Giant's Causeway

Looking down at the top of the columns of rocks.

Before we left Ireland, we went to this amazing place called "The Giant's Causeway."  Look at the pictures of the cool columns of rocks that make up the Causeway.  The rocks are mostly hexagons that meet at regular 120* angles. We had a tour with an expert geologist (person who studies rocks) and he explained how the Giant's Causeway came to be.  There is an older, mythological story that explains the rocks.  I'll tell you both, and let you decide which you prefer. 

Relaxing on the basalt columns

The geological explanation of how the Causeway was formed is that 65 million years ago the landscape was covered in plants.  There were gently rolling hills laying on a bed of limestone.  Then about 60 million years ago the earth’s plates began to move away from each other.  Molten lava from the earth’s core began to pour out through the cracks.  The lava became hard and formed layers of basalt rock.   Some of the lava poured into a river valley where it cooled very slowly.  As it cooled, it cracked evenly, just like mud at the bottom of a puddle.  It formed the regular basalt columns that make up the Causeway.  Like honeycomb, nature tends toward stable structures, such as hexagonal stacks.  

Part of the Giant's Causeway
called the "Giant's Organ."

The legend of the Giant’s Causeway goes something like this:  There was an Irish Giant named Finn MacCool who built a Causeway all the way to Scotland to see his rival, a giant named Benandonner.  When Finn got to Scotland he saw how big Benandonner was and ran all the way home afraid that he could not defeat such a huge giant.  When he explained the situation to his wife, Oonagh, she promptly came up with a solution.  She dressed Finn as a baby and put him in a baby carriage. When Benandonner came knocking at their door, Oonagh explained that Finn was out, but that Benandonner was welcome to come in and wait, so long as he did not wake the baby.  When Benandonner got a glimpse of the huge baby he could only imagine the size of its father, Finn MacCool.  He left promptly, racing back along the Causeway, tearing up the stones as he went, stopping Finn MacCool from following him.  To this day the only Causeway stones that remain visible are those in the North of Ireland and on the Isle of Staffa in Scotland.  

The Cobbler
Do you see me on the rocks?

Me at the Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway was very, very cool.  Since then we have returned to Scotland, where we have been planning the rest of our journey.  We did have time to climb one beautiful hill, called the Cobbler, and I'll put in a photo for you.

Hope you're doing well!

Mrs. McMillan

Fun in Ireland

Can you guess what the holes in
the centre were for?

Blarney Castle--North Wall

See the bars at the top?
You lean over those to kiss the stone

Hello from the Emerald Isle!

I’m in Ireland right now and it is just as green as they say.  Ireland is full of really amazing castles.  I visited a famous one called “Blarney Castle.”  It is a tower type of castle, and it is famous because it has a stone built into the wall that is called the Blarney stone.  If you kiss the Blarney stone, it is supposed to give you the gift of eloquence.  That means being able to speak effectively.  You have to lay on your back and then lean way back to kiss the stone.  I didn’t bother kissing the stone because I think I’m eloquent already!  Are you still doing your unit on Castles?  I’ll put in some photos in case you are.  

A beach on the Ring of Kerry

Right now I’m on “The Ring of Kerry.”  Kerry is a county in Ireland and the Ring is just a road that goes around the county in a big circle.  The countryside is very beautiful on the Ring of Kerry with cliffs, rocky islands, sandy beaches and big hills.  

Dermot!  Still no woofs!

Guess what?  When we were touring around, we met the cutest little dog and so now we have a new pet.  His name is Dermot (which is an Irish name) and he is a Jack Russell Terrier, just like my dog Sula who you met already.  Dermot is not a puppy, he is 14 months old and he is so well-behaved.  Do you remember the story “Only One Woof?”  Well we’ve had Dermot for 3 days now and he has not barked at all.  Not even once!  I wonder if he ever will.  Maybe I can write my own James Herriot story!

I’m also putting in a picture of a loaf of bread.  I know that seems like an odd thing to include in a travel blog, but I thought you’d like it because of the name of the people who make the bread.  Can you see it on the package?  Of course it reminds me of a couple of grade 4 students I know!  

So Aidan has written to ask me what a Diamond Jubilee is.  Did anyone find out?  It is really, really historical--it has only happened one other time to a British Monarch.  It is the 60th anniversary of her reign.  She has been Queen since her father, King George VI died on February 6, 1952.  The only other monarch (king or queen) ever to reign that long was Queen Victoria and she ruled for 63 years.

