My weekly schedule.

Well I thought I would write up what my weekly roster is. I haven't really written much up about it. So here it is.
Monday.
0700 to 0800 - breakfast (I usually sleep in and miss this)
8-830 - Get ready for danish class.
845 - dainsh class.
1020 - finish danish class.
1020 - free time.
1130-1230 - lunch/meeting about friday night worships.
1230 - free time.
1630-1730 - Pligt(cleaning duties for the students)
1730 - start my shift. also dinner
1815 - andagt/evening worship and anouncements
1830-2000 - Study time
2000-2200 - Students have free time. I have to either be in the office, wandering the dorm talking to students or in Einstein. Einstein is a room for the students to hang out(play pool, fussball, buy food, watch a movie),in the basement of the guys dorm.
2230 - the 8(aged 14) grade students go to bed.
2300 - the 9(aged 15) to 1g (aged 17) grade students go to bed. These guy can take nearly 30mins to get them into bed.
Once all the guys are quiet, we right the day report.
0030 - finish my shift. Its usually at this time bit it can be at 0100 or 0130.

Now that is my mondays.

Tuesday.
0700 to 0800 - breakfast (I miss this)
8-830 - Get ready for SM staff meeting.
835-930 - staff worship.
935-1120 - tutor students from two english classes.
1130-1230 - lunch
1230 - free time.
1415 - start my shift. Get all the guys out of the dorm for extra sports.
1430-1600 - extra sports. I am in the Hall helping out with football.
1630-1730 - pligt (cleaning duties). Since I am on duty I have to organise my pligt workers. I am incharge of the outdoor team. this means we are to keep the grounds clean and tidy.
1730-1800 - aftensmad (evening meal)
1815 - andagt/evening worship and anouncements
1830-2000 - læsetid(Study time)
2000 - I am now off duty.

Thats tuesday

Wednesday.
630 - wakeup. This usaually ends up being 645 by the time I am up.)
645-700 - knock on all the rooms for 8-10 graders to wake them up and see if they are felling well.
0700 to 0730 - go to breakfast and mark off the guys that attend breakfast.
730-800 - run around to kick the guys that didn't attend breakfast out of bed and make sure they all attend the first class.
8-830 - Get ready for swimming class that I help out in.
845 - swimming class.
1200 - finish danish class.
1200 - lunch/freetime.
1430 - Start work. This is really good. most of the students go to town to shop so I don't really have to do much.
1430-1700 - Vejle trip
1700-1800 - Pligt(cleaning duties for the students)
1800-1830 - dinner
1830 - andagt/evening worship and anouncements
1845-2000 - Study time
2000-2200 - Students have free time. I have to either be in the office, wandering the dorm talking to students or in Einstein. Einstein is a room for the students to hang out(play pool, fussball, buy food, watch a movie),in the basement of the guys dorm.
2230 - the 8(aged 14) grade students go to bed.
2300 - the 9(aged 15) to 1g (aged 17) grade students go to bed. These guy can take nearly 30mins to get them into bed.
Once all the guys are quiet, we right the day report.
0030 - finish my shift. Its usually at this time bit it can be at 0100 or 0130.

Thursday.
I love thursdays. It is my day off. All I have to do that is work is pligt at 1630. This is fine for me.

Friday.
Depending if I have got weekend duty or not depends of what I will do that friday.
usually I will do pligt from 1415-1515. The students that would like to go home leave on the bus at 1530 to Vejle.

Wel that is a typical week.

Schools Back.

