italy

we got up at 2:30 in the morning and got in our five seater car and drove to liverpool airport. but there are six of us. bendy was on mums lap.
we werent caught but it was nerve racking when the police slowed down in front of us to make us pass them, then drove behind us...

but we caught our flight and arrived in rome fine. we picked up a hire car (7 seater) and drove north. we stopped in todi which is a small town on a hill. it was a picturesque italian town. it was beautiful. we had lunch in a pizzarea and then continued driving. we arrived in assisi eventually and found our hotel.
we then drove to the town centre to have a look around.
as we were walking around we decided to have a hot chocolate. but this was italian. they gave us chocolate syrup in a cup. it was great, i wanted more.
we then looked in a church and went back to the hotel.

the next day we went to st francis' cathedral. it was really quite large and had a similar sized crypt underneath. we also went to some other large church too.

then the following day we drove back to rome. as we approached rome we realised the traffic was going to be terrible. people in italy dont stay in there lane. they dont follow any speed limit, and they all like to yell.
we arrived and found the apartment we were staying in. it was on the fourth floor and there was no elevator. then we looked at another church before going to bed.

the next day we went to the vatican and saw st peters. it is massive. really massive. but we couldnt go up to the cupola because of the weather...
we then went to see the pantheon, but caught a tram we didnt need to catch and ended up later than we expected. and it was pouring.

but it was all good cos the next day we went to church and then went to the colloseum. its awesome. really cool. its really big and amazing to think about how they built it and have it survive 2000 years.

then we flew home today and dom caught the train back so we could be legal.

:)

germany!

germany was brilliant. i had an amazing time, and want to go back sometime. miriam and her family were wonderful, and i thank them for being so welcoming and for making me feel at home.

my trip started on the 27th of december when dad and i drove down to london. we were stuck in traffic, and moved about 3 miles in 2 hours. literally. we arrived in london at 10 after telling the people we were staying with that we would arrive at 5. it was a long boring trip in which i spent most of the time changing radio staition in an attempt to find something i liked.

dad and i left early the following the morning to go to standsted airport where my flight was from. we had expected traffic and there wasnt any so we were 2 hours early! we decided to drive on to cambridge because it was about 20 minutes away. as we were driving there we noticed that the traffic was not moving in the other direction, because there had been an accident. we were going to be in that traffic on the way back, and would probably miss my flight. so we turned around and went back through small streets all the way back to stansted and arrived on time
luckily.

the flight to germany was fine. i had a window seat although i couldnt see much due to clouds. miriam and her mum and sister were waiting for me at the airport, so as soon i arrived we left for her house. she lived in a small village north of bremen. as soon as we got in side i saw their christmas tree. it was amazing, it was a real tree but it was perfect and had real candles on it!!
then i was shown were i would be staying, i had a house in the garden just for me!!
it had its own bathroom and large bedroom with a fireplace!

the next day we went into the city of bremen. we arrived at about 10 or 11 and booked a guided your for 2oclock. we walked around the old part of bremen which is amazing and then went and looked at the river.
we had subway for lunch :)
the tour was in both english and german which was good. some of the city is incredibly old, like from the year 600!

the next day we went to the universum, which is like a museum were you can do lots of experiments and things. it was really fun, there was an exhibition on chocolate there, as well as a completely dark room which you have to find your way around in. but we payed for all three sections (the science center, the chocolate exhibition and the outside activities) but when we went to the outside part it was already closed because it dark outside :(
that night we had feuerzangenbowle which translates to burnt punch. it is a hot alcoholic drink where you pour rum over a cone of sugar and light it so the sugar melts into the punch. it was really nice!

