Bon jour! We arrived in Paris last night. I will let Anthony post the ridiculous story of booking an apartment later. He just left with Celeste to get Grandma Elaine from the airport. Her visit is her first to Europe and a wonderful 13th birthday treat for Celeste! We are all excited to see her. Her visit was going to be a surprise, but that got blown in the apartment debacle (AG on speaker phone - discussing the 5 guests arriving). Nina said, "Yeah not just you guys for 2 whole weeks." So much love!

The Denver Post prints a local edition once a week and the girls submitted an article just the other day. I thought I would post it because I know that their friends and classmates read the blog and this might interest them.

Amy

Here it is...

Dear Your Hub,

Hola! We are Celeste and Nina Graziano. We live in Castle Rock in the Meadows and go to Castle Rock Middle School and Soaring Hawk Elementary, but not this year. This year our family is traveling around the world. We plan to spend five months in Europe, then fly to Asia for three months and finish up with three months in South America.

We left just over two weeks ago. After a quick layover in Iceland, we arrived in Barcelona. We have been world schooling while we travel and have learned much about the Iberian Peninsula. Rather than only reading about these countries, experience is a great way to learn. This region is known for flamenco dancing, great architecture and its beautiful beaches. We went to a flamenco show and experienced up close the talent of the dancers and musicians. We also spent days at the beaches of Alicante, Spain and Portimao, Portugal. We saw Antoni Gaudi's unique works La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell in Barcelona and today we head to The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In between we have eaten our way around the many tapas restaurants in the region.

Spain is also known for bull fighting. This is not something we wanted to see. Instead we read "Toro! Toro!" by Michael Morpurgo. This book about a boy who saves a bull named Paco, from going into the bull ring was great. We recommend it to kids our ages.

Next we head to Bordeaux and then to Paris, France. If you want to follow our trip then go to http://www.offexploring.com/over-the-hills-and-far-away.

Adios!

Celeste and Nina Graziano