Rat's Around-the-World Adventure on Semester at Sea: May 2015

R.A.T. Your Rodent Around-the-World Traveler (a.k.a. Raz)

Hi, My name is R.A.T., which stands for Rodent Around-the-World Traveler (I like to think it stands for Rodent Adventure Traveler), but everyone here calls me Raz for short. I would love to share my adventures with you. I left my rat family in early January to seek adventure. Everyone said "head west young rat," so that is what I did. I headed west to San Diego, California where I ran out of land and had to hop on a ship to continue my journey. It turns out that the ship I found was going west around the world--a dream come true! The MV Explorer is home to the famous Semester at Sea study abroad program. My shipmates include 629 college students and about 150 faculty, staff, lifelong learners, and family members. Things are really busy here on the ship and even busier when we are in port. Come follow me vicariously as I take this incredible journey. Yours, R.A.T.

P.S. I had such a great time on the voyage that the adventure continues!!!!

Monday, May 11, 2015

Paris - Pareeeee!--How Ya Gonna Keep Him Down on the Farm!

From London I took a train to Paris. First stop Notre Dame--a big and beautiful cathedral!

I then crossed the river to the Louvre. I entered through I.M.Pei's big glass pyramid.

I saw lots of art, including this tiny portrait of a lady. Not sure why there were hundreds of people trying to crowd to see it as you could hardly see the painting from here with it behind glass!

I really liked this statue, which they call the Winged Victory of Samothrace. There was a whole exhibit on it as they just finished a major restoration of the sculpture. I am not sure how good it was as she still doesn't have arms or a head!!!

Here is the Apollo Gallery. It is a very ornate room lined with paintings of artists and architects.


I then went to the Tuileries Gardens nearby and stopped by this statue of Charles Perrault. He is known for writing fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Puss in Boots. If you look carefully you can see Puss in Boots dancing around him with children!

One day I went to the royal palace Fontainebleau.

Here is another view of the outside.

Somehow I always seem to run into lions! Not sure how this Chinese one ended up at a French palace.

Here is the part of the palace called the Gros Pavilion. The statue is of Ulysses by Jean Petitot.

I also went to an even bigger palace, but it looks really small from here! It was a beautiful day so I went to Versailles for a picnic in the gardens by the Grand Canal with some French friends.

Here they are with me.

We had a really nice picnic.

After lunch we walked around the Grand Canal. We found lots of dandelions.

We had fun blowing the seeds of the dandelions!

Before I left France I meet a couple of my French relatives!!! They talked a bit funny (someone said it was Froggy-Woggy), but we were still able to understand each other enough to have fun.