Well it has now been a week and a half since school started. The students arrived back at school on the night of Wednesday 2rd of January. On the first couple of days there was many students. The students in 10 grade had the first two days off for læseferie(study holiday) so they were still at home. And the rest that didn't turn up were having an extra long break. I really enjoyed those days. I was still 'on holidays' but at the school taking time out to talk to the students or just spend time by myself. On the first weekend we had a pool party. All the students enjoyed it. I was going to go to it but I was on such a high on friday night that I crashed and was all depressed and just wanted to be by myself.
On sunday Leo and I went and worked on the horse fence. We have now put the whole fence up. all we need to do is put a gate up and we are finished finally. I really enjoyed that day. Leo and I mucked around a far bit between us. I was good.
Monday was my first day of official duty for the term. It was really good to get to start work again. I was ready to tackle it with everything I had. We had all the students arrive back. It was abit crazy since they all wanted to talk and tell each other what they had done over Christmas holidays. I got really sick of telling each student what I had done over the break. They were more interested in what I did rather than wanting to share what they did.
Tuesday started out all good. I did my normal thing. I started duty at 1430. I had a meeting with the principal at that time so I went there. I had requested more work. I am trying to get more work so I can go on a big trip over summer. My meeting was cut short though. One of the deans came into the principals office to tell him something. We had a student that got really angry and was walking to the nearest town to take a bus home. The dean had offered me to take his car to go get the student but I decided to ride my bike and get him. This way I could talk to him whilst we were walking. When I caught up to him, he was on his phone talking to someone. He didn't want me to be there at all. I walked behind him all the way to the bus stop and waited for him to finish his phone call or for the bus to come, which ever was first. Luckily it was the phone call that finished first. After the phone call he started walking back to the school. This was really good. I didn't have to talk him into it. The person on the phone had done that. On the way back we talked about what happened and tried to find a solution to the problem. He was all calm when we talked.
Wednesday. It was very busy. I had wakeup. After wakeup I had 30mins before I had to go to the pool and help teach swimming. I went to the pool at 830 when I had been told to be there. After waiting there for 25mins the teacher finally came down and told me that the class wasn't on because the student had a major project that they were working on for the whole week and that I'd need to come back at 1030 for another class. I did 5 hrs of extra work on wednesday. I worked for 16½ hrs.
On Thursday I was meant to go and help on of the staff to build a horse fence at his farm. When he came to pick me up, I was still in bed asleep. We didn't end up doing it because the day was miserable and raining. At 2100 I got a call from one of the female deans and was asked to drive one of the students to a city 45mins-1hr away from the school so she could visit her sister in hospital. I'm not sure what happened to the sister and why she was in hospital. We had fun trying to find the hospital though. We ended going everywhere trying to find it. we found after driving around for nearly 1hr looking for it.
Friday I spent time cleaning and doing my washing. After I had finished work I went for a swim. In the evening I did become sick and had a fever. This wasn't good.
Over the weekend I have spent most of my time in my room because of being sick. I am still trying to recover from it. Still got diarrhea. I am hoping I will get over that soon. I am feeling better then I was on Friday though which is good. I just hope I am better soon.

Frankfurt and New Years

When I got to Cerbere I was surprised. It wasn’t what I thought it was. It was a small town set on the side of a mountain looking over the Mediterranean. I expected it to be a descent sized place because it was a border town for France and Spain. It was really small but very nice. While I was in Cerbere I got something for dinner before I headed back to the station. I had gotten to Cerbere 4hrs before my train left to go to Mulhouse. Since Cerbere wasn’t as big as I thought I sat in the station for 2½ hours waiting patiently. When the train finally came I was really happy. I had enough of Cerbere. When I got on the train I found out that I had a seat rather then a sleeper. I hadn’t slept in the car on the train yet. It was really comfy. That night I kinda slept. It wasn’t enough though. In the morning I got off at Mulhouse. I didn’t see anything other then the station. I had enough time to hop one train and on the next. That was fine I really wanted to go to the next city. It was Basel. Basel is a border town between France, Germany and Spain. I didn’t leave the station here but it now means I have been to Switzerland. YEAH. SWITZERLAND. :P While I was in the station I went to a shop and got myself a Swiss beany and I also got a Switzerland Scarf for Leo. He is Swiss and wanted a Swiss flag but his little brother has it on his wall. My next train was to Frankfurt. That was a really good train to go on. It’s a speed train, very fast and nice.

I arrived in Frankfurt at 1330. When I got there I went straight to the hostel I was staying in. Frankfurt I found was really good to walk through. It was spread out but all the museums seemed to be really close to each other. When I got to the hostel I found I had 30mins to wait before the rooms were open for new bookings. I sat in the hostel and waited until they were open. Once I was booked in and in my room, I stayed in and watched a movie. I was really stuffed and was sick of sightseeing. I did end up going out later to get some food but that was it.

In the morning I was up at 0330 to get my next train. It left at 0500 from the Frankfurt main station and I had to get there. I walked to the closest metro and got on it. It was a 15 min walk and a 10 min train ride. That was really good I thought. When I got to the station I went and got a quick bite to eat before hoping on. My next train took me to Hamburg. The train ride to Hamburg went really quickly and really good. When I got to Hamburg, I had 5 mins to find my next train and get on it. I just made it. This train was the train to Vejle. It was just another 4-5hrs before I was going to be at the school. When I got to Vejle I had to wait for 20mins for my next train to Hedensted. I was feeling a bit impatient by then waiting at different trains for so long I was glad I had only 30 mins before I was going to be at the school again. When the train came I was really happy. It was a 10 min ride on the train to Hedensted. Not long now. The train ride was really good. It went past the fjord and then up into the countryside before I got off. I really missed the fjord. It’s like home. And I know when I see it it’s not far to go.

