Grand Tour, Day 40: Last Day in Europe

Our last day in Madrid was very chaotic at the start. We thought we were going to miss our flight. My mom and I started running towards our flight. Pablo and Nina tried to keep up with us, but they got lost. Luckily, my dad found them and we made it on the plane. On the plane I watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and a little bit of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Every hour, I stopped watching and wrote about our last days in Europe for thirty minutes. Pablo was very happy on the plane because he got Goldish for the first time in 40 days. We landed in North Carolina, Charlotte, and we had to wait for a few hours until our flight to Texas took off. I did not really like the flight to Texas because it was pretty boring. We landed in Texas got our bags and then we saw Grandmother and Grandaddy waiting for us. We drove to their house and went to sleep after talking for a little while.

When we got back to Ada, my dad asked us some questions about memories from Europe. Here are my answers:

1. Best Decision? Going to Zell-Am-See.
2. Best Train? Salzburg to Zell-Am-See.
3. Best View? From the top of the Alps in Austria
4. Best Dessert? Nectarine Ice Cream at Madrid Rio park
5. Best Restaurant? Pizza in Torino on our first night there
6. Best Snack? Malaga Goldfish. I was very happy when we saw flavor-blasted Goldfish in a store in Malaga, but no one was happier than Pablo.
7. Best Walk? Malaga with my dad
8. Best Art Museum? El Prado
9. Best Day? The day when I played soccer in the park and had a sleepover with Rita and Uxue. I forgot to write about the sleepover in my journal, but it was fun.
10. Best non-train transport? Madrid Metro. I really didn't like any non-train transports, but this one was OK. If the chair lift counts, then that would definitely be it.
11. Hottest Moment? Rome Taxi to Vatican. That taxi ride almost made me throw up.
12. Coldest Moment? Alps
13. If we had one more day to spend in any city we visited,  it would be … Madrid. I would spend time with Abuelo and Abuela and Rita and Uxue and Tia Gimena.
14. Most Memorable Artwork? "The Night Watch" and "3 de Mayo."
15. Best Bed? Bruges Hotel
16. Best Shower? Abuela and Abuelo’s
17. Biggest Surprise? Missing the train in Munich. That was bad.
18. Best Performance? Soccerman on Montmarte. That was awesome.  I don't know how he did that. It was like he was defying graviety.
19. Best Book? Trials of Apollo
20. Best Park? The park where I played soccer with some boys in Madrid.

While we were in Europe, I tried to write every day, but sometimes I either forgot or did not have time. So I sometimes had to write two or three days in one day. I also wrote the last ten or so days on the plane from Madrid to Charlotte. During my sixth grade school year, I came to my dad’s office and typed my journal entries. During the summer of 2018, my dad and I worked on giving them more detail and making them longer. At the end of the 2018 summer, we finished writing and posting it. I think that this vacation was the best vacation eve,r and I wish we could do it every year. I saw a lot of famous artworks, famous buildings, and a lot of my family that I had never met and family that I had met but don't get to see a lot. My favorite thing was seeing family.

These are my reflections on the 2017 Ruiz Benton’s summer vacation. Emilio out.

Grand Tour, Day 39: Madrid Wednesday

When we woke up, I went with my mom and dad to buy presents for our family. Then my mom went back home, and I went with my dad to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is an art museum.

One of the most memorable paintings was by Vincent Van Gogh of Auvers Sur-Oise. There is grassy field with some trees in it. It was memorable because we had been to Auvers Sur-Oise.

The other memorable painting was by Salvador Dali. In it there a woman down on a rock in the middle of a large mass of water. There are two tigers about to pounce on top of her. One of the tigers is going to get eaten by a big fish and the other is going to land right on her. This one was memorable because I knew about it before we went there because it was in the Study Blue that I wrote about earlier.

With "Santa Casilda" (1640-45) by Francisco Zurbaran.

With "Hotel Room" (1931) by Edward Hopper.

