Hello From Paris

Hi Everybody,

We have now been in Paris for 3 days. We got here on Sunday afternoon and went to see Sacre Couer. It's this giant church on a hill but the main thing people come to see is the view. You can see about all of Paris from there. We all loved the street performers, especially this guy who did tricks with a soccer ball. He managed to climb up a lamppost with the ball spinning on his nose, and then at the top juggled the ball with his feet while hanging on the pole with only one hand.

After Sacre Couer we walked to an area in Paris called Madeleine Place. There is a Madeleine church, a Madeleine Blvd, a Madeleine subway station and at least 5 stores named after me.

The next day we started at the Louvre. We got to see the Mona Lisa along with the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. They were all amazing and surrounded by HUGE crowds. We walked through the Tuilleries which were beautiful before eating a healthy Parisian lunch of baguettes and Nutella (chocolate spread) along the Seine.

On Tuesday we started at Notre Dame. The front was covered top to bottom in amazing statues, and the huge circular stained glass window was awesome. We got to climb up 378 steps to the bell tower where we could see the bell, but sadly we could not ring it. We also got to see the gargoyles up close and look out on the city.

We went to see the Shakespeare and Co bookstore which apparently a lot of famous writers wrote their stories at. I think that the coolest thing we did that day though was go up in the Eiffel tower. Colin, Dad and I went up to the second level where you could see all of Paris. We walked around the outside of the second level a couple of times before starting to freeze (it was really cold) and going back into the inner part of the second level. There we got our first French french fries and waited for the sun to set. Once it was dark out the whole city lit up. It looked like someone had spread Christmas lights over the city. We looked around a bit more before going down. We arrived just in time to see the Eiffel towers lights flashing. Once an hour for around five minutes they blink the mini lights on the Eiffel tower at rapid speeds. It was really cool to watch.

Today was our last full day in Paris. We got to go and see Versailles which is a GIANT French palace built over 200 years ago. We first walked through the gardens. There were fountains, orange trees, flowers, statues, a canal meant to copy the ones in Venice, and the fake ruins of a Greek temple. It was incredibly beautiful and unimaginably large.

We then went into the palace itself. There was no space on the walls of the palace that was not decorated. After the palace we went back to the neighborhood our hotel is in. Colin and I tried our first ever crepes and had them for both dinner and desert.

Overall I really liked Paris, but there is one thing I would change. Apparently there are no rules here about cleaning up after your dog, so even when you are just walking down the street you have to be reeeeally careful where you step. Tomorrow we leave for Switzerland.

Check the following link for more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42179806@N08

Goodbye.

London and Stonehenge

Hi Everybody,


This post will cover two days. On the first day Suzanne came down from Scotland to see us.We all started off at the Imperial War Museum ( Except for dad who was away visiting Oxford). We went to an exhibit on World War I and walked through a submarine. They were both pretty cool. We then went to the London Eye, it's this gigantic Ferris Wheel in London that takes half an hour to go around. You could see almost everything in London. The best view is of Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. We had to get on and off of the Eye while it was moving which was kind of freaky.


We then walked down the path by the Eye and watched street performers. We saw a balancing act and tons of dancing. When one guy was break dancing he asked Colin to come and do some of the dance moves he told him to do. When he asked for another volunteer Colin "suggested" me. So I had to go and dance in front of everybody. It was incredibly embarrassing. We then rode a double decker bus to our fine English dinner - a pizza restaurant.


Day 2:


Today we went to see Stonehenge on our English countryside tour guided by Suzanne. It was amazing, the stones were way bigger than they looked in the pictures and came from 240 miles away. We got audio tours and got to walk around it but you couldn't go too close. It may not seem advanced but they used lots of techniques that are what keep it standing today. We then left and because we were starving stopped in a small town for lunch. We then went to Avesbury to look at this giant circle of stones put down VERY long ago. The site was on top of a huge deposit of chalk that you could cut out of the ground and use. There were sheep roaming freely among the stones so the ground was covered with sheep dung. There was a huge ditch that had been dug around the site that Colin and I loved to run around in. By the time we got back to London it was 8PM so we are now about to go to sleep.


P.S. Check out some new photos on our Flickr site:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/42179806@N08/sets/72157622225270595/

Update from London

Hi everybody,
Thanks for all the comments! We have been in London for three days now, but first I should talk about our last day in Ireland. We went to a well-preserved Norman castle called Trim Castle. We also went to Newgrange, a gigantic neolithic grave mound that is about 5,000 years old. On the winter solstice, the sun shines through a special hole above the door, lighting up the chamber. There was over 300-year-old graffiti. You think it's cool until you realize it's written on over 5000-year-old walls.

The next day we spent flying, but Tuesday we spent sight-seeing. We saw Big Ben and the parliament buildings. We then saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The bands played "Money Can't Buy Me Love," which Colin thought was inappropriate. We also went to a ginormous toy store and wandered around London.

The next day we went to the Tower of London. We had an awesome tour guide, or yeoman warder (also called "beefeaters"). We learned that Humpty Dumpty is actually Richard the Third. After that we went to the British Museum, which was amazing. We saw the Elgin Marbles, Egyptian Mummies, and the Rosetta Stone. We went to the British Library where we saw songs handwritten by the Beatles, along with Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, Shakespeare's Folio, and the Magna Carta. We then went and visited with Dad's cousin and his family.

Today we went to the Tate Modern art museum and went to Shakespeare's Globe. We saw "As You Like It." We were groundlings which meant we had to stand, leaning on the stage, through the whole performance.

