Venice day 1, 2 & 3

Hi, it's me again this blog I'll be telling you about my adventures in Venezia the city of water. So, I'd just gotten of the train to Venice and mum explained to us that she had booked a TAXI to our new hotel. When we got to the new hotel I saw it was called VELA BLU CAMPING VILLAGE. So we got out of the TAXI and walked down to the new hotel. The reception showed us to our room and we walked inside. It was tiny and our bedroom was about two square meters including the cupboard which we had two keep our clothes in anyway. This was really unfair seeing as mum and dads bedroom was at least four square meters. But in the end we survived. After dinner at the hotel restaurant we went back to the cabin and to bed.

WATER SLIDE PARK

After breakfast mum and dad said we could go explore the new hotel. Zoe and I walked around the corner walked for about twenty five meters around another corner walked for at least fifty meters and then turned around another corner. And there we saw it, the waterslide. This was our next conversation:

Zoe: Yes, I knew there was running water.

Drew: No you didn't.

Zoe:Yes I did.

This arguing goes on for quite a while.

Drew: Alright, I believe you.

Zoe: Good I knew you'd see it my way some day.

Drew: I don't, I just want to swim I that thing.

Zoe: So, come on what are we waiting for!

Drew: You're right!

Zoe: I know.

Drew: Aw come on man.

Zoe: Run for it!

Drew (while running): Why?

Zoe: Do you want to go on the waterslide or not?

Drew: Alright then.

Finally we got back to the teeny cabin and told mum. And she said “alright, you can go” and that was all Zoe and I needed to hear. As we got our bathers and ran down to the pool again we heard a swish and the water slide powered down. Damn that was really bad, I was looking forward to that. But we went in anyway we asked the lifeguard why this had happened and she said “no-a running, splashing or-a talking until-a tree-a clock-a”. I thought this was because I the Italians have a siesta but that's kind of weird because the last night they had stayed up till ten pounding out music. Finally the water came back on again and Zoe and I ran for it we went down slide by slide. We all loved it.

 

 

Ahh, perfection

 

 

 

YEAH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOO HOO!

 

 

 

BOO YEAH!

 

 

 

YAH HEE!

 

 

LETS GO BABY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ACTUAL CITY OF VENICE

The next day we got up early to catch a boat to the actual city of Venice. When we got there st. Mark's square surrounded us. With its gigantic tower and huge curved building it looked kind've like a tadpole really. Any way we walked down past the canal to get something to eat and some glass animals to buy. We found both of those things. First I'll tell you about the glass animals. I bought a dolphin, hedgehog, owl and an octopus to add to my collection. To eat we found a place where they served pasta in a box. We all had a great meal there.

 

 

 

These are the some of the animals I got

 

 

 

This is where we had the pasta

 

 

 

Great meals we had there

 

 

 

Now last words, when in Venice, you're always together

 

 

 

Three words that describe Venice are bustling, overflowing and colourful.

 

So I guess bye for now until further notice.

 

Dubrovnik day 1, 2 & 3

I woke up and realised I was still on our ferry to Dubrovnik. So we went down to have breakfast. What I find weird is that you needed breakfast tickets to have breakfast. Even though the breakfast wasn't very good. I had a piece of toast, some ham, an egg, some orange juice and a bowl of bad cereal. As we walked off the boat I had no what adventures I was about to have…

OFF THE BOAT

When we got off the boat mum hired a TAXI to the fire station, why you ask, because next to the fire station on the fifty-sixth steep upward steps was the seventh room of our apartment which is where we were staying in Dubrovnik.

Whoa that took the breath out of me, not only that last sentence but also climbing the fifty-six stairs. When we did get there we had to wait a long time for Gloria (the apartment owner) to come and give us the key. When she finally got here she showed us around the house. While we were outside I spotted a cute little wooden tortoise, but wait, it wasn't wooden as it stretched out its head I felt a strange bond to it.

 

 

 

 

Wallace eats some apple

 

 

 

 

We made it a house. It was made out of a plank of wood, two dustpans, a terracotta roof tile, some flowers, some tiles, some cement, two jars of paint and a glass bowl. The plank of wood was the roof. The dustpans leaned on the terracotta roof tile to keep the tortoise from escaping out the back. The terracotta roof tile was the back wall. The flowers were her bed. The tiles were cemented down as the floor. The cement was used to stick things - we made it out of water and dirt rocks. The two jars of paint were holding the wooden plank.

