May 7, 2010 in Rome was the best day of my life. I took a tour of the colosseum, the Roman forums, and a private tour of Rome with the tour guide from the Roman forums.
not done yet
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Salve, Roma!
On Thursday we explored Rome for the first time. We met Mom's old friends, Janice, Nicky, and Lizzy. We took the metro to Spagna and we saw the Spanish Steps. We climbed up the Spanish steps and we saw the church Trinita' Dei Monti at the top. I really loved the Spanish Steps. The church was beautiful too. After that Nicky and I started arguing about which way to go to get to the Panteon. We made a bet for Gelato and my path was chosen and I won the bet!
It was too bad that the Pantheon was being renovated. It still was cool. There was a big hole in the building that I didn't know what it was for, but whenever it rained it sure got in there. The Pantheon is now used as a church. The most important person buried there is Raphael (and he sure didn't rest in peace). There was always a tour or a crowd of people crowded around the tomb.
After the Pantheon we went to the Trevi Fountain and I thought that was the coolest fountain I had ever seen in the 2 months I've been in Europe. In the middle Poseidon stands with his trident. At the fountain I closed my eyes and turned my back to the fountain and threw it over my shoulder and it didn't go into the fountain, it went right down a small drain. I guess that's probably good luck.
We hurried over to the Vatican after that because Janice had set up a 3:30 private tour of the Vatican. We got there with little time to spare. The tour guide's name was Franchesca. Franchesca gave us a wonderful tour. She took us through the museums first and that was cool. We saw a 3000+ year old mummy that still had flesh and color in her hair. We saw amazing sculptures too. After the museums we entered the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted the whole chapel. The ceiling took 4 years to paint and The Last Judgement and the rest of the walls took 5 years to paint.
Next, we went to the biggest church in the world... Saint Peters. I thought that it was the most beautiful church I've ever seen. It had the most beautiful statue too. The statue was of Mary cradling Christ's head. It was such a beautiful church. It was one of the best days on the trip!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Prisoner of Chillon
"There are seven pillars of Gothic mould,
In Chillon's dungeons deep and old,
There are seven columns, massy and grey,
Dim with a dull imprison'd ray."
By Lord Byran
On Monday we went to the Castle of Chillon. The Castle of Chillon is a Castle that fills all of a small island's space. Grandpa stayed in the car while Grandma, Mom, Regan, Reyna, and I went inside the Castle of Chillon. We first went into the Dungeon, Execution Room, and the Jail. I really enjoyed all of the history about the Prisoner and all of the underground rooms. In the Dungeon Lord Byran actually carved his name into the wall. After the underground part, we walked through the courtyards and through lots of rooms. The rooms that stood out to me the most were the bathroom and the Emperor's room. The bathroom has two big holes to sit on, one for the Emperor and one for occasional guests. He and his guest would talk while going numbers 1 and 2. The holes went at least 20 feet down until Lac Leman. In the Emperor's room there are paintings on the wall that you could hardly see some parts. The border of the window in the Emperor's room is blue. Blue is one of the most expensive colors at the time, so it was a very rare color to see. After that we were in the ramparts of the Castle. We were able to get from the ramparts to The Keep, the highest point in the castle and where they kept all of there riches. At the time, when the castle would be attacked, the entrance we took would be guarded. When the Emperor had to escape quickly, someone lowered a ladder for him and he climbed in through the window. We climbed to the top of that tower. That was a really fun day.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Old and New Friends
On Sunday we went to 9 'o clock church. We saw the Bryan's and their two daughters, Parker and Alexa. My mom knew their parents at BYU about a lifetime ago. We walked down by the lake after church. We went into a very cool free of charge science museum that had interactive activities as well as telescopes and globes in display cases. My favorite interactive device was the Newton's Cradle.
That was I very restful day and we were all glad to have a restful day, but just wait for my next blog post. We are planning to go to the Castle of Chillon!
Do, Re, Mi!
We started out going to Goldegg on Wednesday, April 28. The Goldegg castle wasn't the biggest or most interesting castle, but it was still a castle. The thing I liked most about it was that there was a nice view from across the lake.
After Goldegg we tried to find the Do, Re, Mi hill. We looked and looked and looked for 3 and a half hours. We took a break in the middle to go up to Hohenwerfen and then we continued to look. As we neared the 3 hour mark, a farm lady told us to drive up to the Ice Caves. We found it after a great amount of effort. It's private property now though. It still might have been private property then too.
Reyna's Birthday
My sister had her 16th- sorry I've been corrected- 6th birthday on April 22nd. She loved the coin purse I gave her. My mom gave her a cheerleader puppet from Prague and she is playing with so much. She wanted to go to Prater for her birthday. You have to pay for individual tickets per ride. We each got six Euro to spend on rides. I went on a ride that is like a Six Flags swing ride where you get into a chair and lift off the ground and go in circles. This ride went 80 meters high! The ride was 3,00 Euro. It was totally worth every penny. After that ride Reyna wanted cotton candy. Since it was her special day we all shared a cotton candy stick. The lady gave us a very generous amount, I could only assume it was because my mom told her that it was her birthday. We finished that off very quickly. I agreed that would go on a river rafting ride kind of like the one in California Adventure in Disneyland. It costed 3,00 Euro for each of our tickets and I sure hope it was worth it. I hope that Reyna and Regan fun. And me? I enjoyed it except for the fact that I did not only not get soaked like I wanted to, I didn't get soaked at all. They were even selling ponchos for 1,00. What a waste of money that would have been. After that my sisters and Mom went on a roller coaster called Dizzy Mouse. During the ride you go through a cat tunnel. The word cat tells the whole story. After that I spent my own 4,00 Euro on a roller coaster where you are lying on your belly and you are facing the ground. You do corkscrews and loops and all kinds of stuff. It was awesome.
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