London by Kayley

A couple of nights ago,we arrived in London and we were all really exited to finally leave Spain and even more exited to go to London.

The flight was about an hour long and I spent most of the flight looking out the window at the clouds and land far below wishing we would land in London already. When there were no clouds below us and towards the end of the flight, we passed over an island, a gigantic peninsula, some more ocean, and, finally, England. I new it was England because the plane was loosing altitude. Suddenly, there was a thick layer of clouds below us. When we hade passed through the clouds and were on the land side of them,the first city lights were just turning on and it was still light enough for me to see neat fields. A little while later when it was dark, I thought I saw London because I thought I remembered a winding river of lights from the beginning of Peter Pan. By the time we landed, it was dark. We arrived in London at 10:05 pm. It was 13 degrees Celsius and sprinkling. Our spirits were soaring.

We exited the plane by stairs into the open London weather and, after baking in Spain, the chill wind and rain was really refreshing. We went through the airport pretty quickly and took a bus to the Europcar rental car place and picked up our car. Since the steering wheel is on the right side and all the controls are in weird places, Daddy took a little while to figure everything out. We were of to find the Holiday Inn Express. On the way, we joked about driving on the left side and every thing else.

My first couple of hours in England were probably some of my best. I haven't been disappointed with England yet, even though I had really high hopes for England. After a night at the Holiday Inn Express, we drove to Stonehenge. The drive took about twice as long as it was supposed to take because daddy drove in circles trying to go the right was on the highway. So we spent a relaxing couple of hours at Stonehenge and hopped back into the car to drive to London. Stonehenge was smaller than I had thought it would be, but the countryside was beautiful.

In London, daddy checked into our apartment while we sat in the car. The apartment is maybe three times the size of the Paris apartment but very bare, but we were right next to a street with a bunch of shops on it. So we're pretty close to a shopping street but we were not very close to the Thames and all the sites. The next day we walked to parliament and the big Ben, crossed the river and looked at the London eye, parliament and the big Ben. After walking along the river for a little while we visited Westminster Abbey which has lots of interesting history behind it. And then we took a nap in Hyde park and walked home. Since we moved really fast we were all really tired so I wasn't really thinking about anything.
Two days ago we saw two museums: the Victoria and Albert museum and the British museum. My favorite part of the V&A museum were the seats. They looked like hour glasses and you can spin in them. The rest of the museum was not particularly interesting for me. We only saw the highlights in the British museum because we were all really tired.
Yesterday, we went to the White Tower and the fortress around it which was a pretty big space. Since I am really tired, I can not remember it very well. But the one exhibit I remember was the crown jewels. The crown jewels were scepters, golden balls whith crosses on them that I don't remember the name of and some magnificent Crowns. Queen Elizabeth the 2nd's crown has three gigantic jewels: a diamond, a ruby and a sapphire and a bunch of other smaller jewels but the three huge stones were about three inches in diameter. After seeing the White Tower we hopped on a boat to go up and down the Thames. Then, we walked to the war museum and by that time my brain was mush.

- Kayley

Switzerland by Mia

We woke up at about 4 am on Thursday morning to get to the airport on time for our 7:30 flight to Zurich. That was really tough. Everyone pretty much slept the entire drive to the airport. Checking in and security and stuff went really smoothly, but we were the very last people to get onto the plane, so our seats weren't the best. I slept on the plane as well, and when we got to Zurich and hour and fifteen minutes later I had mostly caught up on sleep. Or at least I could walk....

The first thing I noticed about Switzerland was how clean it was! Everything from the air to the windows looked clearer and shinier. Daddy rented a brand new station wagon sort of car that is a bright, beautiful blue. The car has some cool automatic features, but some of them get really annoying, like when it beeps really loud whenever the front bumper gets close to anything. Also, there are only five seats so Sarah sits in the back with the luggage.

We drove in that car to the campsite in Jungfrau Valley. The campsite was really nice, on par with the holiday parks in Australia and New Zealand. We made Mac & cheese in the communal kitchen and watched soccer in the living room. We walked fifteen minutes to the cute little town near the campsite, which was full of adorable little houses with flower boxes full of colorful flowers. The valley is really pretty, with steep stone walls and several waterfalls and a river running through the middle. It reminds me of Yosemite.

The next morning we woke up early to catch a lift to the top of Schilthorn, which is where part of the James Bond movie Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed. They filmed it in the restaurant and view area that is at the top. We rode to the top, stayed there for a few hours, looking at the great view and watching a paraglider take off, and then rode half way down and walked the rest of the way back. It was a really. Long walk and today I can barely walk, my legs are so sore!

We celebrated Kayley's birthday too, with lots of icecreams and candles. She got a watch and a pomegranate for her present. This morning we walked over to the entrance to a cave that has ten underground waterfalls in it, but it was expensive to go I and see them, so we didn't. Then we drove to France!

Stonehenge by Mia

The morning after we arrived in England we woke up pretty late because we had stayed up until the early morning the night before. We packed our stuff and mommy and daddy went down to breakfast first, because they were they only ones who were supposed to be staying in our room. By they time they came back up it was too late for us to go down because they were shutting down the buffet, so we had some yogurt and bread that was in the cooler. We ended up leaving at about eleven, and then we spent about three and a half hours driving to Stonehenge which was actually only supposed to take two hours. Daddy got a bit lost, we spent like an hour driving back in forth about ten minutes away from the hotel.

When we finally got to Stonehenge it was like 2:15 in the afternoon. On the way we had stopped at a little grocery store and all us kids bought candy and chips and all sorts of junk food and had a party. Because of this, by the time we got there everyone was either feeling sick or bouncing off the walls. Also, during the car ride I finished A Farewell to Arms, which is a really sad book!