 

Later we walked down to the old city. All in all I think Dubrovnik is :

Calm, classy, bright, clean, relaxed, zippy, exotic.

Anyway after the old city we had a lovely stir-fry for dinner and went to bed.

 

 

THE NEXT DAY

The next day I woke up and realised I had to get my new souvenir today seeing as I was leaving tomorrow. So we went down to the old market to see if I could find one, but firstly Me and Zoe headed to the garden to feed Molly the tortoise.

Gloria the apartment owner had given us lettuce the day before so we could feed Molly. When we went down to feed her we couldn't find her anywhere. Finally we found her far away in the corner of the garden far from where she normally hangs out hiding underneath the lavender bush.

Zoe told us that she only knew the tortoise was a girl because it didn't have a tail. Maybe she knew this from one of the many fact books she has read? After the markets I decided to check on that and I did find a tail so Molly Mavis the tortoise became Wallace the Tortoise.

At the old city market, Zoe and I found a T-shirt shop called "Manu-Factura". Inside the shop a lady came to greet us. I never found out her name. She told us we could choose whatever design we liked from a book and put it on any colour T-shirt we liked or we could take one of the already designed T-shirts.

One of the already designed T-Shirts I likes was white and had nine boxes on it (green ink) in a square and each box had the personality of someone and a funny quote. It was all about a glass of water and was very funny. In the first box on the top left it said "Optimist" and the quote was "Glass is half full". Next to it, it said "Pessimist" and the quote said "Glass half empty". Next to that it said "Realist" and the quote was "The Glass Is". In the end I decided that I didn't want to spend so much money on a T-shirt (they were 10 Euro).

 

The shirt didnt look like this but these were the words

 

 

 

Eventually we found a souvenir stall that had what I was looking for. It was a small little, wooden boat with billowing sails and a Croatian flag. Dad and I remember the flag because we play logoflags quiz a lot. The flag of Croatia has red and white squared shield with 5 house type things on the top shield including a Ram and a Fountain.

 

 

 

Later that afternoon we took the cable car to Fort Imperial. The ride up was fine but coming down was a bit rocky. When we got to the top there were beautiful views of the mountains and sunset falling over them. Mum took a nice picture of me that we put in coloursplash and only left my hair colour and the colour of the flower I was touching.

 

 

 

When mum and I went down the road a little bit, we sat on some rocks and watched the drifting sunset glide down over the islands. It made me think that this is one of the reasons that people must travel to Croatia, it was beautiful and delicate and I felt lucky to see it.

 

 

 

 

 

THE NEXT, NEXT DAY

Today I jumped off a cliff.

I know it seems scary but I did. Although it was a bit of a challenge. First we had to book tickets for sea kayaking which is lucky because mum booked yesterday. We walked down to the harbour to get instructions. First we had to ask an information man wearing a bright orange t-shirt for directions. He said that we had to go down the path for about three meters and you would come to some steps, then walk down the steps, under the bridge and around the hedge. As we walked down to the rocky beach I knew I was going to have a great day.

When we were paddling along in our sea kayaks we were getting really tired from paddling so hard. So when we finally got to a beach I was relieved. Now I'll explain a few things while we are getting ready. So, the differences between a kayak and a sea kayak are:

1. A sea kayak is made of plastic.
2. A sea kayak is wider.
3. A sea kayak is open.

Now, where was I, oh yes, the beach, so I sat down on the sand, my first big mistake, there wasn't sand, just rocks. Ouch, that really hurt. Zoe decided she would go and jump off a five meter high cliff into three meter deep water. I thought I would follow. When I got there I had to climb up steep rocky ledges. When I got to the top I knew there was no going back.

 

Afterwards I got an ice cream. I got two flavours. The first was cookies and the second was hazelnut.

After all that Zoe and I had a great day off. Dad, Zoe and I went to dinner at a place called Kizmot. We had a great meal there. We had to on a ferry to Bari so we catch a train to Venice. Now, as I think back on Croatia I find it amazing the people there had such perfect English. It was almost as if I was speaking to someone in Australia.

