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The Sixth Floor Museum
We exited the elevator, and pushed a button on the audioguides. The audio-tour had begun. Over the course of several hours, our audioguides talked about John F. Kennedy being elected President, abroad meetings, and the tour went up to visiting Dallas for reelection. Everything was going great that day. People were delighted to see him.
They turned from Main Street to Oak Street. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, which people thought was a firecracker, and the President hurled over. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize that he had been shot. He was rushed to the hospital and tragically passed away at 1:00 in the afternoon. No time was wasted in capturing the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, who had many questions to answer. However, during transition, and before he could answer most of the questions, he was shot at point-blank range by Jack Ruby. Oswald was pronounced dead in the hospital, and Ruby was sent to prison for life.
The death of Oswald left a lot of unanswered questions and theories arose. There was a theory about a conspiracy to kill Kennedy that Oswald was part of. A few people heard gunshots from the Grassy Knoll, and some people believe there was indeed another shot from the Knoll that missed. However, the government denied it. When I was hearing about it, it sounded to me that Ruby shot Oswald to stop him from answering too many questions. However, I didn’t give it much thought.
Finally, the legacy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was discussed. He took the Space Program to another level and continued the work on Civil Rights that past presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower had worked on. He also helped to ease the tension in the Cold War. So, we walked out of the building proud, proud of a great president who changed lives, and sad, sad about the brilliant president’s death.
Houses in the Dallas Settlement looked like this.
President Kennedy’s car was similar to this one.
Street museum near the museum.
The building on the left is where Oswald hid and waited to the President’s motorcade. The “x” on the street on the right was where the first shot hit.
Theater Thrills
You all know by now that I do things for fun, right? Well, what could be more fun than acting in a sci-fi comedy?! That’s exactly what I did in Wylie with an organization called Wylie Acting Group. Wylie is one of the three ‘Triangle Towns’ as I call them, in the suburbs of Dallas. There were tons of other kids, even at auditions! Not knowing anyone there, I sat by myself, but it got so crowded that there was someone on each side of me! I quickly became friends with a girl named Paige. She is very nice.
The play was called Star Warped, a play that blended together a mix of sci-fis and, in a way, made fun of them. I got the roles of Scooty and Dr. McJoy. Scooty, which were based on Scotty and Dr. McCoy, from Star Trek.. Almost everyone at the auditions got roles. However, some kids didn’t. We practiced throughout late January through most of February. On February 24, we had our first of six performances. It went amazing. I felt so proud and happy to be doing my first play enjoyed by people of all ages. After that, we had five more performances on February 25, March 3, and March 4. I feel I did very well. The best part about it? I had fun. Lots and lots of fun.
Check out the clip of my scene:
Curtain call with most of the cast after a performance
Grandpa Bill came all the way from Houston to watch the play!
Motorcycle Grandpa also came all the way from Houston to watch the play!
My friend Lexi, mom and me
Some of the other actors and the after party at Dairy Queen.
Dad and me
Sad News…
Sometimes in life, sad things happen. Really sad things happen. You can’t escape them. Sadness, like happiness, is natural, and a part of life. Sometimes, these sad things come unexpectedly.
Like when we found out that my grandma has cancer. It was heartbreaking. Even worse, it is fully developed, and can’t be cured because my grandma is too weak, and because of the kind of cancer. We decided that we had to be with her for as long as possible. So, we are heading back. I am very sad. She’s my closest grandma. This breaks my heart open. However, on the bright side, I’ll be able to play with my cousins. Also, we’ll be able to have Christmas with the family, which is nice.
We will pretty much settle in Dallas for a while. Hopefully, my grandma will get strong enough, and the chemo will work. Anyway, we have no idea what is to come. I guess I’ll write about that in another post.
Crazy Casablanca
We stepped through the door. We were in Casablanca, eating a nice meal at the cheesiest restaurant in town. I won’t tell you the name of the restaurant, but I will give you a hint: it’s the main scene of the old movie *Casablanca*. Yep! We went to Rick’s Café! Of course, it was a complete imposter, but still! Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesy!
I had a delicious burger! A burger! We hadn’t had burgers for a month! Crazy, huh? However, it *is* healthy. Well, we had a tasty meal at Rick’s Café!
Also in Casablanca, we saw the amazing King Hassan II Mosque! It is the third largest mosque in the entire world, and is made of material almost entirely from Morocco! Wow! That must be hard to do! Apparently, it holds twenty-five thousand people. Imagine twenty-five thousand people, simultaneously praying in the mosque. What a sight that must be! Twenty -five thousand people! Also, when it is hot, or the weather is nice, guess what they do. They open the roof up! It opens in three seconds, and closes in two. Amazing! Unfortunately, we did not get to see them open the roof up, but when they do, I imagine it is amazing. You must be very lucky if you see the roof. Also, we saw a room where they wash themselves before praying. There, they had special, natural de-humidifying columns. I don’t remember what they were made from, but I do remember that the recipe involved raw eggs. Yuck! From what I can tell, Casablanca was CRAZY!
Inside the mosque
The bath under the mosque. It has nothing to do with the mosque and prayer, but is there as an example for tourists to see.
Yummy burger(not at Rick’s)!
High Hiking
Up, up, up, we went, up the rocky hill. I was hiking in the Atlas Mountains with my mom. Dad had a stomach bug, so he couldn’t come. We hiked through the barren landscape through the Todra Gorge, up into the Atlas Mountains. It was a tough and slow hike up, but we got to a small hut near some caves, where Berbers lived. Mom and the guide had tea there. A couple of young girls where there with their grandma. They curiously but shyly watched us from a distance. The guide explained that they stayed with their grandma year-round, while their parents moved around the country in search of food. They were the nomadic Berber people, the indigenous people of Morocco for over 3,000 years. Other cultures came and went, such as the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Arabs, the Spanish and French, but all of them found the native Berbers. And so did we! We hiked back down the rocky, barren hill, into the valley and the town by Todra Gorge!
We also hiked near Imlil in a two-day trek to a Berber village and back. I know I said that the Berbers are nomadic, but some of them settled down into villages and towns. We had a long hike, during which we saw an amazing waterfall. But, man, was the waterfall cold! No, no, no, I didn’t get in it! Why would I do that? The spray went everywhere! That’s how I could tell it was cold! The village was pretty cool, though. It was around a couple centuries old. Wow, that’s really old! We stayed the night in the village. Our room was plain, but I’m not complaining. We slept in sleeping bags. Why? Because nights are cold in the Atlas Mountains! We were warm, though. And I found that I prefer sleeping in a sleeping bag to sleeping in a bed! Yes! Really! I think it is because I like my whole body surrounded by warmness and softness. With a sleeping bag, I get that! With a bed, I don’t. Well, the next day, we loaded our stuff on the mule and headed back to Imlil!
A view of the pass we hiked through. It was HARD!
It was a long walk to see this waterfall. It’s small now because of dry season.
I got to hold this baby goat!
Tried walnuts right off the tree…eh.
Played Uno with some kids I met.
View of the gorge.
Near the village we stayed in in Todra Gorge.
Reached the top!
Cave homes of the nomadic Berber family who gave us tea.
The villagers farm in the river valley.
Hiking to the Berber village in Azadan Valley.
On my way to the waterfall. It’s WAY out there in the distance behind me!
Near our village in Todra Gorge
Mainly Insane Marrakech
The main square was absolutely insane. People walking monkeys around, snakes and cobras at an unsafe distance… some people even grabbed snakes and ran towards other tourists. Others tried to prank us by running towards us with fake snakes. Not cool! One guy ran towards us with a snake. We scattered and ran, and I had to dodge another guy with a snake. Only later did I realize that the second snake was fake. I passed the food stalls and vendors, eventually finding Mom and Dad far from the main plaza. But, man, was that CRAZY!
