Rome

Rome is the strangest place in the world. It is really crowded, dirty, and full of graffiti, yet it has tons of tourist spots. There is even graffiti on the colosseum, names and symbols carved into the ancient walls. Neither me or my mom speak more than ten words in Italian, but thankfully, we didn't really need to. We took the metro, just like in France, and it was strange that two different countries could be so much alike. We took a day trip to Pompeii, which really, was not enough. All in all, it was a good trip, but truthfully, I like Paris more.

Biking Through France

Recently, I went on a Backroads biking trip around the Loire Valley. It was amazing! We stayed in chateaus (French castles), searched through mazes (with four other American kids), and, in general, just had a lot of fun. We even saw a snake on the ride that probably covered one full lane of traffic when stretched out and was about as round as a good French sausage. Anyway, our next stop will be at Rome, and then only a day and a half 'till I get back! Scary!

Les Mains sur la Console, la Paille au Bec

According to all the comments, emails, and other messages I got, the mean of the vote turns out to be 9.2.

On another note...

The French are making a WALL-E come true. If you have ever watched WALL-E, you know that all of the people in it are amazingly fat, and all they eat is liquified food. Well, the French have covered the "liquified food part". If you click here, you can see a poorly translated article from the daily news. Really gross.

Second "on another note"...

I recently visited a water park called "Aquaboulevard". It was a nightmare. I liked it at first, but the I found a couple problems:

1. There were only about 10 life-guards/park employees total (!) watching over the kids. It was a madhouse.

2. You couldn't exactly call it clean, with graffiti and towels everywhere.

3. If you are under twelve, you can't go in most of the slides. What!? I am only a couple months off twelve and swim better than about 80% of the French twelve year olds!

4. Even if you don't want to go in the water if you have an "under twelve year old" child, you have to go inside AND WEAR A BATHING SUIT!

We left early.

A Little Vote

A lot of people have different opinions about how my trip sounds so far. So we are going to have a vote. On a rating from 1 to 10, how do you think my trip has been? Post it as a comment by noon on Sunday, and we will see what you think overall. Only submit a number once, and nothing out of the number range will be counted. So go ahead! Post your number!

The RER

In Paris, if you do not have a car, there are still many means of transportation left to you:

1. Biking, rollerblading, using a scooter, walking, etc.

2. Taking a taxi

3. Taking a bus,  the tramway, the metro (the Paris subway), or the RER (like the metro)

Today, on the way home from Notre-Dame, just with me and my aunt, we decided to take the RER. The first RER train came, and we were going to get on, but there were bunches of people getting off, so we couldn't get on until, the "the doors are going to close soon" bell came on. I decided to get on, but the doors closed behind me. Great. I was separated from the only adult I knew. Thankfully, there was a woman on the train who spoke English and had also been separated from some of her friends, who lent me her phone. The only number I knew was my mom's so I called her and told her to call my aunt. I got off at the next stop and waited for her, and sure enough, she showed up on the next train. She made a quick text to my mom, letting her know I was okay, and we headed home. I will never trust the RER again.

The Art of my Aunt

A blog post or two ago, I mentioned how my aunt works on magnets and make your own art kits. The magnets you can move around are called Fraglets®. If you click here, you can see her site and check out what they look like. Then click on "Fraglets Interactive Art" or "The Art by You" to see some fraglet art. If you want to check out another cool art kit, click on "Sans-Colle Artistry".  The picture below contains some Fraglets magnetized to the post in the right bottom corner of the picture. Yay for art!

Coming Soon to Art for the Healthy Spirit: Where in the World is Fraglets Art!

The Ipad

Even in France, there are Apple stores, and so when mom went there to get a cover for her iphone, we got to see the new ipad. At first, I thought that the ipad idea was stupid, but now I think it was an excellent idea. Why? There is a larger screen, so if you get a kindle app, it is easier to read, and if you like two player games, it is much more fun to play.