Roma

After getting off the train from Florence to Rome, we got to the the apartment and loved it! Mom and dad had their own apartment. Us kids had the room down the hall way! Guess what, our apartment is right down the road from the Trevi Fountain! If you throw a coin in the fountain, you get to go back to Rome. It worked for mom and dad!  The next day we did a private tour of Rome . We saw Trevi Fountain, The Colosseum and The Forum. The Forum is 2,000 years old. Rome is very old. It was created before Christ. Back then they explained the sun, rain, and the oceans by saying certain people controlled them. If any one is reading or has read Percy Jackson and The Olympians they know what  I'm talking about. They believed in pagan gods . They built temples for the gods. The Forum was the piece of land they built the temples on. Many ruins remain. When visiting I picked up a rock! After visiting the Forum we went to the Colosseum. The Colosseum is called that because of a colossal statue that use to stand right next to the Colosseum. We went in to the Colosseum and saw how they used it . This is where the Gladiators fought. It was very fun!  Tuesday we went to a Church called the Pantheon. This very famous Church has a hole on top. This hole was believed to take any one who got under the hole up to the gods. Later on it was turned into a Church. On Wednesday, we went to The Vatican. This is a Church that was turned into the smallest country in the world. This is where the pope lives. Every Wednesday he goes out on his terrace and speaks to the crowd. He even speaks in English.  The Sistine Chapel is located inside The Vatican. This is where Michelangelo painted the . He painted the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He even painted The Last Judgement after the pope died. It was fun being in The Vatican. For the rest of the week we were kind of lazy. Today we got on a train that was taking us to Naples! Pizza capital of the World !   
   

Rainey

Love Italy!!

These last couple of days has been spent well !!!!!After we got of the train from Venice to Florence,we  got in our rental car .(Not a good sign )We drove to a place called San Gigimano .This is a town on top of a hill.Literally !This town was a popular in the Medieval  ages. We drove in to the town (no one can park in town)and found a parking lot outside of town and hauled all of our baggage up the hill to our hotel.(Our hotel happened to be next to the World Champion Gelato  makers!!! )We settled in and walked around town .The next day my mother and I shopped .The boys hung around dad until they got bored .They played hide and got seek around the city.They told us about it at lunch.Dad and I decided to join in! It was so fun !The  next  we took our rental car and drove to Pisa .This is a small town with a big kick! Listen to the word. P-I-S-A .The Leaning Tower of Pisa! we walked up the Leaning Tower of  Pisa! All the way ! That was our last day in San Gigimano.In the morning we drove back to Florence to stay there for a week !We got there and stayed in until dinner.Florence is where all of the greats studied ! Micheal Angelo,Galileo,and more!We wok up and went to a cooking class so fun we made home made pasta !Fun !There is a famous statue. His name is David!The boy who beat Goliath with a stone. This is a sculpture by Micheal Angelo .We went and saw him ,it was fun ! The next day we went to the Duomo Church!We went to the Ufftiz ! Saw the Birth of Venus! The last day we did an art class with a former Disney animator . It was so fun!I love Florence and hope to go back !Now we are going to Rome! See you at the Collosseum!


Rainey


P.S. Congrats Shannon and Dan!Praying for you!

Switzerland and Venice

Switzerland

Wow! I loved Switzerland! As some of you may know I’m Swiss. My great grandfather immigrated from Switzerland to America. But, some of his family stayed behind .He had ten brothers but, only one went to America. All of his brothers had girls. I only got to meet one of the girls but, it was fun! I got to meet her husband and son! Hi Benjamin! That’s her son. We had fun meeting our foreign family! After all the fun    we got on a train that was SEVEN hours long !That train was heading to...

                          Venice

Gondolas, masks, and pizza! Venice as it all, even  water streets! Sadly each year Venice sinks lower and lower. And Venice is threatened by floods all the time. Plus its population is going down each year by thousands. Back to the happy stuff! Our apartment was amazing! Across the canal was a school there was many girls who knew English! Chancellor loved that! With only 3 days in Venice , I  officially love this new culture ! See you in Tuscany !


Rainey 

 

 

                         

 

                         

The End of Paris,Valley of the Kings ,and Switzerland!

Bye Paris!On one of the last days of us in Paris was  spent at the Eiffel Tower.At first we went to the 2nd floor. What a view!As my mom gets older, she gets more afraid of heights.The 2nd floor was almost to much for her.Then Chancellor decided to go to the top.He went up and came back down.Then said how amazing it was!I said I'm going!After I said it Peyton said I'm in and so did dad.Next mom said that we were crazy and she was going!We got in the elevator and mom started crying.We got to the top and we saw all of Paris!Notre Dome ,Louvre,and Musee D'orsay were all visible from my view!When we got down mom finally stopped crying.After our last days in Paris we were getting away from the city and visiting the King's Castles .This is an area of  France where the Kings built there  "summer castles".Gorgeous castles that were so big that I got lost five times!My personal favorite castle was a castle called Chenonceau.It was my favorite because it wasn't so big !And also it had a garden maze!It was fun ,but we only had two days to visit all of the castles . It was fun while it lasted!We got to all of the castles by a rental car. On the second day we got TWO flat tires!Again it was fun while it lasted! The next day we got up in the morning to go back to Paris on train then get another train to take us to Geneve ,Switzerland!That night (yesterday)we ate at a place mom had been dying to take me .At this restaurant they only served steak and french fries!That's right Koren!Only steak and french fries!Yummy in my Tummy!This week I'm visiting my dads relatives who still live here!See you at there house !!!!

Rainey