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Dewi the Dragon

Page managed by Lucy Williams Year 6

This project was started May 2005. Each time a child from Ysgol San Sior goes on holiday we ask the child to take Dewi the Dragon with them and to take one photograph of Dewi next to something of interest.

Mae Dewi wedi bod i'r gwledydd yma:

Dewi has been to the following places:

Austria

Brazil

Bulgaria

Cuba

Cyprus

Egypt

England

France

Germany

Greece

Hong Kong

India

Ireland

Italy

Kenya

Lapland

Patagonia

Portugal

New Zealand

Norway

South Africa

Spain

USA

Wales

Look out this week for Dewi's travels with Lucia in Paris!!!!

Jordan will write about his travels this week


Has Lowri met a new friend	What is Lowri Buying???? What can you buy?	What is Lowri touching???????????

We enjoyed our trip through Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, and stopped at lots of great little towns along the way. We covered 1700 miles in total.

A view over Memphis, Tennessee

We flew into Memphis on Christmas Eve and spent two nights there. Down town Memphis was very quiet on Christmas Day, but the famous Peabody Hotel was really nice to spend a little time and enjoy coffee soaking up the beautiful authentic surroundings. We actually stayed at the Heartbreak Hotel, nothing special except that it is convenient for the airport and for Gracelands! Because of our body clocks, we were ready for breakfast very early on Christmas morning, and what I thought was porridge was chicken soup! Different to be eating chicken soup at 7 am on a Christmas day!!

Standing outside Gracelands

Gracelands Room 2

We had Christmas dinner at a China Buffet, which was fine as it offered good choice and was quite entertaining with a few families feeding themselves and then filling up take away boxes with their left overs and even more from the buffet. Then there were the children who were `nicking’ the tips left on the tables. Enjoyed a tour of Gracelands. The furniture and décor were very impressive. Considering it was dated back to the 70s, wow, it must have seemed out of this world back then. Very sad to think how Elvis became towards the end of his life.

Greenville, Misissippi, our next overnight stay was okay for a night's stay and we stayed at a Best Western. We loved driving through the spacious terrain following, especially stopping at local cafes and stores, which were no more than ramshackles! We talked to a couple who ran a store/café and learned about their lives raising 16 children, and having several jobs so that they could clothe and feed their children. He was about to retire from the council age 72, having risen to become an inspector! Then there was another store further along the journey, which was like something out of a film. It hadn’t changed in 50 years plus. Floorboards were loose under foot. I was absolutely mesmorised by it! It was in a place called Onward, and that store was the only thing in Onward!

The old store at Onward

Dewi at the Coca Cola Factory at Vicksburg, Mississippi

The two days following was spent in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was lovely and it was a pleasure to stay there. Downtown Vicksburg was charming and really quaint. We visited the coca cola museum, where coke was bottled for the first time, and we went to the old Court house. Very interesting indeed. There was a famous batter in Vicksburg and we went to the Battle Memorium.

We moved on from Vicksburg to Baton Rouge and then on to New Orleans, Louisiana. Very lively and exciting in the French quarter, and even more so because the football was on between the Georgia Bulldogs and New Orleans Warriors! It was lovely to see musicians on every street corner and stores, cafes and bars oozing with life. Shame we couldn't have had more time there. The weather was quite warm there - 66 degrees. Lovely to feel a bit of warm because the rest of the trip had been quite chilly indeed.

Budding New Orleans musicians

Street Entertainment in New Orleans

The hotel we stayed in was dating back to 1830 and was fabulous - what character, and the room we had was really lovely. We didn’t find out until afterwards that it was one of the haunted residences. I didn’t feel any presence while we were there, however!

Leaving New Orleans and driving along the gulf coast, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was evident. Re-building going on everywhere. We were tempted to stay overnight in one of several hotels that had gambling casinos just for the experience, but we travelled further and stayed in Mobile, Alabama, for New Year. Another nice looking town with character, although it was quiet. Out of the states we visited, probably Alabama was the least favourite - not much going on and not a lot to see. Very run down in places. Prattville, Alabama, our next port of call, was a very new town and the hotel we stayed in was 6 months old. Great steakhouse there, which reminded us of Texas! We just love all the space in the States and there are fabulous houses - at a price that we would pay for a one bed roomed flat in the UK! There were some interesting antique/junk stores on the travels, and we stopped at one or two to explore. Orson got one or two bits to compliment his old woodworking tools collection! Columbia was our last stop in Alabama, before making our way through Tennessee to Memphis. We stopped off in Lynchburg, Tennessee, to look round the Jack Daniels Distillery. Very interesting indeed, and a lovely little `ol town alongside. Each state is different and it is almost like going into a different country each time.