Stonehenge is in the middle of nowhere. To get to it we went through several adorable little villages and then through rolling green hills. You drive over one of the rolling green hills and suddenly see it, and a parking lot full of tour buses and cars. Then beyond it there are more rolling green hills. The parking area is much bigger than the actual attraction (which is actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be). You can't get very close to the rocks because it is entirely roped off, and the paths lead the he'd of tourists around the ring, and to the heel stone. It is extremely regulated, but there is the occasional streaker. One guy ran up really close to the rocks and got his friend to take his picture before the guards kicked him out.

There is only a little grass patch and two benches within the roped off area, and that was where we sat and had our picnic lunch. It was really windy so all our food was blowing around. We pondered Stonehenge while getting increasingly allergic to all the grass. We came to the conclusion that it is over rated, smaller than expected, and overprotected. Then we left because our eyes were really itchy and we were sneezing a lot. Before we got back in the car we went to stand on top of a little caveman made mound to got a better view of Stonehenge. It was one of three grassy mounds that had been there as long as Stonehenge and Mommy kept wondering what they were. Judging by the fact that archeologists and tour guides alike go off on long lectures and write long papers on how they 'have no idea what Stonehenge is,but here's what it might be', no one has any idea. I was also slightly weird that there was a couple sleeping at the top. At first I thought they wee hobos but they had a dog so I decided they were just some people who fell asleep for some reason.

By that time we were dying of allergic-ness so we headed back to the car. We drove into London and find our hotel. The apartment we got has one bedroom and I foldout couch, but luckily the couch has lots of cushions so we all have someplace to sleep, more or less. It is about twice the size of the place Kayley and I stayed at with Bippy and Gramps in Paris, though.

The Schools in California, Colorado, New Zealand and Spain by Sarah

In all the schools that we've visited like Colorado, New Zealand and Spain or in California where we lived, all of the schools in the countries have been very different.

In Spain the spanish children are loud, excited and sometimes annoying. They are very competitive in P.E. Some people hit and slap then when they get in trouble say it was a joke. I think that this is bad because if someone like me from California came to Spain, they'd get deaf fast. The school that Kayley and I went to was called San Roque. San Roque is in Churiana de la Vegay are where my family and I stayed when we were in Spain.

In New Zealand the kids were not as loud as the Spanish kids but are sill loud. The kids are nice sometimes but their mood changes other times. Like the first cupel of days I was best fiends with someone then I did not like them because they annoyed me a lot. Kayley, Zander and I went to a school called New Brighton school in the town of New Brighton close to Christ Church on the South island. The school is very spread out.

In Colorado Kayley and I went to a school called King Murphy school. King Murphy school has 2 storys with a elevator. King Murphy is in the mountains in Evergreen, Colorado. The kids are very interesting and exciting. In the play ground they had swings, a play stricter and a log cabin.

In California the school that we went to, was awesome and perfect. The school was called Pacheco elementary school. Pacheco was very big and organized. The kids are well behaved and quiet. The play ground has a soccer field, play stricter, monkey bars, normal bars, a black top and hand ball courts.

All of the schools we visited(or lived in the town for 8 years) were very different in good and bad ways.

Schooling So Far by Kayley

We have attended four school in the last year: Pacheco Elementary in SLO, California; King Murphy Elementary in Colorado; New Brighton Primary in New Zealand; and Colegio San Roque in Churriana de la Vega, Spain. My favorite school out of these four is Pacheco, but King Murphy and New Brighton were not so bad, because I didn't have such a language problem. From my experiences, I haven't found San Roque

compared to the other schools but the end of the year party on Friday may change my opinion. It might be really fun.

Pacheco and King Murphy were both in the USA and on the same curriculum. My teacher at King Murphy was a really cool teacher called Mr. Ducklow. I was at King Murphy for about a month, but I made some really great friends: Zoe, Lily and Allysa. I still keep in contact with Zoe. My Pacheco teachers, Mrs. Fassiotto and all my others were the best teachers I've had yet. My friends at Pacheco: Angelina, Amelia, Amy, Chloe, Molly, Bella...

New Brighton, in New Zealand, was a really small school of about 175 kids. Lots of families had to moved out of the area because of the earth quakes. My teacher in New Brighton was really nice, but I can't remember her name and the kiwi accent sounded so cool. The only problem was that they couldn't really understand me because of my accent and lisp.

San Roque, the Spanish school I'm in now, gives me a head ache because of how they talk. My teacher, Nati, talks pretty fast, but I can never tell if she's mad, sad or happy. I've felt kind of left out on the play ground and some times during class because they speak so fast and the concrete playground echoes. I was kind of disappointed because in the beginning, I felt like I was fitting in with my "friends", Brenda, Xiomara (Xio) and Rosa. Brenda seemed to be less interested in me in the middle of my stay, but the last day of school party is still to be had!

Over all, Pacheco was the best school experience I've had yet. But if I hadn't gone to these other schools, I wouldn't feel like I can't wait to be back to Pacheco. Have you ever felt like you can't truly love and miss some thing if you've never seen something different or been away from it for a long period of time? That is how I feel right now.

Kayley

The Bull Fight by Zander

1,2,4: the bull fights.

3: The beginning of the fight where all the participants get introduced.

Intro

Being a tourist in Spain meant that we had to see a bull fight. So during a festival in Granada, my family and I went to see a fight. The bull fighting arena was not very big, but a lot of people want to see the fight. While we were in line to get the tickets, there were protesters that had signs that said " we want celebrations without blood" and other similar statements. I think that they were there to stop us from paying money to see animals get killed for entertainment.

