P7trip

Glasgow Day 3

Well, day three I past and we are sitting down to have our tea yet again. The days certainly pass quickly but tonight they seem a little more “high” than the other evenings!

We were up early today and were down for breakfast at the back of 8am – but for some reason we did not make it away until after 9am.

We had to drive right into Glasgow to get to the Science Centre but the traffic was not too bad! We arrived quicker than we expected at around 9.30 and got taken right in.

The children went round the centre in their groups. There are three floors of “experiments” to play with and we spent half an hour with our group on each floor.

The children had great fun going round trying all the different experiments – and by the end some were realising that if they read the sign beside each one it would actually help them figure out what they were doing and what they were looking for.

At 11 o’clock we all went to the IMAX Theatre to see the 3D film “Bugs”. This was a film all about the life of insects in the rainforest and showed us what life for insects is like from their point of view. We were all provided with our special “3D” glasses and the children enjoyed laughing at how everyone looked with them on.

The film lasted for about 30-40 minutes and the large crowd of school pupils there really enjoyed it, especially some of the scenes showing some of the bugs being hunted and eaten by other bugs!

We had our lunch outside the science centre on the grass beside the River Clyde. The Waverley was moored just up from us and was obviously stocking up with provisions before heading off on a trip.

After lunch we went back to the shop and the children got the chance to spend some more of their money.

We set off once again in the bus but this time the children did not know where we were going to. We had said that we were going to the Transport Museum and no one had questioned that at all. Even after passing numerous signs that said “Hampden” or “Football Museum” no one still asked if we were going there!

We passed Ibrox on the way and this brought a few  boos! When we approached Hampden and they could all see it we told them that it was Celtic Park! It was quite a while before someone actually said, “Hang on, it says Hampden on the sign!”

There was quite a buzz about the place as a school’s football competition was being played at Lesser Hampden and so there were quite a few schools there.

Once in we split into two groups. One group gets the museum tour while the other gets to go and see the stadium. The museum is excellent and we see the “proper” Scottish Cup that is handed out to the winners after the cup final but is replaced by a replica for when the teams go touring round the streets of their town!

The stadium itself is amazing and although it only holds 52000 people it is amazingly compact and looked stunning in the sunshine. The pitch itself looked immaculate and was being watered as we were there and at the moment the grass is cut every day in preparation for the upcoming Scottish Cup Final and UEFA Cup Final.

We visited the shop once again and then we made the long journey back to the hotel for tea. We are heading out shortly to the pool so they can have a splash about in the water.

9.55 – Back from the pool and we are trying to get our diaries done before we hand out juice and a biscuit! We need some incentive to get them to do it at this time of night!

The pool was great! Kids had a whale of a time, even the ones who did not go in. Mrs Mitchell was brave and was in for quite a while. The rest of us “observed” and made sure everyone was ok!

So, what have we to look forward to? PACKING! Tonight and tomorrow morning is when the children, especially the girls I think, realise that they have to get all that stuff back into their bags! The boys to be fair have not been bad and their rooms have been quite tidy. Mind you they do not unpack in quite the same way as the girls and they just rummage about in their case to find what they need where as the girls have to make sure that the t-shirt to go with the jeans or the cropped trousers are not in the case in a dreadful mess! So, we will see how well they do at squeezing it all  back into the bags they came with along with all the goodies they have bought. We are aiming to be away early as we are due at the Falkirk Wheel for the 10.30 sailing! We will just have to keep our fingers crossed!

The children have been great and have really enjoyed themselves. It will  be interesting to see how the settle back to school work next week!

Photos

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Day 2

Everyone was up bright and early today – well, almost everyone! Some of the boys were fast asleep when we went in to waken them at 7.30am! Well, you do warn them that if they do not go to sleep early they will be tired when they are woken up!

Breakfast was at 8.15 and everyone tucked in to cereals, fruit and bacon or sausage rolls! Packed lunches were waiting for us as we left and by 9.15 we were on the bus heading for Edinburgh.

The morning was spent at the castle. They are in the midst of setting up the stands for the Tattoo so the bus had to drop us off and go. We had a group photo at the entrance and then the five groups set off to tour the castle and visit the SHOP!

Our group went right to the top of the castle first and worked our way down to the shop. We went to the dungeons, to see the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Scottish War Memorial.

The views from the castle were great and the children snapped away with their cameras.

Hannah thought the castle was “Cool” and Holly thought it was “Awesome – especially the views from the top. Zoe thought that the dungeons were a bit smelly – but prisoner comfort was not top of the list in those days!

Rosa thought the castle was “big” and was amazed at the colour of the rocks used to build it. It seemed to have an orangey tinge to it! Blair thought it was “Ace”

Miss Ingram said the castle was super and we had a great day for our visit. And to top it all off she managed to get some bargain chocolate in the shop! ( We will see how good she is at sharing later on!)

So, off to the bus in a few minutes to head to the zoo for lunch!

We decided to have lunch in the bus as there was no where in the car park where we could sit and eat. The packed lunch was great – sandwiches, water, crisps and biscuits. SO we all set off excitedly to the zoo. Each group was going to go of on their own and make their own way round the zoo depending on what they wanted to see.

