Author Archives: Zoe

Zoe’s thoughts on the trip

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IMG_4674I’m really excited about our newest and biggest trip. What my Mom said about the zip lining, I’ve been saying we should do that for years.

For weeks, I’ve been finding Central American travel books on her dresser with titles like Exploring Panama! and Costa Rica! The Best Things to See and Do. In response to questioning, she said that she just thought that they would be fun to read. There were at least four different books.

Something was up. But with all my activities (I’m probably the biggest contributor to Mom’s “whirlwind of activities”;  I do two sports, three bands, one choral group, and piano lessons plus homework and instrument practice), Mom’s sudden interest in reading lots of Central American books was at the back of my mind. Even when I was suspicious, I would never have imagined eleven weeks! About not wanting to go on trips, that’s never going to happen.

Nadia and I will be doing blog posts as part of our homeschooling. My previous blog posts have contained excessive use of the word awesome, but I hope to make better posts this trip. THE BROOKSES BETTER TAKE GOOD CARE OF LACEY (my chicken)!     

Zoe’s take on Lucca and Pisa

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standing outside of Lucca’s walls
                              Today we hoped to get an early start to drive to Pisa and Lucca but we ended up leaving back seat. It was Nadia, Lanie , Meredith Brooks, my mom , my dad and I in one car and the rest of the Brookses in the other. Not far into our drive, the Brookses’ car began having problems. They ended up having to skip Lucca and meet us at Pisa.    
                            Lucca was really fun. The original city is enclosed by high, wide walls with newer additions to the city outside. The walls were originally built to keep out the city’s
eating our picnic lunch

enemy, Florence and are so wide that they have parks on top of them. We climbed on top of the walls , walked the two miles all the way back to our car and had a picnic lunch on top of the wall. Riding bikes on top of the walls seems to be a popular activity here.

we sat on the highest part of the wall

                           We met up with the Brookses in a grassy field near the leaning tower. There are many tourist attractions near the leaning tower but we only went into one of them, the cathedral which is amazingly beautiful. The cathedral is the only one of the attractions that is free, although they have a strange rule that you have to go up to the desk and get a ticket to go in and they will only give each person two tickets. Unfortunately, Nadia and Meredith were both wearing tank tops so, along with some of the boys who were wearing shorts, they were not allowed to go in due to the knees and shoulders covered rule. Nadia, Meredith, Lanie and I bought tee shirts on the way out. 

          

Zoe’s take on our day on the road

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The baths were amazing, though at some points I was afraid that Lanie  (or I ) would be carried away by the current. At another hot spring in Yellowstone National Park , Wyoming, Nadia and I actually took advantage of the current, riding it down the river but in these baths we would be scraped  on sharp rocks. Speaking of Yellowstone, the baths reminded me very much of the Travertine terraces. The sulphurous smell was very familiar.             
             At the end of our hot spring excursion, Lanie said that she felt sick, though she seemed okay later. None of us felt great due to the long, twisty mountain road. I was despairing in the back of the car as we drove aimlessly through the countryside (Editors’ note: It only seemed aimless, but it was a much longer drive than we promised.). Near the end of our drive, it was made even worse for me by Lanie pointing at every random house we passed and yelling “maybe that’s our villa!”  .
Finally, we reached our villa. I was very relieved to be out of the car. It was a long , hard day but Silvia’s delicious pasta and  tiramisu was a great way to end it.
Silvia’s tiramisu

   

         It was very fun to see the Brookses again after being away from them since last summer.  I feel bad for them having to bike on the mountains around the villa.  They’re not complaining a lot about it, though.  I know we’re going to have a lot of fun. 
 Also at the villa they have two big dogs and even though they are very nice we were scared of them at first because we just saw them barking over the fence and jumping up and down on their hind legs.  The people who owned the villa gave us a very nice tour.  We got to see all the parts of the beautiful house, such as a cool balcony that you get to from the room that I sleep in.  It was fairly easy to sleep that night after I stopped talking with Meredith and Nadia.  It was very late at night, past 10 o’clock.  For the people at home, though, it was only 4 p.m.  If I was in Durham we wouldn’t have even had dinner yet.