Last Europe Post

Hi everybody! This is Madeleine. We are back at home now, but I will tell you about our last five days of traveling.

We took a ferry from Naxos to Athens, and the next day we went to Delphi. It was really neat to see all the ruins and where the oracle made her prophesies. Sadly, around half the site was closed because of a rock fall so we couldn't go up next to the Temple of Apollo, the theater, or the stadium. The same day we went to a small Greek mountain town. It was really strange, because it was 80 degrees in October, but alot of people ski there in the winter.

The next day we spent in Athens. First we wandered around the city and saw the Temple of Zeus (though all that was left was columns), the Roman Agora, and some Greek Orthodox churches. The afternoon we spent at the Acropolis and the new Acropolis museum. It was a long climb to the top of the Acropolis, but it was worth it. It was really wierd to see the Parthenon after seeing pictures of it for so long. We also saw the caryatids (columns shaped like women).

On our last day in Athens we saw Syntagma Square (the main government center of the city). We also saw changing of the guards in front of the parliament building. The guards have very odd costumes (with pompoms) and a strange march. Then we saw the Agora, the ancient central market/business place where all of the famous philosophers hung out. Our last stop was the National Museum of Archeology where most of the Greek artifiacts are placed. We saw a famous bronze statue of either Zeus or Poseidon (they are not sure which) that they found under the sea. We also saw Agamemnon's death mask.

Our trip home was TERRIBLE. We started at 9:30 AM Athens time and got home at 9:30 PM the next night (Athens time). That is 36 hours of traveling. We had to catch a flight from Athens to London, London to Shannon (where we spent the night on freezing metal chairs in the airport), Shannon to Dublin, and finally Dublin to Philly.

Our next big trip should start in the middle of January, and I will start posting again then. I might post about some of our shorter trips around the US before then. Until then, bye.

Greetings from the Greek Isles

Colin's Blog Entry

Howdy Folks!

This is Colin.

I'd like to tell you about what we did

Day 1: We went to our hotel, it had a restaurant and a swimming pool. It was cool. One of the restaurant workers's son Dimitiris, a common name in Greece, grabbed toy trucks and threw them in to the swimming pool. We met a kid from Canada. His name was Peter.

Day 2: We went into town called Fira we saw small cable cars and people on donkeys. We also went swimming at the Black Sand Beach. Peter showed us fish.

Day 3: We went to the Red Sand Beach. I ran ahead onto the beach before anyone else got their except for Madeleine who was chasing after me. We met Peter and went out looking for fish.

Day 4: We went to a boring museum then we took the ferry boat to Naxos. In the ferry line Dad met someone he knew.

Day 5: We drove up the hills of Naxos . I led Madeleine down these stairs in the mountains. On the way up I was out of breath. Then we went to the beach. Dad thought we didn't need snorkels because we had goggles. I got out really early because there were no fish or waves and it was boring.

Day 6: In the middle of the night I woke up from my horrible nightmare and it was 5 am in the night. We went back into Naxos town and walked around and had lunch, of course, I had my pizza Margherita. Then we went to a new beach and saw lots of huge fish. One was as big as my whole hand! On our way back we got Magnums - ice cream cones with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. When we got back to our hotel we ran into two cats. At night while we were writing in our journals we spotted a cat outside. We went out and petted it and fed it tuna - then the other cat came along and we did the same. Then, while we were inside, a new cat came along but we stayed inside and they stayed on our porch.

Greetings from Colin. I hope you have enjoyed my blog and tomorrow we will be in Athens.

Madeleine's comments.

Santorini:

The first thing I would like to make clear is that the whole island of Santorini is an active volcano and that we rode a boat into its crater. From Fira we got some amazing views of Santorini ( and some donkeys).The buildings in Greece are really all white. The museum was not boring - it was filled with artifacts from the last time Santorini erupted when the Minoans were still powerful. The beaches were actually black and red with fish swimming in the water which was pretty amazing. We have been trying Greek cuisine especially Spanakopita.

Naxos:

Our first day here we drove to a cute little mountain town called Apernathos. All the streets and sidewalks were made of marble. Those "steps" that Colin and I went down were actually a long trail on which Colin made us go way farther than we should have. We spent the rest of the day on the beach. At first we did think that the beach was boring, but today we found a spot filled with fish. We also explored Naxos town and got to look at an old Venetian castle. We got to see this giant arch to an ancient Greek temple (only the arch and floor are left), and the remains of a temple to Dionysus.

That's all for now.

Hello from Santorini

Hi everybody! I'm going to tell you about the past week (and a bit).

Day One: Today we went to Siena. It's really neat because there are many neighborhoods which each have their own flag, symbol, church, and fountain. They all compete against each other in the Pallio on the Campo (a big center square). We got to walk around the Campo and spent a long time at a fountain there. The fountain had wolves with water spurting from their mouths. Pigeons like to sit on the wolves' snouts and stick their heads in the wolves mouths to drink.

Day Two: Today we drove to Massa Lubrense (a small town near Sorrento). We stopped at a small hill town called Orvieto. It was cute and had a view but not much else. Apparently, Massa Lubrense is home to the Sirens who lured Ulysses.

Day Three: Today was Colin's birthday. To celebrate, we went to Pompeii. It was really neat, because it was really well preserved. You could walk into the houses and still see frescoes and mosaics. We then went to Naples (the home of pizza) for Colin's birthday pizza. You could watch them make it, and it was really good. We then got him a giant gelato before heading home for presents.