Also in Marrakech, we had a break from a straight month of tagine and couscous. I’m not saying that I hate Moroccan food, but it can be repetitive, and not very diverse. We had a couple of pizzas, and some paninis. We also had some good Wifi. We stayed at a hostel and I met some epic people. The young adults were too cool for my parents. I mean, my parents just didn’t feel like socializing as much as I did. I met someone from South Africa living in London, and showed her my videos. And I talked to a huge group of Norwegians. And I had an epic time. As for the plaza… that was DANG insane!
I guess that turtle needed a ride!
Being goofy at the Majorelle Gardens
The Super Sahara
We stood outside the hotel, and waited. It was five o’ clock in the morning, I had had food poisoning on the bus since midnight, and the hotel was completely locked. We knocked on the door. Nothing happened. We waited. A man came from next door. He tried to talk to us in French, but we didn’t understand him. Dad asked if he spoke English. The man said that he didn’t. Uh oh. Dad asked if the man spoke Spanish. He did. Whew! Dad told him of our situation, and he let us into the hotel. He was the owner, apparently, and his name was Ibrahim. We slept in the lobby. I was worried that my sickness would keep me awake, but I was able to sleep for a few hours. Ibrahim’s family was very hospitable.
I have to say, they are the nicest family I’ve ever met in the entire world. They did so much to make sure I got better. They gave me herbal tea, and made sure I got lots of rest. Simply put, they took care of me like family. We even had dinner at their house! A few hours after the family treated me, I was feeling much better. By the next day, I was fine.
We actually ended up going on a tour. We went all around the desert, avoiding the dunes. We bought a bright pink geode from a mine, took pictures of a baby desert fox, and walked on fossils. My favorite part was the fossils. The fossils were of fish, millions of years ago. At that time, the Sahara Desert was actually an ocean. After the ocean dried up, and it became desert, the fish died and fossils were formed. Throughout all history, those fossils were still there, right out in the open. The nomadic Berbers found them there, in the open… and left them alone. Today, however, they are used for countertops and similar things. At a nomad’s tent, we had a Berber pizza, which is like tons of vegetables stuffed inside a huge, circular loaf of bread.
We also spent one night out in the desert, way in dunes. We rode on camels to the camp and back, which was pretty cool. In fact, it was more work for us than the camels! With each step, I leaned forward and backward. Another step, forward and backward. And on and on and on and on. When we finally got to the campsite, we got settled and I played in the sand. It’s so fine, the whole desert is like one big beach, minus the water. And the crowdedness. I played for hours and hours, until it was time for bed. Sleeping was not great. The bed I had was as hard as a rock, and it was so cold that I had to wear thermals and have two blankets. But overall, the desert was great. Lastly, we were back on camels, and the beasts brought us all the way back. Wow! What a way to leave the desert!
Played with a beetle.
Berger Pizza…yum!
The pink Geode.
Making music with the Gwana band
Drumming!
A desert fox
Ibrahim wrapping his turban around my head
Sandboarding the dunes of the Sahara
Learning some blacksmithing at the market
animals at the market
The donkey market
fossils
Our camp
Sunset in the Sahara
Dunes forever!
My Moroccan Grandma taking care of me while I was sick.
A Fun Time in Fes
We passed through the grand Blue Gate, into the medina. We were in Fes, Morocco, just starting our time and getting to our hostel. The owner, Aziz, was so nice and hospitable. He even invited us to his house to see his family. He has a toddler, whose name is Adam, and an adorable little baby. Aziz has tons of live chickens upstairs. I tried to approach them and scare them, but something went wrong. Five chickens left the room, and ran all over the house! Three of them were chased back into the room, while the I picked up and carried the other two, one at a time. It was quite an adventure for Adam! Aziz also helped us get a tour all around the medina, or old quarter.
We saw loads of things, including a tannery, and some beautiful courtyards. A tannery is a place where they make leather. And from what I’ve seen, they STINK! I’m not kidding. The tannery we visited smelled like a massacre. It was so strong, I had to go back into the shop. Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!!! I’m normally not the one to be grossed out, but that place REEKED. There’s nothing to compare it to, the death-smell was so strong. I saw them scrape the skin from fur, and… it was just so gross. But the grossness didn’t last.
We saw one beautiful court that belonged to a madrasa, basically a high school, but in Arabic. Tiled mosaics were everywhere. We also peeked through a door on the side of the street to see… an absolutely stunning mosque. It was so big, and covered in lavish quartz. The light bounced all around and dazzled our eyes. Wow! We had a fun time in Fes!
Playing PokémonGo next to the huge Blue Gate
New friends
Adam and me
The Palace Gate
In front of the old Fes wall
Checking out a bakery
A donkey in the Medina
Fes Lights
Latin America Song
Here is my song for Bolivia, Perú and Honduras.
Fresh Chefchaouen
We scrambled up the muddy slope, trying to avoid spiky branches. We were in the Rif Mountains around Chefchaouen, taking a long hike to see a waterfall. As it turned out, there really wasn’t much of a waterfall, but it did lead to a pond with a lot of caves in the surrounding cliff. It was a beautiful place. In fact, it influenced my writing. I hope to make a whole story based on it. On our way back, we saw some monkeys. I didn’t even know that they had monkeys in Morocco! Did you? Well, turns out they do. Mom got some great pics! One baby monkey was on top of a tree, kinda far away. He was so cute, though! The monkeys got closer and closer, until they were right above us. We were worried they were going to attack us, so we continued back down the trail. When we got back to the village below the waterfall, it was like a party. Haha. 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄😄. Fooled you so hard! If you read my post Terrific Tangier, you probably didn’t fall for it. As I said, I’m not that famous. People continued on with their days and lives, just as we did. We hopped on a shared taxi and away to Chefchauen!In Chefchauen, we didn’t really do much, but we did walk around and eat new foods. Chefchauen is the bluest city I have ever seen. In some streets, even the streets themselves are blue! Wow! One night, I tried meatball tajin. Yummy! It’s very good! It’s my favorite Moroccan meal! Meatbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalls! I also tried pigeon and rabbit. The pigeon tasted a bit like chicken, but not just like chicken. I don’t know how to describe the rabbit, but it sure was tasty. Savory. Yum, yum, yum!
One day, we went to the countryside near Bab Taza in the Rif mountains. There, the main crop is cannabis, a crop used to make marijuana. Don’t worry, we didn’t smoke any marijuana. We went hiking in the nearby mountains. It was a good, long hike. At night, we all gathered around and read some Moroccan folk tales. A lot of them have to do with death and marriage. Yuck!
Waterfall!
Chickens in a Berber Market
Exploring the Kasbah
Monkeys!
Watching the cannabis harvest
I think this hat might be a bit too small…
There are cats ALL OVER Chefchaouen.
Lots of fish to buy at the Berber market
Terrific Tangier
We stepped into the maze of pathways, the Kasbah. Suddenly, the attitude changed. It rang out, ‘Everybody Dance Now’. Haha. No. Just kidding. The attitude didn’t change. I’m not that well-known. We eventually found our way into a courtyard. One building held a few men who make local music and mint tea together. The music was magical. They used a violin and a fat, guitar-like object with a bent neck. I got to try playing the guitar-like instrument. I made a couple of tunes up. I didn’t quite match up with the violin. Okay, in truth, I was doing something completely different from the violin. Pretty good for a first try, though. We then listened to some more music, watched the sunset, and had some more mint tea, as if my mom and dad hadn’t had enough. Then, we went back home, and later explored the town of Tangier even more.
The American Legation was an interesting place. It mainly talked about how Moroccan history and American history interconnected. As we first walked in, I saw a poster that said, “Keep mum; she’s not so dumb.” I was a little confused. I thought that when they said ‘keep mum’, I thought they were saying ‘mom’ like the British. This made me shout out, “That’s so sexist!” My parents explained to me that the poster was really saying, “Be quiet. She might be a spy.”
In 1777, Morocco became the first country to recognize American independence, and establish diplomatic relations. In 1822, Morocco gave a legation to the United States. A legation is basically like an embassy. Mark Twain once wrote, There is no job worse than working for the legation in Tangier. If a man were to commit a horrible crime, then his sentence should be to be working for the legation in Tangier. Only one day would be torture enough for the average man. While in the legation, we learned about pigsticking. Pigsticking is an indigenous sport. A bunch of people ride on horses, hunting down a wild boar with spears. It can be dangerous, but it is only fatal to the boar.
