Piber, Austria - 19th September 2009
By: marcie08
Hi Mom!
After we had visited the church, we continued our travel to Piber. We went by car and were of course all buckled up!
We went to Piber, to the Federal Stud, which is part of the Vienna Spanish Riding School.
You can see the Lippizan horses there. They are born there and stay on there until they are old and/or good enough to go to Vienna. Just the best horses get a chance to go there, the others stay at Piber and you even can buy them there (prices start at € 3.000,--).
There is so much to learn about the horses, so we took a guided tour. I can't write down everything I learned that day, but you can find tons of information her: click me.
The horses that aren't white yet are the young ones. They are really curious and come to the fences looking for some sugar cubes! But you have to be careful as they try to taste anything that is near...
The big white horse you can see on one picture is a stallion. He has of course his own quarters! But he got really excited in his paddock, as the mares were there in the morning! You can also do carriage rides here and you also see some of the special costumes of the riders or carriage drivers!
I also took a picture of some information about the stallion stables!
That was really a great day!
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Posted Sep 27, 2009, 4:29 pm
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Leutschach, Austria - 20th September 2009
By: marcie08
Hi Mom!
Today we made a trip to the Southern Styria, the part which is located near the Slovenian border. This part is very famous for its vineyards. They grow for example Welschriesling, Weißburgunder, Chardonnay (here called Morillon) and Sauvignon Blanc.
We first went to a "Buschenschank". Wikipedia translates it with "inn"... well, thats a kind of restaurant, where the wine farmers serve cold meals which have must contain just products that are homemade. In former days they weren't allowed to buy products and serve them and they also weren't allowed to serve hot meals. Now the rules aren't that strictly any more, but mostly you still find cold meals.
We were sitting on the balcony there, looking over the hills and the vineyards. We had a "Brettljause", kind of a Ploughman's lunch. Well, it's a wooden board (in the traditional version) or a plate (in the modern version) with different kinds of ham, bacon, cheese, pickles and so on. And a glass of white wine, of course!
Then we went for a little walk, through the hills and vineyards, up to a small plateau. We rested on a bench there, because it was a little bit steep climbing this hill...
And then we saw this really strange thing...it looked like a windmill, but it makes a strange sound when its windy... My host mom told me that's a very common thing here and called "Klapotetz". And there's a reason for its sound: It was built in the vineyards to scare away the birds who were eating the grapes!
Later we had roasted chestnuts, which are always made here in the vineyards when the grape harvest starts in autumn. And then they drink a special drink here called "Sturm" (translated storm). That's a wine in fermentation stage and it's only available for a short time every year.
After this day I was really tired because I have eaten soooo much!
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Posted Sep 29, 2009, 7:34 pm Last edited Sep 29, 2009, 7:35 pm by marcie08
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Graz, Austria - 24th September 2009
By: marcie08
Hi Mom!
Today I had to say Goodbye to my host mom and my new friends!
I'm a bit sad, but I'm also curious about my next host!
Bye from Austria!
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Posted Sep 29, 2009, 8:10 pm
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Bristol, England - 2nd October 2009
By: DeliciousJu
Hey!
I have arrived safely in Bristol, England!
I was greeted by lot's of new friends - Rob, Florentine & MrCoolHH - we are all going on holiday with Julie to Mexico on Sunday, good job too as the weather in England is rubbish - very cold & not allot of sunshine
Will try to get few pictures up for you before i go, but very busy weekend helping Julie pack so may not have time!
I will have my sungalsses & sun cream at the ready, be sure to update you with all the pictures & stories when i am back
Lots of Love, Michel
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Posted Oct 2, 2009, 11:07 am
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Mexico, Cancun - 20th October 2009
By: DeliciousJu
Hey!
Just to let you know i am back home to England now, there are so many pictures to update you with, may take few days to sort them out & resize them, but will get them up for you as soon as i can, in meantime i will get on with composing a little blog for you on what fun we had in Mexico
Lots of Love, Rob
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Posted Oct 20, 2009, 1:37 pm
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Cancun, Mexico - 25th October 2009
By: DeliciousJu
Hi Mum,
At last i have got all of my pictures to show you .....
We left Bristol on coach to take us to the airport - we left from Gatwick, which is near London. It was early start though had to leave at 4am - EEK!!!
Safety first on the plane, we went through the safety book, and got ourseleves seat-belted in for the 10 hour flight to Cancun Mexico, so exciting!!! Hotel 'Barcelo Costa' here we come ....
Day 1 - first things first, time to sunbath, suncream & sunglasses at the ready!! Over there we had to get used to all the different money - we could use USA Dollars, and Mexican Peso's. Julie took us to the beach at our hotel - it was lovely - white sands & blue sea
Day 3 - Julie took us out on a day trip - we went to Tulum, this is an old Mayan Ruin site - the ruins are off a city that dates back to the 1500's. It was on the coast so was used for trade, as well as being very well protected. From there we went to Xel Ha - this was an amazing Ecological park, you can swim with dolphins, roack, jumping, chill on the lazy river in a ring, and snorel around the whole site, reefs & caves - the sea was full of wildlife - all kinds of fish just swimming around you as you float through the water! As well as the wildlife in the water at both places we saw loats of Iguana's just wondering around - they are very common over in Mexico - we managed to get quite close to have pics taken too, would of loved for one of them to become a toyvayoger like me!!