 

 

 

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How many grottos are there?!

1. Blue Grotto.
2. Boat hire.
3. White grotto
4. Green grotto
5. Delicious crepe.

BLUE GROTTO

In the morning I had an early start, nice but early. My sister woke me up so I was a bit annoyed, but I was okay. We went down to our new hotel's lush breakfast and it was delicious. I had a piece of cake, some Nutella toast and a bananananana yoghurt (as I sometimes call it). Mum was not impressed. But I didn't mind it was alright for me anyway. As we headed off to the Blue Grotto I silently thought this is going to be awesome, and it really was.

Wow

 

Wow

Argh! Who's that

 

 

Us in the Blue grotto

Look at the water

In the Blue Grotto darkness awaits

 

Now this, this is the Drew Grotto

TThe Blue Grotto is amazing because of its crystal blue waters with beautiful blue patterns in them. The water is only blue because the sky reflects on the pure white sandstone on the ocean floor. We got into a little white rowboat. We had to lie down flat on top of each other to get in through the sixty centimetre tall and ninety centimetre wide rocky semicircle opening. My first thoughts about it were: wow, this was really worth the twenty minute line. Wow, you should've been there with me, you would have been amazed by the swirling shades of blue all around us. Because the sky wasn't completely clear it wasn't even to its full blueness. It would have been even more extraordinary if it was a cloudless day.

BOAT HIRE

After that we caught a bus to Capri and when we got there we then had to clamber down loads of steps = really annoying but the reward was worth it. When we did get down we had to plead mum and dad to let us hire a boat and in the end we finally did.

This is our path

Look at that cute little door we saw on the way downhill

The beach we got off at at

 

WHITE GROTTO

On our boat trip we sailed down to the White Grotto, but the only way to get inside was to climb up some rocky steps. Me and dad swam over there. Personally I think Mum and Zoe were scared. When me and Dad got in there we had to go through a dark and narrow tunnel but in the end it was worth it. We got through and we saw the most amazing sight… beautiful pure white water with sparkling little sparkles.

DELICIOUS CREPE

When we got back we looked on the tv and there we were advertising a new science project I've been working on.

 

 

I was so embarrassed Zoe and I ran down to get two crepes. They were really tasty. They were just simple Nutella ones though. After that we went to catch a ferry to Dubrovnik.

 

 

 

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Sorrento and Amalfi

 

AMALFI COAST - SORRENTO DAY ONE

When we went to the Amalfi coast we had to go by bus so we went down to the bus station to catch one. It was a really rough ride. Most of the time on the way back we were swishing and swaying around the bus while talking to our new French friends.

I find it interesting that I think it was much more bumpy and twisty and turns with sharp corners (although it must have been si,ilar both ways). I think that's because I got a seat on the way there. The bus was crowded on the way there and very crowded on the way back. I stood up for an older man when he got on half way along.

Did you know that the town there is actually called Amalfi? We went through a town called Positano to get there. The houses were mostly built in the mountain like little dots on the cliff. I felt amazed that people could live there without feeling scared.

When we got to Amalfi we decided to take a walk. We also got some ice creams. We also met some people we met in Crete (what a coincidence) They were really nice people. I had a lasagne for lunch. Then we went home.

 

On the bus back we met a French family - they were called Anne and Médréric and they had three daughters whose names were Angèle, Garance and Suzanne. The children did not speak English so it was hard to communicate with them but we sang some songs and mimed a bit and used my phrase book and we became friends. We exchanged emails and if we are near where they live in France we can go visit them.

 

So cool!!

