Posted Sep 2, 2009, 7:36 am
I am a beach dog Barney and I want to see the world. I have never traveled in my life and now I want to make use of the opportunity.
I am looking for kind hosts from all continents who want to travel a lot with me and show me as many famous places as they can. I am very curious toy so I want everything to be explained to me.
If you want to host me for a while, please, send a PM to my mentor misagan. I will be more than happy if you can fulfill my life quests!
My travelplan so far:
Olgamaus - Germany
Rennire - Canada
becka_kate - Australia
Posted Sep 14, 2009, 3:01 pm
Posted Sep 18, 2009, 9:13 pm
I arrived at my first host's home today. Katja was delighted that I brought some delicious sweets with me.
Tomorrow I will tell you more of my first adventure .
Bye
Barney
Posted Sep 19, 2009, 9:58 am
on my first day we made a trip to Wuppertal, which is the neighbour town of Remscheid, famous for the worldwide one and only Monorail Suspension Railway (Schwebebahn). Wuppertal is the largest city of the region "Bergisches Land" with about 355.000 inhabitants.
We met Katja's friend BlackCat here. BlackCat had tickets for a concert in the evening, it will take place in a stone pit. The main act is Razorlight, the German band Kilians will be performing first.
But it was only afternoon and so we took a walk around the city.
Here is a first photo taken from the bus station with a first view across the city centre.
When you enter the city centre the first thing to see is the Schwebebahn.
The trains are coming in and out every five minutes. Mister_Right was here also the first time. He was as amazed as me to see such a funny train.
The suspension railway travels along a route about 13 kilometres long, about 12 metres above the surface of the river Wupper and approximately 8 m above the city streets. At one point the railway even crosses the A46 motorway. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes.
We walked into the city centre than. Here we are in front of one of the shopping malls.
We took a group photograph here, next to a funny fountain. I am sitting here with my new friends Pinkz, Nippy, Mister_Right and the TVs which are travelling with BlackCat.
In the shopping mall they have an exhibition showing desert animals. Katja soon found her favourite. It is not a reptile but a furry one.
A sand rat. Katja loves rats, she is keeping pet rats herself.
The next photo is showing the city hall with a market place and a large fountain in front of it.
We walked along the pedestrian area than.
I saw this funny statue here. It's name is "A new day at work". I have never see you doing a handstand before going to work, Mummy. Katja says she would also be going to work with doing it every morning.
"Luisenviertel" is a pretty quarter with lots of bars and restaurants.
We decided to walk along river Wupper for a while.
So here is the Schwebebahn again ...
This is one of the most modern stopping points.
We went inside the train station to have a look at the incoming trains.
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The boy at the window was making jokes for us
The Schwebebahn is crossing the streets at some points.
We reached a quarter where the worldwide known chemical industry concern Bayer is situated. Pharmaceuticals are produced here.
We decided to take a ride with the Schwebebahn to get to the concert.
We were waiting for our train.
The concertgoers cannot get to the stone pit themselves, they will be taken there by shuttle bus.
Posted Sep 19, 2009, 10:14 am
We had to walk to the bottom of the stone pit than for about 15 minutes. Somewhere in the deep we could see the concert location.
It is really looking great!
Behind the fences we could see the large trucks which are usually working here.
The concert is fantastic. I hope you can see my silhouette at least.
The and Kilians was still playing.
And than ... RAZORLIGHT!!!
The concert was great, we took a small video, you can watch it here .
At the end we were taken back to the train station in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel by bus and return home than.
Bye
Barney
Posted Sep 22, 2009, 8:31 pm
we took a walk today in one of the surrounding valleys. Katja told me that she loves to take really long walks. I also do
The valley is called "Morsbachtal" because the creek Morsbach is running through it.
Here I saw a small hamlet with both old factory buildings and dwellings.
We followed the creek and came to another hamlet.
Do you know those plants? It is hogweed.
We were leaving the valley now, we had to walk uphill ...
and further uphill on the opposite side of the road.
In the background you can see Muengsten Bridge, the highest railway bridge in Germany. It is 107 m high and is connecting Remscheid with the neighbour city Solingen and is overspanning the valley of the river Wupper.
Later we could see the bridge much better.
The bridge was finished in 1897.
Katja knows a path which is leading to the fundament of the bridge. You have a fantastic view from here.
And from the other side ...
The tracks are just above our heads.
We rested on a nearby lawn for a moment.
Our way back home was also leading though woodland. I really like it here.
Bye
Barney
Posted Sep 26, 2009, 10:03 am
we took a walk to the municipal park today. We had to walk for only a few minutes to get there.
In the vicinity of my current home I saw pretty old houses. Katja told me that in this part of the city most of the old houses survived World War II.
I can see this church when I'm looking out of our living room windows. It is stucked between houses and large trees, so you cannot take a photo which is showing the whole church.
In the entrance area of the municipal park there is the observatory.
It is very obvious that summer ended now.
Katja showed me this memorial for the dead of several wars before World War I.
Katja told us that on this area which is shown on the left side of the next picture there was woodland until last year. All the old trees were felled by some obscure reasons.
Two allotment gardening areas are here on the park's ground.
We went back into town than to pick up a friend of Katja who also wanted to take a walk and do some shoppings.
