canton

We're another week closer to coming home now - but it's been a week. After our joyous visit to London all the boys came down with a vomitting bug. Simply beautiful. So Thursday, Friday and even Saturday were days off school. Off everything actually apart from TV. On Saturday a couple from Tauranga came an looked at Hugo. They too a tripping through Europe and they made an offer which we promptly excepted!! So having Hugo sold was fantastic. It meant that Gareth didn't need to do anything else on Hugo apart from an MOT and our trip could sort of resume again. So on Sunday we took the kids ice skating. I had pictures of tears and bruises but there was none of that. By the end of the two hours mason and Anton were ... read more

I have an apology to make it wasn't Dune de Pylon it was Dune de Pyla. Don't know where that came from. It's alot easier now because we're back with friends so no more internet cafes with the boys discussing loudly who's turn it is on the computer nor anymore strange keyboards. Here's what the boys thought of the last week. 24th November Amboise by Anton We got up to a cold morning and walked to Leonardo da Vinci's Chateau du Clos Luce. He lived the last three years of his life there. King Francis and 1st invited him there. He is said to have finished three famous paintings there - the Mona Lisa, John the Baptist and some other painting with naked people and clams. His sketches for some inventions had been made into small ... read more

17th November Drove from Villafranc to Olite today. We visited the castle. The king who built it back in 1402 wasn´t interested in war but building his castle - he wasn´t that successful as a king but he has an awesome castle. There´s alot of rooms for the queen and the king but not many for anyone else. In a dark part of the grounds was an egg shaped thing and theywould put in ice there and stor it for the summer. The Queen had her own garden 2 stories up. From Olite we drove to our campground in Mendigorria. Huge place all to ourselves. 18th San Sebastian Left our campground heading toward San Sebastian but we had 2 stops on the way. One was to Puente la Reine and its beautiful bridge and then to ... read more

14 -15th November Pensicola We finally got to go swimming and spend the day on the beach. We got the skim board out and made Mum laugh. We made dribble castles (not very successfully). Our family game of soccer turned inot another riot. We all got sunburnt but not by nz standards. Everyone went swimming except mum and apart from the surgers in full wetsuits we were the only ones in the water. Come 1 o´clock we were the only people on the beach. Everyone came out again at about 3.30. Our favourite parts Blake- the beach was cool and I caught my first fish but ANton chucked it away. Mason - the old town was my favourite because all the houses were built onto the rocks and it looked cool ANton - I loved watching ... read more

9th - 11th November Vila i la Geltru This place is a 40 minute train ride from Barcelona. We arrived on a Sunday and absolutely nothing is open on a Sunday and we didn´t have any food. Luckily for us there was a fair in town. We were straight on the bus......... For dinner we bought things we had no idea what they were. They were the closest thing to a pie we have seen since England. They were square and flat, like a parcel. THeir fillings unknown. But we did find tuna, shrimps, soft sweet onions and peppers. They were delicious - crispy. Dad spent 10 euros on olives. They were big and fleshy and some were stuffed with almonds. He also bought a loaf of bread which cost 5 euros. He was angry with ... read more

I got kicked off the computer before I finished so heres the rest ....................... 21 men kicking a football drew all of these people. Our seats provded us with an excellent view of the pitch. We saw all fo Etous four goals all of which were set up by Messi. At one stage mum said she wasnted messi to do something spectacular. Just then he kicked the ball over his oppositions hea, ran round and set up Etou for another goal. The only thing that would make this game more exciting would be a streaker was maces comment. Six goals were scored all by Barcelona. My parents a cool. Mums in love with Poyul - they both have the same hair do and they´´re both sort of square and short. The game was everything I thought ... read more

Besalu by Blake Anton and Dad thought the big wooden sharp gates were going to shut on us as we walked across the old bridge. We saw fish when we walked across the old bridge and they were fat. Anton wanted to go fishing but the fish were a long way down and our fishing rod wouldn´t reach them. We looked in the shops and I saw a chocolate fountain. Dad wnet into a wood shop where they made spoons. We bought a spoon, fork and a flat spoon. They are made with special wood. The streets were little and they were winding. There were chairs stuck up high to the sides of houses. NO one could sit on them because they were sideways. Daliland by Mason Anton and Dad though Dali was a little wacky ... read more