We went to the Southwell Workhouse. It was built in 1824 and is one of the best preserved workhouses in the country. A workhouse used to be where poor people worked and lived. People used to think that if you were poor it was your own fault. Workhouses were feared by all ages. You would work around 16 hours every day and would eat the same meals. For children under nine a typical supper was 4 oz. of bread and 1 pint of milk porridge. You would get roast beef once every year on Christmas. Everyone wore the same clothes so everybody would know they were poor. The workhouse had a nursery and a school-room for kids and a laundry and tailor area for women. Men would do shoemaking, baking, farm working, and building. The workhouse was about as close to a jail as you could get. The only difference is that the people working got a very small wage and that at any time you could choose to leave. The only thing is where would you go? You would have a small amount of money or no money at all. Because of this, families who started poor usually were poor the rest of their life. At the workhouse, families were split up and would get punished if they tried to speak to each other. When we pulled up in front of the Southwell Workhouse my first thought was of how big it is. It really was big. I found out that it was thought of as small. Some workhouses could hold over a thousand people. The Southwell Workhouse only held up to 158 people. When you walk inside you feel like you are in a prison or in a dungeon with light. You walk through rooms where the people slept, ate, and worked. The people untied huge rope. The work was so tough your fingers would bleed. I thought it was interesting how some people thought that it was a good thing while others thought it was bad. I think it had good intentions, but the intentions needed a little tweaking. What do you think?
We went to York. York is a town North of Grantham. York is a big and beautiful town. York is known for their huge Roman Walls almost 2,000 years old. As you drive into York you will see lots of smaller parts of the stone wall. Some of the pieces left are only a few yards. Others go almost a mile. As we drove around trying to find a good place to park we saw a big castle looking thing on a hill. This castle looking structure was Clifford’s Tower. Clifford’s Tower was starting to be built in 1068 A.D. It once was right next to a graveyard. We took a small tour and learned that it was once a jail. The reason the tower is missing a lot of bricks is because the jailer took off some of the bricks for some extra cash. After going to Clifford’s Tower we set of looking for the York Minster. The York Minster is very easy to find because it looms dramatically over all the other buildings. As we stepped into the Minster we were met with a beautiful sight. The walls were covered with many bright colors. As we read we found out there was a big fire that burned much of the York Minster. As you look at the marble on the walls you could see the pinkish parts which were where it was partially burned. Then we headed toward the Roman Walls. The Roman Walls are one of the parts of the York Walls. All together the York Walls go two miles. In the walls there are 45 towers and 5 bars. Bars are places that people can get in and out of the York walls. When we got to one of the Roman Walls we walked up the steep and narrow stairway to the top. When we got to the top we came up into the first tower. We walked around and that is what you see in the picture. At the end of the wall we came to a bar. It was cool. After that we went to our final destination the Viking center. As we got inside you could see what a house would have looked like. We learned in 866 a Viking army attacked York. They called York Jorvik. At the end of the day I decided York was one of my favorite cities.
Unlike in the States, all the towns in England are connected by footpaths (sidewalks). These paths are often grass or gravel. There are some footpaths that wind through fields and towns. Our favorite is the footpath that you take until you get to a meadow with two horses. On the way we pass ducks, chickens, and sheep. We always feed the horses apples. The big horse is the mum and the small one is the baby. The mom eats as many of the apples as she can. The little one spits the apple out and tries to eat your coat! After seeing the horses we like to walk to Denton reservoir. It has lots of geese and ducks. It was so beautiful we decided we would come back another time for a picnic. The path takes you all the way to the middle of Denton. Denton is a small town not far from Harlaxton Village. When we go there we head straight to the Denton Church. It has a very pretty golden clock. From there we go to an area with huge trees that has tree limbs that touch the ground. It is fun to sit on the branches. On the way home we pass through a sugar beet field. There is nothing like the English countryside.
