Our house in Tuscany - by Callum

At our house in Italy it is warm and big and I like it because it has four olive trees.

I also like it because there is a dog called Zoey and a cat called Purrseus and they are both fun to play with. We have a good backyard to play in even though half of it is still growing! There is a kitchen that has four stoves and if you want to cook something on it you have to turn on the stove and you need to use the fire lighter. There are five toilets! Me and Daniel (my brother) share a room.

My favourite thing was when me and Jack played outside.  IT IS SO FUN!

Daniel's Tuscan Adventure

Me and dad went on a 6 km walk on Tuesday.  We saw cliffs and flowers.  There was a part I loved when we saw a road and we didn't know how to get down there so I suggested we should go downhill to get there, so we did.  There were a few berry bushes at the end but there were no berries on them.  I enjoyed it even though I had to dodge the thorns.  It was pretty fun coming down the hill because you had to be careful and I was pretty good at ducking.  It was easier for me than it was for Dad.  We thought we saw some tracks of some wild pigs because we could see two hoof prints in the mud that looked like pig marks.  Did you know that some people use pigs to sniff out truffles?

It is almost truffle season

Daddy and me

Obergriesbach (Munich and around)

When we were planning this trip, we originally thought we'd drive northeast from the Netherlands to Berlin and then head southwards through Munich and on to the Czech Republic.  However, once we started looking at accommodation options and "things to do with kids" it became clear that a different route would suit us much better... And so here we are in Obergriesbach which is actually a good hour's drive from Munich, but not too far from other interesting places like Dachau, Ulm and Legoland ;)

Our accommodation here is fantastic.  We are on the attic floor of what used to the the train station in Obergriesbach.  The bottom two floors were the actual station and offices.  The stationmaster lived on the third floor and his children had the two rooms in the attic, which is now been converted into a four room flat.  The house is still next to the present day railway station, but these days it's just the regional passenger train coming through every half hour or so rather than coal trains which apparently made the house shake every time they came past.  Unsurprisingly, Jack has spent a lot of time standing at the window (or running to look out) calling out, "TRAIN coming!!!"  He is in heaven :)

We had the top floor of this old train station!

We ended up with quite a bit on our to do list here.  Five nights seemed a lot until we took almost 12 hours to get here (thanks to spending most of the day in Cesky Krumlov en route), so we have spent a day each exploring Ulm, Dachau, Legoland and Munich.  Again, we could have easily spent more time than we did in each place (particularly Ulm for me personally), but we did manage to see quite a bit and we are walking a bit more as the weather gets cooler .. and when we have to pack more into the day too.

I'm sure the boys will have very detailed accounts of our day at Legoland to share soon ;) and the other places really deserve posts of their own so I will sign off here as we have an early start tomorrow driving to Monterongriffoli in Tuscany.  Very exciting!!

At the playground at Englischer Garten in Munich

Nordkette, Innsbruck by Callum and Daniel

On Friday we went on a cable car to see some snow.  We tried to make a snow man but it didn't work because Callum and I didn't actually know how to make a big snowball.  The first time we found snow it was pretty hard so Callum found some soft snow and I knew to look for soft snow to play with too.  It was pretty cold and we went up the stairs and we went close to the edge of the mountain but there was a wall so we couldn't fall.  There was pretty deep snow on the stairs.  We stepped in it and my first couple of steps were high above the snow but then the next few steps my feet went really deep into the snow.  It was really fun!

 - By Daniel



On Friday we went on three cable cars.  The first one seemed like a normal train and is called the Hungerburg Funicular.  It was designed by Zaha Hadid.  When we went uphill the cars were separate so they moved up and down separately.  Then we went on two cable cars.  Some people walked up.  There were poles holding up the cables and if it was windy the cars would move.  

When we got to the top, we put on our warm clothes and gloves.  We went as high as we could go up the mountain.  We tried to make a snow man.  Daniel and I stood on some steps and the snow was about a metre deep.  It made me get really cold but the reason we had to stand in the snow was because there was some ice where there was no snow.  We didn't want to stand on the ice because it was slippery.  

When we were standing up the top, the view changed every minute because the clouds were moving so much.  When we first looked out we could see the whole city but then a minute later it was covered it cloud.

 - By Callum

A week in Zelenec

From Oberaurach we drove four hours to Zelenec in the Czech Republic, about 30 minutes from the centre of Prague.  We chose our Air Bnb because it was close ish to Prague and also not too far away from Mike's cousin Justin who lives in the Czech Republic with his wife and their three wee girls.  The boys were super excited to be spending time with some more kids and even more excited when we arrived at our accommodation and they discovered there was a back garden complete with swing set and playhouse.

