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Email sent on Wednesday 2 August
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Email sent on Wednesday 2 August
Dear Room 17
Thankyou for writing to me. It is so nice to read your questions from this side of the world. I have been to Bangkok, England, Amsterdam and other parts of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
I am writing to you from the centre of France in a city called Tours. It is very nice here. There are cobbled streets and very old buildings. I have just visited an old cathedral that was built in 1220. It had beautiful stained glass windows. The stone foot path was worn down from all the people over the years, isnt that incredible?!
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Inside the cathedral at Tours |
This is the outside of the Museum at Tours |
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Weather:I will try to answer your questions. The weather is very warm over here in France although it wasn't at all in Belgium or Luxembourg. In Paris it was just right, but here in Tours it was still 29 degrees at 9 oclock last night. I am wearing my shorts and a cool tshirt and sandals and still I am too hot!
Shops:The shops over here are much the same at home, only they have special shops to go and buy your bread, cheese, and vegetables. The supermarkets are a lot smaller than in NZ. At the vegetable stalls you have to get the owner to select your fruit and veges for you. I got told off because I got a bag and started filling it up with fruit. The lady came out and started speaking to me very fast in French and I soon got the idea that I wasn't to touch the fruit myself, but had to ask her!
Shopping:Because I am travelling with a backpack I cannot buy much. I have bought some paintings (small ones) when I was in Amsterdam and Paris along the bank of the River Seine.
Money:Money isn't really a problem (although my credit card doesn't work and I have to get a replacement when I go to Toulouse and stay there for a while.) In the meantime Lloyd is paying for everything! We have to exchange our money at special shops called Beareau de change when we go from one country to another.
The people: People look just like you and me over here, although most have lovely tanned skin. I stand out with my white legs, but I am trying to get them browner.
Getting around: In most new places we come to, we first go to an information office for tourists and we get a map of the city. This is very helpful for us getting around, but I have still managed to get us lost once or twice! I must practise my map reading skills more!
Language: Everyone speaks their own language for their country over in Europe. However most people can also speak at least another language as well, which is usually English. In Luxembourg it is compulsory for the school children to learn Luxembourgish, English, Dutch, French and German! Amazing! I am able to speak a little French to get us by. Words like hello, thankyou, please, goodbye, how much does it cost, where is... etc. But people sometimes have trouble understanding me.
Food: Each country has their special dish. In Belgium it was Mussels and frites (chips) as well as very yummy chocolates! The chocolate shops were fantastic! In France the food is just as good. There are many pastry shops, croissant, baguettes etc. I haven't tried escargot or frogs legs yet but I do want to. For breakfast I usually have a baguette and tea or coffee. Sometimes I can have cereal if they have it.
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Making chocolates to sell |
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Sights: We went to Paris and did a double decker bus tour and saw all the sights of the city. The Eiffel Tower is huge! Saw the Arc de Triomph, Sacre Cour, Louvre which is also so big that I couldn't even begin to describe it. It is probably five times or more as big as the area of Puhinui school. I will visit the Louvre properly when I come back through from Germany. Aparently you need about four days to get around it!
Travel: We have travelled over from London to Amsterdam by plane. Around Holland, Belgium, Lux and France we are travelling by train. We are going to start a bus tour soon for the rest of Europe. Within the cities that we visit we travel on the local bus or the underground trains. We also do lots of walking. We have also been on boat tours along the canals in Brugge which is in Belgium.
Photos: I have taken lots of photos. I am up to my 4th or 5th film, I've lost count. Hope I have answered your questions well. It is very hot, think we might go to the local pools for a swim.
Love, Miss Baillie
Hello Room 15,
Thankyou to Scott, Fender, Ormonde, Elliot, Barbara, Vanessa, Laura and Alex for your lovely messages. It is so nice to get them from way over on this side of the world! I am writing to you from France. It is very hot here. I have been to England, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg and now in France. I had three days in Paris which was terrific!
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We will be going to Spain in a few days time, starting off in San Sebastian then travelling across the top of Spain to Zaragoza and then to Barcelona. I will try to email you from Spain and let you know what it's like. You could send me some questions about Spain if you like. Hope you are all working well, I'm sure you are. I miss you all. Write again to me soon! |
Love, Miss Baillie
Hi there everyone
As you can see we are in Bourdeaux in the South of France. This area is famous for its wine. Sampled a glass at lunch today which was very nice. Since we wrote in Brugge we have travelled to Luxembourg which was very nice. It is kind of like the Remuera of Europe. Fancy cars, wealthy people and very very clean. Although the weather in Luxembourg was awful.
From Luxembourg we went to Paris which was awesome. Spent three days there looking at all the sights. Paris is really beautiful, and a lot cleaner than we had expected.
We wondered why there was a lot of water running in the gutters around Paris at different times of the day. This was to clean the gutters of rubbish and they have been doing this for over one hundred years now. Different areas of Paris are cleaned at different times of the day.
Loads of people in Paris, and huge queues for everything. We took a bus tour around Paris and have decided what we will go back to for more of a look indepth when we come back through from Germany.
Paris was ridiculously expensive. We thought we'd buy an icecream when we were near the Eiffel Tower. To our horror we had paid $8 each for a simple Mister Whippy style icecream! And a glass of orange juice we bought at a restaurant was $9! Oh well, we had to eat.
From Paris we went to Tours which is in the middle of France. Tours was very very warm! At 9 o'clock at night it was still 29 degrees! On our second day in Tours we went to the local swimming pools. Not just ordinary pools... a huge complex with several different pools, a park for people to sunbathe, volley ball nets, badminton, beach volley, soccer etc.
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We travelled down to Bourdeaux today on the TGV which is the high speed train. Took only 2 and a half hours instead of 4 so that was good. Have spent the day wandering around town. Tomorrow we start busabout and are heading first to San Sebastian in Spain. Wahoo! Must go, long day tomorrow on the bus. Talk again to you soon. Keep sending those emails. The last time we checked we had 18 of them to read, which kept us busy for quite a while!
Sarah and Lloyd =)
PS Ros, I knew there must have been something positive to come out of doing all our assessment on the computer. I can now touch type, which is essential over here cos their keyboards are different to ours at home which was very confusing at first.
