Serento and Siena

Okay everything is really backed up so I will be writing about our Sorento/Pompeii trip. So we got up at 6 am which meant I only got like 2 or 3 hours of sleep the whole night because I was listening to the Saint John Seadogs game. They lost...but the Seadogs did come back to tie the series 2-2 but then they lost the next 2 games, and that is why The Moncton Wildcats are in Memorial Cup Tournament and not the Seadogs. Well I guess I better start talking about European stuff. haha. So were on the road by 7:00 and we got to Sorento at about 12:00. We got into our Hotel that was suppose to have a really nice pool. The pool was nice, but it was empty. So we complained and they gave us a voucher to go down the street to a different hotel's pool. Then me, Chelsea and my mom went down to the pool but not before eating lunch. We were walking down the street and I said this one looks good. It said slice and drink for 3,50 euro. But we decided to go to this other place so we could sit down. We ordered a pizza for all of us and som fries and some drinks. When the pizza came I was completely turned off by it. It was shaped like a bowl and filled with olive oil. Grossest pizza I have ever had. The funny thing about it was we went to the other place the next night and theirs was way better. After that disgusting lunch we walked down to the pool. We walked in and I was very happy to see that theirs was even batter then our hotels pool. So I got in first. I jumped because I knew it would be cold and man was it ever. After that it was fine and I swam around a bit and decided to get out right when Chelsea was getting in. I told Chelsea that once she got in I would get back in. 15 minutes later I got back in. Me and Chelsea swam around a bit and then a women came over and started to talk to us. She was from Atlanta. I asked her about the Thrashers but she just said that she went to the Braves and the basketball team(whoever they are). She did say that she went to some Atlanta Flames games when they were there. After that we got out, changed and went back to the hotel. We rested for an hour or 2 then went out for supper. We walked around downtown Sorento for awhile just kinda looking around then we found a nice little pizza stand type thingy and there was this young girl that spoke very good english. It turns out her mom is British and her father is Italian. Pretty cool. Then we kept walking. I found this sweet awesome shirt that is black and has the superman logo in Gold. I just had to buy it, especially since it was only 7 euros. Then we walked back to the hotel. We watched some Punk'd, then some How I Met Your Mother on my computer then we went to bed. In the morning we got up and went to Pompeii. We took the train because there is lots of traffic and we probably would have paid more for parking then the actual tickets for the train. We got there got our tickets and went in. We had some guides and what things were and it was fun at the start but then it was all the same to me. We walked into one little house thingy and then another identical and another and another. I am glad I can say I went to Pompeii but it was one of the boringest places since I've arrived in Europe. Another thing that made it hard is that it was all dirt roads and it was windy and my face was full of old and dirt the whole time. Not pleasant. Then we went back to Sorento and did the same thing as the night before and it was fun. The nest day why got up and I had toast with delicious Kraft Peanut Butter that my sweet Grammie brought for me(Thank you Grammie :D) in the toaster that we brought from Florence. Then we got in the car and drove back.

I will just continue now instead doing another post. At the end of this one you will be completely up to date. So we got back and the next day we went to the airport at 9:00 am and picked up my daddy. It was so nice to see him again. We got home and he opened his suit case and he had 2 big bags of Ketchup Chips. He also had some candy for us but that was nothing compared to the chips. We had a lazy day all day because of my dads jet lag. The next day we went out and decided to got to the museum San Marco and since we got this family pass we get in free. It was pretty cool but a little boring. Then we went over to the museum with the David in it(I forget the name of the museum) We just looked at the David then left. Then my mom and my sister got on a bus and me and my dad walked home. So in the last week me and my dad and my mom(and sometimes Chelsea) have been walking down town and just walking around and sometimes going into some museums. So far I have been to the Uffizi twice and then the David place and San Marco once. We will be going to the Santa Croce with tomb of Michelangelo and back to the David place again. Me and my mom have also been to a photograph museum. That one was funner than most museums. So other than going down town a lot we have done much other than that except for 2 days ago. 2 days ago we went to Siena. A very cool place. When we got there it was really hard to find a parking spot. We finally found one and there was a guy from Lichtenstein or Luxembourg in his car and he was moving up and he spot about half-way between 2 spots. Then my dad got out and just asked if he could move up into the spot so we could get in behind him. He moved up but not very far. My mom tried like 3 times to get into the spot but she couldn't when we drove away we looked in front of his car and he had abut 3 feet of room. Now we hate all Lichtensteinians or Luxembourgians. We are still trying to figure out what his license plate was. So then we found another spot just up the street from him. We walked into Siena and looked around a bit, went into the post office(My dad wanted to see what they looked like...that's my dad) and then ended up at this big square. My dad spotted the Gelato place and so we went over and Chelsea and my dad got some Gelato. Then we walked over to thier Duomo thingy and me and my dad raced up the huge stairs(He just beat me because he started of slow and then went fast at the end but I did the opposite) Then we looked around up there and the kept walking. We found a good pizza place a decided to get a couple slices. The were big slices so by the end we were just feeding the pigeons. That was fun though. My dad said he would give me 50 bucks if I could catch a pigeon in Siena. So the whole walk back to the car I was trying to catch a pigeon. The reason I thought I could do this was because 4 days earlier we were sitting on a bench in Florence and a pigeon came by and I stuck my hand out and it hit my hand straight on. It freaked out hit my dad in the face with its wing and then flew in the other direction. It was pretty hilarious but had I closed my hand when he hit I would have caught it. So back to Siena. I am slowly cornering pigeons and then reaching for them but they always seem to get away. So we got in the car and my dad said he would give me 10 dollars if he catch one before we leave. I will keep you updated on the pigeon situation but so far its like pigeons-30 Liam-0. So after Siena we decided to make stop in San Gimignano since it was my favorite place in Italy. My sister and my dad just sat out and read in the park and me and my mom went into the little walled in town. We saw this huge cricket and a bunch of lizards but in particular there was this one that was short and brown and fat. He was also really rough like a toad. He was really cool. Then we walked around and went in some stores and then left but not before I got this bread stick thing. Then name had ravioli in it so I thought it would be filled with something gross but it was empty and delicious. If I ever go back I am getting one of those again. Then we left and went back home. The first thing I did when I got home was check the Canada-Norway game they won 12-1 and it was nice to see that Eberle played well. Then me and my mom watched Survivor. It was a good episode. We are really excited for the Finale that is tonight...but we don't get to see it till tomorrow morning. We bet on what order the final 5 would be in. I said from 1-5 Jerri,Parvati(or Russell depending on if its final 2 or 3) then Russell (or Parvati), Colby, Sandra. My mom picked Sandra,Parvati (or Russell), Russell(or Parvati),Jerri,Colby and my dad picked Colby,Parvati(or Russell) Russell(or Parvati) Sandra, Jerri. So we all think That Russell will get to the very end and lose because the Jury hates him. Then the next day we all decided to got to the mall because they had a good candy store. We got some candy and some groceries and then got out of their because it was a Zoo. Then we went home and I wrote this because our internet went out for 3 hours.

