Adventuring around Greece

Hi! Today it was all around Greece. The first thing we did was go to the famous flea market, where  I got a my name in greek on a necklace for six euros. After, we went around the cool shops, cafes and saw neat artwork. Then we walked  to Hadrian's Library, it was wasn't really a library it was a cultural center where people could do poetry readings and study. Hadrian's Library was named after the Emperor Hadrian, it was built in  132 AD. We got to take pictures  and even touch the columns, I really enjoyed the experience. Next, we walked around to the where one mans junk is another mans treasure ( flea market). There were a lot of people selling very old stuff that was sometimes junk. Then, after the walking around the main square we headed to the Ancient Angora. We walked and gave our ticket for the site and we headed off. It was a very hot day and we had a very light lunch so we ate our bars in the shade. 

After that, we walked to the nearest building it was the Stoa of Attalos. We went in and enjoyed the shade. Then, when we  were all done we walked to the temple that was ahead of us.  On the hill by the temple there was a magnificent and breathtaking view, you could see the whole Acropolis. AWESOME! Lastly, we were getting tired so we walked for what felt like hours until my parents decided we could take a break at a cafe and have a snack. We ordered a large plate that had mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, chicken pieces, and sausages, hamburger meat. On the side we had sweet chili sauce and barbecue sauce. Yum!  That great meal washed down with ice water. After, we paid and we went walking until we went into this park and we found a wallet with someone's ID  Uh Oh! We returned it to the entrance booth on the way back. Lastly, we walked on the main pedestrian walk to our apartment, while we walked we stopped and bought post cards and mailed postcards. Finally,  it was time to go home so we walked back home happy, tired and excited for what lies ahead tomorrow! 

Acropolis

Hi! Today my dad woke me up early at 8:00am in the morning so we could go see the Acropolis where Athena the Goddess of Battle and Poseidon the God of Water fought to rule Athens. Athena was very smart and hit her spear and out came the olive tree, when Poseidon hit his trident on the floor out came sea water. When the city of Athens decided which person shall rule they picked Athena, that's how Athens got its name. Poseidon was so angry that he flooded the plain of Athens. So from this day they honor Poseidon and Athena to keep peace. I was also so excited to see and learn about greek mythology. To get all the way up to the Acropolis we had to walk a few ways until we got up to the top. The view was marvelous, you could see the whole city. Next we walked around and we took pictures of the famous Diyonus theater. It was so small, I thought it would be huge. But is was very cool experience to be where the ancient Greeks put on shows. Then, we took a break in the corner next to the Pantheon and we all ate bars while admiring the view.

 The Pantheon was where Athena would rule Athens. It was  partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who were besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens. Next, we headed to the look out tower, where you could see everything. Finally, we walked and saw Athena's Victory Temple. It was constructed between 424 and 427bc. It is the earliest fully ionic temple on the Acropolis. This temple is the second made because the first one was destroyed by the Parisians. Also we saw we saw the old temple of Athena.  This was a wonderful experience, the weather was absolutely marvelous, learning about the old gods and goddesses was a treat. Im so glad to share it with you. Greece is an amazing place for you and your family to visit. Tune in for more of the Greece adventures. Bye!

The theater of Disyonus a god 

A theater 

The Pantheon 

The Pantheon

Girls hanging 

Below : the guard of the temple watch out this cat is on to you! 

Zeus temple and the National Botanical Gardens

Hi! Last time I posted I was in Venice, Italy. Now I am in Athens Greece. 

It is a really beautiful country, but you should see the drivers! They see the red light but they think it should be green so they just go and they speed and whip around corners. 

Enough about that. Today we walked from our apartment to the Temple of Zeus. On the way to the Temple of Zeus We passed Hadrian's Arch.   I learned that on the east side of Hadrian's Arch is a saying that this is the city of Hadrian the emperor. The other side of the arch pointing west is saying this is the city of Theseus. The Hadrian's Arch was constructed in 131AD. 

We walked and took lots of pictures of the columns.  However, there used to be over one hundred but now there are only sixteen that remain still standing. Next, we took a break because the sun was beaming like crazy. So we all wiped our necks with water from the fountain and then we walked towards the exit to the National 

 We reached a place that looked like the Botanical Gardens and ate our bars. Then, we walked around the garden until we found the entrance so we followed my brother ( the map boy) to the turtle pond towards the zoo and playground. When we got to the turtle pond their were yellow stripe, red stripe and blue stripe neck turtles.  After, we walked past the turtle pond we went to the zoo and saw over  one hundred different kinds of birds, goats and really cute bunnies. Awwwww!  After, the zoo we went to the playground. We went on this spinning ride, where you would hang and spin around while holding your body up.  Next, I went on the swings until I got dizzy. Finally, we all were getting hungry so we went home to our apartment. 

