The Food 🥘 Tour

The first thing we did on the food 🥘 tour was go to a shop that had a lot of bread 🥖🍞🥐, which was really good. Then we went to a place that had coffee ☕️ for the parents and then water for the kids. Then we went to a wine place that had an awesome cellar, where we ate a platter of food 🥘 with cheese 🧀, bread 🥖, and meat 🍖 for a snack, and the parents had a wine🍷tasting. The kids and the dads were trying to find the most expensive wine🍷was, and we found a wine🍷that was 350.00 euros 💶!!!!!!!!!!!! But it was aged like 8 years though!!! The person said that there was more expensive stuff then that though. The room with the 1000 euro 💶 stuff had a gate. But, you can see right? Then we went to a shop that had small sandwiches, where we each got a sandwich. Then we went to a truffle place that had truffle on bread 🥖, which was okay to me and the parents loved them. The parents had sparkling wine🍷. Then we went to an AMAZING Gelato 🍧 shop where we had Gelato 🍧. I got chocolate 🍫 and lemon 🍋. Very good combo. Then the food 🥘 tour was over!!! After the food 🥘 tour we went to a Gelato 🍧 place on the corner where we got a tiny Gelato 🍧.

The Walking🚶Tour

The first thing we saw on the walking🚶tour was the original David. It was massive!!! Then we walked around the museum for a little bit. Then we went to the duomo [ The cathedral ] but we couldn’t get in because the lines were like a 2 hour + wait, we saw the outside and walked around the streets, learning about the Medici family, the Ponteveccio bridge (they used to sell meats until the Medici family built a walkway between palaces and then they ordered the shops to only sell gold! The shops still sell gold today. The tour was over after that, and he told us his favorite Gelato 🍧 place!!!

The Boat 🚣‍♀️ Tour

So we went to the place where we met up. There was only 5 PEOPLE!!! There is usually around 25 people there! We boarded the boat 🚣‍♀️ and saw the Pontovacio Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Florence. It was a take it slow tour, which someone rowed in the back. That was the boat 🚣‍♀️ tour!!!

The Gelato 🍧

The first Gelato 🍧 we had was on the food 🥘 tour, which I gave 4.8 star ⭐️ and my mom and my dad gave it 4.8 star ⭐️ too. The second Gelato 🍧 we had was on the corner which I talk about earlier. Then we went to a Gelato 🍧 place that the guy on the food 🥘 tour recommended for us to get. Those were the Gelato 🍧 places we went too!!!

All in all, Florence has been great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Traveling

So my dad, my mom and I took a train to Stresa, where we caught a train to Milan where we ate some pizza that was really good for train station food. After the food we caught a high speed train that went around 300 kilometers per hour to Bologna.

The Food

So, on the first day for dinner my mom had bolognese, my dad had mushroom pappardelle pasta and I had a panini with pepperoni and cheese on it. So on the second day for lunch we went to a cooking class where we had Gnocchi, then some meatballs, with a dessert of some brilliant Panna Cotta. I will tell you more about this later. On the second night for dinner we all had paninis. My mom had pecorino, salami picante and pumpkin sauce and some dried tomatoes. My dad had capicola, with buffalo mozzarella and pesto. I had some stuff I forgot. It was really good! On the last day for lunch we had a food 🍕🍫🥩🧀🍅🍆🥐🍞🥖 tour. I will tell you about that later too.

The Experiences

On the second day we went to a cooking 🥘 class. We did this with a very nice family 👪 from Australia 🇦🇺. Making this stuff from scratch was pretty hard. The other kid that we were with ( Named Joel and is a boy ) and I made the pasta sauce. The first step to making it was to cut it into halves and squeeze the tomatoes juice, and then we boiled them, and then put them through a machine that made them into sauce. The dads made the meatballs. They cut some bred into small pieces and then crumbled them. The dads soaked the breadcrumbs with milk. They used ground pork for the meat. They rolled the meat into balls, then then cut the meatballs in half, then put the breadcrumbs into the meatball halves, and then cooked the meatballs. You should have smelled the smell!!! The moms made the Panna Cotta. My mom forgot how to make it though. It was so jiggly, it was like Jell-O, but more jiggly!!! Then we made the Gnocchi. They were boiling the whole time we were making the other food. After that the moms skinned the potatoes, then the dads and the kids put the potatoes through the ricer. Then the Caramelite ( the instructor ) made the dough and we rolled the dough into strips, and cut them into pieces. Then we put our fork into flour and put the Gnocchi on our fork 🍴 and rolled them off and put them into rows for cooking 🥘. The instructor put them in the boiler. Then we put the Gnocchi on the table and ate! The Gnocchi was so great 😍, but it was a little to soft. Then for the second course we had meatballs with tomato sauce that were delicious 😋 too! For the final course, we had Panna Cotta, with strawberry 🍓 sauce that was so amazing 🤩😍🤪!!! The cooking 🥘 class was amazing!!! On the last day we went to a food 🥘 tour! To get to the food tour we had to take a train 🚊 to Parma. We got in the lady’s car 🏎 and she drove us to a Parma Reggiano factory were they make cheese 🧀! We had to dress up in crazy 😜 wraps to keep us from slipping. We saw how they took cheese 🧀 out of vats that are big to getting them round to hardening the outer crust to aging the cheese 🧀!!! It was really cool!!! After that we had a tasting of the cheese 🧀 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we went to the Parma Ham place where they make prosciutto and ham. The first thing they do is season the ham and let it sit for a while, then they age it for like 3 years and then it’s ready to sell!!! We ate lunch🍴at the Parma Ham place

