London Field Trip and Show

Yesterday we went to London. It was so much fun. The first thing we did was go on a River Cruise. Our cruise ship was called the Symphony. Another ship we actually saw was the Hispaniola which made me think of Treasure Island! The Hispaniola I saw on the River Thames was a really big ship. For lunch we had salmon and chicken. It was delish. On the River Cruise we went under the Tower Bridge! It was so cool to look up and see the bridge. After that we went to the BBC for a field trip my mum had planned for her students. BBC stands for British Broadcast Corporation. The BBC is where the TV, News and other things happen for the UK. When Jennifer Lopez came to the BBC she wanted her dressing room to be big and she wanted fuzzy cream carpets and white walls and she was only in the room for less than an hour! We also got to see TV studios. My brother and a few other college kids got to try out their own trivia show. I also played Harry Potter with my brother. We got in front of a Blue Screen and the guy showing us around put blue things over us and we were floating heads! After that we saw the musical Wicked! It was so awesome. Wicked explains how things happen in the Wizard of Oz. At the beginning the Wicked Witch of the West came out of the mum’s belly and was a bright green baby. It was super funny.

Cambridge

We went to Cambridge! It was so pretty. For lunch we went to The Eagle. At The Eagle is where they first discussed DNA. DNA stands for Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid and it is about genes that are in our bodies and makes each of us different and special. For lunch I had Fish & Chips. Fish & Chips are popular in the UK. In Cambridge there is a Sunday market. We saw so many street performers that played music. Some of them were jazzy. Some were pop. Some were slow songs. We also went to King's College. King's College is a gorgeous college in Cambridge that was founded in 1441 by Henry 6. Trinity College is also in Cambridge. That is where Isaac Newton went to college. King’s College and Trinity College are 2 of the 31 colleges that are part of the University of Cambridge. In Cambridge people walk and ride their bikes everywhere. It was so neat to see how people put all their bikes next to each other!

Book Fun

I decided it would be nice to get some people out on such a great day and enjoy talking about books and reading books. The reason I am saying “great” day is because it felt like 80 degrees! The first two things we did were set out blankets and all of the people that were a part of the group ate homemade cookies that were fresh from the oven, mushy and made specially from my mum. The next two things we did were writing our own little books and talk about each other’s favorite authors, books and why they are our favorite books. I learned that Riley likes The Twilight Sagas. I learned that Julie likes Chocolat because she likes the descriptions of the small chocolate shop in a village in France. I learned that Nancy likes Junie B. Jones and it reminds her of the students she has taught in the last 29 years. Brock likes the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. My mum likes a Hemingway book called The Sun Also Rises and a book called A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I like Charlotte’s Web that I read with my mum, Treasure Island that I read with my class and the Grandma’s Attic series that my Grammy got me. After we talked about books, we played a matching game. The things you had to match were the author and a book they wrote. We had things like Jules Vernes and you had to match him with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. You also had to match Rick Riordian with Percy Jackson and Barbara Park with Junie B Jones. There were other matches too. We also read books, and some people drew flip books. Poem made one with a sheep. We had so much great fun. I might do another book picnic again someday.

Segovia

We went to see Segovia! It was such a quaint little town that I thought was so super cute. We went and saw the Alcazar and the Roman Aqueducts. In the Segovia Alcazar (castle), we saw giant cannons that looked two times the size of me! We also saw outfits that soldiers would have worn. The main colors were blue, red and yellow. In another room we saw lots of armory. The reason they had these things was because they were very protective of the castle because it was huge and on top of a hill that stood in an honoring spot, and different royalty lived there. In one of the bedrooms we saw so many neat painted designs on the walls. The bed was crazy beautiful. It had great drapes. At the Aqueducts I got to climb up into one of the giant arches. It is made of plain stone and has 167 arches in it. There is also a hidden route called the Canal Madre (which stands for Mother Channel) that helped give the city all its water. On the street we saw lots of performers. One of them was doing a puppet that was of a girl playing violin. The person doing the puppet had a dog but it looked like a lazy dog that was asleep. When Brock went up to give some coins to the street performer and also to pet the dog, the dog bopped its head up and barked. It surprised us and made Brock jump. It was so hysterical!

Madrid

 We went to Madrid. We visited several places and spent the most time at Plaza Mayor. The streetlamps have what looked like an ancient design pattern that is wavy and gorgeous. At most plazas there are street performers. We saw one that was a goat with lots of streamers and sparkles. We saw another street performer that I thought was very, very cool and it was a guy making music out of glasses. The way you do that is use different sizes of glasses with different amounts of water in it and it makes a different tone. At Plaza Mayor people do different things. It not only has street performers and shops and cafes, but it has held markets, soccer games and bullfights. From the Plaza Mayor you don't have to walk a long distance to get to where we ate. It was at the Restaurant Botin. It is the oldest restaurant anywhere in the world. Ernest Hemingway used to eat at this restaurant. My mum has read all his books and she visited this restaurant before and couldn't wait to go back. Ernest Hemingway even wrote about the restaurant in his book The Sun Also Rises. We ate in the downstairs where it was all brick on the walls and it looked like a wine cellar. I ate scrambled eggs with green asparagus and my mum ate cheese and bread and a fish casserole. Last year we went to a Hemingway Museum in Chicago.  