Munich

Today we are going to go to one of Germany's big cities, Munich. The drive to Munich was amazing. THe view was amazing. The lake was shining in the sunlight, while the mountains where glistening like a star. In Munich we went to the church's cuckoo clock, the beer house, and the  Viktualienmarkt. We ate lunch while waiting for the cuckoo clock performance at 12:00. Then it was time to go the  cuckoo clock. It was so neat. The robotic people danced, then the knights fought and the gray one lost. After, the bottom of the cuckoo clock the people started dancing until it was time for the bird to cuckoo, cuckoo. It was so nice and amazing to see all the effort the people did to the the cuckoo clock. Next, we walked to the Vikualienmarkt, it's a market that has all kinds of food and flowers It too along time to get there because wet weren't good at orienting the map but we finally got there. Oh the smells were mouth wearing there was hot pretzels,  seafood, smoothies,  burgers and fries and so much more. I was getting really hungry, our parents told us that we weren't getting anything, so we headed to the beer house. 

 So we left and walked to the the beer house where there was beer, food, and drinks. Our parents surprised us with a soda and a pretzel. I got a coco cola and a yummy pretzel. Yummy right I know the glass of coke was really big. After our parents paid we left to go to see the residence. We finally found it my mom wanted to go in but my brother, sister and I weren't interested so we walked and found a huge field. We ate nuts and pretzels while my dad rested, my mom read Harry Potter to my brother,  and Kaija and I did our book reports. Then, my brother had to go to the bathroom so we left, but my bother and my dad disappeared so we went to Starbucks and waited. They finally answered they were in Starbucks. After we all decided it was time to leave, so my parents figured out how to get to our car and we left. Munich was a wonderful city to visit. If you go someday visit this.

Rome- Italy

Last week we were in Padua , Italy  Then we left on our last day to Spoleto , Italy! The car ride was very normal we ate, listen to music and my brother went to the bathroom multiple times. We were in the car for four hours and thirty minutes approximately. When we got to Rome we headed to the hop on hop off bus. The view was marvelous we saw the famous coliseum, St. Peter's cathedral and so much more. After a one round trip to every spot we got off on the second time around at bus stop eight to go to our five star hotel. We walked for seven minutes from our stop to get to our hotel. We were originally going to check in at 1:00 but we were early and really exhausted. With luck we got to go and check in. The hotel was really fancy, we have included breakfast! I felt so spoiled! When we went upstairs to the fourth floor we went inside our room it was smaller and had a kings bed and a small bed. Who cares right, so after my mom went to sleep, while the rest of us sucked up the wifi and took showers with the fancy shampoos, conditioners, and body lotion. It was now 4:30 so we left our hotel and we took the hop on and hop off bus to the coliseum. The coliseum was really beautiful, we couldn't go in because it was expensive. We took lots of photos, after we went out for ice cream! Yum! 

Then we walked to the ruins. They were very interesting to see, and take pictures of. You could see the bathrooms, kitchens and more. Now it was 7:20 so we walked back to the stop and waited for the bus. At 7:25 the bus came but it was so full we couldn't go on so we waited for the last bus for the day. Finally it came and we rode on it until it was the stop for the famous fountain. Next, we searched for dinner to eat. I finally found a rode with a little bit of restaurants on them. Yeah! For dinner I had schnitzel with fries and a salad. Delicious! After we walked to the fountain it was so beautiful. How it was sculpt was breath taking. You could see the vains, the muscle and so much more details. Finally it was time to go home we walked for a half an hour until we go to the hotel and went to bed. 

Rome Italy - Part 2

Today was our second day in Rome! Breakfast was 7:00 to 11:00. We woke up at 7:00 packed and ready for breakfast and then our tour of St. Peter's basilica and St. Peter's catholic cathedral. It is the famous Catholic Church in the world and the biggest. My sister, dad and I we went downstairs to breakfast. My brother was finishing getting ready. We were well greeted by the hostess and she showed us our seat. The waiter came and told us we can have a free meal and the buffet table.  I ordered scrambled eggs and potatoes and sausage. My sister ordered pancakes with cream and syrup, and my dad ordered the same but with overdone eggs. Later my mom and brother came down. They ate from the buffet table there was Nutella, croissants, meat slices to tropical fruits. It was scrumptious after our main meal we had a chocolate muffin. After, we  ate a full breakfast since we didn't bring food snacks, and the tour is three hours. We went to the bathroom before heading off to the metropolitan line. Did you know rome Italy has only two subway lines because they keep on finding  ancient stuff.To get to the metropolitan station was easy but to get to where our tour was going to start was really hard. We kept on going on the wrong street, turning at the wrong turn. 