and it was REALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AWESOME 😎!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was cheese 🧀, prosciutto and ham! Then we went to an balsamic vinegar place that had amazing balsamic!!! We went around and our tour guide explained the process of balsamic. The balsamic starts in a barrel, and then moves to a different barrel. It moves through many different barrels. The barrels give them flavor. The longer they age, the better they taste, and the more sweeter they are. We had a tasting of the vinegars. The first one we had was aged for like 5 years, and was meant for salad 🥗, the second one was aged for like 10 years, which was meant for the main course, and the third was for 25 years [ for 100 euro 💶 ] which was really good on desserts 🍨, we had it on vanilla custard, and the third one, which was like 20 years but more balanced. Then we got in the car 🏎 and drove to the winery🍷 where my mom and my dad got some wine 🍷. Then we drove to the train 🚊 station and caught a train 🚊 to the hotel!!! The food 🥘 tour was great!!!

The Gelato 🍧

The first gelato 🍧 place we TRIED to go to was the favorite of the Italians, which was closed on Mondays so we had to walk like 30 minutes for no gelato 🍧😫. But then we went to a different gelato 🍧 place that was called Galleria 49 that was really good. My mom gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and so did my dad. I gave it a 4.5 star ⭐️. Then the next day we went back to the place that was closed [ called Creameria Funiva ] I gave it 5 star ⭐️ and my dad and mom gave it 4.5 star ⭐️. Then we went back to the place called Galleria 49 2 times after that. Then we went back to Creameria Funiva 1 more time. I got gelato 🍧 at a chocolate 🍫 shop that was really good. Guess what I got at it? Chocolate 🍫 and strawberry 🍓. So surprising that the chocolate 🍫 was amazing 🤩 right? I gave it 5 star.

All in all, Bologna was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Travel

So, my Dad and I were at the airport, ( My mom was already at Italy ) and we were flying to Frankfurt, Germany to get a connecting flight to Milan, Italy. Then we went to the baggage claim to get our luggage. After that we went to the bus stop to go to the train station to catch a train to Arona, where we would catch a train to Baveno. At the bus stop I really had to go to the bathroom, so we barely made the bus.

The Eating

The first night we were at Baveno, we had pizza. My mom was in Amsterdam, on her flight, so we had pizza ( My mom is allergic to dairy ). One pizza we got was the 4 cheese pizza. It had Blue Cheese, Brie, Asiago, and Mozzarella. The other pizza we got was the Americano. I thought it was the simple pepperoni, but it had HOTDOGS AND FRIES ON IT! I just did not want to have it. I guess that is what people think America is all about in Italy. On the second day for lunch my mom had a fish pasta, my dad had buffalo mozzarella pizza, and I had a cheese pizza. On the second day for dinner my mom had a spicy pasta, I had a meat ravioli, and my dad had beet Gnocchi ( Which was actually good ). On the last day for lunch my dad had quinoa, my mom had a Crab salad ( The Crab was really good ) and I had an amazing pepperoni pizza. On the last night for dinner my dad had really good ravioli, my mom had another spicy pasta and a salad and I had amazing Gnocchi drizzled with bitter chocolate and sweet Gorgonzola cheese at the bottom. For breakfast every morning we ate at the hotel.

The Gelato

The first Gelato I had was with my parents at Baveno. It was not good my mom gave it a 2 star and so did my dad and I gave it a 2.5 star. In all we gave it a 2.2 star. On the second day I got a Gelato at Isla Bella which was pretty good. The same day I got Gelato at Isla Superiore which was it was just shy of great. Then we had a great one in town the same day. My mom gave this one 5 star and so did my dad. I gave it a 4.5 so in all it was 4.8. The next day we went to the same place that we did the day before. That is the Gelato places we went to.

The Sightseeing

On the second day we went to the islands. On the first Island there was a castle and a garden. We went into the castle first where there was a lot of rooms. We strolled around inside. THE DINING TABLE WAS MASSIVE!!!!!! Then we went outside to see the garden. It was beautiful. There was this stone thing that we go up on and see a lot of stuff. There was these really cool peacocks that were white! On the other Island there was a lot of shops and a beach. We walked around and checked out the shops and then ate lunch. Then we caught our boat back to the hotel. On the third day we went to a gondola where we went up a mountain to do a hike, then we grabbed a drink. After that we went back down and ate an amazing lunch. Then we went to walk around the city and catch the ferry back to the hotel.

All in all, this has been a great start to my trip!!!!!!!