We than went along the Trasse des Werkzeugs (Route Of Tools) which is a closed railway track. On this track a route for pedestrians and cyclists was built. It is about 5 km long, starting at the central station and going to the district Hasten. It was sponsored by local tool producing companies. Along the route you can find signs, information and artwork relating to the tool producing industry.
Here are some of those signs, there is also one which is displaying the coat of arms of Remscheid.
We bought some things here. Of course Katja forgot to buy the most important thing
Bye
Barney
Posted Sep 27, 2009, 8:18 pm
we took a long walk today in an area around the river Wupper which belongs partly to the municpal area of Wuppertal and those of Solingen.
We started our trip on the Wuppertal part. First we took a path that goes underneath a railway bridge.
We had to walk uphill for a while. Soon we reached an old building, called "Kaltenbacher Kotten". It propably was a grindery or a smithy once. A pond is next to the building.
We reached an area than which belongs to the largest arboretum in Germany. Since the late 1950 years foreign trees are planted here. There are special areas with trees from Asia, North America, South America and also Africa. The arboretum was founded as a forestry sience project.
We crossed the river Wupper here and reached the Solingen area.
We had to take while we walked through the forrests: Everywhere it was "raining" acorns, beechnuts and chestnuts.
On our way back to the car we had to walk underneath a large bridge, underneath a highway.
After more than three hours walking I was really tired, looking foreward to spend the evening on the sofa, doing nothing.
Bye
Barney
Posted Sep 27, 2009, 8:33 pm
I met Pepe today.
Pepe is Katja's friend's dog, he is a little bit larger than me
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 2, 2009, 3:44 pm
the weather is bad these days so we cannot take photos outside without drowning.
So we are sitting in the kitchen window, looking outside.
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 2, 2009, 8:53 pm
I just want to tell you that I went with Katja's friend Marion.
Marion is going on a class trip tomorrow and she'll take me with her. You won't believe where we are going:
It's Rome!!!
We'll have to get up at 04:00 a.m. to drive to the airport.
Marion came today to bring her pet rats. Katja is hosting Marion's pet rats while she is on her class trip and Marion will host me for a week. That's great!
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 10, 2009, 1:53 pm
Hi Mummy,
today we had to learn more about the history of Rome.
Here we are on a higher place with a fantastic overview.
Marion was busy learning a lot about Rome (like I was
) so we could take photos only at the most interesting touristic spots.
We visited the Spanish Steps (it's Italian name is Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti), climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, . The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe.
We went to Piazza des Popolo than, a large square in Rome. The Piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the most important route to the north in ancient times.
That was a really interesting day. All the girls like me because I'm wearing flip-flops. You must know that it is about 30°C here, nothing like the rainy and rather cold weather in Germany.
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 10, 2009, 2:06 pm
Rome is the capital of Italy with about 2,7 million residents. Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. Rome is one of few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively intact, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character.
As this is a school trip, of course we visited many historic sites.
Today we visited St. Peter's Basilica. It is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, for 60.000 people. It is the symbolic "Mother church" of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites.
We also visited Castel Sant'Angelo today, which is a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family. The building was later used as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. It was finished in the year 139 (no, there isn't missing a "1"). Seven more Emperors are buried here.
That was enough education for today.
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 10, 2009, 2:19 pm
there were more interesting points to visit.
We went to the Colosseum today. Its originally name was Flavian Amphitheatre. It is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD and was finished in 80 AD. the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, capable of seating 50.000 spectators.
Our next destination was the Roman Forum.
The Roman Forum is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed. The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located in the forum, such as the former royal residency, the Regia, and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins. There are temples, basilicas and arches.
I've had a fantastic time here with Marion.
Thanks to Marion
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 16, 2009, 7:42 pm
Murph and I were still sitting in Katja's bag, so we took some photos in our lunch break. First I'll show you the city hall. Katja's workplace is close to the city hall, we just had to cross the street.
On the space in front of the city hall the farmer's market is taking place twice a week. There is a pillar on it, showing a lion, the heraldic animal of Remscheid.
Close to the city hall is this water tower. The drinking water for the inhabitants of the city centre is pumped from a dam in a valley into this tower.
The city hall again ...
Here you can see a new extensionof the shopping mall.
We walked home than, making a detour because the weather was so great.
Here is a lovely playground, with large trees offering shade.
Bye for today
Barney
Posted Oct 16, 2009, 8:48 pm
we went to Cologne today. I asked Katja if we could visit Colongne Cathedral as long as I am still here. She said "Why not?" I was so excited! The weather was bad today so I did not believe that we would really go there today, but ....
When Katja finished work we went to the central station. Katja's daughter was also coming with Mister_Right and me. (Mister_Rights needs some distraction - his girlfriend left him in Paris). Soon we arrived in Cologne.
When you walk into the city centre, the first thing you'll see is Cologne Cathedral.
Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church, seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and is under the administration of the archdiocese of Cologne. The cathedral is a World Heritage Site,
Construction of Cologne Cathedral began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete – a period of over 600 years. The cathedral is he largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and one of the world's largest churches. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world. Its medieval builders had planned a grand structure to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and fit its role as a place of worship of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Of course we went inside to have a look at the great architecture.
Outside again we tried to take a photo which would show the whole cathedral, but it was impossible - it is too large.
