Ancientness

So yes, while Dad does his press, Mom and I get to explore the city we're in:

And when that city is Rome, you see some pretty old stuff! This is the Colosseum.

I learned all about its history on the telephone they gave us. For instance, this thing was built in 80 AD! That makes it about 2000 years old I think. There is nothing in America that is this old, not even close!

They removed the stadium floor so you can now see what went on underneath. All those little compartments are where the different animals' cages were.

And when the Christian man was put into the middle of the Colosseum, they would choose which animal he would fight, like a lion or something. Then the lion's cage door would open and it would walk down that middle hallway and then be transported up onto the floor by a trap door elevator. That poor Christian!

And this is where the royal family would watch and cheer when that lion ripped the guy to pieces. I prefer watching tennis myself.

You can feel kind of small next to all the grandness and the weight of history.

Hand hole.

Mom and I had a great day exploring. Too bad Dad had to work.

At least this is what he saw on the way to the radio station. Everywhere you go, this is the kind of stuff you see.

It's like jumping into the pages of a big history book and running around. So fun!!!

ROMA

I am SO behind on showing you all the photos of all the stuff we've been doing! So here they all are. I'll try to hurry through them all to catch up to where we are now in the present. This is our trip to Rome:

Dad mostly had to work (meaning he sits in the hotel restaurant or the rooftop and the journalists and TV people come to see him all day and he gets asked the same questions he always gets asked, but in Italian, or whatever language is of the country where he is, and the translator whispers in his ear and she answers for him, the same answers he always answers, no matter where.

Wrapping Up Amsterdam

Hard to decide what was my favorite part of our trip to Amsterdam. Because besides the amusement park, Mom took me to TUN FUN, a huge play gym under the street where I bounced and slid and sidled up next to all the Dutch kids.

We all spell Fun the same way.

My fun in the hotel room consisted of making up a combination to the hotel safe and putting certain specific prized belongings in there, like my book light and the lemon starburst I've been saving for Stuart since Iceland.

Where's my bike???!!!

Even though I went on a bunch of rides and slides and fun activity stuff, I think the best part was breakfast every morning, choosing my croissant and my pink frosted pastry and my juice and putting the little sugar cubes in mom's coffee, all in this elegant little room overlooking the canal.

I like travel.

Amsterdang Continued...

Lucky enough to get to go to Amsterdam, even luckier when there's a carnival set up in the middle of the city!

Spuk house looks scary from the outside...

But pretty dang dumb on the inside. I was only slightly scared just because of the darkness. But Dad screamed like a lady when some dutch carnie wearing a frankenstein mask jumped out at him and grabbed his arm!

Coolest part was going on the ferris wheel with mom, way, way, way up high.

High enough to look DOWN onto the tallest cathedrals and buildings. We got to see what only the birds usually see.

Thank goodness we were enclosed in these glass booths. I would NOT stand up even for a second and I sure did not like it when Mom kept doing it.

Serious sights seen.

Way down there you can see Dad and Uncle the Chief getting on their own ride.

And then going way, way, way up high.

Only they did not have glass booths to protect them and the feeling up there on those flimsy swings was very scary and very unsafe. My dad did not open his eyes once. Poor little guy!

Then it was mom's turn for seeking a thrill and she and Rene went on the craziest ride of all.

It also went higher than the highest building but it flipped your body around in summersaults while it went up and down and it looked like it was making them sick but it turns out it was making them feel wonderful.

Flipping over upside down toward the Amsterdam skyline with the blue sky and the white clouds was a feeling close to, or actually was, pure joy. This is the feeling my mom has been on the search for!

And I got to try my hand at archery in one of the many booths. I won a little spotted cow!

And then, I got to go on this jumping trampoline baby bjorn type thing where I could jump as high as some kind of super jumper. Some kids were doing flips, but I did not try this.

And so ended a great fun day in Holland. If they had Dr Pepper there you know that's what mom would have got!

Vive la Gauche!

In France yesterday they voted out their Sarkozy president and elected a new Socialist one named Hollande. The Left Wing of this country has been waiting for a long time to be in power again. Good luck guys! (you're gonna need it!) We actually took a metro down to Place de la Bastille to be a part of the historic celebration. This is back at home later. They went all night long like this. Good for them.

You can buy it on the street!

An exciting night out in Amsterdam

Dad's reading...

I paid attention for a while, listening to him read from the Sisters Brothers. I'm used to listening to him read to me.

After the reading and Q&A (they did not take my question even though I waved my hand like crazy: "Can mom and I go home now?"), I helped Dad do his book signings by flipping to the perfect signing page.

There were a lot of people at the reading and pretty much every one of them stayed late to get their book signed. Good sign.

Afterwards, we walked home through the crazy Amsterdam night. Everyone was out and it was a giant party in the streets. We stopped off at MCDONALDS!!! for late night food because when you are out partying on the street that is what you do!

This was our other option for late night food: cages of wild fried hot dog things.

I was out so late. This was probably 11pm almost...I am NOT even kidding you about the time!

It was very exciting to me to be in the darkness and excitement of nighttime action that I am usually asleep for.

And I forgot to tell the other excitement of the evening...right before we left for Dad's reading, my bottom tooth fell out. I was jumping on the bed and the tooth flew out of my head and I caught it.

So I put the tooth under my pillow to see what would happen in a different country with the tooth/tooth fairy procedure.

And I got one Euro under my pillow the next morning! The European tooth fairy follows my and my teeth all over the world. All in all, start to finish, this was one very fun, late, different kind of night.