on top of a tower

320 steps

high in France (Dijon)

We are leaving from England to Bangkok this afternoon. We will fly on Lufthansa from Birmingham to Frankfurt on an Airbus A319, it will take 1 hour and 35 mins, then from Frankfurt to Bangkok on a Boeing 747-400, it will take 10 hours and 20 mins . We'll stop in Bangkok for 2 nights for shopping and if we have enough time we'll go to see underwater. In Bangkok I'll stay with my auntie.

Yesterday uncle Mark came. He told us some jokes in a book that he was reading. Here's a joke Who was first out of the ark ?
I don't Know but Noah was 4th.

We had the barn for lunch. I had spagetti bolognase and galic bread.

My Grandpa's house.

Dijon in France

Lyon in France

Today we went to Stratford upon avin. Shakespear was born there. Shakespear was a famous poet. We had a 30 minute cruise along a canal. We had a sightseeing tour around Stratford. it took 80 minutes.

3 days ago we went to Blackburn. We went there to see friends of my mum's. The journey up the motorway took over three hours, including a stop for a meal. The journey back yesterday took four and a half hours with major queues.
2 days ago we went to Southport, a famous northern England seaside resort. When the tide went out you have to walk for four miles to reach the sea, because it is so flat. From Southport we could see Blackpool, which is a very famous town with a high tower. After we went to the sea we went to an amusement park and I got to drive a go-kart for 5 minutes. Fun!
Then I had a small rollercoaster ride on a "caterpillar".

The weather was sunny. It was sunny in Lyon to but we had to leave it behind. It was wet in Birmingham then it started raining. The plane from Lyon was more like a domestic flight beacause it was a Bombardier CRJ 100. It only had 48 passenger seats and it had 50 seats altogeather.

The next day we went for a walk. We went to the city centre. We stoped and had a drink. At 12:00 Sarah, Matt and me went up a tower. We had a fine view of the city. It was 320 steps high.

We went to Dijon the next day and we stayed in another novotel. That evening Sarah came to the hotel. After we had talked a bit we went to Sarah's apartment. It was a small one. On the way Sarah got lost, but we got there at last. We had pasta for dinner. We had a look at a slideshow of them in China. Then Matt came.

We landed at Birmingham at 12.55 and after immigration we went to the baggage claim area. Our luggage appeared within 20 seconds!
Outside we met Grandpa who picked us up in a taxi which took us to his home.
The next day we fed his neighbour's fish and I helped Grandpa pick raspberries. I picked lots.
We had lovely weather, we went to see my Uncle Mark and he took us on a steam railway trip. The railway was built over a hundred years ago as part of the Great Western Railway and some of the engines on it are over seventy years old.
We looked at Uncle Marks allotment where he grows vegetables. I helped him dig up some potatoes.

After the night at the Bangkok restaurant we woke up at 5:30 am. It wasn't dark. Its only dark from 1am-3am. Its only summer. Its hardly dark because in the north pole, its always light in summer. We got the bus to the airport at 6:55am. We left Helsinki on a Lufthansa (below) and arrived at Frankfurt at 10:55am and departed on the plane that goes to Birmingham. We arrived at 12:55. It was a Boeing 737-500.

The logo of Lufthansa is at the bottom.

On Tuesday 7th July we left Lapeenranta by train to Helsinki. We arrived in Helsinki at 2pm.

We wanted to have a look inside the Parliament building but we were too late - it was closed. In the evening we went to the Bangkok restaurant for a Thai dinner with some more of Mum's friends. We spent over an hour there and the food was good. Here is a picture of us eating.

The next day we went into Lappeenranta. We went to the fortress. The fortress had a lovely little cafe. After we had a little tour we went down to some thing like a fair.

The place had a massive sand castle.

After we saw the sand castle there was mini golf to look at.......

I played with Dad and I won - yes, I got a much higher score than he did.

Then we went on a Ferris Wheel. We had two turns on it. It was good

We rented a car from Jyvaskyla then we drove to Lapeenranta. 220km took about 4 hours. We saw very little traffic and lots and lots of trees. It was a Sunday afternoon, and there were very few trucks - we passed only six, and five of them were Russian - the other was Finnish

In the afternoon when we arrived at Taipelsaari (near Lapeenranta) we gave Mum's friend Anneli a surprise by appearing at her door earlier than she expected.
We had a meal then went for a walk around a lake in the evening.

Here are some pictures

On the 2nd day we went to the steam train museum. The steam train museum was 16km away from Keuruu. That train is number 1933.

There are real steam locomotives and machines and railway equipment for you to see in the park as well as adventure and animal park for the children. Finland's longest miniature railway, a park railway and a candy store can also be found in the park. Dances, concerts, summer theatre and events. A restaurant with alcohol rights, a pub and a terrace restaurant, a caravan area and accommodation in the former railwaymen's rest room building as well as in real railway carriages. Open May-Step. Entrance fee . In winter a snowmobile centre.

After we got off the train in Jyvaskyla we were met by Kun Rittva, a friend of Mum. She took us to her home in to Keuruu, on old style Finnish cottage built in the 1940s.

Keuruu has a population of 11,000.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast house by a lake. Good service and a great breakfast.

"Here I am in front of the house that we slept in. It also has a lounge.

"The owner of the bed and

breakfast also has a dog.

She is friendly for most of

the time. There's a picture

of me playing with the dog.

The B+B has a sauna. We had a session in the sauna but it was so hot I got out quickly leaving Mum and Dad inside to cook for a bit longer!

I went to the main house and talked with the two ladies there, one was a teacher - she teaches English French Spanish and German.

I played with the dog for a bit then Mum and Dad came in and talked.

Above is a picture of the sauna

We left Helsinki on the train to Jyvaskyla. It took 3 hours. Jyvaskyla has a population of 100,000 people.

"Here I am on the train from Helsinki to Jyvaskyla" (u-vas-ku-la) The train was going to Tampere which is south of Jyvaskyla. It took another 1 and1/2 hours to get to Jyvaskyla.

On the 2nd day we stayed in Helsinki we went to parliment. We took some photos infront of parliment.

In Helsinki we stayed at the Scandic hotel.. We stayed 2 nights. We had a boat trip around the harbour and a sightseeing trip on a bus. On the sightseeing bus, it told us that the trams have been in Helsinki for over 100 years. A passenger tram and the pub tram. Fancy having a go?