Easter Week End

On Saturday we went to see l'Arc de Triomphe to take a picture of me next to it for schol. Then we picked up my brother at the train station and left to see a bunch of our friends who were in Normandy in a village next to the ocean. It took two and a half hours to get there. The village is called Villers sur Mer.

When we got there we looked around at what the place looked like, then we played a bunch of ping pong. Then we went out to dinner and got some pizza at a restaurant. When we came back, there wasn't enough room for all as we were at least 16 people. So I slept in a couch downstairs that could fold out into a bed with another boy named Arthur.

In the morning we had a big breakfast and I played on a mini-PSP that Arthur had where we played Grand Theft Auto. Then we went to the beach to do a treasure hunt in two teams. I found the first two clues, and then I was the first person to get to the next clue but somebody else found it. Someone in my team found the last clue. The winning team got to order lunch and icecream first. And, where we were, that was really a privilege, because, at the restaurant we went to, it took a long time to get our food!

Then we drove to a place called Deauville where it took forever to park, then once we finally did, it took us forever to find the restaurant. To top it all off, it was pouring rain. When we finally got there, it took them forever to find a big table for 16, then, once we ordered, it took them at least a half an hour to actually get our food... But then it got better because all the food was supergood. I got a really good fish with pesto and some French fries with ketchup. After that we went out to get ice cream, or crepes. There were also gauffres but I don't know what that is in English, but it looked like some kind of waffle with stuff on the top. I got some really, really good banana ice cream. I was going to get crepes, but in Paris we can't find good ice cream easily, and you can get crepes all the time, so I decided I would get ice cream for once...

Then, once we had gone back to the house, another family arrived with a really nice guy named James, and we played Monopoly while watching the movie "The Party". In the end, I got kind of tired of playing, and I landed on one of his places and I had to pay all of my money and mortgage all the places I owned, so I gave up and said he won, although I could have kept on going if I had been really determined. The kids had some really cheesy pasta for dinner while most of the parents went out for dinner. There were 13 of us kids!

In the morning, after another big breakfast, I played Monopoly with my Mom, then we had an Easter egg hunt and I found 7 eggs. We kept on playing but then we had to pack and get ready to go. It took us another two and a half hours to get back to Paris.

Don't Worry, I'm Working on my British Accent

Thursday I left for a four day trip to London. We left for the train about 11:00. We took a taxi to the station and we arrived so late that we almost missed the train. We found some seats, sat down, and relaxed. Then we went to the dining car and got some lunch. I got this pita thing that was kind of like a pizza on the inside and was really good. We played a game that we brought and when we finally got there we walked straight to our hotel. It was really nice and had the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on. Then we went to Burger Shack. They had some of the best burgers I have ever tasted in my entire life. I got a chili cheesburger and chili fries.

After that we left to see the grand opening of "Zorro" because one of my best friend's dad is the producer. The bus ride to get there took over two hours. I thought that it was a really good musical. At one time Zorro came down a rope with a safety belt and took a long time to unhook it. That was kind of weird. Then my mom got me some gummy worms and some hearts that tasted like fizzy peach Nestea. After the show there was a party that lasted about 45 minutes. I was so tired that I went to sleep on a couch with my jackeet and my dad's jacket covering me like blankets. My dad woke me up when it was time for the bus to leave. In the bus I also slept for long time. After that we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next day we took double decker buses all around London. On one of them I hurt my arm so bad that we had to stop and go to a pub to put ice on it and have lunch. Then we went to the Tower of London. For those of you who don't know, the Tower of London is a Medieval castle where many of the kings and queens of England lived. They also kept a lot of prisoners there before they were killed. We saw all of the jewels, crowns, and crests of a lot of the kings or queens who ruled England. We also saw a really cool armory. I really liked it and thought it was a really awesome place. Then we took a boat back to Westminster. We saw Big Ben and then went to try to get into Westminster Abbey but it was closed. After that we went to meet John and Susan, one of my best friend's parents, and had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Mela. After that we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

On Saturday we went to the British Museum. We were going to see an exhibit with thousands of sculptures of Chinese soldiers but the tickets were sold out so we couldn't go. Instead we went to see some Japanese Samurai armor and paintings. Then we went to see some Egyptian mummies, and we stayed at that exhibit for a long time. Then we went to see some sculptures of Assyrian lions and after that we went to see the Elgin marbles, some marble scultpures that were stolen from the Parthenon in Greece by Lord Elgin. The very last thing we did was go to see the Bog man from Lindow in Great Britain. He is a human who has been kept in a certain kind of soil which makes it so that even his skin is still there after 2,000 years. He looked pretty disgusting, but still it was cool to see.