Below the terrace, there is a small patio with a tortoise the size of my little head. The tortoise basically had the whole place to himself, but his area wasn’t blocked off, so I came to say hi. At first, he was scared of me, but seemed to forget about his fear. I was able to scratch his hard little head. He clearly didn’t want any scratches under the chin, though. Every time he was going somewhere, he would go very fast, but then stop, seem to forget what he was doing, and then head in a different direction. Finally, he ended up hiding among some plants. Tangier was terrific!
Street artist in the Kasbah
Exploring the market
Exploring the narrow streets of Tangier
Inside the American Legation Museum
More music!
Andalucían Awesomeness
The ball flew from the player’s foot, past the goalie, and – was it really? Yes! It was!
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! The stand was filled with cheers. Some people sang the Sevilla FC anthem. In my view, at the top, was a section of people wearing green shirts. These people were supporting the other team, the rival, Real Betis, and were silent with anger. The Real Betis fans had been escorted into the stadium before the Sevilla FC fans, to prevent fights. Throughout the match and their entrance, the Real Betis fans were guarded by police, also to prevent fights. That moment, when the cheers rang out for Sevilla FC, it felt like everyone was united. The stands roared, no one sat, and all other activities, such as smoking, had been paused. It was a beautiful moment. Everyone was united. Sevilla FC ended up winning 1-0. Go Sevilla!
Quickly hopping out of the bus, we arrived in the very historic town of Carmona. Originally a Carthaginian colony, it was taken and incorporated into the Roman empire in the 2nd Punic War, about 200 years before Christ. We even got to see the Alcázar, though not for long. It has been turned into an expensive hotel. Sweet! We then strolled around. We found and explored a Roman necropolis, which you could also call a city of the dead or a freaking ancient cemetery. Yes. That’s right. A freaking ancient cemetery. Most of the graves were in clusters. This was evidence of the Christian impact on the site. Wow! Carmona was crazy!
When you visit Spain, you’ll find that Spaniards go out and eat tapas, which are sort of like mini-versions of larger dishes, part of the Spanish cuisine. We tried these many times in Seville. They are delicious, cheap, and small, so you don’t eat too much. I’m sure everyone likes food like that. Well, these people certainly like food like that!
Go Sevilla!
Playing Pokemon with a new friend.
Carmona
The view of Sevilla from the cathedral.
Inside one of the tombs of the necropolis.
Christopher Colombus’s tomb.
The catherdral in Sevilla is HUGE! The third largest cathedral in the world.
Fabulous Flamenco
Flamenco is a Spanish dance originating from the Gypsy countryside in Andalusia. The original song is of despair, but it has been adapted to be more happy. There are three main pillars of flamenco: guitar, singing, and dancing, but for me, there’s a forth pillar: clapping. Without a certain kind of clapping, flamenco collapses, just as it collapses without guitar, singing, or dancing. In a lot of places, a good dancer is only Gypsy, but in one small town, anyone can be a be good dancer. “A good dancer could be Portuguese!” someone once said. 
In the 1960s, José Monge Cruz started singing. He was an amazing singer from the start. He is called La Camaron de la Isla. In 1973, however, he became a hippie. Hence, he made an album of the pop version of flamenco music. This became very popular in the world in general, especially among Spanish Gypsies. There isn’t a Spanish Gypsy without an album from him. One night, my parents and I went to a flamenco festival. I didn’t get to see much, because I fell asleep, but what I did get to see was amazing. 
In my mind, the dances each had their own story. One dance, a woman was pulling off some impressive moves, and one man tried to copy her, but didn’t for long. One at a time, three other men showed up and did the same thing, before exiting. Flamenco is Andalusia. Flamenco is Seville. Flamenco is… magic.
Special Sevilla
The amazing Alcázar stood there before us, looming over us like a mountain looming over a couple of shrubs. My dad and I were at Real Alcázar in Seville, also called the Alcázar Seville. Which name do you prefer? I prefer Real Alcázar, because it sounds more Spanish and beautiful. Real Alcázar was ordered to be built in 1340, commissioned by King Alfonso XI, a Christian king, in Mudéjar style, a blending of Spanish Christian, and Moorish architecture, and used as the capital. Well, today it’s one of the Spanish royal family’s many houses. Yes. That’s right. One of the many. We got to look at some of the rooms used by the royal family. They all featured elaborate furniture and marble floors.
I had a lot of fun sliding my feet on the marble floors. Slide, slide, slide, slide! All of the rooms had the same carved wooden ceiling. One of them had an amazing view of the gardens. Another of them featured lots of tapestries, mainly of the the Don Quixote series. After exploring the rooms of Real Alcázar, we explored around the gardens and caught Pokémon. We really didn’t catch any new or good ones, but did manage to get lots of Pokéballs. Definitely a good place to stock up on Pokéballs. While we were in the gardens, I managed to catch a Machop, and evolve it into a Machoke. Awesome! It was obvious that at Real Alcázar, we had a very fun time!
The van was chased by loads of cattle as we drove by. We were in the Spanish countryside, visiting a bull farm, which breeds bulls to fight. This was one of the places were cowboy culture originated. The ranchers also had horses. They rode on the horses to help guide the bulls because guiding them on foot is too dangerous. Twice a week, the bulls run three kilometers. That’s far. Okay, okay, I know what you’re going to say. “It’s a bull farm. Shouldn’t you be talking about breeding bulls?”. I’m getting to that.
There are six very lucky bulls on the ranch, not to go to a bull ring, but to mate. Each of them have 20 mates. My dad says, “That’s a lot of headache”. No offense, women. The cows, once they reach age 2, are tested by a torero, for strength and aggressiveness, to show which cows to breed, so they can have fierce babies. Only 20% of them pass the test. The other 80% go to other farms, for other uses, such as dairy. The ones that stay get to mate… and share their mate with 19 other cows. Would you rather pass or fail the test, if you were a cow? I would rather fail, so I won’t have to share my mate with 19 others. However, I would rather be human, and out of all the humans, I would rather be… me.
Real Alcázar garden
Courtyard of the Damsels – Real Alcázar-
Ceiling in Real Alcázar
Real Alcázar
Walking on the Bull Farm
Ranchers hearding some cows.
This is a cork tree. They are native to this part of Spain.
All these bulls have grown up together so they get along.
Valencia and Córdoba
Breathing hard, I reached the other side of the pool. 14-year-old Jamie had already tagged his sister, 10-year-old Felisha. My parents and I were in Valencia, meeting up with podcaster Jason Jenkins and his family. As you can tell, I had an amazing time with Jason Jenkins‘s two kids, Jamie and Felisha. We played Sharks and Minnows in the pool, zombie tag, and Pokémon Go. We caught many Pokémon, including some new ones. The most powerful new Pokémon we caught was a Growlithe at level 527. That’s almost at the end of spectrum! We also took down a gym, through hard work, perseverance, and many potions. We also put another Pokémon in a different friendly gym. I had so much fun with Jamie and Felisha!
There was the courtyard, covered in medieval stone with orange trees every six feet. There was a fountain roughly in the middle of the place. We were outside the Córdoba Cathedral in Córdoba, Spain. Built by many Moorish rulers from 784 to 987, the center was converted into a church in 1236. The interior of the cathedral was much grander than the exterior. The floor and the pillars are marble, and the arches red and white. What I found interesting was that there were two levels of arches, instead of one level. It was beautiful, but very plain. Until we got to the main church. Glorious Christian elements covered the altar and the area around it. Mary was portrayed on one of the walls; colored glass panes filtered the light into colored light. The most obvious Christian element was the big cross in the middle. We explored all around, gazing up at the miraculous wonder, and before we knew it, there was the exit door.
A Roman ruin inside a parking garage!?
