Our Trip To Greece
By Christopher Cusack

After Ireland we went to Greece. We flew into Athens at about four oclock in the evening. We checked in at our hotel and went to dinner. We sat outside. I did not know it was going to be 90 degrees at night too! I had spaghetti with a meat sauce. The food is really good. While we were walking back we got ice cream. I tried caramel. It was almost the best ice cream I had ever had. It tasted like gold medal ribbon from back home.

The next day a woman named Nina took us on a tour of Athens. First, she showed us the Olympic Stadium where they played the first Modern Olympics in 1896. Gregory and Brennan raced around the quarter mile track. If the track had been grass it would have looked like our school track during the track meet.

Nina told us that the first king of Greece was King Otto from Germany. He had a German architect design a palace for him. The architect built a palace that looked like a huge mansion. Unfortunately, the palace had no balcony so in the 90 degree heat of Greece he couldnt get any cool air. He must have been scorching in the palace.

About twenty years after King Otto, a Danish king from the Danish Royal family came to Greece and was king. Since the Greeks never had a royal family they had to get kings from other royal families. Greece never really respected their king much because he was from a foreign country.

Then we drove to the Parthenon. It is on the Akropolis, which is a GIGANTIC rock. It took 73 steps to get to the top. We walked up to the Parthenon. Nina told us that it had been a temple. It had had a gigantic statue of Athena. It was made from wood, ivory and gold. Her body was wood, her clothing, spear, and shield were gold. The statue was about 100 feet tall.

On top of the Parthenon there are pediments that show two important battles between the gods. A pediment is the triangular piece on top of the entrance to the Parthenon.

Nina told us the stories which were on the pediment. She told us about the battle between the goddess, Athena and the God, Poseidon. Athena beat Poseidon but it was an intense battle. After that story she told us about the battle between the 12 gods and the giants. She said the giants were the older gods. The newer gods won.

Coming down from the Akropolis, we saw an amphitheatre. It was built in the Roman style, which is a half circle instead of the Greek full circle.

In the early 1900s Lord Elgin from London took most of the artifacts from the Parthenon and sold them to the British Museum. When we go to London we are going to try and see the artifacts that were taken. The Greeks are trying very hard to get their artifacts back from London and are building a new museum to hold them. Then we went to a museum on the Akropolis and saw the artifacts that remained when Lord Elgin left.

Nina told us about the birth of Athena. She said Zeus had loved a woman who did not love him. He did not know that she was already pregnant so he turned her into a fly and ate her. Athena was born out of Zeus head.

On the way to the hotel Nina told us that the Greek language had not changed much throughout Greek history. Which is amazing because Greece has been through many invasions throughout Greek history. Nina, also told us that about 104 degrees was considered hot in Athens. Then we drove back to the hotel and said thank you (or efharisto in Greek) to Nina. We had lunch on the roof of our hotel where we could see the Akropolis clearly. Then we flew to one of the Cyclades islands off Greece, Santorini.

Are trip to Greece
by Gregory Cusack

I liked running around the greece track and it took me two minis and six seconds. It was tiring after that and we talked a bout Athena and Zues. I liked wen Nina talked a bout Athena and Zues. I saw the Parthenon on a hill called the Acropolis. The Parthenon was temple bilt for the Gods. It was 2500 years old. (I could build this with my LEGOS)

Christopher and Brennan and Mommy and Daddy and me went to a island named Lesvos in Grece. I bought one Blastoys and oneSqtle and Wartotle and three Pikachus and I lost one of my Pikachus and I really loved it.

We went to the petrified forest!And a volcano had erupted! And there was a earthquake and the trees feldown! And the volcano ashes fell over the trees! There was a flood!and it covered all of the trees with water. The minols in the water covered the trees and made the trees into stone!

By Brennan Cusack

I went to Santorini, it is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. I went on a sailboat to see a volcano that had erupted in 1956. It was a long hike up the volcano but a short one down. I saw green crystal everywhere. Then it was back in the sailboat for us. Then we went to the natural hot springs and swam. It was hot. We went to have lunch in the town of Therassia. It is on an island across from the town of Oia on Santorini. I rode a donkey up more than 200 stairs. We had lunch at the top of the stairs and then we went back to the sailboat and sailed back to our hotel in Oia.

I went to Athens in Greece. The name Athens means Athena. Athena is the Goddess of wisdom. We went to the Acropolis it took up the whole top of the hill. The Parthenon is a temple on top of the Acropolis that was made 2,500 years ago. It was made out of marble. It is a huge temple. It had a big pediment. A pediment is a triangle on top of the temple. Then we went to the museum on the Acropolis, that was cool. It had two friezes, those are pictures made out of marble, one of a lion killing a cow and one of a seven headed snake. If you chopped off the snakes head it would grow two new heads. So Hercules had to burn the snake to kill it. I liked that trip.

I went on a car trip on the island of Lesvos in Greece. It is in the Aegean Sea. You can see the country of Turkey very close by. I saw a petrified forest. Thousands of years ago there was an earthquake there. A forest of redwood trees were covered with volcanic ash. Then years went by and then there was a flood. The ash and the mineral in the water caused the trees to turn to rock. I got to touch one. I thought it was fun!De