a to have a rest before going back to Paul and Wendaline’s house for a good sized dinner before settling down.
Chris in Rotterdam
The next few days (25th-27th of December) I will try to recall in as much detail as I can, so let’s see how that will go.
The day after we arrived in Rotterdam was Christmas day. We were allowed to ‘jump in’ on Paul (our grandma’s cousin) and Wendaline’s (his wife, pronounced Vendalin) Christmas. We arrived at their house at roughly 12:00 and were the first to arrive. We were shortly joined by Noor (Paul and Wendaline’s daughter) and Geert (her husband) and their children David, Clara and Vera and Bernt (Paul and Wendaline’s son) and his wife Ellen and their children Marius and Roland. (Sorry if this is confusing, it was really hard to get around at the time).
When everyone had arrived we had a big-ish morning tea and then went out to do some ice-skating. We went to a small rink next to the big canal (but not on it :( ). Everyone had fun, but I got sore feet from the skates and a sore knee from falling while avoiding some (maniacal) little kid.
Once we had finished ice-skating we headed back to Paul and Wendaline’s house for the (apparently traditional) Christmas Quiz. This was ‘inspired’ by our travels and so included many questions from around the world. We were split into three groups, two Dutch and one Australian. In the end we lost, but received a book as a consolidation prize.
We then had a large dinner consisting of various ‘traditional’ Dutch foods like roast turkey with apple or cranberry sauce and a chocolate cake for desert. It was nice, though, because it was a traditional European Christmas dinner.
On the whole, Christmas in Holland was really exciting, mainly because of the chance to meet up with some relatives who we really didn’t know existed until before, but also because of the different experiences of a white and European Christmas.
The day after we arrived in Rotterdam was Christmas day. We were allowed to ‘jump in’ on Paul (our grandma’s cousin) and Wendaline’s (his wife, pronounced Vendalin) Christmas. We arrived at their house at roughly 12:00 and were the first to arrive. We were shortly joined by Noor (Paul and Wendaline’s daughter) and Geert (her husband) and their children David, Clara and Vera and Bernt (Paul and Wendaline’s son) and his wife Ellen and their children Marius and Roland. (Sorry if this is confusing, it was really hard to get around at the time).
When everyone had arrived we had a big-ish morning tea and then went out to do some ice-skating. We went to a small rink next to the big canal (but not on it :( ). Everyone had fun, but I got sore feet from the skates and a sore knee from falling while avoiding some (maniacal) little kid.
Once we had finished ice-skating we headed back to Paul and Wendaline’s house for the (apparently traditional) Christmas Quiz. This was ‘inspired’ by our travels and so included many questions from around the world. We were split into three groups, two Dutch and one Australian. In the end we lost, but received a book as a consolidation prize.
We then had a large dinner consisting of various ‘traditional’ Dutch foods like roast turkey with apple or cranberry sauce and a chocolate cake for desert. It was nice, though, because it was a traditional European Christmas dinner.
On the whole, Christmas in Holland was really exciting, mainly because of the chance to meet up with some relatives who we really didn’t know existed until before, but also because of the different experiences of a white and European Christmas.
People are, clockwise from me: Gemma, the back of David's head, Roland, Clara, Marius and Jonathan.
Clockwise from me again are: Ellen, Jonathan, David, Vera, Noor, Geert, Roland and Bernt.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Bacharach to Rotterdam
Today we rose early to catch a train (with three changes) to Rotterdam. The first two changes were fine but when we got to the third, the train was cancelled (the electronic timetable said it had falle aus, and as far as we could tell it meant it had ‘fallen off’ the timetable). We eventually caught the train and crossed the German/Dutch border. We caught our last planned train of the journey but we had to change again because of bad conditions and snow on the tracks.
Bacharach – Day 2
Today we had a slightly lazy morning and then went off to Ruddesheim, a small town across the Rhine from Bingen, the nearest major town to Bacharach. Once we reached Ruddesheim we headed off to ‘Siegfried’s Mechanisches Musikkabinett’ (or Siegfried’s mechanical music cabinet, if you hadn’t picked that up).
Once we reached the museum/collection, which was housed in a large house that was possibly as early as the 1500’s. Inside the house they had an AMAZING collection of mechanical instruments like pianos that could play by themselves, a mechanical instrument involving an piano and six violins, an original Thomas Edison manufactured gramophone and a large set-up designed for a merry-go-round in Budapest, which was the only one like it in the world and was completely powered by compressed air, requiring someone to ‘pump the bellows’. What I thought was the most impressive, though was the Maestro, which was a combination of 11 or so (maybe even more) instruments like piano, violin, trumpet, xylophone, various horns and a small drum kit with a symbol and a few drums.
After Siegfried’s we went to find some lunch in a Christmas Market. Once we did that we went to the Ruddesheim toy museum, just for want of something to do and somewhere warm to go. It wasn’t all that exciting and wasn’t nearly as good as in Nuremburg, though it did have different types of toys. It was fun just going around and saying “we saw that in Nuremburg”.