The Roman bridge
Inside the mosque with the catherdral in the background
The Christian cathedral with elements of the Islamic mosque visible..
The Cool Capitol of Catalonia
The fountain sprayed water delicately into various places. We were at a light show, with a couple other travel families. Some of us had managed to get amazing seats at the front. I was sitting at the far left, next to Katelyn, one of the three kids older than me. Liam, her younger brother, was sitting on the far right, next to another new friend of ours, Bennet. In front of us, the water changed colors as it changed its position. They switch from pink to orange, red to yellow, and even some of the sprayers pointed towards the middle, then towards the crowd, back to the middle, and rested, pointing straight up. Don’t think that the fountain only did that. It did a whole variety of complicated things, played pop songs, had tons of different colors at once, even spraying us a little. As you can tell, the fountains were pretty cool. So beautiful!
Casa Milá is an engineering feat designed by Antoni Gaudí, a famous Catalan architect. Because of that, it’s quite an astounding building. It has these amazing courtyards reaching up past the roof, to let in natural light. It has freaking elevators! In the early 1900s, when Casa Milá was built, elevators were pretty new, so it was quite something to have them. Also, the building is very, very wavy.
The roof is also incredibly well-done. It’s got tons of sculptures, mainly looking like abstract knights and serving as chimneys. Awesome! Check It’s made of marble, too, a beautiful material that’s very nice to slide your feet on. The staircases go straight over the courtyards, too. I find that one of the most impressive and advanced things. What do you think? Say, “👍” or “totes true” in the comments if you agree. Casa Milá is some pretty impressive stuff, right?
I stepped in, and gasped in astonishment. It was as if I had stepped into a forest. The tree-like pillars branched apart and held up the roof, which resembled the canopy of a jungle. Light was dappled all across the basilica. Colored light filtered in at the back of the place, warm colors from the west, cool colors from the east. We were at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, another amazing engineering feat designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. Even today, it’s still incomplete. The main entrance hasn’t even been finished yet! Also, only 8 of the 18 towers have been built. The main tower, which is also called the Tower of Jesus, will reach a height of 170 meters above the ground, just a little shorter than the tallest hill in the area. La Sagrada Familia has been built to look like a forest. La Sagrada Familia certainly continues to be built just as Gaudí intended.
It is covered in sculptures. The sculptures are used for telling bible stories. The main altar was, unfortunately, closed off, due to construction, but the crucifix hung in the air, supported by a chandelier. Up at the far end of the church, way up, was a triangle, made of smaller golden triangles. This symbolized god the father. Below it, but above the crucifix, was a hazy collection of light, staying near its source. This symbolized God the holy spirit. We explored the whole place, end to end. Every detail was amazing. Even the doors! It was obvious that an immense amount of effort was put in to create the basilica. What a wonderful place. What a wonderful world.
Giant bubbles in the park
The suspended curcifix
The entrways to Casa Milá are really cool!
Hangin’ with my bud Gaudí
La Sagrada Familia
Nice Nîmes
The sun beat down as we walked past the Ancient Roman coliseum. We were in Nîmes, a town in southern France roughly halfway between Spain and Italy. I was confused as to why we walked past the coliseum, instead of going in, but I held my tongue, and soon learned why we had passed the coliseum. We were meeting up with our friends from Amsterdam.
You’ll remember from my post Amazing Amsterdam Part 2 that Asher is a lot like me. Really, if you ever got to know him, you would believe me. We talked for hours about various things: about a game I recently started playing called Civilization Revolution, about a game that he’s addicted to called Kerble Space Program, about my drafts for sci-fi novels, etc, etc. In fact, Asher even helped me make my stories more like real life. The big thing we discussed is that we agreed to both write half of a realistic, scientific comedy. Most of the time we were talking, we were waiting for dinner, but before dinner, we visited the coliseum from the beginning of the day, Maison Carrée, a former temple, and other old, cool sites.
The coliseum, built in 70 A.D, was almost intact, though not at its former glory. We learned a lot about gladiator fights. First off, gladiators went to schools to learn their skills, and represented their schools in their fights. Second, gladiators were rarely killed. When a gladiator fell, the crowd would scream out, giving their input. The guy in charge would then decide whether to give the signal for killing the fallen man, pointing his thumb at him, or to spare him, the sign being to clench his fist with his thumb inside it. If a gladiator was killed, the guy in charge would have to pay a large fee to the gladiator school.
Maison Carrée, which, as I said, had once been a temple, now has another use. It currently houses a short film of some of Nîmes’ history with the Romans. The short film was very interesting. It told of Nîmes’s founding, and then of how its culture changed, back in Roman times. At first, the area of Nîmes was very Gaul. They worshiped Nemausus, and then they became more Roman, made wine, worshiped Roman gods, etc.
After watching the short film, we went to a small, cute little park, and to another temple, this one mostly in ruins, the Temple of Diana. It was very small, so there wasn’t much to see there, but it was still pretty amazing. It’s amazing that it’s still there.
After visiting the wonderful, yet small and ruined Temple of Diana, we climbed up a hill, and then to the top of Tour Magne, an old Roman tower which was one of the eight towers that used to be part of the city walls. There wasn’t much room at the top. In fact, there was more room at the bottom than at the top! The top was basically a balcony. However, the view was amazing. We stared off into the distance, our gazes sweeping across the whole town… to the horizon.
French Fun
The car stopped, and we got out. We made our way to the sidewalk, gravel crunching under our feet. We treaded up the hill to the courtyard in front of the Baume abbey, in central France. Then… we entered the abbey that had been built in the 9th century. After that, I wandered off on my own. From what I saw, the abbey was made up of three public courtyards, and various private buildings surrounding each of the courtyards. The first courtyard had a public church on the side, which I visited briefly. I strolled through the other two courtyards. When I exited the third and final courtyard, I found myself on a road outside the abbey. I followed it back to the parking lot. Climbing the hill again, I stumbled into a ceramic shop. I spent a good 15 minutes or more admiring the cute, little clay works. When I found mom and dad, we were back in the car and on the road to Saint-Étienne!
Worn out and exhausted, we finally arrived at the house of our friends, Antoine and Amélie. We talked for a bit, then went to bed. The next day, my parents, myself, and Antoine, went to the nearby Saint-Croix-en-Jarez abbey, which was still in use, as a village. It used to be a monastery, but was converted during the French Revolution. The bathroom was truly one of the worst I’d seen since Myanmar! The toilet was a squatty potty, and stank multiple times worse than a zoo. I would have never expected to see a toilet like that in France! However, I remembered from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, that you can’t judge a place by its toilets. The same rule applies for the Saint Croix-en-Jarez abbey and village! It is cute, small, and wonderful, with adorable courtyards, complexes, and sculptures around every bend. No Pokémon, but 1 or 2 Pokéstops! We turned one bend, and it had an old courtyard with a fascinating statue. Why was it fascinating? We turned another bend, and found a cute complex. It would have been nice to stay the night, but Saint-Étienne was calling us back, so back to Saint-Étienne we went!
The food came, not looking very appetizing, but at the same time, it didn’t look that disgusting. We were at L’escargot d’or in Saint-Étienne, a small town in Eastern Central France. Now, you might be wondering, “What is it? What was the food?” I’ll answer your question. Our meal mainly consisted of… snails and frogs. Sounds pretty disgusting, doesn’t it? I am seriously not kidding when I say that frog tastes just like chicken. Snails though… both taste and feel like squid. They’re good at first, but the aftertaste, combined with the texture, makes them gross. France was full of fun. It wasn’t full of just any fun, but French fun.
The abbey
Froglegs Salad
So much cheese!
