Paris Nov 28

I got a great dinner of lasagna and then an almost perfect night of sleep at an, okay (worst one yet) hostel. The next day we took a walk to a metro system. When I got into the metro, we were packed so tight that if I lifted my legs off the ground it would take about 5 seconds for me to hit the ground. We got off at the Arch of Triumph. It was built by Napolean in the early 1800’s to commemorate his Armies. It has plaques for other wars too, like World War I and II. They added the flame to remember all the soldiers who died in World War I.

Next we got off at the Louvre Museum. I went inside and it was breath taking art. I saw Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Mona Lisa. We also saw a lot of other miraculous art like Hercules fighting a dragon, Spartans wrestling and killing a deer, a lot of pictures and sculptures with people’s privates exposed. After that we went to the information booth to meet one of specifically, Robby, my parents’ and my friend, Yolanda.

When I was about two and Robby 3, Yolanda watched over us. So we spent the day with Yolanda and her friend David. I had a magnificent time with them and I can’t wait until I go to Spain with her for a whole two weeks. We had lunch together, saw Notre Dame Cathedral, an astounding cathedral with over one hundred sculptures carved in one doorway. There were three doorways. How could anyone make that?! We also went to THE Eiffel Tower at night (except Yolanda and David weren’t with us because they already went there.) The view was amazing. Then we went and had dinner with Yolanda and David and Ben choked. But he’s okay now. We just now were driving for a LONG time to Macon to visit some friends that my mom lived with back in her college days. Bye!

Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland Nov 25

Next we went to Trier. The first stop we made was a HUGE rock tower built in 300 B.C., called Porta Nigra. It went very high and had a lot of history to it. That night we went to a place called a Youth Hostel. A Youth Hostel is a place for college students with not a lot of money.
After the HUGE Porta Nigra, we were famished and wanted something to eat. So we went over to the town square and found some people singing a German song. We found a restaurant close by and I ate something fantastic called a Giro (Hero). It is a kind of meat (I had pork) and white sauce put in some bread. It was great and the music was fun too.
The next day I went to a city called Luxembourg, in a country called Luxembourg. It had gigantic walls made at around 900 AD. Everyone fought over Luxembourg: Spain, Austria, France, and Holland….over 1 town! We think it’s because of its roads. Luxembourg had very good highways.
Sam and Ben also wanted to go to a pirate ship park (as they call it). I have to admit though, it was pretty fun.
After that, we went to a new country called Belgium. First, we went and got a hotel. We found it in a city called Mons. That night we took a walk to the town square. We were very lucky because there was a carnival. We walked around but didn’t do anything. When we were about to leave I spotted a BB gun booth. So I went over, my Dad paid and I hit every single target with “deadly accuracy” (as I call it).
The next day, we drove by an amazing cathedral. When we went inside, there were statues everywhere you could look. They were made out of alabaster marble. It was very beautiful.
After that we drove to another city called Brussels. When we first drove into Brussels, we came across a flea market. A flea market is a place where you can get things for a super cheap price. We parked the car and went out for awhile. When we came back, I had a warm coat, my Mom bought a hat, scarf, and pair of socks. Ben got a sweater and Sam got a sweatshirt and we all had new gloves. After awhile of running around like some helpless mice, we came across a little statue of a peeing boy as a fountain.
Next, we came across a very colossal place called the Grand Place. When you go and see it though, you’ll know why they called it The Grand Place. Everywhere you look, you see 100 statues at least! When we were leaving, we could go up and rub a low relief of Christ. It is supposed to give you good luck.
The next day we arrived in a different city called Mechelen. We went to a toy museum. The first floor had mostly dolls. The second was tin soldiers and trains. The third floor had Legos. I liked the tin soldiers the most. They were even educational. They taught me what happened in Waterloo.
The Legos were amazing too. They had a life size lego statue of Hagrid in Harry Potter. His beard even had different colors!
The only good thing about the youth hostel was the shower. But we couldn’t take one because we had no towels! There were 6 mattresses strewn across the room. But we still slept on them.
The next day we took a long drive and ended up at a city called Soust, Holland. It had a pool table and we got very good over the next two days.
The next day, we packed up some rain clothes and walked to the train station. We were going to a place called Amsterdam. First of all Amsterdam is not a regular city. Number 1, it has marijuana in “coffee shops.” Number two, it allows something called the Red Light District. I shouldn’t tell you what that is. It’s inappropriate. When we got to Amsterdam, the first thing we saw was a person with an amazing yoyo thing. Then we went to a museum about a person named Anne Frank. She was a Jew. When the Germans attacked, she and seven other people hid in the back of one of their friend’s houses for two years. Then the Germans found her and her family and friends, and she died one month before the war ended. People found the diary she kept and it’s been published all around the world. People found out how wrong it was.
Then we walked around a little, and then we went to a boat tour. It showed us a lot of canals and a drawbridge so perfectly balanced that the bridge drawers could lift it with a finger.
After that, we tried to get to another flea market but it turned out that it was closed. So we started wandering around town a little and my Dad walked through the Red Light District.
We got back to the hotel and went to sleep. Now after about 6 hours of driving, we’re in Paris! I can’t wait to tell you about it later. Bye!

