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.