Germany

On June 12th we went to Germany to meet my German relatives. They live in a small town called Duhren (by Sinsheim). We went to Treina and Michael's house first to meet up with Ursula. Ursula is my Oma's cousin. Michael and Treina have a daughter, Emily, who is 8. Emily and I had lots of fun playing on the trampoline. 

When we first arrived, Ursula took us for a walk to show us where she grew up.

After our walk we went to my Cousin Susanne's house for Caffe. Emily came with us. Caffe is a German meal that is a bunch of desserts (that are always refilled when they run low) that you eat with coffee or, in my case ,water.

After visiting with everyone at Susanne's house, we went back to Michael and Treina's for a BBQ.

Me and Ursula at the BBQ

Giving my relatives the honey that we got them from the market in Freiburg.

                                     My cousin Emily and Ursula going to look at the baby ducks

Watching the meat cook.

Chilling out with my family and the cat.

Me and the cat waiting for the food. 

All of the yummy food.

Especially the pork belly!

Me and my Cousin Emily eating. I think the cat wants some.

Selfie!

Yummy food!

I love cats!

The dog sitting at the table with us. 

Me and Ursula playing Piano Tiles after dinner.

We called my Oma from the BBQ so that everyone could say HI! Sadly, it is the last time I will talk to my Oma, because she passed away the next day. But, the good part is, everyone got to talk to her - and I know that made her very happy.

Ursula talking to my Oma (Grandma) on the phone

Interview with a Luthier

 Katarina : What is your name ?

Jurg: My name is Jurg Leibacher

Katarina : Where and when were you born?

Jurg :I was born in  Zurich ,Switzerland on May 11,1958

Katarina: How far is that from Colmar ?

Jurg: It is 1-2 hours away from Colamar

Katarina: Did you have any brothers or sisters ?

Jurg: Yes I have 1 sister

Katarina: What was your favorite thing about school ?

Jurg: I loved Music

Katarina: What was your first job ?

Jurg: Working in an office and bookkeeping. But I did not like it

Katarina: What is your favorite place to visit ?

Jurg: Venice. I love it because it feels like time has just suddenly stopped and your walking through history.

Katarina: How long have you been a luthier

Jurg: I've been a luthier for 30 years

Kataarina: Do you repair violins ?  

Jurg: Yes. I also repair Cellos, Violas and Basses

Katarina: Do you make other instruments besides violins ?

Jurg: Yes. Violas, but just repairs on Cellos

Katarina: How long does it take to make a violin ?

Jurg: 1 1/2 months

Katarina: How much does it cost to make a violin ?

Jurg: 10,000 Euros  ( In U.S dollars it's $11,370.50)

Katarina: What is your favorite thing about your job ?

Jurg: Building an instrument. Or restoring an instrument that is 200 years old. and I can not name all of them because i love my job

Florence - The big steak in the window

One night in Florence, Italy we went to dinner at La Buchetta Firenze. It had a big steak in the middle of the kitchen. So we had to order steak! 

They brought it to the table before they cooked it.

The steak was very good, but the best thing we had was the Mozzarella. It was awesome! The one above the tomatoes was Fior de Latte (cows milk), then continuing too the right -Bufalo (fresh buffalo milk), Burrata, and Stacciatella (from the inside of a great big burrata).

They must have been collecting corks for years because they have them everywhere, even the kitchen. The best part of all is you can write on the wall on little wooden circles.

I drew TOPOLINO which is what they call Mickey Mouse in Italy.



INTERESTING FACT: Mickey Mouse's name was originally Mortimer and Minnie Mouse's name was originally Minerva.

Florence - Cold, Wet Gelato Festival

We went to the Gelato Festival in Florence on a cold and rainy day. The weather was horrible, but the worst part was that the Gelato Festival was closed - not because of the rain, but because the generators weren't working so they couldn't make the gelato.

However, there was a demonstration and it was in a covered area, so we went to watch. The guy spoke all in Italian, so I have no idea what he was saying, but he made the BEST strawberry gelato I have ever tasted.







The generators started working, so we waited another hour until they reopened the Festival. My mom had used Groupon to get the ticket and the ticket didn't work so we had to find someone to help us.My Mom was supposed to go online to activate the Groupon, but since it was written in Italian, she didn't know. Fortunately, they let us in anyway.

There were 14 different kinds of Gelato to taste and 8 were in the competition.

           

My favorite was Buontalenti, but I ate so much of it that I don't like it anymore - boo! Buontalenti wasn't part of the competition because it was last year's winner. My favorite of the flavors in the competition was Sambuco.

At the end of the day we were all so sick of gelato that we didn't think we would ever eat it again. Since it has taken me a while to write this blog post, I can tell you that I definitely still like to eat gelato!

Barcelona - Favorite Places

We arrived in Barcelona on April 10th.

We got off the ship and took a taxi to our apartment. There was a marathon and the taxi could not take us all the way to the apartment so we had to walk with all our luggage. The apartment was on the top floor and there were 119 stairs.




There was a really nice dog at the apartment named Stevie Wonder.








After we got all checked in we went to meet my friend Josh. He is 10 and lives in England. I met him at the Notre Dame playground in Paris last year (actually I first saw him at Sorza, one of my favorite restaurants in Paris). We met Josh and his parents, Brett and Clara at one of my favorite restaurants Elsa y Fred.




After lunch, we went to the playground in Barcelona that I loved when we stayed there 2 years ago,





Then we walked to Cuitidella Parc and watched the ducks and climbed the elephant. It was really hard to get a turn to take a picture on the elephant because there were so many people and they all kept running in front of us.



After that we walked to my favorite gelato place - Vioko. I had my favorite flavor - banana split. We went to Vioko every day while we were in Barcelona and every time I had banana split!







Clara, Brett and Josh were only in Barcelona with us for 1 day, it was the end of their trip and the begiining of ours.We wanted to spend as much time with them as possible, so we met them for dinner too. We went to Sagardi which makes the best steak ever!




Josh gave me a present from Smiggle - some really cool art supplies. Since it has taken me so long to write this blog post, I can tell you  that I use it almost every day.

We said goodbye to Josh and Clara and Brett, but we will see them again in Paris in August.

The rest of our time in Barcelona was spent visiting some of our favorite places from 2 years ago and spending time with Stevie Wonder.

The Boqueria Market

Buying Postcards for Oma, Opa, and my Classmates

Iberian Ham - Ymmm!

I LOVE Barcelona!

On La Ramblas

Drinking from the Fountain so we can come back to Barcelona

On the balcony of our apartment