A medieval church in St. Etienne
The Caves of Wonder
I stepped into the opening. A vast cave system stretched before me, as far as the eye could see. These were the Baume caves. Stretching roughly three kilometers (around 2 miles) and consisting of many rooms, the Baume caves were a spectacular sight so see. The first room, like all the rooms in the cave system, had circles at the top, caused by swirling water, roughly 20,000 years ago. That’s a long time! All along the walls and the ceiling where black ovals, each about the size of my fist. These… were caused by bats. Good thing it was summer, because in winter, that room would have been full of bats. I nicknamed that first room “The Bat Room”. The next room was covered in veins, and had a loud, yet comfortable echo. The echo in the second room was similar to the echo in most auditoriums. Hence, I nicknamed the room “The Concert Room”. There were a couple more rooms, such as, the Lake Room, which I called, “The Picture Room,” because the rock formations could be used to create imaginary animals. The next and final room we saw was the Tombstone Room. I didn’t give this one a nickname, because the name it had suited it very well. It’s called the Tombstone Room because the rock in the center looks like Napoleon’s tomb in Paris. We walked back, through the amazing Picture Room, the booming Concert Room, and the fascinating Bat Room, to the open… and breathed fresh air.
Playing the stream before going into the caves
This place is HUGE! Can you find me?
Exploring the rock formations outside the caves.
Alsace Insanity
Dambach La Ville was our first stop in Alsace. We stayed there for three nights. We rented an adorable apartment. The owner of the apartment had a pretty, brown, black, and white cat, who was very sweet and nice. The cat really liked her ears scratched.
One day, there was a dance performance at the weekly summer market, where five different pairs danced to various songs. They even danced to Cotton-Eyed Joe. It was a big surprise. I wasn’t sure they were dancing the Cotton-Eyed Joe, but I was plunged into memories of when I was nine, before the trip or even this blog had started, I was to learn how to dance the Cotton-Eyed Joe with my class. Back then, I took it for granted, and didn’t really like the song, but at the moment I watched the dancers spin around, I had a strong desire to return to those times. Oh, the memories.
You know how much I like cheese, right? If you’ve been looking at my blog a lot, you’ll remember that in my post De Dutch Diet, I declared that I would buy my whole weight in cheese. Well, that’s right. Especially if it’s Munster cheese. In Munster valley, we were shown how Munster cheese is made. Believe me, cheese looks gross when it’s just getting started. After it’s processed, it turns into water with disgusting milk curds floating around inside it.
Once it’s stirred, it turns to smaller curds. In fact, if you added salt at this point, you’d have cottage cheese, which, from when I was 6 to when I was 8, used to be my breakfast. But the goal isn’t to make cottage cheese. The goal’s to make Munster cheese! After they get the small curds, they filter the curds, and put the cheese into a small wooden bucket. After a few hours, it hardens and takes its circular form. Finally, it’s stored for at least 3 weeks, and there you have it! Munster cheese! What a fascinating process!
Also in Alsace, we took a trip to Colmar, were we saw an Alsatian folk dance performance. Some of the dances they danced were similar to some of the dances I did for my music class performance, back in fourth grade. In the performance, many of the dances were circle dances, and in a few of those, the dancers jumped into the circle. In another dance, the dancers held strings of fabric in their hands, and entwined them.
On the way to Colmar, we stopped by a gorgeous and cute town called Kayserberg. It had stone buildings in German architecture, something hard to find in France, but easy to find in Alsace. There, we walked around and saw a vineyard. We also bought and ate a chocolate bar. Alsace was awesome!
Kayserberg
Tried Tartes Flame (Alsation Pizza) in Colmar
Colmar
Trying honey at the summer market in Dambach la Ville
Who says the French don’t like kids!?
Didn’t really like the cheese sample in Munster.
Munster Valley topographical map.
Got to see some cows in Munster Valley.
Alsatian Ancestors
In 1844, the Christilles family left their home town, Lampertsloch, in Alsace, a province in France. Jean Pierre Christilles, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, left, with his father, wife, and four children, by boat, and landed in Galveston, Texas, back when Texas was a republic. Eventually, they received land southwest of Castroville. They are my ancestors.
My great-great-great-grandmother was a Christilles. Roughly 172 years later, me, my mom, and my dad came back to Lampertsloch. As far as we know, no descendants of the Christilles family had came to Lampertsloch for over 150 years. It was a very cute town, in such a rural place that no Pokéstops even existed. At the end of the road, Lampertsloch looked more like a German town than a French town. The houses were much shorter and much wider than most French buildings. Trying to go even farther than most, we even visited a graveyard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any of our ancestors there. It was too new. What really helped us was an e-book that mom had found online. It stretched back generations and generations, to our ancestors in Alsace. Then, it stretched all the way forward, and didn’t miss a single person. Well, not exactly. Since it had been published in the 1960s, it was very outdated! In fact, it was missing two whole generations! The book was missing my mom’s generation, and my generation! How dare you! Whatever the case, tracking down our ancestors was both fun and exciting!
Lampertsloch
Kutzenhausen
The Battle of St. Mihiel – A Newscast
Check out the Newscast I did for the battle of St. Mihiel. I studied this battle as part of my US History class. I hope you like it!
The Perfect Palace
There it stood, in all its glory, the Palace of Versailles. The shining gold, the towering walls, complete with a massive courtyard. Built in the 1600s, the Palace of Versailles contained just as much glory as it had in the 17th century. The inside museum was a little boring, but don’t get me wrong! It was still amazing! The best part about the palace was that we got to rent a golf cart to drive around the gardens with. Even better, I got to sit on the back and catch Pokémon. I evolved an Eevee named Joan D’Arc into a Vaporeon, at combat power 1034. It’s our new best Pokémon! I found the golf cart tour really cool. The gardens were so big, the palace could have easily been called an estate. It even includes a small forest! Wanna guess what that was used for? Hunting! King Louis VIX, who built the palace, really liked hunting. That’s why he incorporated a forest into his palace. At the Palace of Versailles, we had an amazing time.
Learning about the Hall of Mirrors
In the Gardens
A painting of Joan of Arc leading in battle
Don’t wanna dress like Napoleon!
My Versailles Pokemon
Normandy
The graves stretched down the hill and into the distance at the Normandy American Cemetery. Such a sad graveyard. Down below us was Omaha beach, where many of the buried American soldiers fell and died. The countless rows and columns of crosses were dotted here and there by Stars of David. On each of them showed the soldier’s name, when they died, and which state of the United States they came from. I shuddered at the ones that said “Known But Unto God” because the idea of being blown to bits or burnt to death gave me the creeps. No one deserves to go like that. All of those soldiers deserve Medals of Honor. However, being buried in the land they helped to liberate might be even better than a Medal of Honor. We all give thanks to our soldiers. If Nazi Germany had won the war, more horrible and more terrifying things would have happened. The only things that stopped Nazi Germany were the Allied veterans and fallen soldiers. We thank you with all our hearts.
Omaha Beach Landing Monument
Omaha Beach Infinity Pool
Omaha Beach today – just a normal beach where people enjoy themselves
Paris of Power
There it stood, rising up into the air like a mountain, sloping up on one side and down the other. There it stood, its tip scratching the sky and splitting the clouds as they blew by. There it stood, with its dozens of visitors going up it in elevators and taking cheesy pictures. Can you guess where we were? If you guessed the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, you were right!
In Paris, we went all over the place. We caught Pokémon, saw sights, and walked around. We even caught 7 new Pokémon: Pinsir, Cubone, Tangela, and others. We even hatched a Mr. Mime! It was funny, hatching a Mr. Mime in Paris, because miming is a form of French art. Interesting, right?
We went to the Rodin museum, which was pretty dang cool. It was a museum on Auguste Rodin’s works. Rodin was a sculptor in the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, whose works were like a version of impressionism in sculptures. His two most famous works are the Thinker and the Kiss.
Notre Dame, a large, stone cathedral first built in 1163, was beautiful, but a little boring. Climbing to the top was hard, but the view was pretty good. We saw the bells, and they were huge! We took silly pictures with them.
We also saw the Arc de Triomphe, which was a Pokémon gym. The Arc de Triomphe is a monument, a huge arc with carvings that commemorates the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. I noticed someone fighting it, and waited. I was waiting for a while. All of a sudden, the gym leader was down, and the gym lay unclaimed! Quickly I assigned my best Pokémon, a Golduck at level 705, to the gym, claiming it for my team! Two Pokémon joined mine. I knew we would hold the gym for a while. All I could think as I proudly watched my Golduck spin around and around at the top of gym was: Go Team Instinct!
