Epic Adventures of an 11 Year Old!

G’s blog is blacking out against SOPA and PIPA today. To learn more, go to google or wikipedia.

I sit here in my living room blogging on my kindle. Watching the packer game and talking with my family. It’s the end of the third quarter:
Packers: 13 Giants: 20

And we’re already placing bets on who’s going to the Superbowl. Time for me to go! Commercials ended. Who do you think will make it?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

If you’re like me, you probably have an Ipad, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, or some other device that lets you download apps. If you buy apps for that device, you’ve probably discovered the game Angry Birds. In addition to that, AB Rio and AB Seasons. Well, a new bird has joined the featherey flock this year…

THE ORANGE BIRD!
This amazing new bird is catapulted into small spaces and then clicked on to puff it up.

THE PUFFERFISH

PUFFERBIRD

What will come next, I’m not sure.

Wednesday, October 14th

Today I had a ten hour flight from Rome to Chicago O’Hare Airport. Our plane was an hour and a half delayed because of late arrival, technical and electrical difficulties, etc. They boarded us onto the plane and then made us get off. Lunch on the plane was a beef fillet and crackers, cheese, red orange juice, it was very good. When I arrived home I was really tired. I made sure I got a lot of sleep.

Wednesday, October 12th

We slept until almost 8 this morning and went for the usual buffet breakfast. After breakfast we purchased a transportation pass and headed for the tube station in Covent Garden. We had to change lines several times on our way to Stratford, the site of next summer’s Olympic Games. We saw the stadium and the torch, both in the process of being built. We saw buildings being put up to house the athletes and construction everywhere. I can’t imagine how they will possibly have everything together in time. We were taking pictures and a man came to stop us. Everything is fenced in and they have lots of people working.

The tube station is in Covent Garden and when we got back we decided to walk around and to get some lunch. Grandpa and I both had Shepherd’s pie made with lamb. It was really good. We bought a couple shirts and some playing cards. I was ready to go some more but Grandpa and Grandma felt we better get back to the hotel and start organizing for our travels home. They wanted me to spend some time doing homework. Bah! Doing homework is not fun when there are so many interesting things to do.

After the afternoon in our hotel, we had one last celebration to look forward to. Tonight we are going to the theater again! This time we are seeing The Lion King. We arrived at the theater and we spent a bit of time browsing before we took our seats. My Grandma and Grandpa bought me a really neat T-shirt and a program that shows the actors and their roles.

We had great seats, smack in the middle of the theater. The show started with a great big red sun and a woman singing in an African language. The scene changed and a mountain appeared. Majestic tigers and tall giraffes strolled down the aisles. There were rhinoceroses, elephants, antelopes, lions, and birds that flew right above my head! It was amazing. The animals gathered around the mountain and bowed in the honor of Simba, their new lion king. After the play, I went out to eat and had French onion soup with my grandpa at a restaurant called Fuel in Covent Garden.

Wednesday, October 13th

Today I don’t have much to write about. We had a flight from London Heathrow airport back to Rome where we spent a night at Hotel Club Isola Sacra. There was a beautiful outdoor pool and I ate some fantastic Italian Lasagna.

Tuesday, October 11th

We sleep late this morning. Our wakeup call came a 7AM. That’s better than most days. We have been getting up so early. We had a big breakfast, bought some bus passes at the hotel and started out on a new adventure. We wanted to spend time at Westminster Abbey and decided to take the two story bus. That was a wonderful experience and I got to take lots of pictures from my front seat perch.

Spending half a day at the Abbey, I learned a lot about History. I was surprised to learn that there are over 3000 people buried in Westminster Abbey including Charles Dickens and many famous writers and poets. There is a special position in the Church of England called a verger that’s purpose is just to give tours of the Abbey. There were only eleven people in our group and the verger who gave us our tour was like a living encyclopedia. He was very interesting. I learned a lot of information from him.

The coronation throne is in Westminster Abbey and is being refinished at this time. I saw it while it was being worked on and our verger had pictures to show us of the throne as it was in the past and at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. Over the years the throne had some graffiti and is starting to look shabby. Since there may be another coronation soon, they felt the throne should be in better condition.

The story is that the English stole a stone in a battle with the Scots that had significance in Scotland. The stone was placed under the King’s throne. In 1997, after many years of asking for it, the English and Scots made a treaty that the Scots could have their stone back as long as they would bring it back whenever the Monarch wanted to sit on the throne.

The chandlers in Westminister Abbey are made of Waterford Crystal from Ireland. They are 10 feet tall. (That’s about two of me!)

This afternoon we went to the scouting museum. Boy scouting was founded in England and has spread all over the world. The Lord Baden Powell Center has a youth hostile and a small scouting exhibition center with knot-tying, animal tracking, and compass activities. I was able to buy several shirts and some patches. It was a challenge finding this place, traveling by subway and bus. We got back to the hotel with little time to spare. We had to get ready for an evening out.

We had an all-day transportation ticket to ride the bus and tube. The bus to the theater was tonight’s big adventure. We went to a theater across town to see the Wizard of Oz. When I walked into the Palladium I didn’t know what to expect. Would I walk out laughing? Would I cry? Would I smile? Would I wonder what else could have happened? I simply didn’t know. Taking this risk, I took my seat and waited for the show to begin.

