In Hong Kong (again)

We went to the beach yesterday. It was very lovely. I can swim now. Next time I'm at Maroubra Beach I will take my swimmers and go in. The beach in Hong Kong was a looong bus ride. We also went to the electronics market. 

It is a very lovely view from our apartment. There are lots and lots toys in our apartment like a scooter and a bicycle. 

My favourite food here is fried dumplings. We have them every night. Love Juliet 

The beach 

Lantern show 

Apple Store

Eating dumplings

Road Trip

On the last day in Capri, our cousins arrived from Egypt! We had lunch and a swim in the pool with them before heading back to Naples with them. The next day we hired a nine seated  mini van and drove to Positano, a small town on the Amalfi Coast.

After doing a lot of walking up and down stairs we found the beach. There was a fenced out area full of brightly colored deck chairs and umbrellas just for the locals (the area was empty) and hard rocks to sit on for the tourists.

 After a long swim and a gelato, we walked up the thousand staircases to the car and drive to the town of Amalfi. We had collected bright colored see through gems at the beach and we got some more at Amalfi. We had calamari and chips for dinner.

The next day the plan was to see the old Naples which we found out was just the poor part of the city. Jason went home to do work while our cousins, Aunty, Uncle and Kate drove to Sorrento. We walked around for a bit after having to drive around for a long time waiting for a park then we had a delicious dinner than gelato for dessert.

The beach in Positano 

Looking for gems

A beautiful church in Almalfi 

A beautiful bride in Almalfi 

Ellie devouring her second pizza 

Me stuck tied a post

The "ice cream square" 

The gems ( we froze them)

The Rest of Italy

About two or three days ago we arrived in Naples! We took a taxi to our apartment, put our bags away and went for a walk. Our neighborhood was really cool. There was a magnum place where you could make your own magnum (I made mine with vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate coating, pistachios, marshmallows, mini cookies drizzled with white chocolate sauce). There were also lots of other interesting places as well. For the next couple of days in Naples we didn't do anything.

Then it was time to go to Capri. We took a fifty minute ferry to get to the island then a really fast, no seat belt, no roof taxi up a cliff with hardly any fence at all. If you fell it would be terrifying. We got to our B&B and went to have lunch and we went to the pool. For dinner we went to a four course dinner with some of Jason's work friends. We got home very late.

Our backyard 

Relaxing

The pool

Half of our delicious breakfast (we had lemon cake, custard, Nutella and jam croissants ham and cheese, bread rolls, Nutella, cornflakes, coffee and hot milk served by the owner).

Making the magnum 

When it was finished 

Ancienter Rome

Today was Father's Day which has nothing to do with what we did today. We  started today by going to a cafe for a breakfast of a packet of Oreos then we took the tram to the Trevi Fountain which is an amazing  fountain. The previous day, we had visited the Pantheon, a church not very beautiful but it has an amazing history.

Anyway, after the Trevi Founatin we took a cab to Piazza Venetzia where Kate and I did a tour of the ruins of an old Roman mansion. It was pretty scary but amazing. The house was destroyed by an earthquake and finished off by a fire. Archeologists discovered the ruins in only 2007. We were not allowed to take pictures but they use digital images on the walls so we could imagine how they used to live. We went home to have a rest then walked to our local piazza or square and had chops and potatoes for dinner.

Trevi Founatin 

A giant column that tells a story about a great battle making Rome a huge empire

The basicilica or church in the square.

A quarter of the Pantheon

Ancient Rome

We have arrived in Rome! Our apartment is very nice and across the road there is a cafe where we have our breakfast and a supermarket or super mercatie, or mercat in Barcelona. (We call them meerkats). 

On our first day we did our school work then took the tram to the colosseum and the Roman Forum. When we arrived the line to get in was really long. We bought tickets to get into the Roman Forum and the Colosseum but we ended up just going to the Forum. It was amazing. The Roman Forum is the ruins of the old Roman society. There is a museum that leads up to a bell tower that we climbed and it gives you a great view of the ruins. 

We left there and walked to have dinner at the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevre. We had our second gelato of the day which was delicious then went home.

