Grand Tour, Day 17: Brussels, Den Haag

Emilio writes:

When we woke up, we went downstairs and had breakfast at the hotel. I had an egg, pineapple, cantaloupe, and two mini donuts. It was great! I also had a glass of orange juice. After we finished, we got in a taxi and went to the train station. Then we got on a train to Brussels. I looked at the scenery for an hour.

We got to spend some time in Brussels, so we went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.

The paintings above and below are paintings by Pieter Breugel the Elder (below) and Pieter Breugel the Younger (above). My dad thought it would be a good idea for me to be posed in front of the one that Pieter Breugel the Younger painted and him to be in front of the one that Pieter Breugel the Elder painted. My dad and I looked at these paintings and tried to find differences between them. For example, the color of the lake in both paintings differs. In Breugel the Elder's, it is blue, and in Breugel the Younger's, it is orange. In Breugel the Elder's, most of the trees do not have leaves on them, and in Breugel the Younger's, all of them do. In Breugel the Elder's, the boat that is on the lake is white, and in Breugel the Younger's, the boat is black.

The painting above features Prometheus's liver being pecked out by an eagle as torture for him giving fire to humans. The liver would then grow back and everything would start all over the next day.  I think that this painting is revolting.

Once we left the museum, we got on the train that would take us to the Hague. For two and a half hours I played on my mom's phone, played Escoba De Quince, and looked at the scenery.

When we made it to The Hague we took a taxi to Artur and Paulina's house. Paulina is my mom's cousin. We got to the house, and we put up our suitcases. Then we ate dinner, and after that Pablo and I put on a magic show. We did mind reading, card, and disappearing tricks. Then the grown ups talked, and Pablo, Nina, and I watched the Sorcerer's Stone on my mom's phone.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Train
2. Magic Show
3. Scorcerer's Stone

Grand Tour, Day 16: Bruges Tuesday

Emilio writes:

Once everybody got up, my mom, Nina, Pablo, and I went downstairs to eat breakfast. It was delicious! I ate two eggs, cantaloupe, pineapple, two mini donuts, a croissant, and a glass of orange juice. (I didn't actually eat the glass of orange juice, I just drank the orange juice in it.)  

After breakfast, we went on a boat ride down a canal, and we saw swans and ducks. It was cool! At the very end, it started raining really hard, so we went to the Groenige Museum.

The most memorable painting was a painting about Achilles posing as a girl. I don't remember who it was by. 

The painting above is supposed to symbolize Peace beating War. The people on the carriage represent Peace, and the guy that is about to get run over represents War. I think it's gross that they are trying to run over that guy.

The painting above depicts the Last Supper. I don't understand how everybody is supposed to share that one loaf of bread. Even if they did somehow find a way to share that bread, they would still be hungry afterwards. I think the guy in the bottom, left-hand corner looks mad. Also, his pinkie looks broken.

By the time we got out of the museum, it had stopped raining. We went to the grocery store and got food for lunch. Then we went swimming for almost three hours. Nina and I raced each other for a while, and then we played tag. Pablo and I played leapfrog for a little bit, also.

Once we had dried off and changed, we went on another walk. We were going to see a sculpture by Michelangelo, but it cost too much money. Then we went back to the hotel to eat dinner. I had bread with hummus, strawberries, corn cakes, and bread with nutella.

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

1. Museum

2. Walks

3. Swim

Grand Tour, Day 15: Bruges Monday

Emilio writes:

Once we got up, we packed our bags and went to the train station. We said our goodbyes to Tio Gerardo and got on the train to Brussels.

For an hour and a half, I played Escoba de Quince and played Score Hero on my mom's phone. In Escoba de Quince, I lost twice. I started to play against my mom again, but we had to get off the train.

Once we got off, we had to change trains so we could go to Bruges. We got on the train to Bruges, and I looked at the scenery for an hour. It was beautiful!

We got off and went to our hotel and dropped off our bags. Once we put our bags up, we took a walk through the city. Bruges had many cobblestone streets.

We saw the city hall. It was built in the thirteen hundreds! Then we went to a plaza that had a clothing store called Sissy Boy. It think that's a funny name for a clothing store because if you call someone a sissy, they would be insulted.

After that, we went to a park that had a playground. We played for a little bit. It was fun! It was kind of like an obstacle course. Then we went back to the hotel to see what our rooms were like.

We had two adjoining rooms, and they were both large. Nina and Mommy shared a room, which had one king-sized bed. Pablo, my dad, and I shared a room that had two queen-sized beds. I slept in one by myself. It was cool. I stretched out as far as I wanted to on the bed. I was sideways when I woke up the next morning, and my head was almost hanging off the bed.

Then we took another walk and saw the Church of our Lady, which is the tall building behind me in the picture above.


The Church of our Lady in Brugge is the second tallest brickwork tower in the world! Just like the City Hall, it was built in the thirteen hundreds!

I feel like we were always walking by a river in Bruges.

Towards the end of our walk, we went to grocery store to get food for our dinner. Then we went back to the hotel and ate dinner. I ate corn cakes, strawberries, and a hard-boiled egg. It was delicious!

After dinner, we went on another walk, and we saw windmills! The windmills were on hills, and I climbed them without using my hands. They were steep!

Then we went back to the hotel and got ready to swim. We went to the pool and swam around. There was an old man who wasn't wearing any clothes except for a little towel on his shoulder, and whenever he saw Mommy he sort of covered himself up. I didn't see him, but my mom told us about him after we got out of the pool. People in America don't go into a hotel pool without a towel and without clothes, and I'm glad they don't do that.

