Weird foods they sell in Europe

by young A

They sell some pretty weird foods in Europe, so I will talk about some of them.

chocolate chips (chips made of chocolate, not chips of chocolate.)

party tacos (they're cheese flavored chips, not tacos.)

strawberry yogurt flavored chocolate (it is tasty. It tastes like it is strawberry ice cream flavored.)

bacon snacks (not bacon. They're bacon flavored snacks. They don't taste much like bacon.)

chocara stars (chocolate caramel flavored star-shaped cereal.)

hot dogs labeled "American" (packaged in jars. We didn't get any)

Apple-rhubarb juice (it may sound weird, but it doesn't taste weird)

Assignment 1

As part of Young T's "homework", we took pictures of the birds at the park and identified them.  Here are our findings:

Embden Goose

Canadian Goose

Egyptian Goose

Mallard Duck

The Cologne Cathedral

by Young M (and Rachel)

The day we went to the cathedral, it was windy.  We went on the tram to Neumarkt and walked to the cathedral.

First we looked around and Young A went to the bathroom.  Then we went to the tower and got a family ticket and put the stroller under the stairs.  We walked up all the stairs (over 500) and some of the windows had writing or something like that on them.  Mom had to carry Miss S over halfway.  Miss M helped.  When we got to the big open space, we went and took a rest.  Miss S was scared.

Then we went up rickety metal stairs in the strong, strong wind.  When we got to the top of the rickety metal stairs, there were more stairs.  After we went up those, we were almost at the top.  Then some of us went to the top where it was super duper windy.

Then we went down and went out the side to the treasury.  There was lots of gold in the treasury.  There were also some wood that they think is pieces of the cross and a nail they think is from the cross.  Then we went up stairs and Mom asked for change so we could go to the bathroom.  He said sure, but there was a free bathroom downstairs not marked on the small map.  Then we went home from a train station nearby.

Miss M's hair was acting energetic. It was a fun and windy trip.  I liked it.  (I am afraid of heights.)

My trusty steed

by Miss S (and Rachel)

When we go on adventures, we take Minimus, my stroller.  Minimus is my horse, just like Sofia has.  Sometimes he is Anna's horse from Frozen, instead. Then, I am Anna.  Sometimes, he is just Strolley.  And on Sundays, we leave him home, and I am Cinderella in my pretty blue dress trying to catch my carriage to the ball.  (Then I don't have to worry about my horse at church.)

I would like to tell you about Link Between Worlds.  (This is very important to me, so Mom will quote verbatim.)  "I can't go in the castle on my file with Blue Link, and I'm trying to save Zelda.  And Dad was Shadow Link so I killed him on Miss M's file without asking permission to play.  And I'm trying to get in the castle to save Zelda.  That's my email at home in the mailbox."

Drachenfels

by Young A (and Rachel)

Yesterday we went to a "mountain" called Drachenfels (Dragon Rock). It was a short mountain (at least compared to the mountains in Utah.)

There are stories that there used to be a dragon living in a cave in Drachenfels. There are a few different stories about why there isn't one right now.  Some of them are that the dragon attacked a boat full of gunpowder or that when it was about to eat a girl, the sight of her crucifix was too much for it.

We hiked up there instead of taking the train.  It was steep except for where it was flat.  First we went to the ruins at the summit of the mountain.  Then we hiked back down to the castle Drachenburg and checked that out.

We walked up the spiral staircase at the tower after exploring the public parts of the castle. Then we went down the mountain and ate french fries (Pommes Frites) with curry ketchup and mayonnaise. Then we walked back to the train to go home.

We left our train catching abilities at home and missed the train (barely) unlike our trip to Schloss Augustusburg.

Schloss Augustusburg

by Young A (and Rachel)

We went to a palace called Schloss Augustusburg on Wednesday, April 8.  (We almost missed our train there, but because it was late, we made it.)  We went through with audio guides and listened about the different things.

Afterwards we went out to the gardens and wandered around in the forest which had paths running through it.  On each side there were tons of wild flowers and, since it was a forest, there were trees. There were often tire tracks running along the sides of the path.  We took a lot of pictures while we were there.  

After the forest, we went to a "little" hunting lodge which was connected by a path to the palace.  It was a lot less fancy there.  It looked like a place that would be nicer to be in.  After that we walked back to the train.  

The train was late and was about half of its normal size.  It was very crowded, and we almost didn't fit on the train.  While we were waiting for the tram, we got Doner Kebabs for dinner.  After that we barely caught the tram to go home.

Things I like to eat in Germany

by Miss E (assisted by Rachel)

I don't know where to start.  I like their cereals because they don't have too much sugar but they still taste good.  The meat I like.  I like the chicken most with different kinds of sauce like butter chicken sauce, and the curry sauce is really good.  

Their juices are also really good.  They have mixes of different juices I like.  I like the Apple-Cherry-Plum juice best.  Some others I like are the Apple-Pear, the Apple, and the 5 fruit, 7 fruit, and 3 fruit kinds.

The chocolate and candy is tasty, too.  They have a lot of different kinds of chocolate including chili pepper, orange, hazelnut, caramel, oreo, etc.  They have literal chocolate chips.  These look like potato chips made out of chocolate and taste like very thin crunch bars or caramel crunch bars. 

The candy we get the most is Haribo, which they have a whole bunch of flavors of.  We even went to a store full of Haribo.  We made our own bag from a section where you can choose a few of every kind. My favorite kind was the apple rope. They also sell bags of just one kind.  We have gotten Lemon-Ginger, Finger Puppets, a bucket of Pink Edition Phantasia, a lot of Tropi Fruiti for Mom, and Pandas.

The bread is really good.  My favorite kinds are the little rolls we can get at the grocery store and the pretzels.  The pretzels are my favorite. 

They have lots of kinds of tortilla chips, too. They have one kind that tastes like it is flavored salsa.  They also have normal tortilla chips.  They have bacon snacks too, which are meant to look and taste like bacon.  They don't.  The weirdest kind is the Party Tacos.  These are tortilla chips with cheese dust stuff on them that sort of taste like Doritos, but not really.  They are really weird and the kind of chips that you don't really like the flavor of, but as soon as you eat one, you can't stop eating them.

There are lots of kinds of spreads here.  I like the Nutella, honey, and jam. There was also a kind that everyone else in my family thought tasted like frosting that I like. There is also some very yummy, drizzly caramel stuff that we put on pancakes.

Their ice cream is really good.  My favorite kind is the lemon stuff that Miss S got and shared with me.

Their soda is a lot like the soda in the US, except less sugary and much fizzier.  We have tried the Sprite, Fanta, carbonated apple juice, carbonated lemonade, and grapefruit soda.

Oohh, the Doner Kebabs are reeeallly good.  My favorite are from Best of Doner.  I think they were lamb.  Doner Kebabs are big sandwiches with meat that they spin around to cook and then shave off.  They also put sauce and toppings like lettuce and tomatoes and cabbage on them.

I like most of the food here, but some of it I don't (like the curry ketchup fries).  I'm glad we could come here and try new foods.