Alex asked if we would like to climb onto the North spire. Of course we wanted! They have a separate entrance for those who want to climb the spire. You can see excarvations here.
Here are some facts about the spire:
Heigt: 157 m
Stairs: 533 (Fivehundredthirtythreeeeeeee)
Climb: 100 m
Climb and descent: about 30 minutes
No lift
That means hard work. We climbed and climbed and climbed ....
... and reached the bell room.
We had to climb more and more ...
... and finally we reached the outlook platform. Our legs were aching, it was windy as hell and we knew that we would have to climb downstairs soon. But the fantastic overview was worth it.
Walking downstairs was much more fun.
We saw a sign showing the different sections of the spire. You can see the height of each section and how many stairs you have to climb.
Outside again we tried to take the perfect photo once more.
Close to the cathedral you can find the Romano-Germanic-Museum. Already outside some excarvatons are displayed.
We wanted to see the River Rhine than.
We went back to the city centre. We walked through the shopping streets and reached Neumarkt than.
We also went to the old town, here we are at Heumarkt.
They have lovely pubs here. Katja and Alex enjoyed a beer in the pub on the left side. The old town has narrow streets and lovely houses.
Did you see when this house was built? In 1626 AD.
A lovely view, isn't it?
It started to rain than, we made our way back to the central station and went home. I'm sure I don't want to see any stairs for a few days.
Bye
Barney
Posted Oct 23, 2009, 9:24 am
I'm on my way to Canada now.
Bye
Barney
ren.the.great@hotmail.com
Posted Nov 1, 2009, 12:33 am
Guess what? I arrived here in Canada just in time for Halloween! Two other TV's, Ferda and Fiete were there to great me when I arrived. They even had lots of candy!
We didn't waste any time and decided to help Ren carve some pumpkins.
They were pretty small so it didn't take too long before they were empty!
While Ren cut out her pumpkin's face we helped to separate all of the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin goo so we could bake them.
Ren finished her pumpkin!
And the seeds were ready too!
Yum!
We went into a dark room to try out Ren's Jack o lantern.
Her mother made a silly face on the other pumpkin!
After all of that hard work it was time to sneak some candy!
Then we put the pumpkins on the front step.
There was a skeleton out there too! Yikes!
Ren's mother dressed up like a witch to answer the door but she couldn't find her hat! I hope that the rest of the people in Canada are not this scary looking!
We hung out with her for the rest of the evening waiting to give out candy.
Now all of the rest of the candy is left for us! Yay! Happy Halloween!
-Barney
ren.the.great@hotmail.com
Posted Nov 12, 2009, 9:58 pm
Today I went into Halifax to see some of the important buildings there.
I started out a place called Pier 21. Here it is:
In the old days when people from other countries moved to Canada they often arrived at this building. From here they would board trains like this one and travel west to start their new lives as Canadians.
Here are what some of the plaques read:
After that I went to city hall. On the way I saw this statue of Governor Edward Cornwallis. He was the founder of Halifax. A lot of people do not like this man because he was very cruel to the Mi’kmaq First Nations people in the area.
Here I am at City Hall!
City Hall is located on a piece of land called the Grand Parade. Here is what you see looking the other way:
From the Grand Parade you can see the Old Town Clock. It began keeping time in 1803.
In Canada November 11th is called Remembrance Day. It is the day to celebrate those who fought in war. This monument is one of the places where people celebrate it in the city. I was there a day early so there was only one poppy wreath to look at. There would be a lot more there now.
And this church is special because it is the oldest building in Halifax!
Interesting!
I wonder what I will see next?
-Barney
ren.the.great@hotmail.com
Posted Nov 14, 2009, 9:11 pm
Recently the city that I'm staying at experienced the first snow of the season. It was kind of yucky and depressing looking but then it it warmed up a lot and all the snow disappeared!
We decided to take advantage of the nice weather so Fiete, Ferda and I went to a place called Point Pleasant Park.
It is a great place to see the Atlantic Ocean. Too bad there was not one sail boat out today!
Facing the other way you can see the big cranes that load and unload cargo ships.
This area used to be a big military bastion. From here the soldiers could see any ship that was entering the Halifax harbour. There are remains of this all over the park.
There are also lots of monuments honouring the military along the water.
And there are lots of stories to read about different battles and events. Here is just one of them:
Us TV's discovered this little canon and made up our own battle story! (We won of course!)
After that we moved away from the water and climbed up a really really big hill!
At the top of the hill there is a tower!
(Whew my little legs were tired from the the hill!)
I wonder if there is a princess up there? I called out but didn't get an answer!
Next we walked to another place where the remains of the fort still stand. On the way we met some seals!
Here it is!
There was a really big cannon here!
You really can see well from way up here! No one is attacking the city today!
It was starting to get dark so we made our way back down the hill to catch our bus but we missed it! It was okay though, we just sat on the beach and waited for the next one to come.
It was a really fun day!
-Fiete
ren.the.great@hotmail.com
Posted Dec 6, 2009, 5:24 am
Recently I travelled to a place called the Shubenacadie Canal. It's located in Dartmouth, a nearby city that's full of lakes. The canals connect all these lakes together and they were very important for transportation before there was lots of roads. This part of the canal system is now a park.
Here's what is on the sign:
The lake that I started at was small but full of ducks!