Hockey in Europe

So when we got back from Venice and the only thing I was thinking about was the Sens. So the next night I stayed up till 3:00 am to watch Ottawa blow a 3 goal lead and lose in Overtime. I was really disappointed but I got over it pretty quick and fell asleep. The next morning(it was actually the afternoon) I tried not think about it. I was able to forget about over the next few days because my team in Saint John was doing really well. I listen to their semi-final game 6 and they won 7-1 which was awesome but now there playing their provincial rivals the Moncton Wildcats in the first all maritime finals. They are down 2-0 in the series in a very embarrassing fashion. the first game was 5-1 and the second was 9-3...very embarrassing. But I will continue with what I have done in Europe.
So a couple days after Venice we decided to go find a beach. There was a man made lake just down the road about 45 minutes and when we got there we stopped at one spot to find out it had not beach just water and grass. So we looked at a map and found a place that had a beach. We got there to find out it was all rocks and the water was really cold but we stayed. We later moved off the rocks to this surf board thing that people use to learn how to surf on. It was much more comfortable. While we were there Chelsea called us over to where she was sitting because she said she saw a lizard and shur enough there it was. A cute little green lizard thingy. So I tried to catch it. I used a stick to get him out of his little hiding spot and he ran by me and underneath the building. Thinking there was only 1 I kept looking under the building but then I turned around and there were 3 or 4 lizard in the same kind of hiding spots. So I would try and catch them but they were always to fast and they would go under into there little hiding spot. So kind of gave up and went back to the surf board. I read for a bit but then we decided to leave I went back over to where the lizards to try and catch 1 one last time and I launched my hand at him and he turn around to go down his hiding spot and his tail came up and I grabbed it. He thrashed around for a bit but then he just relaxed and I showed to Chelsea and and my mom and then I went back to where I found him and I put him in my hand and lower him down and he sat there for a bit before running it to his home again. Then we got in the car and left.
Then a couple days later we drove to Arezzo. Where the beginning of It's a Beautiful Life was filmed and where the background of the Mona Lisa is. On the way there we saw a place Called THE MALL we didn't stop but we though about it. We kept driving and saw a little like market thingy, more like a garage sale. We stopped and looked at it and they had all these lighters and I picked 1 up that had dice on it but I didn't really know it was a lighter and I was looking at the top and it had a little silver thing and I pushed it and the flame shot up almost touching my face. It was pretty funny. But then at the end of the thing it had like German war pins and like hats and the Russian hammer logo thingy so we got out of there. We kept going and got to Arezzo. We found parking and walked into the kind of walled area. We stopped at this little automatic bathroom. This bathroom was the grossest bathroom ever. It was so dirty you couldn't wash your hand because so were risking hepatitis from the dozens of used needles in the sink. After that horrible experience we walked down kind of main street. We went in a few stores and kept walking. At the top there was a big park with a snack place. So we had lunch there. After that we walked down into this square and it had a little sign that had pictures of the scenes where It's a beautiful life was filmed. It was pretty cool because we were right where it was filmed. pretty cool. Then we walked down to the roman runes and looked at them then we walked to the car and left, but not before stopping at McDonalds for some sweet and sour sauce( or Chinese sauce or Suss sauce). On the way home we decided to stop at THE MALL It wasn't what we that it was. It was just Dolce and Gebana and Gucci and things like that. So we got out of there pretty quick.
A couple days later we went to see a double feature at the movies. It was Iron Man and Iron Man 2. I like the first one better but the second one was still pretty awesome. When we got out of the second we realized why all the Bands were seting up before the first movie. It was insomnia night. The Night where the whole town goes down town and listens to bands, (most) get drunk and stay up all night. We made it to 2:00 am. Then we went home and went to sleep.
Now it's a couple days later and I am in the Car driving to our hotel in Sorrento. We are planning on going up the big Volcano there. I would spell it but I know I would get it wrong and I know you guys know what I am talking about. Then going swimming in our pool. These plans aren't finalized...we might not go swimming after going up, we might swim before and after. Talk to ya later.

Venezia

Then we went to Venice. Venice was awesome. We arrived and parked our car on the other side of the big bridge. We then walked to our hotel which was only like a 5 minute walk. We check in and the climbed the stairs all the way up to our room on the top floor with all our luggage. We got on some lighter clothes since it was really hot and then we went out. We walked down the street where our hotel is looking at all the stores. we went over many bridges as there are canals everywhere and before we decided go back. We went up to the hotel room for a bit then we went fro supper. We found a cool pizza slice place so we decided to get a couples slices and some slushies. We had already bought a 24 hour bus pass so we decided to take the bus over to San Marco. It turned out we got on the wrong bus as it went out to sea then went all the way around Venice. An hour later we arrived at San Marco. We walked over and saw the Bridge of sighs (which was cool except they put an advertisement on the walls that run perpendicular). Then we walked through the little streets looking at stores then we arrived at the Rialto Bridge I thought this bridge was pretty cool. It had stores on the inside then like a look out place where you could watch the boats go by. It was pretty awesome. Me and Chelsea were in a store and when we came out my mom was talking to someone. I went over and I recognized the man's voice I didn't know these people though. I guess he was from Buffalo and he was joking around about how Ottawa always beats them in the playoffs, so I guess he is hockey fan so I am assuming I recognize his voice from like sports radio or something because I listen to team 1200 a lot and they sometimes play American stuff early in the morning so he might be on that sometimes. Well whatever. After that we got on the bus at Rialto and it took us back to the hotel. Except this time it only took 5 minutes because it took teh Grand Canal to our hotel. That night we watched a couple episode of How I Met Your Mother (which is a really funny show, I recommended to everybody) then went to bed. The next morning we got up and walked through the middle part of Venice and when we got to The Rialto Bridge we got on a bus and sat on it for awhile to get off our feet and see the city. Then we got off at our stop and hour later to get some more pizza. Then we went up to our room to go to the bathroom then we took the bus back to San Marco. We walked around like usual and then when back to the hotel. We decided to go back and do the middle part again because we missed a whole section there. On the walk we found like a little dollar store. So I got some key chains for myself, a head message thingy and a piggy back with a 200 euro bill on it. Then we took the bus back home. We grabbed some supper at the same place and went back up to our hotel and watched How I Met Your Mother and then went to bed. The next morning I checked the score of sens game. They had won. I was so happy but it only lasted 2 days(I'll talk about that later). Then we went for a walk on our section again. My mom's feet started to hurt again so she sat on a bridge for a while and I kept going. I walked pretty far down the road then I came back. Then we packed up and left. We missed our tun and went on a 40 minute detour but it was fine we got home.

Long time, no writing

Wow, It has been a very long time since I have last posted. I guess I am having to much fun. Okay lets see where I left of. So the first thing we did since my last post was go up to the coast of Italy. We drove up and found a pretty cool beach but the water was still cold so we just sat around for a bit. Then we decided to drive up to Pisa. We got there and drove around for a while looking for the leaning tower of Pisa. After going in circles a couple times we decided to park and ask someone. We stopped at the train station and found a map, We got some pizza and the we went to the leaning tower. It was really cool. There were a lot of people pretending to hold it up. It was pretty funny. Then we went to the bathroom and went home.

Our house is really cool. Not really the house though more like the neighborhood. We live really close to the Soccer stadium so after soccer games every one leaves on our street and since most of the population has scooter and motorcycles, It is just a big wave of scooter and motorcycles. It gets really funny when a car or bus comes the other way because scooter will always drive on the wrong side of the road and the bus has squeeze by them it is hilarious. Also every morning there is a market down at the stadium. Also if we ever want to go downtown the bus stop is right across the street.

So between the time of my last post and now we have gone downtown pretty often. There is a movie theater down there that plays english movies so we have seen Chloe, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Shutter Island. I would have to say Shutter Island was my favorite but it left me with a lot of questions at the end. While we are downtown we usually walk around for a bit. After we saw Shutter Island me and my mom went to the photography museum for a bit. It was pretty fun but it took a long time.

We have also been of to the Piazza Michelangelo(The place with the fake David) a few times the last time we went was at night and we got a glimpse of the sun set and then watched a couple episode of How I met Your Mother in the car on my computor. Then we got out and saw the city at night then went home.

A couple days later we went to a place called San Gimignano. It was only like an hour away so it wasn't a very long drive. The place was very cool. It was built inside these big walls. The first thing we did when we got there was go to the bathroom. Which was actually the funniest part of the day. Most bathrooms in Italy you have to pay like 0,50 euros and it is a machine that takes it. so my mom was trying to put in the money and the lady behind her is trying to help her put money in and telling what to do and my mom is says rudely "I GOT IT" Everyone outside the Bathroom looked at me the kid wearing the Canada shirt. I think we changed there stereotypical view of Canadians. HAHA. Well after that we walked down and got some pizza and then went to the torture museum. This place was pretty cool but creepy. Then there was another one down the street that was included in our ticket. This one was the execution museum. We walked in a right away we knew it was different then the last one. The last one kind of explained what they did and showed the device they used but this one had like life size sculptures of what they did. We got out of that one fast. We just zipped through saw everything and got our. After that we shopped a bit then Chelsea got some gelato and I got a slushie. Then we got in our car right as it started pouring rain.

