Burghley House

My mum, brother and I went on a Harlaxton field trip to the Burghley house. It was so cool. The person who built the Burghley house was William Cecil. William Cecil lived from 1520-1598. He was the Principal advisor for Elizabeth 1. During his lifetime, William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley, was one of the most powerful men in England. He built the Burghley House for his family, not himself. He only came here occasionally. The journey to London (about 85 miles) took two days on horseback. Queen Elizabeth 1 came to throne in 1558 and died in 1603. Another person that later lived in the Burghley house was Lord David Burghley. Lord David Burghley won a gold medal in the Olympics that were held in Amsterdam in 1928. In the Burghley House we got to see the things he wore in the Olympics including his cleats and uniform. We also saw the hurdle that Lord Burghley would run full speed and jump over. In the Burghley House we saw where Queen Elizabeth would have stayed, wow! In the Burghley House there are over 300 paintings. There was this one place in the Burghley House that had an old chess board. Instead of rooks, the pieces were elephants. All the pieces were of the Indian army because India was one of the first places to play chess, and the kings would choose how the pieces look. In most of the rooms of the Burghley House there would be a door for the servants to slip in and out of. Here are a few words from the Elizabethan time and what they are now. The Elizabethan word for why is wherefore. An Elizabethan word for very is verily. An Elizabethan word for away is aroint. Isn’t that interesting? After everything it was Tea Time so we went into the little café and had some proper tea (my mum had cappucino and almond cake with cream, my brother had milk and a brownie and I tried tea and a brownie)!

Grantham Fair

In Grantham there is a fair that reminds me of the Fall Festival just a little bit. They had bumper cars, adventure rides, funhouse mirrors and other things. They also had a ride called the Big Ben, which is funny since the real Big Ben is in London. At the Fair there were many food booths. I had a rainbow slushy and some fudge. It was super fun to be at the Fair. We also played this game where you would try and get the ring over the box and win a huge thing of chocolate, soda or you would win some type of technology. The Grantham Fair has been going for 600 years now. In Grantham, there is a market held outdoors every Saturday. That is where the Fair was held.

Costume Ball

At Harlaxton Manor on Saturday night there was a fun time where a whole bunch of college students and faculty came out in super funny or traditional costumes. I dressed up as Rapunzel, my mum dressed up as a hippie and Brock dressed up as a Gladiator. My costume was bright purple and I had an extra maybe 5 inches of blonde hair. My mum’s costume was super fun. She had a little handbag with a peace sign on it, a really fun headband that went around your head in a circle, a fun shawl, sunglasses with a peace sign in front of each shade and rainbow pants! My brother’s costume had a cape, headpiece, shin guard type things that had spikes on it and armbands. Some of the college students had these costumes: a cat, Tommy Pickles, dinosaur, Japanese Girls, Caveman, a group of Coca-Cola cans, the Blue Man Group, a cowboy, people with masks and many more fun things. When we danced to the music the lights were pitch black and the DJ made it so that the room (the Great Hall) was flickering with colorful spots. It was super fun.

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!