Zanders tips on having a good trip

under a dome in Greece

Going on a world tour is a lot of work. You need to have the right mind set and some planning. You don’t want to get off the air plane without a plan.  You will waste a lot of time on your trip and it will not be as much fun.  For instance, if you are going to place like India or Egypt, you need to know if you can drive your own car or do you have to have a driver. You also need to have patience or you will end up really fed up with everyone you deal with, if you don’t you will not be able to tell the difference in between people who want to help you and people who want your money. When on a big trip, to have a good time, you need to have a plan, sort out your transportation, and have a positive attitude and have some personal space.

The worst thing that can happen is to get off an airplane and not know where you need to go.  It gets even worse if it is at night and the grumpy kids just make it worse. When we were in Bali, we walked out of the air port and we were overrun by people trying to get us in their cab to take us to our apartment. It was so crazy that my dad didn't want to use any of the cabs, because they were so annoying. In Egypt, we got to the airport at about mid day.  My dad sat down and tried to shake off everyone. We finally settled for one of the drivers, after some research. I think that it would have been much less stressful if we had planned a pick up. In Europe, in cities like Rome and Paris, having a car is really difficult because parking is expensive and there are buses and a metro system to get places.  When we were in Amsterdam, we had a rental car for the 3 days we were in the city. The car sat at a parking lot that we were paying 25€ a day for and doing nothing. So you should figure out the traffic situations in big cities before deciding to get a car. In places like Egypt and India you can’t rent a car. I think the government thinks that you will get overrun by their traffic.  The drivers can be a little sketchy.  A useful tip is to agree on a price before hand.  The driver won't like it, but the drivers can be a little mean. When we were in Alexandria, Egypt, we hired a driver to take us to the train station.  We had agreed on 800 Egyptian pounds plus a tip. When we got to the train station the driver said that we had agreed on 2000 pounds and it was 800 per person. We ended up shoving the 800 pounds into his hand and running into the station. He followed us into the station yelling loudly and making a scene.  But once he saw the police, he backed down and left us in peace. Keep in mind that in all the different countries, transportation is very different so you have to be prepared for them all.

To make a trip bearable, you need to have the right mind set.  Going on a world tour, no matter how much you plan, there will be some unaccounted difficulties that you need to be prepared for. It is really rare to go through a trip without getting something stolen from you or having another problem. We got our laptop stolen from us in Pisa, Italy.   We had hidden it under our seats in the car, but it still got stolen.  In India and Egypt, we took a picture of your drivers, his car, and our bags before leaving them.  It is a good idea so you can hold someone accountable. Hold all your valuables, like your camera, cell phone, computer, passport, and money on you at all times. You don’t want your bags to get stolen and be left with nothing. I noticed that in the undeveloped countries, they had scary people but they never worked in gangs. But in places like Spain and Italy, the guys worked in gangs. Having a positive attitude is really important, without it you could be seeing the pyramids of Egypt and not be able to appreciate it.

After one year, I sure needed some space from my family!  So taking a walk or getting some space is a really good idea.  So when the trip is over, you don't want to kill each other.  Sarah is a perfect example. If she is around us for long periods of time, she gets really pissed off at everyone. But after a walk, she is much more pleasant to be around. To have a good time you need to have your space, too much time with anyone will get people on edge.

If you are going on a trip, some important things to consider are: personal space, keeping track of your bags, and planning ahead of time. The worst thing that can happen is to say that we are going to wing it. When you land in a foreign country without a plan, you will spend a lot of time and money getting a plan and you won’t have as much time seeing the sights that you want to see. So having a plan, sorting out transportation, having a good attitude, and some personal space is key to having a good vacation.

Some Advice I'd Give to a Friend Who Was Traveling Around the World by Kayley

We have learned how to make traveling fun and adventurous from our world tour, but I wish it had been more relaxing and not as adventurous. Here are some tips on making traveling more relaxing and fun for all.

It is very important to plan your trips well. The thing that really bugged me about this trip was that we didn't really plan every day of it. But in India and Egypt, that fact was nice, since we could go through all the sights really quickly and take a vacation at the end. We all think that we should have planned New Zealand better, because we thought it would be very easy to get into a house and school, but it wasn't.

What really worked was that mommy planned for us to see a little of every thing every day during our travels. For example, we'd see a museum, a cathedral or a temple in the morning and we'd see a tower or botanical garden or the beach in the afternoon. For example, in Paris, we saw Notre Dame in the morning and then we walked to Musee D'Orsay , then we walked to the Eiffel Tower. This theory worked because we didn't get too tired of museums or churches.

I really liked taking little weekend trips with Bippy and Gramps, because all we had to do was drive to our hotel, check in, and see what ever we were there to see. They planned. That type of traveling is so relaxing but that just does not happen with my parents. With my parents, it is usually hectic. In Europe, we did get to relax in town squares sometimes to soak up the European culture. But it is not very relaxing to travel with them because we don't have solid plans and most of the time we were traveling, we didn't know where we would go the next day.