So before my dad left I had said I would go out alone all the time. Well 2 weeks later I hadn't gone out alone. We were talking to my dad about a week ago and he made fun of me for not going out alone. So The next day I grabbed a bus ticket some money and left. When I got the the bus stop I saw the bus turn the corner I walked out to the side of the street and put my hand up like every other person that usually catches the bus there. The bus driver looked at my and kept driving. So I waited for another bus and when it came there was another lady there we were both standing at different doors and he only opened her door, so I ran to her door and got on. I guess bus drivers don't like kids. Continuing with story, I got to my stop got out and walked down the street. It is a big street that goes down to the big church in the middle of Florence. When I got near the church I decided to go down this street that has this market set up with a bunch of like souvenirs and Nick-Nacks. After that I walked around the church then looked around for bit then went home. I will stop there. Thanks for reading

2 months down, 3 more to go

So about a week ago I had just arrived in Germany. Well then my Grammie showed up and she was early. It was a wonderful surprise. But earlier before she came me and my mom were out grocery shopping. We got to the counter and found out that they didn't take VISA. We told them we would be right back to pay...we never went back. So back to Grammie. We chatted a bit but Grammie and Jack were very tired from the Jet leg so they went and took a nap. We lay around for a couple hours. When they woke up my dad gave them the good news that he had found an old Gashaus(unknown on the spelling...it's like a German pub) they use to go to in Innsbruck. There were a lot of people so I am not gonna list everything we ate but around the table there was Cordon blue, pork schnitzle, French fries, Soup and delicious Chicken Schnitzle. We went back to our amazing hotel room and chatted for quite awhile and then went to bed. The next morning me and my mom watch the newest Survivor(Now the 2nd newest). Then we were off to my dad's teenage home. We drove in to CFB-Soellingen first. We saw where my dad use to Hitchhike, then TeenTown (which is where all the teenagers hung out and played cards, Foosball and pool...Sounds like the coolest place ever) Then we saw his old high school, then we went into the base. There was the radio station, the hockey rink and the movie theater. Everything there was nothing like how I picture. I thought some things would be more glamorous and others more scuzzy. It was still super cool though. It wasn't over though. We left the base and went into the town of Soellingen where my dads house was. Going through the town Grammie and my dad were telling old stories.
Like when he got in big trouble from Grammie because he came home at 11:45 pm and half-way between her rant she saw the clock again and realized in was 3:30 am. And also when Marney was 2 and she left the house with out Grammie knowing and was picked up down the street by a strange that no one in the town knew. There were some great stories. Then we were leaving and stopped at the bakery but they were closed. But this stop was not in vain because Grammie(or my dad) took a closer look at the house at the end of the street and realized it was Marney's old Kindergarten.

This is the Hockey Rink





This is the Movie Theater




This is the Radio Station




This is my dad and his brother Tim's High School




This is the front door of the Houlahan's house in Soelligen




This is the Back Yard of the house




This is supposedly Marney's Kindergarten

If any other Houlahan has any stories they would like to share about living in Germany, I would love to here them. Just leave a comment or send me an email-laliam40@hotmail.com


Then we went back to the hotel. My dad recommended another Gashaus down the street so we went there. It was very fun. This time people many different things. There was liver, Schnitzle, Goulash soup, and some rolled up meat thingy(You guessed...it was Grammies) Oh ya and lots of spatzle. We went back to the hotel and did the same chat till 11 and head to bed.
Then we got up in the morning and it was back on the road again. This time to Lars/Sulz. We got there and drove around everywhere trying to find their base, but it turned out it was off the highway a ways back. We did find my dads old school though...we think. Everything was being taken down so at the time there were minimal buildings to work with. Then it was off to Sulz which was just down the road. We found it on our first try. We passed where my dad use to catch the bus, then we went by there old house. Then it was off to the Gashaus. This time not for food. Their old Landlord owns the Gashaus and we were going to visit. She only spoke German so I could only understand some numbers and words like "I have". Then it was down to her daughters house for some lunch thingy. There was a 7 year old and a 5 year old there and we just hung out in there back yard the whole time. It was actually really fun because they had an awesome Dartboard, some home made Bow and arrows(That actually worked well) and a play set. Then more of there cousins arrived. Don't tell her I told you this but Chelsea thought boy that came was Hot. haha. Then we said our good byes and left. We did the same thing again this night.
In the morning we all crammed in to our car because we were going to Baden-Baden (oh ya I forgot to tell you my Grammie and Jack rented a car)The reason they all fit in was because my dad wasn't coming because he had tons of work. We got there and stopped at the tourist desk to ask a couple questions. We got a map and some information on a good place to park and we left. We got the good place to park and walked down a path to the city(It wasn't like a dirt path it, was more like a boardwalk). We walked down right to the down town. We walked right to there casino, which Grammie said she use to take all her visitors there. It was pretty nice place(The outside...We were not allowed in because of our color....of clothing. They had a dress code, they weren't racist. Then we stopped for lunch. Me and Grammie had Schnitzle and Jack, Chelsea and My mother had soup. Then we walked back to the car. Not before stopping at a Church. Grammie and Chelsea went while Jack, Grammie and I waited outside. A few minutes later they came back out. We then went up to the top of the hill and looked out over the town. We didn't look for long as it turned out it was a private school. They kicked us out. It was pretty funny. Then we went back to the car and left. Well that's what I thought but we made a stop at the hot springs spa. It looked nice. We looked and then left. This time for good. We got back. Then went out to another Gashaus for supper...as usual. Again there was a lot of schnitzle. We went back to the hotel and did the same old chatting but this time it had a sad ending because we were leaving the next day. We said our goodbyes and then went to bed. We woke up early and left. I pretty much watched movies and tv shows the whole trip and poked my head every 20 minutes to see the new scenery. We stopped along the way in Luzern. We walked around. Went to a Grocery store and got some grapes and some other stuff and left. We kept driving and then crossed the boarder into Italy. We finally got to Como. We were asking people if they knew where our hotel was, but nobody knew. So My dad got a map and he finally found the street that our hotel is on. So we stated driving and all of a sudden we are going up another big hill. It turned out our hotel was right on top of the hill looking over Como. So we got into our huge hotel room/apartment. and left. We got on the Funicular, which took is down the mountain. We found a weird grocery store and found some super cheap pizza that was delicious. so we each got a slice and then left. We then walked through there walled in walking area. I was lucky and found McDonalds. I got 2 chicken wraps for later in case I got hungry...also I wanted to put my sweet and sour sauce on them which was still at the hotel. On the way back to the Funicular me and my dad got another slice of pizza. I fed some to a swan that was in the lake. I got really close and could have touched but I was scared. They say swans can be very violent. We then went back up to the Hotel. I took a bath and then went to bed. In the morning we didn't have to leave very early, so me and my dad watch some scrubs in bed. Then we went down for breakfast with my mom. When we came back it started hailing outside and then raining again and it was off and one with the hail and rain. We packed up got in the car and left. We drove and drove some more and got to see the Mediterranean again. It's funny because we pretty much pick up where we left off in Monaco. All we missed was about 100 km between there and Monaco. A couple more hours of driving and we made it to Florence. We drove around awhile longer trying to find our apartment and finally we found it. We got all unpacked into our apartment and I was surprised by the size of it. It has a huge kitchen, a huge living room, 2 bathrooms and 2 good sized rooms. After looking around a bit me, my dad and my sister left to go find some supper. We found a super cool seafood place and got some kebabs and some potatoes and left. I went on the Internet that night and found out that The Pirate Bay doesn't work in Italy because it is banned by the Government. The Pirate Bay is the website I use to download all of my movies. The next day we had to go searching for lunch again because it was Easter weekend and we knew the grocery stores would be closed. So we walked around and got some stuff and on the way back a bout 2 or 3 blocks from our house just down the street we found and pretty good grocery store. Me and my dad picked some stuff up and we left. We didn't do much the rest of the day. We did get Chinese food for supper though. It was just down the street and very cheap. Not surprisingly I didn't like it very much. My Family didn't mind it though.The next was the day my dad was leaving to go back to Canada. It was also my moms birthday. But that wasn't till 4:00 pm. It was also my moms birthday. We mad her tea in bed(She doesn't like breakfast in bed) Then I made her toast to eat in the kitchen. We exchanged gifts and then decided to walk down to the city. We pretty much just walked down then turned around and came back but it killed the time and we got to see the city. We left right away once we got home to bring my dad back to the airport . We said goodbye to my dad at the terminal before he left. On they way back we drove around Florence aimlessly looking for a big grocery store. We finally found one. We all split up and got all the stuff we needed and met back to check out. We did all in a record time. Then we got in our car and drove around aimlessly again looking for something we recognized and then we got home. That night Chelsea made my dad's Curry Chicken. It tasted the same as the way my daddy makes it. I couldn't let Chelsea do all the cooking so I started looking up recipes to cook for my family. So I am gonna make Beer Can Chicken and Parmesan Chicken. Then Me and my mom watched the movie Evolution. It was funny. The next day I woke up and went to go to the bathroom. On the way there I stepped on something. I looked down and it was an Easter egg and there was a trail of them to the living room. I had completely forgot it was Easter. This was good for my parents because yesterday my dad bought a whole bunch of candy in pairs and I wasn't suspicious of him at all. It was good though. Lots of candy and much better kinder surprise toys. It was nice. Then I mad some lunch and when I was done the power went out, or so we thought. After watching The Blind Side we went to investigate and found out the blown fuse thingy is in the apartment basement. After sitting around all day and blown the fuse 2 more times I made supper. Nothing fancy just a frozen pizza. I took it out of the oven and went to push it of the pan and used the wrong hand. I grabbed the metal grid thingy with my bare-hand. It killed but now it's fine. Just a little blister. Now I am in bed typing this and about to go to bed. good night.