When I got to the station I looked out for Bamse. It was nowhere to be seen. I was sure it would be there waiting for me. It wasn’t. I gave Leo a quick call just to find out where it was. Crista had taken it but was going to be back in a few minutes. It’s not far from the school to Hedensted so I was happy to wait even though it was freezing cold and windy. I think the wind chill was colder then the temperature. When Daniel picked me up he said it was 4’c but I swear it felt more like -2. I guess that was just the wind.

When I got back to the school, I unpacked my bag, did my washing and got something to eat before tidying my room up. I finally stopped at about 1730 when Leo and I went to get some pizza for dinner. It was really good after eating on the cheap and only eating bread and water at some stages of the trip.

In the morning I was woken up by my alarm at 0545 because I had another early train to catch. This one was to Copenhagen. I hit a button on my watch hoping to put it on snooze but I ended up turning it off. This wasn’t good. At 0600 Leo came into my room and went ‘aren’t you meant to be up and ready to leave?’. I was glad he came in I was dead asleep when he came in. I got up and chucked some clothes on and grabbed my bags and walked out the door. We were on our way to Vejle station at 0610. This was still good. I had 35mins before the train arrived.

On the trip to Copenhagen, I had planned to write a bit about my trip so far. It didn’t happen. I got about 20mins of writing done before I fell asleep. I slept for most of the trip. When I woke up I was about 20mins outside of Copenhagen.

When I got to Copenhagen, I had to find my way to the hotel that Crista and her parents were staying. There we waited for Nat to come. Nat came and picked us up. He took us for a drive around Copenhagen showing us a few things. Really he was showing Crista’s parents because Crista and I had both seen it before. It’s still good to see it again. That evening Nat and I headed back to his place at around 2230. When we got there Nat’s house mates were about to watch a movie so we both joined them. I didn’t understand what I saw. The movie was in Swedish I think or at least a language that I didn’t understand and that required Danish subtitles. The dvd didn’t have English subtitles so I had to try and read the Danish ones and understand what it was saying. Not the best thing to do. I ended up falling asleep and missed most of that movie. We all ended up going to bed at around 0030-0100.

I slept in abit longer then I thought I would have but I guess my body really needed it. No, I know my body really needed it. During the day we all just chilled out. At 1400 I sent sms’s to everyone in Aus to wish them all a happy new years. I also called my family. I started to get ready for new years at 1600. Nat and I went to a party at one of his friends places. It was really good there. We sat back relaxed, listened to music and had dinner. Some of the things that are traditions for New Years in Denmark that we did were watch the Queens Speech, also watch this old tv show. The Queens Speech I didn’t understand because it was in Danish but like the night before I tried to read the subtitles that they had. One of the things I understood was really funny. The Queen made a mistake in her speech. She said something about thanks for a great year in 2006 and may 2008 be just as great or something like that. The funny thing was the 2006. On the subtitles it said 2007 and she said 2006. All of us cracked up with laughter at it. This was a national broadcast. The Queen must have been so embarrassed. I would have been. At midnight we all stood up and celebrated New Years with a glass of Champagne. Well everyone else did. I celebrated with a glass of cider. Close enough. After we went outside and set off fireworks. It was amazing. Nothing like in Australia. This was fireworks that were just about commercial size well it looked like it. There were boxes of 20-40 shots in them going off everywhere around us, and big rockets. It was amazing. I have a video of it that I’ll post up on the net for ya’s to see. After we chilled out and played a few games and listened to music. Nat and I ended up leaving at around 0500. We headed to his folks place because Nat’s place had a whole heap of people sleeping over and there wasn’t going to be enough room for us. We got to his folks place at 0600 I think it was. When I got there we crashed down stairs in the rumpus room.

When we finally woke up it was 1400. It didn’t feel like it though. I thought it was morning. We got up and headed to the station to go back to Nats place. When we got there we sat back and chilled out some more and tried not sleeping. At around 1900 we went for a walk to wake up a little. When we got back we put a movie on. This movie I understood. It was in English. We went to sleep once it was finished. This was around 2230-2300. In the morning I woke up at 1130. I missed half the day. That wasn’t good but it happens when you’re tired.

When I woke up I surfed the net and talked to some people on msn. That was good catching up and finding out what they had been doing over Christmas and New Years. I left Copenhagen at 1630 to head back to the school.