Day Four: Today we drove the Amalfi Coast. We got a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean and the coast. It was also kind of scary because you are driving along a winding road on the side of a cliff. We stopped to go to the beach at a town called Positano. The water was incredibly clear and there were fish swimming around you.

Day Five: Today we drove from Massa Lubrense to Rome. We tried to get up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius but found it virtually impossible.

Day Six: We started off the day at the Colosseum. Only the skeleton of the building is left (the seats, marble, steps, and iron bars were all taken away), but it was still amazing. We saw the Roman forum. It was covered with the ruins of temples and government buildings. We got to see the place where Julius Caesar was cremated. We walked to Trevi Fountain which is a GIGANTIC fountain with a statue of the water god. We climbed the Spanish Steps before heading back to our apartment.

Day Seven: Today we went to Vatican City. We walked to the Vatican Museum and got to see the Sistine Chapel. Next we went to St. Peter's Cathedral. It really is huge. We saw one of the Cardinals doing some kind of ceremony in there, and he was surrounded by the Swiss Guards. We went up to the top of the dome where you could see Rome stretching out below you. It was 1,100 steps in all. Then we wandered around Rome for a few hours. It was our last day in Italy.

Day Eight: Today we flew to Santorini. We spent most of the day flying. There is a black sand beach a few minutes from our hotel, the first I've seen.

More later...

Switzerland and Italy

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Howdy Folks this is Colin! We've been in Switzerland and Italy

Day 0

We went on a planet hike in Zurich but we skipped Pluto and then took a cable car back down to where we started.

Day 1

We took a mini-train up a mountain called Mt Pilatus in Lucerne. Madeleine was a coward, she was afraid we would crash. We had good viewpoints of other hills from the top of the mountain.

Day 2

We drove from Zurich to Venice and on our way we saw the Alps. They are a group of mountains that are bigger than the Rockies.

Day 3

We went to Venice and saw lots of gondolas but we couldn't take them because they were too expensive. Instead we took a water bus and a short gondola ride across the canal.

Day 4.

We drove to the Eurocamp, it's a campsite in the countryside of Italy near Florence, and went to the pool. The pools were awesome and had a lot of stuff - it was cool.

Day 5.

We went to Florence that's the town, where Leonardo da Vinci lived. We went up in Il Duomo, a big church with a domed roof. On the way up to the top Madeleine counted a hundred more steps by accident - there should have been 358.

Day 6.

We went to Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Pigeons fought over our dropped Cheetos. Next we went to Lucca where we went on a bike ride around the top of a wall around the city.

Day 7.

We decided on going to Siena but instead we explored the Eurocamp and decided to go to Siena tomorrow.

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Hi Everybody this is Madeleine commenting on Colin's post.

Day 0.

The planet hike is where you hike the distance of the solar system shrunken down (the relative distances are preserved). We got to go up to a viewpoint around the middle of the hike and could see all of Zurich and the surrounding area.

Day 1

I admit I was scared on the train ride up Mt. Pilatus but you would have been too if you were riding on a 48 degree angle with a 6000 foot drop onto pointy rocks a few inches from you. On top of Pilatus you are supposed to have a great view of Switzerland but the day we came it was so foggy that you had trouble seeing people across the viewing platform. We walked around Lucerne for a while but Mom did her ankle in which limited the distances we went.

Day 2

Colin Dad and I climbed one of the foothills of the Alps. You think you have climbed really high until you look around and see the rest of the mountains towering around you.

Day 3

Venice was amazing. We got to see St. Mark's square and cathedral. The floors of the cathedral were covered with really cool mosaics and patterns. We had time scheduled where we walked down random streets to see what Venice was like. It was nice to see what an ordinary neighborhood in Venice was like but it was kind of sad because parts looked like they were falling down and empty. We got to see Marco Polo's house but it is now a seafood restaurant and it is less cool now that there are eels swimming around in his windows. We got gelatos and looked at a mask shop (Venice is famous for its festival in which people parade around in masks).

Day 4

We're staying in a trailer in the Eurocamp (somewhere in Tuscany). It's got four pools, a restaurant, a gelateria, tennis courts, soccer fields, bocce ball areas, a bazaar, a market, a playground and tons of other stuff.

Day 5.

Today we went to Florence.

We had an early start and went to the Uffizi (it's an art museum with lots of famous paintings). We saw the birth of Venus, Lacoon (a famous Greek statue that inspired both Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo to reach new heights.), the really famous painting of Medusa by Carvaggio, and another painting in which Leonardo da Vinci painted an angel. Next we got to see the Duomo. It's huge and the inside of the dome is covered with paintings. Dad Colin and I did climb the stairs up to the top. But it was Colin who miscounted the stairs. We were both counting up into the 300s when Colin loudly stated that he lost track and then started counting from 240. We then left and went to the Accademia (another art museum with lots of sculptures). We got to see Michaelangelo's David. He was amazingly realistic though his hands were a bit big, and Mom found him "aesthetically pleasing".

Day 6

The Leaning Tower really does have a serious lean. Next to it there are two other leaning buildings; a cathedral and a baptistry. The baptistry amplifies your voice and makes it echo for ten seconds, so every half hour the security guard sings and harmonizes with her echoes. It's incredible to hear. Lucca is this incredibly cute and untouristy city (compared to Florence). The walls of the city are from medieval times and are easily as thick as an average road.

Day 7.

Today was our day of rest. We washed clothes (finally) got groceries and went to the pool. We also got the WiFi to work after a long time without. Tomorrow we go to Siena. Bye.

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P.S. It's me Colin. When Madeleine said that I lost track I re-remembered. It actually was Madeleine who miscounted the steps on Il Duomo not me.

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.