Germany Nov 21

The plane ride to Ramstein, Germany was OK. I watched a couple movies and then tried to go to sleep. But the truth is I never go to sleep on plane rides. I don’t because everything is so amazing to me.
When we landed, we got off the plane and went through customs. After that we waited at USO for a couple hours and I played XBox the whole time.
My Dad rented an awesome van that could hold 9 people! The gas mileage was still better than our SUV! Anyway, we got in the car and made some stops. Then we went to a hotel. I watched some hockey and then went to sleep.
The next day, we drove into Heidelberg, parked the van, and took a walk into a huge castle. We took a tour of the castle. Everything was great to me except one thing. Hundreds of years ago people found it stylish to raise animals, and when they were grown, the people would lock the animals in the moat and “daring, brave” men would go down and hunt the ferocious animals. The women would be above cheering them on.
Now we’re going to another country called Luxembourg, near Germany.
I forgot to mention our great friend, Mrs. Karin. She had a BBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGG, beautiful house with 4 floors, a swimming pool, an elevator and you could go on the roof. We had a lot of fun in the swimming pool, talked some, and had a super fun time eating great bread and ham from the Black Forest.

New York and Maryland Nov 17

Nov 17:
After awhile of driving, we came across a big, beautiful house owned by a nice family by the name of the O’Neil’s. That night we had a great dinner of spaghetti and we watched “Shrek the Third.”
The next morning our family loaded in the SUV and took off to Manhattan. We bought some bus tickets, and drove to the Empire State Building. Did I mention about how I almost broke Robby’s foot? Well, that day Robby was on crutches. A man said that it was about an hour’s wait to go up to the top of the Empire State Building. But then he saw Robby on his crutches and since he was “handicapped” he turned it into a 5 minute wait. In no time we got to the top of the Empire State Building and were outside, seeing the view. We could see anything in Manhattan you wanted to see. After that we took various stops, but the second highlight was going on a water taxi and checking out the Statue of Liberty! It was so big, and its toe was as large as 11 people!
After that fabulous day, we went back, said goodbye, and arrived at our cousins’ house before Halloween. We all got in some costumes. Sam was a banshee, Ben a pirate, Robby was a reaper thing, and I was a car crash victim. The best costume on the street was my uncle. He got in big, black polypro, got a 12 foot stick, put foil on it to make it look like a scythe, got on some stilts, and he was a death angel like the Grim Reaper, about 12 feet high!
We stayed about two more weeks. We went to a Boy Scout lock-in. We went into a scout house, got all the doors locked, and stayed up all night playing video games and dart gun fights.
After that we went to a place where I used to live for five years! We played and had fun with our friends for three days. The people who I liked to hang out with were named Kira, Shane and Scott. I played a lot with them and it was very generous of Kira’s parents to let us park in their driveway. After a while we had to leave. It was hard to say goodbye again. But I’m also looking forward to our next adventure. We are going to Europe on a military flight! I’ll tell you about it when I get there. Bye!