When I get back to the school my trip will finally be finished. No more tripping around Europe for a few more months. Let’s see how the money goes before I go again.

Hope you all have had a great break.

Xmas Holidays - Spain

Spain

My train left Paris at 2030 on the 24th of December. I had booked a sleeper cabin. The bed was really good. The trip was 12 hours from Paris to Barcelona. I shared my cabin with 3 other people. On was a guy with a little boy and the other was another guy travelling by himself. When I got to the cabin we had the seats out instead of the beds. At 2200 a staff member came through and set the beds up for us. Once he did that I hopped onto my bed and watched a movie on my laptop. Once the movie finished I went to sleep. The sleep that night, wasn’t really sleep. It was very broken. The little boy was up all night and the guys left the main light on. When we finally got to Barcelona I was very happy.

When I got to Barcelona, I had to find out what train I needed to take to get to Tarragona. The staff personnel at the information desk were very helpful and they also spoke English. I found later that it is very hard to get around without knowing any Spanish. I loved the trip to Tarragona from Barcelona because the train went along the coast. It went past some very nice beaches and small towns. I met Gemma at the train station. Gemma Christian lives in Tarragona at the moment. We walked to Gemma’s apartment. I found it a little tough walking to her place. I was all up hill and about 40mins walk away from the station. I was amazed at the size of the hills or mountains. They went on forever and after living in Denmark they looked huge. When we got to Gemma’s place I had a shower and some breakfast then we went for a walk around Tarragona. I found warm enough to wear shorts and tee-shirt. It was 15’c and a very clear day. Not a cloud to be found. On the walk, we went walked around the outside wall of the old city and walked along the coast. The wall around the old city was made of dirt and rock. It is apparently pre Christ. The beach was amazing. Soooo nice. I was so tempted to go swimming but I didn’t bring a towel so I didn’t want to be walking around in wet shorts. The water was around 20’c I would reckon. From the beach we walked down the coast line to the city centre. The coast is made of cliffs over looking the city with large beaches between them. It was really nice just taking in all the blue water. There is just something about a beach. I really enjoyed that. When we got to the city we walked down the main street and went window shopping. There were some really good things there but I didn’t have any money that I could spend and it was closed because it was Christmas day. Afterward we headed back to Gemma’s place. At Gemma’s I got on the net and read my emails and checked out a few things. Christmas night Elyssa, Georgie and Lorinda all arrived from Australia for a trip around Europe. Gemma and I met Elyssa and Georgie at the bus station and headed back to the apartment. When we got back Gemma tried contacting Lorinda to see when she was arriving. She was arriving by train. Gemma couldn’t get in contact with her at all. Lorinda had her mobile with her and had global roaming activated on it, but for some reason we weren’t able to get through to her and she wasn’t able to get through to us. Lorinda did get through to her dad though. He ended up sending Gemma an email. We went down to the train station at 2030. When we got there we found her sitting in the waiting area. She had been there for nearly 3hrs waiting and trying to get hold of someone. We caught a taxi back. I was really glad for that and I know Gemma and Lorinda were also. When we got back, I got myself ready for bed. Before I went to sleep I called mum and dad to let them know what I was up to and that I had arrived safely in Tarragona after my plans had changed.

In the morning we went for a walk through the old part of Tarragona. It was really good. I got to see buildings that were 1000’s of year’s old still standing. We walked around the old city for most of the day. The thing I like the best was seeing houses that had been built into the old city wall. The wall around them was falling apart yet it hadn’t affected them at all. Once we had enough walking we headed back to the apartment. We had some dinner and chilled out for a little bit. The girls all organised there trip that they were about to go on the next day. I double checked my trains and rearranged them to fit my new schedule. I decided to go back to the school rather then taking an overnight train to Malmö and Copenhagen on the 29^th of December. This didn’t change much, just saved me money and allowed me to stop and relax and home for a night. After checking out the trains, I packed my bags so all I had to do was put in my sleeping bag and pillow and leave.

I went to bed late that night.

On the morning of the 27^th of Dec I got up at 8am and finished packing. I left Gemma’s at 910 and I had to run to the train. I had 16 mins to get from her house to the station. As I was coming down the stairs to the station I saw the train I was meant to take leave the station. This was a real pain. It didn’t end up being too bad. The next train came in 30mins. This gave me time to take a few pictures before I left. When the train finally came it was 1000. To got on this train. It was really good trip. I got to watch the ocean go by out the right window and mountains out the left window. It was really nice. I got off the train at Barcelona. It took about 2hrs to get to Barcelona by train.