Today I went to Capitol Reef National Park, that is in the US in Utah, not New Zealand or Australia 🇦🇺. We went on a hike that was called Royal Gorge, it was very sandy, but the was pretty good. There was a lot of rocks, and a lot of holes because of the water. The thing about Water-pocket Fold is that it is in the middle of the desert in Utah. The reason settlers came was it’s water. Some farmers in the 1880’s built a gravity irrigation system that collected water for the farmers crops.

The second hike we went on was for a bridge,[I am with my Grandparents] a natural bridge that was formed by water. My Grandma 👵 was to tired to finish though 😭.

The third hike we went on wasn’t much of a hike. It was a boardwalk that you walked on to show petroglyphs and pictographs made by the Native American tribes like the Utes. Then we wrapped the day up at Capitol Reef by going to a sweet shop that everyone recommended. They were most famous for their pies, which sold out. There was 21 dozen pies today and were sold out by 2:30! We were there at around 4:30. There was still Ice Creme left.[That’s a relief] And the cinnamon rolls were sold out too. There was cookies left, so we grabbed them. Everyone got homemade ice cream. I got chocolate. I got 2 of the containers because they were so good and because they were small. Then we headed to the hotel and checked in. Then I went to play baseball with my Grandpa. It was a really fun day!

I went to Cliffton Terace School for a term. I loved it. I had an awesome teacher called Nick Kiddey! My room was room 11. For P.E. We did swimming every day except Wednesday!! One thing I liked about C.T.S.[Cliffton Terace School] was that whenever we had a chance we went outside. We usually played dodgeball, but sometimes a hoop game. Another thing that I liked about C.T.S. Is that we had a program called No Child Left Inside and in that program you went outside and played.I had to leave a day early because there was going to be a cyclone when we were going to go on the ferry to the North Island and Nelson was supposed to flood. I had some awesome friends called, Arthur, Luke, Campbell, Kai, Rocco, and Daniel. I played on the hill with Arthur, Luke, Kai, and Campbell.

We hiked up a trail to see spectacular views of Fox Glaicer. We saw icebergs floating in the water! We had to hike up a hard part to see the glaicer though. The next day we mostly stayed at home 🏡. We went out to lunch though. We looked at stores but town was not big at all!!! Mom and Dad and I went out to the church and a dog statue. The water is amazing!!!!!!!! There was no DVD rentals 😭. The next day the sun was out and we went back to Lake Tekapo to explore!!

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We had lunch at the World of Wearable Arts museum and we went inside. It was amazing!! People made suits that looked very very hard to get into. My favorite one was one made in the U.S.🇺🇸 and it was made of beetle wings, but we forgot what it was called. Then we watched this short movie that told us who has won in the years. We walked into a big car section. My great great grandpa was a designer for Studabaker. My favorite car was the 1950 Studabaker. It was so interesting!!!  

A few days later we took a tour of the Pic’s peanut butter factory to find Pic himself getting ready for the tour!! We were very lucky 🍀 because Pic usually wasn’t there!!!!!!!! Pic showed us how they made it. We looked at it for a while. The peanuts came from Australia 🇦🇺. After that Pic gave us tastings. We got almond butter and crunchy.  We found out that you can buy it from amazon. I got a red badge that Pic gave to me!!!! It was so cool!!!!!!!

Stew ( our guide) told us about Abel Tasman and we we were off. We stopped at a lot of places to look at wildlife and at one stop we saw the rarest shag! They’re a bird 🐦. It was called the king shag and there was only 640 in the world 🌎! The king shags have pink legs!!! Stew told us about the king shag and how he took a picture of one and sent the picture to his friend and then he got a certificate that said that he expanded the king shag region. They didn’t know that there was shags in Abel Tasman. We saw seals too. There was other shags too. In my opinion the little shag ( that was the birds name) were the cutest shags. They had the weirdest land. They threw themselves into the rocks!! Abel Tasman was so interesting and cool because I got to see so much wildlife from the water!!!!

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The biking company picked us up and brought us to the bike 🚲 place and we picked bikes 🚲 out. Mom and dad talked to the person that gave us helmets for a while. We biked down the road to the nearest winery called Forrest. My mom and dad did wine tastings while I played outside.  After that we were taken to “the machine” ( a harvesting machine) where she told us how it worked. We biked down to the next winery where we ate lunch. I had a Brat platter which my mom  thought was Bratwurst platter! It was good and it had ham, two pieces of salami, cheese, bread, crackers, a chocolate cookie, a marshmallow thing, a gummy, and a Chuck lollipop 🍭( my papa’s name)! We had to bike along highway 6 to get to our destination where there was ice cream! We stopped there for a while. We had the journey back that felt way quicker than it was to get there. We biked to a winery that was the other way for a while. It was closed though.  It was a long day but super super fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got on the mail boat 🛥. They told us about safety and we were off. In about 3 hours we stopped at a mussel farm where they told us a lot about Green-lipped mussels (while I had a very early lunch 🍴). It was beautiful scenery. Then after a long time at the boat 🛥 we stopped again to look at another mussel farm. The skipper( the driver of a boat) let me drive the boat for a while!!!! We stopped at Jacobs bay and did a little walk. It was a long journey back. I liked it!