The Night we (Almost) Lost my Brother

We had a really good breakfast at the hotel, then we went to the University of Tel Aviv to meet all of my friend Josh's family. We were late because we got lost a million times trying to find it. When we got there we met Josh's father John at the entrance, and he took us to to where the others where. The others are Josh's Mom Susan, his 15 year old brother Aaron (...ooops... I mean 16, sorry Aaron!), and his 18 year old sister Amy. Amy and Aaron, if you are reading this, I'll have you know that I am only putting down your ages so that people will know you are not just one or two years older than Josh!First we saw films of how people used to live back then. Then we saw models of probably 60 different synagogues around the world, some of which we had already seen for real. Then we saw archaeological remnants of old things from the time.

Then we went to the Museum of the Palmach, which is a very good unit of the early Israeli army. In the museum, it showed their life and what was going on during the whole war of Independence. In the war, not many of them lived through. Mind you, this isn't the American war of Independence, it's the Israeli war of Independence. I really liked it because they actually had things moving and the backgrounds of the places where they were, and in one place they even had the area where we were turn into two sections. I think it was a pretty good setup.

Then our family went to see some business colleagues of my Mom's. They were really nice, and my brother danced with the woman whose name was Myriam. My brother actually wanted to stay and live with her. They gave us lots of candy and presents. My brother received a stuffed animal and some fish that grow when you put them in water, and I got a really cool game. At the restaurant, I felt a bit sick, and fell asleep in the car ride back home.

I'll order a Translation Times Two Please

On this trip we are leaving Barcelona for good. I admit I'll miss it a bit, but still I think I'll like it better in Paris. Right now we are going to Israel for two weeks before we get to Paris. We left really early and got to the airport at about 6:35 AM and barely made the plane. When we got to Zurich we had to run to get to the tram which made really weird mooing sounds by the way. We almost missed this plane too! The good thing about this plane is that it had TVs on it. That's what I love about Swissair. Any flight that is longer than one hour gives you personal TVs. We landed in Tel Aviv about 2:30PM. By the way all of the places that I am talking about here are in Israel. When we got to the airport we had a snack of Pringles (sour cream and onions) while we were waiting for my dad to get a phone chip. Then we got the rental car and drove to the hotel. My brother and I both slept in the car while my parents checked in.

I woke up on the ride to dinner which was with a bunch of my family that I hadn't met yet. When we got to the restaurant they gave me and my brother presents since it was the first time we had ever met. Mine was a Tech Deck skateboarding side bowl with metal ramps to grind on. I really liked it. We met my dad's cousin David and his wife, my cousin Yuval who is my age, and his parents Elie and Avital, who are also my dad's cousins, and mine. Yuval doesn't speak French or English, only Hebrew, so we had to talk using hands and sign language. We got along pretty well but I bet we both wanted a translator - especially him. He probably wanted two since I spoke some French and some English to him. Some of the adults spoke only Hebrew, some only English and some spoke both, plus French. You can imagine how confusing this was.

I got huge ribs to eat and I got a chocolate Marquis for dessert. When we left it was about 10:30 or 11:00 PM. When we got to the hotel I found out that for one of the only times on the trip I had my own room (attached to my parents'), and what's even better is that I had my own TV. That's pretty much all there is to say about that.

All Caught up

I am finally caught up with all my blogs so now I am working on answering all my e-mails - sorry it is taking me so long! Everytime we go on a trip I have to write a bunch of blogs AND I get a bunch of extra homework. This means trouble!

Also at the end of this week I am leaving for Israel for two weeks. Then, when I come back, we are moving to Paris. So I won't be able to post for a few weeks until I have received my computer again in Paris. So Happy Holidays to all!

I am going to miss Barcelona very much.

Superbean

We arrived in Segovia at around five o'clock. But we couldn't find the hotel and it took us about an hour to get there. On the way we saw a HUGE aqueduct (which is a thing that looks like a bridge but was used to carry water from place to place). My parents got a big suite that had a deck with a really good view. Lindsay, and Kaelan, and I got a small room with three beds. Actually the rooms were probably the same size not including their deck. But they also had one less bed so they had more walking space. Then we unpacked and went to a super good restaurant for dinner. They had the best beans that I've ever tasted in my life. They also were the biggest beans I've ever tasted in my life. They were as big as an adult's thumb! Which isn't that big, but it's still big for a bean. Then we just went to bed.

In the morning we went out and had a humongous breakfast. After that we switched hotels. Our new hotel was right on the Plaza Mayor. This time our hotel room was way bigger than my parents'! Then we walked around town for a few hours. Because we didn't eat lunch we got some ice cream. We went on to the aqueduct. It was so cold that we could only spend a few minutes up there because we were freezing! The aqueduct was 800 yards long and 25 or 30 yards tall. It is built with stone blocks the size of a big cardboard box. I don't know how but it looks like it is brand new even though it is almost 2000 years old! After that we went to dinner at a tapas bar and we went to bed.

The next morning we had a really good breakfast at the hotel then we went to a big castle that looked really new and that my dad says looks very much like Snow White's castle in Disneyland. In the middle of the castle there was a big interior courtyard that the whole castle went off of. They showed knights' armor and horse armor. The furniture looked really old and when we saw the king's bed my brother thought it was the bed for the "King" from the movie "Cars". Around the castle was a really deep moat. It also had a museum that showed how weapons and armor had changed through the ages.

We went back to the hotel, got our luggage and left. On the way back to the airport, we stopped at the Escorial. The Escorial is another castle, but this one is really enormously big and might even be the biggest in the world... Thank god it was closed so we did not have to visit it:-) Then we left Castilla la Vieja for good and arrived at the airport.