At Barcelona train station I went to the help desk to find out if I would have to reserve a seat to Cerbere, the next place I would have to change trains. After getting sent from one place to another I found out that I didn’t have to reserve the seat. I had 1hr to wait while I was in the station. The train got to the station at 1330. While in the train station I walked around to see what they had there. It was a fairly big station. They were also in the process of extending it adding in 4 more platforms. While walking around I went looking for something to eat. I didn’t find anything that I really felt like eating. They did have Macca’s but I didn’t really feel like it and it didn’t seem worth it. I ended up going to a candy store and bought some lollies. When the train finally came I hoped on. It was a 3 hr train ride to Cerbere. Along the way we passed through some of the most beautiful landscapes. On the left for part of the way I saw the high peaks of the French alps (can’t remember what they are called). They were massive and just plan awesome. I could see the different levels. They went from plateau to grassy hills up to snow covered peaks. I have never seen anything like it in real life, only as posters. I tried my best to get a shot of them on the train without having anything covering the mountains or blurring them. It was quite difficult but I did end up doing it. They turned out really good I thought. As I came close to Cerbere, I got close to the coast again. I really liked it. There is something about the ocean that is just so stress relieving and relaxing. I really like it. I think I have to move to the coast when I get back to Aus. Who knows?

Photos tp Come soon on Flickr

Xmas Holidays - Paris

Well Paris has been an interesting experience. I have gone through some lows while I have been here but most of it has been good. I arrived in Paris at 0100 by train on the Saturday the 22^nd of December. I was meant to arrive at 2330 Friday evening. The lateness was because of the train before us was delayed. When I finally arrived I went looking for a map of Paris so I could find where my hostel was. There wasn’t one to be found. There were maps of the local area around the train station but they didn’t cover far enough for me to find where I was meant to be going. I had a rough idea so I ventured out into the unknown called “The Streets of Paris”. After walking for 15mins I felt like I was going astray. I walked up to a hotel that had some lights on and went to go inside. The door was locked. I rang the doorbell or what seemed like one. This man walks out of a door and turns the light off. I tried to get his attention. I did successfully. He gestures to go away and that he didn’t want me there. I stood and tried to tell him I was lost. I didn’t understand. He came to the door and I asked for a map. He pushed it through the crack between the front doors and walked away. I stood in front of the hotel trying to understand where I was. I had not a clue. Everything looked like a maze. Roads went this way and that way but none of them had the name of the street I was on. While I was standing there a lady and her partner rode up to me and asked if I needed a hand. I did. She showed me where I was. Next it was to find where I was to go. The lady told me it was about a 10 minute walk from where I was. I followed the directions that the lady told me to take. They were good but also took me through some small streets that I was a bit wiry about walking through at 0130. I was on full alert, watching everything that moved and walking quickly past groups of people. I finally got to the street that the hostel was on but didn’t find it. It wasn’t there. I thought to myself, “Okay. I have looked at every window and there wasn’t a sign for the hostel. Is it on the other side of the road?” The road the hostel is on has a big island in the middle and I found the hostel on the opposite side to what I thought. When I walked in I went to the counter. The guy at the counter told me it was too late to make a booking. I told him I had booked it over the internet. I told him my name. He asked for my passport. I gave it to him but told him again that I booked it over the net and sent an email to say I was arriving late. He finally understood what I said and reached over to this small pile of papers that had been folded. He found my reservation in that pile. No I could go to bed. Once I got to my room, I found one guy sleeping and the other guy I was sharing a room with out. I took my jacket off and made my bed and went to sleep.

