Italy

Ciao from Italy (they say Ciao for hello and goodbye - strange, but easy for us!)

 

We left the Wood-Floyds (which was sad) but we were on our next adventure to Italy! Exciting as we had spent so much time in France. It was weird not to speaking french so Mum downloaded an Italian language app and as we drove to Italy (only 2 hours!) we learnt some new words.

Our first stop was in an actual hotel! It was the first one we had stayed in! Up till now it was campsites so we were very excited. Unfortunately Mum was not as she got a bad case of tonsilitis and had to see a doctor at the hospital. She got better after that. Anyway the hotel was really cool and on the Italian riveria. We had sushi too - odd.

The next day we travelled up to Lake Garda (another campsite), we were spending two weeks here. It meant we could do day trips to famous places like Milan and Verona. We also spent two nights in Venice with was a really big highlight.

Lake Garda was cool - the campsite was right on the lake and was a half an hour walk from a very cool village called Lazise. We had a flash dinner there one night and had one of the best spaghetti ever!!! Mum and Dad had seafood and it looked gross but they said it was amazing!

 

Our campsite was awesome - it had 7 pools and some really cool water-slides. There was so much to do with amazing playgrounds too. Most nights we did the Happy Disco which was just for kids. We learnt new euro-pop songs and all the moves. Dad brought us the CD which we have been only allowed to play once in the car as it's a little bit annoying. Me and Vi don't think so.

 

One day we hired a boat that Dad got to drive. He was in heaven. We loved being able to drive all around the lake and see all the super rich houses and beaches. We also got to swim off the boat and feed the white swans. We spotted a cool restaurant right on the lake which we ended up having lunch at. It was nearly 1000 years old. That's hard for my brain to compute! It was owned by Monks - they are bald god men - they made wine and olive oil.

We did a day trip to Verona - a town made famous by a play called Romeo and Juliet. They were 'star-crossed-lovers" - that just means that they were boyfriend and girlfriend who's parents would not let them be together. We went to see the balcony that Juliet stood on. It's only a made-up story but you should have seen how many people came to see it! Weird. They also left love notes and put there chewing gum up on the wall. Kinda gross really but it's a traditional now.

Our other trip was to Milan. It's a huge fashion and design city so Mum was excited. We went by train which was really fun. We visited a design museum which we all loved - especially Mum because it had lots of colour. We looked at all the flash shops but did not buy anything except a magnet we have been buying one in each town all through our trip!)

Our last trip was to Venice - we decided to stay two nights as it was a place that we wanted to spend more time in. It was our best place! It's so freaky about all the roads being water and we had to catch a water-bus from the train station!!! Crazy bananas. Our hotel was really cool too and we had a view out too the canals. They are famous for making glass things and masks, which were EVERYWHERE and were a bit scary. We did a gondola ride in the evening as they sun was setting and it was so beautiful. We ate such good food (more spaghetti for me and meat for Vi) and had the best time. We were sad to leave it.

BUT we got to go to GARDALAND! Weeeeehoooo! Italy's Disneyland and it was really good! It was 15 minutes from our campsite and we got there for opening and didn't leave until closing! The ride were AWESOME and we had so much fun. Violet did her first ever roller coaster and after that she was hooked. Our favourite was the Mammut which was a train roller-coaster that went through a gold-mine. It was super-cool. We rode that one a lot!

We left Lake Garda ready fro the next place which was Tuscany - another famous place for it's food and wine. We stayed at an agrotursimo hotel which just means that its a vineyard that's organic and people stay at! We had a cool room up by the olive groves - we did have to walk a wee way to eat breakfast and use the pool but the funny thing was that every time we had to walk past a goose that honked very loudly at us! Vi was really scared of her but I loved her. We did lots of cool day trips from there too.

One day we visited Sienna which is another town that they don't allow cars to drive in (and the streets are so narrow it would be hard to anyway). It was fun getting lost in the small streets and we got a fright when we came to a large piazza (Italian meeting place or square) - it was huge with a high tower. They love their towers.