After the museum, we went back home, and Rita and Uxue were there. I tried to read them a book called "Asterix" in Spanish. Then they had to go back home. After they left, we had dinner. I had a mango popsicle, carrots with hummus, and tomatoes. Then we played our last Carioca of the trip. Abuela won.

Grand Tour, Day 38: Madrid Wednesday

When we woke up, we had breakfast. Then I played on my mom’s phone until Abuela’s friend Emilia came. She gave  me a sketch pad with pencils, an eraser, charcoal, and oil pastels. I used them to draw a picture for Rita and Uxue.

The picture depicted El tres de mayo by Francisco Goya which is the picture above. It had a man with his hands up and three dead people around him. Then there is a man pointing a gun at the man with his hands up. The man with the gun has three people behind him. The sky is red and every thing else is black except for the people. At first, I did not want to give Rita and Uxue the picture because it had dead people in it. But Tia Gimena wanted me to give it to them, so I did.

When Rita and Uxue came over,  we all went to the park. There were some boys there who asked me if I wanted to play soccer with them. At first, I did not want to play because I could not talk to any of them, but then I thought that they might not talk to me anyway, so I played. The guys on the other team were show-offs. They put all the bad players on one team and all the good players on the other team. They put me on the team with the bad players, but I scored three goals and had two assists.  They beat us, though. They scored, like, twenty goals. 

Then we went back home, and I played on my mom’s phone and watched Hercules with Rita and Uxue. Rita got scared at the very end when Hercules almost died, so I comforted her by telling her that he wasn't going to die. She got less scared after he didn't die.

Grand Tour, Day 37: Malaga to Madrid

When we woke up, we went to climb the Gibralfarol. The Gibralfarol was the last stronghold of the Muslims in Malaga during the siege of 1487. The path we climbed was very steep.

The view from the path to the stronghold was amazing. You could see all the buildings, and then behind them, you saw the Mediterranean Sea.

After we left the stronghold and came down, we met Abuela and Abuelo at a restaurant. I had paella and tomatoes. The paella was super tasty--one of the best dishes I had on this trip.

Then we all went to Zara to get some clothes for Nina, and we got some ice cream. I got strawberry. My brother dropped his scoop and got another scoop for free.

After we got our luggage, we went to the train station. We put our bags in the waiting room and went window shopping. Then we got on our train. We were not sitting by Abuela and Abuelo, so I played Carioca with my mom. She beat me.

Once we got to Madrid, we went to Abuela and Abuelo’s house. We were planning to go on a walk, but right before we left, my mom’s cousin Gonzalo and his partner Karina came to Abuela's house, and they came with us.

We made a loop around a park where we crossed a bridge and played on a rope-climbing course, which I liked. Then we went back home. I had rice and tomatoes for dinner. Then, since Gonzalo is the best player in the family, we played Carioca. He won.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Playing Carioca with Gonzalo, Karina, my mom, and Abuela
2. Walking in the park with Gonzalo and Karina
3. Climbing the Gibralfarol
4. Riding on the train to Madrid

Grand Tour, Day 36: Malaga Monday

After we woke up and got ready, we went to the beach.

When we got there, we played with paletas that we had gotten the day before.

Then humongous waves started coming, and I played in them. For lunch, I got tomatoes and pita bread. By the time we got home, it was 5:00!

When we got home, we took a shower and played Carioca while my dad and Pablo went on a long walk. I beat my mom and Abuela.

Then we ate dinner. I had carrots, hummus and a nectarine. Then we got ice cream. I got mango, strawberry, and raspberry with a lemon macaroon on top.

On the way to get ice cream, we walked by a wall that had words in Spanish on it, and I tried to climb it. It would have been easier if I had been wearing my Converse shoes instead of flip flops.

After everybody else went back home, my dad and I went on a walk by the port, beach and a lighthouse!


My dad thinks that we might have seen Africa. We looked it up later and the closest point in Africa was 105 miles away from Malaga.

