The house we are staying in at Burgundy

We are staying in Burgundy on the way to Lego Land in Germany.  it is very cold here, it has been minus 1 at night and most days only about 5 or 6 degrees.  The mornings are very frosty.  We have bought warm clothes though so we are still going out and when its sunny we are having picnics.  Its autumn so there are lots of leaves and Lily and I are having lots of leaf fights!!

The towns around here are quite pretty, the roofs of the buildings have patterns on them like they have been made with easter egg wrappers, and there are rivers everywhere running through the towns - its would be pretty cool in sumer I reckon.

I quite like it here but I cant wait to get to Lego Land - we leave tomorrow!

the frost in the morning from our bedroom

the lounge room with fire!

the house

an easter egg roof

we had a picnic in this park

Monaco and the Cote d'Azur

We went for a really, really long drive to Monaco and stopped at some beaches on the way there.  Monaco was awesome.  The road is really steep and windy and the cars go really fast.  There are ferraris and lambourginis and porches and all sorts of fast and really expensive cars there.

There are also lots of boats, Monaco is a harbour and there are boats everywhere and they are huge!!

There is a grand prix at Monaco and it is a street circuit which means we got to drive on some of the roads and tunnels that make up the track - there are a lot of tunnels under the city.

I liked Monaco it was fun, but there was a fair there and we didnt have time to go because it was such along drive - I was a bit disappointed it looked like fun.

Millau Viaduct

We went on a family excursion to the city of Millau to see a bridge called the Millau Viaduct.

Building of the bridge started in 2001 and finished in 2004 on exactly the same day.  It sits above the Tarn River.  It is 2,460m long and 343m high.

On top of the bridge there are weather stations, fire hydrants and cameras to watch the traffic.  There are 4 lanes of traffic, it is part of the highway, cars are not allowed to stop on the bridge, you can only look at it from the bottom on one side and the top on the other side.

Along the bridge there are 7 steel pylons with red lights on top to warn planes because the bridge is so high.  It is almost as high as the Eiffel Tower.

My project on the lamprey

For E-school I had to do a science project.  i did mine on the Lamprey - here is my project

My project on the Lamprey!!

Lavangnac is the town where we lived in Bordeaux.  It is the home to an animal called the lamprey.  There is a museum about the lamprey in the town.

·      The lamprey is a prehistoric animal. 

·      It was first seen 450-500 million years ago. 

·      It is the only species of its kind.

·      It is not a fish because it doesn’t have an articulated jaw, only a suction grip

·      It has no scales

·      It has no side fine

·      It has no bones

·      It looks a bit like an eel.

The lamprey begins to reproduce in May and continues until July.  Both the male and the female die after they reproduce.  Then the eggs hatch and they become little worms, they live for 5-7 years in the place where they are born.  Then, when they are 15-29 cm long they are able to go towards the ocean.  They feed by clinging to a fish and drinking all the fish’s blood.  They do this for 1-3 years, they need 20 kilos of fish blood.

When the lamprey is fully grown, in the December it goes back to the river to reproduce.  It doesn’t eat anymore and uses its reserves to live.  This explains why they die after giving birth.

Lamprey is fished from December – May.  Fishing is either from a net or with a pot called a bourgne.  The Dordogne which runs past the house we lived in, is full of lamprey and Lavangnc is known for having the best lamprey.  There are 5 professional lamprey fishermen in Lavangnac.  The lamprey is cooked and eaten.  I didn’t try any, it didn’t look very nice

The boats fishing for lamprey

lampreys mating

a lamprey

The lamprey’s mouth

 Cooked lamprey

By Liam

The village des boires and Gordes

We visited a village near our house called Gordes.  it was so cool, it was on the side of the mountain and the houses look like they will fall down the hill!!  We walked around the village and there were really steep paths and stairs every where.

Near Gordes is a village which is really old and is made only out of stones with no concrete holding the stones together.  We walked into the old houses - they were really cold inside.  There were places for animals to be kept and houses with tools and old cooking tools, and storage rooms.  They even kept silk worms to make clothes.

The houses were very clever, they were built from stone and made to stop the snow and rain getting in. The people who lived there made and grew everything themselves and didn't have to go to the shops for anything!

Avignon

We went to Avignon which is the capital city of where we are staying.  We went on an excursion and had to write about it after.  Here are some of the things I found out about in Avignon.

There used to be a bridge across the river - it is the Rhone river.  A long time ago the river flooded and washed away some of the bridge.  Part of it is still there and we went on it.  It is called the Pont d'Avignon (Pont is french for bridge) but used to be called Pont St Benezet.

The wall around the city is over 4 kms long and surrounds the whole city.  inside the wall is a palace for the Popes.  The Pope is the leader of the catholic church.  Popes live in Italy now in the Vatican but they used to live in Avignon, 9 popes lived there in the 1300s.

In the second world war Avignon was taken over by the Germans who invaded france, luckily they didn't destroy the city.

I liked Avignon there was lots to see and learn about.

Pernes les Fontaines and L'Isle sur la sorgue

These are two villages very near our house.  The first one is really old and used to have a stone wall around it.  There is only a bit of the wall still left and an old draw bridge and some of the fort buildings. the town has 40 fountains in it and water that runs under it to the fountains.

The second one is really pretty, it has lots of canals, mum says its like Venice in Italy - I don't know I haven't been there, but I like this one.  It had a huge market with lots of food.  We ate really yummy chicken and potatoes and ice cream.  There were lots of vegetables and fruit and olives everywhere. I don't think I like olives but mum says I should try one while we are here.  The restaurants have tables and chairs on the bridges over the canals, i think it would be fun to eat there.