A day in Venice

My family and I just returned from a vacation in the Italian region of Lake Garda. The trip overall was a blast, but our one-day tour of Venice was arguably the best day. 

Venice is a beautiful city in northern Italy built on an archipelago of 117 islands. It is world-famous for its scenic waterways, architecture, and art. 

We traveled by tour bus from Lake Garda to Venice before boarding a motorboat to the picturesque Piazza di San Marco. This plaza is the home of Basilica di San Marco, the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. 

I was immediately awed by the magnificent Byzantine mosaics covering the walls of the basilica. I thought, “How long would it take to make these masterpieces?!” 

When we went inside a room called “the Treasury,” we viewed golden chalices, jewels, and relics of saints. I found it ironic that most of the treasures displayed were actually stolen from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade!

While we explored the small museum above the Treasury, I was shocked at how real the Four Horses of San Marco appeared. These bronze statues are the only existing specimens of an ancient roman quadriga, a monumental four-horse chariot.  

As our tour guide Barbara suggested, we searched for a lunch spot filled with gondoliers, the drivers of the famous gondolas, because these delis contained both inexpensive and delicious food. Our tour guide was correct, and my mouth still waters at the thought of that Venetian panini! 

We spent the last hours of our day walking through the outside markets and admiring the renowned Venetian masks, which featured crows with bells, feathered jesters, and glistening cats!

On the other hand, I was slightly disappointed that some of the stunning architecture around Venice was covered up by giant modern advertisements. At times, it hampered the splendor of the area. 

After we left the city, I realized that one cannot appreciate the unique and lively atmosphere of Venice in a day — it may take a whole lifetime!

—Kid Reporter Kevin Agostinelli

Photo: Kid Reporter Kevin Agostinelli in front of one of Venice's famous canals. (courtesy Kevin Agostinelli)

Singing in Hogwarts

For many years, Harry Potter has been a famous and much loved wizard, even in the muggle world. This kid reporter and choirboy had a chance to visit and sing at some of the great inspirations and filming locations for the Harry Potter films and enjoy a week of fun at the world famous University of Oxford. As a member of the Georgia Boy Choir, which was the Choir-in-Residence at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford from July 18-24, I spent a week in Christ Church College studying music, the college’s fine architecture, and its rich history. The school’s alumni include 13 British Prime Ministers and leading scientists, politicians, and artists.

The GBC rehearsed for two hours and sang a 45-minute long Choral Evensong every day in the cavernous cathedral with marvelous acoustics. The echo was long and enormous, and a bit hard to deal with. “Don’t sing by what you hear but by what you see. We can then produce a fantastic sound together,” conductor David White told us.

The bulk of the service was done by the choir. It was an exhausting but rewarding experience. For around 500 years now, choirboys have stood on the exact spots, resonated their voices in the cathedral, and produced some of the best music in the world. These were high expectations to live up to, but the GBC boys seemed to find encouragement in that fact and worked to set the bar even higher. 

So what was that about Harry Potter? In the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry is shown arriving as a first year at Hogwarts and is greeted on a staircase by Professor McGonagall before being taken into the Great Hall. Inside there are four long tables for each House of students with similar personalities. The High Table at the end of the hall is for Professors and the Headmaster Dumbledore.  

First of all, the staircase where Harry is greeted filmed on 16th century stairs inside Christ Church. The Great Hall of the college was the inspiration for the Great Hall of Hogwarts and is almost identical to the one in the movies, which was a replica built in a film studio. Also, the ancient 1000-year-old cloisters of the college were ideal filming locations. One scene was when Harry Potter was shown his dad’s Quidditch trophy. 

The choir ate dinner at the Great Hall, and it was an exhilarating experience to be able to walk up the staircase and into the magnificent room. Unfortunately, the Great Hall had no floating candles, sorting hat, or magically appearing food. Every day for breakfast and dinner, the GBC members sat in one of the House tables. Since there was a change of tables daily, there were shouts of excitement about what House’s table the choir was sitting at: “We’re sitting at the Gryffindor Table! Wait, it might be the Ravenclaw table!”

Finally, on the last morning, the choirboys got what is probably the ultimate dream of a Harry Potter fan: to sit at the High Table. Where did this kid reporter sit? In groundskeeper Hagrid’s seat! It was a glorious moment, to look out and imagine seeing Dumbledore commencing a feast or Harry receiving mail from Hedwig.