While we were walking, my dad told me stories. One was about how he almost got robbed in Morocco, and another was about how he almost helped a Moroccan woman illegally immigrate to the United States.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Walking on the beach with my dad
2. Swimming at the beach
3. Playing cards with Abuela and my mom

Grand Tour, Day 35: Malaga Sunday

When we woke up, we went to the house where Picasso was born.

My mom and Nina got audio guides. Picasso's birthplace was different from Karl Marx's birthplace because it was small and only had a few rooms. I think it is cool how Picasso paints three-dimensional shapes but turns them into two-dimensional forms by taking away the illusion of depth.

After we left, we took a picture of me standing in front of Picasso's house wearing a shirt that used to be my Mom's

We also took a picture with a statue of Picasso. Nina and Pablo got gifts for their friends. I didn't get one for my friend, because I had already gotten one in Germany.

Then we went to have lunch at a place called Mala Pizza. The pizza was not bad ("mala"). While we were there, we watched the European Championships of track and field.

Then we went home, and I played Carioca with Abuela, Nina, and my mom. I won.


Then we got ready for the beach. Everybody but Abuelo went. Pablo built sand fortresses while I swam. We only stayed there for an hour. Then we went home, rinsed off, and played Desesperado. I won.

I like playing cards with Abuela because we don't get to see her very often, and she comes from a family that is famous for playing card games.

Here is list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Playing cards with Nina, my mom, and Abuela
2. Going to Picasso’s home
3. Swimming at the beach

Grand Tour, Day 34: Malaga Saturday

When we woke up, we got ready to go to the beach. We walked to the bus stop and then took the bus to the beach. At the beach,  there was no one in the water besides us because the sun was not out. I swam for a little bit and then helped Pablo build sand fortresses and also try to keep the waves from breaking them down.

Then we walked home.

On the walk, we saw a religious parade.


I also bought some Converse shoes. After we left the store, we got home and took a shower. After the shower, we ate dinner. I had pasta, hummus, and fruit. Then we went out and got ice cream. I got strawberry with no sugar and mango. 

We came back to the house, and I played Desesperado with my mom and Abuela. I won the first time, and Abuela won the second time.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:

1. Swimming and building sand fortresses

2. Playing Desesperado with my mom and Abuela

3. Walking to and back from the beach

Grand Tour, Day 33: Barcelona to Malaga

We had breakfast at the hotel. I had bread with honey. We stayed in our room until noon and then checked out.

We then took a subway to La Rambla, which is a main shopping avenue. We walked down the avenue until we made it to la Plaza de Catalunya. Pablo and Nina were playing with a big group of pigeons. We called Nina and Pablo, and Nina came, but Pablo did not hear us. We called 2 or 3 more times, and he still didn't hear us, so we left. He did not follow us, so we went a little bit farther and stopped and watched him to see when he would notice that we were gone.

He finally saw us, and then we went to a market, and I got a blackberry and coconut smoothie. It did not taste good.

We then took a subway back to the hotel. We got our bags and had to wait for 20 minutes for a taxi that did not come. The hotel had to get two more taxis to come. Then we went to the train station. My dad and I got there first, and we had to wait for the others to get there. Then we had to rush to catch our train.

We made it on the train. Then I played Carioca with Nina and Pablo. We were playing in somebody else’s seat, so once they got there we had to finish our game in our seats. Then for the next few hours Pablo and I played a game we made up.

Once we got to Malaga, we saw Abuela and Abuelo. We said our holas and then they took is to the apartment where we were all staying.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Playing cards on the train
2. Reuniting with Abuela and Abuelo
3. Walking through La Rambla

Grand Tour, Day 32: Barcelona

When we woke up, we took a taxi to the Picasso Museum. We waited in a half-hour line. Then we got audio guides.

The most memorable painting was a painting by Picasso with a whole bunch of pigeons in it. There are two pigeons on a window sill. There are two pigeons on the ground and one in the air. We were not allowed to take pictures at the Museum, but the picture above is the closest we could find to it. It was memorable because I thought that it was weird how a famous artist painted pigeons. He painted at least ten paintings of pigeons. I mean, who cares about pigeons? All pigeons do is poop, eat, and take up space. I guess Picasso thought pigeons were very important, which I think is cool.

