My cousins from America!

Last Sunday we had a really really big brunch: my Dad invited all of his friends over and all of my cousins and uncles and aunts on my Dad's side. Then, right before the last people had left, my cousins from America John and Kristin arrived and came to stay for a few days.

We went with them to the Jardin des Tuileries. We played some soccer. My brother and I went to play on the trampoline. Then John and Kristin went for a walk to the Arc de Triomphe. My Dad cooked some French food for all of us for dinner. The next day I had to go to school, but, when I came back, we went out to dinner with them to a fondue place where we had some really good food. I got a goat cheese fondue. My brother got a plain cheese fondue., John and Kristin shared a beer and cheese fondue. My parents had a meat fondue, which is where they give you a bunch of raw meat, and the pot is boiling hot with oil where you cook the meat and it takes about 30 seconds to cook it.

Next day I also had school but when I got back I met with John and Kristin at the Luxembourg Gardens. We played some ping pong. Then, on the way back, we stopped at a restaurant and I ate dinner with my cousins. The next day unfortunately they had to leave. I saw them in the morning but when I got back from school they were gone:(

That week was the week of our final tests for the year, and, actually, I did pretty well. I was first in the class in math, and I was close to the top in French. In English I was also close to the top. In history I think I was first.

Hedges for Landing Strips

Last week we went to the Chateau de Versailles. The line took about 45 minutes, so my Mom, my brother and I played around for a bit while my Dad and my babysitter waited in line. When we went in, instead of going into the castle, we went into the gardens that were absolutely ENORMOUS, and when I say ENORMOUS, I mean ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS. All over there were statues and nice fountains. There were all kinds of different plants everywhere.

We saw these little karts that you could drive around the gardens, except that there were only 2 left, and not many coming back, and the line had maybe 10 people ahead of us. My parents said that if we got one I could drive it, but unfortunately we never got one.

When we were walking down some nice steps to go into the main part of the garden, my brother fell off the steps and onto the top of the hedge. I don't mean into the hedge, I mean onto the hedge, because instead of falling through the hedge like he normally should have, he stayed on top of the hedge. Then I found out that even I could walk on top of the hedge!

Then we walked through a sort of maze that took us a long way further into the garden, and when we came out of it we kept walking forward we found out that we could take rowboats out on the water. So we bought some sandwiches at a little food stand, rented a boat, and had a picnic on the boat in the water. On the way back, we had some really good ice cream. I got mango.

Then we went into the castle. We saw a lot of it, but compared to the size of the castle we saw pretty much nothing. The king who built it was Louis XIV. Louis XIV apparently had, if I remember correctly, 11 drawing rooms, which, for those of you who don't know, are rooms for people to stay in while waiting for the king. There were also lots of sun symbols everywhere, probably because Louis XIV was called the Sun King (Le Roi Soleil).

We also saw the king's bedroom and the queen's bedroom. I think the queen's bedroom was a lot nicer than the king's bedroom even though the King's bedroom was a lot bigger, because he really had 6 rooms. Both rooms were off the famous Gallerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors). The Gallerie had hundreds of mirrors. As a matter of fact, the whole room except for the ceiling was mirrors. After that we left and went home.

Overall I think that it was a very good trip except for the fact that I could not drive any of the karts.

Le Champs de Mars

The other day we went to the Champs de Mars for a school picnic.

The Champs de Mars is the big park that's right in front of the Eiffel Tower. Everybody brought something to eat and we all shared. We brought brownies and sandwiches. Then we played some soccer. After that we played some football (American football), and then we played three flies up. Then we did a bunch of games of sharks and minnows. I won every game except the last game.

I really liked the place and we had a lot of fun. My dad thought that it was really cool to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower and I thought it was too but still, considering the facts, we could probably go there any time we want. All in all, I think that it was a really good picnic.

The Black Rooster

In the morning yesterday, we were going to drop my Dad in Naples, but my Mom had neck cramps, so she could not drive. So we decided not to drop him off, and we kept on driving towards Rome to our new hotel. We stopped on the way at a town called Alatri, where we ate lunch at a restaurant called the Gaio Nero. We had a really good lunch, and the people there were really nice and gave us a lot of candy.

There were lots of medieval houses there. The town is famous for its huge Greek Acropolis, which means "the high city", at the very top of the hill. We went to a park there and played a bit, and my brother got three bloody noses there.

Then we drove to our hotel in Rome. We weren't really hungry so we went to sleep without dinner. In the morning, we drove to the airport really early and took a flight back to Paris.

The Perfect Day

Today we went to an island called Capri. We rent a small motor boat for the whole day. First we drove the boat to Capri and got off at a small harbor called Marina Piccola, which means, you guessed it, "the small harbor". Then we walked around and took a taxi convertible up the hill. Then we walked some more, Then we went to a restaurant and had an excellent lunch where I had the best pizza that I ever had in Italy.

After lunch, we walked back to the boat, then boated all around Capri. In the end, when we were waiting for some friends to come back, my Dad and I went swimming into the water next to our boat. It took me a whole 10 minutes to decide to go in since the water was freezing cold, but eventually I did. Then we sailed back to Nerano.

In the evening we had another wonderful dinner at Charlot the restaurant. They cooked us a special dinner that was not on the menu just for us, that was made of typical dishes from the region.

Swimming Like a Queen

Today my Dad went to Naples and Herculanum, and the rest of us went to a place called the Queen's Bath. It's called the Queen's Bath because that is where a queen used to bathe. It's really a little tiny salt water lagoon, but it's super small and there is a natural arch that leads to the ocean next to it, and there are old Roman ruins around it.

There we had some home made sandwiches. Nobody wanted to go in except for me. Since I had forgotten to bring my bathing suit, I went in my boxers. It took a while for me to get in, and when I did, I cheered Linda on until she went in too, but my Mom and my brother did not go at all.

Then we went home. When we got back my Dad came back a few minutes after us and we found that every place he had got to was closed so he was not able to visit anything. Then we had a big birthday party for my Dad. We grilled all the meat that we had gotten, and took out the birthday cake that we had bought. The only problem that we had was that we forgot to get him any presents...