European Trip, Part 7

December 30 2009
On this day, my Uncle and I went to the Mont Blanc mountains.  Because I was tired, I didn't really want to go in the snow.  I had stayed up for 38 hours.

December 31 2009
Went to UNICEF with Uncle to meet his friend Mara.  Learnt about the greeting card process.  Went to the Botanical Gardens, which was opposite UNICEF.  Went to weigh my bags at my airport: large suitcase was 26 kilograms and the small suitcase was 14 kilograms.  My Aunt and Uncle's friends Christian, his wife and two toddlers came over for dinner.  For dinner we had raclette, which was de-li-cious!  The people across the road had begun to celebrate at 11:30PM with a massive cow bell.

January 1 2010
I had a pretty chilled out day.  I spoke on MSN to Cherish before reading the Twilight parody, Nightlight.

January 2-3 2010
I cannot remember these two days, but it was just catching my plane from Geneva to Zurich to Hong Kong to Brisbane.

I hope you enjoyed my little jounal posts on my European Trip

European Trip, Part 6

December 21 2009
The only tourist attraction which I had done was seeing the Arc de Triomphe before arriving at the airport.  The plane to Geneva was delayed for two hours because of the snow, so I was able to read Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

December 22 2009
This day was very plain and just helped my Uncle pack their items into boxes as they were moving into a new house/apartment which was just outside the Paris/Geneva border.

December 23 2009
Today was the moving day to their new house/apartment in Paris.  After we had unpacked everything, I had taken 28 plants from the lift to the outside porch - which caused my back to ache.  It had taken ten hours to pack and unpack the stuff which was moved.  We watched USA's SYTYCD Season 6 Finale and made a list of the DVDs I want to buy/watch.

December 24 2009
As it was Christmas Eve, I got to decorate the Christmas Tree, the apartment and the dining table.  Watched My Sister's Keeper and Public Enemies.  Took heaps of photographs of the red roses which were on the dining table.  Watched Wuthering Heights with my Aunt after dinner.

December 25 2009
The Christmas gifts which I had received from my Aunt and Uncle included:

• Photo fame with image of Eiffel Tower
• Jumper
• Necklace
• Book
• Swiss Chocolate (which I had finished it all that night)
• Ticket to see Circus du Soleih with Aunt and Uncle

Talked to my parents and my brother.  I had Roast Goose with roast vegetables before watching three episodes of The Vicor of Dibley - so incredibly funny!

My lovely table decorating

Aunt, Uncle and I

 December 26 2009
On this day, technically at night, we saw Cirque du Soleil.  It was amazing!  I loved the juggler, mime, trapeze performance and the man on the bicycle.  When we got back to their place, we played Scrabble and Rummikub before having left overs for dinner.


December 27 2009
Just had a lazy day, since I was so exhausted from travelling to all of these different destinations and just wanted to have the last few days to relax.  I rewatched My Sister's Keeper before going to the World Heath Organisation (WHO) where my Uncle worked.

December 28 2009
This day only consisted of one thing: IKEA.  I had never been to an IKEA store before, and I was so excited to go to one.  I swear, I would love to live in an IKEA store, because it has all of your needs.

December 29 2009
My Aunt and Uncle had to go back to IKEA and decided to let me go see Avatar at the movie cinemas.  It was great, loved the graphics, however, there were French subtitles which did distract me,  After dinner, I planned my 'Power' concept map for my art class next year.  I never went to bed that night.

Moon, I can see you!

European Trip, Part 5

December 16 2009
This day was quite quiet, as we had only gone to the art museum, D'Art De Catalunya (MNAC) and to Casa Mila.  

MNAC

MNAC

Casa Mila

View from Casa Mila

 December 17 2009
As this was my last day in Barcelona, I was buying souvenirs for my parents - two mosaic figurines of an elephant (for my mum) and a bull (for my dad).  On the train to the airport, we came across two guys from New Mexico who had accents from California/New York and were hot!  Our flight was delayed for 50 minutes to Paris, which was quite annoying.  We both decided to go to a restaurant and it was between Greek and Indian - we chose Indian.  I had a Tandoori Chicken with a Mango drink, which were delicious.  