Pokemon at the Arc de Triophe
Mom and Dad bought me an awesome mini verion of this racecar!
Desserts are everywhere is Paris!
There it is!
At the Gates of Hell
Put a lock of love for mom and dad on the Pont des Artes bridge!
Luxembourg Gardens
Munch visited the Rodin Museum!
Tried Beef Tartar (raw beef).
Notre Dame
Notre Dame
I caught a Pincer. It caught mom!
Stopped at a playground
Play with Sailboats at Luxembourg Gardens
I Love Paris!
We found the Statute of Liberty in Paris!
De Dutch Diet
As you may know, my dad is a huge beer fan. In the Netherlands, my mom also came to like beer. We decided to drive down to Belgium through the Netherlands to Ter Dolen castle in the small town of Houthalen. On the way, we stopped by two Trappist breweries, which are run by Trappist monks, who are separated from society. They have to find a way to support themselves. Some of them do this by making bread, others by making cheese, but most of them support themselves by making beer. Most of the beers we tried were bad, in my opinion. However, there was one dessert beer (who even knew they existed!) that I would have been able to stand, if only it wasn’t so yeasty! It tasted sweet, like cherries.
At the La Trappe brewery, there was a beautiful garden to walk around in. Also, it was full of Pokémon. Just to let you know, our new best Pokémon is a Golduck at level 705.
The Achel brewery was walled in, and gave me déjà vu. On the outside, it looked a lot like Old Dubai. On the inside, however, it looked like an outdoor café. After eating a whole sandwich, I had a whole ice cream, and got a bellyache. At least I wasn’t hungry!
The Ter Dolen brewery was where the dessert beer was from. I met another kid, whose name was Alec. Alec and I shared our builds in Minecraft. We had a wonderful time.
Back in Alkmaar, Netherlands, rows and rows of cheese covered the courtyard. Slowly they were carried to the scale, then to the carts, where they were bought via auction. This went on for hours. The cheese wheels were slowly taken away, until at one point, they were all gone. Believe me, I would have bought my whole weight in cheese!
To end our time in Amsterdam, we went to De Taart van M’n Tante. We had some delicious Dutch Apple Pie. What a way to end Amsterdam!
Ter Dolen Double – eh.
Ter Dolen Kriek – sort of yummy.
La Trappe – Yuk.
Ice Cream at Achel…tummy ache!
We feasted at Ter Dolen
A beautiful garden at La Trappe to play in.
Rows and rows of cheese.
Mom took this cheesy photo of me.
Tasted some chocolate in Alkmaar too!
Cheese being weighed
So much cheese!
Space is the Place
Did you know that I am very interested in space? If you do, you’ll know where to find me in 20 years! If not, you don’t know me yet! At the Space Expo, I was all around amazed at all the close-ups of planets, the International Space Station, and the projects that are going on. Galileo is a project by the European Space Agency. It is supposed to be Europe’s version of GPS. That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? The European Space Agency is also working on a moon base. They’re planning to use moon dust to 3-d print blocks to use. However, they don’t want to use actual people to create the base. Rather, have robots do the dirty work, while the humans in the International Space Station control the robots. The European Space Agency also wants to send another rover to Mars. This project is called ExoMars. Its goal is to find life on Mars by drilling a couple yards under the surface. Who knows what will happen? Maybe they’ll find life like humans on Mars! It’s possible! Scientists have found evidence that proves the fact that liquid water used to exist on Mars! Perhaps by the time I follow my dreams and become an astrobiologist, they’ll already have found life on other planets. Whatever happens, I will dedicate my life to finding, studying, and preserving life on those other planets.
I became an astronaut!
I jumped really far on the moon!
The view of Earth is so beautiful!
The bathroom isn’t too different…
Learning about importance of insulation
Practicing my thruster skills.
It was great to meet Mr. Armstrong.
Astronauts’ autographs.
Official astronaut certificate
Amazing Amsterdam Part 2
One great day, we met a family of three at the NEMO Science Museum. Lily, 8; Alex, 6; and Maya, 3. We explored the entire museum. Alex and Maya got very hard to keep track of. We saw a short video on the ‘life’ of a hydrogen atom named Harry. He appeared after the big bang, drifting through space, all alone, until the first star was born. Right before his eyes, two hydrogen atoms collided to make an oxygen atom. She introduced herself as Odette. After a few billion years, the star exploded. Harry was on his own again. However, he couldn’t be alone forever. He met another hydrogen atom, named Huis. He and Huis combined to make a hydrogen molecule. They were drifting along happily when Odette crashed into them, combining to make a molecule of water. Suddenly, they were swept away by a comet, which took them to the nearest planet in sight, our planet Earth. They were in the water cycle. At first, it was fun. However, it got annoying after a while. Eventually, Harry became part of a different molecule. The molecule combined to form one of the first cells. Eventually, these cells combined to create a coral. After multiple years, the coral turned into a fossil because the level in oceans decreased. The fossil rolled into the water, and Harry became part of the water cycle again. Harry rained down, and was absorbed by a tree, becoming one with it. When the tree rotted, Harry turned into petroleum. The petroleum was pumped up, Harry turned into gasoline, and was released back into the open. He fell into a wheat field, and was ground into bread. Then, a boy ate the bread, and Harry became part of the boy’s bones. All of us liked Harry’s story, but none of us were more intrigued than Maya. We ended by making cars that ran on air. I’m not kidding! They really did run on air!
Boat after boat floated by, and I’d started to dance a little. On top of the chair, I got a great view of the parade, which was a celebration of gay pride. At first I was nervous, but I started to get into it. We spent an hour or two, watching one of the coolest parades ever. The floats were drifting by on the canals, though it was more like partying by than drifting by.
On the beach in Zandvoort, we saw our friends, Asher and his mom. If you searched around the world for a clone of me, Asher is about the closest thing you’ll find. He doesn’t look or sound much like me, but we have almost the same personality. We both like science, we both like video games, we both are creative, so on and so forth. I got to meet some of his friends, Sam, Zane, Saskia, Nate, and Mia. We had a great time building a stable sand-fort, and burying each other in sand. First was Sam, then Saskia, then Asher. However, they’ll have to wait until next time to bury me! We had a wonderful time!
The windmills in the distance spun around and around. The smell of chocolate in the air drifted around the block and across the street. It was so strong, I could taste it in my mouth. We walked on and on, over the bridge. We finally poked our heads into a chocolate shop. We were told about how chocolate was made. First, the beans were taken out of the pod, which was harvested from the trunks of chocolate trees. Second, they were roasted. Third, the roasted beans were ground into powder. This is how cocoa powder is made. Once you get the powder, you can make a lot of chocolatey things. I made hot chocolate, using a spoonful of cocoa powder, a spoonful of sugar, and about an ounce of milk. Honestly, the heaping mound of cocoa powder on my spoon was probably enough to fill two spoons. I might’ve added a little extra sugar. Also, we took a dress up picture. It was unbelievably boring, but Mirjam was very nice.
The Rijksmuseum was a sight to see. Painting after painting after painting after painting. It got ridiculous. The two paintings that were singled out were The Night Watch by Rembrendt and The Battle of Waterloo by Jan Willem Pieneman. I preferred The Night Watch; how the light fell on the men in the foreground, how the faces of the people portrayed looked so serious. I caught a Pokémon right in front of the thing. Really! It was amazing.
Pokémon update! We’ve been catching a lot of Pokémon lately, and gotten some advice. If you catch a Pokémon that’s not your best, hand it to the professor! He’ll turn in into candy (not my own doing)! Also, our current best is a Seaking at level 539!
A huge clock that tells time with water by using gravity!
An activity about keeping cities from flooding
A scale that measured amounts of different elements in your body
Building a car that runs on air
Making electric currents light up a bulb
Mom and I learning about The Battle of Waterloo by Jan Willem Pieneman
They got a plane in the museum!