SEE THINGS THAT REALLY INTEREST YOU
We researched all of the sites we saw on the internet, then we narrowed down the list so that we only had a manageable amount of sites to see. For example: In Italy sometimes if we were walking along and we saw some thing interesting and we went over to see it. Being able to see what you want to see even if its not on the itinerary gives you a feeling of freedom. Once in Florence, Italy we walked to a random square and coincidently in that square was the finish line if a running race and we stayed in the square for a little while to watch the runners finish. Another time we were walking around Brussels and we saw a cool looking church and we walked around it and it turned out that the church was originally on our itinerary. I also had a great time in Greece seeing the sites on my list because I am really interested in the ancient Greeks and I admire them. I like the ancient greeks because I really enjoy reading their story's about the history and creation of their world. So it was really cool for me to visit the famous Greek sites.

Having free time was key when we were traveling because it gives you time to settle in, relax, and absorb the culture and some times the sun. While we were traveling, we always needed free time away from each other. Free time could also mean have coffee and ice cream or some pastries in a piazza. For example, starting in Italy we started a tradition of eating gelato while we walked around our sites or eating the gelato in a sunny square. The gelato was really yummy, so I really like the tradition.

I think that we would have seriously benefitted if we had slowed down in Europe and took at least a week in each country instead of seeing Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Paris, and London all in two weeks. We slowed down in New Zealand, Spain, Istanbul, Athens and Rome and we had a lot of fun in those places because we got to know the place and the people. A week for each big city with the exception of Paris would have done the job. We couldn't stay in Europe for very long because school in Spain ended later than we expected, and we had to get to the family reunion on time.

Planning your trip so you have enough time in every place you visit is always key when you travel. You should always be interested in what you are seeing and always go to interesting places. You should plan to have some free time to relax wherever you go.With these traveling tips, anyone can have a nice time traveling.

By Kayley Rolph

Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guards !!!

In London, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. The guards in England have a funny dance and outfits.

Their outfits have a very big fury hat with a colored pom-pom on it. The color of the pom-pom depends on their rank. The guards wore a red uniform that was a long sleeved shirt, pants with stripes of shiny gold fabric, a red and gold jacket, and the hat. They had gold decoration on their shoulders. I think the guards have an air conditioner in their hats or something cold because it was very warm out and they looked comfortable. I was hot.

In front of Buckingham Palace, there is a big statue of a person on a chariot in the middle of a roundabout. The roundabout is what the guards march around. The guards walk like a parade, there is a band, people with guns, people on horses, and people with nothing but their outfits.
Some of the guards are doing a dance, some are marching, some are playing instruments, or riding their horses. I think almost 1,050 people were watching the changing of the guards around the roundabout. The changing of the guards that we watched was in the morning at about 11:00. The guards have a huge ceremony because it is a way to check if some one is trying to get into the palace, because only the guards know the dance.

The changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace was very amazing. I watched the changing of the guards from a wall across the street from the Buckingham Palace with my family. The ceremony looked funny and very hard to coordinate even from my seat on the wall.

The Architectural Styles We Stole by Kayley

I've noticed that we ( the Americans) have stolen the Ancient Greek architectural style for our government buildings and memorials. I think that the most Greek style building is the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C.

The Abraham Lincoln's memorial looks just like an a Ancient Greek temple except that the facade roof isn't as triangular as the Greek temples. It has a flat roof but in the middle there's a very small triangle. The roof is probably the only thing that would separate it from a Greek temple except maybe the fact that every thing is in English and the fact that it is a memorial to honor Lincoln's greatness in freeing the slaves and not a temple worshipping a god or gods.

The pillars in the front of the building were definitely made in the ancient Greek style and the room behind them too. The statue behind the pillars of Abraham Lincoln sitting down was where the statue of Athena in the Parthenon would be. The only thing that wasn't totally copied from a Greek temple was the statue of Abe Lincoln. He wasn't a god wearing a toga either. He wore his suit. On the walls to the left and right of Abraham Lincoln, there were two of his famous speeches carved onto the white marble ( the choice of stone was also very Greek). I read the whole speech that was on the left of the statue, but I only got around to reading the first five lines on the top and bottom of the other speech. The speeches were about how Lincoln thought that some time we'Il have to free the slaves and stuff like that. I think the speeches were kind of boring.

I thought that it was kind of weak that we've tried to copy the Ancient Greeks to such an extent that practically all of our government buildings have at least Greek columns and are made out of white marble and democracy was the Athenians idea and it worked perfectly until the Romans conquered Athens. What bugs me about every one copying the Ancient Greeks ( especially the Ancient Romans) is that they don't get much credit for the work that we copy.

UBy Kayley Rolph

The Capital Building by Zander

Photo of The capital building

In DC, there are a lot of famous buildings, for instance, the Capital. It houses the House of Representatives and the Senate. Almost everyone in America knows what it is at first sight. The building is really big, white, and has lots of columns and a big dome with a statue on top. When we were in DC, it was a must see. So we saw it.

While we walked, we looked at what the American architects stole from other cultures. I noticed that it had Greek columns with capitals which were Doric design. They used a lot of marble for the construction which the Greeks and Romans used in there buildings. But the dome looked like it was Italian because it looked like the dome at Saint Peters Cathedral in Italy. It had a statue on top and at the base, it had columns and windows. There was a really nice bronze statue at the top of the dome which I wanted to see but it was too high up. My favorite part of seeing the building was looking at the building from a ways away, looking at it from far away makes the Capital look really big and intimidating.

I think that the architect for the Capital focused the design of the building on the Greeks because it was the building where democracy is " practiced". Since the Greeks started democracy, it only makes sense to copy them.

