7/24/14 colmar, Bresirach and "we didn't start the fire"

"And Action"

 Colmar, France is where our story begins. A cute little town is where Sarah and her family will be found. We walked around this cute town with stores and things.  We just looked. We went back to the boat and we sat down and relaxed for about 2 minutes then we went on a bike ride. Nothing hard just something simple. 

The real excitement came during dinner. Do u know what smoke smells like? Well, now I know. We were eating dinner and we went into a lock(look it up) and we wanted to see the boat in the lock so we went outside on the deck and we were watching the lock when our cleaning lady came out running coughing like crazing. Then another cleaning lady asked us to go back to the restaurant and she was like walk faster faster. We sat down and asked the waiter what was going on and he said he had no idea.  we said well something is going on so he went to go look. He came back and we asked him what was going on he said in a hurried voice nothing u should worry about every thing is good. Then 2 minutes later we hear the caption over the loud speaker " this is your captian speaking listen carefully there was a fire in the 200 corridor (our room was in the 200 corridor. In the sauna  it is put out but the fire department still has to come on board and check. Nobody is at this time is allowed in the 200 corridor." So the boat just pulled over and the local fire department came on. Then we hear the captain  "the fire crew has given us the ok to sail but nobody is allowed in the 200 corridor because the carbon monoxide level is to high. So do not go down to the 200 corridor until we give u the ok." We go to see what happened to the cleaning lady and they said that the ambulance people took care of her. We asked later that night why she was in the area for so long. She said there were so many kids on that floor that she went through  all the rooms making sure that there were no kids in the rooms. When we were funnily allowed back in our room it smelled so bad you have no idea (it smelled like a lot of smoke). We tried every thing but it smelled. The people said our room was one of the worst so we moved for the night to one of the crew people's room and they slept somewhere else but others people did that too. Hillary's room was fine.  All good in the end and very little damage.  

Vondelpark

"And Action"

So, today me and the crew went to Vondelpark.   It was one of the prettiest parks I have ever seen. It also had one of the best playgrounds EVER!  It was like an obstacle course and my mom and my aunt came and chased me and max.  It was hard to find because it was hidden in the trees.  it was the best thing ever. Then we went to the boat it was kind of a long drive. Then we got on the boat and then we started sailing but we are going so slow that I don't have to worry about being sea sick. We are now sitting listening to a long BORING speech by this lady. Then we are going to eat dinner I think this place is expecting us to dress fancier than we packed.

"And Cut" 

I miss you all that I know

Squiggles

24,000 steps in Strausberg, France

"And Action" 

Today we went to Strasbourg  and we walked to the old city. In the city we walked around it was very pretty. The city used to have walls and a mote going around It it was so the town (that used to probably have a castle in it) was protected from enemies. On the way we saw a very interesting cathedral. Yesterday the cathedral we went to was built in the style of Romanesque and today we went to a cathedral that was gothic. In gothic the stained glass windows ore much larger and they are more intricate. In Romanesque there where frescos. Frescos are a type of painting. In the cathedral today during world war 2 they took all the windows and paintings and anything important or valuable out and put them in salt mines. 

Then we walked to La Petit France and we ate lunch on the bank of the canal. We had bread and pesto for lunch that is my favorite thing to do for lunch #picnic. We went to a little store that was probably my moms favorite store. It had old boxes with cool designs on the front and turned them into tea boxes. I got this cute little box like a money box.

Then we came back and we sat for an hour and then we got bikes from the ship just me and my mom and we rode around town. Then we ate 3 hour dinner and now I am writing to u .

"And cut. That's a rap"

Squiggles

Speyer and Heidelberg

"And Action"

Spyer

In speyer, we went to a very old cathedral that was very beautiful. During  the succession this cathedral caught fire. So they rebuilt some of it. And a lot of the paintings got burnt or thrown away but a few were saved and they were very intricate and beautiful. Then we went into this room and it had relics in it if you don't know a a relic is then look it up. It is where  they save artifacts from old important dead people in the catholic religion. There was a head. Covered in gold something and there was a bone that was not covered and it was sooooooo gross.

Then we went to a Mikvah u are probably thinking what the heck it a Mikvah. Well I will tell u it is Jewish tradition that not every body does. it is for women. It is a bath that is filled with natural water and women would go in to the bath to purify them selfs.

In Heidelberg 

I have been kind of busy so the few blogs I do now will be packed with information.