Here in England there are going to be big, big celebrations this year.  There should be some celebrations in Canada too--after all she is our Queen too!!!

Yesterday I went to the British Library to see a really important document called the Magna Carta.  It was written in 1215 and was signed by King John.  It was the first ever charter that gave regular people rights and freedoms.  It said the King was not above the law, that he had to obey the law too.  This was amazing at the time.  It is the reason we enjoy the rights and freedoms we do in Canada today.  The actual document was kept behind glass in a case that is temperature controlled.  The lights in the room were low to keep the document from fading.  There I was, standing right next to a piece of history--amazing!

The British Library is really close to the King's Cross Station.  Do you know it from the Harry Potter books?  We decided to go look for platform 9 3/4, but guess what?  The station is all under construction and we couldn't get near platforms 9, 10 and 11.  Oh well.

Sorry--no photos this time--I forgot to bring my camera into London with me.  I'll remember for next time though.

Take care everyone!

The Diamond Jubilee

Hello everyone,

King John's Tower at Windsor Castle

It has been a lazy week for me.  I've done a few walks in the hills and I've visited Windsor Castle.  Windsor Castle was really amazing.  It is one of the Queen's homes.  She spends most weekends there.  



Windsor Castle was built in 1078 by a king called William the Conqueror.  The castle has been lived in by the Royal Family ever since.   Windsor has had a Royal Family living in it longer than any other Castle in the world.  Different Kings and Queens added more buildings and improvements, so now it is really big.

Some of the outer buildings at the castle

Windsor Castle is the place where the Queen makes people into knights or ladies of the realm.  It is also where she has big state dinners with important people like prime ministers.  Her dining room table can hold up to 60 guests.  The china dishes she uses are really valuable.  Some of the plates are worth $7,000 each!


This year is a really special year for The Queen, for Great Britain and for other Commonwealth Countries like Canada.  It is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  She is only the second monarch ever to achieve a Diamond Jubilee.  Do you know what a Diamond Jubilee is?  Who is the other monarch who had a Diamond Jubilee?  


There are lots of special celebrations planned for the Jubilee.  Earlier this week the Queen had a 41 gun salute in her honour.  I'm going to find out what other celebrations are planned and see if I can't join in on the fun.  


Take care,
Mrs. McMillan

PS:  Glad Mrs Strickler has joined the chat!!!

On one of our walks

Enjoying England

Hello everyone,

Our campervan on the Chunnel Train

Did you get your report cards yet?  I hope you were all doing great work for your teachers!   So after we were done skiing we decided to head back to England.  We drove through Germany and Belgium and then got to the French Port of Calais.  There we decided to take the Chunnel back to England.  The Chunnel is a train that goes through a tunnel under the English Channel.  It only takes 35 minutes and the train cars can take all sorts of cars.  We ate our lunch while we sat in our campervan and zipped along under the ground, under the water.  Cool.

Since then we have been travelling around through the south of England.  We went to Dover castle, to a car museum and then to these really cool Moors.  The Moors are a big, hilly area of land with hardly any trees.  There are lots of peat bogs that you have to be careful not to step in because they're similar to quicksand and you could sink in!  There are wild ponies living on the Moor--they are really cute.  The Moor we went to was called Dartmoor and it is where the movie "War Horse" was filmed.  It is also the setting for the Sherlock Holmes story "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

Now I'm in a pretty area with rolling hills called the Cotswolds.  We are going to be walking on some ancient paths from village to village.  At least I hope we will--we have been getting a LOT of rain around here.  I'm glad to be staying in a house now instead of our camper.

Dover Castle

Take care,
From,
Mrs McMillan

Anne and Kate at the remains of a Bronze Age Hut

Dartmoor--the barren lands of the Moors

Snowy Alps

At the top of the ski run!

I was very happy to see that Aidan was able to answer my question about gondolas.  We are using a different type of gondola to get us up the mountains to go skiing.  We are in the lovely country of Austria.  

The western part of Austria is very mountainous.  The Alps are the big mountain range in Europe. We have come to a beautiful little village called Seefeld.  It is near Innsbruck and is high up in the mountains.  We are skiing everyday and having a lot of fun!

Also, the first ever Youth (ages 15 to 18) Olympic Games are being held here!  We walked over to the Olympic area to see the biathalon.  That is the event where competitors ski around a track and then come in to a shooting range and try to hit 5 targets.  They do that 4 times.  It was very cool to watch.  And guess what????  A Canadian named Stuart Harden won the men’s event--almost.  He actually won by a lot, but he missed 1 target (only 1! most other competitors missed 4 or more) and when you miss a target you have to do a penalty lap around an oval.  Stuart forgot to do his penalty lap so he got 2 minutes added to his time and ended up in 7th place.  I’m hoping that Stuart uses this as a learning experience before he gets to the real Olympics!

