Flat Ffion and Flat Zoey


July 2013
Flat Claire and Flat Ffion go travelling with Mrs B


Hi Room 9,
We've arrived in Wales. Hope you're not missing us too much.
Our flight took us to Kuala Lumpar, Amsterdam and onto Manchester where we landed on Friday 28 June 30 hours after leaving. We were very tired so we dropped off to sleep in the back of the car while Mrs Bullock drove us to Beaumaris which is a small town in Anglesey.
We're staying on a farm so we hope to milk some cows and feed some calves and maybe we'll be allowed to ride on a tractor. 
You know how Mrs Bullock likes looking up different places in the atlas, well she'd like you to show Mrs Hensley those places we've been to already.
We'll send you some photos soon.

From 
Flat Ffion and Flat Claire




Just about to depart from Auckland


7th July 2013    Bore da (Welsh for good morning)

We've been here a week already and have had a great time checking out the cows on the farm, having a ride on the quad bike and the tractor which was HUGE!

One day we went to Beaumaris Castle which was built about 700 years ago between 1295 and 1350 by King Edward 1. Can you believe that? Have a look at the time line we were all doing on NZ history and see if you can find where it fits on the line. We had a lot of fun running along the castle walls, up and down the spiral steps in the turrets and pretending to shoot arrows through the narrow slits in the very thick stone walls. Here is a good website to see some photos of the castle. 
http://www.castlewales.com/beaumar.html

Another day we visited a town with the longest name although the local people just say Llanfair PG. Here it is:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. 
It means in English;
St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave
.
There is a very long Maori name too. Here's the website which shows the Welsh and NZ ones.
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/name.HTML

Yesterday we strolled along a beautiful sandy beach and found some amazing sealife that had been swept ashore. You'll be able to see them in one of the photos. There was a crab with really long pincers, fish eggs, 2 dogfish and razor clams which Mrs Bullock's brother says are very tasty.

Tomorrow we are off to Moscow in Russia so hopefully we can send you an update before the school holidays start.

Have fun,
Flat Claire and Flat Ffion




 Beaumaris Castle







Dogfish,sea urchins, fish eggs, razor class, crab


These pictures show the longest town name in the world! Can you say it?




Welsh flag

Boarding the flight from Wales to Moscow, Russia

10th July 2013

Доброе утро! (Good morning in Russian)We are having a great time in Moscow. We  are so glad that Mrs B's daughter is here,as she can read and speak Russian. There aren't many signs in English! Look at the  McDonald's sign written in Russian!
We have seen lots of sights in Moscow including the Kremlin (where the President works ) which was built in 1147. That is more than 600 years before Captain Cook discovered New Zealand. Look at the Tsar Cannon... it's one of the biggest in the world and weighs as much as 7 elephants! We tried to pick it up but it was too heavy!
We also visited Red Square which is the centre of Moscow and the most famous place in Russia. Look how beautiful and colourful St Basil's Cathedral is!
We also went to the Moscow Cathedral and tonight we went  to the ballet but they said we were too little to dance with them . Tomorrow we go to St Petersburg on the train, yahoooooo!
 
Love from Flat Claire and Flat Ffion.





Hi Room 9,
Silly us, we were a day ahead of ourselves when we last e.mailed you so we had another day in Moscow. Mrs B said we had got mixed up because we were so excited and didn't know whether we were coming or going. She had to explain that phrase to us - get your Mum or Dad to explain it if you don't know it. The boat cruise on the Moscow River was so relaxing and we loved every minute especially seeing St Basil's and the Kremlin from another angle. There are lots of small bakeries on the roadsides and today we had a pastry with egg and cheese in it...yummmm!

Over the past five days, we have been on a plane, in a taxi, on the underground metro and also a train travelling at 200 kilometres an hour from Moscow to St Petersburg.  Here is a photo of us just before we boarded.  The Moscow Metro is amazing, there are ten underground lines that whizz you around Moscow... We even travelled underneath the river! Here is a photo of us watching an underground train speed by. We are also sending a photo of one of the Metro stations which has chandeliers, mosaics and gold!

Russia has very different money from New Zealand... the notes are made of paper! Look at the interesting pictures on them... What can you see?

Russia is full of interesting things, but our favourite Russian souvenir is the matryoshka doll. They fit inside each other and the last one is always very tiny! We bought one at the markets yesterday and there are paintings on her tummy of Russian fairy tales.