The only thing that I wish that we could have gone to the top of the dome because it must be a pretty nice view. I have never been up there.
My favorite part of the day was walking through the park and looking at all the really famous buildings, especially the Capital Building because it looked very prominent and a lot of important people work there.

Advice by mia

This trip hasiybop3been a huge adventure and we all learned a lot. Is someone else were to decide to do a trip like this, here is some things I would tell them. C

First off all, the trick for survival is to break it up. If you just go from city to city looking at awesome stuff, everything you see will start to blur together and you wont remember any of it. Break up the trips to the city with camping or to the beach or something relaxing in nature to clean the slate. Otherwise the vacation will turn into work and won't be any fun at all.

In our trip we tried to go relax in every country, depending on the intensity of the sightseeing we were doing, but toward the end when we were speeding around Europe, we only had time to hit the Swiss Alps for a day or two and it wasn't enough. I can barely remember where we went and most of the stuff we saw I have forgotten already. We were pretty good about taking breaks at most of the other places, though.

Another thing is about planning. It's about the balance between spontaneity and planning. It helps to book hotels and rent cars ahead of time, but not plan every second of ever day. It's fun to just scratch things off The List at the last second. When we were in Paris we decided at the last second that we didn't want to go to the Louvre. It's kind of a good reminder that The List actually can be changed. An example of an unplanned disaster was the beginning of our stay in New Zealand. We ended up blowing a fortune on hotels while we tried to find a rental, and wasted a ton of time. It's also fun just to get lost sometimes and wander through the cute alleys in Europe.

The last piece of advice I have is to record the trip somehow. A year is a really long to travail and, trust me, by the end of it you will not be able to remember any of it without help. Write a diary, or a blog ( like us!) and take a ton of pictures. Any unrecorded memory will be lost forever!

So there you go, the only other thing is to pack light because you don't want to carry a ton of stuff. Also, pack in backpacks because it's hard to drag suitcases with wheels over cobbles. Whoever you are, good luck on your trip and I hope all this helped! We had a lot of fun, maybe not as much when we were actually there as now that its over, though!

Things we stole in WashingtonDC by mia

During this trip I have noticed that almost every country has stolen things from other countries, be it architecture, monuments, or treasure. In Washington, DC there wasn't any stolen monuments, but the architecture definitely wasn't original. It was mostly Greek. Also, the Washington monument is an obelisk which is Egyptian (even though we didn't actually take it from Egypt like most other countries).

Most of the architecture of the government buildings and memorials in DC is Greek, but this is hardly 'stealing' because everyone uses Greek architecture. The memorial which is especially greek is the Jefferson memorial, which is really similar to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is actually Roman, but I seriously can't tell the difference between Greek and Roman architecture except, perhaps, that Greek is simpler. Like the Pantheon, the Jefferson Memorial is round, with a big dome and a column-y front like the Pantheon. The Memorial is more like a portico, because it is really open and there are only walls where there is a famous passage from the deceleration of independence engraved upon it. The big spaces between engraved walls have Doric columns (again Greek) holding up the roof.

The dome is also very similar to that of the Pantheon because it has square holes in the inside of the dome, kind of like a honeycomb, and a sort of step around the outside of the dome on the exterior. The honeycomb effect is to lighten the roof, and the extra steps on the base of the dome are to add weight to the base, and counteract the outward thrust from the dome. The same thing happens on the Pantheon. The entire memorial (like most of the other important buildings in our capital) is made of bright white marble, which is usually associated with Greece as well.

There is no new form of architecture in the government buildings and memorials in Washington, DC, but I don't think it is right to accuse anyone of stealing the Greek architecture. So many people use it that it is practically public property anyway.

Dinner With the Lors by Kayley

On our second day in Paris, my family and I Metroed over to the Chinese side of Paris to visit Mommy's cousins at their restaurant. We had been invited to have dinner at their restaurant that they have owned for about twenty-five years to meet them. Mommy hadn't seen her cousins in a long time and in some cases she hadn't met them at all.

We arrived thirty minutes early for the dinner, because we weren't sure if the dinner party was at seven o'clock or seven thirty, so we got there at seven o'clock. In our spare thirty minutes, we walked around the block and sat on a bench in a toddler play ground because we were really tired from sight seeing I Paris a few hours earlier. At seven thirty we walked across the street to La Lune ( Mommy's cousins Asian restaurant) and sat down at the back of the restaurant to wait for the rest of the party to arrive. Robert, the owner of the restaurant added a bunch more tables to ours so that it would fit every one. The table was one really long and ran along the whole back wall of the restaurant. Then, Robert set the tables with chop sticks, napkins, water and these crispy white wafers thingies that tasted like yummy deep fried stuff.

When the rest of the party came, mommy got up and hugged and introduced us to everyone. We met Noelle's sister, Emily and two other couples. Two of the couples had kids and a bunch of other people. The father of the two girls was a Spaniard and talked spanish to his daughter, English to my Dad, and French to everyone else. The older girl spoke Spanish along with English and French. Every one else knew French except us and most of them knew Khmer and English. One couple had two little girls and the other had two little boys. The older of the two girls and two boys were about the same age and probably around four years old and the little ones were both around one year old. So the little kids all had play mates to play with after dinner.