When we finally got to the ticket booth, the talk turned to bulls, which one was heavier, and which one would be the most exiting to watch. Then there were the college kids who came to get drunk, and they were doing just that. My dad wanting to give us the most interesting experience ( save money) and went ahead and bought us the cheap tickets. I was ready for a mind changing experience and wondered what I would it be like to be in a bull fight. The following passages are what I think it would feel like to be in a bull fight from the perspective of the bull, the matador, and the crowd.

The Bull

Charging around after the pink cape. Just can't catch it!! Every time I get close, it moves. Running around in bright colored clothes. Waving that cape around at me. They run at me and stab me with colorful sticks. So annoying, they get in my face, can't concentrate. They run too fast and they are too quick. Aaa so close. Suddenly, they start waving red capes at me. So annoying can't catch them. He twirls his cloak around and moves out of they way. He raises his big shiny spike, and stabs. Aaah, it hurts. He will pay! Blood is getting me all wet. Just can't catch it. I want to lie down and sleep. No kill him! Can't move. Can't stay up. Noo!!!

The Matador

The bull charges. A wave of the cape and a side step. The bull goes right by. The crowd cheers. Time to prepare for the next one. Here comes the bull, a twirl of the cape, a flourish, and side step. He goes right by. Now it is time for the kill. Raise the sword and plunge. Yes!I hit the heart. Blood squirted out. The crowd cheers. The bull stumbles. Then blood comes out of the bulls mouth, collapses. More cheering. Yes, I killed the bull without getting killed. The crowd is cheering. I killed a 1 ton mass of muscle with sharp horns!

The Crowd

Ugh.....the sugared smoke. The fat person in front of me keeps smoking them. Don't they have any respect. My butt hurts. There is no cushion and the benches are really small. We have the cheap seats, so it is very uncomfortable. Please finish the fight, so I can stand up. The bull doesn't have a chance of surviving but people still find it entertaining. People are drinking, smoking, and eating. They are talking about the fight through it all. All the college kids take there dates out to the fight with their friends, so the standees are full of some crazy people. We are so close, that we don't have any personal space. The dude behind us is on his 5th beer. He better not be driving home. Now I know why there are so many police here. They got it all: Coke, Fanta, whisky, vodka, gin, and ice. Ugh, the cigaret smoke. Does everyone in Spain smoke? Can we go? I can't breath. We have seen the bull fight. Seeing a bull fight was a messiah thing but if I had a choice I wouldn't do it avian if I nada choice.

Seville by Mia

This morning we woke up way too early for a Saturday morning to go to Seville. When we got there it was extremely hot out, but it always is here in Spain. We parked a bit of a walk away from the cathedral, and walked through the maze of cute alleys until we found it. The Seville cathedral is the biggest cathedral in Europe and it is pretty darn big. It is surrounded by a plaza with a few fountains and lots of horses pulling carriages. On one side of the plaza is a stone wall which is the Alcazar. We entered the cathedral from the side and walked around it, stopping at the treasury and the sacristy, before sitting in the pews in the middle of the church. The pews faced the choir and right across from the choir was supposed to be a huge altar, but it was being restored so there was just a big picture of it hung on the scaffolding. The picture was really cool looking, but I really wish we could have seen the real thing! I hate when they are restoring cool things, because we can't see them.

We were really tired because it was really hot in the cathedral and we hadn't slept very much the last night, so it was not as fun as it should have been to look at the cathedral. We saw the biggest pearl in the world that was the torso of a little cherub on the crown of the Virgin Mary, and it was about as long as my thumb and twice as wide. It was a really weird shape; the perfect shape for the torso and the tops of the legs of the cherub because it splits at the bottom. The rest of the crown was covered with hundreds of diamonds, heaps of emeralds and lots of rubies and others precious stones. The crown it's self was made of gold. There was a much smaller crown next to it that was decorated just as richly, and we thought it was for baby Jesus. After a few hours we were pretty done with the cathedral, and we walked up to the top of the bell tower before leaving.

After the cathedral, we walked around the neighborhood, found a plaza to have some food in, and then got some really good ice cream. While we ate our ice cream Sarah got a ruffled pink flamenco dress. It was very pink; pink with black dots, not black with pink ones. She was really excited, though despite its apparent hideousness. After that we walked around a little bit more until we were about to fall on our faces, so we went back to the car and last.

Bullfight by Mia

There is a loaded but complete silence as the matador levels his sword as the bull. He sighted down the blade so that the sharp tip points at the spot just between the bulls big shoulder blades on its blood soaked back. Then, with a twitch of the matador's red cape, the bull charges, exposing the spot which the matador wishes to pierce. And, helped by the bulls momentum, the sword disappears to the hilt in the bulls back.

The crowd roars, and blood pours from the bulls mouth on to the floor of the bullring. Even I could see the specks it made from where is sat at the top of the stands. Everyone waits expectantly for the bull to keel over, and several pink caped guys came over the fence, one of which wielded a dagger. When the bulls knees finally buckled, and he lay twitching on his side in the dirt, the guy with the dagger came up and plunged it into the bulls brain to make sure it was dead.

While the matador strutted around waving his had and bowing, the dead bull was dragged off by two horses, leaving a red streak on the ground behind it which is quickly whipped away by the guys with rakes. As this happens, the increasingly drunk crowd waves handkerchiefs and cheers.

Corpus Cristi Festival by Mia

The atmosphere in the plaza is festive. It is crowded with all manner of people, from old ladies to young tourists, to little kids in fluffy dresses, and they are all having fun. There are two old looking carousels, one with horses made from old tires, and the other with horses made from wood. Music had just begun playing and people were dancing to it in the crowd. There are bubbles flying everywhere from the bubble guns that people were selling to little kids, glistening from the lights hung everywhere. In the alleys leading off of the square there are pretty lights strung from the buildings.