Harry Potter isn’t the only piece of children’s literature associated with Christ Church. Math professor Charles Dodgson — more commonly known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll — wrote Alice in Wonderland based on the stories he told to the Dean of Christ Church’s daughter Alice. Carroll was also inspired by a painted glass panel in the Great Hall. 

So after a week in the corridors of Christ Church, rehearsing before concerts, telling people about the mission of the choir, and singing at their best, the Georgia Boy Choir, came to know the Evensong program well and did it brilliantly. Spirits were high whether it was time to play cricket on the Christ Church Meadows or to perform an Anglican chant under candlelight in a church. One of the tour guides at the beginning of the week said, “Singing at Oxford has been a long tradition and it is an honor. Value your time here and do well, and I hope it is a wonderful experience.”

And the boys can be proud to say they did just that.

—Kid Reporter Andrew Liang

Photo: Kid Reporter Andrew Liang at Christ Church, Oxford. (Courtesy Andrew Liang) 

Planting a garden with my mom

One of my favorite summer activities that I always look forward to is planting our annual garden with my mom. Since our backyard is very shady, we can’t plant the flowers in the ground, so we plant them in pots. The end result: colors everywhere!

It takes a lot of preparation and a lot of hard work, but at the end of the day our container garden makes our back deck look beautiful! We first have to take a trip to the garden store. The store near our house has a whole building full of beautiful plants and foods, from herbs like rosemary to huge plants with gigantic leaves that are almost as big as small trees! We have about 16 pots in our container garden, so it takes many flowers to fill them all up. We get a huge variety of species and colors. They are usually herbs and flowers. When we are done, we have a whole wagon full of plants that we have to load into the car.

Next we have to unload and prepare. After we get all of the flowers transferred to the back deck, we get all of our supplies, like gardening gloves, hand shovels, and small rakes. Not only do we prep ourselves to start planting, but we also have to prep the pots for planting. Usually there are leaves and sticks in the pots and dead flowers from the grueling winter. We have to empty all of that out for the new set of plants for the year. Many of our pots will still have perfectly good dirt for planting once you turn it over a few times, so we don’t even have to buy new dirt. 

Next we have to plan which flower will go in which pot. You would think we would just put the big plants in the big pots and the little plants in the little pots, but it actually takes a while, moving around the flowers and seeing which plants would go well next to each other.

Now is the easy part: planting the flowers! This part doesn’t take as long as any of the other steps, but you do get dirty! 

After all of our day’s work, our garden looks beautiful! It’s full of eye-popping colors, and herbs that we can use to make food taste fresh and delicious. Planting a container garden with my mom is definitely one of my very favorite summer activities.

—Kid Reporter Mari Chiles

Summer Camp: Boy Scout Style

Where can an intrepid and adventurous boy go to build fires, trek mountains, and experience the outdoors? The answer is Boy Scout Summer Camp, where I was for a week this summer. Summer camps are run by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization, now more than 100 years old. The BSA encourages boys to preserve and protect the wilderness, to understand and appreciate nature, to be a leader in the community, and to learn various skills such as Lifesaving, Camping, and Swimming.

I went with Troop 2000, my Boy Scout unit, to go to the summer camp at Rainey Mountain in northern Georgia. Rainey Mountain is a Boy Scout reservation located by breathtaking mountains and a gleaming lake.

Each day for a full week, I took various courses to earn merit badges, awards for learning different abilities and skills. A Boy Scout needs at least 21 merit badges and needs to lead a community service project to rise to the sixth and highest rank: Eagle Scout. Only 5% of all Boy Scouts make it to the rank of Eagle.

My merit badge courses were First Aid, Environmental Science, Citizenship in the Nation, Communication, and Citizenship in the World. During these days, I acquired much knowledge in class, from treating snakebites to the benefits of greenhouse gases.

At night, my fellow scouts and I slept on bunk beds in wooden Adirondack cabins with no electricity.

Throughout the week, I participated in many activities, one of which was the Scout Skills Competition. I was a member of the team representing my troop and after an evening filled with tying knots, orienteering with compasses, lashing with ropes to make camp gadgets, and building fires with flint and steel, our team emerged in first place as the fastest to be done with the challenge.

Apart from classes and activities, we had meals in the dining hall, where the camp staff made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. Before breakfast and dinner, the highly patriotic scouts and staff lined up for the rising and lowering of the American and state flags, which would be accompanied by a loud cannon shot and a tune played on a bugle. Afterwards, staff members would make announcements about fun stuff happening around the camp and during our couple hours of free time, my friends and I went to many demonstrations and lectures held by Eagle Scouts that were part of the camp staff.

