The Isle of Man

The Isle of Man

This is the flag of the Isle of Man.
The unusual three legged figure represents that which ever way you throw it it will land on its feet.

This week we went to a place called the Isle of Man. This is an island located in the Irish sea in-between Ireland and England.

The tiny island above wales (yellow part) is the Isle of Man.

One of the things we did in the Isle of man was go to a Castle called Castle Rushen. It Was built in 1265 for the lords and king of the Isle of Man. It is one of the best persevered medical castles in all of Europe. 

My favorite thing we did on the Isle of Man was go on the steam railway. Steam railways were common from the middle 19th century to the early 20th century. They use coal to make the train move but do not reach very high speeds. It is thought that the Thomas the Train engine stories were based off of the Isle of Man.

My favorite food that I had in Isle of man was Loaghtan lamb. It is a species of lamb that only lives in the Isle of Man and has four horns.

Durham

Durham, England 

This is the county of Durham. Durham county is the only one in England that uses the suffix of county.

In Durham there are two main attractions:  a huge cathedral and a castle. After the Norman Conquest of England (1066) the castle was built to control the local peasants who rebelled a lot and did not like William, the new king. The Normans built the castle and put a "Prince Bishop" in charge to keep people loyal to the king.

This particular type of castle is called motte and bailey. The motte is the mound. On top of the mound lies the keep. The bailey is the area which is flat and has all the castle walls around it. At first the castle would have been made of wood so it could be built fast. After a while it was rebuilt in stone.  An interesting fact about the Durham castle is that it was never captured by an enemy.  It is the only major castle in England that was not overtaken by an opponent at one time or another.

The cathedral was built around the body of a saint called Cuthbert.  Cuthbert was a monk on the island of Lindisfarne in the seventh century.  (He was born around 634.)  After Cuthbert died he was buried on the holy island of Lindisfarne.  But the monastery was attacked by Vikings.  So the monks decided to move Cuthbert's bones to a safe place.  When they went to move his body, they discovered that it had not decayed at all and they said this was a miracle.  Eventually they brought Cuthbert's body to Durham so pilgrims and other tourists would come there.

If you look at the shape above outlined in black you can see that it is i a cross. This is the design of the Durham cathedral.  Like most cathedrals, the Durham cathedral is in the shape of a cross with the altar at the front and pews on the left and right sides toward the front.  

A wealthy landowner in Durham County was named John Washington.  He gave money to help build the cloisters or house next to the cathedral (in the picture above) where the monks lived.  The plaque below is on one of the walls at the cathedral.  It shows that John Washington was an ancestor of George Washington, the first president of the United States. 

This is the crest of the Washington family.  The crest has stars at the top and red stripes in the center and at the bottom.  The tour guide at the Durham cathedral said that the Washington crest may have been related to the stars and stripes of the American flag.

Netherlands

Netherlands

Flag of the Netherlands 

This blog will be about Amsterdam, Netherlands where I went on holiday from Leeds. Amsterdam is often mistaken as the capital of Holland but Holland is actually a region of the Netherlands. 

All of Amsterdam is actually reclaimed land. This means that all of this land was covered by the ocean. Then people cleared the water off of the land. The reason people in Holland wanted this land so much is it was a prime place for trade and easy to export and receive goods. Today the way people prevent flooding is by lots of canals and dams. I was able to go onto a canal cruise and was surprised at the number of canals in Amsterdam. 

As you can see there is a lot of water in Amsterdam.

In lower land places there is still minor flooding. I went in to the main park called Vondel park. I learned that every 30 years in this park a meter of earth had to be put on top to prevent flooding.  

Vondel Park, opened in 1865

On all the houses in Amsterdam there are hooks on the roofs. I saw these on my cruise. These were there because of the amount of trade in Amsterdam. They would be used to hoist cargo out of ships. Today they are often used to hoist furniture into the buildings. 

If you look towards the top of the house you see things sticking out. These are the hooks.

One thing that is in Amsterdam is the Anne Frank house. My dad went there. Anne Frank was a girl who lived during World War II. She hid behind a wall for two years. Sadly she was captured by Nazis and killed. We bought a copy of her book in Amsterdam.