Our group decided to take the “Zoo Safari” (a jeep pulling a trailer bus) to the top of the zoo and we would walk back down to the shop. (“Mr Jenkins, are we going to go to the shop before we leave?” someone asked. More than once!

The “safari” driver made his way slowly up to the top of the hill and gave a commentary as we went. Once at the top we all got off and admired the view that the animals at the top of the hill had over the city. I wonder if they appreciate the view?

The children had great fun looking at the animals as we went. We saw zebras, antelope, hunting dogs, lions, tigers, jaguars, monkeys, more monkeys, penguins, pygmy hippos, even more monkeys and a whole array of other animals. At last we made it to the shop and the children found so much stuff there they could not make up their mind what to get! However, quite a few soft toys will be making their way back up to the north east on Friday!

We made it back to the bus at about 4pm and made our way back to the hotel. We had another great tea (cheeseburgers or breaded fish) and then we were almost straight out again to go to the cinema. The cinema was located next door to the ten pin bowling from last night and so was easily found.

Excitement grew as they tried to figure out what they were going to see! However, there was not a lot of choice as most of the films on were 15’s or 12A’s! So that left us with….. Mr Bean’s Holiday! There were a few groans, as you would expect when trying to please 41 kids and 5 fussy adults, but we went in and disturbed the other 5 people there and took our seats. The trailers were highly amusing and I think some of the children will be keen to go and see some of them when they are released!

Anyway, we settled back and the film started. I think some of the adults thought they might get a quick 40 winks – but to our surprise the film was so bad that it was highly amusing and kept you enthralled all the way through. Who says British comedy is on the decline!

Some of the children roared out loud at times with laughter as Mr Bean stuttered from one disaster to the next and they shall remain nameless, but we know who they were!

We made it back to the hotle by about 9.15 and had our juice and a biscuit followed by a short time to do their diaries. I am sitting in the corridor at the moment finishing this off before we get the kids to put their lights out and go to SLEEP!

 

Day 1

Well, here we are at the Moodiesburn Hotel sitting down to our tea! The children are all eating and are full of chat aftere their first day of the trip.

When I arrived at school this morning the bus was already sitting outside the school and the driver said that he had left Glenrothes at 5am to be here in time. The driver was going to take us down to Glasgow where we would meet our ‘real’ driver Bob who will be with us for the rest of the week.

The Strichen children arrived at school very excited and got their bags loaded into the boot. I do not know who was more excited – the children thinking about their trip or the parents thinking about a week of peace and quiet!

After all the last minute checks the children piled on to the bus along with Mrs Mitchell to head off for Longside. The parents stood and waved and one or two even wiped a tear away from their eyes!

I suddenly realised that I needed to get the phone number for the school’s information line and rushed back in to school to get it. By the time I got to Longside the bus was full of the Longside pupils and staff and all their parents and all the other pupils were out waving them off!

We headed off to Aberdeen and the roads were quite kind to us and we were soon driving through the city. We managed to get split up in the traffic and I eventually caught up with them just as they arrived at Laurencekirk for our ‘toilet stop’. The children enjoyed the chance to stretch their legs, get some fresh air and have a look round Laurencekirk School.

After some lovely toffee, courtesy of Mrs Davidson, we were back on the road heading for Dundee.

We arrived in Dundee at noon and went straight to the ‘Discovery Centre’ down by the River Tay. We split into two groups and one group went round the Discovery while the other group went round the exhibition. The   best part of the exhibition was the multimedia presentation that told us all about The Discovery’s three year trip to the South Pole. The ship was “locked” in the ice for two years and it was a miracle that the ship eventually was set free.

At 1pm we had our lunch. Our group had our lunch on the quayside while the rest had their’s on board The Discovery down in the bowels of the vessel! After lunch the groups swapped over and did the other half of the tour. At that point we headed to the SHOP where the kids were desperate to get their first souvenirs of the trip! I believe they still have some of their money from today left.

At 2.30pm we were back on the bus and off once more. The children enjoyed “Johnny English” and “Over the Hedge” on DVD. Perhaps one or two even looked at the scenery out the window! (“Scenery?” they shouted, “We want to watch a DVD!!”

Before long we arrived at the hotel and got all the cases off the bus. Some seem to have packed enough for a fortnight – although now we are heading to the bowling I can see why as some of the girls are now into outfit number two of the day! They were not quite so happy when they had to lug their cases up the stairs to their rooms!

Anyway, we are almost at the bowling. We will let you know who wins later on!

Anyway, a great start so far – let’s hope it continues!

Bowling was a great success! Everyone had great fun and some pupils, and staff, had good scores! The highest for pupils was around 111 and one member of staff managed 120! (Well done Mrs Davidson!)

We are now back at the hotel having juice and a biscuit and oing the “dreaded” diary! (It’s amazing how they can suddenly forget what has happened over the day – or that the journey suddenly becomes “boring” even though they had great fun on the bus!)

Anyway, the final challenge is to come…..getting everyone to sleep and keeping the staff awake long enough to make sure the kids are asleep!

If you are reading this then we were successful in getting it uploaded to the blog site! Here’s hoping!!