Hello ducks!
There is a trail along the canal so I took it.
In the old days this water would have been full of canoes and busy people.
There used to be simple houses along the water too but there is not much left of them now. The rocks behind me used to be a small house.
There were two bridges across the water. I stopped on this one to have my picture taken.
The trail is much higher up on this side!
There used to be a blacksmiths shop behind me here. But once again there is very little left of it today.
The trail went on forever!
Finally I reached the lake on the other side! It was much bigger and had a beach. I love beaches but it was much too cold for swimming. I sat on the life guard bench instead and rested. Then it was time to walk back!
I ended up back at the small lake but on the other side this time!
It was fun!
Bye for now!
-Barney
ren.the.great@hotmail.com
Posted Dec 6, 2009, 6:04 am
It was quite chilly here but Fiete and I decided to explore the Halifax harbour together. We started at the Historic Properties.
The Historic Properties are a bunch of old buildings that are used for tourist shops now. But as you can see there are not many tourists this time of year!
Just past the Historic Properties is a boardwalk that goes along the water. You can see some of downtown Halifax in the background here.
Here is a statue of Samuel Cunard, a famous shipbuilder who was born here in 1787.
There is only one boat in today! Ren says that during warmer months this place is full of boats!
There are no sailboats to be seen!
There is a lighthouse though!
Fiete and I rested a bit and watched to see if any more boats came in, but none did. I think that I might not get to see a sailboat here afterall =(
You can see the open ocean behind me. No sailboats out there either!
We headed back after that.
I guess I will have to settle for seeing two huge tugboats!
Even though I did not get to see my sailboat it was still very pretty and I had a great time!
Bye for now!
-Barney
Posted Dec 14, 2009, 11:05 am
Today I caught the train into the city
and visited the QVB, which stands for Queen Victoria Building, in the centre of Sydney. It is a huge shopping complex inside a beautifully historic building.
I was very lucky to be able to visit at this time of year as they have the most spectacular Christmas tree on display there. It was huge!! It went from the ground floor, through the centre of the building and almost reached the top of the dome above the third floor. Making it even more impressive were the thousands of Swarovski crystals and over 60,000 lights! It is apparently the largest Swarovski tree in the world.
Here I am at the base of the tree. You can already tell that the tree is huge, right?
Going up to the next floor. Isn't the building beautiful?
This is the other wall, looking back the other way from the last photo.
This is the tree from the second floor, looking up to the top. It almost reaches the ceiling of the dome!
The QVB is also home to a huge hanging clock called the Australia clock. It is the world's largest hanging animated turret clock. It weighs 4 tonnes and is 10 metres tall. There are 32 clocks, 12 of which show international times. There are 33 paintings, and 138 hand carved figurines telling the story of Australia from both Aboriginal and European perspectives.
Being a beach dog, I certainly hope I get to visit some of these beaches one day!
Posted Dec 14, 2009, 11:09 am
As you can see we had the perfect summer day - not too hot and clear blue skies.
Sydney is starting to look a little festive, but we were a little disappointed by the display on the Town Hall. They could have done a little more than one tiny tree, don't you think?
This is outside a pub called the Wise Monkeys. At least they know how to get into the Christmas spirit!
At the end of the day we ended up in Central Station, where even this old rail workers pay bus was dressed up for Christmas!
Posted Dec 16, 2009, 11:26 am
This is why - they spend all their time getting their classrooms packed up and moved to new rooms so they can unpack and get organised again. All while still having all their students in the room at the same time! After three days of helping out I'm totally exhausted!!
Bec's old desk half way through the move - the neatest its looked in a long time apparently!
Her new desk... wonder how long it will stay this neat!
This is her old classroom. Its nice and big, but gets a little bit hot in summer. At the moment it is looking a little bit sad and dreary without all the artwork on the walls and the desks pushed aside for the cleaners.
Here's the room we've been moving everything into. I was a little confused - how was she going to fit a whole class into such a tiny space. Then she explained that next year she will be a specialist teacher, working with small groups of children who are having problems learning to read and write. I was very relieved.
And this all belongs to the teacher moving into Bec's old room. I'm glad I don't have to help sort this all out! Apparently Bec had had a mess like this last week!
But.... I've decided to make an escape from all this cleaning and packing! I heard Bec's sister, Stef, say she was going out on Friday night to look at Christmas lights, so I've stowed away with Bec's camera in Stef's handbag so that I can see them too!
I hope this is ok. I will report back in when I return 'home'
Barney.
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 7:49 am
I made some new friends
and checked out her stocking (Santa hasn't visited... yet!)
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 7:54 am
1 week to Christmas!
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 8:12 am
Time for presents to go under the tree, (just a little one this year - the big one & most of the decorations are trapped behind a half a house of furniture currently being stored in the garage!)
and to watch Carols By Candlelight
before getting an early night, ready for Santa to come!
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 8:18 am
On the menu for Christmas Day is:
Pork with crackling and apple sauce
Ham
Seasoned chicken
Salad
Pasta salad
Potato salad
Coleslaw
Pudding
Custard
and Fruit Cake.
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 8:20 am
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 8:26 am
As a good guest, I've been doing my best to help her with this predicament, like with this lovely box of Raffellos....
