Holland!

So my parents flew in on Friday April 8 and the next day we were to fly to Eindhoven. In the morning we thought we had lots of time before having to catch our bus so we went for a walk. On our way back I realized that I booked the wrong time for our bus and we quickly had to book a new one which caused us to be late to actually catching the bus to the airport. This resulted in us rushing to the tube station and running from tube to tube and finally me running to the spot for the bus (note to self leave earlier!) But thankfully we JUST caught the bus before it was ready to leave. Or maybe not so thankful, normally taking the easy bus to the airport seems really long but the drivers driver really crazy and fast. But this driver was really slow and seemed to be taking a different route than I was used to going to the airport. We stopped a few times at stop lights and he restarted the bus every time, I didn't think anything of it until he phoned someone up saying that the bus was losing power. I was then starting to panic in my head that we wouldn't get to the airport in time and that we would miss our flight. Thankfully there was another Canadian on the bus and talked to her for the rest of the way and that took the ease off of the time restrain.

Mom and Dad on the Easybus

We got to the airport just 20 min after we were supposed to and got through security pretty fast and were near the front of the line to get on our flight.   It is important to be one of the first ones on the flight with Ryanair (or easyjet) as there are no assigned seats. There is priority boarding where you get to choose your seats first but then its just a free for all after that. After taking a few Ryanair flights I know quite a bit of the tricks. If you sit at the front of the plane rather than the back you will get off faster as the stairs fold out of the airplane whereas the back they have to bring the stairs to the airplane. You want to do this as this means you will be at the front of the line for passport control and will be one of the first ones out of the airport!

On a Ryanair flight!

When we arrived to Eindhoven we rented a car and drove to the north of Holland to visit some family. I was excited to finally be in Holland and I loved seeing all the windmills on our drive! My Dad's cousin Peter invited us over to stay the first few days of our trip so we headed to Nordhorn, Groningen. It was Peter's birthday on Sunday so he had a lot of family over for lunch so in a short period of time I had been acquainted with a lot of the Matter family that lives in Holland. I had met some of them when they went to Canada to visit but I was very young when a lot of them had come over. It was challenging at times to understand what some of them were saying as I don't know dutch and many of their English isn't so strong so sometimes it was looking to Mom and Dad to translate. But on the whole it was really nice to meet some more family, all of them were really nice and welcoming!

We saw lots of different sites while we were visited the family as well. Peter arranged for us to do a windmill tour and it was really interesting seeing the inside of it. We also went to a seal rescue aquarium where students work there to help save seals that are hurt and dieing in the ocean. Peter also brought us to a friends farm where she showed us all her cows.

We also had a bit of time to visit a World War II memorial, it was camp Westerbork. The tour of the concentration camp was purely in Dutch so my Dad had to translate everything into English for me to understand anything. It was a lot of trickery involved in this camp as it used to be used as a refugee camp but the Nazi's took it over and people were sent to different concentration camps (like Auschwitz) from Westerbork. Very sad as many people were trying to seek help at this camp but could not receive it.

Westerbork

This is a map of Holland and shows the deaths in the WWII

Another thing we got to do before we had to head back to London was that we visited Klaas-Young, he was one of the only relatives from Holland that I could remember meeting in Canada as he visited on his honeymoon so I was bit older then. Unfortunately he was at work, but he got us approved to come into the base (he works on the tanks in the army). He showed us his office and around the shop, showing us all sorts of different tanks and military vehicles. He then turns and says to me "you want to drive a tank?" hahah I think he meant do you want a drive in a tank but none the less it was a really cool opportunity. So my parents and I took our turn riding in an army tank at full speed! My Dad heard that the tank could do an emergency stop where it was going full speed it would stop within two lengths of itself and asked if he could experience that. It was really funny seeing it stop so abruptly. If you want to see it check out the video at the end of my blog!

Overall it was a really good trip to Holland, jamed pack full of meeting family so I would definitely love to go back and spend longer there and see some more of Holland as well! Again I will be trying to update my blog on the other adventures that my parents and I got up to!

 

Emergency stop of a tank

To see more pictures from our trip to Holland click here ----> Pictures

Visitors to London!!!

Well it has been some time that I updated my blog and I am sure most of you know that this is because I have been traveling a lot lately! April has been a very crazy busy month, and somehow I managed to only work 1 day this entire month!!! This was made possible by some visitors from home. Justin came for a few days at the beginning of the month and my parents visited basically right after that.

I have become pretty good at being a little tour guide in London although maybe need to brush up on my British history some more to be really good! hahah but when Justin and my parents visited I kept them busy with seeing all the important sites that London has to offer and since both of them weren't in London for too long our days were jammed pack with seeing the sites and lots of walking! I even made up a mini itinerary in order to get everything done!


We also saw a few museums (Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Imperial War Museum), Memorials (Albert Monument, Princess Diana Memorial and Monument for the Great Fire of London) and walked through a few parks (Hyde Park, Green Park, Kensington Gardens), some churches (Westminster Abbey and St Pauls)  and lots of different tourist sites!

Mom and I at Princess Dianna Memorial

Dad and I at the top of Monument

The stairs!!