First two bedrooms (second bedroom has fold out bed)

Kitchen and third bedroom

Hallway

Gelato

One of the pantings in the forum

The whole ruins

Dinner (we got a bowl of chips and we toasted them in the candle)

A person carved into an old tree stump

 

Barcelona Flamenca

Last night we went to the BEST flamenco show in the world! It was really loud and ONLY me and Mum went (that's Phoebe). I wanted to go because I really like dancing. I couldn't stop smiling in the metro on the way there. Even when a man hit me (accidentally) in the head with a huge bag. We didn't know what was in the big bag but after the Flamenco we saw the man was outside selling handbags he took out of the massive bag. 

There were four people dancing, four people playing music - one playing drums, two singing and one on the guitar. 

The two women dancers changed costumes a lot. At first they had long gowns on with frills at the end. Then they came in with same dresses but with white shawls on with bright flowers. Then only one girl came in with a long dress with string pieces hanging from the top. Then after the men did dancing the women came in with pant suits on like the men. Then finally with red dresses. 

It was on really late at night and I didn't sleep till midnight. The next morning we had to get up really early to get to Rome (I'm writing this in Rome).

Me at the concert hall

The long dress with the shawl

The first dresses

The red dresses

Me and Juliet in our Flamenco dresses

The Day Tour of Barcelona

Sorry I haven't been posting but every day we do the same thing and what we do every day isn't much. First we do our school work until about a quarter past twelve then we walk down to a very nice promenade with everything and have lunch then walk to the beach which is very close. After that we go back home and have dinner somewhere nice like in the heart of Barcelona called the 'gothic quarter' where you can spend hours window shopping. 

Anyway back to today. We did our school work until the usual time while dad picked up a car. We drove to a church that is so big and is still being constructed even though it has been in construction for over 100 years. Next we drove up the mountain to have lunch at Barcelona's best lamb place and it was REALLY yummy. 

Just by coincidence a museum that we really wanted to go to, Cosmocaxia was next to it. We thought it was just a small, living diorama of the Amazon but it turned out to be a huge science museum. One of the biggest exhibitions was about the first humans and there were heaps of great science exhibitions with subjects like technology, marine biology (lots of fish tanks with different fish in them) and genetics. And of course the living diorama of the rainforest was amazing. It had real life piranhas and anacondas and unique species of birds. We were even allowed to walk in the diorama. It was the best!  

Our local beach

Our local promenade 

Parc Guell

The Cathedral taking 100 years to build

The Museum

Time to go

It was time to leave Oxford and move on. We were really upset because we had made so many friends, we even had a farewell party. We had to say goodbye to all our friends and the whole of Oxford. The horses had moved paddocks so we couldn't say goodbye to them. 

Then we woke up the next morning and had to leave - no going back now! We flew out at about 3 pm to Barcelona. We spent lots and lots of time carrying big heavy bags up and down steps, through the subway, changing lines until 9 o'clock at night when we got to our place. Then we went out for Tapas. 

The next day we had to finish our school work and then we went out and had lunch at the Arc de Triomf (in Barcelona) - if anyone knows who copied who from Paris then please comment. Then we went to the fruit markets and bought peaches and nectarines. I got a mango juice. Then we went to the beach. Dad and Juliet went home. It was SUPER crowded. You couldn't find a single spot. When we got in it suddenly got deep up to your knees then your thighs. The waves were not big like Bronte but we still had to jump them. We forgot our goggles so our eyes got filled with seawater. We got two flavors of icecream on the way home - like double decker. 

Our last day - everyone is frowning except Tebby

Our tapas dinner 

Arc de Triomf

Me and Olivia in the water

The crowds at the beach

Flam - didliom

We woke up and went straight to the trampoline and then had breakfast at the hotel. Then we got into the car and drove to Flam (said Flom). On the way there was lots of sheep on the road and we stopped a lot to look at the view. 

We arrived at about 1 pm and went into town. It is right next to the water and you look up and there are these massive, beautiful cliffs. 

In the afternoon we got on a bus to go to a nearby town to catch a cruise to the fjords. The bus went through some 5 km tunnels that were inside the mountain. The cruise was very fancy. I liked looking at all the views of the cliffs and the water. 

When we got back to our camp ground we made friends with a girl in the room next to us. She was 10 years old. She did Irish dancing like me. Olivia and Dad then went on a train which is meant to be the most scenic in the world. They saw a ginormous waterfall up close. 

Sheep on the road

One of the stops on the road

Us on the boat

Us Irish dancing outside the cabin

Dad and Olivia at the waterfall