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina


Read about Dewi's journey to Brazil and to Patagonia with our Diocesan Director of Education. DIARY TO FOLLOW


I was standing in front of the statue of Christ the Reedemer In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	I am in a nature reserve a few miles from San Carlos de Barriloche in the Rio Negro district of Patagonia in Argentina	This is a view of the town of Esquel in Cwm Hyfryd, the Welsh Settlement in the foothills of the Andes Mountains near the border of Argentina with Chile

This picture again is in the nature reserve near Barriloche	Trelew and one of the first trains that linked the town with Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic Coast	The Welsh Settlers' Museum at Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic Coast where the first Welsh settlers landed in 1859

A cafe in Trevelin, the furthest western town that was colonised by the Welsh settlers in the 19th century	The Palaeontology Museum in Trelew	The 122nd annual parade to commemorate the Welsh settlers arriving in Trelew in 1885

The bedroom in which the famous gangster Butch Cassidy stayed at in Trelew in 1902, just before he was killed	The Welsh Museum at Trevelin	The Arrabajan tree reservation near Barriloche

On top of a Ski Slope near Barriloche	The mountains in the background are the Andes Mountains	Outside a shop in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

Outside the Hotel and opposite the famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro	The memorial stone in Trevelin to 'Malacara' the horse that saved the life of one John Evans when he was nearly captured by Indians on the prairie near Gaiman, Argentina	This Museum is in the town of Trelew, Argentina and houses many relics of the dinosaurs that roamed central Patagonia millions of years ago. Charles Darwin visited the area in the 19th century

Dewi's diary to Sherwood Forest and to Winfell Forest to follow next week. Apologies to L for the delay in posting these lovely diary photos


I didn't know you were an artist Dewi?!!?	Did you prefer the horse riding or the biking Dewi?

A luxury cruise to the Caribbean!!!!!

Dewi goes to the US with the school secretary.....


In December I went on holiday with my family to Kenya. Kenya is on the East African coast and the equator passes through it. We took a plane from London and flew for 8 hours to the capital of Kenya ..... Nairobi. In Nairobi we visited an elephant orphanage.

The elephants were very young and were being rehabilitated to rejoin the wild, following the death of their parents at the hand of poachers.

After Nairobi we went to the Masai Mara Game Reserve... 590 square miles where only animals live. We went on a 'safari' in a big jeep to look for the animals that live there. Our guide was called Andrew, he knew about every animal that lived there.


A pride of lions	Cheetahs	Elephants

The Mara River flows through the game reserve and it was full of hippos and giant crocodiles. I also met and learnt about the local Masai Warriors

Where has Dewi gone now?

After our safari we went to Mombassa by the Indian Ocean. It was full of amazing fish with beautiful colours. I was able to see them on a trip in a glass bottom boat


		Here I am arriving at the city gates of York with my friend Katie. Climbing some of the many steps in York was hard work. Can you see Clifton Tower behind me?


Above a Roman Fortress	The floods of York. Very scary!	We also went to the dungeons. I was too scared to go in!


Dewi checks our route on the map! He needs a GPS!	Dewi shares a pretzel with Rebecca and Jasmine at the top of the Olympic tower in Munich. Munich is in Germany!	Dewi at the top of Hintertux (Austria's second highest mountain).


Dewi at the top of the Olympic tower in Munich with the BMW museum just out of the window!	Dewi has a go at mountain climbing on the Rofan mountain range in Austria.	I took Dewi to Lapland. We took him to Santa Park where he met Santa Claus. Santa's cabin was full of toys and books. It was very exciting.


Hi Folks. Just thought I'd send you these photos of me in Norway. It was amazing and very, very cold! I went with Mr Jones and he caught a huge cod in one of the fjords (that's another name for a lake in the mountains, in case you didn't know!) Anyway I had a terrific time. The scenery was amazing and I even met a reindeer, he once worked for Santa and also I met a real troll. He was a bit scary!!!Anyway guess what?

In Tromso, that's where I stayed, they have heating cables under the pavements to stop them freezing in the winter. Imagine that!!! Underground heating for the streets. I lifted some of the pavement so I could take this photograph to show you.

