Paris 1

the next day we travelled on the train to Lucerne. it took about 3 hours but had a few extra stops along the way so it was around 4 and a bit hours. when we finally arrived we had a quick walk to our Youth Hostel. not long after we got there it started raining. it was the first time it had rained on our trip and soon the thunder and lightning started. it was a monstrous storm and some of the lightning flashes looked cool.
the day after we went to a mountain called Mt Titlis. we went up quite a long cable car and then another to get to where we needed to go. then we split up. mum and my brother stayed at the bottomarea and me and dad went off up a chairlift so we could come back down the mountain on things called Devil Bikes. they are basically normal bikes with very fat tyres and you dont pedal. the path we took was very steep. most of the track was covered in large rocks and slidy gravel.the view of the mountains was fantastic but i was concentrating on staying on my bike. eventually we reached the bottom of the track. the ride was quite painful and i had to jump off the bike a few times. we joined back up with the others then rode down to the very bottom on Trotti Bikes (those scooter things with bike wheels except bigger). we had to then quickly run to the train station so we didnt miss our train.
the day after that we went to Paris (here). we got up early and went to the train station. from there we got the train to Bern and then on to Geneva. in Geneva we had to wait for a couple of hours and then the plane was delayed. when we finally arrived in Paris it was around 9 pm. the man unlocking the the apartmentwas late and so when we got inside it was past 10.

Interlaken, Switzerland

on the day after i last wrote/typed we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel in rome. one of the things i learned there is that the painting on the ceiling of the chapel is the most racist painting ever. in a whole room of paintings(all the walls and the ceiling) there is not a single black person. apart from that the paintings were spectacular, but i still find it hard to believe that it took 1 man 4 years to paint it all.
the next day we went to the Pantheon(a big circular church) and another church full of monk bones. the bones were aranged into patterns. it was also weird seeing childrens bones in the last room. in the whole thing there were thousands of bones. some of the skeletons were still inside their robes. The Pantheon used to be a temple for the roman gods, before a pope turned it into a Catholic church. most of the Brass and precious metals were stripped off and used on other buildings like St Peters Church.
the next day we flew to from Rome to Geneva, in Switzerland. then by train on to Bern and then Interlaken. when we got off we took the bus to our Youth Hostel and dumped our stuff. i think that Switzerland has reminded me most of home so far because of all the farming land, mountains and forest.
then yesterday we didnt do much until the afternoon when we caught the bus to the other side of the lake to a town called Iseltvalde. even though its summer the water in the lake was freezing because it had come down from the glaciers.
Today we went up a huge mountain. it is called Schilthorn and is about 3000ft shorter than Mt Cook but it still felt high enough.on the mountain there were lots of cable cars. they all traveled dangerously high above the ground on very flimsy looking cables. especially the last one where we went off a 1000ft drop and shot down until the brakes caught up.

Rome

yesterday we went to see the Roman Forum. we tried to get out early so that it wasn't too hot but by the time we arrived it was over 40 degrees. we got tickets and wandered around the ruins of it with a really boring audio guide.
i did learn that the area used to be a swamp and only became usable when King Tarquinius Priscus used very modern reclamation(drainage) techniques to dry out the land so they could build the buildings that make up the Forum. the romans thought it was the centre of the world.
There were lots of exhibitions and small museums around the Forum grounds that had carvings and statues that had been found in the buildings. most of them had their noses chopped off because the romans believed that when you died you could inhabit your statue if you still had your nose because you could still breathe.
when we left we went and had lunch at a place where they sprayed you with water mist as you ate. it was quite refreshing because it cooled me down a lot. then we went and saw a famous fountain in Piazza Navona created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, called The Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Today we have just stayed in our apartment because it is so hot. later on we might be going to a swimming pool(they are surprisingly hard to find in Rome) but apart from that we are staying inside with the air conditioning.
Oh, and Celton wanted me to mention him in my blog so there i mentioned him.

Rome

after leaving Pisa, we stayed at a youth hostel in a town called Perugia. during our two nights there we visited the village of Assisi and walked around the monastery of Saint Francis (of Assisi). he is one of the only saints who was not very religious when he was young, and only converted sometime after he was in jail. he also really liked animals and when he went and lived in the mountains all the animals would go and follow him around.
We left Perugia on the 14th and travelled on the train to Rome. our first day in rome was a public holiday so nothing was open, but we managed to walk from our apartment to the Vatican city and into St Peters Square. (the catholics seem to be very clear about where the boundaries of the Vatican city are because they have put a huge brick wall all around it)
Today it has been 36 degrees. we went to the Colosseum and found that most of it really has fallen off or been stolen. the goths started nicking bits first, then the vandals. then the catholics took stuff to make St Peters.

Pisa

after 1.5 hours of flying, we arrived in Pisa. we had to get up at 4 am to get the bus to the airport.
its only a minutes walk from our hotel to the leaning tower of Pisa, so we've just been there. its boiling even now when im writing this at around 7 in the evening. we havent done much else today but we hired a 4 person bike thing and cycled around a little bit.

Barcelona

Yesterday, after i finished my blog, my family went to visit the Sagrada Familia. it is a huge church/cathedral that started to be built in the late 1800s and isnt meant to be finished until around 2026. it was designed by a guy called Gaudi who died in 1926. then this morning we visited a garden also designed by Gaudi, then went by bus to an art gallery with pictures by Juan Miro in them.(he draws squiggles all over everything)

....(continued)    we spent a night in Bordaux before getting the train and then car to a place called Plum Village. we stayed there for just under a week and there was no internet access so i have alot to catch up on. Plum Village is where a Buddhist monk called Thich Nhat Hanh that my parents wanted to go listen to. there was alot of meditation and sitting still for long periods of time. we did escape to a nearby town for most of a day but we left early because it was so boring. we got the train to Libourne and stayed two nights. then we had another long train trip into Spain. we stayed in Figueres and went to the Dali Museum. he did loads of really weird paintings and sculptures. the next day we hired a car and traveled along a really windy road towards Barcelona. we stopped in Tossa de Mar (which i have a picture of), had lunch, and then carried on. when we arrived in Barca we found our apartment and then went out for dinner with my uncles friend. then, yesterday, we went to the Nou camp and looked in the museum. there are lots of trophies in there. the writing in the picture means "more than a club".



i just saw the comments on that other post so here are some answers:
first Q: i forgot
2nd: allo is hello or guten tag is good day
3rd: the boat tour was an hour and it wasnt very exciting
4th: most looking forward to Old Trafford
5th: im going to Italy next after Barcelona. we will be staying in Rome most of it so i´ll see the Vatican and the Colloseum.
6th: the music is the same as in NZ and no, i havent been to any gigs except for a classical one that my uncle was playing in.
7th: when u wrote that comment i was in Plum Village in france but now im in Barcelona.

Now in Barcelona

the top picture is of the inside of the Nou Camp ( the main Barcelona football stadium)

the lower picture is of me in front of a big castle which i think is called, or at least the town its in is called, Tossa de Mar.

Since I last wrote, i spent a week in France and then came on the train down to spain.

it took 9 hours on the train to get from Berlin to Bordeaux (through Paris)...