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 8:40 am
This one was made by one of Bec's students, making it a little more special. My new friends here are from Santa's Office in Finland - Bec was very excited to have the opportunity to visit there last year. She got to meet Santa and see his special machine that slows time down on Christmas Eve, letting him get around the world in one night!
Posted Dec 25, 2009, 9:26 am
I must have been a good surfer dog this year - look what Santa bought me!
Every dog needs a ball, and I guess the cards are to keep from getting to bored while travelling from host to host.
Even the pets here got presents too.Tennis balls for the two dogs (see every dog gets a ball at Christmas!), tuna for the cat and a new seed bell for the bird.
Oh, I haven't introduced the other creatures living here, have I? They're new additions since the last time Bec played TV host.
This is Lady - would you believe she's a puppy??
and Puss-Cat
Angel (the little dog) was too busy keeping an eye on the cutting of the meat to pose for a photo, so Lady and I joined her. You just never know when a stray piece of meat may fall off the platter and straight into a waiting canine's mouth, do you?
I'll introduce you to Bub, the peachface, when the weather improves. Its RAINING today!
In between 'helping' to cut up the meat, I helped set the table.
Bonbons? Check!
Salads? Check!
and check!
Meat? Still coming...
Finally, the table was set, food was served...
Bon-bons were cracked...
Corny jokes were read....
"Why is 6 afraid of 7?"
"Because 7 8 (ate) 9"
and Christmas lunch was soon over again for another year.
Time to watch Christmas TV, catch up with the rellos (Aussie slang for 'relatives') and relax after a big meal.
But, tell me... what is a tiny TV to do with a nail brush?? (my bon-bon prize!)
Posted Jan 6, 2010, 5:57 am
We decided not to brave the city craziness and enjoy the fireworks from home instead.
Posted Jan 6, 2010, 6:16 am
We've been trying to play ball (Lady's second favourite game - her other is laying on the driveway with her nose under the gate looking for people to 'talk' to) but the problem is that all of her balls are just too big!
And let's not even try with this one!
I also got to meet Bub, the cockatiel (who is not a peachface as I previously reported!!)
The yard is pretty big, with lots of places to hide and explore.
I could pretend to be a jungle dog...
and go cruising down the Amazon! Or seeing as I'm in Australia, maybe I should say look for crocodiles in Kakadu??
Time for a snack & a rest! I'm sure Lady won't mind... she hasn't even used her kennel since moving in 6 weeks ago.
Ooh - big storm clouds coming. A summer storm's on its way.
Maybe I should head back inside!
Will have lots more to report soon - we're going away for the weekend!
Flickr photo page
Posted Jan 18, 2010, 4:19 am
We flew down to Canberra to visit one of Bec's friends for her birthday. It was SOOO hot in Canberra while we were there (about 38deg celcius everyday), and the aircon in their car wasn't working, so we didn't get to a lot of sightseeing.
Luckily, one day we did get out to go to the National Gallery of Australia to see the Masterpieces from Paris special exhibition.
We saw famous works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin and other post impressionist painters.
Here was one of our favourites... Sailing Boats and Estuary by Théo VAN RYSSELBERGHE
Later in the day we stopped by Questacon, a hands on science museum, which the kids we were travelling with really enjoy.
This is really quite cool. The people we were staying with have a tropical fish tank, filled with many native tropical fish found on the Great Barrier Reef. Maybe you'll recognise some of them from Finding Nemo?
Posted Jan 18, 2010, 4:43 am
Travel by ferry is the best way to get to Manly, an oceanside tourist destination. Travelling by ferry means half an hour on the harbour, and with the exception of the time crossing the 'heads' (where the harbour meets the ocean) is generally very calm.
Posted Jan 18, 2010, 4:58 am
The Corso is a shopping precinct, full of touristy shops and restaurants inside historical buildings.
It wasn't really beach going weather (despite all the tourists in swimming) so we decided to just take in the view.
We watched the Life Savers change the location of the safety flags (you must swim between the flags to be safe at the beach!)
Eventually we'd had enough of sightseeing and decided it was time for lunch. You can't go to the beach without having fish and chips, so that's what we had - and apparently they're the "Best Fish and Chips in Sydney" (according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Frommers, AA and AAA)
Soon it was time to head back to the pier and get the ferry back to Sydney. We had a little bit of time to check out the harbourside beach (Manly is actually on a peninsular between the Harbour and the Tasman Sea) which is a lot calmer and has mesh to form a safe swimming area for families. Did you know that there are sharks in Sydney Harbour??
The strange building across the beach is Manly Oceanworld, an aquarium where you can pay to go swimming with the sharks! (if you choose)
Here comes the ferry! And because the weather was so much better, we decided to try our hardest to get an outside seat at the front... all the better to enjoy the view from.
Posted Jan 18, 2010, 9:56 am
Here we are at "The Heads". It can get very choppy passing over it. Luckily we had great weather. On Boxing Day this is a very popular place to be to see the yachts competing in the Sydney To Hobart Yacht race leave the harbour and enter open water.
Here comes the next Manly ferry - they come and go every 30minutes.
Woo-hoo!! I saw a sailing boat! Another mission complete!!
Hmmm - have you noticed that the weather started to get worse the closer we got to the city again? Maybe we should have stayed by the seaside!!