Monument

I showed them things such as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (sounds nice, but it is actually really hard to see anything...this is why I didn't go to the Royal wedding) from there we walked through Green park to Piccadilly Circus. After some pictures we made our way to Trafalgar square stopped for some food. And continued our walk to see the Royal Horse guards and the famous 10 downing street (again can't see anything but cool to see the street).  Then it was Big Ben, Parliament buildings and Westminster Abbey. We then walked towards the London eye jumped on a tube and heading towards Tower Bridge.

changing of the guard

changing of the guard

changing of the guard

Mom and I at changing of the guard

Mom and Dad at Piccadilly Circus

Dad with a horse guard

Mom with a guard

classic telephone booth pictures!

Mom and Big Ben!

When Justin and my parents were in London they both got to experience the London Eye, is really cool to see everything up high. They both got to climb up The Monument, it had 300 stairs I think? Good job Mom on making it up, we got our certificates to prove it...that would be my 3rd time going up, don't think I will go again unless more visitors come! Justin and I did Tower of London and saw the crown jewels and lots of different things. We also went to see a show called "stomp" it was really cool, I def. recommend seeing it wherever it is playing! With my parents we went inside Tower Bridge, this I hadn't done before so it was cool to see the inside and see the way the bridge used to bring the bridges up to allow boats to pass!

Justin and I on the London Eye

Inside Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

Mom and Dad with Tower Bridge

Overall it was great to have visitors in London to show the different sites to and show them where I live here! I will be posting another blog soon about the different places that my parents and I visited around Europe! I am sure many of you have already seen some of the pictures on facebook from our adventures though!

Lyon, France

This past weekend I went to go visit my friend Florence (Flo), whom I met in Canada when she did an exchange for a year at Nipissing University. We both decided to do the Habitat for Humanity trip to Florida, to enjoy some hotter climates. I hadn't seen her in 2 years so it was really good to see her to catch up and to see some of the city that she lives and works!

The weekend was full with lots of rain and food! I flew in late Saturday night to Grenoble airport (gotta love cheap ryanair tickets!) We spent the drive to her house catching up and more once we got back to her house. After a good nights rest (her room is SO dark you can't tell if it is day or night in her room!) we head out to Crémieu. It is a beautiful medieval village that she lives close to, we take a short hike up a hill to see a magnificent view of the village. I love seeing cities and villages with the original cobblestone and houses. It is really neat to see it and Flo describes to me different festivals that they hold each year here! 

 After wandering around for awhile and the rain is starting we head back to her house for a family lunch that her mom prepared. Now I was thinking just a small lunch, but her mom went all out for lunch. Her brother and her sister were home for the weekend from school so they normally do a Sunday lunch but I think her Mom made it more traditional and bigger for me. We had appetizers, main course, cheese and then dessert too. For appetizer we had some cold pizza then we had these traditional potatoes called gratin dauphinois (which reminded me of scalloped potatoes that mom makes, apparently there is no English translation) and we also had some fowl that had different spices and veggies in it. It was really delicious. Then the next part was cheese. They brought out a variety of cheeses and I tried this one that is a mix between cottage cheese and yogurt. It was really tasty! I thought we were done eating and they decided to bring out some fruit, but I just couldn't eat anymore! 

After a massive lunch Flo and I headed to Lyon for some site seeing and dinner later on with a few of her friends! It was rainy so we brought our umbrella's along and walked around "old Lyon" which has cobbled streets and a lot of different restaurants that have traditional food at them. We decided it was too wet to walk up the hill to see the church so we took the subway up...much faster too! There was a service just getting out, so Flo and I walked inside to check it out. I am always soo amazed with the churches, so much details go into every little thing. 

Fourvière

After checking out the city a bit we met up with two of her friends and searched for a good place to have dinner. Another one of her friends is meeting us there and will be later so we have a drink and decide on what to eat. There are soo many choices and I figure to go with trying the real traditional food for dinner. It is a 4 course meal, my appetizer is escargot, my main is duck leg and specialty potatoes, cheese and then a massive dessert. All the food was sooo good and I am so full that I can barely walk! We head back to Flo's car and drive back to her place for another amazing sleep!

Escorgot

Duck & Gratin dauphinois

Profiterolles

Monday is the last day I am in Lyon and Flo wanted to show me Grenoble but with the way my flights turned out and with the rainy weather we decide to head back to Lyon for the day and to do some more wandering around the city. It was a really good visit to see Flo and see Lyon would have preferred to do without the rain, but can't always have it all! Her family and friends were really friendly and were really good with speaking English with me...although there was a few times where they would speak French and I would be very confused!


2 more days and Justin is visiting me. He flies in Friday morning, but I can't take the day off because I have to give my kids a test so will go and pick him up and tell him how to get back to my place (I hope he doesn't get lost!) He will be in London until Tuesday. Hopefully I get work Wednesday as lately I have not been getting work on Wednesdays. Work Thursday at my regular school and then Friday I am picking my parents up at the airport and then we are traveling around Europe for a few weeks in April. It will be a lot of fun! Am quite excited to have some visitors soon!!! Oh and 3 months today I will be home! 

More pictures from the weekend ----> Lyon,France