We stopped in Plzn for lunch on our way through, mainly because it was a big-ish seeming city and we were passing by around lunch time.  It was a real gem!  And I wouldn't have minded spending more time there.  We found a restaurant with outdoor seating easily enough and ordered burgers, quesadillas, garlic bread and drinks and then laughed when all the food arrived and we realised that (true to form!) we had majorly over ordered.. the boys shared their burger and even half of one was almost a big as Callum's head.  I couldn't believe he actually managed to get it all down.

We were very lucky to spend loads of time with Justin, Lenka and the girls while we were there, especially considering their new bubba, Hero, was VERY new when we arrived.  Justin had the whole week off work so we had local guides everywhere we went ;) and the kids had a week long playdate with their cousins.  They were very sad to leave at the end of the week.

We spent two days sightseeing in Prague, including joining Lenka's brother for one of his guided walking tours which was really informative (although the kids, particularly Daniel, found it quite hard going listening to so much information as well as walking for three hours).  Prague was as beautiful as I'd read about and there was so much interesting history, I could have happily spent a couple of (child free, haha) weeks exploring there, let alone the rest of the Czech Republic.  

In Prague with the Crightons

Justin and Lenka also took us to an amazing park called Mirakulum.  Too many different play areas (for all ages) to count, loads of opportunities to climb, run, jump and climb some more, farm animals, underground tunnels, huge swings...  It was so cool that I spent a lot of the day dreaming about how we could possibly do something similar in New Zealand.  It probably wouldn't have been quite so much fun in a howling Hutt notherly, so I'm not sure how well the idea would translate ;)

Of course the week flew by and before we knew it we were packing up and driving to our next stop, back in Germany for five nights near Munich.  We did manage to spend half a day in Cesky Krumlov on our way (not really on the way, but it was a bit far for a day trip from Zelenec).  What a beautiful town!  Again, we could have easily spend a lot more time there.  And the kids enjoyed their icecreams, though you probably could have guessed that by now.

Beautiful Cesky Krumlov

Bamberg and Nuremberg

Day Two: Bamberg

One of our reasons for choosing this particular area of Germany was to visit Bamberg, a medieval town that is a UNESCO world heritage site (yep, the whole town).  It was a beautiful place to visit for a day.  We explored the area up on the hill, including many old churches and a great view from the Rose Garden of the Neues Residence.  Lunch was traditional Bavarian food outside, washed down with plenty of beer (but not too much - Mike was driving!!)  Unfortunately, we chose a table that was in the shade rather than the sun which meant we were all a bit cold by the time we got up to continue the rest of our "tour" of Bamberg.  I have to say, so far Bamberg has been my favourite spot in Germany and it was a great Tripadvisor find.

Day Three: Nuremberg Documentation Centre and Nazi Party Rally Grounds

One of the obvious draws for Nuremberg is its extensive Nazi and WWII history.  The Documentation Centre near Nuremberg had good reviews and it didn't let us down.  Tickets include an audio tour (unfortunately the children's audio guide is only available in German) which is extremely informative and engaging.  Both Callum and Daniel were very interested in the exhibits although Daniel struggled with the level of detail in the audio guide.  We spent most of the morning there and if the boys were all a bit older, we could easily have spent another couple of hours exploring and looking around outside as well. 

We weren't really sure how the boys would go at places like the Documentation Centre and we were quite prepared for them to ask difficult questions or for them to be completely disinterested.  But Daniel has always been very curious about both WWI and WWII and WHY they happened, so this was actually right up his alley.  The exhibits at the Documentation Centre are all about how Hitler and the Nazi Party came to have so much support and power and the lead up to WWII.  There were also a lot of connections to be made with current world politics (and the US election!) so it has lead to many interesting discussions since.

Playmobil Funday

When we were researching things to do near our next place in Germany, we discovered that there is a Playmobil Funpark in Furth (near Nuremberg) that appeared to have great reviews everywhere AND it was cheap.. so no prizes for guessing where we went for our first excursion from Oberaurach!  It was a brilliant day out: basically a series of different themed playgrounds with giant Playmobil characters, vehicles and animals.  There was more than enough to entertain both the older boys AND Jack which was a really nice change.  All three of the boys also loved the huge indoor area with different Playmobil figures and sets.. including Playmobil fuseball.  