I Love Skiing(Couldn't think of a title)

The next day we decided to go down our mountain to a different skiing hill...in Bad Kleinkirchhiem. Chelsea didn't come because she wasn't feeling very well. We got there rented our skis, got our passes and we were off. We took a gondola up about half-way up the hill and then got on a chairlift. We got off the chairlift and started skiing. The first run I was terrified. The runs were quite steep and it was intimidating but after that run I was fine. We did a few runs of those and the took the chairlift to the top. It was an amazing view up there. We took some pictures and then went down the run.
We got to the middle where the chairlift is and decided to more of those runs. By the end of the day the snow was really crappy and so I fell but not bad and I got up and kept going and then fell again. After that fall I was going slow taking my time and then it wasn't a very steep part so I went a little faster and then I face planted. It didn't hurt but it made me angry I got up and went to the chairlift(different chairlift actually at the bottom of the hill) I didn't want to do another run but my dad made me so we went up again. We took a long break at the top and I tried to dry my soaking wet clothes in the sun.after about a half hour we went down again(different route...to go back to our car. The snow at the start was fine but after that there were moguls all over the hill. It was almost impossible to ski through them, but we did. Then we got on the gondola to take us down to our car. We got our car got some groceries and went back up to the lodge. That night me, my dad and Kathy(Pronounced cat-y) Went in the sauna. After our 15 minutes we got out and rolled in the snow. after that I just watched some of the many movies and T.V Shows I have on my computer. We mostly just packed the next day. Then we got up the next morning and we were on our way To Rastatt, Germany. We got some breakfast at the bakery as usual and we kept going.I watched the first episode of How I Met Your Mother and a bunch of other TV shows before we arrived in Dachau. We first went to there city and walked around a bit. We found a dollar store(or a euro store) and was able to find Rolos. So we got some of those and little things like headphones for Chelsea and batteries for my mom and we left. We then went to there concentration camp. This concentration camp was the first one that held prisoners. We went in and saw the famous sign above the door "Arbeit Machts Frie" In English it is "Work Makes You Free" We kept going and went into the museum which was built by prisoners in the thirties. Inside they talked about all the torturing and first hand accounts from people who were imprisoned. After about an hour we went back to the car. We stopped at McDonalds on the way and got some food and left. We got to the hotel quite a while later because the traffic was horrible. We hardly broke 30 on the autobahn. In that time though I was able to watch Rain Man. It is a great movie. We got all settled in our huge amazing room( It has a walk in closet for all our suitcases, a bathroom a separate shower and bath, a king size bed, 2 singles, a desk with a TV, a pullout couch, 2 arm chairs, a kind of coffee table and a fridge. They also gave us a bunch of internet cords so that we can use the internet here. After that we went out to find some place to eat. We almost settled on Burger King when a Chinese place caught our eyes. It was a buffet too. So we did the buffet thing. It was awesome. We came home and I took a bath and watched some TV on my computer then went to bed. Now I am awake and typing this and anxious to see my Grammie. She should be here in about 4 and a half hours...Yay. Thank you for reading, Have a good one.

Chilling and Relaxing

I have decided to split up these posts because they will be very long. We got in and I was happy to find out that the Other Family was giving me and Chelsea the good room(It has a king bed and then a little ladder up to like another room with a double bed). The lodge also has these really comfy chairs. The Family we are with has 2 kids as well. One 2 year old girl and One 4 year old boy. The boy is know skiing and very well and the girl is a little cutie who calls me big boy. After getting settled I opened my computer and start downloading. I checked back 10 minutes later to find out a lot of my things had downloaded. The Internet connection was great. So I download as much as I could. The next day we chillaxed. We sat around and did nothing. The next day though we went skiing. We rented our skis and got onto the hill. It had been a year since I had skied so I was doing a lot of Pizza cutting. We stayed till about 2:00 pm then walked back home. I decided to go in the sauna that night. It was great. I stayed in for 15 minutes at 85 degrees Celsius then I ran outside and rolled in the snow. It was actually refreshing. The next day we got up and went to Salzburg. The birth place of Mozart and where The Sound of Music was filmed. We walked to the old part of town and found a market and my family found a hot dog place(well really a sausage place) and they got hot dogs but I decided to wait and find something else. The funny thing is though the market went around a Church where they filmed a piece of The Sound of Music. We kept walking and found a grave yard. We looked around and found some catacombs when we were leaving my mom asked some random person if they knew where the Mozart family tomb was. It turned out it was right at the entrance to the catacombs. We kept going and went by a very creepy mime type person. He was very creepy though and because of that my dad gave him money...as usually. On they back to the car we went and saw the house where mozart grew up. Then on the way we decided to walk through a park. There was a fountain there too and we sat there for a while and then walked up these stairs and got to the car and left. Turns out that is where the kids run down the stairs and around the fountain singing Do,ra,mi. We stopped at the gocery store to pick up a couple of things. Mostly the bake your own baguettes because thats what we've been eating every morning. We didn't anything for a couple of days but then we went skiing again. This time though Chelsea didn't come because she was sick(of skiing) We got our skis again this time they were different though and we were on our way. The first run down was mostly pizza cut but then it was all straight skis for me. It was really fun when I could actually ski with my skis straight(I like to set the bar low). Again I went home at around 2:00pm. The funny thing was the guy there had given us good skis. So I was a better skier with the better skis...ironic. The next day we went to Graz. The 2nd biggest city in Austria. We got there and parked then looked for a place to eat. We turned a corner and guess what we saw...a Subway. I was so happy. I got the Chicken sandwich thingy. It was good. We then walked down to this shopping place and found Gelato. I decided to get some this time. I got 2 scoops. 1 cookies and cream the other Raspberry. Then we kept walking and found a tunnel that went down through a little mountain. It turned out it was a bomb shelter that could hold 50,000 people. It was big because it had little branches that went out for more people to fit. Half way down we found a little side branch with elevators. We went up to the top of where the elevators went too and then just kept walking till we got to the top of the hill. It was a very beautiful view and we saw these odd shaped thinks in the river it was like a building the middle of the river. We went down and checked it out. It was actually a pretty non-fancy restaurant and it had this play thingy that was all ropes but a maze with a slide at the end. Me and Chelsea did it in about 2 minutes...It was very fun though. We then walked back to our car and left. We did stop at McDonald's though to pick up some more Chinese sauce. Then When we got back to around where we are staying we got some groceries and went out for supper. The next(Which is today) We sat around some more. But I used my time wisely and learned some German. I can know speak to people in German about important things like where bathrooms are and How much something is.

Driving to Paradise...1 country at a time

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been having to much fun. So we left France Friday morning(The 12th of March) very early(around 5:00) We drove for about an hour and a half and stopped at a bakery to get some breaky. We had our baguettes and croissants and were on our way. It was nice having my laptop because I had Downloaded movies and could watch them without needing the Internet. So Through out the trip I watched the Hurt Locker(Great Movie) and the first season of Even Stevens(a show I watched when I was younger. If your wondering it is still funny)We went up and down many mountains through out the day and at around 10:00 am we stopped again. This time in Albertville(The host of the 1992 Winter Olympics) We walked around downtown but there was much so we left. We did drive through the Olympic Village. That was really cool. We kept driving until we got to a place Called Chamonix. It was a a really ski city nestled between 2 big mountains. This is where we had lunch. My dad got a sandwich, my mom got a sandwich, my sister had some ravioli from a fast food ravioli place and I had a chicken wrap from McDonald's...also we had to pick up some more Chinese sauce. Then we kept going crossing into Switzerland. We drove for a while and ended up in the German speaking side of Switzerland. From there on it has been all German. We kept going and I was able to get some beautiful pictures of the mountains. It was very cool. We kept going and drove for quiet awhile till we got to where we were going to stay for the night:Interlanken. It was a very beautiful town. As usuall we walked around got supper. We kept walking and went by a Hooters(I was bummed that we couldn't go) We then walked around in the park in front of the Casino then walked back to the hotel. We got up early again and kept going. We didn't do much stopping this time. We went through Liechtenstein and then into Austria. Once in Austria we stopped at a grocery store for breakfast. I was lucky to find some Cinnamon Toast crunch(My favorite cereal) but when I tried it it turns out they meant the other cinnamon. I swear the Boxes looked the same as in Canada but they were not the same. Yucky yuk. We did find a baguette so I did get breakfast. We also were bummed to find out they had no Orangina. So we got Fanta (an Orange pop kind of drink) It isn't as good as Orangina but it is still all right. We kept driving and ended up in Germany(4 countries in 1 day...we can hardly do 4 provinces in one day in Canada) While in Germany we stopped in Innsbruck for lunch. They had a burger king so we decided to just a quicky lunch. I had there chicken burger which is bread with corn flakes. It was still good. After laughing at all the ausfahrt's and einfahrt's we came across the best one at a gas station. The gas pump handle said Gute Fahrt or Good Fart. I laughed hard at that one. We crossed back in to Austria after that and were able to get up the big mountain to our lodge/ski hill before sun down. The Bad news was that it hadn't completely melted up where we had to get down to our lodge but my mom tried anyways to get the car down. It didn't work so well and she ended up not being able to pull into the drive way and kept sliding down the hill. She tried 3 times to get the car up unsuccessfully before she put the emergency break on 3/4 up the hill and decided to unload there. We got the first 2 suit case out and I was bringing them up the hill when the car started to slide. My dad was kind of behind it and he tried to stop in form going(I guess it is human instinct)it just slid down the hill and into a snow bank. Everyone was fine. But we still had to lug the suit cases up the hill.p