It is almost eleven pm and everyone was still out partying. Even the little babies in strollers are still awake. We are sitting around a square aluminum table in one of the packed cafes that line the square. Every singe table is full and you can tell that the place is conserving their drinks, because the glasses of wine they are bringing out are becoming increasingly small. We sit there, six people around one little table, soak up the atmosphere, and eat some good gelato.
PS the picture is random

PARIS

As you already know from reading Mia's blog, last week end Mia, Bippy, gramps and I went to Paris. My three favorite places that we visited were the Musee D'Orsee, the food street and the Champs Ellysee.

Every morning that we were in Paris we walked to the food street, it's the famous street that has tons of restaurants and food stores, but I can't remember it's entire name but it started with a M so we just call it the food street. The reason why I really liked the food street was because everyone seemed to be so relaxed and all the food in the shops looked really good except the meat shops. Also I love the croissants there, they were crispy and practically melt in your mouth.

On the second day, after seeing the Louvre, we walked down the Champs Ellysee. We were all really tired from seeing the Louvre The Champs Ellysee was really crowded and there was tons of shop windows to look at. Gramps went in to was a car shop so I followed and so did Bippy and Mia, the car place was showing a bunch of old cars on red revolving platforms. The next shop we went into was the biggest Sephora in France, Bippy and gramps waited out side because they were exhausted and it was packed in there. So Mia dragged me in there and I sampled a perfume that smelled like apples and followed Mia around. When we finally got out of Sephora, we looked for a restaurant to get drinks at and for Bippy to get off her feet. We ended up going to the restaurant for the five star Marriot hotel. Bippy and gramps got beers and Mia and I got ice cream. I ordered raspberry, mango and lemon flavored ice cream, and Mia got white chocolate, dulce de leche and strawberry the ice cream was really good. After we ate our ice creams, Mia went back in to Sephora and I went into another shop that was one of those tourist shops because all the other shops were too high end. I bought a biggish bag that had a bunch of world maps all over it. The reason I bought the bag was because it was made to pack down well. Then we walked the rest of the Champs Ellysee and looked at the big gate at the end of it and then gramps hailed a taxi and went back to the apartment. I was to tired to really look at the gate I ended up just putting my stuff into my new bag.

We visited the Musee D'Orsee on our last day in Paris. Since it was the first Sunday of June all museums were free and the line to get into the Musee D'Orsee was really really long, but thankfully it was moving fast or we wouldn't have gone in to the museum. When we finally got into the Musee D'Orsee we each grabbed a map and Gramps tried to find the way to the top floor where all the impressionist painting are. It took maybe ten to fifteen minutes to wade through all the people to get to the end of the gallery's. We planned to meet at the restaurant after thirty minutes of looking at the paintings and I found about three that I really liked. It took less than thirty minutes for us to look at all the paintings. As always Bippy lagged behind even though Bippy had seen it before,. Then we ate lunch at the museum restaurant, I had pasta and it was really good. Our only conversation that i remember was about how the waiters that worked at the restaurant were so efficient. After eating Mia and I ordered some ice cream, my desert was huge milkshake cup filled with caramel, coffee and chocolate ice cream topped with a mountain of whipped cream, it was delicious. After lunch we went downstairs and looked at some of van Gogh's art and I looked for post cards to help me write my blog about my favorite paintings. Then we walked back to our apartment.

I had tones of fun in Paris but I had to chose my favorites and the Musee D'Orsee, the food street and the Chanps Ellysee were on the top of my list.

By Kayley

PS. Bippy has all the pictures from Paris.

MY FAVORITE PAINTINGS AT THE MUSEE D’ORSEE by kayley

Today Bippy, Gramps, Mia and I visited the Musee D’orsee in Paris. Musee D’orsee is a museum of impressionist paintings and Bippy was
in love with the museum. My favorite painting that I saw is Essai de figure
en plein air (vers la gauche) by Claude Monet. Another of my favorites is
the L’Eglise d’Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du Chevet by Vincent van Gogh. And a
painting I don’t know the name of by Renoir.

My favorite, Essai de figure en plein air (vers la gauche) is a
painting of a lady on a wind swept, grassy ridge on a spring day. The reason why I like the painting so much is that you can se the motion of the wind on the figure and her surroundings and I love how bright the colors are. I’m
guessing it was a spring day because the sky was a light blue and some new
spring grass was poking up out of the ground. The figure of the lady is
wearing a white dress with a straw hat holding a green umbrella and probably
a veil because her face is kind of blurred.
The van Gogh painting is of a church with a sagging roof that
makes the church look haunted. A path forks right in front of the church and
proceeds on either side of it, a slightly plump lady wearing a hat’s walking
on the left side of the left path. Green grass covers the ground and is
sprinkled with white and yellow spring flowers. In the distance, behind the
church is a village with trees and red roofs.
The other painting by Renoir is of two young girls, a blond girl
playing the piano and a brunet girl pointing at the sheet music. The blond
haired girl was wearing a white dress with blue ribbons and was very pretty.
The brown haired girl was wearing a red dress with a white lace collar. The
two girls were in a nice wallpapered room.
After seeing the Musee D’orsee I have figured out witch impressionist painters I like, Monet, Renoir and van Gogh. I’m glade we went into the museum because the line into the museum was really long because today was a free day.
By Kayley

MY FAVORITE PAINTINGS AT THE MUSEE D’ORSEE by kayley

Today Bippy, Gramps, Mia and I visited the Musee D’orsee in
Paris. Musee D’orsee is a museum of impressionist paintings and Bippy was
in love with the museum. My favorite painting that I saw is Essai de figure
en plein air (vers la gauche) by Claude Monet. Another of my favorites is
the L’Eglise d’Auvers-sur-Oise, vue du Chevet by Vincent van Gogh. And a
painting I don’t know the name of by Renoir.