Yesterday was clay making day! My sister and I had a little clay lesson at the Guildhall Arts Centre. It is right by the Isaac Newton statue. Isaac Newton is famous in Grantham because he was born in Woodthorpe just 10 miles away. Isaac Newton figured out the laws of gravity. This helped make it possible to understand many things and it helped him to explain how the planets stay in orbit. Isaac was born in the 1640s. He went to school in Grantham as a boy. The same school he went to is still used as a school. Another famous person who was actually born in Grantham is Margaret Thatcher. A movie just came out about her. It is called the Iron Lady. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister for over 11 years. The Prime Minister is a powerful spot in the British government. She is the only woman to be a Prime Minister of the UK. Those are two famous people that are part of Grantham. When we walked in Guildhall Arts Centre we saw pretty mosaics on the floor. We were taken to a small room. There was a table with lots of clay on it. I was so excited. A lady taught my sister, a few other kids and me how to make cool designs out of clay. Then she let us do whatever we wanted. I made a bowl and a soccer player. It was so fun to watch your creation start to become a form. Working with clay can make a great day. ;)
Our biggest city trip after Brussels was to London. You can get everywhere with the Metro. First up we went to Harrods, a huge department store. We saw Harry Potter rooms, game rooms, candy rooms, and many other cool rooms. The cool thing about Harrods is that all the rooms are completely different. Another awesome thing is that the outside is a big, beautiful, and old looking building. It is one of the biggest department stores in the world. Next we headed to the River Thames. When we got there we saw two of London’s biggest sightseeing attractions. They are the London Eye and Big Ben. The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel and Big Ben is a huge clock tower. We got pictures of both of them from a pretty bridge. Then we headed toward the London Eye. When we got on we started to go up slowly and we could see a long way. It was amazing. After the Eye we went to Shrek the musical. In London they have plays about everything. When we got to the theatre the outside was green. There was a huge green S on the front. When we got in our seats we saw that all the lights were green. When the musical started you knew it was going to be funny. The musical was based off of the first movie. London was GREAT!!!
Last week we went to Brussels with our family friends, the Days. Brussels is the capital of Belgium. We got to go under the North Sea on a train to get there. The underground tunnel is called the Chunnel. The first thing we wanted to see was the Grand Place. Grand Place is a big square in the middle of Brussels. On our way there we passed the famous statue of a peeing boy called the Menneken Pis. It was funny. After stopping there we continued toward Grand Place. When we got there we were met with a beautiful group of buildings. One was extra tall. All of the buildings had lots of ornate statues and carvings on them. We stopped in a small restaurant and had croissants and hot chocolate and steamed milk. Then we headed toward the Metro to go to the Atomium. The Atomium was built for the 1958 World’s Fair. It is a huge and amazing design that looks just like an atom chain of an iron crystal with 9 atoms of iron and 165 billion times larger. The bottom is a regular shape. As you look up you can see all of the giant spheres. There are nine of them. When we went inside we got on an elevator that would take us to the top sphere. The elevator used to be the fastest elevator in the world. When we got to the top we could see miles. You could see all the way to the edge of Brussels. After getting lots of pictures we had lunch in the sphere. It might have been the coolest place I have ever eaten at. After eating we went to four other spheres. After that we took a train to the other end of Brussels. We went to a comic museum. A lot of famous cartoons were made in the Brussels area. Two of them are the Smurfs and Tin-Tin. Both are movies that have come out fairly recently but they started as comic strips. We got to see lots of comics. We also got to see Smurf houses and lots of cool statues of comic book people. It was great! The other thing we did in Brussels was go to the European Union Parliament. The European Union is a big financial and law part of Europe. Twenty-seven countries in Europe are part of the Union. Brussels was fantastic!
The sounds of gunshots ring through the air. Boom! Boom! Boom! We went to Waterloo, Belgium. Waterloo is famous for the Battle of Waterloo. The Battle of Waterloo was started when Napoleon led the French army to attack the British, Germans, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians (Allies). Napoleon Bonaparte led the French and the Duke of Wellington led the others. The battle took place on June 18, 1815. Horses and canons were used in battle. Some of the canons were so big it took around six horses to pull one. No wonder because each canon was almost a ton! The battle was only a few days, but thousands of people were killed. At the end the French lost. The French were all close together with the British around them. The British told them to surrender, but the French said, "The guard may die, but they will never surrender." The Allies won a huge victory. When you go to where the battle was fought you will see a huge hill. On top lies a big lion which is part of the memorial. The hill is so big it takes 226 steps to get to the top. When we climbed to the top we could see for miles. Waterloo is a great city.