Pension Tension

We stopped in Avila very late for a late lunch, around 6:00pm. We just walked around for a while. It was freezing cold! Then we walked into a nice square. My mom got some gloves and we found a pharmacy to get some medicine for me. After that we ordered some food and things to go at a restaurant. Then we took a bunch of pictures of the city walls and left. The city walls looked like exactly what you would imagine of what you see in a Hollywood movie if they ever show knights, and they are completely together!

We drove on to Salamanca. We got to Salamanca really late, after 9:30pm. Our hotel was on the Plaza mayor, but it was really bad. By some mistake our room had no bathroom, it was really cramped with five beds in it and one bed wasn't even a bed it was a mini mattress that only a baby could sleep on. Then when we told then that we couldn't have no bathroom because my brother and I were sick they moved us into a slightly better room that had a small bathroom and five good sized beds. This room also had a really good view of the Plaza Mayor. It's supposed to be the best Plaza in Spain but I thought it was lousy.

In the morning we went out and took a really long walk. We went into a really old convent. It had a really good view of the city. It also had a small little section that was basically just tunnels in part of the roof, but I thought that it was pretty cool. Another thing was that it had a room that had very old toys. Then we walked around more. There was a big tower that was leaning over that I was scared to walk under because it looked like it might fall over. I just thought that you should know that. We walked into a church that was pretty boring. Then we went back to our hotel and got our things, we ate at a sort of buffet and then left. I was starting to feel better and I had no more fever!

Salamanca was supposed to be a really pretty city, but I thought it was actually very boring. I liked Madrid more. But my dad thought the opposite.

Sick Sick Sick

We left our house very early in the morning for a 1-week visit to Old Castille and Madrid. We got to the airport at seven o'clock, went through security, and went straight to the gate. I slept for forty five minutes and woke up right when it started boarding. On the plane I didn't sleep at all. We landed in Madrid but we had to take the subway for an hour and fifteen minutes. Our hotel was right off of a big square. At the hotel I slept for two hours. While I was sleeping my dad got a huge packet of tissues because kept having times when my nose would start running really badly. In one day I used eight packets of tissues.

We had some sandwiches for a late lunch. Then I went to the museum of the Prado with my dad. I didn't really want to. After a while I started to feel sick so we went and got a coffee and I rested a bit. Then we went back into the museum. I felt sick a lot in the museum. My dad thought that I just wanted to leave and that I wasn't really sick. There were a lot of Spanish painters but because I was sick I don't remember much about it. After we left we went to "Ben and Jerry's" to get some ice cream. Then we went to a place that had montaditos for dinner. Then we went to bed. I woke up a lot during the night and we found out that I had an eye infection and fever.

We stayed home till 1:00pm to try to recover. Late in the morning we went to a xocolateria where we get melted chocolate and churros and we are supposed to dip the churros in the hot chocolate. We walked to a big square where you could see one side of the royal palace, called the Plaza del Oriente. In the middle of the plaza was a statue of queen Isabel II on a horse, and some pretty gardens all around the statue. My brother and I ran around them and nearly coughed our brains out. Then we walked alongside the palace, which was completely white and huge. I thought it was a pretty building. Then we went back home and stayed there for the rest of the day because we were sick.

The next day we woke up early to pick up my mom at the airport. Then we drove to Toledo. Our hotel was really nice. We stayed in the hotel and took a really long nap. Then we ate some sandwiches and stayed home until dinner time. I felt really sick so I stayed in. Then we went to bed. In the morning we went to a bar for breakfast. Afterwards everyone went out to visit while my dad took me to the hospital because I was still not getting better. At the hospital they figured out that the eye infection was gone, but I still had a fever due to a throat infection, and I had to take antibiotics and a nose spray again. What a pain! Then we left for a long road trip to Salamanca.

Wine and Laundry

A few days ago we went to the Museo de Historia de la Ciudad, which means the Museum of History of the City (of Barcelona). The museum is in the Barrri Gotti district. It is in the building that used to be the Palace of the Inquisition, but they never talk about that... We got up really late, had breakfast, and went straight to the museum. It was almost noon by the time we got there. We got audiotour speakers and started the tour.

In the first room there were Visigoth sculptures from the old cathedral. The Visigoths were barbarians that invaded Spain after the Romans. The second room also had old Roman sculptures and artifacts. The third room had artifacts from the Celtiberian and Roman times, and had an old iron chariot wheel from the Celtiberian times before the Romans.

Then we went underground, which is where a lot of the old Roman city is. The excavated the old Roman city underneath the rest of the existing buildings, for example the cathedral, and then they opened it up as a museum. First we saw the old fortress walls and we were able to go into one of the thirty six towers. Then we walked into a street that was between the fortress wall and the houses. Then we saw a big laundry place, and a place where they dyed clothes. One disgusting thing was to dye clothes they sometimes used urine. Then we saw a garum factory. Garum is a kind a fish sauce that was very expensive in Rome. Then we saw a place that dried fish and sold them.

Then we saw an old Roman house. Roman houses had a big area with columns and a fountain called a peristyle that was a very big room. In the center of the house was the atrium which was like a big living room that had all the other rooms going off of it. Next we went to an old Roman church shaped like a cross. They showed a video of how the church was built. Then we saw a huge place where the Romans made wine. There were big bowls that were half way into the ground,and where they put flavors in with the wines, to mix them. There was also a big press that spun around to mash the grapes.

After that we saw a little wood model of the whole Roman city, with a model for each house, and it showed the wharves and some ships too. My brother wanted to play with it very badly, but here was a woman who was hogging it... There were a lot of other rooms, but it was closing so we had to leave without seeing all. The last thing we saw was a small chapel that was not very good because it had almost nothing in it and the things it did have looked really ugly.

I think it was really cool to go underground and see a whole part of the old city.