In the morning I got up at 0900 and organised my bag for the day. No I didn’t go to church. I had to go to the train station and reserve my seat to Tarragona. Once I was organised I did just that. Go to the station. When I got to the ticket office in the train station I found that there was a nice big queue waiting for me. It took nearly an hour to get served. When I finally got there I asked the person at the counter if I could book a seat to Tarragona on the train to Tarragona leaving at 2030 on the 23^rd. He told me it was all booked and I wouldn’t be able to get on. I asked him when the next available one was and he said there wasn’t any. I started to get annoying and frustrated. I thought I was going to be stuck in Paris for Christmas and not spend it the way I had planned. I asked the person at the counter if there were any available on the 24^th. He had a look. There was a space free. I said a quick thankyou prayer to God. Now I was going to arrive in Barcelona on Christmas day. After I had reserved my seat I went to look at a few things in Paris. The first thing I headed to was the Arc of Triomphe. I walked there not expecting it to be to far. It was and the traffic of cars and people was horrendous. There were people everywhere at some intersections while at others there was no one to be found. On my way to the arc I stopped at a few other old things. There are lots of statues and buildings with some historic meaning. I didn’t take pictures of all of them though. When I got to the Arc of Triomphe I was overwhelmed by the size of it and the roundabout with all the cars and people around it. I walked through the tunnel that takes you to the arc. It was even bigger when I got there. Once I was there I got a ticket to go up to the top. To get to the top, I had to climb up this circular stairwell. It seemed to go on for ever. There was no finish to it. After walking up the stairs for 5-8mins I found the top. It opened up to this room that was getting renovated. I crossed the room and had to walk up yet another flight of stairs. When I got to the top of the stairs, it was the top of the arc. If was amazing to look out over the city of Paris from here. I could see some many things. I can’t remember them all but the main one was the Eiffel Tower standing there in all its glory. While up there I took a look at the traffic driving below. It was amazing to watch. Just to explain a little. The Arc of Triomphe is in the middle of a roundabout. This roundabout has 12 different roads that lead in and out of it. All traffic in some way leads to the arc. Well it looks like it. I was there on a day where there was lots of traffic but it was really confusing to watch these cars just stop on the roundabout to give way to cars entering and then having a bunch of cars sitting standstill for 2 mins. Then they would somehow sort themselves out and keep driving. It was disorderly order, if you can say that. When I was ready to go, I headed off to the Eiffel Tower. This was another long walk. I got to the tower at around 1430. I had a look at it from below but really wanted to go up it. I went and joined a queue to go up. I waited patiently. When I got to the front and was served I asked if I could get a ticket to walk up the tower. The lady at serving me told me I was at the wrong line. I thought to myself. Thanks a lot, better signage would be helpful. I thanked the lady and walked away instead. I went and joined the other queue. It was much bigger than the other one. It seemed like there were more people wanting to climb then use the lift. Or that just didn’t want to pay as much to see the same thing and experience in a different way. One the way up the stairs there was a number printed on every tenth step so you could see how many you had climbed. To get to the first level it was 328(I think check the pictures. I have a picture of it). When I got to the first level I have a look around and took pictures of Paris. On the path around the outside, there was fake snow that was all hard and slushy. It was fun to walk on slipping and sliding my way around Eiffel Tower. On the inside there were cafés and restaurants. One of the Cafés had an ice bench and walls. This was a theme they had. It was about saving the environment and the ice shelves in the Artic and Antarctic. After walking around the first floor a few times I went to the second. I had another long flight of stairs to walk up. When I got to the second floor there was a label on the top step saying ‘700’. That’s how many there were from the bottom. When I got to the top, I decided to stay there til the sunset. I wasn’t going to be too long. Well it was. I was use to the Denmark sunsets at 1530-1600. This one was more around 1730. That was fine it gave me time to eat some dinner and just take it the view. The sunset was really good even though the line of air pollution was ruining it. But it was still nice. When I was ready to go I went back down to the first floor and explored it a bit more. I went inside on of the buildings there a found a little museum of the Eiffel Tower. The museum showed how it was built and how much it cost, what it has looked like at New Years over the years. That was interesting. I finally left the Eiffel Tower at 18:00. It was a nice walk back down the stairs. When I got down I headed to across this bridge out the front of the Eiffel Tower to another building. Not sure what it’s called. When I got there The Eiffel Tower was all lit up and started to flash. I was really cool. At the top was a really bright light that circulated over the city, like a light house. I finally headed back to the hostel once I had taken enough pictures. The walk back was very long. It was about 8km. This took me about 1 hr to walk. I was full steam ahead. The only thing that stopped me was the traffic lights if they were red and traffic was already going through them. I did make sure they were clear before I went through. I got back to the hostel at 1930. It was so nice to relax and put my feet up. At 2030 I headed back to the train station to see if I there was a free seat for the train I was after but no one had chanced. So I headed back to the hostel. When I got there I had some more food to eat then went to sleep. That was the first day in Paris.

The next day in Paris.

Sunday the 23^rd of December. I went to the train station first thing. Well by the time I got there it was 1100. I was in the hostel trying to find another route to Tarragona. I thought I had found one. This one was going to work by what I had found. When I got to the train station I found out that it wasn’t possible. The trains I was going to take were going to cost a lot more than the one I had. I did book some other trains though. That was good. When I left the station I headed back to the hostel. On my way back I found a small road side market. Well more in the middle of the road. It was on the island. This market had everything you needed from clothing to footwear and food. I walked through to food section and had a look at the French delicacies. One was snails. They looked worry. It was the snail shell with what looked it green stuffing. Another on that caught my eye was live lobsters. They were on a tray trying to move. The thing I didn’t get was they weren’t in any water like what I would have expected for them to stay alive and healthy. When I finished walking through the market, I headed back to the hostel. When I arrived I had a quick bit to eat then headed up to my room. In my room I sorted out what I was going to do the next day. My plan was the go to the station and put my bag in a locker then head off to Notre’ dame, The Louvre, and a few more before heading back to the station for a night train the Barcelona.