Also, I liked to go with my buddies during free time to the trading post to buy a slushy, some candy, or an ice cream. This little camp store was the embassy of the outside world.

Some boys went fishing for trout in the camp’s lake and I heard that someone in our troop caught six fish in four minutes!

Every boy had something to do at summer camp and we all had a blast! Boys were boys, and sometimes we were messy, but when it came to cleaning up, I think we did a swell job. From the minute we joined scouting, we knew to leave no trace. There was no physical trace or evidence that we were ever there at summer camp for a week, but in our minds, we boys will cherish the awesome memories of Boy Scout Summer Camp.

—Kid Reporter Andrew Liang

Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports

When you think of Disney World, you may automatically think of Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, or the huge castle in Magic Kingdom. But did you know that Disney World has an entire sports park just for athletes and their really devoted fans? Recently, my family and I got invited to Disney World to tour Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports. 

The Wide World of Sports complex spans about 230 acres, all of it holding bunches and bunches of fields for any sport imaginable and any team that plays it. It also hosts more than 300 sporting events annually, including spring training camp for the Atlanta Braves, exhibition games for many other major league teams, and many amateur athlete tournaments from all over the country.

The Wide World of Sports also has some fascinating technology, and all of it is developed right there at the facilities. Through their work and with the help of the many games held at the parks, ESPN has come up with many ways to help coaches, athletes, and fans get into the game, including creating 3D televisions to make you feel like you are actually at the sporting event and high-def broadcasting so that you can see everything going on at the field. The Wide World of Sports is actually the headquarters for where the inventors of all of that technology do all of the testing and inventing for ESPN, and we got to see where they worked. 

We also got to do some pretty cool stuff while we were there. We got a tour of the fields and got to go inside some of the buildings that had just been upgraded. We also saw the unveiling of the new fieldhouse for all of the athletes and coaches. At the unveiling, we saw Mia Hamm, world famous soccer player, and Jason Witten, NFL star. Mia Hamm was even signing autographs after the unveiling, and my sister and I got to take a picture with her! My dad also got very excited when we went to go see the Atlanta Braves play against the Detroit Tigers in an exhibition match. 

What I liked a lot was when we got to pose for a picture and they made it look like we were on the cover of ESPN. They had us dress in a Braves jersey and hat and pose with a bat in our hands. It was a really cool picture when it came out. 

So the ESPN complex was definitely a world of fun, from the 3-D television to being on the cover of ESPN! I had a great time at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports.

—Kid Reporter Mari Chiles

Photo courtesy Mari Chiles

The Acoma Pueblo of New Mexico

Native Americans still live in pueblos over 500 years old.

The Acoma Pueblo is the oldest still inhabited community in North America. The ancient village of pueblo homes can be found on top of a 365-foot tall mesa to the west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The pueblo actually dates to over 1,200 years ago and some of the buildings that are still standing have been there for over 500 years.

"The view is amazing," said Jenna Porter who traveled from South Dakota for a family vacation to see the Acoma Pueblo. "It looks even prettier than pictures of the Pueblo we saw before we came.” Jenna read about the Pueblo at her school, she explained, as she followed a Acoma Pueblo Native American guide on a tour.

Thousands of visitors come to the Acoma Pueblo each year from around the world for a living history tour of the village. The Acoma Mesa is the only Native American site named as a National Trust Historic Site. Visitors are only able to visit if they take the guided tour led by a tribal member. A bus picks you up at the Sky City Cultural Center and takes you to the top of the hill to see the adobe homes.

You also meet artists who sell pottery and jewelry. Pictures are only allowed if visitors request a camera permit at the visitor center. Permits are attached to cameras so that people who live there know that it is OK to be photographed.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said Camille Coehlo who traveled from Boston, Massachusetts, to see the Acoma Pueblo.

Camille enjoyed a traditional lunch of fry bread baked in outdoor horno ovens that is served at the Yaak'a Cafe. She visited the Haak'u Museum and Gaits'j Gallery to learn about the Acoma people and their traditions before boarding the tour bus to the Pueblo village.

"I'm impressed by this cultural experience,” she said. “It provides so much insight about the people who have lived here for so many years.”