Barcelona Aquarium

 

Barcelona, Spain

We went to Barcelona! We didn't do it alone though, we went with the Elseas. It was awesome. Barcelona is located on the Mediterranean Sea. On the first day we were there we went to La Sagrada Familia. It is the Family Palace. It was made by a family that wanted honor. It had a mix of dark brown and lots of happy colors. At the front there were four straight up poles that looked almost as tall as the whole building. That night we went to the Barca Game!!! It was so amazing. If it helps to say this, Lionel Messi is on the team. We went to just the perfect game (match) because Messi scored a hat trick and beat the record of goals that players on the Barcelona team have made! OMG. It was Brock's dream to see. We also went to the Picasso Museum. Pablo Picasso was a very famous painter. We saw so many amazing paintings. Some of my favorite paintings were of a portrait Picasso made of himself. Another was of an old man in a beret. In one of the rooms there was a big chandelier. We also went to a big aquarium. Inside of it we saw: sharks, eels, puffer fish, zebra looking like fish, squid, sea horses, and many more fun types! Something I was fond of was one of the types of sharks. It is called the Black Tip Shark. The reason is because if it stopped swimming it would drown and die. We saw baby fish and star fish too! What a time!

Billy Elliot and Camden Market

We went into London. It was so much fun. We saw the musical, Billy Elliot. It was the best one of all time, or at least to me! Billy Elliot is about a boy who is around 12 and has lost his mum and wants to dance, but the rest of the Irish that he lives with won’t let him. That includes his family and other people in the village. One of my favorite lines was when he and his ballet teacher were talking about his mum and the ballet teacher said to Billy, “She must have been very special” and Billy Elliot said, “No. She was just my mum.” It was one of my favorite lines because Billy loved his mum very dearly and missed her. The music and dancing was something I had never seen before. In one part Billy jumped off a wall and did a back flip. My favorite song from the musical is called "Electricity". The song is about Billy trying to explain what it feels like to dance. In London we also went to Camden Market. It is the biggest market in the world. I can see why. The reason, there are 1000 stalls! Mum’s Day in Britain is on March 18, which was yesterday. My Mum keeps on teasing because she will get celebrated twice this year. Brock got her a ring from one of the Camden Market stalls and I got her some fun clothing that has lots of British Flags on it. Mum had to give Brock and me most of the money but she said the gifts were special since we picked the stuff out and we spent the day together.

Lincoln

For the last day the Lothamers were here we went to Lincoln. It is about 1 hour away, so we took a train there. For lunch we ate at “The Slug and Lettuce”. I had a hamburger and “Buttery Mash”! One of the spots we hit was Lincoln Cathedral. There is a castle about a few hundred footsteps across from the cathedral. William the Conqueror had the castle built. At the castle there is a hawk that you can see. Back to the cathedral. Along the walls there was stained glass. It was super cool. On the ceiling there were lots of zig-zags. The reason for this was that the builders thought it was going to fall so they put support on it. One of our friends (the one who made the quilt with me) lit a candle for Papa there a week ago and we did the same yesterday. Lincoln has a huge, steep hill that won the best UK street award last year. You have to walk all the way up the hill to get to the cathedral and castle. That night we went to a humongous bonfire back at Harlaxton Manor. We had s’mores. What an awesome day!

Eiffel Tower

We saw the Eiffel Tower! It is so gorgeous and I have never seen such architecture before. We visited the Eiffel Tower in 2008 but the beauty never changes in it. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1887-1889 and is dark brown. It gets painted every 7 years. It takes 60 tons of paint to paint the full Tower and has eight elevators! The Eiffel Tower’s nickname is La Dam de fer, which means the Iron Lady. We even went to the tip top. It was a blast. It was super cold and windy but the view was worth it. I hope you like the video.

Notre Dame

On our trip to Paris we went to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a beautiful church that is on a little island in Paris (it is called the Ile de la Cité). If you have been watching most of my blog posts you might have seen the one about my Grandpa. Inside of the church you are allowed to light candles for loved and missed ones. My mum, brother and I lit one for Papa. It did make me teary, but it also made me smile. Through the church there were neat things but I adored a very beautiful stained glass window. It was all different colors of blue, green, yellow and purple, and maybe some more. The Notre Dame was an experience.

