Henry's blog!

The first place we went to in Italy was Venice, or Murano, an Island nearby Venice. We looked around Venice, saw some sights, then checked out a glass factory nearby. After that It was Florence, Where mom got sick. I don’t really remember much else other than that.

Then for the Final day of the First half of Italy, Rome. Where we only saw the Coliseum before hiding in a Irish Pub for most of the day to cool off. I did mention Mom was sick, right? Also, It was HOT. So we really didn’t do much before going on our ferry to Tunisia.

The 8.5 hour bus to Krakow was not all that bad. They had a special movie hotspot, so it went by pretty quickly.

The day after was spent looking around, then staying at home. The second day was a hard one. We went to Auschwitz. It was sad to see, especially how much things the Nazis took from the prisoners. They had bundles of hair from the people they murdered.

The next day was lighter and involved cooking Pierogis, a polish food. And then the Jewish Cemetery.

It was a 7.5 hour train to Prague, with nothing much after the train. The morning of the next day was resting for me and James, and a bird activity for Charlie. After that we checked out the old square and Charles bridge. Then we got some candy. The day after was looking at the Shooters Island. There was Muskrats there. Finally we walked up hill to see a castle. Dad ran a 10K. Why? I don’t know.

The trip from Bulgaria to Berlin was not fun. It mainly consisted of Charlie getting an ear infection, and dad puking. Also there was the fact that we had an airplane while Charlie had a ear infection. For those of you who have never gotten a ear infection while on an airplane, IT SUCKS. So Charlie had a bad flight.

The next day we got Yellow fever Shots and wandered around Berlin and checked out the Spy Museum. After that me and James stayed back home while Mom, Dad, and Charlie checked out Checkpoint Charlie. Oh, and those shots, there is a small chance of side effects. I drew the short straw. So going canoeing the next day wasn’t fun.

I didn’t do anything the day after the canoeing trip, and the next day we left Berlin

We started of the day going to Bulgaria with the Tunnel of Hope Museum in Sarajevo. The Tunnel of Hope is a tunnel built during the seige of Sarajevo, and was the only source of outside food and supplies they had.

The rest of the day afterwards was spent driving to the airport, which would have given us and hour and a half to get to the plane. The airport was in a different country and as such required customs to get through. The customs took over an hour. So, the airport was incredibly stressful.

The first day in Sofia was just a rest day with some looking around at the churches. The second day was HOT. Charlie was too hot to do anything else after lunch so he left early. Me, Mom and James went to the Museum of Illusions, which was cool.

The next day was a 2.5 hour train to Plovdiv, Where we finished off Back to the Future. Dinner was in a pedestrian area that was mazelike. Charlie even got lost! The next day was just walking around the city.

The last place in Bulgaria was Burgas, a beach town. The rest of the time in Burgas was swimming in the pool and beach nearby.

From Budapest, we dropped our bags off at the train station and walked around. Then it was a delayed train of over 6.5 hours. After which was a long wait in line for entrance to the hostel, in which I slept on the floor.

The next day we got a small car, note the small, this will be important later, which couldn’t fit all of the bags in the trunk so everyone except for dad had a bag by their feet. We drove over to Trogir, which had was beach house. Then we drove to Splint the next day for lunch and ice cream. I believe that in these areas, people just park on the side walks because of the lack of available parking spaces. We checked out an ancient palace, which has old temples turned into restaurants.

The next day we drove to Sarajevo, the location of the longest siege in modern history. But first we stopped in Mostar to check out the cool bridge. The next day was a rest day. The day after we Checked out the War Children Museum. It was sad.

I think one of the worst stories was about a kid, not a teenager. He was really good and singing and joined this singing contest, which he really wanted to win. He was listening to the radio to find out if he won the contest. His sister said she remembered A boom and her mother’s scream. His family heard about him winning the day after their house was shelled. The same day they buried him. I’m just going to end this here.

It was a two hour train to Budapest from Vienna. We walked to the airbnb and dropped off our bags and called dibs on beds. Then it was walking our the nearby park. The park had a HUMONGOUS playground nearby. it had a small waterpark, trampolines, a zipline, and spiderwebs. There was even a ice cream machine nearby!

The next day we checked out St Stephens Basilica and the “Shoes on the Danube” which is there to show the people who the Nazi’s executed by the shore. We then took a train to an out of the way swimming pool in a town. Afterwards James just wanted to sleep so I stayed home while Mom and Dad got food with Charlie.