The tour guide shows visitors two and three story adobe structures. Some of the buildings have outside ladders to climb to get into the upper levels of the houses. There are a few homes where visitors are allowed to go inside to buy pottery and jewelry. Most of the artists stand outside to greet the guests. Tables are set up with hand crafted jewelry and traditional olla pots that are hand coiled with clay dug from the grounds of the Pueblo.

"The Acomas are a matriarachal society," explains the tour guide. "That means that the homes on the mesa are passed on from mother to daughter and owned by the women, not the men. The families that get to live there are chosen by the tribal council as a family honor.”

Cannon damage from 1540 can still be seen on the side of some of the houses in the mesa. The damage was from the first time the Acoma Pueblo came under enemy attack by the Spaniards who decided to colonize the area. The village was burned and hundreds of Acomans were killed and made slaves. Visitors can see evidence left behind from that time.

You can also see one of the oldest churches in New Mexico, the San Esteban Del Rey Mission, which was built by the Spaniards. Of the 6,000 Acomans alive today, only about 50 actually live year around in the village. Most tribal members live in homes on the nearby reservation.

Native Americans from the Acoma Pueblo gather on the mesa for feast day celebrations and public events throughout the year. Celebrations include their St. Esteban Feast Day in September, the Acoma Pueblo luminarias and dances in December, and the Governor's Feast Day in February.

—Jacob Schroeder

PHOTOS: (TOP) The pueblo homes of Acoma Native Americans in New Mexico. (BOTTOM) Kid Reporter Jacob Schroeder with an Acoma guide at the pueblos. (Photos Courtesy Jacob Schroeder)

Where it Snows in Summer

Bay area Kid Reporter loses her heart to Switzerland.

This summer, I took my first trip to Europe. In 10 days, we traveled to England, Belgium, Italy, France, and Germany. By far my favorite destination out of all of these was Switzerland.

First we visited Engelberg, which is a small town nestled beneath the giant Alps. We took the Titlis Rotair, a revolving cable car—the first of its kind!—up to the very top of the mountain. Did you know that Mount Titlis is 10,623 feet tall? That's more than two miles high!

Because of the high elevation, it was snowing. Imagine that! For us Americans, snow in the summer is a bit of a shock. In addition to snow tubes and toboggans (which I went on again and again), there was a special type of sled that looked like a toy motorcycle with handlebars. Apparently, the Swiss love to have fun!

They also love chocolate. In Lucerne, the next city we visited, I saw packages of the treat in every window, and a milk chocolate fountain running in almost all the bakeries! I watched a chocolatier at work in a local candy shop. The confectionery they create with just some chocolate, icing, and food coloring is incredible!

Also in the city is the famous Lion Monument, a sculpture carved into the side of a rock. It shows an injured lion that is so wounded you can almost sense the sorrow and pain.

This piece of art was made to honor the deaths of Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. Mark Twain, a famous American author, called it "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."

Upscale stores selling luxury watches and bracelets (the Swiss are known for their fancy handiwork) dot the city's clean, riverfront streets. I was more interested in a quirky gold cowbell for a souvenir, though.

No matter where you're from or who you are, the awe-inspiring landmarks of Switzerland, whether they are natural or man-made, will be something you'll never forget!

—Anjali Bhat

PHOTO: Kid Reporter Anjali Bhat at the top of Mount Titlis in Switzerland. (Photo Courtesy Anjali Bhat)

My Vacation In Argentina

Eating with family a big part of tradition in my parent's country.

This summer I went to Argentina to visit my family. It took me 20 hours and three planes to get to my hometown there.

The best part of my trip was spending time with my large extended family. And man, they spend time together, all right! In Argentina, you see almost the whole family (including grandparents and great uncles and aunts) almost every day!

At 1 p.m. each day, I had lunch with my grandfather, my aunt, my uncle, my cousins, and my mom and dad. We would sit at the table for hours conversing and laughing. At 9:30 p.m. every night we had dinner with the same people and sometimes a few additional members of the family. In Argentina, you never have a meal alone, quietly, or quickly.

My family also has a barbecue every single Saturday at my grandfather’s house. You don’t even need an invitation! If you are a member of the family in any twisted, complicated way, you’re invited. So are really close friends who are considered family.

Because of the importance of having family lunches, all of the shops close at 1 p.m. so that staff can have lunch at home and take a nap, called a siesta. The businesses open again at around 5 p.m. and stay open until about 9:30 p.m. So, as you can see, dinner takes place really late (restaurants open at 9 p.m. and stay open until 2 a.m. or more)!