Germany

This week I went to Cologne, Germany. I will be talking in this blog about different things I have experienced in Germany. The first thing I will talk about is the food in Germany. Every city in Germany has their own beer. The beer of Cologne is Kölsh. This seems to be the preferred drink in the  region, at least for adults. A common food is "Schweinshaxe." This was delicious. It is pig knuckle or ham hocks.   

One thing that Cologne is famous for is a big cathedral. It has a crypt inside it that hold the fingers of the three kings who traveled to Bethlehem. The towers are approximately 515 feet tall.  There are two towers on it and they were built by hand.  When they had finished building the south tower many years after the north tower was built, the south tower was taller by just seven centimeters. We climbed 2/3 of the way up. You can't go any higher unless you go on ladders at that point. 

This is one the towers on the cathedral.

I really enjoyed Germany and thought it was very fun.

The European Union

The European Union

The European Union is a collection or gathering of countries in Europe.  The members of the Union have decided to help each other in many different ways.

The European Union was founded November 1, 1993.  The big reason it was formed was to bring Europe together after World War II, the end of a divided Germany with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Union would work for peace around Europe.        

The 12 stars on the European Union flag are not related to the number of countries in the European Union; instead, the number 12 is traditionally the symbol of perfection and unity.                                      

Today the European Union is made up of 28 countries but there will be more to come.  Some countries can't join because of their laws. Vatican City is a complete monarchy, you just don't hear about the king because he is the pope.  Because Vatican City is a complete monarchy without elected representatives,  it is not allowed to join the European Union.

The European Union's currency is the Euro.  Not all of the European Union members use the Euro. The United Kingdom for example uses the Pound.

Europe's Currency

Pound

In the United Kingdom we use the pound. It uses bills and coins. Scotland uses the same currency but the icons on it are different. The United Kingdom Pound is currently worth 1.55 U.S. Dollars. The pound is split up into 100 pence like a dollar. The pound was only split up into 100 pence in 1971. 

There are 1,5,10,20, and 50 pence coins and, 5,10,20, and 50 bank notes.    

Unlike many other types of currency the coins and banknotes in the pound currency vary from region to region. Some places in the United Kingdom such a Scotland have more valuable bank notes such as a 100 pound bank note. Scotland also has a 1 pound bank note.        

This is Edinburgh castle which I visited.

Euro

The Euro is a different currency used by a lot of other european countries. These countries are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Vatican City.  There are 23 countries that use the euro. All of these countries use to have their own currency. They changed to the euro because having different currencies for each country makes it a lot harder for trade. Also if you are visiting a different country you would have to constantly change currencies. The euro was created on January 1, 1999. Bank notes and coins started to circulated in 2002. 

Having such a valuable bank note in a currency is quite rare. This is because if someone managed to counterfeit it they could get a lot of money. The 500 euro bank note has a lot of codes on it so people cant counter fit it.

Thank You for Reading My Blog!

How I arrived in Leeds, England

How I arrived in Leeds, England 

On 22nd of July we left Tuscaloosa, Alabama to go to Leeds, England on the AM-Track Train. 

This is the train route I took.

We then arrived in New York City on the 23rd of July. We saw two plays. One was Around the World in Eighty Days. The other was Monkey Journey to the West which is a Buddhist tale.

I took this picture from the Queen Mary II

On the 27th of July we left New york on the Queen Mary II. The Queen Mary II is the largest ocean liner in the world. It has a planetarium, a ballroom, a theater, has 157,000 horse power, has an estimated weight of 150,000 gross tons, and is approximated to cost 800,000,000 to make.
(See more information at these to web-sights)
http://cruises.about.com/cs/shipprofiles/a/queen_mary_5.htm
http://www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-ships/queen-mary-2/

We arrived in Southampton, England on the 3rd of August. We then took a train from Southampton to Leeds England. 

We got on the train in Bournemouth and rode up to Birmingham. Then we changed trains in Birmingham and rode up the yellow line to Leeds.

We arrived in Leeds, England and are currently there.

The door in the middle is our house.