Germany Castle

We took an early train to Fussen. This is where the fairytale castle is. Its name is Neuschwanstein Castle, and it’s what Disney World uses as a model for its pretty castle. Neuschwanstein Castle is in a town called Bavaria, Germany. If you watched the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, you can see the castle. You walk up a big mountain to get to it. We got to go inside it. The person who built Neuschwanstein Castle was King Ludwig II. He died before the castle was finished. Even though it is not finished it still has beautiful architecture. The chandelier in the King’s Room is 2,000 pounds. In his bedroom, the bed was about as big as an elephant! He had an amazing view of the Alps from almost every room in Neuschwanstein Castle. Swans were his favorite animal, and there is a room filled with swan paintings on the walls and ceilings. There is a manmade cave in the castle with some funky lights. In another room there are four chandeliers that have blue jewels and candles on it. Around the room there are a lot of arches. On the ceiling there is a lot of art. At Harlaxton College I volunteer at the Library. I learn facts and then put together posters, bookmarks, flags and other things about different countries. Then we hang the posters and copies of the flags all over the Library and along the balcony so people walk by and see and learn. One of the countries for my volunteering was Germany. I researched what the colors on the German flag mean. The color black on the German flag stands for determination. The color red on the German flag stands for hardness, bravery, strength and valor. The color yellow on the German flag stands for a symbol of generosity. I also looked up how to say different sayings that you might need if you went to Germany. To say Where is the bus stop, you say Wo sich eine bushaltestelle? If you want to go to the library, you say Wo ist ein bibliothek? The capital of Germany is Berlin. A famous person from Germany is Albert Einstein and also the Brothers Grimm (Jacob Ludwig Karl and Wilhelm Karl) who wrote some of the best fairy tales ever were from Germany. 

Munich, Germany

We are in Germany!  I can’t believe it! Again there was a different language/accent. In class we learned some German, and even went to a very fun German restaurant in Indiana. It was called the Schnitzelbank. It’s a great name. What we have been doing on this trip is first we flew over to Germany with our friends, the Lothamers, and landed in Munich. We walked around a little bit and then it was time for lunch. We didn’t just have any lunch—we had a lunch in a huge revolving tower. It is called the Olympiaturm. You can see it in our picture. After lunch we walked around Olympiapark, where they held the 1972 Olympics. That night I had potato pancakes and mashed apples (applesauce) for dinner. My mum had spinach strudel. The name of this restaurant was Kuchloerzeichnis.

Isaac Newton

Today we went to Isaac Newton’s house. Its name is Woolsthorpe Manor. It only took us 15 minutes to get there from Harlaxton. Isaac grew up with a rich family on a farm. Isaac was not a very good farmer and one time he let all the sheep go and his mother had to pay a fine because of it! Another time he rode a horse into town and when he came back he didn’t have the horse with him because he forgot about it! Even though he wasn’t a good farmer he was a really good thinking scientist. I got to see the Apple Tree where Isaac Newton first came up with the idea of gravity. One day when Isaac Newton was home from Trinity College, he was sitting under a tree at Woolsthorpe and an apple fell from a tree. Even though people think it hit him on his head, it didn’t really do that. He just saw it fall. Watching the apple fall made him think more about why it did, and he invented gravity. The Apple Tree was in a huge and terrible storm many years ago and it fell but it managed to keep growing. I thought the Apple Tree looked small and curly. Before Isaac invented gravity, he went to Kings School, a school that is still a school in Grantham where boys go. When Isaac was a boy he made a windmill that could grain wheat and corn, and he made a sundial. Since they didn't have cars back then and it was too far to walk to Kings School, Isaac Newton stayed with a different family in Grantham. Later Isaac Newton invented other things like a reflecting telescope. When he was older he became Sir Isaac Newton. In the photos you see Woolsthorpe Manor and you see the real Apple Tree that Isaac Newton sat under.

Terrific Grandpa

My Papa died this week. He was a big part of my life. Without him there would not be such a thing as the Big Mouth Frog joke, my favorite joke in the whole world he would tell Brock and me. Every Saturday morning he would come over for cappuccinos, a special tradition. He made the coolest clubhouse for us with lots of windows and a real doorbell that I could ring. I would play cornhole with him and go fishing. He made a high chair for my American Girl dolls. He was a great tennis player, and he taught me how to play tennis. Every time I would see him he would give me a Papa’s mint, a peppermint. In the top photo is me, Papa and Brock sucking our thumbs. Papa used to tease me how I sucked my thumb so he and Brock acted like me. In the bottom picture, it is a picture of the three of us again. Every time he comes over for cappos he would have a fun lesson or thing to do. My mum used to be a reporter in New York, so Papa got us a typewriter so I could write stories too. I love the typewriter. In the same picture Papa is teaching Brock about money because that was a popular thing for them to do. Even though my blog is about my travels in England, we got the call about my Papa in England and are going to be in the USA for a few days. My Papa was the kind of person any child would want to have as a grandpa.