There are always so many ferries out on the harbour. They travel all over the place. If you ever come to Sydney, I highly recommend them as a way to travel from place to place.
It looks a lot later than it actually was. Can you believe that it was only 2:30pm?
Harbour Bridge fun fact: Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world's largest (but not longest as thats the New River Gorge in the USA) steel arch bridge. Its total length including approach spans is 1149 metres and its arch span is 503 metres. The top of the arch is 134 metres above sea level and the clearance for shipping under the deck is a spacious 49 metres. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tonnes, including 39,000 tonnes in the arch. The 49 metre wide deck makes Sydney Harbour Bridge the widest Longspan Bridge in the world.
The house there to my right is Kirribilli House, where the Australian Prime Minister lives while in Sydney.
More harbouredge views - this time the Sydney Opera House and Botanical Gardens.
I'm told that the view from those windows at the front of the Opera House are spectacular!
Opera House Fun Facts: It has 1000 rooms, is 185 metres long and 120 metres wide, has 2194 pre-cast concrete sections as its roof which weigh up to 15 tons and are held together by 350 km of tensioned steel cable.
This is Sydney's Rocks District, which is the birthplace of modern-day Australia, Captain Arthur Phillip having settled here in 1788. What was once 19th Century warehouses are now expensive restaurants with stunning harbour views!
Sydney's Circular Quay - where every ferry either starts or ends its journey around the Harbour.
Would you believe that the shortest of the two AMP buildings (to the left of the photo) was once the tallest building in not just Australia, but the Southern Hemisphere?
Adventures over for another day, it was time to catch our train home.
Be in touch soon!
Barney
Posted Feb 10, 2010, 7:39 am
Posted Feb 10, 2010, 7:51 am
The weather was way too hot and sticky to make the thought of battling the crowds in the city bearable, so we stayed at home in the air conditioning and partook in a different Aussie experience - watching the cricket.
I'm not going to go into the rules here (they're a little too confusing!). All you really need to know is that Australia was playing Pakistan in a one day match at Adelaide Oval (some cricket matches go for a week and are called a "Test") and that Australia won by 40 runs.
(If you really would like to know more, see Kari's page on the day she actually went to a cricket match!)
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:16 am
I arrived safely in Okinawa, Japan! I got here just as Jayme's parents did so I got to go to some pretty neat places. My first day we headed off to a place called Okinawa World. Here I am at the entrance.
Once inside, we got to go through this neat cave. It took about an hour to walk through, it was lots of fun!
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:28 am
Today we went to a placed call the Pineapple Park. While there we got to rid around in a cart to see all the various plants like palm trees, pineapples, and flowers. Here are some pcitures of our ride.
We also got to stop by the seashell museum there.
I'm sorry for any bluriness, I couldn't use the flash, but I know some came out blurry.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:37 am
And the beach at the end was beautiful!
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:43 am
Lots of them sold these shisas, which are the guardians of Okinawa and found in many homes.
We went down one of the side streets that happened to be covered, here's what it looked like.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:52 am
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 6:59 am
Isn't it a beautiful view down the coastline?
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 10, 2010, 7:05 am
We tried to take a picture out the window, but it didn't come out. So we had to walk outside and take a picture for you, this is the view from the pedicure place. Isn't it nice?
I hope you liked the updates from their visit! I think we all need a real vacation now...
Barney
Posted Mar 29, 2010, 11:06 pm
I'm sorry for the slow updates! Jayme's been very, very busy, but I promise we'll have some new ones soon. One day she decided to take off and take us and the kids up to the aquarium! Here you can see the fish we saw.
And at the very end we got to see a whale shark! They're very big. Unfortunately we couldn't get a better picture because it was feeding time so they were hanging out near the back of the tank.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 29, 2010, 11:10 pm
I helped the kids play in the sand.
And all of us toys relaxed on the beach towel for awhile.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Mar 29, 2010, 11:24 pm
We did look up the dust storms in China though. We're very glad it wasn't that bad here!
More soon,
Barney
Posted Apr 12, 2010, 12:21 am
After that the weather was just too beautiful to stay inside so we took our lunch to go have a picnic at the beach. Isn't it pretty?
But Jayme forgot to charge the batteries (d'oh!) so we only got one picture! After that we got back in the car, where thankfully Jayme keeps a battery charger, and drove to a nearby cliffside for a walk. We took some nice pictures along the way.
More updates soon!
Barney
Posted Apr 13, 2010, 11:26 pm
After the boys checked out their Easter bookbags we went off to find all the eggs the Easter bunny had hidden! We all helped look. Here's the ones I found.
Then it was time to open up all those eggs, look at that candy pile! Plenty to go around!
After that we took some time to color eggs. First we got out the kit that we were going to use
Then we had to set everything up. Eggs, dye, and lots of paper towels to catch the mess.
Here's the egg coloring
And more
And finally the finished product!
We were all pretty worn out
Another update to come soon,
Barney
Posted Apr 14, 2010, 2:37 am
Us toys relaxed in the lounge chair.
From there we went outside to grab a bite to eat. Here you can see the hotel from where we were sitting
The kids had chicken nuggets and fries, not very creative but it kept them happy til it was time to go home.
There was also an outside pool, but it was a little chilly so no one was in it.
Finally we headed down to the beach at the Renassaince for a bit.
