The Bailey Expedition - Griffin's Europe

Europe Through Griffin's Eyes

Today we are in Europe in Heidelburg. Yesterday we went to see the Castle. I really liked seeing the castle, it was one castle but with many, maybe 20 parts. And I got to see the footprint of the knight that had jumped out of the window nbecause he did not want to get caught by the prince who had come home in the night earlier than the knight thought (what was he doing anyway?). The castle had a gift shop, restaurants, the second largest keg of Wine in the world and the largest keg of wine in the whole wide world, galaxy, universe. Also in Germany, my dad went up a road that led to a walkway and we were stuck in there because it was such a tight corner that we could not just turn around. So we backed out but before we backed out, I saw this man come over and stand a meter away from the car and scratch his head. A German word for exit is ausfart (aws - fart). We went to a cathedral that went up high, high to the sky, but the thing is, going round and round about 200 times and then standing up on a building that is really high up and looking down is not my dad's thing. The view was fanstatic, undescribable, was fit for more than words. Thats all folks.

Germany - Rothenberg
The home of piece and quiet and harmony. Our nexoerience in Rottenberg was very nice. If you were born in rothenberg you would be called a Rothenburger. Frankfuirt, Frankfurter. Heidelberg, Heidelberger. Man am I hungry just saying that. In Rothenburger we followed a night watchman who had a very sharp ax and and showed us around. There is a place just like a bar and our night watchman called it Hell (that was its name). So when it is late a night you can either walk the wall or you can go to hell. So if someone calls out go to hell, that is a good recommendation. We also climbed this very very high tower that took a long time to get up there. Up Up Up , scoot to the side, people trying to get past you. When I got to the top I almost killed my dad with the death grip. Rothenberg was very very full of people, shops, little inns, but the bad thing is that they all cost in Euros. The place we stayed at was cheap. If you like playmobile, go to Rothenberg, they have this little store that has playmobile specials and all kinds of stuff, from little to big to quizes to cars, they have all kinds of playmobile, guaranteed.

Germany, Munich
In Munich we kept driving until we saw the central clock tower, and we were like oh yes they have these little figures that move, so we raced over there and as soon as we could see it, it started. My favorite part was the knights jousting, there was a red knight and the black knight. The top people did a little dance and then we thought it was all over, then I saw something moving, the bottom people started. There was much dancing with the bottom people. Also in Munich I drank a little beer, I mean the age limit is like four. But first I will tell you where we were. we were in the the Hofbrauhouse in Munich, Bavaria Germany. Now lets get back to the beer. So I thought it would be fun, so I took a swig, and I almost needed a whole 10 packages of sugar in my moyuth, it was so plain and sour, it was like eating baking chocolate. But after that I tried a little pretzel, the key food in Bavaria.

Germany-Fussen
The home of King Ludwig, known to be crazy King Ludwig, but I don't call him crazy because he was nice to nature just like me. If you don't think I am nice to nature you can write me and I will send back and angry email ; ) I saw both of his castles and it was no photos inside, but we were able to capture photos outside (see the left). I took a picture from the bridge that had a great view of the castles. Well, actually you might say I might ahve taken more than 90. I made a whole movie. The inside of the castles was undescribable, if you went there you would stammer and babble in one place, not to mention where there was great painting. Too bad we couldn't take any photos inside. I loved Germany, but now we are going on to Switzerland, where I might get my first real made directly from the factory, Swiss Army Knife.

Switzerland - Lauterbrunnen
Now in Lauterbrunnen, we are counting the days until we hear Meow, Meow... We have gone up to the Swiss Alps, as you can see on your right, there is a picture of me, my swiss army knife in the swiss alps. In the Swiss Alps, we got to go into the revolving resturant where it blew up in a James Bond Movie (the first movie, Her Majesty's Secret Service lucky it didn;t blow up when we were there, or right now we would be typing this from a cloud). I got to the restaurant by a gondola that we took all the way to the the Schilthorn mountain. The name of the restaurant on the very top of the mountain is Piz Gloria. Hiking was fun. The grass was beautiful , the view was worth a hundred Euros (whatever the rate is). Also in Switzerland I got my first Magnum White, vanilla icecream with white chocolate coaring. Also I persuade my mom and dad to get my brother a green handled army knife that was perfect for him. And also I got the Camper knife. It was lovely to be in switzerland, next we are going to be in Italy.