There were a couple of options for lunch, but we were a bit disappointed that the beer garden was closed since we were there during the "winter" season.  We ended up at the Pizzeria eating surprisingly good pizza and pasta and drinking beer.  German funparks are fun for adults too ;)  

The only catch was that nothing at all was in English, not even the park map (or any version of the map).  Not really a problem for the kids and it didn't stop them (or us) enjoying the day, but it did make lunch and some of the instructions a bit challenging - my high school level German didn't really help with treasure chests and driving giant Playmobil cars ;)

On to Deutschland..

We've been away almost a month now and have arrived in country number three (or four if you count our brief stop in Belgium for waffles and chocolate!)  We are staying in Losheim am See, about 30km out of Trier which I chose mostly because I found some stunning photos on Pintrest and wondered where they were from ;)  

Trier is Germany's oldest city with churches, baths and even a bridge that date back to Roman times.  Unfortunately the day we visited Trier was overcast and not that warm compared to what we've used to, but it did mean we were able to walk all day without feeling too hot and gross!

Google maps was the best help for planning our kid-friendly (haha) walking tour of the city.  We started at the Porta Nigra, explored the market and surrounding shops and then spent some time at the playground at the Palace Gardens which broke the day up quite well.  Barbara Thermen (free entry!) was a good find too as it had a number of information boards along its walkway with pictures and explanations of what was where as well as simplified information for kids that Callum and Daniel were able to follow too.

Porta Nigra, Trier

Barbarathermen

Pretzels at the Hauptmarkt in Trier

Day two we drove along the Mosel River past hundreds of the steepest vineyards we've ever seen.  The photos we managed to take really don't do them justice either.  Luckily, it was back to sunshine and no wind so it was a really enjoyable day.  The boys were very impressed by the vineyards and their very steep lifts which we guessed were used to take workers up amongst the vines and to transport grapes.

Bremm

Stunning day exploring the villages along the Mosel

For our final day of sightseeing we decided to tick off another country (number 5!) and visit Luxembourg for the day.  This might have been a better idea if we hadn't done it on a Sunday and after two quite full on days of sightseeing.  The boys had definitely had better days out and about ;) and in the end we called it quits around 2pm and came back to Losheim.  Luxembourg was beautiful and very interesting, but pretty hard going for the boys walking as much as we did.  There wasn't much open since it was Sunday, so we also struggled to find something for lunch and ended up getting the kids takeaway wraps and fries.  Lunch and watching Jack dancing to the band in the Place d'Armes was pretty fun though.

Beautiful views everywhere in Luxembourg

 

Another post about the Netherlands

So we had a whole week to chill out in the Netherlands and what a week it was!  We got so lucky with some AMAZING weather, including the hottest September day in the Netherlands EVER.  We caught up with Christa and Mark and met the gorgeous Lotte which was great fun.  We also went to Opmeer to visit Marije and Robin and their three boys as well as Mike's Aunty Ciske and Uncle Joop, which was another great evening.  

This time our Air Bnb was a small townhouse in Maarssen, about 20 minutes drive from Utrecht.  It was just perfect for us with a small back yard for the boys to play in and only a few minutes walk along the cycle path to the local shopping centre (Hello HEMA!)

Having seven days in one spot meant we could be quite relaxed about our sightseeing, although in the end we did have to make some tough decisions about what to leave out.  We decided to skip going into Amsterdam as big city sightseeing with Jack in a stroller and the older two hasn't been the best mix so far.  Hopefully we will get better at this!

The boys did have a blast at the goat farm in Haarzuilens and at the wonderful playground we found at Maximapark on Jack's birthday.  Our day at Madurodam was also a highlight for the boys.  We did manage to do a few things on our own to do lists as well - Zaanse Schaans was good fun for a Sunday afternoon and we also had a nice, if brief, drive out to Naarden to walk around the walled town there and enjoy an icecream in the late afternoon sun.  Another highlight for all of us was our day trip to Zeeland to see the storm surge barriers.  We spent time by the river, had a picnic lunch at the biggest beach we've ever seen and ate more icecream in beautiful Veere.

Leiden

Playing on the beach on Neeltje Jans, Zeeland

Veere, Zeeland

Zaanse Schaans - tourist trap but fun nonetheless

Dinner with the Verweys and Jonkers in Opmeer

Cousins!

Family pic at Madurodam ;)

Celebrating Jack's 2nd birthday in the Netherlands

Two giant, chocolate covered profiteroles made an excellent birthday cake!

Dinner out with Mark, Christa and Lotte - such a great night too!

