Happy New Year!?!

Okay...I dropped the ball on this one...sorry...still have a lot of her trip to detail, but Britt did return home on Dec. 18. Not sure where all the time went between Thanksgiving and New Year's day, but here it is, the day before my winter break is over, and no updates to this blog...

On the upside, we have enjoyed having Ray home since Dec. 11, Britt since Dec. 18, and spending a lot of time with family during these last several weeks. I'll add photos, details, etc...even though the traveler has returned home...sometime soon.

Happy New Year, and thanks for your understanding...if you're still following, thanks for your time, too!

Budapest...last of the "Grand Adventure"

So, here's a bit from Budapest. Evidently, there is a bridge that connects the Buda with the Pest side...not sure if this is true, but it's what Britt told us.

That's the Danube river behind Britt in this photo...looks kind of windy and chilly...she ended up buying a scarf and hat (not sure, but maybe gloves, too) because it was so cold.

This is a HAND in a glass box...supposedly the hand of St. Stephen, in his church in Budapest. He died in 1038, and was cannonized in 1083. The HAND is in a glass box that requires some sort of monetary donation to get it to light up so you can see it; thanks, Britt!


The cathedral is St. Stephen's Basilica at night...it's really pretty, with tons of marble all over the place, red marble, too.

The last picture here is the Budapest Parliament building...pretty ornate, and impressive, too.









Since I've posted these so late, there are several other trips to post: Rennes and Mont St. Michel, Normandy, and London. Britt sent me photos from Mont St. Michel so I could use them in my 8th grade French class; we were actually studying that in our cultural section of the chapter I was working on as she visited the place...how cool it was for me to have a photo of her to share, one that matched what was in my textbook, but with her in the foreground. She sent a bunch of others, too...I'll get those posted soon. Luckily for me, she hasn't yet sent any from Normandy, and she is in London today, going to Bath on Monday, returning to Brest on Tuesday, and coming home in less than three weeks! I think the time has gone quickly...and we are surely looking forward to having her back, after missing Halloween, her birthday, and Thanksgiving with her. More soon...December 18 is coming pretty fast!

Berlin

Well, it's time to show off Berlin a bit. Here are a couple of photos, night and day, of a "sweeeeet church" Britt found on her visit, and the famous Brandenburg Gate. She really enjoyed all she saw in Berlin; she would have bought a Russian fur type hat at Checkpoint Charlie (she was cold, and it would've been a neat souvenir), but nobody was running the stand at the time they visited. They also saw the famous TV Tower, a very old church, and she included a photo of the Berlin Wall...I'm sure they saw more, and there are many more photos to come, once she's home (she told me 24 days left after today -- until she goes back to Paris, and then will be home late December 18). She's going back to Paris a few days early, since they keep them very busy, and she doesn't want to miss the sights she'd hoped to see but didn't have time to see in her other stops in Paris.

Last entry from the Grand Adventure soon: Budapest. Then, there were trips to Rennes, Mont St. Michel and this past weekend was spent in Normandy, taking a guided tour of all the WWII historical places. She's found out that she will be student-teaching 9th grade American History and Psychology at Mayfield for the second semester, with her former 9th grade History teacher, Mrs. Doubrava. The excitement continues...

Amsterdam: Stop #3

So there's this really cool sign in Amsterdam...made even cooler by having Britt "hang out" in it (hahahaha!) There were canals everywhere, they saw a church, a floating tulip farm, Anne Frank's house...some other stuff, but I put up the photos of these elephants because they are so neat...kind of like a fund-raiser Cleveland had with guitars several years ago, and other places have had. Britt said they were being taken down the weekend after they were there, so she took a couple...also one called "Kiss" elephant...not included here, because these were funnier, and of, course, Raymond is displayed on the one on the right. She asked, "Notice anything about that elephant?"...that's the FIRST thing I noticed (no surprise!)

Amsterdam is known for legalized drugs, red-light districts and lots of other things, all of which Britt got to see. She had an ugly encounter with a "professional" who thought Britt was taking HER picture, but other than that, not too much seediness reported...next post: Berlin!

2nd Stop: Bruges

The photo to the left is the square in Bruges, Belgium, at night. There were canals and churches, and other things to see, but these pictures are the prettiest to share.

According to Britt,
the belfry in Bruges is a geographical compass; since it can be seen from anywhere, it keeps people from being lost; you can always find your way back to it, and go from there! Here it is, in all its daytime and nighttime glory! Bruges is where the weather turned cold enough
to make Britt buy a warmer coat...an interesting, unplanned souvenir, as she also got in a couple of other cities on this grand tour.