Italy - Florence
Today we are in Florence. We have been strolling around and looking at places and I finally found my shop which has all the things you can name, playstation 2, game cube, game boy advance, game boy color, PC etc. etc. Also in Florence, we went to the museum that we actually only came to Florence for, the museum that had the David. and there was this computer like thing that you could use to see up close the David's head, the David's arm, the David's leg or the whole David. Also in Florence we went to the chapel just in time to hear singing of tourists we did not now where they came from but believe you me thay could sing! Also we went to the art musuem , but when we tried to go in the the automatic door did not open. Luckly someone came out and before it closed we went inside for it was still open and we wanted to go there. There was a very nice piece of the museum, it was called Michalengelo's Pieta, it was originally built by him and once he made a flaw in it and he raged with anger and smashed the leg of the statue of Jesus off (ow). Also in the place we stayed at they had perfect plum cakes. If we go back to Florence, it wasn't a hotel, but to me it was 5 star.

Italy - Rome
Today we are in Rome. Yesterday we went to the coliseum and we saw the narrow lines for the animals that were too tight to turn around once they knew that they were going to get slaughtered by the gladiators. If I saw a creature coming down the narrow path if I was with it, I would pull it up if its front was in the air, twist it. and let it go, and it could run back into the wild where it would be wild and free safe from the gladiators for that time. It better to live a little longer, than to die immediately. Today we went to the Vatican. In the Vatican we saw many paintings, and my dad said I could be one room ahead, so right after I go t into a room I went ahead. In one room there was a security camera spying down on them so I got to see when other tourists would come in and surround them.
Right now we are in a hotel that is a Holiday Inn, I feel better already, in Florence we were staying in a hotel that had no ice refillers, but here you just go part way down the hall and there is an ice filler, oh did I mention that you can get your shoes polished nice and neet for the day. Today we went to the Basilica as well and at the Basilica we went up the dome, we thought we were going to go into the inside, but actually we made it up to the tip tippy top and to the outside. I almost gave my dad a blood clot with a death grip of scared of the nerve wrecking height. It felt like I was up in the sky in heaven, except below the clouds. When I peared over the edge, it was like I can do this, I can do this, oh how that is too deep I am not going there, bye. But also we made it to the middle of the dome where there was piece-of-stone by piece-of-stone, stone painting. Today and yesterday was very perfect, sadly tomorrow we are almost leaving Rome.

Italy - Pisa
We have seen the leaning tower of Pisa and I have taken over 100 pictures of just the leaning tower. We went into the leaning tower of Pisa, when we got the top, my mom had to hold my hand, then we went up to the medium top and my dad had to hold my hand, then we wanted to go to the top top and we had to go back down. So back down we went. If it was just a smooth platform that you ran up and just slid down, you could go to the top, have a luge travel tunnel, and get a scateboard, a helmet and pads cause you are gonna be in for a wild ride. Going and seeing an playing around the leaning tower of Pisa was the most exciting thing a kid could do, except for take home the tower of Pisa. It was funner than seeing a snapping turtle up close, getting to touch it and not getting snapped. More exciting than putting a rubber band around a crocodiles's mouth. More beautifiul than seeing mother nature in a human form. I like Pisa wish we could come back. And to all my friends out there and everyone out there, 11 days till I get home.