Well now its time for bed hope my plan for tomorrow goes smoothly.

Monday.

I woke up a bit later then I expected, but it was fine. I left the hostel at around 0930-1000. The first thing I had to do before I could wander a around Paris was take my backpack to the train station. I had to leave it is a locker because I didn’t want to be walking around Paris with a big heavy bag. I got to the train station about an hour after I left the hostel. Once I had dropped my bag off, I headed to Notre’ Dame. IT wasn’t too far from the train station. The cathedral was humungous. I never really thought it could be so big. I found that it was very hard to take a picture of it without having to be a mile away. Inside it was amazing. You’ll have to look at the pictures to see what I mean, that’s if they worked. I really enjoyed it there. I walked around the wall and found that there were these little rooms on the side. They had some specific meaning to them but I wasn’t really sure what. Near the door on the right they had two confession booths. These weren’t the wooden ones you see in the movies. They were these glass walled rooms. In on of these rooms the Bishop (or what ever he is called) was sitting behind a desk and the person confessing was on the other side. Out the front of this room was a bunch of chairs for people to sit on while they wait there turn. Inside the room was a wooden booth also. Not sure what it was meant to be used for unless you got to choose if you wanted face to face or hidden. After I had seen all I could see at Notre Dame, I headed to the Louvre. The walk to the Louvre was a 20 min walk I think. On the way to the Louvre I walked past a few statues. I got pictures of them. When I got to the Louvre I was greeted by a huge building. I know why they say that if you go you stay for the day. It was massive. I didn’t go in but the size of it out side speaks for itself. The queue to get in wasn’t as big as I expected though. Maybe all the people got the early. After the Louvre I walked through a park that headed to the Arc of Triomphe. Since I had already been to the Arc I didn’t walk all the way. I just walked to the end of the park. At the end of the park I headed to the Palais De La Decouverte and Petit Palais. Yes, the Petit Palais. That is what it’s called. I didnøt go inside. I just got some pictures of the outside. The Petit Palais was small but not tiny. The other one was big compared to it though. After taking enough pictures I headed to the Hotel Des Invalides. I wasn’t sure what it was about, though I found out when I got there. I think it was an army barracks. It contained to churches. One was the church of the soldiers and the other was the church of the King. Both of these churches were split by the Memorial of Napoleon. I didn’t see it because I wasn’t willing to buy the ticket. I found out that it was there because of the map of the building out the front of the building. On my way out of the Hotel Des Invalides, I noticed a pair of steeples so I thought I would head towards them. The steeples belonged to a church called Ste-Clotilde. It was a nice church. Inside there was a group practising for a Christmas concert. Once I left the church, I headed back to the trainstation walking where ever I felt, but in that general direction. Along the way I bought myself a baguette. The baguette was really nice. I had planned on saving some of it for the train trip. I ended up eating it all. It was really good. On the walk back, I went through some nice parts of Paris that I would not have even thought of going through. It was great just to take it all in rather then trying to get to certain things and see all the touristy things. I got to the train station at around 1630-1700. My train didn’t leave til 2030. I sat and observed people coming and going. When it was finally time to leave I was ready. I had enough and was ready for a new adventure.

Pictures are on flickr. I Still have more to upload still.

