My family went to Croatia and now we are headed to Greece. In Croatia my family visited Split and saw a huge nice palace made by someone named Diocletian. Diocletian? That’s just weird. But not until we took a tour did I understand late century Romans.

FALL OF THE EMPIRE:

The Romans were one of the most amazing and talented ancient civilizations. Until the empire fell. The Romans were conquering huge amounts of land, building temples, Colosseums, palaces, houses, and even water aqueducts. Their empire was growing and stretching all over the area of present day Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. But eventually, it started to fall apart. And how did it it fall? The empire got too big. The Romans split their empire into multiple parts because of this conflict. For example, there would be an emperor ruling from the north side, and another ruling from the south. But that did not settle the fighting, different Romans wanted to make separate rules. Someone had to create a better empire for his people, and that person was a man named Diocletian. 

WHO WAS DIOCLETIAN?:

Barbarians were anyone that was not a Roman. Many of these barbarians were swarming in from outside of the Roman territories. Among these people, was Diocletian. And no, you could not just go build a nice house on the water, you had to join the army to become a Roman citizen! Sure, joining the army sounds bad, but being in the army for 25 years sounds worse! As  a barbarian, you would have to join the army for an estimate of 25 years! And as Diocletian was a Barbarian, he went to the military to train and fight his share of two and a half decades.

ABOUT DIOCLETIAN:

Diocletian was born supposedly at about 245 AD but his childhood is mostly clouded with guesses since he is from thousands of years back. He was probably from Salona, Croatia, outsides of Split. One of these educational guesses is that his dad was a slave under a senator named Anullinus but almost nothing is known about Diocletian’s mom. Diocletian was originally named Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus. 

HIS RISE TO POWER:

Diocletian was a supposedly a commander of a guard unit which was to protect the current emperor. It is thought that Diocletian murdered the emperor he was supposed to protect, because that was one of the only ways to become the emperor. So Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus became emperor. But not only did he take the throne, he split it with a few others. He was the main of these emperors, but it was probably one of the only times this happened in history!

DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE:

Diocletian retired. It was the only time in Roman history that an emperor retired. And why did he do this when had all that power? Well, nobody knows. One theory is that he was very sick and just wanted to end his life in peace, but little information remains. To retire, he needed a home. But in Roman perspective, everyone wanted a palace, so that’s just what Diocletian did. Clues show that he had been building the palace for many years before he moved in, so maybe Diocletian was planing to retire early! He had a huge beautiful palace built for himself. The palace was a city itself for hundreds of years after Diocletian and still is today!

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE:

The Romans were one of the most amazing and talented ancient civilizations. Until the empire fell. The Romans were conquering huge amounts of land, building temples, colosseums, palaces, houses, and even water aqueducts. Diocletian was a man who changed things after the empire started to fall. He brought traditions back and built one of the most amazing palaces I have ever seen. But after his death, things resumed. The barbarians burnt down cities and everything got crazy. Not long after Diocletian died, the Roman Empire was destroyed forever. 

Please feel free to leave a suggestion, or just a note in the comment section below.  

On a final note, if you haven’t already, please subscribe and like the post. Also, we have a YouTube channel called ON THE ROAD WITH LJ so please also subscribe to that. 

We will have a new video and post soon.

-Jack

Photos from our visit to Diocletian’s palace:

Cutty Sark:

You might be thinking that Cutty Sark is a weird name for a cargo ship, but there is a real ship named exactly that. It served from 1870 to 1895. You might also be thinking that “cargo ships are boring”, but if you are, you’re SO wrong. When my family headed to London, all I thought we would do was go to the British museum and do not much else. But I was amazed at how many things we could do in London. I was surprised specifically at Cutty Sark!

Cutty Sark in it’s early years:

It was 1843 and a new type of ship was being designed. It was called a clipper. These cargo ships were designed to be strong, lightweight, and exceptionally fast. That’s where Cutty Sark comes in. Cutty Sark was a very well made clipper. It was launched on November 22, 1869 in Dumbarton, Scotland. It is now 150 years old. So Cutty Sark began it’s first voyage from London to Shanghai joining the tea trade industry. The clipper sailed up to around 16.511 knots (more than 19 miles per hour), and was considered by some to be the fastest ship of it’s day. Cutty Sark had 25 year of service in the trade industries.