The ride to Zurich was supposed to be 3 trains. The last rain had two stops 4 minutes away from each other. We had some panic when Charlie got locked in the train Bathroom. So as a result, we left the stop before ours. That 4 minutes ended up delaying us by 45ish minutes.

The first day was a beach day as we wanted to have fun, so we went to a rock beach and swam around. That day was when we started a Back to the Future as a family movie to watch, which we finally finished right before I started writing this.

The second day in Zurich was simply walking around and feeding swans, and a picnic. Also, it was a special occasion, so there was some people setting off fireworks near the aprtment building.

The third day was spent checking out the Botanical Gardens then the mountain Üetliberg. It was a hot day, and lunch wasn’t good. Walking down the mountain sucked. Every single one of use thought we were going to fall some time that walk.

The next day was traveling to Innsbruck and checking out the palace and Church there. It was a packed day as we spent only one day there.

The first night in Austria was spent getting to a place near Vienna and swimming in the pool at the place. The first whole day was spent checking out Sisi palace and a walking tour.

The second day was spent as a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. We walked around Bratislava and saw the Blue Church. Then a Free tour about WW2 and Communism. It was fun. We had to leave early because James was tired.

The last day, I was tired and just wanted to stay home, so I did.

After leaving Bruges, we took a train to Amsterdam, with a layover in Brussels so I could have my ears checked. We then stopped at a place nearby Amsterdam for a while. The first day in Amsterdam was spent swimming at a nearby lake, followed by dinner at a restaurant named the Boat House.

The second day was spent riding our bikes. There was some drama with James and his bike, but that was it. The ride through to the Waterlands and lunch was two hours, there were other places, but none of them were greater than 3 stars. We ate, tried to leave at a good pace, but the wind. The god-awful wind. Our travel time was double by that stupid wind.It didn’t help that for almost the entire ride back, we were in the wind’s way. We got back a lot later than expected, thanks to that wind.

The third day was spent checking out the Rijksmuseum and Vondelpark. The fourth day was spent at the Van Gogh Museum. you know abut Vincent Van Gogh cutting his ear off? Apparently it was because he had a mental breakdown. A few years afterwards, Van Gogh had been living in a mental institution, and went into a field and shot himself in the chest. He died a few days later.

The trip to Germany was a trip to see Tante Marianne, then to Betzdorf to steal her house. Which was on a tall hill. Thankfully someone drove our bags up there for us. That hill was huge.

The only full day in Germany was spent looking around Betzdorf and on a whim, Siegen.

The way to Glasgow was a ferry we took. It was roughly 2 1/2 hours, so not that bad. Additionally, the lounge was god, and Charlie and James watched a movie. It was then a two hour bus to Glasgow from the ferry. It was a short walk to the hostel. Me and Charlie shared a room while everyone else was in their own room. The plan was to go to an children’s palace, which I skipped. It turned out it wasn’t fun, so I dodged a bullet. We then took a train to Edinburgh the next day.

The day we arrived in Edinburgh was just overall a resting day. The next day was a where we just visited the Edinburgh castle and walked around. After that it was a tour of the underground Mary King’s close. The next order of the day was a muesem about natural history.

The last day of Edinburgh was spent getting a car and leaving for the highlands. It was a 3-hour drive that involved a large stop for lunch. there was a bit of drama near the end, but that was it. We watched Braveheart that night.’

The first full day in the highlands was just a short walk pretty much. We saw a waterfall. The second day, I am an introvert and when offered, I jump on the the chance to the only person in the house for a day. The third day ended well as I already proved I could stay home. So my brothers stayed at home that day.

The fourth day was a drive back to Edinburgh to get on a train to London. It was an okay drive. We had some train tickets for a 3:30 train. Note that I am telling the time. Why?

The train was delayed. The train was SUPPOSED TO TAKE at most 4ish hours. Guess what, we reached London at past 11 PM. As you can say, we are all sore about that. Well, that’s the Scotland Post.

We took a train to Brugge, where it was stupid hot. We ate lunch then picked our bags up and got to the airbnb and stayed inside for the rest of the day.

The second day was the actual walking tour, where we saw the main landmarks with information on John’s waffles, which is right across the square from the town hall. You will thank me. His waffles are DELICIOUS.

The second day was me drawing on a bench, Mom checking out a museum, and Dad, Charlie and James seeing a beer museum. More waffles afterwards.

The third day was a day trip to Ghent, where we saw the castle, which has a funny audioguide. We also did a canal tour.