Forni Di Sopra and Paris
by Mia
We took a train to Forni Di Sopra and drove to Sue’s house we spent the night there and the next day we went for a hike up the mountain. Walking along side the river Ruben and I were fascinated at all the ice there I tried to carve a bit with the ice but it did not really work, we also got some nice pieces of ice and threw them at the ground and they would smash every where. When we got half way up there was a little place where people would come and stay for a day and ski. There was a little tweency church there where Ruben and I got to ring the bell out side. There was also a play ground where Ruben and I went on this really old spiny thing that went round and round and it almost felt like you were going to fall off. We decided to make our way back down the mountain. so we followed the path back down.
The next day we went to a performance with sue and there was a harpsichord, a celo and a violinist. The violinist played two different kinds of violin a smaller one and a bigger one. The harpsichord was very interesting with its amazing noise. and the cello really added a nice touch. They played Corelli, Tartini, Cordans, Vivaldi and Marcello.
We got home and the next day we learned how to make gnocchi an Italian like pasta. Sue made it with squash with her recipe you can also make it with carrots and other vegetables. Sue mashed the squash with flower salt and some other ingredients then sh boiled water and with the bowl of squash on the counter she dipped a spoon in the boiling water to get it hot and wet she said that that way the squash would not stick to the spoon when she put the squash in. She remembers when she first came here she worked in a restaurant and mostly she just cleaned up but she remembers seeing all these ladies standing around a big pot of boiling water each with a spoon in there hands and quickly getting bits of the gnocchi past and putting it in the boiling water to cook.
We took our first night train to Paris and hardly slept a wink I did not do that badly but the widow witch was rite by my feet kept slamming open and then because we were going quite fast it made a loud noise. We arrived at around nine in the mourning getting our first glimpses of Paris until we vanished into the under ground. We left our bags with a SERVAS family and set out to see the city. We found ourselves at the Louvre .It was beautiful looking across the pools of water at the glass pyramid they seemed almost to be floating on the water. We took a tour touching on almost all the most famous exhibits. We saw the Mona Lisa by Leonardo De Vinci and the Victory of Samothrace. The victory of Samothrace is made out of white marble and she stands a top a pedestal boat on the prow of a ship similar to ones on early Greek coins. It had been believed that she had a trumpet in one hand and a staff in the other. Her right hand was eventually found in 1950 and has an open palm which proving that the Victory did not hold a trumpet or other objects. We visited the Egyptian wing. Here I learned about a strange tool that the Egyptians had used to pour embalming fluid into the nose of the deceased. The scarab that we saw in many of the exhibits was the symbol of rebirth it was usually made out of sculpted stone and placed on the chest between the mummies linen strips to protect the heart the only organ that was left inside the body. The eye of Horus, which we saw a number of times was said to protect the living and dead from evil. I learned of the story of Osiris and Seth and that all mummies are fashioned in the form of Osiris, the god of the dead. In ancient times Egyptians would place Ushebtis, little blue doll like figures to serve the deceased should they be called upon in the after life to do manual labor.
We visited Notre Dam Cathedral, here it was interesting to see the big chandelier hanging down similar to the one I had seen in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. With it’s impressive stained glass and giant flying buttresses that looked like the dinosaur diplodocus it was one of my favorite cathedral so far and probably one of the largest. In Notre Dame we saw a statue of Joan of Arc. That night we were able to see the Tour D’Eifel with it’s glittering lights beside an almost full moon. It was exciting to see the tower that I have often seen in pictures and movies finally in real life. It was entertaining to spend our evenings with SERVAS and their sweet children.
We visited the Musee D’Orsay where we saw paintings by Klimt, Degas, Monet Van Gogh and others. We spent the morning looking at paintings and I was able to recognize many of Van Gogh. We walked along the River Seine in the sunshine and here I remembered reading about a family that lived under a bridge along the very same river. Can you guess what book? We met up with an old family friend and sat at a café, Ruben and I were able to play around a cool water fountain with many colorful sculptures in it. We took the squishy metro, which was packed beyond belief to the Arc de Triumph. We could see the flashing lights of the cameras of the people taking pictures from the top of the Arc de Triumph. There was a bit of a fuss and we saw many riot police and crowds of people. Luckily there was no danger. I really enjoyed Paris. It was like being in a Madeline book.
Sincerely Mia