France - Frejus
In Frejus I had a Cornetto soft. It is, you pick a flavor, they take a little cylander about as tall as a glass, and they put it into a machine, there is this lever that you pull down and a thing comes down and presses the tub and there is a little swirl thing and the icecream comes down in a swirl. Here is the bad thing, you don't get all of the icecream. And it costs over $2 for a less than fifty cents thing. Also in Frejus I went swimming in the Mediterranean and I actually saw a fish aprox 3 inches a way from me. At the beach I saw people playing, selling stuff like beignets (doughnuts) and people were singing out like in a soap opera thing. At first when you get into the water your're going to become ice cold, but then when you swim around and twist and turn in the water it gets a little warm but when you swim out as far as the boat, and then you swim down to the bottom, if your back is sensitive to cold, you'll want to get up in an instant, guaranteed. If you ever go to Frejus, bring your credit card and go to the hotel l'oasis, it might not be the closest to the beach, but to us it was closest to a 5 star hotel.

France - Paris
Yesterday we went to the Eiffel tower. We took the elevator most of the way because if you walked to the very top it would be like trekking 80 kilometers in one day. When we got to the top, I got to see some of Paris, and also my dad gave me 2 Euros to see through the telescope thing. When you went down the stairs from the very very top, there was directions of where Bagdad, Iraq; Wellington, New Zwealand; Los Angeles, USA; and other places were. Some were less than 9,000 K some were more than 9000k, some were almost 10,000. I bought a tiny Eiffel tower from a little souvineer shop that had Paris written on it. When we got out of the Eiffel Tower we could see it glittering for 2 whole minutes then it just stopped and there was a light on the Eiffel Tower. Getting on the Eiffel Tower was like winning your first trophy in your whole life. Today we are in the Marais district of Paris and today is our last day before we leave for Amsterdam so we went to Notre Dame, the place where Quasimodo (funky name) rang all the bells so much that he became deaf. I got a little coin that showed just the Notre Dame towers and base. We even saw the great bell. Being in Paris is fun but tomorrow we have to move on to Amsterdam, I wonder if we will get a souviner from there?

Paris to Amsterdam
Being in the Anne's Frank house was amazing. I even saw a secret book case that was actually a door. I even got to see a little diagram of the whole house. Towards the end I saw this video clip of this guy who is still alive but he looked like a skeleton that had flesh and skin. The man was in the Nazi concentration camp. In the Frank's family, only Otto Frank survived. We took a little boat ride out to the canals of Amsterdam, Holland. While we were on the tour this man was going around selling drinks and we bought two seltzers or "bubbly water" as we would say in New Zealand (God bless New Zealand), and we saw this ship-like building that was a museum. At the end of the tour, I was wishing we would have that tour all over again. We had lots of fun, we liked it a lot and all our family would love, at least I would love, to go on that trip thing again. The place where we got off the boat was at the grasshopper bar. The grasshopper had their own coasters and we have four of those coasters. We stayed at the Saint Nicholas hotel and I met a cat there that was very fun to play with, but very hard to play with. You had better watch out because the cat might get a little annnoyed and scratch you.

Final Reflection (work in progress)

\I think on our trip all the places we went were great but I think I like New Zealand the best, I made good friends, I had good teachers, very nice ones and I loved spending that lovely 3 months in New Zealand. But now we are home and right now that is all I could wish for, to just stay at home. I think every continent has a language, every country has their culture, every person has their likings, and I think I have seen just about all of them. We went to 5 out of the 7 continents so at least we must have seen a million people if not a million, them maybe a little more. I learned from this trip not everything is war, but sometimes its friendship, that is why I loved New Zealand so much, that is where I made my best friends. I think shopping and playing and sightseeing in all these places we have been to are all that a kid could ask for. I think that out of all the people in the world, Cairo, Bali Aboriginal, Australia, Maori, New Zealand etc, everyone is different, not all people are similar, even thought they might be from the same place. They might have the same skin color and might be still from the same country, but still not similar. Each person has his or her own thoughts, the only thing that could make them similar, if they thought the same, if they liked the same, and if they hated the same things. Yet every person is the same because we all have our 5 senses and we all (to be continued...)