Legoland

For all you lego lovers out there - 20 million lego bricks have been used to build minitures of many famous buildings - here are a few examples. If you click on the photo it will open in another window and you will see the amazing detail they have achieved.

In the UK

Hi all we have been in thr UK for a week now - great catching up with family and friends. have been into London a couple of times and visited some of the iconic attractions. London seems much cleaner than when we were last here 11 years ago.

FRANCE!!!

Bonjour everyone, how's it in Windy Welly??? It's around 40 degrees here, wherever we go, we're sweating all over! So far we've been to:

Montpellier - We arrived in Montpellier by train from Barcelona on Saturday 27^th of June. It was 39 degrees with no humidity.

We picked up our Motor home from here (the motor home is really cool, but really hot inside… it's over 7 meters long and much wider than a normal van, sometimes we don't think we'll fit down the little streets). We then drove to le Grande Motte (the large mound). Which is a very flash marine area which the tour de France passes through in a couple of days (it starts tomorrow…). This camp site had about four giant pools and 3 waterslides!!!

Avignon – City of Popes – this walled city was once the site of the Vatican before it moved to Rome. We went on the Ferris wheel here and got fantastic views of the walled city. It is also famous for its incompleate brudge - in the french song - Sur le pont d’Avignon L'on y danse, l'on y danse Sur le pont d’Avignon L'on y danse tout en rond (On the bridge of Avignon We all dance there, we all dance there On the bridge of Avignon We all dance there in a ring).

Aix on Provence - Aix is often referred to as the city of a thousand fountains including the
three fountains down the central Cours Mirabeau that produce natural hot water at 34°C, and is said to be mildly radioactive!!

Antibes (where the rich people play) – We have realized that the beaches in the south of France do not compare to the wonderful expanses of fine sand we have at home. You also have to try and find an empty couple of square meters to lay your towel out on and claim as your own space. We also noted that the togs over here are some times invisible :)

Cannes (where the film festivals are held) – we had a great walk around Cannes, looking in all the wonderful shops such as Gucci, Christian Dior, Louie Viiton, Porsche, Lamborghini etc. We did not see any film stars = the only major festival on at the moment is the launch of the new PS3, Xbox and other electronic games for the new season. Everywhere we go in Europe we see great cars – we will put some cool pics up of Aston Martin's and Bentleys – and the odd Porsche of course.

Monaco and Monte Carlo – Monaco/Monte Carlo famous for the Grand Prix and James Bond (Casino Royal). We were able to walk around the area where the Tour de France starts tomorrow. The south of France was pretty cool although not at all what we expected. We based ourselves at a campground in Antibes and caught the train down to Cannes one day, and to Monaco another day. The Tour de France was starting in Monaco the next day. Louis went swimming in some quite deep water in Monaco and came out saying the fish were nibbling him and it tickled - turned out it wasn't fish - he was being stung by a jellyfish! Which might have been okay except a couple of days later he brushed up against some stinging nettle and the slight rash he had had became an all over systemic rash. I was quite worried about him so we smothered him in Anthisan cream and gave him some Prednisone and he's been fine (still some slight evidence of the rash now). Only Louis eh!?

We have had a great week but the motor home was very large - over 7 meters long and 3.2 meters high which is very stressful driving down those narrow village streets. However, we got to Antibes no problem (well actually a minor scraping of a poor local villagers car! Oops!).

Paris - It continues to be very hot where ever we go. After dropping off the motor home yesterday west of Paris, we had to get a bus, a train and two metro trains to the apartment - took about an hour and a half with us, the boys and all our luggage - no small feat! I am absolutely paranoid about keeping an eye on the boys - there are some weird people about! It doesn't feel as safe as Barcelona.

The apartment in Paris is fantastic! It's two bedrooms and is really five star standard. It has a PS3, a DVD player and two large flat screen TV's so the boys are happy! It is situated just around the corner from the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre and a short walk to Sacre Coeur. It is very busy and vibrant around here. Oliver is in his element because he can buy small fire-works in the shop across the road!

Today we have been to the Eiffel Tower which was great - we walked up to the second level (great for the thighs!) and then the elevator to the top and same coming back down again. It was great. Also saw Princess Diana's memorial over the tunnel where she died. We went to Sacre Coeur (the big church on a hill overlooking all of Paris at 9.30 at night - it was still very light and a big crowd were there listhening to a band playing great music.

Not sure what the plan is tomorrow but we want to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, take a boat trip down the Seine, etc etc.

