Giulia's Continental Adventures

    Madrid We went to Madrid for two days because it was Owen's birthday and he wanted to go. The train ride was two hours long from the new Valencia station, so not that bad. I spent the time watching Netflix and doing math. We arrived in Madrid at around 12:30.  We checked in at the hotel which was pretty cool. We were all hungry so after half an hour of just hanging out  we tried to find a mexican restaurant because we all like tacos 🌮. I had dos quesadillas. They were quite good dad and Owen had five mini tacos each and we got two bowls of nachos, one with cheese and the other with guacamole, which was amazing. After that we grabbed our raincoats and sweatshirts and went exploring. There were so many Christmas decorations and also a lot of Statues of Doña Margarita Maria of Austria inspired by the painting Las Meninas by the artist Diego Velázquez (it is in the Prado Museum which we went into and saw the painting.) My mom really liked the statues. It started to pour on us and

    Science museum Valencia. We went to the science museum or as it is called here: the Museu de les Ciències. We went two times. The first time we went, we all went and we explored two floors but did not finish the third floor. My favorite part of that day was the music exhibit. There was a piano, a drum set and a guitar. The instruments were really cool. Then there was this one drum that was connected to a metal tool that you put your hands on and it senses your heartbeat and beats the drum to match your heart. My heart was pretty fast already but then I ran around for a few minutes and it was like a beat every second. It was super cool. The next time we went it was just dad, Owen and I since mom was in Mallorca, an island located off the coast of Spain. We mostly stayed on the third floor. Though we did spend some time on the second floor to see my favorite exhibit (see more below) My favorite part of that trip was the Mars exhibit or the telephone booth. The Mars exhibit had a

  Spain  When we got to Spain, we were in Barcelona for three nights. We were there with mom’s friend. While we were in Barcelona we went to an event where people make human towers. There were three teams: blue, green and light blue. The bottom was a bunch of people holding up two or three guys then it kept going up till there were kids climbing. The first two kids held up another kid who then got climbed over. It was weird but cool. We went to Valencia next. Valencia is a city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the third biggest city in Spain. We went to one of the old gates of the city and we climbed it which was kind of scary as I have a fear of heights. The steps were super big and on the stairs to the first level on one side there was no wall or railing for about half the steps. When you got up the first two flights of steps there was another set of steps that divided into two different sets leading up to the two towers. We all went to the one on the right; but once dad

                                                Torino    We went to Torino or Turin for three days. Turin is a city that is located in the upper part of Italy or the top of the boot. We got to Turin on Halloween. When we arrived in Turin my dad’s second cousin Gianni picked us up from the train station. Gianni has a car so we got to ride in a car for the first time in over a month; we stuffed all our luggage into the trunk and dad sat in the front seat while I was stuck in between my mom and brother.  Gianni had booked us a bed & breakfast near his house. On the way there he showed us his kids' school and other places in his town. When we were done putting our stuff inside the B&B he drove us to his house and introduced us to his kids Davide and Francesco. Davide is almost eight and Francesco is five. They mostly spoke Italian but Davide could speak English if he needed to. Since it was halloween we gave them chocolates and later I played them a halloween song (Spooky scar

      Siena We went to Siena for a day trip And met my grandfather and his friend there. Owen and I did not know that the entire city was divided into 17 neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has its own flag and its own team in this really big horse race every year.  The flags are mostly really cool. The coolest one is the wolf one which I have now. (picture below.) :P We went into five neighborhoods: Unicorn, caterpillar, giraffe, wolf, and I think rhino. We were in caterpillar the longest so I think that it was the largest but I do not really know since we were only in five neighborhoods out of seventeen. The horse race that I mentioned earlier is supposedly about ninety seconds long. My dad went to one and said that after the race is over the team that won’s neighborhood runs out onto the track and crowded the horse and rider. Then after the race they carry the jockey back to the neighborhood and have a feast. I decided one day I want to go to that race.