My last, but definitely not least, post for Garden Week is Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai. Talk about beautiful! Yuyuan was started way back in 1559 and has huge rocks and even caves. My favorite part is the “Inner Garden,” which has ponds and Chinese-style pavilions. Different sections of the park are separated by walls that look like dragons!
I hope you enjoyed all these gorgeous places during my first theme week. Next week look for another fun surprise theme!
Michael and I loved our trip to Rio and can’t stop talking about it! One of my absolute favorite things to see there was the Botanical Gardens. There are 6,500 species of plants and animals — you see new things everywhere you go! And 140 different kinds of birds, like toucans, hawks, and araras, the beautiful colorful parrots. Michael loved the monkeys in the gardens. There are also tons of sculptures and fountains, and a Japanese garden area. There are so many beautiful and amazing things to see in this world!
Copenhagen is one of my favorite cities! Right in the city is Rosenberg Castle, with it’s beautiful gardens called “Kongens Have” (it translates in English to “The King’s Garden”). The gardens are beautiful, but also really fun. They have a garden maze, tons of flowers, lots of sculptures and statues, and an awesome puppet show theater! Plus a castle – what could be better?!
One of my favorite places to visit in Sydney, Australia, was the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It is an amazing Chinese-style garden designed by Sydney’s Chinese sister city, Guangzhou. It has a Dragon Wall, Tea House, and bamboo plants, but my favorite part to visit was this beautiful bridge and waterfall.
Lots of people like the adventure Michael and I had in Rio. A place called Surprise Ride put our book in an activity box! A lot of kids already have it. Everything in it is about Brazil and the summer games.
It’s so fun to think about! We had a great time in Rio and we’re glad we get to share it with so many other kids. We have a picture of it!
You can see it at their web site, too!
I thought all of South America spoke Spanish, but it turns out they speak Portuguese in Brazil! Michael and I learned this on our trip to Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro means “River of January” in Portuguese, because the first explorers came in January and thought it was a river mouth.
Rio is such a beautiful place, and there’s so much nature in the city. They have beaches and mountains, and tons of wildlife. One of my favorite places was the Botanical Gardens. We saw all kinds of beautiful flowers, turtles, monkeys, and the gorgeous colorful birds that the locals call Araras.
Michael and I just got back from a beautiful city called Rio de Janiero. It’s a gorgeous oceanside city in Brazil, in South America — and the home of the 2016 Summer Olympics! Our favorite part of Rio was the music. They have instruments there we’ve never seen before. There was one that looked like a fishing rod to us. It’s called a berimbau. It has a single string and you play it by hitting the string with a bow. It sounds like a bass guitar, but you also use a shaker with it called a caxixi. ‘Berimbau’ is also the title of an old, well-known song.
There was also a pandeiro. It looks like a tambourine, but it’s different. The jingles have a different noise and the drum itself is used more often than with a tambourine. We also saw a large drum, called an atabaque. It is often made with special wood from a jacaranda tree.
One way they use all these special instruments is to play music along with a form of dance and a martial art called capoeira. You can see videos online – it is amazing!
Rio was an awesome city. There’s so much to explore everywhere we go!
Michael and I were so lucky to get to visit the island of Puerto Rico. It has such fun water activities. We played volleyball on the beach, went snorkeling, and went to an awesome water park. We also got to visit the rain forest. They have an amazing number of animals there, and beautiful waterfalls, and ziplines. Puerto Rico is actually an American territory, and it’s flag is similar to the US flag.
There are so many interesting instruments all over the world. In Sydney, Australia, Michael and I saw something called a Digeridoo. What a weird name! It is an ancient instrument from their native population, called “aboriginal.” In Shanghai, China, our friend Nan Nan played an instrument called a Pipa. It made beautiful string music. Michael and I love to experience different sounds everywhere we go.
My brother Michael and I went to Thailand and saw the most amazing thing! We thought it was a flower, but it was a watermelon. A woman had carved it into a flower shape. We saw all kinds of beautiful carved fruit all over the country. What a magical place!