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.