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So a couple days ago me and my mom decided to go shopping. We needed a few things for supper and a deck of cards(it was family card night we ruined our other deck of cards). So we bought our stuff and decided it would be fun to go for a walk. So we drove over to st. Cecil de Vignes, parked the car and started walking around. We went into there little town and looked around. There wasn't much there to see and my mom had to pee, so we left. The next day we planned to go back to Grignan for the circus and then over to Brantes were there is a beautiful view of the mountain. But we woke up and blizzarding not snowing it was a blizzard. So we didn't do anything. Later that night though me and my mom went out and made a snowman and then for a walk and took pictures. Today was suppose to be another nothing because of the snow but in the afternoon we realized they had actually plowed the big roads so we decided to go out to get some food (just a couple things again). Before we left though we tallied up our Oscar picks to see who won. And for the second time in a row I was victorious winning 8 euros(actually 6 because we all put in 2). We then left for food. We got to the little town that we do our shopping(Toulette) and realized it was all closed because everything closes between 12:00 and 3:00 for lunch. So we drove the extra 20 minutes to Orange to walk around(It was on our go to list anyways). On the way there we saw an upside down car on the side of the road. Looked like had had been sitting there awhile. We think that the tow trucks there are just really slow. We got to Orange and walked around because they were closed too. We got back in our car and went to find an open grocery store.Everything was open now so the grocery store in Orange was open too. There we got a roasted chicken for supper and I found a drink called Gini. Since I am on a hunt for cool soft drink(That arn't in Canada) I decided to buy it. It was god awful. It was so bad, it was bitter and just disgusting. If you ever come across it, don't buy it. Then we it was off to Vaison-la-Romain because we were running short of Skippy peanut butter and they were the only place that has it. After that we headed home. We ate are roasted chicken (I dipped mine in my Chinese sauce) and now I am sitting here typing this(and being bored...just a little) Thank You for Readings

llama, llama

So yesterday we didn’t do anything, it was a nothing day. Today though was really fun. I woke up and watched a bit of the show I just downloaded (The Big Bang Theory) Than at 1:00 p.m. we decided to go to Grignan. It is a little city inside a big wall. When we came into their little outside village thingy, you could see there was a circus setting up. So we drove a little further and there was this huge horse and a llama just standing on the grass eating. If you don’t know yet, Chelsea has a big obsession with llamas. Actually all her friends just love llamas, so Chelsea was very eager to get a picture with it to send to her friends. So we got out and got some pictures but never really got to close to the llama. We drove up to the wall and parked. We got out and walked inside the wall. It was a very windy day which made it hard to walk (you couldn’t imagine how windy it was). So we went up to their castle and found a vending machine and got a pop (Much less expensive then Monaco) and kept going. My mom and sister went to the bathroom there and me and my dad decided to walk around the castle and back up to the bathroom. When we got back my mom and sister were gone. So me and my dad split up and walked around the castle and found them. We walked back to the car and stopped again with the llama as I wanted to try and pat it. I was getting closer and closer and all of a sudden it charged and tackled me to the ground and spit in my face... Just Kidding. I had you going though...hahaha. I went up and he gave me a death stare so I ran away. I went back though with Chelsea this time and we slowly got closer and closer and then Chelsea touched him and ran. Then it was my turn I went up and touched and he swung its long neck around and I pealed. It was so fun.
Then we went grocery shopping. We shopped around a bit got our stuff (I also got a new pop called Organina Rasta...for Rastafarian. Its a tropical fizzy drink) and checked out. I am actually use to the food here now. I know what things are and I know what taste good and stuff. When we were leaving I decided to run over to McDonalds and get some Sweet and Sour sauce (Called Chinese sauce here...their a tincy bit racist...kidding) I got 10 of them for when my dad makes chicken. I put it in a fajita with McCain fries and top it off with the Chinese Sauce. It is delicious. Now I am sitting here typing this and about to eat supper. After that we are having Survivor night, which will be every Friday because I can only download them the day after they are on TV. I am having tons of fun here. Thanks for reading. Bye bye.

Gotta love Monaco...and Ferraris

So a couple days ago we decided we would go see the gorges. So we first went to a place called Carpentras and it turns out it was their market day so we walked around a bit not doing much. It was a beautiful day and I was wearing a t-shirt and I was so hot. Then we decided to leave the market but before getting to our car we stopped at a little sandwich place for lunch. This place was a high school hangout so there was a lot of PDA (public displays of affection). I was happy to find a different kind of pop here (I like to try a lot of different pops) It was called Coke Cherry. So I had that and it was pretty much just regular coke with a cherry after taste but still good.

We then walked back to our car. We got in the car and started driving. We got closer and closer to the mountain until we were driving right on the side of it. We were very high up and it was a small little road that was suppose to be for 2 cars. The worst part about it though was it had hardly any guard rails. Driving I was completely freaked every time the car turn I was uneasy. We stopped at a couple places along the road and I was fine then. Being out of the car I felt much better about the heights. The first place we stopped we just kind of looked over the edge down below but the second place we stopped was much cooler. There was an old broken house on the other side of the road and we went up and looked around a bit and then found a little cave probably used to store stuff. We then walked down a path on the other side and we found a more modern house. This one actually had an outhouse. There was also a path that looked like it would wind down the mountain into the gorge (This part wasn’t very steep compared to later on). We continued and it got much steeper very fast. We went up and up until we were on top of the mountain. Once up there it was like you were still on the ground. It was just fields and little lakes with little villages and towns. We stopped in a little place called Sault. We just kind of looked around then kept going. We then found a tiny little village. It had a beautiful view of the peak of this huge mountain and it was all snow at the top. We grabbed a drink from there cool fountain and went home. We started planning our next big trip... Monaco.

Before the Monaco there was a big day for us. We went to a Crocodile farm on Sunday. It was really cool. It had over 350 Crocodiles. We walked around a bit and saw big crocodiles, little crocodiles, weird mouthed crocodiles and even and albino crocodile. We also saw some tortoises and some exotic birds. This wasn’t the highlight of the day though. When I got home I awaited eagerly the Gold Medal game Between Canada and USA. It was a very close but Canada was winning to whole game. When the U.S. scored at the end I thought Canada was going to lose because of the momentum but that goal by Crosby was awesome and the pass by Iginla was pretty amazing too. I was so happy they won. I was sad to not be able to be in Canada at time like that, when the county is in frenzy. Well I will continue with Europe. The Monaco day came around sooner than I expected and I wasn’t able to get the previous days blog post’s in so now I well just attach them.