Whenever I went downtown with my mom, we would run into at least five family members or friends every time. Sometimes we would sit down and have coffee, make plans for dinner, or just say hello to them. This isn’t a coincidence or anything—people don’t move as often or leave town as often as they do in the U.S., so everybody knows each other.

I love going to Argentina for vacation, but it wouldn’t be the same without my family!

—Maya Williams

PHOTO: My family at one of many long—and fun—lunches in Argentina.

One Busy Summer!

From plays to play ball, this summer had it all.

It was very busy this summer. I was in a musical, I took swim lessons, I played softball, and I was in a pageant. It was a very, VERY busy summer!

For two months I rehearsed for the musical Annie. More than 160 girls auditioned to be one of 33 orphans in the ensemble. It was so fun to be in Annie. Every night we performed we got a standing ovation. It was a great experience!

Another great thing about summer is swimming. I took swim lessons at one of our local high schools. I was in level 4. At the end of the day we would go off the diving board in the deep end. On the last day of swim lessons all we did was play games and do relay races. The best part is that I passed level 4. So next year I will be in level 5!

Another way to be active over the summer is play sports. I was on a softball team. This was my first year when the kids get to pitch. My dad was coach. It was a bad season for softball because we had so much rain, but we still got to play some and we had a great time.

On August 7, I was in the Miss Scott County pageant. There are four different age categories; Little Miss, Junior Miss, Miss Outstanding Teen, and Miss Scott County. I was in the Junior Miss category.

This was the first pageant I have ever been in. The cool thing is that I won! I am the new Junior Miss Scott County! I will get to be in a lot of pictures and parades. It is so exciting!

Summer is great and a great way to try new things. You never know what’s going to happen until you try!

—Alysa Goethe

PHOTOS: (TOP) Kid Reporter Alysa Goethe as an orphan in a production of the musical Annie. (BOTTOM) Alysa crowned as the new Junior Miss Scott County in Iowa. (Photos Courtesy Alysa Goethe)

Sandia Peak Tramway

The world's longest tramway is in New Mexico.

Riding the Sandia Peak Tramway is one of the most awesome experiences when visiting my home state of New Mexico. It is the longest tramway in the world!

The tram boards at the base of a mountain in Albuquerque and travels a distance of 14,657 feet. I'm glad, I'm not afraid of heights, because looking out the windows can be pretty scary! Wide open windows allow the passengers to see rocky cliffs and canyons below as the tram car climbs 2.7 miles up into the Sandia Mountains.

I was a bit nervous and curious about safety. I asked the travel guide who rides in the cart with the passengers if there has ever been a crash or accident of any kind. I was happy to find out that the Sandia Peak Tram hasn't had any accidents and it has been running since 1966! I was reassured even more when I found out that every year there are more than 10,000 tram car trips to the top!

The Sandia Tram was designed by an engineer in Switzerland in 1939. He came up with the idea of having two tram cars that can carry up to 50 passengers each. The tram was designed with multiple emergency braking systems and a grounding system that keeps passengers safe in the case of a lightening storm.

As we headed toward the top, I could see another tram car coming from the other direction on another cable. The Sandia tram is known as a double reversible jigback aerial tramway. A jigback means that as one tram car is going up the mountain, the other is heading back down. We waved at the passengers riding the other tram car as they passed by.

The trip to the top took 15 minutes. We got off at an observation deck. I realized that I'd forgotten to bring a jacket and it was windy and about 20 to 30 degrees colder at the top than at the bottom.

At the 10,378-foot summit you can see amazing scenery. It's a great place to see the entire city of Albuquerque. You can also see Santa Fe and other surrounding cities. There are hiking and biking trails at the top and a ski lift that goes down the other side of the mountain.

We ate at a restaurant called High Finance. It had pretty good nachos with traditional New Mexican green chilies. We also visited a museum about the wildlife and landscape of the mountain.

As I boarded the tram car to head back down the mountain, I saw a sign that warned about bears. I was disappointed that I didn't get to see one! Sometimes passengers see mountain lions, too. I did see lots of birds and I could see the dormant volcanoes off in the distance. It was an exciting and interesting experience.

— Jacob A. Schroeder

PHOTOS: (TOP) The Sandia Peak Tramway is the longest tramway in the world. (BOTTOM) Kid Reporter Jacob Schroeder by the tram car on the peak of the mountain. (Photo Courtesy Jacob Schroeder)