Rome Day 1, Vatican, Pantheon, Trevi, Spanish Steps

9/20/2019

Today we got to Rome.  We took the train from Lucca to Florence and Florence to Rome.  When we got there we had to take the subway to get to our apartment. The name of our stop was Valle Aurelia.  The Rome subway system is easy. It only has two lines. The reason it only has two lines is because every time they try to build another line they have to stop!  Do you know why?? Rome is a city of ancient ruins. These ruins are buried deep underground. If builders find ruins, they have to stop and archeologists have to excavate it. Excavate means uncovering and digging around ruins without damaging or moving them to keep them preserved.  A long time ago, Rome flooded, covering the town, statues, buildings and art in mud and ground. It is covered for other reasons, too, like pollution, dust, and buried on purpose to make the land higher. A lot of it is still covered today!  

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Lucca, Pisa, Lammari, & Florence

9/5/19

Today we took a train to Lucca,Italy a medieval walled city.  (That means Lucca is surrounded by a two and one half mile long, thirty foot high wall).  The train ride was three hours long. When we arrived, we were shown our apartment by a lady whose name was Cristina.  Our apartment was AMAZING. There was a big room with leather couches, a big T.V. and a glass chandelier. There were many pictures on the walls of people and places in Lucca. My bedroom had a king size bed and a fourteen foot ceiling! We loved that apartment!!!

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9/5-9/19

Hi. Today I am in Lucca. We have a big wall around our house. Lucca is a walled city. The walls used to be for protection when there were a lot of battles over land and power, but now the are for people to walk or bike on. The walls are very high and make a big circle around the city. It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo big we can take two hour walks on it. The path is so wide that there is a street on it with trees all along the sides. It is so beautiful!!

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Santa Margherita & Portofino

9/2/19

Today we got on the train and went to Nice, France and Genoa, Italy. We had to switch trains in Genoa to get to our apartment in Santa Margherita.  We walked for 5 minutes and then got to our apartment. I found this vase that had a lot of dust in it and a 1 cent Euro coin, gelato money!! I was happy.   After we got settled in we went to dinner. The place was called “Osteria” which means a simple and inexpensive Italian restaurant. I ate an octopus salad. It was cut into tiny pieces served in rice.  It was very chewy and tasted great with the rice. Then we went home and went to bed.

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9/3/19

Hello. Today I left my France home in Cannes. I left to go to Italy!!! We had to go on three trains to get to Santa Margherita. Santa Margherita is on the coast just like Cannes, except it is further to the east or to the right on the map. If you find Cannes, keep going east along the coast past Nice (our first train change) out of France and into Italy, then go past Genoa (that’s where our 2nd train connection was and where Christopher Colombus was born) and you’ll find the little town.

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9/2/19

Today we got up really early and went to get a rental car and went to Cassis. The drive was two hours to Cassis.  We went to the beach and got ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The village was called : Village of Cassis.  Then we went to our airbnb and that drive was another two hours. When we got to the airbnb in Cannes (pronounced C-A-N) we went grocery shopping and then went to bed.

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FRANCE

8/21/2019 Today we got in a uber to go to France we got to the airport and went through security.  The Porto Airport is really nice and has a good lounge!! Then we got on the plane we met a boy named Hugo (pronounced You-Go). He’s from France and we tried to talk on the plane but it was hard because I couldn’t speak French and he could only speak a little English. But we still became friends. When we got to France we got a uber and went to our apartment.  We got to our apartment and had to find the keys it was a treasure hunt. After we found the keys (1minute later) we went up to our room. When we got in there was a hallway and a bedroom next to the hallway and a living room which had another bedroom next to it. I liked the apartment. Then we had to go grocery shopping. We always drop off our backpacks when we get to a new place and then go right to the store for food and water and soaps.

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8/21-8/31

When we flew to France we went to a city called Aix-en-Provence in the region of Provence.  It is pronounced like this . That was our home for almost 2 weeks.  The city has been here since the Roman times which was a very long time ago, 123 BC. And everytime they dig for a new building here, they find more Roman ruins, old buildings or structures from way back then.   It has natural springs too, which are like fountains that come out of the earth that were built by nature. There are also a lot of churches there and a lot of old fountains that still work very well. There is a lot of castle-like buildings here.  Most of the streets here in the historic center are made of cobblestone and they are narrow. Only a couple are wide like the Cours Mirabeau street. Thats where a lot of old famous writers and artists used to hang out like Paul Cezanne and Emile Zola. At the end of the Cours Mirabeau is a big historic fountain called the Fontaine de la Rotonde and it was built in 1840.  It’s in the middle of a roundabout. Which reminds me that you should never talk to your parents when they are driving in a roundabout or you might crash or miss your turn or you might get stuck in the roundabout for a long time.  

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8/18 PORTO!!!

Arriving in Porto was FUN!!!!!!! We took a train there!! When we got to the train station in Lisbon we couldn’t find our train car number 25.  We found out that it was broken and was taken off of the the train! So we had no where to go. The boss working on the train said we could go on the first class train.  The seats had tables and were big and cozy. It also had air conditioning and a private bathroom!!! When we got to Porto, we took another train to the city center station!!! When we got to the right station it was beautiful!  Everything was beautiful!! The Porto Sao Bento train station was soooooooo amazing. The walls were painted tiles and a grand ceiling. The whole city, the old historical part, is a UNESCO world heritage site.

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8/18/2019

Today we got to Porto. It’s the second largest city in Portugal and it is where Port wine comes from.  We went on the 2 trains and a long walk to get there.  When we got to our apartment we dropped off our bags and went to explore. There was a performer who could blow a trumpet sound with only her mouth. Then we got dinner I had a hamburger. My dessert was a tiny lime pie it was so good. After that we went home and had a great night’s sleep.

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