SPLAT!! Snowballs are flying through the air. Harlaxton has had its first snowfall. We had around 4 inches! Harlaxton has lots of great sledding hills. It is also the perfect place for a snowball fight. In the picture you see Layla and me in the middle of a serious snowball fight outside of the cottage I live in. Here is a snowball for you.
SPLAT!!!!!!!!
A few nights ago we went to War Horse. War Horse was first a book. We had already read the book so we were very excited to watch the play. A few weeks ago we had also seen the movie. Since we were in London for the play, it was no easy task finding the War Horse building. London is a huge city. It is the biggest city in the UK and the second biggest city in Europe. When we finally did see it we knew we were in the right place. On the side of the building was a HUGE picture of a horse. At the top it said War Horse! As we got into our seats it was hard to sit still. We found out they did not use real horses. Instead they use huge puppets. These puppets though do not go on your hand. They are more like huge sculptures. It took three people just for the main horse, Joey. The people in charge of moving them did so well you almost forgot that the people were there. The play had happy, sad, and funny parts. One of the funny parts was a silly goose that chased after people. That was definitely one of the funny parts. The interesting thing is the goose is a great part in the play and in the movie but did not show up in the book. War Horse is one of my favorite plays!
I went to Wales this week! Wales is one of the countries that make up the U.K. We were staying in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Cardiff has many places to sightsee including Millennium Stadium, the stadium the 2011 World Rugby Cup was played, and Cardiff Castle which has been many things including a bomb shelter which held thousands of people. We got to Cardiff late so we went to a hotel to spend the night. In the morning we were out and about all over Cardiff. We saw a lot of sculptures. One of them looked like a huge dagger. All of a sudden we saw lots of flags in the sky. As we got closer we saw it was Cardiff Castle. On the top of Cardiff Castle there is a line of flags all the way around the outer wall of the castle. The flags represent the home countries of people from all over the world that come to visit. We rushed inside the castle with excitement. As we walked through the castle walls we saw small holes called loopholes. These were used by archers to shoot down enemies. As we walked through one part of the wall I learned that up to 1,800 people would be cramped up inside the walls hoping to live. The people could not turn on any lights in fear of the Germans seeing them. We walked up to the battlements, the top of the castle wall, and we could see a long way. After taking pictures from atop the battlement, we walked to the middle of the castle grounds. There was a big moat around a small fort looking thing that is called a Keep. We found out it probably would have held the king or somebody considered special. The Keep was built by the Norman Invaders in about 1081. After going to the castle we stopped by Millennium Stadium. It was huge! Millennium Stadium can hold more than 70,000 people. It was amazing. Cardiff is a great city.
We went to the Southwell Workhouse. It was built in 1824 and is one of the best preserved workhouses in the country. A workhouse used to be where poor people worked and lived. People used to think that if you were poor it was your own fault. Workhouses were feared by all ages. You would work around 16 hours every day and would eat the same meals. For children under nine a typical supper was 4 oz. of bread and 1 pint of milk porridge. You would get roast beef once every year on Christmas. Everyone wore the same clothes so everybody would know they were poor. The workhouse had a nursery and a school-room for kids and a laundry and tailor area for women. Men would do shoemaking, baking, farm working, and building. The workhouse was about as close to a jail as you could get. The only difference is that the people working got a very small wage and that at any time you could choose to leave. The only thing is where would you go? You would have a small amount of money or no money at all. Because of this, families who started poor usually were poor the rest of their life. At the workhouse, families were split up and would get punished if they tried to speak to each other. When we pulled up in front of the Southwell Workhouse my first thought was of how big it is. It really was big. I found out that it was thought of as small. Some workhouses could hold over a thousand people. The Southwell Workhouse only held up to 158 people. When you walk inside you feel like you are in a prison or in a dungeon with light. You walk through rooms where the people slept, ate, and worked. The people untied huge rope. The work was so tough your fingers would bleed. I thought it was interesting how some people thought that it was a good thing while others thought it was bad. I think it had good intentions, but the intentions needed a little tweaking. What do you think?