Day 6 - Today was shopping day, we went around the busy part of Cancun & saw some clubs & pubs - Co Co Bongo's is the best club there, the club was taken from the film 'The Mask', and each night has live shows of acrobatics, Circ De Solais and music .... something quite original to normal clubs!
From there we went to 'Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co' - have you ever seen the film 'Forrest Gump', well Bubba was charactor on that & he talked of running a shrimp restuarant ... so the whole place is filled with memorabilia from the film, they play the film all day every day & have the menu suited to the film too - it was awesome, we had the best coktails there!! And when you go outside, you can sit on the bench just like Forrest Gump off the film - with his trainers on, box of chocolates & suitecase - this was one of my best moments of the holiday!
Day 7 - Today we went to a proteced Barrier Reef just off the coast of Cancun to do some snorkeling - it was so lovely, we got a boat through the lagoon, and then out to sea - beautiful!
Enjoy the pictures .... sad to be back in England as weather is horrible - so windy & cold outside, and tonight the clocks go back too, this means going to be allot darker in the evenings now
Lots of Love Michel
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Posted Oct 25, 2009, 8:40 pm
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Paris, France - 29th November 2009
By: smaug
Hi Mum!
Today I went for a short visit to Paris as I had to go to the airport to pick up a guest (no, not another TV ). The day started with a deluge , so we couldn’t see much from the train, but I had plenty of time to chat with Sigfrido: although he is not officially a TV he’s done quite a bit of travelling, so we had plenty to chat about while looking at the rain.
Luckily, when we arrived in Paris, the rain decided to give us a little break so I could take some pictures. Here I was on Boulevard Haussmann next to the Havre-Caumartin Metro station.
Then I tried to see the animated shop windows at Printemps, but it was too crowded to get close.
So I just took a picture of the store. I guess at night the Christmas decorations must be wonderful.
Then I walk to the Opera where I had to take the bus to the airport...but still had time for a couple of pictures .
And here I was on the bus chatting again with Sigfrido.
When I arrived at the airport, first I checked the arrivals information screens...
...and since there was still plenty o time, I explored the check-in area.
On the way back to Paris the deluge gathered momentum again...
... so I just tried to get back to the train station without getting too drenched.
But later on, arriving in Rouen the sky opened up again so I managed to take a picture while crossing La Seine just before arriving at the station . Can you see the Cathedral Spire just behind my head?
What a great day, hopefully I’ll be able to see Paris again...without the rain maybe .
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Posted Dec 6, 2009, 4:30 am
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Paris, France - 7th December 2009
By: smaug
Hi Mum!
Today I was again in Paris ! The weather still was kind of rubbish, but at least it wasn’t raining, so I could enjoy the French countryside landscape from the train.
In Paris I spent most of the time travelling underground, and when I came out the first thing that I saw was the École des Mines, apparently one of the most important engineering schools in France and one of the Grandes écoles .
Walking a bit down the road I reached a square that is located at one of the main gates to the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Of course I went in and explored a bit around. Apparently during sunny days there is lot of people around, but today it was fairly quiet.
Coming out of the park I had the Pantheon just in front of me. Well, in this photo you can just see the dome as the rest of the building is behind my head, but I can assure you that it’s right there .
Later I found out that the main boulevard leading to La Seine is named after me, how nice ! Actually Sigfrido told me that, although the possibility can’t be completely ruled out, it seems unlikely that in 1867 they named the road expecting my visit more than 140 years later . Anyway, here I am walking down Boulevard St Michel .
On the way down to the river I passed in front of La Sorbonne.
Then I reached this massive bookstore where I stopped for while…a long while.
When I eventually came out it was getting a bit dark, but I still managed to take a couple of pictures, in the Latin Quarter’s streets…
…and looking at Notre Dame Cathedral .
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Posted Dec 11, 2009, 5:15 pm
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École Polytechnique, France - 14th December 2009
By: smaug
Hi Mum!
Today I was again south of Paris, but in a different University. I visited the École Polytechnique, the most important science and engineering school in France , that apparently is nicknamed X .
Luckily the weather was nice, so arriving in Paris I could see the financial centre of La Defénse in the distance .
To reach the campus from the RER station there is a nice walk up a narrow path.
Phew, so steep, time to rest a bit.
The path got narrower and, if possible, steeper …
…but eventually we reached the top and the campus gate .
The campus is so big, they even have stables that you can see behind me and a massive private lake that I didn’t have time to visit.
Here I am approaching one of the buildings.
The rest of day, alas, I was stuck inside with not much to do, and, as usual, I left when it was already dark. But when I arrived home in the evening I found out that someone here in Normandy created a nativity scene with 120 white bears, how cool is that !
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Posted Dec 18, 2009, 4:06 pm
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