Oh and the highlight of the trip was the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. I went out one night because I couldn't sleep. It was very dark because there were no street lights where I was staying. I looked up and, and , and..... there was this strange light in the sky......... It was amazing........ it was as if a pale green net curtain was moving across the sky. It was breathtaking.

Geyser in Rotorua - Dewi was scared but he enjoyed it .

Overlooking Auckland harbour - "Can I stay all day please, but it's too cold!!"


Dewi in a Maori church	Hong Kong - It's so hot and misty (it's actually smog)

Dewi goes to Lapland - it's s COLD!

Dewi came to Crete with me, my mum and brother Sam. We went into a pub to have some drinks and Dewi asked if he could have some white and rose wine. We said, "No Dewi! You are too young. You need to be older to drink wine."

When we went back to our table Dewi was still looking at the wine and when we were talking he went back to the bar and asked the barman for a glass of red wine! We didn't know where Dewi was so we asked the man from the pub if they had seen a dragon. He pointed to Dewi who was sipping a glass of wine. So now we know - dragons like red wine!!

I was sunbathing with Dewi and my friend Dan. Dan and Dewi got a suntan - but I got a sunburn!! Mum told us to get some sun cream but it was too late. I had jumped into the pool. Two hours later I came out the pool and I was red all over and ouch - it hurt!!! Later that night I had some ice cream, it cooled me down but the bad thing was I got brain freeze!! Oh no!!!

In the summer holidays there was a Rugby Tournament in Denbigh for a week. 10.00am to 4.00pm - it was hard work! Dewi came with us. He was lazy and and never played in any of any of the matches. The teacher said just one match. but Dewi just wouldn't join in. All he could say was no, no, no, No!

In the afternoon we were running and we were in colour teams. Dewi was in the red team because he is red. At lunch time there was a sweet shop (I had a big bag full) yum yum. The black team won in the race and the points - Corinne was lucky this time. At the end of all of that we got a T-shirt and a certificate. We hoped it would never end.

GO RUGBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read all about Dewi's travels.

Dewi loved Madeira. He didn't want to leave. One time we went on a tour of the island and this is a picture of me with him above the clouds. He thought it was fantastic. He saw about 587 lizards. He tried to play tag with them but they got away. but he still loved it all.

Dewi had a really nice time in Goa. He loved every single bit of it. Dewi just would not carry on our walk across the beach until he had a picture of me and him together on the boat. Dewi wanted to go sailing but I told him that the boat was half way up the beach and a long way from the water so he had to jump down from the boat and carry on walking. He was a bit annoyed but enjoyed all of it.

Dewi travels to space!!!!

Click the box to the left to find out how!


We went to Buckingham Palace with Dewi to see the Queen but she didn't answer the door.	At Trafalgar Square Dewi was a bit afraid of the lions and we couldn't climb up there anyway.	We were near the Shaftsbury Monument and Dewi was amazed by the height of the monument.

After the BBC Centre we went on the London Eye with Dewi but he got a bit scared of heights and it took half an hour to go all the way round. After the Eye we went into the gift shop and bought stuff.

We went to the BBC Centre to go on X-change and Dewi couldn't wait to see some famous actors and to get some autographs and maybe even go on T.V with us.

Dewi takes his holiday in Egypt

This was Dewis friend on hoilday it is a sphinx which has a lions body and a humans head This is Dewi by the red sea he wanted to go for a swim but my dad had to stop him!!!!! This is me and Dewi Flying the plane to Egypt

I took Dewi to the Roald Dahl museum and he had lots of fun. This is him with Roald Dahl it really looks real but it is only a picture. He even made a movie about himself and he loved every single bit of it!!!		This is me in Roald Dahl's chair. It is hard to believe that I am sitting in his chair with Dewi. I saw his real knee cap and his first toy aeroplane!!!!!

We took Dewi the dragon to San Antonion in Texas .On the way there Dewi loved the plane ride, he though it was a rollacoaster. It took us seven hours to get there.I took Dewi to the river center and we went on the boat. Dewi loved it but the sun was hurting his eyes because he didn't have shades We then took Dewi to a pet shop and he played with a boxer puppy she almost bit his head off. Dewi liked the puppy but he didnt like it when his head was almost bitten off.