the following day was new years eve, so we rode (on bikes) to the shops and bought some fireworks and some traditional german cakes (which were more like sweet buns than cakes). then got ready for the night.
we rode to the train station and found out that the train wasnt coming for half an hour because it was new years eve. after the train we caught a tram to the party. although it wasnt really a party as there were only 10 or 11 people there. we then played games like the type people play at youth group until just before 12. then we went into the street to do some fireworks. as soon as it got to 12 oclock the entire sky filled up with light there were so many fireworks! almost every house in the city had people in front of it launching skyrockets and roman candles, and of course firecrackers which just explode really loudly! there is nothing like it in nz.
we left at 2:30 and caught a bus to the central station. here we caught the night bus which goes to the train station were we left our bikes. then we rode back to miriams house. we got there at 5.
oh and there was smole absolutely everywhere. it was like fog.

i slept until 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon, and then we went to worpswede. worswede is a small artists town close to where miriam lives. it was settled in by a few artists in the late 1800s. we went into one of the artists houses and it had many of his works displayed there. i am not much of an art critic but i thought they were really good, and can understand how these original artists made the town a famous art community where many young artists still go to today.

the next day it snowed! not much just a centermetre or so, but it was still really nice!
we caught a train to hamburg which took about an hour and a half. here we met up with one of miriams friends who could speak english :)
we went on a bus tour around hamburg which was cool execpt that the english translation didnt work, so i just looked out the windows. when the guide realised the english wasnt working, he began speaking in english aswell which was much better. THERE ARE MORE BRIDGES IN HAMBURG THAN LONDON, AMSTERDAM AND VENICE TOGETHER!!!. yeah there is a lot of water.
after the tour we went to st michaels church because it has a really tall tower you can climb. we went up and there was an amazing view!! and it was freezing up there! like really really really cold!
i couldnt use the camera properly my fingers were too cold :P
then we went to the hamburg dungeon, which was really fun, but sadly it wasnt scary...
BUT it was in german and the actors kept pointing at me and asking me questions etc and i had no clue what was happening lol
then we had pizza and went home. it wasnt til we got back that i remembered i should of had a hamburger!!

the next day was thursday, and my last day in germany. we decided to go visit the north sea, which is a couple of hours drive away. we arrived there and it was about -3 degrees and the wind was blowing really strongly, so it felt like -10!
we walked along the beach for a while then went and had hot chocolates and cake inside to warm us up. then we drove back home.

we left early on friday to go to the airport for my flight, and got there early. so we had another hot chocolate, before saying goodbye.
the flight back was fine, but then i had to catch buses back to manchester where mum and dad picked me up, and we went home.

thankyou again to miriam and her family, they were incredibly kind, and i enjoyed being with them, especially when we played the german board games at night :)

thankyou,

london and oxford

london was brilliant. the whole central city is made of really old tall beautiful buildings, its wonderful. regent st, where there is most of the shops, was so packed cos of christmas shopping it was like parachute!
we saw tower bridge, the tower of london, the london eye, big ben, buckingham palace etc.
i want to live there, everything was so proper, and efficient!
the tube was also great, way fast than the buses. one time we caught a bus and it took 40 mins, and the same trip took 5mins on the tube...

then we went to oxford, it was almost as good, and would be the funnest place to go to uni!
there are heaps of bikes there it amazing. everyone rides them, they have 'bike car parks'.
i read an information pamphlet and it said 3000 are stolen from there every year!!

its christmas tomorrow :)
merry christmas everyone etc....

oh my gosh!!!

we were in the chorley town centre, and as we were going back to our car we saw a three wheeled car!!!!!
there was this old couple driving it as if it was normal. i laughed :P

england

we flew out of washington dc last thursday. we had originally planned to arrive in washington dc 3 days before, but ended up arriving on wednesday night due to benedicts fractured skull. as we drove into washington we went through the centre of town to see the capitol and the white house etc. luckily the air and space museum hadnt closed yet and so we ran in for half an hour. it was amazing! there was the wright flyer, the spirit of st louis, the apollo 11 command module, the X1 and an X15!!!
then on thursday morning we went to the second air and space museum and saw the blackbird, the space shuttle enterprise, and many more famous planes!