Another day we tried to visit a goat farm (Dad was not keen as he hates goats and thinks they smell of wees) and it took us agers to find and even Darl (our SatNav) had trouble. Finally we did find it and when we arrived they couldn't speak english very well and told us that they don't do tours but we could look around if we wanted (by ourselves). Luckily two of the farm dogs liked us and showed us the donkeys and horses. All the goats were in the forest which Dad was happy about!! Haha.

We also got to visit a cool Sculpture Farm. You walked through a path that was 1km long and saw all the sculptures by artists from all over the world. Some were freaky, some were weird, some were exciting and surprising and some were beautiful. It was a cool place. The lady that ran it even had giant capsicums in her garden. If Mum could fit them in her suitcase they would have come home with us!

Back at our vineyard we made lots of friends with other guest (they were from America and Canada) and got to play with 3 kittens. We spent hours with them - they were so much fun! They were very naughty and playful. We did a vineyard tour and had a special dinner cooked for all the guests - it was fun but very late so we had to walk back to our house in the dark. Lucky the goose was asleep!

After that week we were excited to go stay with friends of our parents called Georgie and Kricko. They had three kids - Jonty, Lulu and Max. We had so much fun with them and stayed fro two nights in there villa by a town called San Gimigiano. We made fires and played all sorts of games. We were sad to leave them too!

After that we drove to the tippy top of Italy (as were about to go to Switzerland) - it took 5 hours as we went via the leaning tower of Pisa (very leany) and Carrara (where they get marble from the mountains). When we got to Stresa (On Lake Maggoire) the hotel asked us fro all our passports. It was at that moment that Mummy realised she had left our two passports in Tuscany. Woopsy! The lady said we couldn't get into Switzerland without them so we would have to go back and get them. 13 hours later we got them. It was a long day!!!!!!!

Phew - that was long! Sorry about that but we are nearly home and we wanted to write this all out before we forgot it all.

 

See you soon, love Isla and Violet xx

 

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Cannes

Bonjour from Cannes!

 

We were all very excited as we were finally going to visit the Wood-Floyd's, our friends from Sumner that lost their house in the earthquake and decided to spend a year in France. They had moved from their house in the mountains and found a very cool house in Mougin Village (just above Cannes). They had only just moved in when we arrived so they were very kind to let us stay.

 

Mum and Woody cried when they saw each other and we were really happy to see Ella and Samuel. Woody said that we would be flat mates for the two weeks that we will be staying with them. We were all giggly and excited.

 

Woody had prepared the most amazing lunch (she is the most awesome chief) and while we swam in their new pool the parents all ate outside with friends of Floydos from London - Caroline and Charlotte . They surprised us by saying they had booked dinner in a fancy cafe in Monaco! We could not believe our ears!

 

Monaco is only 40 mins away on the motorway and it's like being in a different world! That place is seriously flash - you should have seen the cars! Our eyes were on stalks!! We were so sure we would see some famous movie stars but no... We ate at the Paris cafe right outside the famous Monte Carlo Casino. Kids were not allowed inside but by the end of the night we would be, but more about that later!

 

After dinner we all walked down to the harbor to watch the famous annual fireworks extravaganza. It lasted for half an hour and it was insane. We have never ever seen another as crazy as these. They were all done out on a pontoon in the water. Vi thought they were a little loud which they were but they were still cool.

 

Just as they were winding down - out of nowhere - they wind picked up and huge rain drops started to fall from the sky. Next minute a full on thunder storm and tornado hit Monaco. It was crazy - people started to run for their lives, screaming and yelling to take shelter. It was so freaky. Daddy took me, Woody, Ella and Sam but Mummy, Vi, Charlotte, Caroline and Floydo were separated from us in all the madness. We made it to the casino for shelter - they let kids in - but they had to shelter beside a building. The wind was way too strong to even walk. It lasted for 15 minutes then started to finish. We found each other but we we all completely soaked. We headed home after that but what an adventure! Mum's dress went completely see-through!

 

The next few days were spent exploring the artist village just behind the Wood-Floyd's new house and going into Cannes. We looked at shops and walked around the marina which had the most flashest boats in the world. We had never seen anything like them. We all chose our favorites.

