My Winter Vacation

I left Marmaris and hoped on a bus to Istanbul, from Istanbul we headed to Sophia by bus. Afterward,  we went to Budapest, Hungary. Then hoped on an over-night train to Vienna than a day train to Salzburg .we went to Zell-am-see Austria and went skiing, than train to Munich and picked up car and drove to Strasburg. We decided to go to Paris. Then a car ride to Dijon France, than to St. Gervais, after that we went to Munich. Then we flew to Dalaman and took a taxi to Marmaris.

Budapest

There are two sides of Budapest. One side is Buda because it’s hilly. The other side is Pest because it’s flat. We went over the chain bridge! It’s cool to go over the chain bridge because there are two big rock things that hold up the whole bridge. Did you know we went to the thermal baths? The thermal baths are cool because there’s a men’s and woman’s bath in the men’s there is a 35 and a 37 degree pool plus an 18 degree pool. It was very colorful with lots of statues. I love the thermal baths because I like the temperature. I think grand mom to.

Vienna

In Vienna we stayed in a mercury hotel. We went and saw Mozart’s house. It’s cool to think you’re in the footsteps of Mozart. We also saw Saint Steven’s church… so we took a tour of under the church with the dead from the plague. It was very stinky at first in the tour but it got it was the real deal though with the bones it felt like a haunted house with skeletons. Then we went to a metro and went to  a house that my mom used to live in. it was freaky to see a place my mom lived in for six months and studied Vienna.

[Editors note: Aethan typed the above and used ‘Word’ to correct his mistakes. Below, his Dad retyped what Aethan had written verbatim- no corrections for spelling etc.]

Zell-Am See (Austrian Alps)

In Zell-am-see we stayed in a part-ment for 2 week’s when we were skiing. Plus we could walk to a really cool pool… when  we’re at the pool we can jump off a high board or a regalur board. There is also a really cool big waterslide that is almost dark inside. From our apart ment it’s about five minutes walk to the gondola… and five minutes up to the top. Then we switch over to the easy hill so I can go fast and mom and dad can snowboard (+ Graeme) . When you snowboard toes, heels, toes, heels, theres a blade for toes and one for heels. I feel very proud for going straight down the hill.

Paris

In Paris there are lots of fun stuff to do like… go the Sciene (the river), Museum orsey, the sewers, and Eiffel  tower. Did you know the sciene goes threw many countries, and we ate on the water front. The louv  is very colorful but the big hit is the Moni Lisa it is very hard to see because of all the people. Did you know there is 1,300 miles of sewers in paris. And there very stinky. The Eiffel tower is magnificent. It is really fun to Look out from the top. On the second floor we went ice skating. It felt very cool. My favorite thing in Paris is the Eiffel  tower because I saw the apartment he lived in. (nb: referring to Eiffel’s small apartment near the very top where he entertained guests…)

St. Gervais (French Alps)

We stayed in St Gervais for one week. Our hotel has a pool but we have to cross some snow to get there. The ski hill is five minutes by car. Then five to the top. Then five to the next run. The terane park is awesome because there is huge jumps. On my first jump I had to be five feet up in the air. I felt nervous. But I did ad landed on my butt but I lived. On the last day my dad did a radical jump and almost broke his butt so he sat out for two runs while me and my mom raced down twice at the same speed.

Comments

[Kay Oshel]

Hi, Aethan!

I really enjoyed reading about your trips to Europe and around Turkey. Your skiing, snowboarding, and ski jumping sounded like so much fun.

I'm looking forward to seeing Istanbul sometime. I've been reading a series of mysteries set in 19th century Istanbul that included a body found in a cistern, so I especially enjoyed your report on the city.

I've been to Paris and Vienna, but not Budapest yet. I thought the sewer tour in Paris was interesting, although I don't speak French and couldn't understand any of the narration by the guide.

This winter has been very warm here. We only had one snow that amounted to anything and it was less than an inch. As I'm sitting at my desk writing this, it's really pouring down rain outside; it's the kind of day when I'm glad I'm retired and can stay home.

My husband and I drove down to Key West, Florida in late December. While we were there we took an all-day 70-mile boat ride out to Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas Islands (tortugas means turtles in Spanish) . It's a huge red-brick fort that has a moat all around it and lots of interesting areas to explore. Dr. Samuel Mudd of Maryland was imprisoned there after he was convicted of aiding John Wilkes Booth by setting Booth's leg which had been broken when Booth jumped down from the presidential box to the stage at Ford's Theater after assassinating Lincoln.

We also spent time in Miami and two days in Everglades National Park. I really liked the Everglades. I've never seen so many alligators in my life and so many beautiful birds. There was one wide dirt road in the Park where lots of alligators were sunning themselves on the side between the road and the ditch full of water running beside the road. You could get quite close to them if you wanted to. The Park is having a problem with former pet boa constrictors that people released there. The boa constrictors are thriving and eating deer, birds, all types of small mammals, and small alligators.

At another part of the Park where I didn't see alligators, I accidentally dropped my camera off a boardwalk into the shallow water. My husband was able to lean under the railing and rescue it. The memory card was fine, so I saved all the pictures I'd taken, but I had to get a new camera since the lens wouldn't work because of algae gumming it up.

Enjoy your time in port before you start sailing again.

Kay