When we had finished in the toy museum we caught the ferry back to the railway station and travelled back to where we were staying.
Once we reached the museum/collection, which was housed in a large house that was possibly as early as the 1500’s. Inside the house they had an AMAZING collection of mechanical instruments like pianos that could play by themselves, a mechanical instrument involving an piano and six violins, an original Thomas Edison manufactured gramophone and a large set-up designed for a merry-go-round in Budapest, which was the only one like it in the world and was completely powered by compressed air, requiring someone to ‘pump the bellows’. What I thought was the most impressive, though was the Maestro, which was a combination of 11 or so (maybe even more) instruments like piano, violin, trumpet, xylophone, various horns and a small drum kit with a symbol and a few drums.
After Siegfried’s we went to find some lunch in a Christmas Market. Once we did that we went to the Ruddesheim toy museum, just for want of something to do and somewhere warm to go. It wasn’t all that exciting and wasn’t nearly as good as in Nuremburg, though it did have different types of toys. It was fun just going around and saying “we saw that in Nuremburg”.
When we had finished in the toy museum we caught the ferry back to the railway station and travelled back to where we were staying.
Bacharach – Day 1
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while but I haven’t had time due to Christmas celebrations with distant Dutch relations and also issues with Wi-Fi (including a time limit, so I am pre-writing entries). I'm excited about Paris too, Alexander, and we are going to Versailles. Will take heaps of photos. We are there 1st to the 4th of January.
While we were in Bacharach we stayed in the local youth hostel, which was situated in a castle. We arrived in the late evening and spent the remaining daylight trying to figure out how to get up to the castle. In the end we resorted to calling a taxi and getting driven up to the tower with all of our luggage. We quickly dumped our stuff in our room and set off to find some dinner and to explore the village.
We walked along the wall for a bit, but all of the restaurants that were on the wall were closed so we descended and went to a bar-restaurant that we had seen and had a very nice dinner of different things like schnitzel, goulash soup or an omelette.
After this we walked back up to the castle and settled down to sleep.
While we were in Bacharach we stayed in the local youth hostel, which was situated in a castle. We arrived in the late evening and spent the remaining daylight trying to figure out how to get up to the castle. In the end we resorted to calling a taxi and getting driven up to the tower with all of our luggage. We quickly dumped our stuff in our room and set off to find some dinner and to explore the village.
We walked along the wall for a bit, but all of the restaurants that were on the wall were closed so we descended and went to a bar-restaurant that we had seen and had a very nice dinner of different things like schnitzel, goulash soup or an omelette.
After this we walked back up to the castle and settled down to sleep.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Really sorry, but I've got to be quick again
Because of time restraints I'm going to reply to your comments now and post about Bacharach later.
I was really disappointed about the lack of LEGO to, Alexander, but, well, if it's not German then it's not German enough, sorry. I love the way the city is set out as well. The old cities have so many beautiful little alleyways and there is a church/cathedral nearly on every block. Christmas will be different here, but still nice as we have relatives (grandmother's cousin) in Holland (Rotterdam) to spend it with.
Great to hear about your turfed yard, Tom. When I get back we need to christen it with a back-yard cricket match. Which brings me to the cricket. In answer to whether I've been following the ashes or not, my brother is Jonathan, so of course we are following it. My Cricket Australia shirt is sitting in the bottom of my pack waiting for us to hit England. Sorry to hear you're working Christmas Eve but you'll probably earn a bucket load of money.
Big news is we've booked a place in Paris for 3 nights, meaning we'll get 2 whole days and 2 half days.
Anyway, will write more on our 5 hours of train journey tomorrow and will hopefully post tomorrow night (for me).
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great time.
Bring on the Boxing Day Test!!!!
Posted at 8:39pm
I was really disappointed about the lack of LEGO to, Alexander, but, well, if it's not German then it's not German enough, sorry. I love the way the city is set out as well. The old cities have so many beautiful little alleyways and there is a church/cathedral nearly on every block. Christmas will be different here, but still nice as we have relatives (grandmother's cousin) in Holland (Rotterdam) to spend it with.
Great to hear about your turfed yard, Tom. When I get back we need to christen it with a back-yard cricket match. Which brings me to the cricket. In answer to whether I've been following the ashes or not, my brother is Jonathan, so of course we are following it. My Cricket Australia shirt is sitting in the bottom of my pack waiting for us to hit England. Sorry to hear you're working Christmas Eve but you'll probably earn a bucket load of money.
Big news is we've booked a place in Paris for 3 nights, meaning we'll get 2 whole days and 2 half days.
Anyway, will write more on our 5 hours of train journey tomorrow and will hopefully post tomorrow night (for me).
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great time.
Bring on the Boxing Day Test!!!!
Posted at 8:39pm
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