We woke up at 6:00 am on the 2nd of March and got ready and were out the door at 7:00 am. We stopped in a place along the Riviera called Bandol. We got some croissants and baguette (as usual) and took a walk along the port. It was a beautiful day and I was bummed out that I didn’t where my shorts. We saw a bathroom and we decided to take a pre-emptive strike and all go to the bathroom. These bathrooms are self-cleaners, so after someone goes it sprays it down then lets the other person in. So first my mom went, then I waited, then I went in, Then Chelsea waited and waited then just decided to go in. The bathroom light thingy said it was going to spray and so we yelled at Chelsea and she got out just in time. It was pretty funny. We turned around and walked back to the car. We drove for a bit more then stopped in St. Tropez. We walk along the port and saw a lot of big expensive boats. We then went to a little shopping place (I have noticed that I use the adjective little a lot, but I am really describing something peaceful and beautiful). On the way back to the car we got some gelato. I don’t much care for gelato so I took a pass on this, but I will still tell you what my family got. Chelsea got all Raspberry (I tried some and I actually wished I had gotten some), my mom got a mix of lemon and cookies, and my dad got a mix of chocolate and raspberry. We got back in the car and kept driving. We stopped in a town a couple minutes later for lunch. We got some sandwiches and Fantas and started eating. I got some sand from this place (I am just going to say it’s from St. Tropez) and we kept going. Our next stop was Cannes. So we drove till we came across these beautiful Rocky Mountains. We stopped and took pictures and had a good time. Then it was back in the car. We were in traffic in Cannes and there was a parking spot just up ahead so I hopped out to grab some sand. It turned out it wasn’t a parking spot so they kept driving. I met up with them a couple minutes later down the beach and we had a good laugh about it (It wasn’t the first I have been left behind...Love you mommy) We played around a bit on the beach running away from the waves(unsuccessfully sometimes). Then it was back in the car with our wet and sandy feet. We were gonna stop in Nice (pronounced knee-se like niece and nephew) but decided not to because we were planning on doing it the next day. It was beautiful there. We were driving through right as the sun was going down so it was glistening of the water. It is actually really hard to explain how beautiful it was. So I won’t. We got to our hotel 5 or 10 minutes later. We had a huge room. There was a room for my parents, a room for my sister and a pull out couch for me. We didn’t stay long though. We put our stuff in the room and headed out to Monte Carlo. The whole point of this trip for me was to get awesome pictures of cars, so I had my camera out and was looking for some good shots. We found a good place to park in a pretty big parking garage. On the way down I saw an Aston Martin, the first of many nice cars seen. We decided to get supper first, so we walk down to the port and looked around. Going down the Street there was a Lotus dealership (very nice car), then a Ferrari race car thingy (they were having some sort of party or conference in the place) but in the window they had the engines. It was super cool. We then found a grocery store. We got a bit of candy and I was also able to find a cherry 7up. This was much better than the Cherry Coke. I have decided to put in the blog side bar cool drinks I have had in Europe. Continuing, we decided to walk up a side street in search of a good restaurant. Lucky for us we came across a Ferrari dealership. It had 7 Ferrari’s just sitting outside and 4 more inside. Not only that right next door there was a repair shop full of Ferrari’s (doesn’t say much about their reliability). We came across a nice restaurant and decided to eat there. We looked at the menu and I found it a bit suspicious that they didn’t have drink prices so I decided to get water just in case. The guy came back with bottled water. I just drank it anyways. We also decided what to eat. My dad had a grilled cheese sandwich (with ham), Chelsea had Cheese Pizza and so did my mom and I had a fries but this time with the chicken. It was delicious. We played a little guess the bill game and we were all wrong. The drinks cost 6 euros each(9$) except the water, It was 5 euros (7,5$). We paid 34,5$ for drinks. Luckily that didn’t faze us. We decided to go up to the famous Monte Carlo Casino and look for some nice cars. When we got up there was some loud rumbling. It was a beautiful Ferrari. It was pretty cool. We went around the circle in front of the casino and saw another nice Ferrari and I got a good picture with it and then we went back to the earlier mentioned one and I got picture with it as well. When I was walking back, the owner of the car asked if I wanted to get in. I said yes right away. Next thing I know he is starting it up and telling me to rev it. I have never heard a car so loud. He then tells me to scoot over so he can take me for a drive. He puts it in to gear and starts driving but Stalls it. You haven’t lived till you’ve seen a guy with a pretty big ego stall a Ferrari and the try regain his composure. I could tell he had been drinking, maybe because he smells like alcohol or maybe because he keeps say F*** about random things. He drove me around the circle then hit the gas hard at the end for emphasis. The G-forces were crazy. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was so cool. We decided to walk around a bit in the park in front of the casino. In the park we talked about how my Grammie stole towels from the hotel of the casino. Her and her friend Grace went in with some excuse and came out with some towels. I think that is a pretty good souvenir. We took some nice family pictures in front of the casino and then some picture of the fountains and so on. On the way back to the car the same guy asked my dad if he wanted to go in the Ferrari. My dad said yes and on the way to the car the guy turned to my dad and said”I am so drunk” it was pretty funny. So my dad was in the car and the guy says rev it. So my dad pushes softly on it and the guy pushes down on his leg, it was so loud, but the best part is the cops came over and was telling the guy that he can’t be too loud. The cop was angry too. He was mad. So then my dad got out and we walked back to the car with some good stories and some nice pictures. On the way out of the parking garage we saw some cars under covers. So each one my dad would hop out and lift it up to see what kinda it was. They were all Ferraris and Aston Martins. I must have seen probably 20 Ferraris because of the dealership and parking garage and you know the one I was in. We drove back to the hotel and just crashed.

In the Morning it was all rainy and yucky out. Me and my dad went and got some frosted flakes and came back. Then me and my mom got some croissants and jus. We decided to take the fast way home and not stop in Nice because it was so yucky out. When we got home we watched episodes 2 and 3 of survivor (which were really funny and interesting) and now it is 2:00 am and I have to get to bed. Thanks for reading as always.

The places we've been, The things we've seen, The Bathrooms we've stopped at

So a couple of days ago (I forget since it’s been so long since my last blog post) we went to a little place called Orange. It actually isn’t that little because it gets its own arch de triomphe and it has a really old and really big stadium/opera house. We parked and went into their little market (there is one in a different city each day) It was a really big market. We looked around not buying anything when we came across a really old church. We went inside and the sign said 1208-2008. It was 800(and 2) years old and the first thing we thought when we got in there was Grammie would be so proud of us. We continued and decided to find some lunch. My dad got (another) sandwich, my mom got (another) sandwich, my sister got a chocolate croissant and I found a nice little place in the market that had chicken wings (or what I hoped were chicken...yikes) and some (French) fries which most of you probably haven’t had in France.(haha) Then as usual we had to find a bathroom for my mom. This would seem easy in a place like Canada where there are either heavily wooded areas or fast food places around. Here the stores and restaurants just pretend like they don’t have any. So my mom ended up having to pay 0.5 euros to take a tinkle. We then got are cheese and left.
In the past week there have been some days were we haven’t done anything (interesting) but I will try to remember the days that we did do some stuff. So one day it was suppose to be a nothing day but my mother and I changed that and decided to go for a little car drive. We started by going to Cairanne. We never stopped but I will count it in the places I’ve been category. Then we continued on to saint Cecil de Vignes. Again we did not stop but we did later on (which I will get to). We kept going and went to a place called Bollène. We drove around till we found this huge grocery store called E.LECLERC. We bought our delicious strawberries and left. We went back home and did nothing. After another nothing day we had another but there was some drama at the end of that day. My dad went out for run. This is usually only takes 45 minutes but an hour and a half later my mom was getting worried as it was getting dark. She got in the car and started looking for him. She came back a half hour later to see if he still wasn’t home. So she went down to Armondo’s house to ask for help. 10 minutes later my dad walks in the door. He goes down to Armondo’s house and brings my mom back. Turns out she was crying on there front porch. When we found out he was fine we started joking around saying he’s got good Health Insurance and what would we have eaten for supper.
The next day we got up early (8:00 a.m. is early for us now) and headed out to Marseille. We stopped in the earlier mention Saint Cecile de Vignes because the market was there that day. We got some stuff for our lunch the next day with Armondo and his family. We continued on to Marseille. We got there and drove around for awhile and everything was fine until...my mom had to pee. We were secretly in panic mode inside. No one was saying anything to provoke or to anger IT. After almost hitting another car and some funny one liners (like ‘’this isn’t even funny I am going to pee my pants’’ and ‘’Just so you guys know, I am peeing my pants right now’’) we then found a toilet and a parking spot. After that ordeal We found another nice restaurant to eat at. It was right next to a place called buffalo grill with really Canadian bison burgers...because that’s what really Canadians eat. Again I will list what we ate...because I can. My dad had some pasta, my mom and my sister had cheese pizzas and I had a chicken leg platter but without the chicken leg because they were out. It was another fries and baguette lunch for me. We then walked down the port. It was really cool. Then we saw another really old church. I think Grammie raised her son pretty well because again my dad wanted to go inside. So we looked around a bit in the Cathedral de Major then walked back to the car. On the way back there was a guy selling candy and we decided to get some. It was pretty expensive (2,00 euro per 100 grams) but we were on vacation after getting a little bag each(just me and Chelsea) The man weighed them on an old scale. He did a very poor job. He also seemed stupid and I don’t think knew how to do math (or use a simple scale). My mom then gave him a twenty (euro) and he gave back (after a couple seconds of thinking) 4,00 (euro) which was way to much. My mom questioned him but there wasn’t much we could do. We paid 24 dollars Canadian for very little candy. I felt bad for a couple minutes but we were able to laugh it off. We went home and me and my mother tried to watch Juno unsuccessfully but then decided to watch an episode of Modern Family instead. If you haven’t seen this show you probably should, it is hilarious. Anybody related to me or has a sense of humour will love it. If that doesn’t convince you, my dad said it is his new favorite show.
The next day could be called a nothing day because we didn’t go anywhere but we were having Armondo and the family over for lunch. My dad made some pasta to start, then we had chicken cordon bleu with potatos and some salads. We also had dessert which was a (French) apple pie and some little tarts we got at a bakery. We sat around and chatted for a bit. After they left we didn’t do much of anything. I watched some family guy on my ipod then I got to see the Houlahans. We skyped them and I (and the family) got to talk to my cousins, ants, uncles, and Grammie and Jack. We had fun and did a lot of laughing. I miss you guys:(. Well now I am about to start to watch the Canada vs USA game online. Cross your fingers.