The children were having fun burying each other so we decided to try it out and bury Haggis.
Don't worry, no toys were harmed from this picture, Haggis dug himself out very quickly.
After that we headed home. Jayme has to take her final next, and hopefully after that we'll get to relax some and do some more fun updates!
Barney
Posted Apr 28, 2010, 11:20 pm
We also go to stop by the museum. Here's the outside, sadly we weren't allowed to take photos inside
More soon,
Barney
Posted Apr 28, 2010, 11:31 pm
Finally at the top we found out where we are. Nakagusuku Castle, an UNESCO site here on Okinawa.
Here you can see me next to a model of the castle with the actual castle in the background.
Here's a better look at the castle.
We went up many stairs
Finally we were way up at the top! Isn't it a lovely view. Here's the inside of the castle
And you can see the Pacific Ocean here.
Hopefully we'll get out again soon!
Barney
Posted May 9, 2010, 9:48 pm
To show you what the course is like, here is the practice course. Before you're allowed to do the real course they have you go through the practice course so they're sure you know all the safety precautions. They don't want anyone falling!
Finally there's the obstacle course. There's a net that you jump into like tarzan hanging from a rope then you pull yourself up. And then lots of other various obstacles you can walk over.
Here's a picture of Jayme, you can see why it would be kind of hard for her to hold us for poses as well since she was holding one for dear life, which was at least pretty funny to watch
More soon,
Barney
Posted May 29, 2010, 2:48 pm
They cook the food in front of you so it comes in courses. First is a small treat made of Okinawa sweet potato.
Next comes Navy Bean soup, and you can also see Jayme's new glass in the background. She ordered her drink with a souvinier glass since it was her last visit
Next comes salad
Then the cook arrives and cooks right in front of you! It's served right off the stove of course. We started with potatoes, onions, and green peppers
Then came the meat
And finally came the fried rice and beans
Yum! At least we'll have our bellies full for what comes next
More soon,
Barney
Posted May 29, 2010, 3:00 pm
But once we got on the plane we could take a shot of us in the seats, looks like an ordinary plane doesn't it? Really we're on a seat above a HUGE cargo hold. We flew on a C-5 which is one of the largest planes out there.
After a long, long 10 hour flight we arrived in... Alaska? We checked into a hotel there even though we'd only have a few hours to sleep, but the kids had a hard time sleeping because it was still light out! Kind of neat really. Here's the view from our hotel at 11pm.
Finally we went back to the airport at 5am to catch our next flight. This one was on a slightly smaller plane, but still very big. We had to get onto our seats first.
But after take off we were able to get out and stretch, and look at how much stretching room there was! The kids had a blast running and playing during the flight. It was lots of fun. They even took a nap spread out on blankets on the floor.
Finally after all those plane rides we made it to Camp Pendleton's airfield just North of San Diego. We took a taxi to the beach to wait for Jayme's ride to show up, since she had an hour or so to drive. We just crossed the Pacific!
More soon,
Barney
Posted Jun 16, 2010, 1:05 pm
And here's the Rubean H. Fleet Science Center. All the buildings here are done in a similar architectural fashion.
Inside was very neat, there were lots of handson science experiments for the children to explore as well as a small area for children under 6 (Jayme's barely made the cut off!) where they could play with balls and other toys. Here you can see some pictures inside.
When we came out the water fountain was on! Here is the water fountain outside the museum and behind it you can see the Natural History Museum.
Here's the central area of the park where we waited for the tram to come get us again.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Jun 16, 2010, 1:26 pm
And these are some zoomed in pictures Jayme took during it. It was lots of fun to see.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Jun 16, 2010, 1:53 pm
Then we walked a short ways in Palm Canyon Trail on our way.
Finally we made it! Whew. Here's the entrane to the Air and Space Museum.
There are lots of neat things inside, the boys really liked this globe. You could make it look like any planet in the solar system by pushing a button.
And they lots of stuff besides planes to look at, like this Aircraft Carrier model.
But of course, there's lots of planes to see!
Whew! We got to see a lot. On our way out we headed back towards our car and decided to stop at the Botanical Gardens. Here's the outside.
And here's some of the lovely plants inside.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Jul 15, 2010, 12:47 am
Oh and did I mention we took Jayme's new puppy with us? His name is Max. He's a sweetie.
We stopped by the playground here at the park to let the kids play for a little bit.
Then we took a little walk around, but we stayed nearby since Jayme didn't really feel like dealing with any mountain lions today
They also have a small duck pond here.
It was nice to get out and stretch a bit! More soon,
Barney
Posted Jul 15, 2010, 1:18 am
After that we headed over to the brand new dolphin show. Unfortunately we got there a little late so we were seated way up high! It provided a nice view of the stadium though.
Here's some zoomed in pictures of the show so you can see it. Sorry I'm not in them, but if I was all you would see would be specks. It was a very neat show, there were a lot of human acrobats in it.
After the dolphin show we headed over to see the sharks, here I am in the shark tunnel.
After that we headed over the main-line attraction, the Shamu show.
And again with some zoomed in pictures.
After the Shamu show we went on to see some flamingos.
And then the seals.
Finally we headed to the kid's area to let the kids unwind a bit. They had a jungle gym type area.
And of course some kiddie rides.