My favorite, Essai de figure en plein air (vers la gauche) is a
painting of a lady on a wind swept, grassy ridge on a spring day. The reason why I like the painting so much is that you can se the motion of the wind on the figure and her surroundings and I love how bright the colors are. I’m
guessing it was a spring day because the sky was a light blue and some new
spring grass was poking up out of the ground. The figure of the lady is
wearing a white dress with a straw hat holding a green umbrella and probably
a veil because her face is kind of blurred.
The van Gogh painting is of a church with a sagging roof that
makes the church look haunted. A path forks right in front of the church and
proceeds on either side of it, a slightly plump lady wearing a hat’s walking
on the left side of the left path. Green grass covers the ground and is
sprinkled with white and yellow spring flowers. In the distance, behind the
church is a village with trees and red roofs.
The other painting by Renoir is of two young girls, a blond girl
playing the piano and a brunet girl pointing at the sheet music. The blond
haired girl was wearing a white dress with blue ribbons and was very pretty.
The brown haired girl was wearing a red dress with a white lace collar. The
two girls were in a nice wallpapered room.
After seeing the Musee D’orsee I have figured out witch impressionist painters I like, Monet, Renoir and van Gogh. I’m glade we went into the museum because the line into the museum was really long because today was a free day.
By Kayley

PARIS by Mia

After some very fattening buffet breakfast at the Toledo Parador we headed up to the Madrid airport. On the way we were going to stop and see a really big palace but we couldn't find it and just ended up driving around in circles until we just stopped at a Starbucks for a pick me up and gave up. We got lost again on the way to the airport and when we finally got there we were definitely glad we hadn't stopped at the palace because if we had we would have missed our plane. Gramps went off in a taxi to drop off Zander and Sarah at the hotel where mommy and daddy would meet them later while the rest of us checked in. Then came the normal airport routine and the 2hour flight to Charles de Gaulle.

We were welcomed at the airport by a guy named Paul in his shiny black Mercedes-Benz. Arrival in style!!! That car was nice! And now we have bragging rights to Zander for having actually been inside a Benz. Our apartment, however was of very different quality to the Benz. We cruised up to the plain red door, fumbled around with the sticky lock, and then dragged our bags up two flights of stairs in a tight spiral. Our door had butterfly stickers on it and the apartment was about half the size of the hotel room we had occupied the night before. It was, as the guy who was letting us use it rightly said, cavelike. There was a tiny room that served as the bedroom, living room, and dining room, and three even tinier rooms containing the kitchen, bathroom, and itty bitty toilet room. The ceiling was sagging , and It was decorated with a ramshackle array of stuff. It was incredibly cute, and incredibly french!

We got organized and rested a bit and then went out to dinner at a brasserie a few blocks from the apartment. It was almost midnight by then, but everything was still open and hopping. The brasserie was one of those places with all the random but funny signs tacked all over the walls. In addition to street signs, funny signs, and hotel signs, there were random nicknacks, old looking books, and all sorts of other stuff on every available surface. If you just glance at it all you would think that some one had raided a flea market and spread it out randomly over the room. But, if you look closely, you see little things that show incredible effort. The colored stones hot glued to the edges of a shelf. The stains on the walls that become ghostly people upon closer inspection. The way everything is placed perfectly for maximum crookedness and cuteness. Someone obviously spent a lot of time trying to make this look carelessly ramshackle. It was fantastic!

The first full day in Paris we went to breakfast at a cafe on our the "food street". The street was lined with artisan shops selling cheese, meats and bread, patisseries (one of which was visited by the Queen of England according to all the postcards out front), pharmacies, grocery stores, and of course about a million and one cafes. Also there was the Palais de Fruit which was a big shop full of the most yummy looking fruit ever!!

After breakfast we went to the island in the middle of the Siene river that has the historic center. We went to Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, and the Conciergerie. I think you all know what Notre Dame is, but Saint Chapelle is a little church that was made to house the crown of thorns, so it is shaped sort of like a relic box and the walls are almost entirely stained glass. The Conciergerie was the prison for all the people sentenced to death by guillotine during the French revolution. There were four levels of cells: the poor got a little room with straw on the floor and three roommates, the rich could buy a room with a bed and only one roommate, the rich and famous got a room to themselves with a desk and everything, and Marie Antoinette had a room twice the size of the others, with a tapestry on the wall, a table and chair, a nicer bed, and a little alter thingy. Its pretty crazy how different the queen of France's cell was from even the rich and famous people's cells.

By the time we were out of the Conciergerie we were really tired but we used the last drop of energy to stop by the Eifel Tower for like twenty minutes. We just took our pictures and left and don't bother to go to the top. We were too tired! Then we took the ferry back down the Seine and went back to the cave and rested a bit before Bippy and Gramps's friend Sue Ann came. We ate bread and cheese in the main room before they all went out to dinner. I stayed home because I was really tired and not that hungry.

The next day we went to the Louvre which was huge beyond belief so we only visited the most famous things like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. I'm not sure why the Mona Lisa is so famous because it is really small and dark compared to all the other paintings in the room with it. There was a huge crowd around it anyway, and they had it covered in a big glass case. We also saw Napolean III's apartments which were really fancy (lots of big chandeliers). After the Louvre we walked through the Tuileries to Avenue Champs Élysées. We walked up that, stopping in the middle at a cafe near the biggest Sephora in France. We had some really good ice cream there and I walked around in the Sephora. I didn't buy anything because the lines to the cashiers were about a mile long. It was so crowded you could barely move! By the time we reached the Arc de Triomphe at the en of the Avenue, there was no way we would be able to walk back, so Gramps hailed a cab and we got driven home.