The gondola…

Hello, hola, สวัสดี, kumusta, 餵, xin chào, përshëndetje, bonjour, tere, Ola and הָלוֹ! (All different ways of saying hello – more tomorrow)

Hi again, today we went on a gondola over a big harbor with lots of private super yachts, I'm sorry I cant say more but I'm really tired and today was boring

Anyway, heres a riddle for you to give you a clue about something else we did today (it was really boring) – ABC - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

See you tomorrow…

Hi from Cath and David - Cathy's musings!

Hi everyone!

I can't believe we have only been away just over a week - feels more like six! What was supposed to be a 40 hour journey over here turned into 60 (!) thanks to a 17 hour delay in Melbourne - this included 4 hours sitting on the plane on the tarmac going nowhere due to a defect on the plane. Spent about 5 hours sleeping at the Hilton then queued and queued before finally leaving Melbourne 4 pm on the afternoon after we were meant to have left at 11 pm the day before! Finally got to Barcelona 24 hours after our scheduled arrival time. However, all that is forgotten now as we have had such an amazing time since!

Paul and Xavi's (pronounced Chabi) wedding celebrations went on for days and were absolutely fantastic and mind blowing. After a great party at the zoo on Friday night (lots of dancing - very very sore feet the day after!), the actual offical wedding was Saturday morning at the town hall which is a building that is about 700 years old! It certainly felt quite medieval. It is absolutely beautiful. We have sightseen heaps of Barcelona and done so much more. It is an absolutely amazing experience! Barcelona is a beautiful and vibrant city. David and I were last here (briefly) in 1995 and before that in 1990 and we have noticed changes even in that time, although essentially the city stays the same as it is very old, the atmosphere and general upkeep is what is different.

Our apartment is great - plenty of room for us all and a school as a neighbour - the kids all finished school for the summer break (~ 10 weeks) yesterday. Today is a public holiday as the Barcelonians celebrate the feast of Sant Joan. Last night we all went on the Metro to a street that was closed off for a party to celebrate St Joan - with a bonfire right there in the middle of the street! Fireworks and crackers going off constantly - it was a bit like being in a war zone - these spaniards are crazy (they call it loco)! No concept of safety - people in NZ would have kittens! Today we walked up to Sagrada Familia and back and still people persisted in setting off these bl**!y crackers and still thinking they were funny - I didn't!! The apartment is in the Barri Gotica - the old part of the city with very narrow streets and very interesting shops and people living here. We already feel like locals!

Climate is fantastic - consistently between 25 and 30 degrees - we feel for all of you in Wellywood in those cold temps!
We leave Barcelona on Saturday for 2 weeks in France then on to England.

Keep a track of the blog as this will track our progress!

Beach and fireworks by Louis!

Hi again. Today we went to the beach at Sitges. We went on the train. It took about 40 minutes. The town was very old and the streets are really narrow. It's quite a small town but there are lots of people living there. When we went to the beach we hired a boat in the shape of a car and it even had wheels. The roof was a slide. It was really fun and I did a back flip off, and jumped off the highest part into the water. This is the Mediterranean Sea. We had lunch at a beachside restaurant with Uncle Paul and Uncle Xavi. One of our new Spanish friends, Sara came with this us. She can speak Spanish, Catalan and English. We had whole baby squid for lunch. It was yummy. After that we went back on the train to Barcelona. At about 10 o'clock last night Uncle Paul and Xavi came around with some fireworks. There was a firework called the Buzzy Bee and there were some wrapped up in paper that you throw on the ground and it makes a bang! Later on we went to a bonfire in the middle of the road with heaps of people having a party with millions of fireworks. I'll try and write again later on in the week. Ciao! Louis.

The beach and fireworks by Oli

Hi again - sorry I haven't written in a while but it's been so fun!!! Yesterday we went to a beach called Sitges it was warm and sunny and we hired a pedal boat with a slide on it that leads into the water on the beach there was this guy who was a professional sand sculptor and he was making a dolphin going over a wave… when we got home we had a siesta because Paul and Xavi were coming over with fireworks to celebrate Saint-Juan. Later that night we went out into the city to see a big bonfire in the middle of the street and lots of fireworks. In Spain they have lots of fireworks different to the ones in N.Z like ones that you light and they just make a big bang, and other ones that are little stones (gunpowder) wrapped in paper that you throw on the ground and they explode and make a little spark (I threw one at the neighbors' house and they shouted something at me) another firework was like a buzzy bee and it spins up in the air and whistles, our uncle Xavi lit one and it went up and lit our neighbors' upstairs towel on fire a bit… : (