December 18 2009
Woke up to snow, which was a first for me.  I had crepes for breakfast before having a chocolate croissant as  my Aunt and I were walking to the train station.  My Aunt booked a ticket for me, €42, for the Russian Ballet which was on that night at the Opéra Garnier.  I bought five books to read and a Paris bag.  After that, we went to The Lourve, my Aunt didn't go in because she had already been there heaps of times and I didn't have to pay entry because under 18s are free.  I got lost almost immediately, which was incredibly annoying, so I hadn't seen that many artworks, sadly.  After the Lourve, my Aunt went in line to purchase a ticket for the Russian Ballet, however, I had to leave when the 'alarm' went for people to go to their seats.

Waking up to snow, was wonderful

Opéra Garnier where I saw the Russian Ballet

First time seeing the Eiffel Tower

The Lourve

Venus de Milo

Opéra Garnier before Russian Ballet began

Beautiful ceiling of Opéra Garnier

December 19 2009
When I woke up, my Uncle had arrived - he was suppose to arrive last night but his plane was delayed for 5 hours because of the snow.   On this day we went to Notre Dame and Museé d'Orsay.  I was so excited in seeing Notre Dame, as I am a massive fan in Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

Museé d'Orsay clock

In Museé d'Orsay

December 20 2009
Went to Versailles with my Uncle and it snowed, which was awesome.  It was really strange to see these incredibly small beds - they would pile up their pillows.  Later that night, my Aunt and I went to the Eiffel Tower and went on a boat cruise.

Outer gate

Inner gate, look at the snow!

The gardens - couldn't go out, snowing too much

Eiffel Tower

View of Eiffel Tower on boat tour

European Trip, Part 4

December 12 2009
This was my last day with Deborah and it was my only chance to buy gifts for my friends and family.  After Deborah had to drop off the twin Jessie at a friend's house, we stopped over in St Albans, where my Dad had grown up before going to where Barry and Sheena lived, whose house I was going to be staying for the night.  Their house apparently is over $3 million and just by seeing just three rooms, I can see why.  It was so beautiful!  Deborah, Barry, Sheena and I all went to an Italian restaurant which was amazing.  The items in the walls varied from fish nets to vespas to clowns.  I had the "Mama's Meatballs and Spaghetti" as well as real Italian vanilla and chocolate icecream for dessert.

My dad's birthplace in St Albans

Barry and Sheena's amazing house

House up close

December 13 2009
That morning, I was taking a flight to Barcelona, Spain where I would meet my other Aunt half an hour after I touched down since her flight from Switzerland.  My large suitcase was 5 kilograms lighter and Barry had given me €50, which was so nice of him.  I bought an Elle magazine, two packets of M'n'Ms, two London bus keyrings and two earmuffs - one for Cherish. 

After I had reached Barcelona, I bought two more magazines before waiting for my Aunt to arrive.  During the time while I was waiting, I read my Allure magazine and some of the M'n'Ms, before one of the Spanish security guards tried to have a conversation with me which was incredibly awkward before we couldn't understand each other.  Thankfully my Aunt arrived and we left to go to the apartment we were staying.  After we had put our bags in our room, we walked down La Rambla, had a meringue, went in the backyard of the cathedral which we called our "local church" (Note: I am not religious, so going into churches was to see the architecture and items on display) and went to a Christmas Market.  On the first night, I had whacked my ankle on the shower because there was no mat (it was incredibly slippery) which gave me a bruide.

My aunt took a photo as I ate a meringue

Candles inside the "local church"

At the Christmas Markets

Street mime hugging my Aunt

Jesus statue in the "local church"

December 14 2009
It rained this day, which was quite annoying but we both bought slippers for only €3 ea.  My Aunt and I also took a tour of Palau de Musica Catalana before seeing Gaudi's works the Sagrada Familia and to Casa Batllo - Casa Batllo is my favourite Gaudi work.  That night from 8-11PM, we went to a concert at the Palau de Musica Catalana.

First night I saw this, it scared me

Barcelona

Palau de Musica Catalana

Sagrada Famila

Casa Batllo, just as the lights turned on

December 15 2009
Went to the Picasso museum, which was brilliant, since Picasso is my favourite artist.  I was amazed to see his artworks before they became all abstract, he was incredible with "normal" paintings.  After the Picasso museum, we passed a masquerade mask shop (Wanted to go in sooo badly) before going to Parc Guell and Casa Museu Gaudi.  On this day, I had also bought my Barcelona bag.

Picasso Museum

Masquerade masks

Parc Guell

Close up

Underneath Parc Guell on the ceiling