For our last dinner in Paris we went across the street to a more modern cafe which had really good Cesar salad. We got there at about 8:30 and the place was absolutely deserted. It was just picking up when we left at 11!! Those Parisians eat late! The next day was Sunday, so all the museums were free entry. We were going to the Musee d'Orsay to see impressionist paintings. On the way there we passed the Louvre and then line was out the courtyard and almost turning the corner of the building! And trust me, with the Louvre that is extremely long; that place is so big! Just past the Louvre we ducked inside a little cathedral just out of curiosity, and we ended up staying for an entire Sunday mass. That is what happens when you travel with Bippy. It was cool, even though I almost fell asleep because a sermon in French is about as good as a lullaby.

Then we walked to the museum and waited in line for about an hour. The line wasn't as bad as the one at the Louvre, but still pretty long! The Musee d'Orsay is full of impressionist art;both paintings and statues. We focused on the famous stuff like Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. Then we had lunch at a really cool cafe in the museum with awesome Cesar salad and really good ice cream.There was like a fifty fifty ratio of ice cream to whipped cream!! I love the food in France!! By then it was time to walk back to the apartment to pack up and get ready for Paul and his Benz to take Kayley, Gramps, and me to the airport. Bippy and Gramps were staying for a few more days and Kayley and I were flying back to Madrid by ourselves!

Flying by ourselves was not that different from flying with other people. Sure, there was a flight attendant monitoring our every move, and while we were waiting to board we sat behind the desk with them, but other than that it was the same. It was really cool to listen to them talking even though we don't understand French. Their English is pretty much limited to a few scripted phrases including "the plane is delayed 15minutes, but we expect to arrive in Madrid in time". it was delayed more than fifteen minutes, and we did not arrive in Madrid on time.

The flight was uneventful, and when we got to Madrid at around midnight we were escorted to the arrivals place by another flight attendant. This time there was another 'unaccompanied minor' with us. He was a little nine year old kid who claimed to speak nine languages including japonese and Chinese, English, German, and some others. The flight attendant obviously couldn't decide whether he was telling the truth or not! It was the cutest thing ever! Then the little kid said that his mom could speak sixteen languages! I didn't even know there were that many languages in existance!

We met daddy at the arrivals place and then piled in the car to drive to Churriana. It was a sunday night and we had school the next morning. We didn't get home until 2 am! I skipped the first period of school the next day because I was sleeping. It was just study hall so it was okay. Paris was so fun, it was totally worth the lack of sleep, though! We caught up on sleep lying on a beach in Motril for several hours that afternoon, though.

Granada -- Toledo by Mia

The second weekend with Bippy and Gramps was a little bit more mellow. We stayed at home and took a trip ino Granada on Saturday. On Friday afternoon I had started to feel a bit sick and by the time Saturday came around I was feeling no better, but I went anyway. I really like downtown Granada!

We drove in and parked in an overstuffed parking garage after a bit of driving in circles (which is inevitable in any old city, I've found) and set off walking to the tourist information office. The lady in there gave Gramps a map and suggested an itinerary around the Albaycin (the old area) and through the major tourist spots, like the Cathedral and stuff. The first part of the trip was a bit boring and icky because I was feeling pretty bad and it was really hot out. We were walking around a lot and not going into anything except for a little church and an ice cream shop (that gave me a bit nof energy but ice cream only lasts so long).

We stopped for lunch in a square, but I didn't order anything except for a ton of water and orange juice because I wasn't hungry. I just ate the paella we got for tapas which was really good. After we got out of the Albaycin it was much more fun. We walked over to the Cathedral and waited a little while for it to open. The Cathedral was really cool! And I mean that literally. They had the air conditioning on way too high in there because walking in the door was like walking straight from the Sahara desert into Siberia. Other than the temperature issues it actually was really awesome. You walk in theough the bishop's robing room (which, I must say, was way bigger than a closet has any right to be), and the on into the main Cathedral. When you walk in you sort of just stop and say wow because the Gothic styled architecture makes it look much taller than it actually is. It doesn't help to walk in to the side of the cathedral where there is a sort of forest of gigantic columns between you and the aisle. I am proud to say that I have been in a fair number of cathedrals, but I think the reason that it was so surprising to walk into this one was because we were entering from the side. All the other cathedrals we have been in were entered from the big doors exactly opposite from the alter. Whatever the reason, most of the big cathedrals in Spain are entered from the side. I kind of like it because there is a bit of suspense before you get to the big fancy gilded bit at the alter.

After the cathedral we made our way back to the car and drove back home. For the next two days I was a permanent resident of the couch! On Monday I was feeling a bit better but I decided that it is not fair to be sick on the weekend and still have to go to school, so I stayed home to fully recover. We had decided to skip Wednesday to Friday of that week to go to Toledo and then Paris for Kayley and I and northern Spain for the other two. I only had to go to one day of school that week and I am pretty sure it was the best day of school yet. Mostly that was because there was very little schooling going on. I watched a movie for two of the hours, had special Spanish class for another two hours, had English class for one ( where I only sit and read), and I was let out an hour early because the teacher never showed up for last period. Just shows how bad that school is, if I can go there and not go to a single real class!! But it was a great day, and while I walked home I probably looked like an absolute idiot because I was grinning, skipping and humming the whole way! It was like "Yes! I'm freeeeee!!".

Pretty much promptly after Zander got back from school we set out for Toledo. It was a big fat three hour drive and we spent it eating the food Bippy had packed for lunch and passing around the electronics we had and trying not to get too bored. When we finally got to the hotel in Toledo, it was a relief! Zander and Kayley were all but in a fist fight, and things were getting kind of tense. Toledo was absolutely amazing! We stayed in the Parador Hotel which has the best view of the city, and we all had beds (woo hoo!). Bippy and Gramps got two three person rooms and the girls stayed in one and Bippy and Gramps stayed in the other with Zander.

