What Shawn Took -- Lots of Transportation!

Hi Everyone!

Shawn Skyped with his class today, and there seemed to be interest in the trains Shawn has been on.  So we put together some photos of the many different forms of transportation that Shawn has experienced.

1) To get to Scotland, our first country here in Europe, Shawn flew on an airplane:

The chairs all have trays that you can pull down to use for eating.

We brought our own portable DVD player.

Shawn's mom sat in front of Shawn because we could not get seats for the whole family together.

Here is Shawn's sister, Annabeth.



Shawn has headphones on to watch a movie.  Not only is the sound of the plane very LOUD, but also, we don't want to disturb other passengers who are trying to sleep.

There are long, long rows of seats and the aisles are very narrow to walk down.

2) In Scotland, Shawn rode in a car.  Drivers stay on the LEFT side of the road, and they sit on the RIGHT side of the car, which is completely opposite to what drivers do in Canada.

3) We rode a double-decker bus in Edinborough, Scotland.  Shawn ALWAYS sat on the top deck.

4) We took the Caledonian MacBrayne Ferry from mainland Scotland to the Isle of Mull so we could visit a town called Tobermory.  Tobermory is where the show "Balamory" was filmed.  It is a famous kids show in Scotland.  We watched a lot of Balamory on YouTube before we left.

The ferry takes people and their vehicles from the mainland to the islands.

Goodbye mainland Scotland!

Shawn played games during the ferry ride.

Shawn took this picture of his family on the deck of the ferry.  Can you guess what the weather was like?

There are many staircases and levels on the ferry.  That day, most people stayed inside the cabins.

 

The next day, from inside our hotel room high up on hill, we watched the ferry load up and leave Tobermory.

This is Tobermory. Our hotel is the brown building up on the hill on the right.  It is not a pink castle.

 

5) We took the subway in London, England (known locally as "the tube") to get to the Tower of London.

6) We left London, England by bullet train, sped under the English Channel and arrived in Paris, France in just a few hours.

As you can see by the map, a lot of the trip from London to Paris is above-ground.  When you look out the window, it looks like things are going by a little bit fast; but when people outside watch the train go by, it looks REALLY fast!

7) Here in our city of Dijon, we take the bus almost every day.  We use it to go to the supermarket, the post office, downtown to play in the fountains and see special things, and to get to the library.

8) Sometimes we take the tram.  You can see a video of it on this blog.  Notice the fancy colour at the bottom of the tram: it is the same colour as currants, a fruit that grows in this region of the country.

9) In Switzerland, on our vacation, Shawn rode a train up to the top of a mountain.  The mountain is 4158 metres high, and is the very highest mountain you can get to by train in all of Europe, so it is called The Top of Europe!

10) To go straight up the side of a very steep mountain, Shawn rode what is called a funicular.  Can you think of any words that rhyme with "funicular?"


11) In Venice, Italy, the city built on water, Shawn had to take a water bus called a "vaporetto."  From the vaporetto, we saw police boats, mail boats and even an ambulance boat. 

12) He also rode on a gondola in Venice.  He loved it!

9) Shawn rides his trotinette to and from the park and at the skate park that is four bus stops from our house.  He always wears a helmet.  Do you believe that kids are allowed to ride their trotinettes inside certain buildings, like the market?  They even carry them on the bus.

13) While skiing in the winter, at the end of our family adventure, Shawn, his dad and his Grandpa rode a ski lift and a gondola up and down the mountain.  It is not the same kind of gondola as Shawn rode in Venice.

The Top of Europe!

During the family vacation in the fall, Shawn journeyed to Switzerland and to the top of the Eiger mountain. 

The top is known as the Top of Europe because it is the highest peak that people can reach by train in all of the continent of Europe. 

Shawn and I (Shawn's mom) wrote some questions and answers about his journey.

How do you get to the Top of Europe?







You have to take not just one train...

but TWO trains.



You have to go with your family.



You have to pack warm clothes and snacks for the long journey.

 
What is the train ride like?

Air is pumped in to help you breathe better, because it is hard to breathe when you are very high in the mountains.

You can look out the window and see down the mountain.

You pass railway stations.

The roads start to look teeny tiny.

Pretty soon you are looking at the last house.



It's a long ride so you make yourself comfie.

Take a look around at the other passengers.

You can look at kids and take a picture of them, and try to take a picture of what they're looking at out the window.



These two are pictures of mountains freezing.  Ice, ice, snow!

This is a place where you stop, get off the train, and look out the window and then quickly get back on when it's time to go.  The window is built into the side of the mountain and the train runs on the inside of the mountain.

This is us getting back on the red train.  It's a red and yellow train that takes us through the mountain; we go higher and lower.  If you want to go with me you'd better pay for your tickets!

We're inside the mountain!  This is the train track.  The train wheels go on the two tracks on the side, and in the middle there's the track that pulls the train up the mountain like a crane.  [This is called a 'cogwheel train'].

This is my friend Dan.  She's from the country of China.  I met her on the train going up and up and up. The more we talked, the more we became friends. [Dan also appears in the "Big Ball of Switzerland" video. Shawn gave her a little metal Canadian flag that was attached to his backpack, to remember him by.]

This is the television on the train.  It showed pictures of where we were going, and the train.  I thought it was going to put on a TV show but it didn't.  A bunch of commercials went on and on, again and again.

What do you see at the Top of Europe?

This is the sign about what's at the Top of Europe.

We are outside the Jungfraujoch station at the top of the mountain.  Flash goes the camera; flash goes the next one!

This is the viewing platform where people view, view, view all day long.  It's built right into the mountain.

We're looking down at our feet [still on the viewing platform] and we can see nothing but mountain because it's just a screen made of metal, with no glass.  WAS IT SCARY, SHAWN?  No.

This is a picture of a Snow Cat.  It isn't a real cat.  It's something that cleans snow and makes it good for people to ski.  It actually flattens snow.  SHAWN, DID YOU GO SKIING?  Yes, I went another day.  DID YOU GO FROM THE VERY TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN?  No.

This is the door to get back in from the viewing platform.

We have to throw a snowball at the Top of Europe!

Inside the mountain again, this is us looking at the giant snow cone that shows the whole of Switzerland. [You can see a video of this on the posting "The Whole Big Ball of Switzerland."]

The cow is introducing Daddy.

This is  giant poster showing the very first explorers who dug inside the mountain to make the railway.  It was over 100 years ago.  Look at the simple tools they used...

Shawn calls this "The Mud Man."  It is a natural cave formation inside the mountain.

This is the ice cave where there is nothing but ice.  It will scare you when you see somebody stuck in the ice up high on the wall!

Actually, there are no REAL people stuck in the ice, just statues.  This is a kind of museum built right into the glacier.

One of these friends is not like the others, one of these friends just doesn't belong...

Do you recognize this fellow from Ice Age?

 

Here we are out on top again, on the other side of the mountain peak.

There is only a small rope keeping people from falling down the mountain, and it is very icy!

It's been a long day and we are all very tired. We'd better have a plate of spaghetti at the restaurant before we take the train back down again.