After we were finished, we went to a park to wait for my mom’s cousin Mario Ernesto. While we were waiting, my dad gave us missions. He told my brother to go to one of the fountains. Then he told me to follow my brother without being seen. Pablo saw me at the very end, though.

Then we went to a park inside the park, and he told my sister to go back to my mom. Then he told my brother to go to my mom without my sister seeing him. Once Pablo was gone, he told me to go find my mom without Nina or Pablo seeing me. Then while I was going, I saw my mom and Mario Ernesto. My sister was there, so I waited. She left, and I was going to go until my brother went, and I had to wait until he was done talking.

I finally went and got to see my mom and Mario Ernesto. I said hello and then went back to my dad. We all completed our mission. Then we went back to see Mario Ernesto. He took us to see an old Barcelona market. While they were digging around it, they found the ruins of a medieval village. The market itself dated back to the 1800s!

After he showed us the market and the ruins, we went on a long walk. While we were walking, we met his girlfriend, Emmanuelle. Our walk led us to the bus that would take us to the Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia was humongous.


There were pinnacles on the church that looked like they had fruit on them. The photo above shows these "fruits." This photo came from the internet.

Once we left the Sagrada Familia, we got ice cream. I got watermelon flavored. It was amazing!

Then we took a taxi back to the hotel. Our taxi driver bumped into the car in behind us! Everyone was fine, and we walked the rest of the way. When we got to the hotel, we ate dinner. I had pita bread and hummus.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Completing missions in the Park
2. Meeting Mario Ernesto
3. Walking around Barcelona

Grand Tour, Day 31: Trains From Torino to Barcelona

We stayed in our room until noon and then took a taxi to the train station to get on a train to Chambery in France.

While we were on the train, a jazz band that was on the train stood in the aisle and played for everyone. They were good!

Once we arrived in Chambery, we got off the train and stayed at the station for an hour. Then we got on a train to Valence, which is also in France.

Once we got there, we got off the train and stayed at the train station for an hour.

Then we got on a four-hour train to Barcelona. On that train, for most of the time, I was writing in my journal. I also played cards with my mom and my sister.

It was 8:00 by the time we made it to Barcelona. We took a taxi to our hotel, and then we went to a store to buy food for dinner. I ate raspberries and blueberries.

I like trains better than cars because I get car sick sometimes in the car, but I almost never get sick on the train. The only train that I got sick on was the overnight train from Salzburg to Rome. Another reason I like trains is because you can do a lot more stuff in a train than in a car.  For example, it is easier to play cards than in a car. Also, trains are more comfortable than cars. Another thing that is better about trains is that there are bathrooms on trains.

My favorite train was the one from Salzburg to Zell-am-See because of its awesome views of the Alps. I liked the one from Hendaye to Paris because at the very end we saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Riding on the trains

Grand Tour, Day 30: Torino

When we woke up, we went to the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderno. While my parents were buying tickets, I sat on a bean bag.

In the first room we went into, there were a few paintings of landscapes. At first glance, we didn't see any people in the paintings. Then my dad read the description of one of the paintings and told us that there were people in the paintings, and we just had to look hard to see them. We found 16 people all together.

In another room, there was a sculpture that had springs hanging from it. Nina touched it on accident. We thought that we were going to get in trouble. We didn't, so we continued our trek through the museum.

There was another sculpture in that same room that had chairs in a circle hanging from the air. Nina did not touch that one.


I don't understand why the painting above is worth so much money.
  I think that I can draw something similar to the picture above.


My dad thought it would be cool for me to jump really high in front of some paintings. I was on board with it.


The picture above makes it look like I have just been shot, and blood is everywhere. This one is my favorite because I did not know I could jump this high.


My shirt and pants match the red and black on the painting.


It is really cool how my dad made me mix in with the floor.

 Outside the museum, I pretended to get on a bicycle covered in grass.