The mascot for the YOG is a chamois goat called Yoggl.  Do you remember the chamois goats I saw in France?  Anyway, Yoggl is pretty cute and I snapped a picture of Anne and Kate with him.  

Anne and Kate with Yoggl

I hear that you don’t have much snow in Guelph.  What are you doing at recess when there is no snow????

Moving On

Hello everyone,
I am so excited about the June Avenue Bloggers!!!!  I have read all your comments and will post them as soon as I get a chance.  Today is a travel day for us, as we move on to our next spot, and I'm not sure how good my internet connection will be.  It is very fun for me to read your comments--so thanks a lot!


BUT...no one answered the question in my last post, which was, "We have gone from the gondolas in Venice to a different type of gondola.  Can you guess what we're doing now?"


More to come...
Mrs. McMillan

Incredible Venice

After we visited Athens it was time to head back to Italy.  We took a ferry from Patras, Greece to Venice, Italy.  The ferry crossing was rough and we were all feeling seasick.  Yuk!  But after we arrived what a treat--Venice is so beautiful.

Do you see the water taxi, water ambulance, gondola and the va

Do you know about Venice?  It is a city that doesn't have any roads, it is all built on the water so you travel by boat or by walking on the little streets.  There is a big canal that runs through the centre of Venice.  It is called the Grand Canal.  This canal is busy with all kinds of boats.  There are vaporetto which are water buses.  There are water taxis which are beautiful wooden boats, and there are gondola which are historic, beautiful, old boats that are steered and propelled by a gondolier.  We were lucky enough to travel by all three of those types of boats.  The gondola was my favourite, it is actually asymmetrical which makes it easy for the gondolier to stand on one side at the back of the boat.  The gondolas used to be working boats that carried goods all around Venice.  Now they are just for tourism.  

Gondolas "parked" 

The Grand Canal is lined with all sorts of amazing buildings--most of them were once palaces.  Venice has an incredible history for such a small place.  The bridges that are in the city are beautiful too.  We spent several days just wandering around the city and enjoying its charm.  The hot chocolate and pastries in Venice are so good--we took lots of breaks to try them out at different cafes.  


My daughters are reading a book that takes place in Venice.  It might be a bit challenging, but if you are interested it is called "The Thief Lord" and the author is Cornelia Funke.  

The Rialto Bridge in Venice

We have since moved on from Venice and now we are using a different type of gondola.  Can you guess what we are doing now?????

Great Greece!

Some olives that fell during harvest

Kate separates the olives from the branch on that machine

It was so nice to get comments from Ryley and Aidan!  Thank you for posting comments--especially since it does not seem to be an easy thing to do!

I am having a fantastic time.  After I went to Pompeii we drove across Italy to catch a ferry to take us to Greece.  It was warm and sunny in Greece.  It was so nice.  We spent Christmas there.  We had orange and lemon trees in our yard and so we ate fresh fruit everyday.  We also got a chance to help harvest olives.  There are olive trees everywhere in Greece.

The flame lighting spot in Olympia

Greece is an ancient civilization with tons of amazing ruins to visit.  The first place I went to was Ancient Olympia.  This is the place where the Olympic games were born.  It is still the place where they light the Olympic flame.  Do you remember watching that video when we did the Olympic unit?  I stood right at the very spot where they light the flame from the sun!!

The South side of the Parthenon--notice the work they're doing!

The East view of the Parthenon

I also went to Athens.  The most amazing site in Athens is the acropolis.  The acropolis is a big hill in the centre of the city.  On top of the hill is the Parthenon an ancient temple to the Goddess Athena.  The Parthenon is a ruin because it was blown up in the 1600s.  What is left of the building is still incredible.  The ancient Greek architects made the building with a bow in the foundation so that it would look perfectly straight to the human eye.  They also leaned the huge Doric columns out a bit for the same reason.  It really is a marvel.  

Stalactites and columns in the caves

One giant column in the cave

The other really neat thing I saw in Greece were the Caves of Diros.  This system of caves is over a kilometre long.  They are full of stalactites and stalagmites.  Most of the  floor of the caves is a river so you have to travel by boat when you’re exploring.  It was cool.  

Take care everyone,

Hope you’re doing well,

Mrs. McMillan