When the show started, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a transparent projection screen combined with props and real actors. The stage featured two large, spinning, circular mini stages with beautiful artwork that the artists had so carefully decorated. There was a flowerbed in the center stage and the “yellow brick road” on the outer ring. It looked as if the play was a real life event! The evil Wicked Witch of the West seized Dorothy with her flying monkeys which glided elegantly on strings hiding in the attic above. The witch flew through the theater. Special effects were unbelievably great! Couldn’t imagine that the Wizard of Oz could be so much fun!

After the show we hopped a bus and headed across town to our hotel. When we got back, I called home and did some homework before bed. I was really very tired.

*Reference for all information was from tour guides, my general knowledge, and observation.

Monday, October 10th

Ring, ring goes the phone. It’s six o’clock. I don’t want to get up but I have to. Today is the day of our Total London Tour. The morning starts with a fantastic breakfast buffet. Practically no one is there at that early hour so I don’t have to wait for my food. After breakfast we met our tour guide and headed off to see London.

Our first stop was a Thames River trip. We boarded a special boat called a clipper heading down river toward the Tower of London. Our tour guide introduced us to a Beefeater who continued our tour. He told us of the many executions that the Tour of London has witnessed over the years. He told us it was an honor to have your head chopped off at the Tower of London instead of being beheaded publicly. You had to be a friend or spouse of the King to be beheaded in private.

Our tour group visited the museum and saw many gold dishes and the spoon used for the oil at a coronation. Their collection of acquired materials includes beautiful swords, crowns, dishes and even a solid gold giant punch bowl. We viewed precious jewels and many crowns. These items can’t be insured because there isn’t enough money in the world to cover them.

We were told the story of the ravens that reside in the Tower of London. It is believed that if the ravens fly away the monarchy crumbles. They have a designated staff member whose job is to clip the wings of these birds. There are usually seven ravens, but at the moment there are only six. We saw a raven beat up a crow. Ravens are really mean birds.

St. Paul’s Basilica was our next stop. This is the people’s church whereas Westminster is the church of the Royalty. I took the steps all the way up to the very top of the dome. That was over 600 stairs. I was pretty tired after that and was glad that lunch was next on our hectic agenda. We stop at a very old pub where we have a wonderful fish dinner.

At the end of our tour we were dropped off at the London Eye. It is a big wheel that revolves once every 40 minutes. It never stops moving. It goes slow enough that people can get on without the wheel coming to a halt. It is a very smooth ride. There is a place where you can sit down in the capsule, if you want to, but more people like to stand at the glass and take lots of pictures. What a fantastic view! From the eye you can see all of London.

After the ride on the eye we walked back to our hotel. We had to cross the “Wibbly, Wobbly Bridge”. This is the nick name given to the bridge built for the new millennium. The people felt it had too much sway and were afraid it might be dangerous. Lots of reinforcements were made to steady the bridge. After a brief stop at the hotel we headed out for a leisurely meal at a nice restaurant. I had ravioli with goat cheese and button mushrooms. It was really delicious.

Sunday, October 9th

A pleasant morning outdoors in London, we decided to make a trip to the
National Art Museum (The National Gallery) where we decided to stop in pleasant Talfargar Square for a calm start to our day. There we observed pigeons, took a picture of me with large lions guarding Lord Admiral Nelson’s monument, threw a coin into a fountain, and checked out the “count down” clock for the Olympics which will be held here next summer.

I noticed that there were young Beaver Scouts nearby. I stopped their leader for a quick
interview. I asked him what sort of things Beaver Scouts typically do. He said he was not from around here but that their patrol usually prefers to visit London whenever they can. Today they were in Trafalgar Square and they planned on visiting Westminster Abbey to see the changing of the guard. I told the scout leader I was a Boy Scout from America and told him about the kind of things we do.

We visited the National Gallery. Our first stop was upstairs were we visited the early Renaissance Wing. Here we saw one of Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoons. Back in Leonardo’s time a cartoon was a sketch to plan out what went where before painting. This was a great technique because it allowed the artist to decide shapes before adding colors. I saw the work of lots of famous painters, some who were new to me. I really enjoyed them all. After our long visit in the Renaissance Wing we took a break and visited the gift shop and had some lunch.

This evening we went to the Ambassador Theatre to see a production of STOMP. This was the most fast paced, pounding, amazing concert you will ever go to. Stomp musicians do not use sheet music and do not play ordinary instruments. They use every day things and garbage to create surprisingly, unique sounds. They use newspapers, wooden pole, can lids, bus stop signs and lighters. They put on a great show using stage lights and special effects. One of my favorite scenes included newspaper and folding chairs. A man was reading his newspaper, ripped it in strips and created a monster that appeared to eat his face. He put on a pair of sunglasses and his new “newspaper face” smiled at us. I laughed really hard. It was a fantastic and exciting evening. Afterward we stopped in Covent Garden for pizza.

Saturday, October 8th

We arrive in London in the late afternoon and were met at the airport by someone the hotel had sent for us. He didn’t have enough information and didn’t have room for three people and our luggage. We had to wait until someone came with another car to help our driver. They finally got us to our hotel.

We settled in and then headed out for something to eat. We had dinner at an English Pub. Grandpa and I had chicken alfredo and Grandma had chicken pot pie. Afterward we walked to Covent Garden and looked around. It is a very busy and exciting place with lots of shops, restaurants and entertainment. There was a great violin orchestra and lots of mimes. We got back to the hotel really late so we asked them not to call before 8AM.

Now I will begin to tell you about my wonderful experiences in London. Enjoy!