 

 

SORRENTO DAY 2

I woke up this morning and realised we were going to do a little shopping today because…

1. I needed deodorant
2. We needed shampoo
3. We needed conditioner
4. I needed socks
5. Zoe needed socks
6. Mum needed leggings
7. We needed snacks for the trip to Capri

We walked all over Sorrento and saw :

• A moss covered building that used to be a mill
• The Public beach
• Inlaid wood factory
• Lots of shops
• Amazing church with a scene of Jesus's time.
• A telescope that I looked through

 

 

This is the view of the Public Beach at Sorrento

 

 

Telescope

 

 

Moss covered house

 

 

Crowded bus to Amalfi

 

 

In Amalfi

 

 

 

 

A picture from the bus ride. Houses on the cliff

 

Next stop, The island of Capri

 

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I have imagined how lucky I am (By Dr.Dreuss)

1. Old city of Pompeii
2. Train to Sorrento
3. New hotel
4. Little stroll outside

 

OLD CITY OF POMPEII

When we left our new hotel we went to the old city of Pompeii. When we got there daddy showed me a video. At the end of the video a girl said the volcano was still alive. It hasn't erupted since 1944 but I still realised how lucky it was that it didn't erupt when we were there. My first thoughts about the old ruined city were that everything looked old but well preserved (later I discovered that the city was frozen in time in 79AD).

It was 1 May and in Italy that is Labor Day and that means all the Museums are free so there were loads of people looking around the ruins of Pompeii. I think its amazing how well the five metre ash volcano ash has preserved the city so well. Now, the thing I remember the most about the old city was the tiny bronze statue of Hercules - it was about 45cm tall. I also saw the old "fast food" shops that they had where they would have served wine and soup.

 

 

There were about 30 bakeries in the entire city although we only stopped at one of them.

 

At the end we went to the most well preserved house in Pompeii - sadly we couldn't go in because it was fenced off to keep it well preserved. Luckily, we could still see through the gaps in the fence and in the middle we saw a kind of shrine to one of their gods.

At the end I realised we had spent 3 hours there - even though it only seemed like 30 minutes. Now off to Sorrento we go.

NEW HOTEL

When we got to our new hotel in Sorrento I saw it was called the Il Roseto Hotel. We pressed the button and a crackly voice said “Ciao” and Dad said “We have a reservation” and the gates opened. As we walked in a girl came to meet us. She showed us to our room. When we got inside we looked around. We got a double bed upstairs. I had never slept in a double bed before but when I did I thought it was really nice. Anyway before we went to bed we had to have dinner of course, at Johnny's Pizza Place to be exact. When we got there I had "uno great margarita pizze" (one great margarita pizza).

When we got back after that delicious meal we went to bed.

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Rome day 7&8

1. The markets
2. Riscio max
3. The Segway

THE MARKETS

When I got up my family and I went down to the markets. They were in a square called Campo de Fiore. a statue of hercules was once found buried here and is now at the vatican museum. Which I had already seen. It was made of bronze and unreasonably huge.

 

At the markets Zoe decided to go shoe shopping. The pair of boots she wanted were a creamy-brownish colour but they didn't have her size. She bought a deep green scarf and jacket to go with it. I said "you look really nice in that Zoe".

 

I had gone shopping a few days earlier in Rome I had got a black t-shirt with the words ' IT'S ALL RIGHT ' written in colourful letters on it, also I got a pair of jeans from gap. Anyway,I got a one-hundred kilogram (I mean gram) bag of lollies for two euros and thirty euro cents. We couldn't find anything for breakfast so we got a simple Nutella crepe for three euros and fifty euro cents. We sat outside the shop and ate the crepe. Except for the last bit which fell on the ground and had to go in the bin, it was extremely tasty although the Nutella was surprisingly sticky.

 

 

THE SEGWAY

After that Zoe and I got an ice cream from the general store...that's when we saw them…… the segways.

 

Yummy yummy yummy yummy

Wow !!!! After that we went home and to sleep.

 

THE NEXT DAY

When I woke up the next day I knew we were going to a new city, Pompeii. I was really looking forward to Pompeii it was covered with volcano ash and has been since the twenty-fourth of August 79AD. That's when the volcano (called Mount Vesuvius) erupted and killed two thousand people (there were twenty thousand people living in Pompeii). But sadly the next day it struck again this time it killed ten thousand people. The Christians thought that the volcano spitting was a sign from God telling them to run away, so they did. When it erupted the second time it literally blew its own top off.

The volcano is still active now since its last eruption in 1944. But we weren't scared, we went there anyway. So off we went to Pompeii. First on a train to Napoli then to Pompeii.

My first thoughts of Pompeii were “I don't know why people would want to wreck this beautiful city”.

 

 

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