Keukenhof

Today we went to Keukenhof Holland.  It is an amazing spring garden, where there is supposed to be 4 million flowers.  There are hundreds of different types of flowers there including tulips, orchids, lilies, hydrangeas, daffodils, and much more.  There are lots of trails to walk around in the gardens, there are also huge green houses that you can go inside.  There was even a play ground and petting zoo for little kids.  We had a really fun time!!!

Flower Market

Today we went to the flower market in Amsterdam.  There are thousands and thousands of fresh flowers that you can buy there.  They also have tulip and other flower bulbs that you can plant.  

These are hand made wooden tulips that I bought at the
 flower market today.

Hello everyone! Im sorry that I  have not posted anything in a while.  All of us have have been sick.  Dad was the first to get it last weekend.  Then Ellie got it.  And then I caught it on Thursday evening.  We all have a really bad cough and sore throat. 

 We have not been doing all that much the past week because we have been trying to get better.  However on Thursday night we went and saw one of dads friends play in a cafe.  We had a really good time!

Then last night we went over to that same friends house for dinner.  He is French so he made us some traditional french food.  We had chicken cooked with bacon and mushrooms and other yummy stuff in it. It was delicious.  I made cookies that we brought for dessert.  Baking here is very difficult.  Finding all of the ingredients is a challenge.  You have to search in special stores to find baking soda and powder.  Also it is impossible to find chocolate chips here.  I had to substitute in M&Ms.  Also the oven in our apartment is tiny.  It looks like someone put a toaster oven into the wall.  The oven also is the microwave. 

My cookies

This is our lovely oven/microwave.

Also yesterday afternoon we got a huge box in the mail sent from the lovely people that work at the Water Court (where my mom works).  Inside there were lots of wonderful things such as: chocolate, Mexican food, pub mix, a crocheting book, some coffee, some cadbury eggs, some different spices, ranch dressing mix, a monkey statue, some movies and much more.  I would like to say Thank You to all of the people from the Water Court who sent that to us!!!!

Paris Day 7 Thursday March 13

On Thursday Morning the four of us went to the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It is am absolutely incredible building.  It was completed in 1345.  The inside it just as impressive as the outside.  The stained glass and architecture are so beautiful. 

After visiting the inside of Notre Dame Mom and Ellie went to Trocadero.  Dad and I went to the Musee d'Orsay.  The Musee d'Orsay has the largest collection of impressionist paintings in the Entire world. In the museum they had probably close to 50 paintings by Monet.  They also have paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Manet, Degas and many more of the impressionists.  The museum is in a renovated train station, which was really cool.  The museum does not let visitors take photos so I found some of my favorites online so you all could see.

Edgar Dagas Dancer

Claude Monet Poppies

Vincent van Gogh Starry Night Over the Rhone

After visiting the museums we went to see the Eiffel tower at night.  It is even more amazing at night than it is in the day.  Every hour is has lights that flash on it making it look like is is glittering.  It was a perfect way to spend our las night in Paris.

Paris day 6 Wednesday March 12

On Wednesday we all went to the Louvre.  It is the worlds largest museum.  It contains so many things that if you were too look at each piece of art for one minute each it would take you 6 straight months. Night and day.  The entrance to the Louvre is right below the glass pyramid that you see in some of the pictures.  The Louvre building its self is an old royal palace.  French Kings and Queens used live there up until Louis XIV decided to live at the Chateau de Versailles.  

We had a really wonderful time at the museum.  We were there for about 5 hours looking at the art and stopping for a quick bite of lunch.  The paintings were Dad and my favorite parts.  Moms favorite part was seeing the statues.  Im not sure what Ellie liked best, but I know she had a really wonderful time.  By the time we left I was so tired I could hardly walk.  I would have loved to stay longer but our bodies were too worn out to do anymore.  

This is the Venus de Milo.  It is a marble
statue of Aphrodite.  It was carved by
 Alexandros of Antioch between the years of
130 and 100 BC

This is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

These are more of Da Vinci's paintings.

This is one of my favorite paintings.
 It was painted by Ghirlandaio in 1490.

This is Raphael's painting of
 The Virgin with the baby and the little Saint Jean Baptist
(La Vierge a l'enfant avec le petit jean baptiste)

This is one of the Four seasons paintings
by arcimb

Paris Day 5 Tuesday March 11

On Tuesday morning Mom, Dad and I went to the Chateau de Versailles.  The Chateau de Versailles is a palace where some of the French Kings lived including Louis XIVand Louis XVI until the beginning of the French Revolution.  It is about 20 kilometers outside of Paris, so we had to ride a train to get there.  It was absolutely amazing!!!  The building is enormous and decorated beautifully.  We spent the first 2 hours walking around the inside of the palace.  Then we went out and walked around in the gardens.  The gardens there are huge.  We had a wonderful time.  Its hard to believe that people actually got to live in such an extravagant place.  

This is the Louis XIV statue outside
 the palace gates.

Kings bedroom

Hall of Mirrors

Mom and I in the Hall of Mirrors

Queens Bedroom

The Kings private table

Dad and I outside in the gardens.

Mom and Dad standing in front of the Chateau.