Our final show of the day was the seal show. Here's a few pictures of me and some zoomed in ones.
After that we headed home to collapse for the night! But we had lots of fun. More soon,
Barney
Posted Jul 15, 2010, 12:41 pm
We also went inside the Lego store where they had various creations made of legos (and of course blocks to purchase!) We found a statue of a celebrity there, Woody from Toy Story 3. Jayme's little boys love Toy Story and they were very excited to see this life-size Woody.
Finally we stopped by one more store called Build-a-Bear. We didn't take any pictures inside, but we helped the boys to make a dog to send to their daddy for Father's Day.
After that we headed back to the hotel for a good's nights sleep, we wanted to be well rested before our day at Disney!
Barney
Posted Jul 16, 2010, 2:51 am
As you can see, once we got inside the crowds showed up! They open up the turnstiles early to allow people into mainstreet, but you can't get to the rest of the park yet. You can see the castle though! And the rest of mainstreet.
Once they put down the barriers and let us in we headed right towards FantasyLand. Jayme said those rides are a pain later in the day because they're so slow to run and load and offload. The first ride we did was Casey Jr's Train. Here's a picture waiting for it and a picture on the ride.
After that we headed over to do the teacups, what fun!
Then it was time for the carousel.
Then the children really wanted to do It's a Small World. We ended up riding it three times! I don't think I'll ever get that song totally out of my head.
Next we headed over to Toon Town. If you look closely in this picture you can see a celebrity
That's Pluto in the background!
Next we went over and took the ferry to Tom Sawyer Island, here you can see us waiting in line. We forgot to take pictures over there we were so busy running around chasing kids.
Next we went over to do the Buzz Lightyear ride. Like we said yesterday, Jayme's kids really love Toy Story. They had lots of fun on this ride. Sadly all we got were pictures in line. Here's the line.
Here's a better picture of one of the wall murals.
Next we went onto the Jungle Cruise. Here's the entrance.
And the boat's we road on.
And here's some of the animals we saw on the way
Finally after that it was time to take a breather while we waited on the parade to start. The kids took a little nap in their stroller and we read for a bit.
Then it was time for the parade! It was more of a show than a parade this time, instead of floats they came out and danced around.
After the parade we ran over as fast as possible to do the Nemo subs. They're very popular right now because they're still new. Here you can see a sub.
And you can't really see what's out the window, but here's where we sat for the ride.
After the Nemo ride the kid's were getting cranky and we were all worn out so we headed home. Whew! I'm sure we'll recover to do some more updates before too long!
Barney
Posted Jul 28, 2010, 2:16 am
Then it was off to see the Moose! We were in the North America area.
Keeping with the North America theme we went onto the polar bear exhibit. The bears were hiding, but we got to play on the playground there.
We stopped by the bobcat exhibit as well. We didn't see much of the bobcats, they were napping. But I wanted to show you this plaque because the people in it are Jayme's relatives (by marriage). They raised the bobcats here at the zoo as well as working with the bonobos here at the zoo and some other small cats. Jayme got to have some real fun here when she was younger and they still worked here.
After that we headed into the Asian area. They had a bell there that was very sad. It chimes every time a species goes extinct.
After that it was time to stop for some dippin dots. Mmm!
And then we went into the aquarium.
We saw a couple more animals on the way out, but decided it was time to call it quits then because the kids were getting tired.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Jul 28, 2010, 2:44 am
When we looked out the window quite awhile later we were... in CHICAGO?! I thought were supposed to be headed towards North Carolina...
Apparently we had to come up to an area near Chicago to pick up Jayme's furniture that had been in storage. In the meantime, we decided to take some time to check out the city
Since Jayme's father hadn't been to the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower we decided to head that way. Here I am outside.
And here are the views of the city from the tower.
They had this neat new thing there. It goes out over the street itself and has a plexi-glass bottom so you can look straight down at the street. I thought it was scary! But Jayme's kids loved it.
More later,
Barney
Posted Jul 28, 2010, 3:03 am
We also stopped by a restaraunt called Cracker Barrel. They have lots of what's considered American country cooking and you can find them all over the country. Mm. Lunch.
One of the fun things here is that they have these little wooden table games you can play. We got to relax and play one while drinking some root beer while we waited for the kids to finish eating.
Whew. On our way to North Carolina finally! Next stop Wilmington.
Barney
Posted Sep 4, 2010, 1:36 am
We spent the afternoon unpacking, yuck. Then it was time to head out for some fireworks. Aren't they pretty?
More soon,
Barney
Posted Sep 4, 2010, 1:39 am
Unfortunately the hot donuts sign wasn't on, so we couldn't see the donuts being made. But we did get to enjoy a tasty one.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Sep 4, 2010, 1:45 am
And a little view of the downtown.
They were also having a farmer's market the day we were there with lots of things for sale.
More soon,
Barney
Posted Sep 4, 2010, 2:01 am
Once on the wagon ride we got to ride around for awhile and feed various animals. The children had lots of fun feeding them as the animals ran up to be fed. Here are some views on the ride.
After the ride we walked down a small path that had these funny gourds growing from the arch.
And we stopped by the petting zoo and to see some camels are on our way home.
Hope to have more adventures soon!
Barney
Posted Oct 23, 2010, 7:00 pm