our flight to london was fine. i was sitting by myself ass one of our tickets was separate from the others (i asked to have it). sadly the 'in flight entertainment' system kept failing to work, and so i couldnt watch movies for the first half of the flight. eventually when i got it working, i saw an indian movie about a girl who had live in britain for her whole life, and didnt want to marry a 'nice indian boy'. i chose it cos all the other movies didnt work, but it ended up being quite funny :)

after arriving in london we had to go through customs and immigration, which took ages cos the lady at the desk didnt understand dad. and how he is coming here on sabbatical etc.

we then flew to manchester, and then trained to where we were staying. the house we are staying in is nice, and more importantly its warm, cos outside is freezing!

emily (my sister) arrived this morning, i got up at 5 to go meet her at the airport, and now im insanely tired cos i didnt get to sleep until late...

thats all for now, we might or might not be going to london on thursday, depending on how benedict is feeling :)

miracle child

benedict is a miracle child.
on monday, we were walking into the williamsberg township thing (it has old shops and workhouses, and people in costumes doing blacksmith stuff etc) and benedict was falling behind. i went over picked him up and began running towards mum and dad. then i slipped.
his head hit the concrete. he was unconscious. with 30 seconds mum had awakened him. but he said he was feeling funny, and kept wimpering. we straight away took him to the local emergency clinic. they told us he had to go to the hospital for a cat scan.
when we finnally arrived, he was sent of for his car scan while i had my hand bandaged (it had been badly grazed by the fall). we waited. ages later the doctor came back with the results. he had a fractured skull and some internal bleeding. i had cracked my cute 6yr old brothers head. i felt terrible.
they transfered him to a larger hospital about an hour away (he went in an ambulance). here they took him to intensive care and took more catscans. after hours of waiting (me and dom couldnt see him as he was only allowed 2 guests;mum and dad) we were told he would be moved to the pediatrics intensive care unit. the fall had happened at about 9 in the morning. it was now 7 at night. most of the day was just waiting and praying. probably the worst day of my life.

the following day they took another catscan, and when the results came through, they thought it would be ok to move him out of the intensive care unit, into the normal pediatric unit. he was talking fine and smiling and just watched catroons all day. then this morning we got a call from the hospital from mum who was staying with him. the doctors had look at him and the internal bleeding was completely gone!! this was a miracle, because it meant we could keep our flight on thursday to england. (if he had internal bleeding he couldnt fly, and we were about to delay the flight until monday).
the doctor said it was extremely unusual for all the blood to have been absorbed by now as it usually takes up to two weeks. his was gone in two days.

the doctors say he will be completely fine and the fractured skull will take about 10-12 weeks to heal.

thanks to everyone who prayed (especially to my hardcore catholic sister :P)

more

yesterday we went to kennedy space centre, which is at cape cannaveral. its where all the space shuttles are launched, and all the american rockets have been launched in the passed (including the apollo missions to the moon in the 60s). we arrived at about 9:30 and went straight to the bus tour of the complex. the place is gigantic, because it is not just a museum etc, but actually where the rockets are assembled, where the astronauts train, and everything is controlled from! the tour took us to the saturn v hanger, which is where they house an unused saturn v rocket. the saturn v is the largest type of rocket ever flown and when u see it, it looks even bigger. it is on its side, and the engines at the base are about 4 stories high!!! its incredibly long and is separated into its different stages so u can see it better.
when we left here we went to the international space station building where there was a short movie and a mock up of the space station. that was ok, but the best bit here was seeing the creation (through large windows) of actual sections of the space stations!
then the tour went back to where we started. we went on a shuttle launch experience ride which wasnt that great, and saw an imax movie about the moon.

oh yeah, and they postponed the shuttle launch so we didnt see it :(
as u have probably noticed im a bit of a space geek...

today we left early from our hotel and drove for 5 hours up north to charlston. this is a really old city which has lots of small streets and tightly packed buildings (in the historic district). its hundreds of years old and really beautiful. they have 'horse and carts' driving up and down through here. so far this is the nicest part of america ive seen; if i were to live in the usa, it would be here. the houses are big and many are on the beach :)

tomorrow we are driving further north to williamsberg which was originally the capital city. this is another long car drive, before reaching washington dc the following day :D

still no pictures as im too tired to attempt loading them now...