Baguettes, Croisants and....Lasagna

Sorry I didn’t post an entry yesterday. I was a bit busy. But I will start with that day before that. I woke up to see snow. I was very happy about that because getting down those narrow streets in snow would be a nightmare and that means we wouldn’t be going on a little road trip. We sat around all day doing nothing and then I listen to the Sens game (I think... I forget which day it was) and went to bed around 3:00 a.m. but The game wasn’t over yet.
When I got up I was happy to hear the Sens had won. After that it was time to plan our day. We decided we would go to Avignon. After driving about an hour we arrived in Avignon finding some good parking then going out for lunch. We fund a nice (cheap) place and decided to eat there. My sister got a cheese pizza as did my mother. My dad got a three course meal with onion soup, lasagne (which he did care for too much) and crème caramel (I don’t know the English translation). I had a plate of fries (I haven’t found much appetizing at restaurants in France...except that fry sub that was awesome) after that we didn’t spend much time there. We hoped back in the car and drove by Le Pont d’Avignon (No, We didn’t dance on it nor did anybody else we saw). We then went home taking the scenic route (My mom’s idea) and we stopped in a little place like 2 minutes from where we lived called Tulette. The bakery there makes the best baguettes and croissants. So we got 2 baguettes and some croissants and we were on our way. We went and I was very happy to finally find something to put my peanut butter on. It’s nice because we have been using the oven to heat the house so I can just throw in a couple slices of baguette and then in a couple minutes they’re nice and crispy. It’s wonderful. That was when it kinda settled down and me and my mom decide to watch a show called Destination Truth (about searching for myths like mermaids but the guy is hilarious and he has a good point of view) Then it was bed time(for them) I stayed up till about 2:00 a.m.(I am bit use to staying up for hockey games). Luckily I have been sleeping in and I have been getting 8:00 hours of sleep every night (I actually wake up right when Its been 8 hours).
So this morning, you guessed it, I woke up at 10:00 a.m. and had a little breaky then me and my mother (it’s becoming a bit repetitive) decided to check out Vaison de la Romain again. First we stopped at the Tulette bakery and got some more baguettes. We got 3 this time because, well, we need them. They were right from the oven so we had to eat some. 15 minutes later and 1 baguette eaten we arrived at Vaison de la Romain. Right when we got there it was 12:00 and as a tradition all the stores close for lunch (except restaurants of course). We walked around a bit but decided to go to Bazarland (see earlier reference) When we got there we realized they were closed(mostly because there was a huge metal gate pulled down in front of the store like it was in downtown New York). We kept driving and found an open grocery store. It was kinda like a mini Wal-mart because it had some non food stuff in it too. We killed some time there (and bought some stuff) then left the store just as quick as we had come in. We went by a car wash and saw they had a vacuum car cleaner. So we stopped and got all the baguette crumbs out of the car from when we ate it like savaged beasts. After that we went to Bazarland which was now open. We farted around in there (as my mom calls it) then left. We decided to go home because we were a bit tired (of shopping). When we got home we just sat around and I ate some baguette and talked to some friends on the computer. Now I am typing this and about to watch another episode of Destination Truth with my mother. You’ve been a great audience. Thank you , Good night

Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet....

Yesterday, at around 2:30, we decided we would take a trip to Vaison La Romain. Chelsea decided not come as she had just woken up a half hour earlier (That would be an hour before school would END if we had school). The drive only took 10 or 15 minutes (it was just down the road). We first stopped at a store called Bizareland (European Giant Tiger) we looked around a bit and found something that Giant Tiger doesn’t have. If you have been to the Rideau center (Ottawa) you will have seen a store called Happy Days (the IT store) at the back of this store it is just all joke sex stuff. This store had the same thing in its store too (I know, it’s all sex in France). We parked in there down town area and walked around a bit. We got some croissants and baguettes (When in Rome) and we were on our way back home again. Last night I planned to listen to the Sens game online. I got all set up in bed with my laptop and headphones and I heard them announce the starting line-up then the starting goalies, then nothing. I had fallen asleep without even hearing the puck drop.
In the morning I was able to go online to see the scores. Ottawa won. We started planning another trip today. Planning always starts with estimating what time we are going to leave then waking Chelsea up an hour and a half before. We decided to go to a town called Nyon. We left at 1:00 pm and were planning on eating lunch there. We got there in only 20 minutes (about as far from the airport to Disney...hahaha) we looked for a couple places to eat and decided on a take-out sandwich place. My dad got a weird egg plant sandwich (he even thought it was weird), my sister caught some chocolate croissants, my mom got a little quiche and I got a sandwich with my name all over it. It was called a poulet frites. It was half a huge baguette with delicious chicken, lettuce and topped with French Fries (surprisingly that’s not what they call them here). It was so good. I am thinking of selling the idea to Subway. We decided to keep going down the road and it took us thru these huge mountains (or so I thought) It turns out they are just the foot hills of the Alps. They were pretty amazing and I got some great pictures. We turned around and went back down the winding road. We stopped at the grocery store and I was standing in the candy aisle looking at the price and it was amazing. Chocolate bars are so cheap, a pack of twenty Twix bars is only 5 Euros (7,50 $) and 4 big white chocolate bars was only 1,50 Euros (2,75 $). We got back home and I decide to go for a run (Gym class). It was pretty fun and I got see some of St. Roman De Malegare that I haven’t seen. When I got home I was pooped and I decided to take a nap. I sit here at 11:00 o’clock writing this and listening to the Team 1200 on the radio and now I think I will go to bed, Good night.

Our own little piece of paradise

We arrived in our new house 2 days ago. We drove up our road, which seemingly got smaller as we went up. After some tense couple second and scrapping the mirrors a couple of times, we were at the house. We unloaded our stuff into the house and got back in the car to go grocery shopping. When we got to the grocery store we found there was a McDonald’s there, and like true Canadians, we stop and a had a little bight to eat...again. When we went into the grocery store we grabbed a cart, but these carts were the ones were you put in a quarter (or a euro in our case) to get the cart then when you put it back you get a quarter(euro) back. When we got into the store it seemed pretty normal...until we realize we were in the import section. We continued on to find in the might section whole Rabbits (without the lucky feet), pigeons and cow tongues. We got all the grocery’s we needed and when to the checkout. The difference with these checkouts and Canada’s is that the cashiers were sitting down in really comfy chairs (they must have a really good union). We back to the car ad me and my sister fought over who got to go bring the cart back. She brought it back bought I was quick and got the thingy to get the euro.
We drove back home and took a wrong turn only once, It was a record. I was very proud of my mom. We got home and the rest of the night we just hung out as a family. That was when our French speaking neighbour came by, after talking for a bit he invited us for lunch the next day at 1:00. They were going to make lasagne. I started fasting right away (I don’t like lasagne but I will be more incline to eat it if I am really hungry)I went to bed around 10:00 but heard my mom playing Moulin rouge in her bed room. My sister and I went to see if it actually was. We were right. It became a family movie night all squished in the bed watching Moulin rouge on a laptop. I didn’t realize how young I was last time I saw it because I understood it much better this time (wink wink nudge nudge). After that it was about 12:30 am and I decided to listen to the Sens game on the team 1200 online with my daddy. I stayed up till about halfway thru the first period, Answering to my dad every couple minutes ‘’I am not sleeping I am visualizing’’ After a couple minutes my dad says ’’now I know you were sleeping...Toronto just scored’’ I decided to go to bed.