We spent the rest of the day watching TV and lying around in the room.At 8:39 we had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was on a big balcony with the most amazing view on earth. You just sit there and stare at it and every time we ate there we had to get the camera out and take about a gazillion pictures because it was just so beautiful. You could see out over the town with the cathedrals, the palace thingy, and all sorts of other cool stuff at the top of the hill, the houses all the way down the hill to the walls, and the two bridges over the river that circles half of the edge. The food was really good there too, and the waiters were really nice.

The next day we went into town and spent about 2hours in the Cathedral of Toledo which has all the extra rooms off it like the robing room (complete with some really uncomfortable looking robes), the treasury (with some really nice treasure), the monastery thingy, etc. It was a little bit bigger than the Granada cathedral, and much nicer. Then we went to lunch where I had some really delicious lasagna.

After lunch we went to the El Greco museum and then visited a synagogue. By then we were about to fall on our faces and it was super hot, so we went back to the car and went back to the Parador. We had a few hours before dinner time and we were going to go swimming, but it turned out that the pool isn't open until June! We were so mad because we were leaving the day before June started. So we just watched some more TV until dinner. We sat out there on the balcony eating our fancy food and fancy desserts, watching the sun set over Toledo. It was perfect! And I loved it.

Trip to Toledo with Bippy and Gramps by Zander

Trip to Toledo with Bippy and Gramps by Zander

Sorry no pictures, Bippy and Gramps have them couldn't get access to them when I published

Bippy and Gramps took us on site seeing trips near Granada, while they stayed with us. The previous trips with Bippy and Gramps were a blast. Two weeks ago, we went to a Marriott resort on the Spanish Riviera for 2 days. I have never done that with my parents. It sounds nice and it was. But on the second day, it rained. We also went to downtown Granada last week end. There is a really fancy cathedral in the center of Granda. In the cathedral there is so much gold leafing on the walls and ceiling that your eyes start to hurt. The problem was that it was really big, so there was 3 blinding hours to finish the cathedral off. On the alter, the priest over did the decorations and there wasn't a inch where there wasn't some gold or a statue. Traveling with Bippy and Gramps was a different experience from traveling with my parents. We didn't see all the sights as quick as we can, but saw a few things really well. On this trip, we went to Toledo for 2 days.

When we went to Toledo, Bippy booked a really nice hotel for us. To be precise, a cheap four star hotel. It was called the Parador. There was a spectacular view.
We could see the whole old city. When we ate dinner at a really nice restaurant, I had steak, because it was the first chance I got to eat steak. Spain is not known for there beef steaks, but this was really good. I enjoyed the dinner with the view. The town was right across from us. There was a picture perfect river in the gorge in between the Parador and the the town. We could see the whole town. The great cathedral flood lighted, looking like a classic gothic cathedral. The palace of Toledo stood out because of how big and tall it was. Eating dinner at the Parador was a marvelous experienced.

We weren't the only ones at the hotel. It was practically over run by Japanese tourists. While we were eating dinner, they were non stop taking pictures with a wide range of cameras.They had the big lensed Canons, all the way to i Pads and iPhones. The Japanese usually travelled in groups with a tour guide. The restaurant servers didn't look so happy, because they had to serve on all of them tourists. I was surprised that they had time to take photos, because the food was so good. The picture to bite of food ratio was about 2 to 1. I couldn't see how they could take so many pictures, because I was to busy stuffing my mouth.

When I couldn't eat any more, we went to the rooms to "go to bed". Which means, watch TV until we got told to stop. I shared a room with Bippy and Gramps but spent most of my time in the other room with my sisters watching TV. I knew that I had to go to bed, because we had to walk around Toledo the next day.

After some decent shut eye, we got up and had a really good buffet breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice and chocolate donuts with bacon( interesting combination, doesn't sit well in my stomach). We got some directions to go into town. Driving with Gramps is different then driving with my dad. Gramps is much calmer and we didn't take many scenic routes. When we found parking with only 1 detour. A world record in my book!!! We got out and started walking.

The main attraction in Toledo is the cathedral, so that was our first stop. The cathedral doesn't look big from the front, but it is pretty deceiving. The cathedral is really big. There is a monastery connected to the side and some really cool stained glass windows. My grandma couldn't wait for the robing room. It is a room filled with all the outfits for the bishop. For me, it was the anticlimax. I would rather spent a hour at an art museum, then see that room again. Bippy was so exited she could stay there all day, if we didn't drag her away. She kept on commenting about how many beads there were and how hard to would be to sew it. I could care less that this robe had gold thread and beads all over it!!!!!!! So when we got out of there, we saw the rest of the cathedral. The most amazing part of the cathedral with all the gold and sculptures was where around the alter
was and the choir sat during service. The funniest thing was, the people in the choir had small seats that when they rested on them, they looked like they were standing. I thought that this church was over decorated and with all the gold that they put in the church, they could feed people instead. But at least when the pilgrims stayed in Toledo, they gave them somewhere to sleep. While we saw all the paintings in the church, Bippy told us history about them. She must have a lot of extra time on her hands because she had something to say about almost every panting, and there are a lot of painting in the church. They had mother mary with a crap load of baby's about, and 10 paintings of Jesus and monks being crucified. When we finished the tour de paintings, we moved on to the monastery.

In the monastery, there was a room that had the plans for all the famous cathedrals in Europe, so you could compare them. My grandparents were all over it and made us all look at it. The reason was that we have been doing a course on gothic cathedrals, so it would be " educational". The problems with travailing with girls is that they liked to take a long time looking at everything and " soak it in". My gramps and I spent most of the time waiting for them to finish up. So 3 long hours later.... We made our way out of the cathedral. The fresh air felt so good and I felt like I had accomplished an amazing feat on seeing the cathedral with my grandma.