New Zealend it was great- but VERY cold by Mount Cook. It was even colder than Llandudno but luckily I was wrapped up really warm. Then I took Dewi on a helicopter ride to see the top of Mount Cook and it was snowing there!!! Dewi was cold on the way back home so i wrapped him in my mini blanket and he fell asleep with me z z Z	Here was great because before the game I met Sir Clive Woodward. He trained all the rugby players. I had my photo taken with him and so did Dewi.Then in the middle of the game Dewi fell asleep and he was snorring as well. I woke Dewi up and he was shouting LIONS, LIONS with me. On the way back home Dewi fell asleep on my sholder again z z Z

This is the tallest tower in New Zealend. I took Dewi in there but he kept saying, "Get me down! Get me down!" because i took him to the top of the tower and he was really scared and so was my sister because she hates heights. She was hugging Dewi and Dewi was hugging her as well.Then Dewi came back to me and I had a great time there because we stayed 'till night time. ( I mean late! REALLY late!!!!!.)	I told you that we stayed there late that's why it's dark Dewi fell asleep on my lap!! But i was laughing,But when i started laughing dewi woke up and started to get in a mood with me then i got my Mp3 out for Dewi so then he stoped monaning and went back to sleep.Then when we went back home and went in the pool outsidae then we had to go on the plain to singapore for three days !!!!!!!!
	We took Dewi the Dragon to Cyprus, Ayia Napa. We went to the water park called WaterWorld. It was really fun, one of the rides in the waterpark was called Drop to Atlantis, Dewi was really scared because there was a big drop at the end. The hotel that we stayed in was called Napa Plaza, Dewi thought that it had lovely food. Dewi really enjoyed himself on his trip to Cyprus!!! (September 2005)


I took Dewi the dragon to Ireland, in Donegaul.The statue is trying to eat Dewi because he looks very tasty. Dewi and I had many adventures and had to save him loads of times. These pictures were taken in Glenfvay Castle Dewi was just about to jump into the lake and I just about saved him. The statue was quite friendly to me but Dewi didn't like him because he had a cheesy grin on his face. (August 2005)


I took Dewi the dragon to Spain. Dewi and I went to a Theme Park, Dewi didn't like the rollercoaster he only wanted to go on his relative rides like the Dragon Ride! In the theme park there were loads of different places such as Greece, Egypt and Italy. We went to a Nature park and there was a swarm of ants, one of them knew Dewi and we had a photo with him. Dewi had a nice time in Spain. (October 2005)
Keep staring at the picture and you will see a giraffe

	I took Dewi the Dragon to Ibiza, the picture was taken by the aeroplane. Dewi and I watched Madagascar the film on the plane, Dewi loved it. We went to a Chinese restaurant and Dewi was stuffing his face with food. (July 2005)

I took Dewi the Dragon to Llandudno, South Africa! Dewi and I climbed up the Lion's Head mountain, and we went to a penguin beach were I saw lots of penguins, there were even little baby ones and they were really small. Dewi the dragon really liked the penguins. Dewi wanted to swim with the penguins.

Dewi the Dragon saw a Short back whale and he was really scared because he thought that he would get eaten up.Dewi and I went to the wilds and the elephant charged at us, a man stood up and scared the elephant away.Dewi was really scared of the elephant.

There were Hippos, Buffaloes and Elephants in our lake, our house was next to it. (August 2005)	I took Dewi the dragon to Rhodes (Greece) the picture was taken in a cocktail bar and Dewi the dragon had a non-alcaholic cocktail like me. It was really nice Dewi loved it! He kept the Greek flag to remind him of his visit to Rhodes he can speak a little bit of Greek. (July 2005)

I took Dewi the Dragon to Bulgaria, (Sunny Beach). The picture was taken in a bar and Dewi the Dragon met Elvis. He really liked Elvis so we took a picture. Dewi and I saw a man and a woman walking a wild dancing bear, the man would play the violin and the bear would dance to the music. (August 2005)	I took Dewi the dragon to Abersoch, Wales. This picture was taken near a farm. The chicken was not scared of Dewi. Dewi saw four horses and some more chickens. Last time I went I saw a cow we called it Maisy. (July 2005)
I took Dewi to Ireland and the photograph was taken in Dublin Zoo. He was a little worried about going to the zoo in case they decided to lock him in a cage, as they didn't have any other dragons there. We also went to the place were Ballykissangel was filmed. (June 2005)	I took Dewi to St Peter's in Rome. My dad wasn't allowed in St Peter's because he was wearing shorts. But they allowed Dewi the dragon in! I took Dewi to see the pope's grave. We were going to go to the top of St Peter's but we didn't and we didn't even get to meet Pope Bededict this time either. We saw the Trevi Fountain and we flicked two coins each into the fountain and made a wish. (May 2005)

Map of the World to see where Dewi the Dragon has been on his holiday!