ARG!

First, I'm sorry I've fail my blog.

Second, I have actually posted the continuation of Paris, Italy and Nice, but for some exasperatingly annoying reason it didn't actually post!! I felt apoigetic enough failing the Africa part,but it didn't even post most of Europe. What's also weird is that I remember seeing all of the posts up at one time. TACO BLOG!!

Paris 4th-8th

Paris

Despite not knowing the word for 'bathroom', my few words in French came in very useful. (Hello, good-bye, cat, dog, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,910, boy, girl, strawberry, etc ) The French are not rude, but tend to exasperate easily with tourists. We went to find a friend of my aunt's apartment, where we were dropping of gear we wouldn't need in the rest of Europe. Her name was Estille, (still is Estille, I think.) She is very nice and speaks English better than most Americans. We figured out the Metro after going backwards and forwards on it a few times. I got on for the first time not knowing what a Metro was and still contemplating the idea of public transport. A sharp "Hold on!" from my dad came to late as the Metro started and I flew across the floor receiving many 'Tourist' looks from the locals. After falling down a few more times, I finally got it and was able to lower the amount of 'tourist' looks. After finding the apartment we were able to drop off our stuff and head to the Montgomery's where we were greeted like old friends. The next day we (Phillips/Montgomery trio) went to a medieval history museum, the Noter Dam, Arch de Triumph, and the Eiffle Tower. We went to a park out side the Noter Dam, and discovered a very spiny playground toy, a lop-sided circle on a stick. There were a great deal of French children playing on it. We waited patently for out turn, which only arrived after Jacob helped the children to spin a little faster. That concluding in one five-year-old after another flying off the toy, and landing about six feet away. After a short wave of sympathy, Katie, Maddie, Jacob, Ellie and myself, ( 14,13,10,5, and 13) jumped obligingly on, proceeding to make our selfs sick.

At 9-ish pm, the older group, (Camp, Katie, Maddie and I,) lead by Darin, hiked up to the second story of the Eiffle Tower. It was very pretty and we had a great view of Paris at night. Maddie lamed herself by an attempted kick at someone I will fail to mention. She was very lame until she remembered that ice cream was waiting back at the apartment. Getting back at 2 am, we fell asleep immediately. The next day, Darin and Camp woke up early and went to Napoleon's tomb and a military museum. "Very ornate and huge for such a short man" - Darin. Meanwhile, Daisy accompanied the Montgomery's on a walk and a boat ride down the Seine. The boat ride was nice, but the three Nunjas (referring to a group of talented battle nuns) were asleep on their feet half the time. Getting back at six pm, we proceeded to relax and watch Gostbusters. Camp and Darin arrived at around 1 am, nearly completely asleep already.

Paris documentation to be continued . . . .

Hiedelberg 3rd-4th

The most fun in Germany was watching all the people. Most of them have very big noses and are plump-ish or tall. On the flight there we had a very romantic French couple in front of us. They were very irritating and made it hard to sleep. The plain had a TV on it, we watched Startreck, Faulty Towers, the Office and some of Monsters-vs-Alians. Old Town Hiedelberg was very pretty, but incredibly touristy. The weather was cloudy, but hot. We slept in a hostel that had the theme of 'Woodland Trails,' it had a picture of Yosemite Falls on it. Had no idea it was that well known. The castle in Hiedelberg was very cool, had a great view of the city and was enormous. I have no idea what it was called. Camp played professor and explained all the defensive tactics of the castle. Germans are reserved, polite and enjoy being as helpful as possible. I hit at least 10 of them in the stomach with my 2 foot wide back-pack and none of them hit me back with a pretzel or anything. I had large bruises on my shoulders from my back-ack the first day, but I am now super buff and can carry it anywhere. . . maybe. Jet lag was very annoying, but like my back-pack I have now conquered it.

In a hotel in San Francisco

We are in a hotel in San Francisco. We are waking up at 5 in the morning to go to the airport. . . the best part of the whole trip., yes! Judith was very sad at departure, very sweet and pathetic. I nearly cried, but I let her flood the room for us. Will miss everybody, looking forward to the flight.

Leaving tomorrow!

Hey everyone, we are leaving tomorrow (Tues) for San Francisco where our plan takes off. My dad was reviewing the notes he made and realized that our plane left at 8am instead of 8pm on Wednesday. We're doing a ton of packing, unpacking, repacking , re-unpacking and packing again. Getting all the shampoo and stuff out from one bottle to a tiny one was a lot of fun because it kept exploding everywhere. Everything is okay so far, but my Dad has been very stressed and has started wandering aimlessly around muttering to himself. He does that normally anyway, but he's been walking into walls and stuff.

General information about why we're going

Our Grandparent's organization, GLK, helps war and AID orphans in Uganda and Rwanda. They find sponsors for them and make sure their orphanage is a nice one. Lately they've been getting old (like a lot of people tend to) and are no longer fit travelers. Last time they went was 4 years ago, and thing are getting chaotic. We are getting sent to make sure the kids are okay and the money is getting spent wisely. It's going to be very exiting and a lot of work. I promise not to make this blog really boring and simple, like every other blog is. Although my little speech up there made me fall asleep, it's a one time thing. I also promise not to infect any of you with Ebola if I can help it.

Europe details, if anyone is interested

We are leaving on the 2nd of September and arriving in Frankfurt, Germany on the 3rd. Then we are going to Paris for 2 days and a half, Pisa for less than 1, Florence for 2, Rome for 3 and back up to London for 2 days and a half, where we fly out to Istanbul, where we are staying for a day and flying out again to Africa.