Madurodam - by Callum

We went to Madurodam and it was so fun because it had this blower where you had to see how fast you could make the wind turbine go.  You could put out a fire on a ship.  There was even a thing where you had to put the surge barriers down before the storm got the town.  There was a sandpit and a flying fox as well.  I love Madurodam!

Dinner - by Daniel

On Wednesday evening I couldn't believe my eyes.  We went to a big BIG restaurant.  You could eat as much as you liked.  I ate: lots of sushi and icecream.  We went there with Christa and Lotte and Mark and we got to go on a playground.

Disneyland and The Netherlands - by Daniel

In  London we went to look for the BFG Dream Jars.  We found one with a person's head made out of metal string things and there were butterflies.  We took photos. 

We went to France and I liked it so much when we went on a ride at Disneyland.  It was so fun because you could get wet if you went in the front of the boat.  I liked eating yummy croissants.  I asked for cinq croissants s'il vous plaît at the bakery.  They were so yummy with jam but I didn't really like them with nothing on them.

We are having a lot of fun in the Netherlands, we have been here two days and have 6 left.  Today we went to a goat farm where there were lots of bikes and things.  None of the big tractors could work on the bark so I couldn't ride them on the bark.  We had ham and cheese toasties for lunch and we dipped them in tomato sauce!

This afternoon we saw a duckpond with green stuff in it and every single time a duck swam it would make a little trail and the swans made a bigger trail.  We visited Leiden and I had a bubblegum icecream.  It was the third icecream we've had on our holiday already.

The Netherlands - by Callum

When we got to the Netherlands we went to the house that we are staying in.  Christa, Mark and Lotte came to visit us and we took lots of silly photos.  In one of them I did bunny ears on Mark and Mummy at the same time and in the same photo Daniel had red eyes for some reason.

Yesterday walked down a really cool cycle path to the shops and we visited the supermarket and saw lots of different food.  We were allowed to spend €2 on something that we wanted to try and I picked gherkins because I love them.  I really, really, really liked going to the really big toy shop in the afternoon.  I chose a 3-in-1 lego set and some stretchy and bouncy putty.  I played with it outside and bounced it around.  There is a park that is about 100m away from our house with a big soccer pitch.  Daddy and I will bring the soccer ball next time we go there.  It is really cool here because we have bunks just like in New Zealand.

London and Paris - by Callum

On our first day in London we went to see our old friends from Singapore.  We went to Big Ben and we saw it become 11 o'clock.  We went on a boat and we went to Hampton Court Palace.  

When we got to France we got our car and it was a seven seater car. We drove to our apartment that we were staying in then in the morning we had croissants for breakfast. THEY WERE SO YUMMY!!!  On the same day that we had croissants we went to two churches and we went on a bus called Big Bus.  It was a tour bus and you got headphones.       

On our Second day in France we went to Disneyland and we went on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast which is a firing game and you shoot at the monsters and you get points if you hit them and you are moving.   That was my favourite one and my second favourite was a cowboy shooting range and you had to shoot the targets they would make a sound.

Paris highlights

Just a short flight across to Paris this time.  We were pleasantly surprised by how straightforward it was to fly out of Gatwick and especially how family friendly Easyjet are.  The only bit of trouble we had was the long wait on the tarmac for our turn to take off - in the end we waited for longer than the duration of the actual flight.  But we made it in the end and picked up our car with no issues (other than me twisting my ankle!  Ooops) and found our way to our apartment in Pantin.



We visited Paris twice on our 2012 trip, so only had 3 days booked there this time.  We spent a day at Disneyland which the boys will fill you in on I'm sure.  The other two days we spent sight seeing in the city and around Pantin.  We weren't quite as lucky with the weather in Paris as we were in London, so we got VERY wet at Disneyland and had to dodge raindrops in the afternoon around Paris as well.  I made it to Laduree and introduced the boys to macarons and we did an open top bus tour around all the big sites to tick those off ;)  We spent Sunday in the city so it was pretty quiet which was a bonus.



As always in France, one of the big highlights was exploring the supermarkets and trying new food.  We had several supermarkets within walking distance of our apartment, but still made a trip in the car to a big Carrefour before we drove up to Utrecht on Wednesday!  Suddenly, our big car doesn't seem quite as big and we certainly have more than two suitcases worth of stuff now that we have filled up the car with extra pillows and kitchen supplies.

An update from Daniel

We went on an Airbus A380 on an 8 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to London.  We went to see our friends.