Lifting really heavy bags!
Climbing the stairs in a windmill
It was cold, but I didn’t care!
So much cheese in Amsterdam!
So much bread in Amsterdam!
Look at this ship in the Rijksmuseum!
A huge library at the Rijksmuseum
The Battle of Waterloo
The original units of measure for the metric system! I just studied that in science!
Mmmm…Omlette with Bacon inside!
I got to play the accordian in Zaanse Schans
They have huge feet in the Netherlands!
Watching a wooden clog making demo
What else am I going to do when they hand me a huge block of chocolate?!
I would eat the cocoa beans too!
Making hot chocolate.
The Master Madman
The wind flew past my ears, yet my bike seemed to know that we had reached our destination. It locked up, and I couldn’t move my bike! It crashed into the curb and flew me off. My arm was scraped in the crash, but nothing too serious happened. Because we had the museum card we got to skip the whole line to the van Gogh Museum. That was lucky, because the line was very slow and backed up.
We spent a good hour or two at the museum. We saw a crazy amount of paintings by van Gogh. My favorite was The Potato Eaters. I liked it because the figures in the painting looked very extraterrestrial and goofy. They were very distorted and dark. I also really liked Wheatfield with Crows. I liked it because it was wavy and yellow.
There was also a Munch painting in there, which I did not expect. That was probably why that painting wasn’t in a Norwegian museum. After all, Munch and van Gogh’s art careers overlapped. Also, they used similar art styles. However it was a van Gogh museum.
There was also an exhibit about his mental instability. One night, he cut his ear off. And then in 1890, he shot himself! Had his mental instability gone that far? Or could it have possibly been local teen? These are both questions still have not been answered yet. Mentally sick or not, Vincent van Gogh was an amazing artist, today is regarded by some as the best in the world.
Looking below the frame athe canvas edge
Listening to a letter from Theo, Vincent’s brother
Touching a “van Gosh”. Not the real one! They had an exhibit for hte visually impaired. Pretty cool!
Anne Frank
Recently I finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank, which is about Anne’s time in hiding during World War II in Amsterdam. It taught me that in times of trouble, try to enjoy life to its fullest. Whether it’s painting or doing what she did and writing a diary, get your feelings out, and express yourself, in your own way. Don’t keep it down or, like Anne said, you’ll suffocate. The diary fascinated me, how she was in a bad situation, but never gave up hope. Times got hard, but she pulled through, and showed that effort pays off. Always.
We went to the Secret Annex, where she, her family, and the other four people in hiding with them lived for two whole years. Anne Frank lived there with her parents, Otto and Edith Frank, her sister, Margot, and the van Daans, Peter, Petronella, and Hermann. Eventually, Albert Dussel joined them. They were doing so well… until someone betrayed them. On August 4th, a month before the liberation started in the Netherlands, the eight people in hiding were uncovered and arrested, as well as their helpers Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler. Their other two helpers, Bep Voskuijl and Miep Gies-Santrouschitz were left all alone. The eight members of the Secret Annex were split between five different concentration camps. Anne was shipped to Bergen-Belsen, where she died from typhus. Only Otto survived. After he heard the news that his two daughters were both dead, he spent multiple years trying to get Anne’s diary published.
I’ve learned from Anne Frank’s story that no prejudice is a right one. After all, we’re all just people. Anne Frank’s story is like a thorn, piercing straight through my heart, and I would give my hand… to change it.
**Note photos were not allowed in the museum. All images used in this post are taken from internet searches.**
Mysterious Microbes
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I love tardigrades! - The scientist changed out the case. He explained how the light made the tardigrades hot and inactive. We were at Micropia, the one and only microbiology museum in the world, which is in Amsterdam. It was all about microbes, from unimaginably tiny to relatively large and even visible. My favorite microbe, as you probably already know, is the tardigrade (also known as the water bear and the moss piglet). They are one of the larger microbes, yet not quite visible. The fresh set was incredibly active. They were squirming around. I already knew a lot about water bears*, but I learned even more while the scientist placed the tardigrades under the microscope.
Even though they can survive in temperatures ranging between 300 and -458°f, in my opinion their most fascinating feature is their reproductive cycle. The females grow eggs inside their bodies. Then, they shed their skin, and squirm out of it. The skins of water bears are completely transparent, so through the microscope, I could see a female trying to squirm out of her skin, which held an egg. The egg seemed to take up half her lower body! I could see also males looking around for something, probably the skins of females, containing eggs that needed to be fertilized.
Microbes on a toothebrush
Microbes under a microscope
Microbes under a microscope
Lots of microscopes to look into!
Got my body scanned to see all the microbes living on it!
Super Stavanger
At the science museum, Vitenfabrikken, I placed my hand on the plasma ball. All the plasma shot to my hand. An employee held a light bulb out to me. I grabbed it, and it lit up. She explained how the energy moved through my body to the bulb, which lit up. We also watched a space presentation in English (which was really more of a presentation on how space exploration has changed our everyday lives). I also tried to break a glass with my voice. I was close, but not successful. It was so hard!
We also went to the viking museum and farm, Avaldsnes. At the museum, I had a sword fight with a Norwegian boy. We learned that the vikings mainly used spears, instead of axes or swords, because they were cheapest, and had no horny helmets. There used to be a woman from Siberia, Ljufvina, who had married a Norwegian king, Hjor, became queen, moved to Avaldsnes, and had two sons. One of the sons, Prince Geirmund the Black-Skinned, was supposedly the most successful settler of Iceland. However, when he came back home to claim the throne, he found he was too late and the kingdom had already been taken over by Harold Fairhair. That must’ve sucked! He went back to Iceland for good. We also saw the model farm, and I got to do some archery. I even shot the rubber warthog in the neck!
Finally, we went on famous hike, to Kjerag Rock. There were three sets of climbing chains. Each of us slipped on the chains. When I slipped, I landed on my back with a thump. However, I felt no pain. At the top, it was incredibly foggy. There was still snow on the ground, too. I played in the snow, but got wet, cold, and miserable. Then we took pictures of Dad on Kjerag Rock with a 3,000 foot drop below him. What a way to end Norway!
At the science museum
Seen while exploring the viking village
Learning a viking game
Archery at the Viking Village
Traditional Viking Homes
Viking helemets didn’t have horns!
PLaying around at the viking museum
Man-made lightning
Viking swords memorial near Stavanger
Sword fight!
An amazing hike to Kjerag!
A lot of what we hiked over looked like this
It was a very rugid hike!
Chains to help you along!
I had so much fun in the snow!
A Bergen Win
The train rode through beautiful, white, snowy mountains. It rode through beautiful green valleys. It rode into the Bergen train station, coming to a stop at the end of the tracks. We had to navigate through really cute alleyways to get to our place. We liked it, too. We rested for the rest of the day and for the next day.
On our third day, however, we went on a fjord cruise. I was not happy. I was bored! I couldn’t really focus, because I just didn’t click, and I wasn’t really interested. I did like the earthy waterfall water. I loved how earthy it tasted. I also played with the baby in front of us. I traded her an extra map for an empty water bottle. She seemed to love the water bottle.
The next day, we went to Mount Fløyen. I had such a good time at the big kids’ playground. It was a very good anti-zombie base. There were many emergency escapes, and it was hard to get to. There were three watchtowers, and one watchtower had communication with the lowest level. We also canoed and went for a short walk. I played a zombie game with two German boys and a Norwegian boy at the playground. I caught two of them. I had a wonderful time.
Bergen view
View from the SAME train!
Bergen’s Streets
Bergen’s Streets
Goofin in the fish market
Fjun on the Funicilar!
Did a little canoeing
The BEST big-kids playground ever!
Having fun outside
More playground fun
Being goofy in Bryggen
The UNESCO site in Bryggen
The fish market was really cool!
Around Bergen
Around Bergen
Around Bergen
These crabs were HUGE!