 

We spent most of the days just swimming and enjoying in each other company! We also had two birthdays to plan for! Violet was turning 7 and Mummy 39 a day apart. Woody started cooking up a storm 3 days before hand. She truely is the best cook. We were all very excited.

 

Dad booked a beach club in the beach front in Cannes - it was so awesome as we got our own deck chairs, fluffy towels, shower and special lunch. Mummy was pretty happy. The meal we had was the best one we have ever had and we all chose our favourite dishes. We all enjoyed it so much. While we were the we were lucky to get to see a real life music video being made! It was a Dutch euro-pop band called The Dutchables. They were so cool and the girl had very cool outfits that she changed into. We got to meet them and they filmed us dancing on the beach! We might be on MTV!

 

The next day it was Violets turn. She was so excited and woke up early to open her presents. She had decided she wanted a 'Hello Kitty' party - its everywhere here and she loves it. She got heaps of stuff (all small as we still have to carry it home!). She was so happy. We had a really special lunch and played party games all afternoon. We did pass the parcel, egg and spoon races, the chocolate dress up game and disco in the rain!

 

Another day trip was over to the island just off the coast of Cannes. It has amazing beaches and a really old fort that has a very famous prison. The 'man in the iron mask' spent time there and we got to see his prison cell. It was very cold and dark with a hole for a toilet and a small fireplace. We all tried to imagine living there and could not. His true identity was never revealed and there are many rumors - one being that he was the twin brother of Louis XIV. He wrote lots of letters while he was inside, all in secret, and hid them in a tiny hole in the wall.

 

One thing that Woody and Mum did was get a fish pedicure. It was very weird and they said it felt so odd. They reckoned it was a gimmick and would not recommend doing it again - they also had a lot for the fish to nibble on but they hardly touched the surface - ewwwwwww.

 

After a great two weeks it was time to pack up again and say goodbye to our friends and also to France. Italy here we come! We are nervous but also excited! See you soon in Italy!!

 

Love from Isla and Violet xx

 

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Cassis

Bonjour from Cassis!

 

The day we left Provence was sad as we had just left our Cuzzies but exciting because we were heading back to the coast to a place called Cassis. Our french friend Delphine had told Mummy about this place and that we should really go there because it had heaps to explore and see.

We rented an apartment for a week all on the Internet! We had seen photos of it and couldn't wait to try a new town. It was another crazy drive back to the coast as the traffic was stills nuts. It was also still very hot. When we drove into the town, it was awesome - surrounded by hills and cliffs that went straight into the sea. We had read in the lonely planet that Cassis had the largest sea cliff in Europe and we believe it! It was humongous! It was a pretty port town that had heaps of boats and fishermen. Our apartment was right up the back of the village high on the hill. It had amazing views of the cliffs, village and port. The sea was as blue as the sky and we were excited to go for a swim. We also had a huge swimming pool that the complex shared.

The only bad part of our new house was it was the top floor of 8 sets of stairs and NO LIFT and very hot. Mum and Dad sweated heaps getting all our stuff upstairs! It was funny. We helped too but only with the light things.

That first night we went to the village for a flash dinner at the busy restaurants. So cool. Vi has fish and chips but not like the fish and chips you get at home and I had the calamari rings (yum my favourite) and the parents had seafood too. It was delicious. BUT...

That night poor Violet and Mummy were up all night with vomits and poos. Oh no! Mummy was a little bit better the next day but Violet was not. She could not stop throwing up. It felt bad for her because me and Daddy were fine and could go swimming at our swimming pool. We also had no air-con and it was a heat wave so we were finding it very hard with the heat at nights. Mummy thought of a great idea of freezing a pair of knickers (clean of course!) and we put them of our heads to go to sleep! They worked well!

2 days later Violet got a bit better but had to take it easy. Me and Mummy walked into town to get her some stuff from the pharmacy and we did some sneaky shopping for Violets birthday that was the next week. We also did some not so secret shopping for us! I got a cool pair of leopard skin Birkenstocks and Vi and I got a new bikini each. Lucky as we have been swimming so much our togs have stretched and nearly broke.

Once the whole family was better we did heaps of cool stuff like taking a boat to the Calanques. These are amazing naturally made habours with high cliffs that surround them. Most can only be accessed by boat but there are a couple that you can get too by foot. It was far too hot to do that so boat it was.