Toledo was a center for commercial and trade over 1000 years ago, so naturally it has a pretty big old town. What I really like about it is that Toledo is known for its swords. They make them really well, and in an area where there is some really good steel. So since it was known for it's swords, there are tons of shops selling them to tourists. I think that the swords are cool, but they are really big and really heavy. They have everything from daggers to broad swords. All the shops have the same variety of swords. So how do they expect to sell their products? I thought that if the buyers had any sense, they wouldn't by anything as big and heavy as a sword because most of them have a long plane ride home and good luck getting a sword on an airplane.

One of the things that I noticed about Toledo is that there are not any modern buildings. All the building look old and the same. Gramps said that it was to make the city look old. How would the city look if there was a bright pink house, everyone wouldn't like to see that, and it would look really odd. Plus nobody comes to a historic city like Toledo to see a nice pink house ( except Sarah) when they have traveled half way around the world ( like so many of the Japanese tourists )and paid a lot. The Japanese tourist want to see a classic old (cute) town with really nice building, cathedral, and cute shops (selling stuff that nobody needs but they all want).

In Toledo, there is a really famous painter, El Greco. So we had to see his museum. I was not excited, because we were going with Bippy. It would take a really long time and she knew a lot about El Greco. I was prepared for a lecture. It was also one of her favorite painters, so that would mean longer lectures. I quickly found out how to avoid the lectures. You stay really far ahead, so she can't see you. I spent most of the time with Gramps, because he had the same mind set as me. The museum was El Greco's house. We got to see where he live and painted. I thought that his paintings looked like normal paintings for his time, lots of portraits of dukes and bishops. What I noticed was all the portraits of the famous people have a big battle behind them, and are holdings weapons. He made it look as if they were part of the fight( and that they're tough), but they really aren't. So with the sword shops, the El Greco museum, the old town, and some pretty impressive history, it makes for a really good town to be a tourist in.

Seeing Toledo Bippy and Gramps style was a cool. One of my favorite parts of the trips was eating at the restraint and the view. Traveling with Bippy and gramps was a real change. It was usually much calmer and not rushed. My dad is like, we have 2 hours to see the town get to work!!! After Toledo, we had to go to Madrid to meet up my parents ( sadly). So we got into Madrid with out any trouble, but finding our hotel was a different story. We tried about 10 times and ended up on the wrong side of the highway or in the middle of nowhere. Gramps was swelling up like a blowfish. so he finely gave up and dropped off the car and we got a cab.

I was thinking that my dad would never give up, no mater how mad he got. So we dropped Mia, Kayley, and Bippy off at the air port, after taking a big pile of school books from Kayley the collector. She always brings school stuff so that she can do homework. We are on vacation so it's impossible. I think that she thinks that she has the self restraint to do her homework, but when there is a TV and homework, she choses the TV. So we got the cab and drove to the hotel. Gramps was a little ticked off there wasn't a pen in the hotel. He needed to give us some phone numbers so that if there was a problem. He was worried that since it was only Sarah and I, what would happen if there was any problems like if mom and dad's plane was late (thank god). So with no pens, he went all boy scout on us and wrote the numbers on the a glass surface with soap. When he had finished, I found a pen in my bag. We were saved, but we couldn't get the soap off the glass. After 3 hours of watching TV, my parents showed up. I didn't know if I was happy to see my parents or sad to say bye to my grandparents. After the 2 days in Toledo, I wished that we could stay longer.

W

Sarah's blog

Toledo by Sarah

My 2nd day in Toledo with Bippy and Gramps was awesome because we walked around town and saw the cathedral, synagogue, and a museum. Also, the resort that we stayed at was fancy and I liked it.

The Parador Resort had really yummy food, great view, and I thought it was cool that it looked like it was made out of an old monastery. On the outside, it looked like the cathedral. It's texture, building materials on the exterior, but inside the Parador was all modern and very comfortable. It had two restaurants. One was relaxed and the other that we ate at was fancy. I had breaded chicken and croquets for tapas. It was yummy. The Parador is on a hill that overlooks the city and the river that hugs the city. Our room had a balcony that looked over some of the city and the pool that would open the day after we checked out. The view made me feel like I was with daddy because it's a view that he would have liked.

The cathedral in Toledo looked really small from the outside, but was very huge on the inside. The cathedral is a museum but used to be a working church with monks in it. Now the rooms are full of information signs and displays. I don't know what they said, but the pictures had different cathedrals and diagrams of how the cathedral was built. Some rooms had statues and murals showing bible stories. Other rooms had just paintings of Mary and Jesus. My favorite room was the treasury. It had a huge gold statue with religious people, angels, and pilgrims walking all around it. There were also, the crown, jewelry, tons of very large bibles, and pretty goblets in the treasury. I think the church was really rich!

The synagogue was strange to see because it was different from the rest of Toledo. The style of the building made it stand out. It reminded me of fast food restaurants because it had a simple roof that reminds me of the SLO McDonalds on Foothill. The other buildings in Toledo were normal apartment building or gothic. The synagogue was mostly empty inside, except for on bench against one wall. That is very different from the cathedrals.

Lastly, we walked to the El Geco Museum which was his house. It looked as if it was built by someone who didn't know how to build because it had crooked shelves and the walls weren't straight. Inside, it had new pots and pans, chairs, and a fire place. I noticed that Greco made the faces in his paints really white. I think he was a Renaissance painter because some of his subjects wore bishops hats and he's not alive any more and in the shops down the street had swords, armor, and lots of knives.

Bippy and Gramps made my day in Toledo memorable. The sights were all different and enjoyable.