Juleferie - Amsterdam

I left on the 19th of dec and caught the train to Amsterdam. I had to change twice on this trip. The first leg was from Vejle to Hamburg. This leg I watched a movie. When I got to Hamburg I had 2hrs before the train left. I went for a wall through the city. It was good being there before it made it easier to find my way around. Down the walking streets there were lots of little stalls selling Christmas things. I was going to buy something but there was too much to choose from. After walking through Hamburg, I headed back to the station and waited for 30mins for my train. The train I caught was a sleeper. It left Hamburg at 2030 and arrived at my stop at 0500. I got a little bit of sleep. The cabin I was in only had 2 people in it. An elderly lady and myself. The beds were comfy but the elderly lady was snoring most of the night. My next stop was in Leige Belgium. I had 15-20mins before my next train. The good thing was it was the same platform just different track and was already there. This train was a local train. It took of to the Netherlands border town Maastricht. When I got there I had 5mins to find out where the train was and get on. I just missed it. The good thing was the next one arrived 30mins later. I got it. Now on to Amsterdam. I got to Amsterdam at 0900 on the 20th. It was a very long train ride. The first thing I did was get a map of Amsterdam. I also bought an iamsterdam card. The card had access to the public transport and all the museums in Amsterdam. After I got what I needed I went to the hostel to drop my bag off them off to see what Amsterdam had to offer. The first thing I went to was the Allard Piersen museum. This had history of the Egyptians and the Romans. Went to Amsterdam historic museum. This had all the history of Amsterdam from the time it was first settled to today. I really enjoyed that museum. After that I went for a wonder through Amsterdam. I got bit lost but found my way again. I ended up coming out at another museum that I was going to see. Once I looked at that one I headed back to the hostel. I stayed at the hostel for a couple of hrs and slept. I went out afterwards and had a look around the walking streets and bought some food for dinner and also for lunch the next day. I got back to the hostel at 2130. I went straight to sleep when I got back. In the morning I had my alarm set for a 730 wake up but I ended up turning it off. I got up at 800 instead. The hostel I stayed at had breakfast as part of the price. This was good. I got a really good and big breakfast. After I had to pack my bag and leave the hostel. The hostel allowed me to leave my big pack in a locker. When I was ready I headed off to the hortus. This was botanical gardens. It had these large buildings with different environments. There was one which was dry and one which was humid. In the dry one there were plants from Australia, Africa and a few other places in the wet was all the tropical plants. It was great seeing some plants that I knew. After the hortus, I went to the Dutch resistance museum. It had history about the ww1 and ww2, depicting what the Dutch had to in through. There was a fair bit on the treatment of the Jews. After this museum I went to the Jewish history museum. I thought this might be interesting. It had history about the treatment of the Jews during the war and also on the rituals of the church. When I finished looking at that museum I went for a walk to the train station. Instead of going to the train station I find small markets. This was cool. I got some small things for my family. So them I start heading to the train station but get lost and find myself walking straight through the red light district. While walking through I stumble across a church. It was right in the middle of the red light district. I had a quick look then finally headed to the train station. I caught to tram instead of walking because time was getting the better of me. I went to the station because I needed to reserve a seat on tug train to Paris. When I got into the service centre I found out that it was going to take me forever to be served. I ended up waiting for 30-40mins before I got served. Once I had finished I went to the tram and caught one to Anne franks house. This was a really good experience. I got to see things as they happened. The story came alive. The museum is the house that Anne Frank and her family were actually hiding in. It took you in through the office/shop that was at the front through to the secret rooms that were hidden in the upper floors of the warehouses. When I was finished there I was ready to move on to Paris. It was only 1630 and my train didn't leave until 1854. I went back to the service desk to see if there was any chance that I could get an earlier train but there wasn't it was all booked out. My train ended up arriving late. This wasn't good because I had to make a connection at Brussels to go to Paris. When my train arrived the connecting train was sitting at the platform ready to take off. I ran as fast as I could with a large bag on my back and a medium one on one shoulder. I just made it I had enough time to have a quick look at my ticket and find out which carriage I was meant to be on. When I found it I got on to find someone sitting in my seat. This was fine the person that took my seat because she wanted to sit next to her partner. Now I am sitting on the train to Paris writing a very large blog entry on my mobile. I'll let you know what happens later when it happens. Farvel. Well I am still sitting on the train to Paris. We have had to stop due to the previous train. Is this the train that I was on or is it another one? Well I’m not sure. I just hope that we get going soon. I really want some sleep and it is now 2330 when the train was meant to arrive in Paris. Now I’ll arrive in Paris at 0000. This means I won't be at my hostel until probably 0030. Oh well just hope I get to my hostel safely.

Pictures of Amsterdam Here.

Christmas Break

Well it has been awhile since I wrote a blog. I have been travelling around Europe. I travelled by train to Amsterdam, Paris, Tarragona(Spain), Frankfurt and to Copenhagen. I was in Spain for Christmas and Copenhagen for New Years. It was really great to go to those cities. Over the next week I will put up blog entries about what I did in each city. I still need to write up about Spain, Frankfurt and Copenhagen. Tomorrow I am going to be returning to the school. All the students also arrive tomorrow night. I am hoping to be back before most of the students arrive but I think they might beat me back.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.
I'll put all my pictures up when I get back to the school.

Happy Holidays.