Toledo and Cordaba

5 April

We picked up our rental car and drove to Cordaba via Toledo. We found out how to lock the car after a lot of struggling. Toledo was the home of Cervantes who wrote the story of Don Quixote. We saw lots of windmills as we drove south through La Mancha. Cordoba is in Andulacia and we stayed one night on our way to Marbella.

Madrid, Spain

2 -5 April
Madrid

In Madrid we discovered about eating tapas and visited the Reina Sofina Gallery of Modern Art. My Mum wanted to see Picasso's Guernica. It is very big and impressive in just a few colours. There were lots of paintings by Picasso in a special exhibition. We also saw pantings by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. Some of Miro's paintings were just a few dots on the canvas - it didn't seem to be art. There was a sculpture by Joan Miro in the garden outside. We also saw a demonstration for children's education in the streets - it was very loud with drums, police and lots of banners.

Amsterdam, Holland

29 March - 2 April
Amsterdam



After a 12 hour flight we arrived in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Holland). It was very cold and wet. Our first day we took a tram to the centre and the first thing I did was buy a warm hat & gloves. Amsterdam has lots of souvenir shops, coffee shops, cheese shops. We walked across some canals to the Jewish Museum and looked at a special exhibition on comic book art. My favourite was The Spirit. We walked around the Museum and read about what happened to the Dutch Jewish people during World War Two.
After we went to Rembrantsplein, there is a sculpture there called the Night Watch. Then we went to a shop - Henks and bought some comics - The Spirit, The Rabbi's Cat and Maus. We also got four Zelda figurines.
The next day we changed hotels and stayed in the centre. It was still cold. We visited Ann Frank's House. Annn Frank was a Jewish teenager who hid from the Nazis with her family & others in a secret annexe during World War 2. They hid for two years before being found and Ann kept a diary which her father published after the war. You had to climb stairs hidden behind a bookcase in her father's offices. The rooms were tiny and it was hard to think of 8 people living there for so long. Ann, her sister and mother all died before the war ended.

Japan Photos

Last day Osaka

28 March

We got a No-my-car-day pass and went all over Osaka including the park where Osaka castle is.

Kyoto

26 & 27 March

We made two trips to Kyoto. The first time we went to the Golden Pavilion. The Golden Pavilion is much more interesting than the Silver Pavilion mainly because the Silver Pavilion is being renovated. We went to Gion corner and saw lots of tourists trying to take photos of the geishas. The next day after the Silver Pavilion, we walked the Philosopher's Walk which was relaxing. I took some photos. The trees were starting to blossom. We walked miles that day.

Nara

26 March

We had breakfast at our favourite Japanese bakery and then we caught the train to Nara. We walked to the park which is full of deer and shrines. We bought special deer food and I fed the deer. But suddenly I was surrounded by them!

We went into a Buddhist temple. Inside the temple was one of the largest Buddhas in the world. There were also statues of warriors. We walked through the park to another temple that was surrounded with lanterns.

Kobe

After Himeji we went to a port city. We visited the china-town area. Then we had dinner and went home.

Himeji castle

25 March

We started our 3 day travel pass and went to Himeji castle in Himeji. Himeji castle was FIRST built in 1333. The castle that stands there today was finished in 1618 by Tadamasa Honda. It is on a hill. We walked from the train station to the castle. We bought tickets and went inside. We climbed up and up and up and up and up steep wooden stairs until we were at the top and then we climbed back down again. The castle is a good example of traditional Japanese wooden architecture.

Day 1 Osaka

24 March

Today we wandered around most of the day. We discovered Den-den which is a street full of shops with electric things in them. That is what Den means. Den is a shortening of the word electricity in Japanese. We found some shops that sold action figures - anime, pokemon and other nintendo. My brother and I collected a set of Mario Kart figures - it was fun to find them. The restaurants have plastic models of their menus in the windows - you can choose what you want to eat from them.

Arrive in Osaka, Japan

23 March

I left Auckland with my Mum & Dad and my brother Liam (13yrs) for Japan. Our 11 hour flight from Auckland made us arrive in Kansai Airport at around 6 pm and then we took a train to Osaka. Our hotel was in Dotombori, the entertainment center of Osaka. Dotombori is full of restaurants, sushi bars, pachinko parlours, neon lights and interesting people.

We had a traditional Japanese hotel room. Our hotel room was on the 9th floor at the very top of the tower. We slept on futons on the floor and removed our shoes before we entered the room.