After every one was seated and had a menu, Robert took our orders. I hadn't chosen yet, so mommy just said that she, Mia, Zander, Sarah and I wanted pho. After a few minutes, Robert gave everyone deep fried spring rolls that were really hot and yummy. Robert seemed to think that we didn't know how to eat spring rolls because we hadn't eaten them right away. He kept telling us (in sign language because he couldn't speak English) to dip the rolls into the sauce that he gave us but we already knew this so I was a little annoyed that he thought we were stupid. The reason we hadn't eaten was because the spring rolls were too hot. Then our pho came and we didn't start eating that right away because we were still finishing the spring rolls. Robert showed us how to put sprouts in the pho but we already knew how to eat pho. I really liked my pork pho, especially the noodles that were in it. The pho was really yummy.

When the little kids finished eating, they ran around. Since they had lolly pops, they looked at their blue and red tongues. The kids were really cute.Daddy sat with the other guys at the table next to ours and talked politics. We thought it was really funny how they talked politics because they were so tense. Mommy sat with all her cousins and family at a big round table a little ways away. They were a really loud gaggle of girls and they were talking in three different languages: English, Khmer, and French.

At around eleven, the one year olds started to get really tired and started crying. When the babies started to cry the party was over. Plus, one of the families was flying back to Spain the next day to spend time with the grand parents. So we all said good-bye and we headed back to the metro stop right down the street and went home. Having dinner with Mommy's family was really cool because we got to meet her cousins and she did too.

By Kayley Rolph

Things we saw about the Holocaust by mia

Today we visited a concentration camp on our way to Frankfort from Amsterdam called Camp Vught. It was a bit boring because all the information boards were in Dutch so we couldn't read about what we were seeing. A few things were obvious enough though, the crematorium and the lab place where they dissected people were easy to figure out. The crematorium had a bunch of person sized ovens, and the dissection place had a concrete table that had troughs for blood to drain into. It was a pretty gross thought! There was also a memorial listing all the names of the kids who had been killed there. Many of them were just babies, some of them were less than a year old! It was really sad.

We have been to a lot of different holocaust related museums and exhibits and the Camp Vught one definitely wasn't the best. The two that were the most touching/ horrifying were an exhibit in the London war museum and Anne Franks house. The exhibit in London had a sign and a guard outside he door that had a warning and advisory that said that kids under 14 shouldn't go inside. Daddy and I were the only ones to go into it because everyone else was lost in some other maze like exhibit. The holocaust exhibit was really big and was set up so you go through this maze of dark rooms with gross pictures of emancipated bodies and stuff. There was information on the mistreatment of the Jews in the Ghettos, all of the nasty laws that Hitler made, and finally the concentration camps. It was a really crazy exhibit and I, at least, came out of there a teeny bit misty eyed.

The visit to Anne Frank's house was just as emotional, but, unlike the last one, there was a teeny speck of happy (that was still sorta sad) mixed in with all of the tragedy. There were lots of quotes from her diary that said that she wanted to become a famous writer and leave a legacy through her writing. She certainly has done both of those things, even if she doesn't know it! In the museum we walked through the old jam factory under the Secret Annex and through the rooms that The Franks shared with four other people (the Van Pels and another man who was a family friend). The space was bigger than the one we have been sharing for the last year, but we have been able to go outside during the day and make noise. They had to be really quiet all the time and they were always stuck up in those same few rooms with the same few people all of the time.

Anne had tons of time on her hands so she wrote a lot. She filled a few diaries and wrote short stories and things on loose sheets of paper. Her dad found all of it at the end of the war and had her diary published. He edited it a bunch first, and took out inappropriate or mean things she wrote in it. There are tons of different versions, some including different things. I think it was really nice that Anne Frank got what she wanted. She has a global legacy and her diary is pretty much a classic!

The Mill Museum by Zander

-Pictures 1st playing on photo booth
-Second at the mill with Sarah

On the 3rd day in Amsterdam, we saw what the Netherlands was famous for (besides brothels) the windmills. It was a 1 hour drive to get to the museum from Amsterdam. On that drive, my dad told us about what we were going to see. The Dutch have been harvesting the wind since the 16th century. There are windmills all over the country side, but we are going to the museum of wind mills. I was exited.

The windmill museum wasn't really a museum but a bunch of different types of wind mills that we could tour for a fee. We went into a wood mill and a chalk and pigment grinding mill. It was really crazy how many moving parts there were in the mill to cut logs or grind pigments.
Now days, we could cut wood and grind stone. But with modern equipment, the tool would be way smaller and take much less time to complete the task. It took about 2 hours to cut a log with this big wind mill. Now a days, we could cut a log in a few minutes with a chain saw. It just shows what technology could do. I thought that the Dutch were really smart to harness wind power and use the power very efficiently.

The trip from London to Switzerland by Zander

1 in England

2-3 in The Swiss alps

After 4 days in London, we got on a plane to Switzerland. The flight was on a really cheap carrier, Easy Jet. The flight left at 7 in the morning, so we had to get up at 4 in the morning, because it takes an hour to drive to the airport, and we needed 2 hours to get through security and check in. These flights are the worst because we have to get up early and my family and I are not morning people.

I woke up. Crap!!! can't I get some sleep?
Then I remembered, we are going to Zurich today. Not the best start. So a few fallen attempts of falling back asleep then getting stepped on by my parents. I finally gave up and got out of bed. There wasn't any time to get breakfast, so I rolled up my sleeping bag and packed it up. Every one was running around trying to get all the stuff packed. I was doing pretty well. I had most of my clothes and belongings packed the night before, but I still was in a hurry. About ten minutes later, tempers were
running high and we got into a cab, stuffing our bags in the back. The hour long ride to the airport was spent trying to sleep while holding our bags on our laps (it doesn't work very well). It was a really uncomfortable ride being packed tightly with our bags. I was glad to get out when we got to the airport.