We then went and had dinner with my great-aunt Mary and explored a new neighborhood.

I would also like to add that we saw London Bridge, but it wasn't falling down.

Update from Dublin

Hello Everybody,

This is Madeleine. Today we explored Dublin. First we walked down Grafton Street and saw this amazing puppeteer who made his puppet dance (and kick people) very realistically. After that we walked through Trinity College. It was founded by Queen Elizabeth I. We went to Dublinia which is this awesome museum that covers the history of Dublin. They let you play medieval games and wear viking helmets. After Dublinia we went to the National Museum of Ireland. They had a lot of amazing artifacts, but I have to admit that I liked Dublinia better. We rode a double decker bus back to the fancy hotel we are staying in. That's all for now.

P.S. For those who asked questions, here are some answers. Famine cottages are houses that people lived in during the famine. The one we went to was converted into a small famine museum. Alpen cereal is oats with nuts and raisins (a lot better than it sounds). Yes there is pizza in Ireland and lots of it. The food in Ireland is about the same as America's. We did have scones and Irish potatoes which were both delicious.

Here is a link to our Flickr page where we will be posting some of our photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42179806@N08/

A Report from Colin in Dublin

Hello Everybody,

This is Colin. We wanted to tell you about days 4 and 5.

Day 4

Yesterday we went around and saw the Ring of Dingle. We saw a broken castle and a ruined church made out of rock. It was very awesome. We went to two beaches. One had streams that we had to jump across, and it was pretty cool. We went to some famine cottages with a beehive hut in back like the kind that monks lived in. We slept in our hostel, and we got a cereal called Alpen so that we didn't have to eat the disgusting Fruit and Fibre cereal this morning.


Day 5

Today we drove from Dingle to Dublin, and we got a fancy hotel with a nice flatscreen tv. We drove to dinner at this place called "Bits and Pizza." They had delicious cheese pizza and for appetizers we had garlic bread.

Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow with our big report on Dublin.

Random Pictures from Ireland

Skellig Islands seen through fog and rain

Colin, "the Mud Seeker"

Waterfall at Killarney National Park

Muckross House

Irish Music at the Pub in Doolin

Our hostel in Doolin

Cliffs of Moher

Dad and I on top of a hill in the Burren in County Clare.

(It is higher than it looks in the picture.)

Portal dolmen in the Burren

Giant crosses in County Clare

Hello from Ireland

Ireland

Hello from Ireland! This post will be cover three days because apparently it's very hard to find WiFi in Ireland.

Day 1.

We finally got in at 8:30 am which would be 3:30 am Philly time. We went to the Burren in County Clare - which is a big area with tons of rocks. We went and saw some gigantic crosses that were made with lots of amazing designs. We went and saw the Portal Dolmen which was made 2000 years before the pyramids by Neolithic people who lived on the Burren. Then we went to the cliffs of Moher - they were amazingly large and beautiful but we weren't allowed to go along the edge. After that we went to our hostel in Doolin. The room was nice but very small. After dinner Dad and I went to an Irish pub to listen to music. Some of it was Irish and other parts weren't exactly.

Day 2.

We went to the Muckross House in Killarney National Park. The Muckross is this giant Victorian house with 64 chimneys. We took a tour of the house and I think the most interesting thing was when they told us that when they wanted to make ice cream they had to import ice from Scandinavia. By the way Queen Victoria stayed there for 2 nights too - it took them 6 years to prepare for her visit. Then we took a tour of three farms that were made to look as though they were from the 1930s. People in them told us about life in those days and gave us homemade bread with very good butter. We also went on a hike to a waterfall. We passed some little cascades and were afraid that that was the waterfall but they weren't. The waterfall was huge and amazing. That night we stayed in Kenmare.

Day 3.

Today we did the Ring of Kerry but we didn't pick that great of a day. We drove around but it was downpouring we could see nothing from the viewpoints. Then we went to the Ring of Skellig by then it was starting to clear off and got very sunny. We went to a beach with the warmest water in Ireland. It was still freezing. Next we went to another beach where we had lunch, enjoyed the view and threw rocks for dogs to fetch. We stopped at the Skellig Chocolate factory where they gave us tons of samples of the really good tasting chocolate of many flavors. After that we went and saw the Skellig Island Museum. The Skellig's are these two, small (in area), tall (in height), pointy islands off the coast of the Ring of Kerry. Many birds make their homes there and it was once used as a monastery by monks. The monastery was raided by Vikings several times. We would have gone but Dad was afraid to climb up the 600 slippery steps with no railing. After that we drove up to this amazing viewpoint but the wind was unbelievably strong.

Over the course of the day we saw three ring forts. Ring forts were giant circular forts that were used over 1000 years ago. They were amazing. They had rooms in their walls and steps that you could take to walk around the top rim of the fort. In one you could see the walls of where the rooms were supposed to be and apparently some unknown important person lived there. On the way back down Colin fell in cow dung and slid. The back of his pants is covered. Dad also fell but not as badly.

Tonight we are spending the night in a town outside of Dingle.

Colin's comment. (The place where Colin writes about his day).

Ireland is really freezing but the Cliffs of Moher are very awesome.

By the way, on the beach when Dad was throwing rocks for the dogs to fetch I was wondering around and one of them hit me in the head.

At the museum there was a rock area with puffins and there was one with worms in its mouth and a little boy thought the bird had a beard!

Tomorrow we are going to Dingle and then Dublin for three nights.

Goodbye - and be careful with cow pattys