After the man left, Nina bumped her head on the side of the pool, and we soon left, too.

Here is a list of my favorite things we did today
1. Trains
2. Swim
3. Walk

Grand Tour, Day 14: Paris, Pompidou and Montmarte

Emilio writes:

Our first destination was the Centre Pompidou, which is a museum of modern art.

The most memorable work of art was The Fountain by Duchamps. It was the most memorable because it was actually a urinal, so that was funny.

This work of art was a projector projecting white light. My Dad was putting his hand out in front of the projector. Then a woman with a baby came, and she put her hand there, and they made a scene for the baby. In the picture above, my dad and I were putting our hands in front of the projector.

My dad took a picture of this because I said that I was going to do this when I got home. But I haven't. Yet.

Once we left the musuem, we went to the supermarket to get food for our picnic. At the picnic, I had a mango and passion fruit juice, strawberry banana juice, pita bread with hummus, orange, peach, cookies, chamellows, and two baguettes. It was awesome! I would eat one of the baguettes by myself if I was allowed to.

After our picnic, we went to Montmarte. Mom and Dad said the church on top of Montmarte was not worth standing in line to buy tickets, so instead we watched a guy doing mad skills with a soccer ball. He was amazing! At the very end he climbed on a lamp post with the ball on his head!

Once we left, we went back home, and I played Carioca with Gerardo and my mom, and I won. We played Desesperado three times, and I did not win any. Then we played Escoba de Quince, and I won.

1. Watch mad soccer skills

2. Cards

3. Picnic

4. Pompidou

Grand Tour, Day 13: Paris, D'Orsay

We started off the day by going to the Musee D'Orsay. We spent 4 and a half hours there! The most memorable painting there was the Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet.

At the very top of the museum, there was a clock that you could see Paris through. There was a whole crowd around it. Next to it, there was a circle of 8 bean bags. I got to sit in one.

After we left the museum, we went on a boat ride. It lasted about 30 minutes.

From the boat, we could see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Montmarte. 

When we were on the Eiffel Tower, we saw boats like ours riding down this same river.

This boat ride was the first time I'd ever ridden a boat before. It was exhilarating!

A year before we were here, these walls were almost covered with water, and the tourist boats could not operate.

This building, the Conciergerie, is where Marie Antoinette was held prisoner before her execution.

After the boat ride, we went to lunch, and I ate five slices of pizza. Then my tio took us to watch a band. After that, we went to an ice cream place called Amorino. I got raspberry, orange sicilian, and mango. It was good!

It was raining so we went home. I played Carioca and lost. I played Desesperado twice and won the first time and lost the second time. Then I played Escoba de Quince. I lost.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Musee D'Orsay
2. Cards
3. Ice cream
4. Boat

Grand Tour, Day 12: Paris, Louvre

When we woke up, we went to the Louvre. We got there early, so we had to wait for a little bit.

 There were three wings: Denon, Sully, and Richelieu. I had a list of paintings that I was trying to find. Most of the paintings were in the Denon wing, so that is where we went first.

The Denon wing was home to the Mona Lisa. When you walk into the room, you see a wall with a Titian painting on it. Then if you walk on the other side of the wall, you see the Mona Lisa! A long cord keeps people away from the painting. Security is watching your every move.

When we got there I was ecstatic. I got to be right in the front of the crowd. That was my most memorable painting from the Louvre.

We spent six hours in the museum!

The painting above is called "The Death of Sardanapalus." It was painted by Eugène Delacroix. I would not like to be any of the people in this painting.

This head is one of the heads from Easter Island. I would like to know why this guy isn't smiling. My hypothesis is that whenever the guy made this head, he was having a bad time in his life.

We stopped at a place to eat at the museum, and it turned out that we were eating right next to this fabulous pyramid.

After we left the museum, we went to the river and were going to ride on a boat, but there was lightning, so we did not want to. As we were walking, it started raining. We stopped under a bridge to get dry. 

Once it stopped raining, we went to get a snack. I got a cheese lettuce and tomato sandwich and a crepe. They were good!

Then we went to the Arc De Triomphe. We were going to climb it, but it was too much money, so instead, we walked under it. Then we got in the subway and went home.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Louvre
2. Subway
3. Arc De Triomphe

Grand Tour, Day 11: Auvers-sur-Oise

We woke up and ate breakfast. Then we took the train to Auvers-sur-Oise. That's the town where Van Gogh died.
First, we went to a church where Theo tried to have a funeral for Van Gogh.

After that, we went to the cemetery where Van Gogh and his brother Theo are buried. Then we took a walk through a field where Van Gogh painted one of his last paintings.

I think that Van Gogh and his art were both misunderstood. His art was misunderstood because it was a new kind of art, and everybody wanted the old kind of art, so they thought his art was not good. I think he was misunderstood because he had mental problems, so nobody wanted to be around him, and that's why he was lonely.

After we finished the walk, we got macaroons for Nina. Then we went to the store and bought food for a picnic: fruit juices, strawberries, carrots, cheese and a baguette.
 
We had the picnic in a forest. After we finished the picnic, we took a walk through the forest.

  The forest was by the water. After the walk, we went to the room where Van Gogh lived before he died.

Once we left the room, we went on a walk through Auver-sur-Oise.  To my left me in the picture above is a reproduction of a painting that Van Gogh made of the building behind me. 

After we left Auvers-sur-Oise, we rode the train back to Paris and went to a frozen food market and bought ice cream.

Here's a list of my favorite things I did today:

1. Ice cream

2. Train

3. Room

4. Cemetery

5. Field