Sunday, July 20, 2014

Cailler Chocolate

In Switzerland I went to the Cailler Chocolate Factory. Cailler is owned by Nestle and makes some of the best chocolate in the world out of all natural products. The factory is in a small town of Broc about 2 hours from Geneva by train. Here are some pictures from the train trip 























At the chocolate factory we took a self-guided  tour that started off with the history of chocolate. Chocolate was invented by the Mayans. Then we got to touch a bunch of different coco beans. Later we saw the production line of little frozen balls of chocolate with little bits of almonds on top. We got to taste some of the ones that had just come out. Finally, the tour ended in the tasting room where you got to try all of Cailler's chocolate. I liked none of them. The chocolate factory has a giant store out front with lots of chocolate and souvenirs, including trans full of the chocolate we saw being made!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Parc Aventure


When I was in Geneva, I went to a rope cores called Parc Aventures des Evaux.   I did 7 different rope courses which consited of zip-lines, vertical nets, swinging platforms, and more. These are some pictures from my time there.










  



Monday, June 2, 2014

Atomium

On Saterday I went to the Atomium in Brussels. The Atomium was the main attraction for the 1958 World Fair in Belgium. The Atomium is a bunch of spheres held up by long tubes, and looks like so.
 Each sphere contains 2 levels expect for the bottom and middle ones which contain 3. All tubes but the center tube contains either a staircase or a escalator. The center tube contains Europe's fastest elevator in 1958. It goes 90 meters in 22 seconds.

The bottom sphere has a 2 level exhibition on the 1958 World Fair. To the right of that sphere there is an 3 level  exhibition on 100 years of Belgium furniture design. This exhibition continues in the center sphere. The sphere behind the center sphere is another sphere which is a view point. The Atomium has a program that lets teachers book a night at the Atomium for their class, and this far back sphere (the one with the view point) is mainly for this program. The only other sphere that you can go in is the top sphere which is the 360 panorama and a fancy restaurant by reservation only. One of the tubes has a cool lighting affect which makes it look like a time warp.

 The wait times for the Atomium is very long because lots of tourists come here. I had to wait in a 1hr line to go up the elevator, that gets you to the top sphere. Their store incredibly expensive, and the European is a euro, which is about 1.36$. If you are ever in Brussels you need to come here.   


(Pictures coming soon)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Windsor Castle

On Thursday I went to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is the Queen of England's country home. It started as a military fortress, but was revised as a country home for royalty. It has many buildings such as apartments, and chapels. Like most castles it has a moat, but it is always dry. Here is some pictures of the outside of the castle. Sadly the British government does not let you take pictures inside the castle


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(This photo is the original tower will the king lived when Windsor castle was a military fort)


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(This is part of the castle sticking behind the central mountain)


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                                            (This photo is of a Royal Gard)

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Intro to blog

This will be my Europe blog where you can find out what I am doing. There will  be cool facts and amazing pictures from places I visit. I will be going to (in order of going): Heathrow Airport, England; Brussels, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland; Rome, Naples (Pompeii), & Florence, Italy; Canterbury, & London, England; Heathrow Airport, England;
In Italy, I will be touring Ancient Rome Ruins. In Canterbury, I am going to see some ancient ruins, an ancient church and Cats. This is all to come in a week. I'll write more either on the plane or when we get there.