On arrival to the airport, there was a big rush to get in line to check in. We were all really worried because we have a really small baggage allowance with Easy Jet. We have a lot of bags full of our stuff to carry. We had to check one of them in. So while we were going through security and immigration, my dad was giving us advice on how to sneak our bags onto the plane. Going through security, we got patted down. It was a little weird. We had a bit of time before the plane boarded,
so we sat down and waited. My dad went to the Duty Free
shops to spend the rest of his Euros on some wine. I went to play on some Ipads in the electronic store and looked at computers. My sisters, who had the biggest bags to hide, tried to fit them in their bags while not breaking the zippers. Mia got hers to fit with out zipping it up. But Kayley couldn't fit all her stuff in. My dad and mom said that if you get stopped, then it is your problem and they won't go back for you (they will send other people). So when it was our turn to board, I did not get caught because I tried to be inconspicuous, but Kayley and Mia were stalled. We were a little worried because Mia and Kayley were taking a long time, but when Mia came without Kayley, my dad sent me back, because he was worried about Kayley. I did not want to go because my dad wouldn't go himself. So when I got to the entrance where she was waiting, on the verge of crying. I made it quick, we had to throw away one of her bags. After hearing what was in each bag we decided that we should through away the bag that had Mias makeup in it. It did not matter to me because I do not really care about her makeup, and I was not on good terms with her. So when we got through the lady at the gate to board the plane, Mia was really mad because she had lost all of her makeup and it was worth alot of money. It was one of the most exciting boarding that I have had.

Once on the plane, there was some problems getting our bags in the overhead compartments. So after stuffing our bags in ( moving other peoples bags out of the way), I took a seat. These seats were worst then Jet Star. The seats do not even go back and everything costs money. You can not even get a glass of water. One and a half hours of sitting in a uncomfortable seat and leg cramps latter, we got to Zurich, Switzerland. We got out and walked through the clean Zurich airport with lots of watch commercials. There were lots of nice watches and Swiss army knifes in the Duty Free shop. The airport immigration and customers was very organized, and we got through with out any problems. I was so happy to get out of the airport.

Getting the rental car took a while to get because there was some questioning whether it would fit us. But in the end and 30 minutes latter, we got a really nice muscle car, but we had to put Sarah in the trunk with the bags. It did not look confortahbe. We had to drive to a valley in the Swiss Alps. It was supposed to take 2 hours by Google Maps, but with all the detours that were caused by driving with my dad, it was more like 3 hours for us. I was exited because I have never been to Switzerland and I have never seen the country side.

1st day in Amsterdam by Zander

1 -3Photos of us on the boat tour, there was a reproduction of a war ship that explored America


My back hurt when I woke up after a bad nights sleep on the floor.
When I finally managed it, I went to eat some breakfast after putting my bedding away. When we finally got out of the house at 11 o'clock, my parents were not in the best of moods, but we started walking to the Van Gogh museum of art. My dad really likes Van Gogh, so he was happy to go. I thought that they were better then most paintings but I would rather be in a history museum then an art one. With our family's navigational know how, we got to the museum quickly. We used the iPhone to tell us which way to go. When we got to the museum we had a long line, as usual and started waiting.

The first thing we did was watch a movie on how Van Gogh lived. I thought that it was amazing that he painted 900 paintings in just 5 years before killing himself. My favorite painting was one of a landscape that had just been through a forest fire. The fire looked really cool in the distance. His paintings are made with lots of little strokes of pure color. When you look at it from afar, you can not see the individual stroke but up close you can see the individual colors. It is amazing how many paintings that this museum has. There were 4 floors with different paintings. We went through all the floors. When we finished, we needed a snack to get some more energy. Going to museums is hard work. I felt like I was about to go to sleep after a long days work. When we finally exited the museum, we started our walk to Ann Franks house.

On the way to Anne Franks house, we took a boat tour around the canals of Amsterdam. There was a lot of cool buildings like a 1 yard wide house. Most of the houses have hooks, so you could store all your stuff in the attic when it floods. There are over 1000 bridges, stone arcing ones, suspension, and drawbridges. Since the streets are so narrow, most of the people use bicycles to get around. When you are walking, you have to watch out because they are pretty crazy bikers. My favorite part of the tour was the house boats. There are over 1000 of them around the city and they are all different shapes and sizes. I saw one that had sunk. Most of the boats have some sort of garden on top. My mom really liked them. I thought that Amsterdam is really cool.

When we finally got to Anne Franks house, we had to wait in line yet again. While we were waiting, my dad told us about the historical significance of the house. It was pretty crazy staying in a few rooms for years and not be able to make a noise for fear of getting shot. If my dad and I were in that position, we wouldn't last a week. When got into the house, it was pretty bare. I every room there was a photo of what the room looked like. I suppose that they didn't finish it because people wouldn't be able to move through. The place that I really wanted to see was the annex hidden behind a revolving book shelf that was where they hid.