Finally, this kind lady who spoke English told us it was straight ahead. My parents got our tickets and information while the rest of us had a candy mint and used the bathroom. After we met our guide guess who it was? Yes it was the lady who helped us. We told her about our hometown and where we were staying. Finally, it was time for our tour, we walked for five minutes until we reached the detectors to go inside the Basilica. For the first part of our tour we learned about the famous artist Michael Angelou who painted the last judgement of hell or heaven. He painted that when he was only twenty three for the pope along time ago. After he painted a whole ceiling when he was sixty seven. It is a really big painting. After we saw statues and learned about the paintings. We saw Moses and the red river, also Jesus when he was dead. From this day Italy has parts of the cross that Jesus was killed on, the skull of Jesus, the cloth that was rubbed on his bloody face. They have many statues and marble statues. Next, we took a break and had water.

 After we walked for a long time and we took another break and we went to the bathroom before going into the entrance of the cathedral. In St. Peter's cathedral we saw bronze statues, marble statues. The statues were so realistic you could see the veins and the shape of the muscle. The detail was like no other. Also we saw where popes were buried, and where St. Peter was buried. He was at the last judgement  with Jesus Christ. At the end of the tour she told us about walking up to the panoramic view dome. That was in St. Peter's cathedral. She was absolutely amazing tour guide, she was specific, she believed in what she was saying and she knew how to not bored a crowd I recommend this tour. Next, we left and we went to lunch. I had pizza and a coke. After lunch we headed to the train station to go back to  Spoleto. While we were walking to the station we looked at the clothes store. Before going on the train we all got a nice cool ice pops and my mom got a frozen coffee, and then we went to the tran home

Venice - Part1

Today we went to Venice.  We woke up and ate cereal. So after breakfast we left and went to our bus stop. We waited twenty minutes until the bus came. When we got to the fourth stop we had a problem. There was this lady who had a double stroller and it was unsafe because the double stroller blocked the door. So the bus driver told here to leave, but she wouldn't. The bus driver wouldn't drive to the next stops. So we waited twenty minutes until another bus that was heading to the train station, and we got on thankfully. The next stop was ours, Yeah! 

 When we got inside the train station my brother didn't feel good. So we went to the restrooms. After, we looked at the arrivals of the trains, there was a train to Venice that was coming at 11:30. So we went to platform seven. We waited and waited until an express train came. We were so happy because we were going to go to Venice. Just our luck we couldn't take it because we bought a ticket for a slower train. The next train wasn't ours or the next. After an Italian speech came on the speakers people started leaving and going to another platform. Now it was 12:30. So we followed the people to platform 6 and there was our train, or so we thought it was. On the train we ate our lunch. My brother started to feel worse. When the train terminated we were in Vicenza. We realized we took the wrong train. We went and got a bubbly drink because we all felt tired and sick in the head or stomach.  After my dad got us tickets to Venice, we all went to the platform and waited until 1:53 and we went on our train. Finally the train came, woo ho!  

On the train I played on my iPad and listened to music. When we got to the Venice train station we looked for a information guide. It was now 2:30. We looked and I found the information site. We learned about the transportation, where our boat tour was, and restaurants that were kid friendly. 

When we were done my dad purchased a map and we followed the instructions to get to our boat tour. We walked and walked while eating our yummy ice cream. My mom told me there are really good parades, masks and food in Venice. We saw many shops while we walked and beautiful bridges over the canals. By the time we got to our boat tour it was time for us to go on the boat. The boat tour was beautiful and it was amazing to be on the canals. Our guide was really good at explaining about everything. We saw museums, houses, shops, and restaurants. Also we saw beautiful flowers, churches, and many other things. After the boat ride we decided to find a restaurant for dinner.

We found a pizza place. The waiter came and my mom started to order our drinks. Right in the middle of or order, the waiter left us to seat another family - without saying anything to us. And we waited quite a long time before he seated us. My parents couldn't take the poor service. So we left and walked and walked until we found a quiet pizzeria. It was really nice service and yummy pizza. 

After our delectable dinner we walked to our hotel. Our hotel was beautiful and had nice service. My dad wanted to look outside in the private garden. In the garden there were caves and a very nice platform to view the ocean and the sunset.

After the sunset we went to get a drink of water and then walked to the big tourist square. My mom found two rings and a necklace that she really liked. So my dad bought it for her. Also my brother found a grass hopper made out of palm fronds. After that, we walked a little more then went back to our hotel. I was so excited for what lies ahead tomorrow!