We also drove to the highest point above Cassis - the view was fantastic but made us a little freaked out as it was windy and there was no barriers!

Another adventure was to take the tourist train out to the end of the Cassis bay. We saw really beautiful houses and beaches. Most of the beaches out that way are no sand or pebbles but huge rock/cliffs that you can jump straight off into the sea. Someone has kindly put ladders all along so you can get back up. People just sunbath on these huge flat rocks. We did learn that this rock is special and unique to this area and was also the rock used to build the Statue of Liberty that is in New York!

Speaking of beaches we found our favourite which was 10 minutes walk from our house - it was called Bestouan Beach. It was pebbly and clean with clear blue water. It was so beautiful and we could snorkel around the rocks - as well as dive of the rocks. We also found out the the beach was so clear beacuause it had under ground streams feeding into the beach - they make the water colder too - We loved it. As a treat one day we hired comfy beach beds at a private club. That's what you do if you don't want to sit on the rocks. It was colourful and trendy. Mum loved it - we all did. We felt very posh. We could shower and use their fluffy towels. Yum.

On our last night we explored more of the cool town and visited the street markets. We meet a man that makes you into a cartoon so we decided to do it. He took about 15 minutes to draw us and he was really good. This is the result...

Next week is very exciting as we have two birthdays in our family and we are off to visit our friends from Sumner that now live in Cannes (just along the coast up near Nice - pronounce Neece not Nice like I first thought). We are all excited as we miss the Wood-Floyd's and have not seen them since November last year. Yay - party time!

Miss you all lots, love Isla and Vi xx

 

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Provence

Hello everybody out there!

 

Finally we left the hot hot hot coast and headed inland to a place called Provence. On the way there we drove through a massive canyon that had huge cliffs and even one place we had to drive under the rock. Freaky sneakers! We stopped off for a swim at the most crazy lake we had ever seen. It was like fiji with clear blue water. The temp in our car said it was 43 degrees celsuis! World record for us!

 

Provence is an area in France that is famous for lavender, sunflowers, wine and food. Unfortunately we just missed the flowers but it was still very beautiful! We had hired a villa (in a villages called Cabrieres d'Avignon) with a pool with the cousins - yay! It was happy and sad as this was exciting but it was also the last week we had with our couzzies. After this week we were going back to the coast and they are heading to an area called Montpellier. They are off to help with the wine vintage.

 

Anyway - we made it to the coolest house we have ever seen! It was huge and roomy with a cool pool - all to ourselves!! Everyday we went visiting different villages around where we lived and then in the afternoon we spent by the pool because it was soooooo hot!

 

Most of the villages we had to park outside and walk as the streets were so small and windy. It was really fun to get lost and find our way through them. They also had really beautiful fountains with cool running water that all had good luck coins in them.

 

We also had to do school work everyday. We are trying to learn all our times tables which has been hard but Mummy makes it really fun. Speed maths! We are also writing in our books and drawing pictures to go with them. It can be fun but it also can be really hard too - Mummy said that she could never be a teacher - haha. We would rather be in the pool but Mum said that we would have to repeat a year if we didn't do it. We don't think she was joking...

 

Another exciting thing we did this week was to plan a show to perform to the parents. Up behind the house is a stage area surrounded by a cedar forrest. It was so cool and perfect for a show. We all spend agers working out three dances - all in secret from the parents! We made tickets and the parents had to book their seats and pay 5 euros each to come to our show! We also made food out of paper so they had something to nibble on at half time. We were very excited and it was fun planning costumes and our roles. Show night was a huge success and it ended with the parents joining in with our disco. The Mummy's even did cartwheels and it was very funny.

 

One of the coolest villages we did visit was called Les-Baux-de-Provence. It was high up on hill in rugged mountains. In the olden days it was a fort that was very strong. People still live there but in back in the old days they lived in the rocks and made houses in the cliffs. It was awesome. They used to collect the rain water off the cliffs by making a channel and collecting it in huge clay pots. They were very resourceful. We also watched a live performance of medievil sword fighting - it was all in french but it was still very funny.