The annex looked pretty normal, the problem was that there was a traffic jam. The stairs were very narrow and uneven, so when people ascended they went really slow. After seeing all the rooms we got to the museum part. They had the original diary and a bunch of short stories and novels that Ann wrote. Se had planned to write a whole novel, if she had lived. What was really sad was that if she could have survived for one more week, then she would have survived. But someone turned her in. She died with her sister after being separated from her mom and dad. Her mom died as well. When the father Atto Frank came back to investigate, he found and published the diary and most everything that she had wrote. What was really sad is that one more week and she would have survived. I thought that she was just one person, imagine how many people there were in that exact same situation but didn't get to write. After that mind changing experience we were done for the day touring Amsterdam, we walked home which was very long, got groceries, and saw people smoking joints at a coffee shop, not a cafe. It was a great day out and tomorrow we will go and see some dams and wind mills.

Lodging in Brussels by Zander

The boy urinating with me

The Grand Place with really fence buildings

Our neighborhood in Brussels was really sketchy. It wasn't the buildings. But the people were prostitutes sitting on street corners and in door steps. The prostitutes were not wearing much and looked really bored. To get into our apartment, we had to shoo the girls off our door step. OulIt was really scary, because I could not walk out side alone without getting whistled at. There were about 50 prostitutes sitting around the block and the girls sat on door steps or walked around showing off their lady parts. What was weird was the prostitutes spoke spanish and they were about 40 years old, so they weren't that attractive.

All the prostitutes were wearing the same uniform: black high heels, short dresses, and lots of cheap makeup. I thought that they looked really scary. The prostitutes spent most of the day sitting on the street corner talking and listening to music. I also saw some of the pimps sitting around with their girls. It must be a really boring job all day.
It would not be a good business to be in.

Other than the prostitutes, our apartment was ok. There was enough space for 5 people to have beds. I got the floor, because I didn't want to sleep with the lady's. And there was a Kitchenette to cook at. The problem with the kitchenette was that there wasn't a fridge, which was weird. Most hotel rooms have a fridge, but this one didn't. We went out to dinner at a kebab shop and walked around the city. Brussels is known for being the capital of the Euro and a statue of a little Boy urinating. We saw both of the sites and ate some really good waffles and ice cream near the boy statue. My favorite part of the day was eating ice cream while looking into shop windows in the Grand Place.

Brussels by mia

We arrived in Brussels yesterday and found our hotel which was in the middle of the sketchy part of town and surrounded by prostitutes. It was pretty darn sketchy. The actual apartment was pretty good though. There was something squishy for everyone to sleep on so we were happy. We dropped off our stuff, and then walked around the city. We went to see the statue of little boy peeing and got some ice cream there. The statue was really cute, and that little boy was really muscular! It's so weird that sculptures and painters make babies buff.

Then we went to the Grand Place, which was bombed to the ground by Louis XIV of France. It was a really pretty square with a huge cathedral on one side that had a super tall steeple, and cool buildings with red flowers in flower boxes all around. It was really festive, because the red flowers and the warm lights from inside the buildings made it look Christmassy. We sat down on the ground in the middle of the square and ate our ice cream, and then walked around some more before we went back to the apartment. We had to shoo all the prostitutes in their stripper heels off of our doorstep. Mommy always picks the hotels in the most interesting places!

Swiss Alps To Paris by Zander

First 2 pictures -"007 film sight from the spy who loved me" in the swiss alps

Third and forth picture- Notre Dame de Paris and the Eiffel tower in Paris

After 2 and a half days in the Swiss Alps, we needed to go to Paris. I was done hiking around in high altitudes and sleeping in a tent with my parents. But I had to admit, the mountains are pretty big and it was very beautiful. So after we had walked around one last time, we got in our car to go. My dad was talking like we might never see these mountains again and we should remember this day. I just wanted to drive to Paris. So we got in the car and drove ( Sarah got in the trunk). I was pretty keen on getting to the destination but getting there was a different matter.

So on arrival to our hotel, we waited out side with the car, while my dad checked us in. When he came back, we split up. I went with my parents to get some groceries and my sisters went up to the room. The grocery store is really close to our hotel, so it wasn't a big deal. The groceries store that we went to was not very clean. It looked like they never cleaned the floor there was marks from canned tomatoes and other vegetables that had fallen off the shelves. In the back of the store where the big bottles of soda are, there was a freshly spilled coke bottle that people were trying to avoid. So when we finally were finished shopping and brought our bags up to the room, my mom was pretty happy because there was a kitchenette in the room. She could cook for us. Other then that, the room was pretty small. My sisters and I would have to sleep on the floor while my parents get the bed. It wasn't as bad as sleeping in a tent. After dinner, we watched TV a little bit, trying to change the channels to English and went to bed. I was looking forward to seeing Notre Dame the next day.

After a good nights sleep ( as good as you can get on td
floor) we woke up to eat breakfast. I ate 2 minute noodles because it was one of the only things that we had. My dad was really happy to be in France because the French have really "good" stinky cheese. He gets the really stinky and strong cheese, because he thinks that taste good. So when we go on a walk, the cheese sweats and starts to stink like dirty socks and farts. Since the cheese was in our back pack, it smells just as bad. After a few days, even my dad doesn't want to eat the cheese. So moving over stinky cheese, we had a filling breakfast. Then we got set up for a day of sightseeing.