Then we went to Covent Garden, saw some street preformers, and got pasties. I got a cheese and bacon pasty. After that since my dad had promised me that I could have Sushi, we went to a Sushi restaurant. When we got home we watched TV and waited for my mom. When SHE got home, she wasn't sure we would find the Sushi so she brought some more back and I ate some of that. Later at dinner I barely ate anything, just a few bits from other people's plates, since I had already eaten all that. I got some jasmine tea and drank a whole put of it and also two or three glasses of water. I had to go pee three times in about fifteen minutes. Then my parents had planned a surprise for me which was to go to a show called Spamelot. It was really, really, really funny. At the show I hit the bathroom I think four times because of all that water and tea.

It was really a good trip and I liked London a lot. But still, I wish it would rain less there.

Away for a week

This whole week I went to a ski camp in the French Alps. Everything was really good about it except that on Tuesday I felt sick and had to stay in bed the whole day. The other days were pretty good, except for something. I was in the highest level group and the director was the one skiing the us, and it's really weird because if you did just one thing wrong he would start screaming his head off at you. He screamed a lot at me because I had never skied in the French style before. But here is the weird thing: everywhere else he was very nice and making jokes and things like that.

A good thing was that the food was really, really good. We must have had the best cooks in France there! But since it was all French dishes, I can't really tell you what they were... After skiing we had gouter, which is a little snack you have between lunch and dinner in France. Then we went straight to our rooms to take showers and then got in our PJs, and did things in our room.

I was in a room with three other people. One of them was the director's son! He was my best friend there. We weren't really old enough to go the the big kids' floor, but we were older than the little kids' floor. There were two rooms that we might get when we arrived, one of which was in the big kids floor and had the only PSP in the whole building! Unfortunately we got the one on the little kids' floor! I can't believe I was so close to having a PSP at my disposal for a whole week! Also, since we were more often with the big kids, we went to the activities room on their floor to do things there, so we stayed there until 9:20pm.

The train ride to the camp is about 5 hours, then there is a bus for about 45 minutes. My parents dropped me off at the platform around noon, and we got to the lodge right before they started dinner. We just had time to put our snowboots downstairs before we went straight for dinner. On the way back, since there were three of us who were really good friends, we squished ourselves into seats for two people since we all wanted to be together on the train back.

Eurodisney

Last Wednesday we went to Eurodisney, which is Disneyland, just in France, so they call it Eurodisney. For breakfast I made pancakes for the family. But, since this took a while to make for the whole family and since we had woken up late (and it took a long time to eat) we left for Eurodisney around noon.

When we got there, it took a while to get in, and my brother and I jumped around a lot. Then right when we got past the entrance I realized that I had lost the necklace I was wearing, and we went back to look for it. I never thought we would actually find it. We miraculously did find it right next to a pole that I had tried to climb and fallen off of. I think the necklace must have fallen when I fell. The chain was broken but I least it was still there. And, you know, you can get a cheap chain like that pretty much anywhere. Then in Eurodisney we got annual passes so that we can go almost every day of the year, although there are a few days when we can't go.

The first thing we did was go to the Buzz Lightyear ride. But the line was so long that we got a fast pass for 4:00pm. Then we had a hot dog and chips for lunch, then we split up. My mom went with me, and, after a lot of crying, my brother went with my dad. First my mom and I went to Frontierland, where we looked around but could not see anything interesting. That took a while.

Then we went to Adventure Isle, which is not a ride, but has two sides, on one of which there is a really big tree and a bunch of little passages that go under the roots of the tree. Then on the other side is what appears to be a humongous rock with a bunch of caves that lead to a bunch of places. There are two bridges to get from one side to the other. One of them goes from the top of the tree to the top of the rock. The other one goes right over the water, there is not even a foot over the water.

Then we also looked at the Indiana Jones ride, but I was too small to go, and we also went to Space Mountain where I was only one inch too short to go. I think it's pretty unfair, because in America I can do Space Mountain, but not here. Then we just walked around, because we did not have time to do any more rides before 4:00pm. But my brother and my dad were a bit late so we waited a while for them.

Then we switched off. My brother went with my Mom and I went with my dad. My dad and I went to the Buzz Lightyear ride. After that we went straight to the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. The line was pretty short but it was still about 15 or 20 minutes. But that's not long considering this is Disneyland we are talking about here!

Then my dad and I went back to Adventure Isle to play hide and seek. The first time he found me in five minutes. The second time I found him in two minutes. The third time he did not find me at all, and he went back to our agreed meeting point if we got lost. Then we just walked back to meet my Mom at Main Street. There we went in a store where my brother and I got huge lollipops. Right at 7pm when the park closes they light up the big Disney castle and we watched that before leaving for good.

On the way out we saw a movie theater that looked like it might have some good movies. It did not really have anything, but my brother smashed my lollipop so I got some strawberry cheesecake icecream, although my dad disagreed but I still was able to get it.