Mesopotamia was a country in modern day Iran. The Mesopotamians had many interesting talents and religions. If you would like to see some Mesopotamian art, the Louvre has a large collection.

The Mesopotamians made lots of art, furniture, and  jewelry.  They used clay to make sculptures and pottery. The Mesopotamians made jewelry using  gold and jade. Mesopotamian Metalsmiths made copper and iron sculptures.

Mesopotamians had lots of mythology and religion. They believed in Shedus (human-headed five-legged winged bulls).Mesopotamian priests build ziggurats (complex pyramids) to honor their gods.Each city had it’s own god.

The Mesopotamians had lots of interesting technology. The oldest wheel ever found was found in Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians also had a simple number system that they used for measuring and tracking the stars and planets.

Mesopotamians used a letter system similar to hyreoghrighics. The letters were represented by pictures. The Mesopotamians wrote on clay tablets. They marked belongings with personal seals. Their form of writing is very interesting and perplexing.

The Mesopotamians were an ancient civilization. Like all civilizations, they eventually faded away until all that was left was some ancient relics.

    The home of kings during the fifteenth century, the Alcazar is truly grand. The gardens are home to fountains, fish, and a hedge maze. Squirrels frisk among the trees, while lizards linger in the shadows. The building’s many courtyards and rooms take your breath away. Sure, the Alcazar isn’t as famous as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, but it is still an imposing building. The orange room, the courtyard of dolls, and the hall of ambassadors are truly spectacular!

The fountain of the hill is the most beautiful fountain in the garden. Surprisingly, it is the only fountain that is never on. The fountain looks like it has fallen asleep. Forever. In the middle of the fountain, there is a hill with four arches, one on each side. If you look through one of the arches, you can see two women, back to back (statues, of course). On the top are statues of beasts that have eroded so much they are now unrecognizable. These same statues once spit water into the fountain.

The orange room is the grand throne room of the king. On the top, there is a huge dome that gives the room it’s name. The king stayed there long hours during the day and night, talking with court members, dealing with peasant problems, and eating and drinking. This is my favorite room in the palace. The crisscrossing patterns of the dome has drawn wows from many throats.

All the paintings in the museum were either about God or Chegall.  There was the Garden of Eden, Moses receiving the stone tablets, The Last Judgement, David and Goliath, I don’t think Chegall missed a single scene from the bible, a 1000-3000 page book(depending on which version you read). One of the paintings I liked was Moses and the burning bush. On the right side, Moses was on his knees in front of the burning bush. On the other, Moses’s glowing head led the Israelites across the Red sea while a wall of water crashed down on Pharaoh’s men.

Today we went to a site where Vincent Van Gogh painted. The city or Arles set up copies of his paintings on stands in front of the sites where they were painted.

The hilltowns are a series of villages in southern France. The townspeople are folk who are country dwellers and nature lovers. The houses are old and crumbly, but cozy. The roads are steep, and there are lots of stairs. We went to Seguret, a town known for it’s security and cafes. Later, we went to Gigindas, where there was an EXTREME rainstorm. We couldn’t have gotten much wetter if we had jumped into the ocean! Then, we went to our apartment, changed clothes, and did art until dinnertime.

The arena is an ancient roman ruin in Nimes. It is a smaller and less grand(but more educational) version of the colosseum in Rome. We walked around amid the ruins and split up. I was with my dad. we listened to the audio tour and looked at the gladiator costumes. There were several kinds of armor. Unfortunately, I cannot remember all of them, so I can’t list them here. In the audio tour, I learned that in the mornings, it was gladiators VS wild beasts, at midday, it was criminals VS wild beasts, and in the afternoons and evenings, it was gladiator VS gladiator.

At the Aqueduct we found some frogs and swam and saw some centipede/worm/fish? creatures. The roman ruins in France are considered to be better than the ruins in Rome.

The Luxemburg Gardens are a series of hedges and flowerpots around the French Senate building. For fun we had bought a scavenger hunt book called Mission Paris for the Gardens it had listed 3 statues for us to find. There are so many statues it is like an outdoor museum. There was a fountain where we rented mini sailboats and pushed them into each other.

Today we went to the military museum and the dome de Invalides. The WW 1 and 2 section really got me thinking, were we really on the “good” side in world wars I and II? Sure, Hitler killed millions of people, but the only two atomic bombs ever dropped were dropped by the U.S. It was really fun though, we posed next to the armor in the medieval section. I also posed by model tanks in the WW II section. Overall, the military museum was awesome.