As usual we will take the metro. So a short walk to the station and a really long line later, we got to experience our first French culture. There were 5 workers in the ticket booth and a really long line. But the workers were busy talking and greeting each other to help the customers. While we were getting madder and madder, people were jumping the turn stile because they were so ticked off. We finely got our tickets to go on the metro.

Being experienced metro users and tourists, we promptly tried to figure out where we were and where we need to go on the map. We decided that we needed to go to Champs-Elysées, because it was a street near the center of town. When we got there and got out of the metro, we didn't know which way we needed to go. We went to the louvre because it was free on Sunday. But when we got there, the line traced all the way through the gardens around the museum. There was an unanimous vote to go to the other museum, because it looked like we would spend all day in line.

The Musee d'Orsay was Kayleys favorite art museum. It had all the impressionists paintings in it. I do not have the stamina for art museums. I can handle a few rooms but after that I am burnt. I knew that we would have to see a lot of paintings, sculptures, and busts to finish the museum. I was overcome with all the art that was inside. Kayley, who was our guide for this expedition into hostile territory, quickly led us to her favorite section. There was a lot of paintings, my dad really liked Van Gogh. I noticed that all the ladies in the paintings were a little on the plump side of things. I suppose it is because if they were fat, then they don't have a shortage of food which means they are rich. I thought that the paintings were pretty cool. Some of them were just a ton of little dots, that would be really hard to paint. My mom took a lot of time admiring each painting. After the first few paintings I walked ahead. There were 4 rooms. I got through all of them and circled back and mommy was just finishing the first. After a while, I went out side because I got bored. They met me out side 30 min. later. After some discussion, we decided to go home. I was all for it because I was tired of seeing art. Walking home in Paris is not that easy, there is a lot of cool buildings. My mom took a lot of pictures. She needed people in them, some posed for her.

When we got to the metro stop, we had already got our tickets so getting home would not be that hard. Since it was late at night, there was not many people on the trains, so we got seats. When We got to our stop and walked home, I was so tired that I didn't notice anything, until I was in the elevator going up to our room. It was a long day, and my bed on the floor seemed almost comfortable. I knew that tomorrow, we would see Notre Dame and the old town, so I had something to look forward to.

Versailles and Chartres by Mia

Yesterday we drove to Versailles first thing in the morning to see the Chateau. It took ages to get there because we kept getting lost, but thats normal. When we finally got to Versailles it was about 9:30 and we had been aiming for 9. I don't even know why we bother aiming for a certain time because I can't remember the last time we have actually made it. It took a little bit to find a parking spot, and daddy ended up dropping us off while he went and found one alone. The parking lot in front of the palace was absolutely packed with tour buses and other cars so he had no chance there.

We spent about two hours in various lines and at one point daddy walked off and came back with frappuccinos from McDonalds, and that was really good! When we finally got into the actual palace, it was extremely crowded. We had the audio guide so we had that stuck in our ear the whole time and it told us about the different paintings, furniture, and other decoration (all equally lavish) in all of the rooms (which varied from unnecessary to just plain stupid). Each gilded bedroom had several antechambers and every single room had extra chairs for spectators who could come watch the king and queen do anything from eat dinner to give birth (ew, but not kidding).

We walked through about a bazillion of those rooms, and then we got to the Hall of Mirrors. The people who built the palace must have really liked looking at themselves because there was at least one mirror in every single room of the place. The hall of mirrors had mirrors (duh), tons of gilded fancy detailing (again, duh), lots of crystal chandeliers (wow, this is starting to sound like the rest of the palace), and a giant pair of shoes made of silver pots (phew, that is definitely not in any other room). They had lots of random modern art in some of the rooms of the palace, including several spinning things hanging from the ceiling made of plastic eating utensils melted in floral designs, some random sculpture things wrapped in doilies, and the pair of giant pot shoes in the Hall. Anyway, the hall of mirrors was for having parties and entertaining guests (again, like most off the other rooms in the palace, I think the lives of the royals were similar to the Kardashians'... Really public).

After the palace we hit the palace gardens, which were colossal. There were tons of fountains, which had never all worked at the same time, mazes of tall hedges and lots of pretty flowers. All of it was perfectly manicured. We checked out a few fountains and then lay around in the lawn for a little while in front of a big pond. Then, we walked to the Grand Trianon, which was a smaller house (more like a mansion) that had pretty pink stone pillars, and a gorgeous flower garden. It was full of rooms with portraits of lots of different important women. Then we walked all the way back to the main palace, stopping at an ice cream place along the way. We also stopped for a few minutes to watch a cool musical fountain show at the only fountain in the park that actually works. Then we got the heck out of there, as fast as our numb legs could carry us!

After a bit more driving in circles we got to our next (and last) destination for that day: Chartres Cathedral. Chartes has a really cute historical quarter and in the center is the Cathedral. The walls on the inside and outside of the cathedral are blackened with soot, but they are cleaning the inside. The difference between the dirty part and the clean part is really crazy. The real color of the stone is more like a creamy white than grey. If the entire interior was like that it would seem so much lighter inside! I actually thought that they were painting it that color, but they only painted some of it. Chartres also has almost all of it's original stained glass still, which was also quite dirty, making the inside seem even darker because there is barely any light coming in. They are pretty much in the middle of a giant restoration of everything, so all of the best parts of the cathedral, like the altar and most of the ambulatory, was covered up. It was really pretty anyways!