After we left the museum, we went on a walk through a park. While we were walking, we saw a reconstructed medieval village. The reason it was there was to show us what a real medieval village looked like. There was a fountain, and Nina, Pablo and I splashed each other.

Then we had lunch. I had pasta and pizza. The pizza took forever to make.


After lunch, we went walking by a river.

While we were walking, we found a good tree to climb. We climbed it, and my dad took a photo. Then on the way down I scraped my forearm. A year later, you can still see my scar, barely.

We kept walking by the river until we got to the hill that we were going to climb. We got ice cream for the way up. I got frutti di bosco and strawberry. It was good!

The hill we were climbing was super steep! On the way up, we passed a park. We also passed a man going down on his bike. We were wondering if he went up on his bike or if he walked his bike up to the top.

From the very top, you could see the city of Torino and the Mole Antonelliana, which is memorable because it's the tallest building visible. There was also a church at the top. We went in. It is named Santa Maria del Monte.

After we left the church, we went back down and to  chocolate for my mom.

The place we went to was right beside a plaza with stores on both sides of a covered sidewalk.

My dad and I went into two stores to see if we could get Higuaín jerseys. We found some, but they were too expensive. My mom, Nina, and I got two macaroons each. My mom also got some chocolate. I had two lemon macaroons. Then we went on a really long walk through the city's arcades, which have lots of arches in a row.
 
In the picture above, I am standing in the CLN Piazza. There is a statue of a man riding a horse behind me.

 
When I look at this picture, I am surprised again by how high I can jump.


   
On the way back, we stopped for fries for Pablo and Nina.

   Pablo is pretending to tell me a secret in this picture.

When we got to our hotel, we took showers. Then we went to eat dinner. I had pizza. The tables were outside. In Europe, many restaurants are like that, which is different from the U.S.

Once we were done eating, we went back to the hotel. I played Carioca with my mom, and I won.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Walking around Torino
2. Winning Carioca
3. Jumping in picture at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderno

Grand Tour, Day 29: St. Peter's and Torino

On our last day in Rome, we went to St Peter’s Basilica. We thought we were going to have to wait a long time to get in, but we only had to wait for ten minutes. We got audio guides.

When you walk towards St. Peter's Basilica, you walk through a big plaza that is shaped in a semi-circle. There are colonnades on the sides of the plaza with statues of saints above them. Then when you go inside, you see a humongous room--called the nave--with small chapels on the sides.

One of the chapels has the Pieta inside of it. That is the first chapel we saw. I don't know how Michelangelo made the folds in Mary's cloak look so lifelike.

In the basilica, you can also see St Peter’s tomb. Above the tomb, you see something that looks like an arc. It has four black pillars and a roof over it. On top of the roof, you see a lot of angels. One of the angels looks like it is hanging in mid-air! The angels were made out of bronze. Above the roof, there is a dome, and you can see the sun shining through a lot of glass windows. It is beautiful.

On the wall of one of the rooms, there was a list of popes since St Peter, and how long they served. There was a big gap between Victor I, who became pope in 199, and Leo I, who became pope in 461.

In a different room, we also saw a replica of the Transfiguration by Raphael.

Once we left, we went to get some money from our account at a bank there. Then we went to eat lunch. I got pizza. Then we walked to the train station. We got on our train to Torino. For 5 hours I read, played on my mom’s phone, and played cards.

Once we got to Torino, it was already six o-clock. We went and checked in to our hotel. We rode up the elevator, and we had to go to the bathroom, so we got out quickly. A lady from the desk came and asked us if we closed the elevator door. We hadn't, so she got mad at us, even though we didn't know that we had to close the door. I did not like that lady.

After we got chewed out, we went to the bathroom, went to our room, and stayed there while my mom went to look for a place for us to eat dinner. She found a place, and we went there.

I got really good pizza.

Then we went and got ice cream. I got frutti di bosco and strawberry. I had not even eaten a quarter of it, and then it fell off. I was sad the whole way home.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Train
2. St Peter’s Basilica
3. Hotel