Today we went to an ancient castle  it was very interesting.

So it was an old castle . It had something like a jail cell and there was no stairs or anything you went down with a rope. Then there was the kings hall (all of this is ruins it is not full) we didn't actually get to go in but it looked interesting. Then we saw the royal library. We also saw the apartments where prince William the first lived in (when he was 17).

 The cell,the kings hall ,  the library, and the apartments were in the same building.

The. We took a short bus ride to an old town in side Heidelberg. We walked around for about 2 hours. Then we got back on the bus took the hour bus ride back and the we ate dinner and now I am blogging.

"And cut. That's a rap"

Squiggles

Boppard

"And Action" 

 Sorry I haven't blogged in a while it has been kind of busy lately I tried blogging a few days ago but it got deleted on ascendent. 

So yesterday we went rock climbing it was sooooooooooo much fun!!!

So I thought I was going to be just like you have a rope attached to u and u climb     Strait up but we did no such thing. My mom told me it was going to more like a hike with some climbing parts we were both proven wrong. We show up put on our(very uncomfortable) harnesses . Then we started walking up the mountain. Then we got to this metal thing. It was what we were climbing on. It was all kinds of things there where ladders,ladders built into the rock,and these lines of metal that stuck out of the rock we were supposed to walk on. But once we got to the top the view was breath taking it was just amazing. I think that that experience was  by far one of the best things I have ever done!!! 

Today was not a busy day we walked around town then we went to a wine farm. But this morning we sat on the top deck and watched all the castles go by it was beautiful but it was also cold. Then I am going to go to dinner and then bed. If I have not mentioned it dinner takes 4 hours.

"And cut. That's a rap"

Squiggles

Wake me up when it's all over

"And Action. Cue the alarm"

It all started at 12:00 am. "Sarah wake up wake up we have to go down stairs for breakfast"!! What the heck, mom!   it's 12:00 am. Go back to sleep! 

My mom's phone kept switching from Chicago time to Germany time and  at 12:00 am, my mom's alarm went off which was at 7:00 Chicago time.  she got dressed, brushed her teeth, packed the bag.... got totally ready to go...Only it was the middle of the night.  only when she woke me up did and looked at my clock, did i tell her it was at 12:00 and then it took me until 2 to fall back asleep! Oops!!! 

After that fiasco I was really tired and we were supposed to meet every body down stairs but we were not down there at 8 so my grandparents called.  But I  was asleep and it woke me up and started a very LONG day. First, we ate breakfast like normal people. Then at 9 a tour guide came to pick us up.  with the tour guide we walked to Anne frank's house. There was one of  the longest line I have ever seen. But since we were with a guide we did not have to wait in the line ( thank god) we were in her house for about 1-2 hours that's a lot of standing.  

then we went to one of the biggest sinnagoges in the world. It was very pretty and it was mostly made out of wood and during the war they protected it so it is really old but every thing is the same they did not have to change anything or do repairs. Then we walked to lunch.  (As you can see we only walk no bike no car no nothing I did 28 thousand steps today). After lunch we went back to the hotel and took a nap. Then we went out and just wandered the we ate dinner and played cards. Then  they took us to the red light district and I can just say it was definitely something!!  we walked down one block and then me and max made them stop and take us somewhere else so we went back to the hotel and I am going to bed soon.

" And Cut. That's a rap"

Squiggles

  this season we start off in Germany/Netherlands. We have some guest characters this season we have: Max, Aunt Hillary, Grandpa Michal, Grandma Joanie ( and of course me and my mom). 

"And Action"

We get to the air port at 4:00 ( four a 7:00 flight) we wait at the gate for like ever!! Then we FINALY get on the plane but there were other planes on the runway so we couldn't leave for a while. So I ate my dinner and as soon as the plane took off I passed out. I was sooooooo tired. It was an 8 hour flight. I probably slept 6 out of the 8 hours but I was still tired so then we were at the London airport for 3 hours!!!! Then we got on a plane to holland and it was only like an hour - so not that bad. but the time here is 8 hours earlier than in Chicago. Then we got to our hotel and we went out into town had dinner and my mom is making  me stay up thill 7 ( that is late when you are tired). We found this street that was totally covered in graffiti it was not like the kind someone does at night that is illegal but like sitting there for hours graffiti. I am in bed blogging and then I will got to bed. 

"And Cut. That's a rap" 

Squiggles