By then we literally had to ooze back to the car, stopping at a bakery on the way for some quiche (which was really yummy) for dinner. We drove back to the hotel, getting lost on the way again, and finally got there at about 10 pm. Then we hung out and watched TV until 1 am. Fun!!!

My Birthday by Kayley

A few days ago, my birthday, was really fun, it was a lot better than my tenth birthday. On my birthday we went to the top of Mt. Schilthorn to the circular observatory which is in Her Majesties Secret Service , a 007 movie. I'm sure that every body had lots of fun on my birthday especially Daddy because he loves the Swiss Alps.

My family and I took the early bird ticket up Mt. Schilthorn. We woke up on my birthday at around seven and walked from our camp sight to the small town of Lauterbrunnen to catch the cable car up the mountain. The view from the cable car was incredible, we saw the tall snow capped Swiss Alps and the green hills that we were swinging over. After a short ride on the first cable car, we got off and hopped on a one car, yellow and green train. We got off the train at a train station in a really cute town that was on a flat spot of Murren.

We had to walk fifteen minutes to the next cable car station thru town. The following cable car ride was breathtakingly gorgeous, because we were now on the final leg of our journey up the the observatory on top of the mountain and we were up close and personal with the Swiss Alps.

After a breath taking ride, we hopped of at the observatory at the top of Schilthorn. The first thing we did in the observatory was walk down the ramp to a circular room with burnt sienna carpeting and smallish windows along the wall. I thought that this room was pretty dull. We later watched a video in this room. The video hade some really pretty pictures of the Alps and the high lights of the James Bond movie.

The viewing deck wrapped around the circular building and branched off to a big circular platform. We walked down a metal stair case that was right to the left of the circular platform and clutching the cable that ran along the foot or two thick dirt trail, we walked down to a flat spot where there were three benches facing the Swiss Alps. That's where we stopped to eat and where I got my birthday presents. I knew I would get a pomegranate that I picked out at the grocery store in Zurich, but I had no idea I'd get a watch and a chocolate bar too. I ate half of my chocolate bar there and saved the rest for later. The watch is white with a really pretty shade of blue face. In the London airport, on the way back from the bathroom with Mommy, I spotted this watch and instantly wanted it. After looking at some other watches, I told Daddy that I wanted that watch and the price, but he said that he wouldn't buy it for me. Before Daddy gave me the watch, he told me that Mommy had convinced him to buy it for my birthday present. I was really happy that I got a watch, finally.

After we ate and I put on my watch, I walked away from the bickering Sarah and Zander to join Mommy, Mia and Daddy who were watching two guys setting up their yellow and blue parachute. One of the guys asked this old lady who was sitting nearby to hold part of the parachute and to let go when he told her to so that the parachute could catch the wind. Takeoff was great, the old lady let go at the right time and the two guys went soaring into the air and caught an up draft and gained a few more meters of altitude. We were talking about how good the view from the parachute would be, while we walked back to where we ate lunch earlier and where Sarah was reading her new Harry Potter book,The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Zander was chucking rocks. Daddy asked Sarah if she had seen the guys take off, but she hadn't. Mommy got mad because she was reading and not looking at the great view of the mountains. I see why Mommy got mad at Sarah, because we had a great view of the Swiss Alps and Sarah had her head buried in a book.

Then we took the cable car to Murren. From there we walked down the mountain to Gimmelwald, a really small town that was really cute. We walked through Gimmelwald which took like five steps. The reason why we walked half an hour to Grimmelwald was because it was supposed to be really cute and small. Then we walked down the hill a little more to a cable car station and a park. On the way, we saw a telephone booth with Obama in it. Obama was saying," I shower in here but I drink at the P..." I forgot the name of the B&B, but it started with a P. It was a really funny add for a bed and breakfast.

At the cable car station we decided to walk the rest of the way down the mountain to Lauterbrunnen. Which, according to a little brown sign was 24.7 kms away, but the lady at the cable car station said it was about and hour walk away. I ate my pomegranate on the way to Lauterbrunnen. It was delicious, especially, since I haven't eaten one in almost a year.

When we got back at our camp site Mia, Daddy, and Mommy went grocery shopping and probably ate, because they were away for about five hours. I was really board during those five hours, but right when Zander and I were walking over to play chess in one of the buildings mommy, daddy and Mia came back. By that time, it was dinner time and Mommy, Mia, Sarah and I made dinner while the boys went next door to the kitchens to play chess. We had tortellinis in tomato sauce and salad for dinner. I ate two towering helpings of pasta and one serving of salad. But the time I had swallowed the last tortellini, I was stuffed. When we all finished eating, Daddy sent me over to the camp site shop to look for desert. Since I didn't have any money with me, I looked for ice cream and candles and ran back to the kitchen where everybody was sitting and asked daddy for some money. Sarah and Mia came with me to buy the desert stuff.

We bought ice cream, candles, and little Magnum ice cream bars. We went back to the kitchen with desert, and I stepped out the door, while they lit the candles on the ice cream. Then I came back in and they sang "Happy Birthday". I blew out all the candles except one in one blow. Mommy served me first. She gave me a mountain of whipped cream on my ice cream and I got Mommy's ice cream too. I took three bites and I couldn't eat any more. It was a shame to have to throw away all that ice cream and yummy stuff.

Now that I look back on things, my eleventh birthday in the Swiss Alps was probably one of my best birthdays yet. And I think the rest of my family had lots of fun, too.



By Kayley Rolph