London, England

We took a train to London. When we came out of the train station, we walked across the street and there was our hotel. It was amazing! We got a tour around the hotel and then went 
to our room. It was so fancy! They even have doorbells on the door to our room! 

The next day we got up and ate breakfast. I got pancakes. Vance got French toast. After breakfast we went to the Tower of London. We walked around, and then we saw the crown jewels! They were so pretty! 

We went on a boat tour ride down the Thames. We saw the London Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Tower Bridge. 

We went to dinner at Garfunkels. We got fish and chips (french fries). We went back to the hotel and conked out!

On the last day we went to the Regent's Park. We went on a paddle boat and saw lots of water birds. We even saw baby ducks! They were so CUTE! We named the birds too. Here are their names: Rihanna, Daisy, Little One, Selena, Violet, Gertrude, Freddy, and Izabel. 

After the park, we went back to our hotel and packed up to leave the next day. We went to see a play called Matilda. Before that we went to see the British Museum that had really cool mummies. 

This is my last journal and blog entry. So I will say: 

Ciao, Bonjour, and Goodbye to Europe!

Our hotel! 

Tower Bridge

Guarding the Crown Jewels

Actors at Tour of London

London Eye

Big Ben

Paddle boating in Regent's Park

Paris, France

Day 1

We got to Paris late so all we did was go to our hotel, checked in, and dropped off our bags. Then we went out to dinner at a place called Hippopotamus. Don't worry, they don't serve Hippos! They serve burgers and salads. They were pretty good (for French burgers). It was 11:00 pm when we got back to our hotel!

Day 2

The next day, we went to St. Chapelle Church. It had lots of stained glass. They were really cool. We then went to Notre Dame. It was so pretty! There were sculptures and paintings. There were also places you can light cancles. My brother and I lit one. We walked around for awhile but then we left because a big tour group was coming in. Then we went back to our hotel and rested a bit.

We went out to dinner at a place called Joe Allen. Then we went to see the Eiffel Tower. When we were on the subway we met some college girls that were going there too so we went with them to the tower. We watched the Eiffel Tower light up. It lights up every hour starting at 10:00 pm and has flashing lights. We were over 1,000 stories high when we reached the top. It was so cool! We went to our hotel on the subway and it was past 12:00 midnight. We had midnight in Paris!

Day 3

On the third day we slept in (because we were up so late at the Eiffel Tower). We had fresh croissants for breakfast. Mine had apple filling inside. It was delicious! Then we went to a park called the Jardin de Tuilieries. It is the garden of tulips pronounced "jar-din day to-li-ay"). We went to the Champs Elysse ("sh-omps ee-la-say") which is a very long street with lots of shopping.

We rode a subway to Uniqlo. They only have six or seven stores in the whole world. I got some cute pants and two shirts. We then had our first macaroon at Paul's. I got chocolate and it was yummy!

At the end of the day we went to the Louve. There was only 40 minutes left to tour because our family got the times messed up. We did the speed tour and got to see the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, and a lots of other paintings too!

Day 4

I had another yummy croissant for breakfast. My mom and dad went out every morning and brought my brother and me croissants back to our hotel. Today they went to the oldest bakery in Paris. They brought Vance and me a butter croissant, beignet, and fresh baguette to share. All of it was so buttery and fresh!

We went to the Jardin de Luxemburg (Garden of Luxemburg) and sailed a boat in the water there. We also saw a marionette's show with lots of little kids. The little kids would say "wi" and "no" the whole time! It was really funny. After that we had the most chocolaty hot chocolate and macaroon at a place called Angelina's near the garden.

My dad found a cool place that had everything nature in it. It is called Deyrolle. It was a large store with two floors that had lots of bugs and animals that were on display. Some of the animals and plants were put into art and you could buy them.

Day 5

We went back to Notre Dame to climb the tower but it was closed. So we walked all around it and looked at all of the figures and shapes all around it. We saw Pompidou Center and saw some really crazy art and walked around different streets that were closed to cars.

It was Labor Day in Paris so lots of the stores for shopping were closed. The restaurants were open with lots of people sitting outside at tables.  We bought a feast to take on the Eurostar with us on our way through the "chunnel" to London.

Belgium

We flew on Ryan Air from Italy to Belgium. Belgium is so much fun! We stayed in the coolest hotel in Brugge! Some people spell it Bruges but it is pronounced "Bruge".

We saw the Church that is called Our Lady of Angels. We saw Madonna and Child by Michelangelo there. We left to go on a boat tour after that. It was really fun. We saw lots of swans and old buildings. The boat tour guide was really funny.

After that we went to get chocolate! The shop was small but super cool. I got marshmallows dipped in chocolate. After we ate lunch, Vance and I got waffles. They had whipped cream and chocolate on them. They were super delicious. After we ate lots and lots of chocolate and lots and lots of "frites" (french fries), we got on a train for Paris.....the CITY of LIGHT.

The streets are made of cobble stone.

Here is a "Chinese" resturant. They spelled it "Chinees"

Lots of people ride bikes here! 

St. Mark's Square Pigeon Watch

My brother and me sat in St. Mark's square and put tally marks by different pigeons.  

Date -  April 25, 2013

Time - 2:15-2:30 pm

Area - 4 meter square

Place - St. Mark's Square in Venice

We looked for 8 different kinds of pigeons
Blue-bar
Red-bar
Spread
Red
Checker
Pied white
Pied splash
White

This is what I found:

122 blue-bar pigeons
4 checker pigeons
3 red pigeons
3 pied splash pigeons
2 spread pigeons
1 pied white pigeons
0 white pigeons
0 red-bar pigeons

There were so many more blue-bar pigeons than any other type of pigeon in St. Mark's Square. When people stand by an area there are not as many pigeons that come to that area. But when people feed the pigeons, lots of pigeons gather there to eat! 

Here are some of the photos.

St. Mark's Square

My brother and me feeding the pigeons

Blue-bar pigeon

blue-bar pigeon

Red pigeon

PIed white pigeon

Venice, Italy

This was my last day in Italy. Here are things I think about when I think of Italy.

Bread - Some places make their break without salt like in Tuscany. In Venice they make it with salt.

Pasta - Every restaurant makes their own fresh pasta. I ate a different kind of pasta every day. 

Pizza - Almost every restaurant has pizza. I never ate bad pizza......My favorite pizza is margharita. 

Gelato - Italian ice cream! Nothing else like it! Every street has a gelato place. My favorite flavors are mango & melon.

Meats - They use the weirdest meats like rabbit, duck, horse, and wild boar meat. I didn't try any of them! 

Pepper - They don't like to use pepper. They never put it on the table.

Here are some photos we took in Venice.

My brother and me waiting for a water taxi

Gondola

Canal in Venice with gondolas. A gondola rower has to be Italian born. 

Rialto Bridge with lots of people! 

Last Gelato in Italy! 

Lucca and Cinque Terre, Italy

Lucca

This is the train station at Lucca. 

Lucca is a town that is surrounded by a big wall that you can walk on. The wall completely surrounds the city. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Lucca that had different rooms and good WiFi! 

This is a photo of my mom, my brother and me on top of the wall. A long time ago, people in Lucca built walls around the city to protect themselves from enemies. The picture below is of part of the wall. 

Cinque Terra
The next photos are of towns on the coast called the Cinque Terre. There are five towns that you can only get to by boat, train, or walking. The walking paths were closed so we had to take a train to different towns. The water was so blue! We stayed at the town called Vernazza most of the time.