Grace's Fifth Chapter

19th August
We caught a plane to Germany, and then caught a taxi to our house swap house. When I saw my room, I realised the bed was for a five year old. It was torture because it was really small and my feet hit the end. We went to a really nice restaurant, on a manmade canal. The canal was built in 1846 and took 12 years to build. It was built to join two major European rivers. Horses used to pull boats along the canal. They also planted apple trees along the canal to feed the horses.

20th August
The next day we rode our bikes along the canal. We had Bavarian sausages with mustard for lunch. I liked the sausages, but not the mustard. For dinner we went to a typical bier garten (beer garden) and I had schnitzel, which is a traditional German meal.

21st August
We woke up early and caught a train into Nuremberg, also pronounced as Nurnberg. There was lots of bridges and castles everywhere. We watched Black Beauty when we got home and it was sad. I should have listened to Ava Quinn.

22nd August
Rest day.

This is the story of the Ludwig Canal...
Ludwig decided to join two big European rivers together by building a canal between them so boats could go from one river to the other river. He was the King and paid the money to build it, so they named it after him. There is 101 locks in the canal which help the boats go upstream. Below is a picture of a lock, and how it works.

23rd August
Today we went for a long bike ride along the canal. We ended up buying some bread from a bakery and had a picnic on the canal.

24th August
We went to the zoo at Nuremberg. We had an amazing time and a terrific lunch. My favourite drink is a spezie – fanta and coke mixed!

25th August
We went on a really long bike ride. It was 20 km long but we didn’t see much. We stopped at a backery and had cake. Riding home along

the canal for 7 kms was easier than through the farms and paddocks.

26th August
Today we caught a train to Nuremberg and then to Bamberg. Bamberg is a really pretty town that is UNESCO rated. This means that it is really old and pretty and they have to keep it looking like that. We saw another castle and had a pork knuckle for lunch. There is a smoked beer they make here that you can’t get anywhere else other than Bamberg. Dad said it was the best beer he ever had.

27th August
We woke up early today to drive 2 hours to Bavaria to visit some friends I had met a couple of years ago – Nicola and Isabella. They have been living in Germany for a year and going to school here. Their German is really good but they get better marks for their English at school. We all went on another roddelbahn (like a roller

coaster) and then did a walk through a gorge. We had to walk over a bridge 100 metres above the river. I was very scared because the bridge was all wobbly. That night our hotel looked over the mountains.

28th August
We all had a big German breakfast together and then went hiking. We caught a cable car half way up the mountain and then walked the rest. At the top we saw people paragliding. There was also a playground with bouncy trampolines and a huge air cushion that you jumped in from a tower. That night I stayed the night in the girl’s house which is on a farm. They have horses and cows.

29th August
Before breakfast, Isabella and Nicola and I, groomed the horses and then I had to say goodbye to them. We drove to Salzburg to see the

salt mines. We rode a train into the mountain and then slid down a wooden slide. I saw lots of big machines they used to mine the sale. The lowest we went was 120 metres into the mountain. My favourite bit was the slides. We then drove to Salzburg and stayed in the worst hotel ever. Worse than Frankfurt. Dad is not allowed to pick out the hotels anymore.

30th August
In Salzburg we walked around and saw another castle. Mum and I found a Christmas shop and bought some ornaments for the tree. They had millions of hand painted real egg decorations. While we were having lunch at the castle a storm started and we got soaking

wet.

31st August
Today we drove to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. We had a walk around the small town and climbed a tower.

1st September
We spent the day kayaking on the river Vlatava. There were 6 locks on the river that we had to go through. Mum was terrified and didn’t enjoy the day at all. We stopped half way along and had a picnic lunch on the side of the river. That night mum made dad and I spend 5 years looking for a restaurant that she wanted to have dinner in.

We have spent the last couple of days at the house going for walks and bike rides. Yesterday was father’s day so we made dad pancakes and took him for a bike ride. We went on a barge on the canal that was

pulled by horses. It rained but it was still fantastic. On Friday we are catching an overnight train from Munich to Rome, Italy.

Travelling safe,
Grace Frawley

More German words I’ve learnt:-
tache = bag
fahrrad = bike
pherd = horse
haus = house
zimmer frei = vacant room
rechtnung bitter = bill please