Around Bergen
A cute Norwegian Fjord scene
Awesome Oslo
The boat skimmed over the water. It was so fun going fast! We whooped for joy. It was very fun. The wind flew past our faces and felt very nice against them, even if it was cold. I was so happy that my dad’s friend Bjørn took us out on his own rubber boat for a ride in the Oslo Fjord. Then I looked behind my shoulder… at the upcoming storm. The waves got big and soaked us. What a relief it was to get back on dry land!
The rainy weather during our time in Oslo didn’t stop us from going out and enjoying the city. We were out and about every single day. While we were out, we walked around the city.
On our first day, we saw some epic viking ships. At first, I was astounded. There was a ship there that used to sail the open seas. The skeleton of its owner had a dagger cut in one leg and a sword slash in the other. Ouch! As we headed back, I saw an epic axe. AWESOME!!! I wanted to grab it. I wanted to hold it. I wanted to USE it. Sadly, though, it was locked up.
We also went to the Munch Museum. They didn’t have Edvard Munch’s Spring Plowing, which I’d studied and wanted to see (click here to read my short story Another Normal Day inspired by the painting), so I was disappointed. I did like it, though.
Finally, we went to the Vigeland Park sculpture garden. We laid in the grass and had ice-cream. Dad dragged us up the hill to a pillar covered in carvings. After that, I walked around in a very shallow area of the fountain and played zombie. I think I was a little too graphic, though.While I played, I caused a little kid to cry, and a man whom I guessed was in his fifties gave me a hard stare. It was just a warning, though. I had tons of fun.
Enjoying a cafe stop
laying in the grass
A threating storm over the fjord
enjoying the sun on the boat. We had lunch at that restaurant.
Vigeland Park
Vigeland Park
An actual Viking axe!
Viking ship! Wow!
James the Viking
These ships are awesome!
Framed at the Munch Museum!
Another Normal Day
Night and I continued grazing silently. Finally, she looked at me and asked, “How’d you sleep? Fine?”
I looked back at her and said, “No dreams. How ‘bout you.”
She replied, saying the same, then our softhoof (human) came and fetched us. It was time to walk around so that herbs could grow so softhooves to eat. It was another simple, peaceful day. In the distance, we heard the sharpteeth (dogs) chase around the sheep. After the trail had been walked, we settled down in the stable to have a midday nap. I relaxed to the sound of horses munching on there food. A few softhooves came in with strange items dangling around their necks. The softhooves would grab their strange items. Whenever the softhooves wanted, their strange items would shoot out a dazzling light; then the softhooves would point their massive, bulky light-guns (cameras) at a different horse. I didn’t want to get shot by those evil-looking things! My breath was getting heavy. I flinched away, crashing into the wall. The stable shook. I kicked the wall and it started crashing to the ground! My haunches were pinned down. The softhooves screamed in pain, agony, fear, and distress. The lucky horses clippity-clopped away, leave the stable in dust.
“This is the end,” I thought.
Before I could moan my thoughts, the boards shifted. I was free! I dashed into the woods, one of the softhooves yelling at me. The woods were a scary, barren place at this time, but they were the only place to refuge. Here, I would lie safe from the strange, light-gun-carrying softhooves. As I walked through the forest, sprouts and late snow crunched under my hooves. I heard a growl and stopped dead in my trackes, breathing heavily. I heard the sound of sharptooth-like animals fighting. My heart stopped. Then I heard…another scared horse! I ran straight to the sound, it was Night!
She cried for joy, and yelled my name. “Spring!” she cried.
I cried for her and we nuzzled eachother. Then, all of a sudden, the vicious beasts that looked skeptically like wolves ran at us – and they were not happy. Silently, Night and I ran to safety. We ran and ran – straight in to the arms of our owners. They hugged us. We were given a new home and a good meal.
It was another normal day.
Information:
This was an assignment included in RTWkid’s Art History curriculum in which Edvard Munch was studied:
Pick one of the paintings other than The Scream or The Storm and write a short story, ideally 2 pages, definitely no more than 4 pages. The painting becomes the illustration and/or book cover of the story.
Georgia Gaming
The taxi stopped, and we got out. The Guven family was at their front door, waiting for us. How nice it was to see old friends again! I had such a fun time with Guy and his little sister, Coco! We played Minecraft and with toy cars. The cars would have tournaments on two different tracks – the stairs and the special track. On the track, two cars would be launched out like complete bosses into a cell of their own. Then, they would spin to a second piece of track. It was very easy to tell the winner because the loser was flung to the side. About once a day, the Horn siblings, Gavin and his little sister, Hayden, would come over. While they were over we stuck to some rules. For the first hour, we would refrain from playing video games. For the next hour, however, we could play video games, and were all over Minecraft. We started building a Minecraft wipeout map. We built a creeper face next to a little bit of parkour. Some blocks on the creeper face were in front of sticky pistons, and if you hit their levers once, the blocks shot out. If you hit them again, they went back to their former positions, waiting to strike. Somehow, we split into boys and girls. Guy was not allowed onto the girls’ world, because they thought he would grief them. So I joined, and did exactly what they feared: blew up their house! Then I joined their other world, and burned down the heart they had built! Later, when Coco joined my world, I disconnected her. Other than that, we had an amazing time.
Our time in Peachtree City was also amazing. Kayli and I played Minecraft, too, where we made an even better wipeout map. We made two creeper faces and added redstone, making them almost automatic. We also added a maze of paintings and a boat race. We added a jumper, ladder parkour, and a dropper. We’re not even done yet! We went on several golf cart rides. On the last one, I spilled melted ice-cream all over myself and the golf cart. Now I know: golf carts and melted ice-cream DO NOT mix. They ruin each other.
Honestly, some of the most fun I had was at my pool party in Atlanta. The Hellengas, Jack and Parker, were there. So were the Guvens and the Horns. James Hester III (aka. Tripp) and his mom were also there. We had pizza for lunch. After we had pizza, we played a game where we had to push everyone else into the pool. A girl that lived in the building was swimming around, and Gavin pushed me in backwards. When I resurfaced, she was crying, and said her earring was missing. My theory is that when I fell in, my foot smacked her face and her earring flew away. Everyone looked for it. Turns out, it was at the edge of the pool. That girl never got back in the pool. Then, we decided to play chicken. It was Jack and I versus Gavin and Guy. Tripp kept interfering. I splashed him in the face and it proved to be too much. He never got back in the pool. Later, Dad and Mr. Horn were throwing all of the kids into the air. Flying was so fun! However, Dad threw Coco a little too hard. She bonked her head on the bottom of the pool. That proved my doubts about the pool being deep enough. She was fine, though. She was back in the pool swimming her heart out in a few minutes. Weren’t we all?
In Savannah, we stayed with our friends, the Parish family. I made a zombie movie with Brownyn and Ivy. Click here to see the trailer for our movie! We also had a tour of the city. We went to Leopold’s Ice-Cream. The line was insane! No wonder! They’d been around since 1919! Also, they are the official inventors of the Tutti-Frutti ice-cream flavor. I ordered a triple chocolate ice-cream. Oh, BOY it was good. It was really chocolatey. There’s nothing more a boy would want.
The making of “The Accident”
Hanging out with Pancake (the pet bearded lizard)
Leopolds is GOOOOOD!
Enjoying some beach time
Playing Chicken!
Enjoying some Yeah! Burger…mmmmmmmm
Texas Times
“Pawpaw!” I yelled, hugging him. He greeted me, mom and dad. Then we drove to Aunt Brenda’s house. She’s not actually my aunt. She’s my dad’s aunt. We stayed a little past lunch time. Then we said our farewells, and then drove to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Keren’s house. We greeted them in the same manner we’d greeted Mita, Aunt Brenda, and Uncle Rick. Of course, I gave Andy, the family puppy (who is now 2), lots of love and attention. When I got tired of that, I played board games with Victoria, my slightly younger cousin. Later, I played Catan with Victoria and Pawpaw, a game which Pawpaw won. Victoria and I also played Dungeon and Munchkin. It was very fun. Also, for once in my life, I felt normal.