Hope to talk to you tomorrow and I'll try and get some photos in…

See ya, Oli

Monday from Louis

Hi guys,
Sorry I couldn't get to write to you earlier because I was soo busy doing other things! I'm having a really great time. we went to the beach (Barceloneta) on Saturday. Yesterday we went into the countryside to my uncle's village. It's called L'Espluga De Francoli. I saw lizards and we heard a snake hissing. And I kicked over a rock and there were these huge ants - about a centimetre long and a few of them bit me.
We visited the famous monestry called Poblet - this is where all the old Kings and Queens are buried.
Today we might go to the Barcelona Zoo. We were there on Friday night for the wedding party. It was awesome. I got to stay up until 2.30 in the morning!
Will write again soon:)

Saturday - 21st June

hello again! We just got back from the beach and it was really hot there was one of those pyramid climbing frames made of red rope (like the one at oriental bay...). We've just got home and we're going to try to make a video about barcelona and post it on the blog. Louis and Jack found a new lizard and named it Grease Lightning. its a pity the other ones got away... And Grandma just released our new one ( Grease Lightning ). Have you heard about what happened at melbourne??? Well... apparently there were some "minor difficulties" with the plane and we had to stay the night at the hilton hotel (it was free)... In the morning we got a $30 voucher each to spend at any book or food store in melbourne airport ( for the trouble we had to go through such as missing our flights etc. and for the time that was wasted sitting on a still plane for 4 hours). Any way, we got two copies of the 2nd hendersons boys book and we got some comics and the black eyed peas album (The E.N.D). so that was a pain but it had its up-sides. see you all in 6 weeks!!!

Oli

Wedding Day

hey guys, today was the day that uncle paul and xavi got married in a really old church we are family of paul and we got to sit in the V.I.P seats at the sides of the church. at the moment we are supposed to be having a siesta but i broke a glass in the bedroom, and we are not allowed in. very soon we will be going to the beach with some new friends who live in the apartment under pauls. we are very tired from the party last night because we were partying till 2:30 am and we had to get up early for the wedding. alot ofd family are coming over for dinner tonight and we hope to stay up late again but maybe not get up early. Tomorrow we might go to the zoo or maybe tibidabo again... hope you like the pictures from yesterday, see you on the blog tomorrow... oli

Seeing the sights - cool!

hi again, today we went on a double decker tourist bus (with no roof on the top) around barcelona. We went past the segrada familia, olympic village, stadium and pools we also went past the soccer stadium and lots of old historic buildings. Afterwards we walked down the la rambla's which is a walkway swarmed with buskers, pickpockets and mini petshops. in the petshops there were lots of animals including chipmunks, chameleons, meerkats, fish, mice, guinea pigs etc... we've just got home and we're going to have a siesta because tonight at 9pm we are going to the zoo for uncle paul's wedding reception. right now we're watching the movie bedtime stories...

we should have some photos pretty soon but we're waiting for the camera to charge.

see ya,
Oli

Day One - Tibidabo fun-park

hi all, today - friday we went to this really cool theme park called Tibidabo it was really cool and there were tons of rides. One rollercoaster called Dragon Khan was really fast and you could feel heaps of g-force, to get there we had to walk to the underground train (metro), then catch a train to the bottom of the hill Tibidabo is on, then bus up the hill a bit, then we caught a cable car up the hill to Tibidabo when we got back there was a pile of empty cardboard boxes by the door to our apartment so we took 5 upstairs and sellotaped one on top of another with my cousin Harry inside ( he had no problem getting out...). the kids bed room is really cool, we've got our own 42 inch plasma TV and a ladder leading to an upstairs mezzanine with a bathroom and a king size bed, theres also a big sofa downstairs that is the shape of a square with two lines removed...

Oli

On the way - at last!

Hi everyone, im in Barcelona. Its so cool!!! theres old brick houses everywhere and the house we're renting is awesome! Theres these really weird gypsy shops and they sell really weird things like funny shoes and massive lampshades. anyway today i think we're going to the beach or on a mountain climb... my brother louis and our cousin jack have caught two lizards and are making a hotel for them out of cardboard boxes we stole from a building site next door, they're hoping to find some more lizards on the beach or mountain climb see you in 7 WEEKS!!!

Oli

Getting ready for the big trip!

Only 4 weeks to go -

and we will be on our way.

First stop - Melbourne - just for a few hours but will catch up with friend.

Second stop - Hong Kong

Third stop - London

Forth stop - Barcelona for 11 days

The Drive around the South of France and up through Lyon to Paris.

We have about 6 days in paris before we shoot through the Euro tunnel back to the United Kindom to spend 3 weeks with family around London and Devon.

We provide update and photo's as we go - see you all soon.