She's experiencing a lot of history, culture, adventure and other things she could never experience without having had this opportunity. Although she is missing some things from home -- her birthday is tomorrow, but it's already Nov. 17 at this time in France (10:00 + 6 hrs = 2:00 a.m.)--she is really
making the most of the opportunities for travel.
Next installment: Amsterdam!

First Stop of Grand Adventure

Well, I'm trying to figure out how to post all the wonderful news about the "Grand Adventure". Britt finally found some time to send photos...lots of photos...and I'll do a post for each city of her tour. She's doing well, really maximizing the travel opportunities (I THINK she went to Rennes and Mt. St. Michel this weekend, and Normandy will be next weekend)...so I've got to get these up and posted so there will be time to do the next installments. She's got a countdown until she comes home...something like 35 days (I'm not taking time to count it, but it's December 18). What an experience...she'll be able to use a lot of what she's experienced in her teaching.

First of all, let me explain that France observes a holiday time called "La Toussaint"..."All Saints"...which closes the schools for two weeks. She had ten days off to travel, and she went with two other students from the group -- five cities and four countries (not including France, so, okay, five countries too!) in ten days. She had a flu through most of the time, but still managed to keep up, and had adventures at the pharmacies in each stop, practically. The weather turned cold, and she has warm-clothes souvenirs from her travels: a coat from Bruges, Belgium, gloves from Amsterdam (I think,not sure, could be Berlin) and a hat and scarf from Budapest. I'm sure she got some other types of souvenirs, but the coat, etc. were not planned, just necessary.Here are some photos from Brussels, Belgium, the first stop on the "Grand Adventure":The Brussels Parliament, an impressive clock, Brussels Notre Dame, and Belgian waffles. (That's one of the other students, Zack, with her; Carolyn was the third traveler, but Zack seemed to get in pictures more than either of the girls!) Can't you just hear Britt saying "Look! Belgian waffles! In BELGIUM!!"

There are lots more, but these are the ones to share here and now.

Hi...it HAS been a while...so much for hurrying to get past post #13! I'm really not sure how I'm so busy with all the extra time I'm supposed to have; guess I haven't found it yet. I'm still talking with both kids fairly regularly...seems as if it's more daily with Britt, at least lately, since she's on a "grand adventure" inside of her basic "grand adventure"! She has ten days off school for La Toussaint (All Saints') observance; all French schools are closed, and most people travel. I'll have to put updates from this trip in a future post, since I have a bit of catching up to do. Just so you all know, she left on this extra "grand adventure" last Saturday, and is being good enough to let us know when a new destination is reached, and I have been checking earlier in the day, before I leave school, and she's sometimes been on SKYPE, so we've done some instant messaging, since the internet connections aren't always reliable, and video chatting seems to make the connection freeze at times. More on all of those details next time, I promise.

So, the last time I posted was sharing photos from the visit to Paris, the first time. Britt's assignment, so we all thought, was going to be teaching Social Studies in English; turns out she's teaching English (in English, of course!) in both a high school and teacher prep college in the city of Brest. She is limited, by her visa, to twelve hours a week, and it's seeming to be four days of three hours each. Not too bad, considering she's receiving such valuable experience as well. So here are a couple of photos from her second visit to Paris, for the reception at the French Senate. It was through the Fulbright Commission, and they met students who had participated in a shorter sort of the same exchange and had spent five weeks (as opposed to 3.5 months!) learning about the US education system.

She called that photo "Gargoyle" which is in the background...but I chose that one of the three she sent because it also has her in it. She, of course, is NOT the gargoyle :>). The group photo is of the students at the French Senate reception -- the girls are the Americans visiting France, and the guys are the French students who visited the US. The top photos are the St. Mathieu's and Britt at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris...she looked but didn't find Quasimodo, but DID see the bells. Evidently, the bells were consecrated and named when they were installed, and the largest bell is named "Emmanuel", after the grandson of Louis IV, who was in power when it was installed. Living history lesson--with the Eiffel Tower w-a-a-y in the background! (I hope I got the details right...it's been a while since she explained them to me.)

There are other photos, many other photos which we have received, and many, many more that we haven't seen...she will have a true documentation of her visit. I'll be back in a week or two...with photos, hopefully, from Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany and Hungary...the countries of the "grand adventure"!