I woke up and immediately wondered what the score was of the game. I went online to find out that.....the internet was broken. This made it much harder to fast for lunch because I had nothing keeping it off my mind (except reading of course). I ended up having a bowl of corn flakes. At 1:00 Armando (the neighbour) came over to walk us over to his house(pretty much right beside ours). He brought his 17 year old son with him, Leonardo (You could probably imagine what my sister thought of him) We went over to there house and had OJ and pineapple jus Then it came time for the lasagne. I was expecting the worst, but to be honest it was horrible. It’s not like I liked it but I would eat if I had to, and that’s what I did. We sat there talking for a long time but I was really tired. I almost fell asleep at the table. When we got home it was about 4:30. We decided not to have supper as we had just eaten. Me and my mother decided to go get some clothes pins and little things like that but the store was closed as it was Sunday. On the way back we decided to go see a different town just down the road. It turns out it was over a mountain. We weaved our way up the mountain and then back down again till we came upon a little town called Cairanne. We just turned around and came back. At around 8:00 later that night my dad cooked my some toast (no toaster) and I had some of my (transition) peanut butter on it. It tasted like home. We sat around for a couple hours then went to bed.

In the morning I got up around 8:00 snuggled with my dad, had a shower and went back to bed. I woke up later at 12:00 to catch my parents just before going for a walk. I got dressed super fast ad wet for a walk with them. It was so beautiful. It was pretty much a lazy day for the rest of the time. Now I am here on the computer typing this.

On the Road Again

We left Paris Yesterday, on our way to our new house. On the way we decided to stop in a beautiful town called Lyon for the night. We found a nice hotel and put our stuff in the room and decided to go for a walk and look for a nice place to eat supper. As we were walking we found a HUGE Ferris wheel, it had a lot of lights and was breath taking. We were going to ride it, but 6 Euros seemed a bit much for a ghetto family. We walked around and looked at a lot of menus (every restaurant has them outside) partly for what kind of food they had but mostly looking at prices (ghetto family). We ended up finding a nice Indian restaurant. It was actually really delicious. We had tandori chicken and tikka masala and all that kinda stuff. It was really good. After that he went back to the hotel. There I had a bath, but not just a regular bath. This bathtub had jets and buttons kinda like a message chair. It was awesome. After that I chatted with some friends online then went to bed.

In the morning we got up at 8 and I immediately grabbed my computer to see what the scores of last night’s games were. When I went to see there was a big headline saying ’’Son of Brian Burke dies in car accident’’ This is especially sad because he was gay and he was going to change the world of hockey for all gay people. Know the guy that was going to break the ice isn’t dead. Someone else has to know do it and who knows how long that will take. Other than that everything else was good. I took a shower than we went to a place called Brioche Doreé for breakfast. It is kinda like the Tim Horton’s of France (It’s everywhere!!!!)We walked around Lyon a bit and look at all the really old architecture then went back to the hotel and packed all our stuff up and put it in the car. We drove up to the top and a little mountain and got really nice pictures of the city of Lyon. It was a beautiful view. After that it was off to our new home in Saint-Roman-de-Malegare, population 257....now 261.

Were not in Kansas anymore

We began our trip in the airport, where we happily discovered wireless. This were I got to Skype some friends and chat with them (even though I hadn't even left the city). We boarded our plane an hour and a half after arriving. This flight wasn't a long trip as it was only to Montreal but are next flight was 6 hours to Paris. When we arrived in Montreal it was a stressful run to the gate were we luckily made it in time. We were on a plane with a TV. right in front of the seat and I was able to choose what movie I wanted to watch. I decided to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (even though I've already seen it). To be honest I thought it was hilarious (even the second time). In the middle of the movie I decided to pause it because I was tired. When I woke up it felt like it had only been like 30 minutes, so I finished my movie and heard of the intercom say we will be landing in 20 minutes. It turns out I had slept for like 2 or 3 hours, it felt great.


We rented our car (It's called a Citroen, Berlingo) which to our surprise fit our entire luggage (it's pretty much a van). We got directions to our Disney hotel and were on our way. The man had said it is only 20 minutes away. 3 hours later and 5 stops for directions we arrive at our hotel. The hotel was amazing obviously because it is a Disney Hotel. It has this amazing pool with 3 water slides, 1 of which is huge and super fun(I must have gone close to 65 times so far. It is awesome). It also has a play pirate ship in the pool that has a bunch of water turrets and water spray thingys, it is so cool.


The next day we woke up and bought our tickets to DISNEYLAND!!!!! We took a shuttle over and were walking in and all of a sudden we see these army guys. In Canada this isn't scary at all, but in France they carry HUGE guns. I picked up my speed and got through the gates of Disney as fast as I could. Inside the gates everything was happy-go-lucky. It was pretty much empty and all the signs above the rides only said like 5 or 10 minute waits it was awesome. We only went on 2 rides twice and they were my favorites. The best was"Space Mountain mission 2"the other not as good but still awesome was Indian Jones:and the (Something) of peril. We left at 4:00 pm and thankfully found a Mcdonalds. It was a little different but felt like home. We went back to the hotel and went to bed as we had a big day ahead of us. We were going to downtown Paris to see the Eifel tower and company.


In the morning we bought all day tickets to the Metro (Train) and just hoped on the train to Paris. We got off the metro and went up and the first thing we saw was not the Eifel tower. It was a guy selling Eifel tower souvenirs. That was okay but as soon as we turned the corner to go see the Eifel tower they were .everywhere. Selling the same thing but all of them would come up ask if you wanted to by any and they were very persistent. After getting some close up pictures of the Eifel tower between saying "non, Merci"'s to all the scammers/venders. We then walked up to a further vantage point to get the classic holding up the Eifel tower picture. This is when the funniest thing of the day happened. One of the scammers came up and ask my dad" do you wanna buy any (Eifel tower keychains)?" My dad replies "no, Thank you" in which the scammer says" Nobody wants any" As my dad was laughing He says "I'll give you 3 for 1 euro" then"4 for one euro" then "5 for one euro" To which my dad says while laughing " you don't know how much I don't want any" The vender then says "It feels really nice to give gifts to people". It was so funny.
We continued our walk down Kleber ave. To the Arc de Triomphe were we met some scammers but this time real scammers. A man walks up to us and pretends to find a ring on the ground and asks if it's ours to which we say no, he then tries to give to us. The point of this scam I am not sure but he did it many many times to a lot of different people and not only that, we saw 2 other women doing the same thing. After that we walked down Le Champs d’Elysse looking at stores, taking pictures and being very touristy.


We then hoped on the metro again. When we got off we saw a homeless man asking for money, but he had a dog, and not only that the dog had babies, 5 of them. They were so cute but I felt bad for them because he couldn't feed them. We continued on and came up the stairs to see the Moulin rouge. Which is famous for its “shows” if you catch my drift? We continued down the street to find our first Subway (sandwich shop) in Europe but not only that. It was surrounded by strip clubs and dirty stores and erotic cinemas. It was hilarious.


We got on the metro again and went to the Louvre. Which is situated at the other side of Le champs d’elysse(You can walk from Le Arc de Triomphe to the the Louvre) . This is the famous art theatre with the really Mona Lisa painting inside. We also got to see the really cool glass pyramid outside. We then went back up and continued walking down Le Champs d’Elysse to get to a restaurant to eat. We found a nice Italian restaurant (ironic). The food was good, but by that time we were all pooped.
So we went back to the hotel. Before going to bed my sister and I decided to go for a swim. We had gone down the slide many times obviously breaking all the rules, but then I went down the slide and the kid that had gone before me wasn’t fast enough and I clocked in the head. Don’t worry the kid was fine. It may have been karma because I went back up and the water slides were off. When I came back down the lifeguards were telling everyone to get out of the pool. They said 30 minutes so we stayed to watch and the guy was taking things of the bottom of the pool. I have to say it looked a lot like a big brown stick to me. To back up my theory the Life guards said it was closed for the night.


We went back up to our room and I got on my computer and turned on the Team 1200(Ottawa sports radio station) and listen to the Senators pre-game show and I started writing this. It is at the moment 1:00 am Paris team and I am super tired so I am heading to bed. Good night.