Now we are in St Petersburg so we will send another email after we have been exploring.
Mrs B says to have a happy and safe holiday.

Love Flat Ffion and Flat Claire










Hello Room 9,
Sorry about the delay in keeping in touch. We hope you've had a great holiday break.

Are you ready to explore St Petersburg with us?
It was built on marshland so most of the old buildings are very close to the canals which crisscross through the city. We cruised on an open boat and felt like we were in Venice. Some of the buildings we saw were from 1703!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=st+petersburg+canals&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=uODvUbmtMsmP0AWt5oGQDw&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=629
On of the amazing things about June and July is that it is light for 24 hours, no darkness to tell you it's time for bed! They call this time 'White Nights' which they celebrate by having concerts, ballet, opera and lots of other exciting things to do every night. We were lucky enough to go to 'Aida' an opera by Verdi, at the Mariinsky Theatre which was built in 1859. It has a beautiful auditorium with gold painted onto lots of the surfaces. We thought 4 hours watching an opera may be too long but we were wrong. The costumes were fantastic, the cast was huge and the singing was really good even though we couldn't understand it!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mariinsky+theatre&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GOLvUeqjEumT0AX79oCQAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=629
We spent a few hours at the Hermitage looking at art from all over the world. The building is huge with grand staircases, magnificent ceilings and enormous glittering chandeliers suspended above our heads.The boys would have loved hanging from those. We spent most of the time with our mouths open wide as there was so much to admire. Some of the paintings were as big as the floor of Room 9. Can you believe that?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=state%20hermitage%20museum&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=deLvUcfzF4PO0QXXp4HIAQ&biw=1024&bih=629&sei=kOLvUfPMGcWa1AXvv4DwCQ
On our last day we jumped on board a hydrofoil for a 30 minute trip along the River Neva to Peterhof which is a stunning place with incredible gardens and 150 fabulous fountains. We think you'd like 'Favoritka the Dog' which has 4 ducks swimming in circles being chased by a bulldog. It was so hot we were tempted to jump into the bigger fountains but guess what - we weren't allowed! Why do grown ups sometimes stop us having fun?


Marinsky Theatre
Russian flag
Pushkin statue

Peterhof








Hermitage


All for now,
Flat Ffion and Flat Claire

Hi Room 9,
On our last day in Wales we decided to go up Snowdon which is 1085m high and is the highest mountain in Wales.
We had a difficult decision to make - would we walk or take the small train to the summit.
As it was so hot we decided to go the easy way, by train, enjoy the 360 degree views and have a walk around the summit. We felt like goats springing from rock to rock to get a better view. It was fantastic and we wondered how a train could get up something so steep. I think it would be a good idea to ask our principal when he next visits our room because he knows all about small gauge trains.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=snowdon%20train&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=7-3zUY7YI8fNOMnHgPAL&biw=1024&bih=629&sei=PO7zUfmxAez30gWTx4GYDQ





There will be one more e.mail from us just before we leave.
See you soon
Flat Claire and Flat Ffion

 Hello Room 9,
This is our last e.mail as we are just about to be posted back to NZ. We're happy that we will see you soon but a bit sad that our holiday has nearly finished.
We are feeling very grown up as Mrs B says we can travel home on our own because we have been such good ambassadors for Shelly ParkSchool.
We'll see you very soon.
Flat Ffion and Flat Claire





March 2013
Flat Zoey and Flat Ffion


The swimming pool is Flat Ffion’s favourite place because she loves swimming. She can only swim if there’s a grown-up there too.
This is Flat Ffion’s TV. Flat Ffion loves watching TV.

Flat Ffion’s new best friend is Sparkles. Sparkles loves places like Flat Ffion but she can’t swim because she’s not waterproof. In this picture she’s hugging Flat Ffion.



7 comments:

  1. to ffion good work from flat scarlett.

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice pool ffion from flat scarlett

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like your cat ffion sb .

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE YOUR POOL! I wish I had one!
    From flat claire

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  5. I really like your black and white cat it is so cute.
    From P.P

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  6. THE VVVEEERRRYYY 1ST ONE FOR Zoey

    there's nothing really to say ,but

    I wish I had your big flat

    from


    O.G.C.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the adventure flat Ffion had in Wales! from Anneliese B

    ReplyDelete