 

Other villages we saw were called Gourdes (very pretty and the day we visited they had a busy market - Violet accidently held a stranger-ladies hand and she growelled her becasue she thought she was a pick-pocket!), Bonnieux, L'Isle-sur-la-sorgue (antiques), Fontaine-de-vaucluse (biggest natural spring in the world), Lacoste (fancy castle owned by Pierre Cardin the fashion designer), Lourmarin (Mummy brought cool sparlkly shoes, Chateaunerf-du-Pape (wine heaven where Dad brought a bottle of wine that will be ready for our 21st's and a cool retro swimming), Avignon (Mum made us visit IKEA but it was actually very cool).

 

On our last morning we had a farewell morning tea at fancy-pants pastry shop. It was so pretty with so much pink and lots of girly chairs. Even the men loved it! It was sad to leave our family as its been so fun spending so much times with them. They are special friends and we are so lucky that they let us travel with them!!!

 

Phew! Busy busy times. Next stop is back to the coast to a place called Cassis. See you then....

 

Love Isla and Violet xx

 

 

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Cote D'Azur

The drive to Frejus/Saint Ayulf (the coast) was MASSIVE! We drove from the mountains to the sea which should have taken 6 hours but instead it took 9 hours! The temperature went up by about 15 degrees and it was boiling. Lucky for air-conditiong (or Clime as they call it here in French). Apparently it took so long becasue it was the busiest weekend in the whole of the Summer holidays. We were bummer to bummer on the motorway and we even saw a family broken down in the middle of the road and we felt very sorry for them. Tim and Anna just missed being involved in a car crash so that shows how nuts it was.

 

We arrived very hot and Mum was very bothered. We checked into a Campground called Sandaya which is next to Frejus town - about 10 mins away. Everyone seemed to be checking in at the same time and all the staff were wearing pirates costumes. They did not look very pleased to be wearing those costumes and wigs. Dad said they were not happy bunnies. Speaking of not happy bunnies - Mum was not that stoked when she heard that our cabin did not have clime. What made it worse was that the cousins did! We left Mummy alone for a bit to cool off (get it - get that joke!!!). Anyway - she lifted her chin up and made the most of it. The place was huge and it did have 5 pools which made us happy! They also had 2 water slides.

 

Most of the days we packed the car and headed to explore the beaches along the coastline. They were amazing! Clear blue water and beautiful beaches - most packed with people but we did find some good sneaky beaches without many visitors too. Lots of boobies out which was very funny. We cracked up seeing so many topless ladies but then soon got very used to it. We kept asking Mummy and Auntie Anna to be topless too but they were too shy. We swim with no tops as all the kids in France do - we love it! Freedom!

One day at one of our favourite beaches our cousin Lucy got stung by a jellyfish (or in French, Medusa). She got a really bit fright and ran out of the water screaming her lungs off "I've been stung by a Jellyfish!" The whole beach stopped and stared at us. Poor her - the man next to us told Tim to wee on her hand straight away! Haha but that works the best as the sting got a bit less after that.

At other beaches we snorkled and dived off rocks and mostly did lots of swimming around. It was so nice to be in the sea. At another beach, another funny thing happened - while we were swimming out to the pontoon, Vi spotted a poo floating around! She squealed and we all had to wait for it to float away. Ewwwww.

Another day trip was to meet up with Delphine, Huges, Cami and Chloe at a lake which was inland - called Saint Cassein. It was really beautiful and so nice to for a change. We swam all afternoon then Delphine took us to the village they were staying in for dinner and a game of boules. It was called Fayence. It was old and very cool with windey footpaths and cats sleeping in doorways.

Everynight back at the campground there was entertainment put on for the guests. We were the only guests that spoke English we reckon but that was ok. The best night was when they had a Micheal Jackson impersonator. He was awesome and very true to real. We actually were in shock with how good he was! He even signed his business card for our books! Cool man.

 

We loved the beaches so much but after this week we take off for Provence. We will be back to beaches after that. See you soon! Oh and we are nearly at the half way of our holiday and miss everyone back in New Zealand very much. Please email us with your news as we are a bit homesick too.

alexfulton@xtra.co.nz

 

Love Isla and Violet xx

 

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