Exploring the depths:

Cutty Sark was a cargo ship that delivered cargo. It seems like a simple explanation for this whole post. Well, the clipper didn’t just have cargo, it had architecture! When I first saw the Cutty Sark, I wondered if people went on the ship or not, if there were cabins or chambers. But of course there were people on the ship! They never had sailing robots in the 1800’s! So the question was, how did they sleep, eat, and survive if they had to be on long voyages across the world? Well, that’s the point of this paragraph. There were two chambers built to hold major storage, the main and the twin. Nothing but boxes and boxes would be piled up to the ceiling of these chambers. So the remaining space had to be handled carefully. The upper deck was the only living space for the workers and sailors who traveled on the Cutty Sark. There are three living spaces on the Ship. The first, for crew members (cooks, doctors, blacksmiths…etc…), the second, for sailors, and the third, for higher ranked sailors (Captain, first mate, second mate…). Usually, only 21 people traveled on the Cutty Sark at one time. Each one of them, usually only served for one voyage. 21 people does not seem like enough people for such a huge ship, but the Cutty Sark dealt with it.

Name and figurehead history:

Cutty Sark’s name was based off a Scottish poem by Robert Burns. This poem is called Tam o’Shanter. Tam o’Shanter is a poem that is about a farmer who’s name is Tam. Farmer Tam gets drunk and goes off to the woods where there are witches. One of the witches is wearing a dress called a cutty sark. So then the witch really gets mad and starts chasing Tam. This probably depicts why Cutty Sark is named after the witch, she’s fast. Farmer Tam gets away but the witch manages to pull the tail out of Tam’s horse. This is why Cutty Sark’s figurehead shows a witch holding a horse’s tail. The first master (captain) of Cutty Sark, who named the ship was Scottish which creates an explanation of why he chose a Scottish poem by Robert Burns. But really nobody know why Cutty Sark was based off of Tam o’Shanter. It remains a mystery.

Cutty Sark and its voyages:

There were a lot of voyages across the world that Cutty Sark took, but it only had two main routes. These were the two routes that changed history. In it’s earlier years, Cutty Sark traveled on its first route to China and joined the tea trade industry. This was the industry that delivered tea from China to the United Kingdom. When Cutty Sark set off on it’s first voyage, it was headed from London to Shanghai. Cutty Sark served in the China tea trade of the 1800’s for 7 years. Why only 7 years? Because of two things. One, steam ships were taking over, and two, the Suez Canal had opened up. On the same year that Cutty Sark was launched, the Suez Canal was built through Egypt. This Canal connected the Mediterranean sea to the Red Sea, and cut off the use of sailing boats. Sail ships could not go through the canal because they can not go in a straight line, and steam ships can. Having a motor allows you to control where your ship goes, where as when you sail you can only travel in wind. Cutty Sark couldn’t travel through the Suez Canal which mean that it’s China tea trade time was over. But Cutty Sark’s sailing life was not over. Actually, it was just beginning.

Cutty Sark’s later years:

After Cutty Sark ended it’s time in the tea trade, it converted to the wool trade in Australia. It delivered wool from Australia to London for 12 years from 1883-1895. In 1895 when the trade was over, Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese company and renamed Ferreira. After a few decades with the Portuguese she was sold and renamed again to Maria de Amparo. After being Maria de Amparo, she was sold and renovated, and sold and renovated again. Eventually after a long time, something bad had to happen, and it did. While it was being renovated, another fire (if you read my last post “Notre Dame the cathedral”) broke out in May 21 2007. After a few hours of burning, the London fire brigade eventually got the fire to settle down. The fire was not a big fire and only a small part of Cutty Sarks frame was damaged. Now, the Cutty Sark is a museum in Greenwich witch my family visited in London. Over the years, Cutty Sark was remembered not of the fire, but if the huge contribution to the trade industry.

Lastly:

If you could be one of the passengers of the Cutty Sark, which would you be?
A) Carpenter (you would always have something to fix and not get much sleep)
B) Cook (it would be hard to cook for 20 other people)
C) Sailor (out in the cold where the valves crash onto the top decks, you would be one of the first that could be tossed overboard)
D) Master or captain (you might think it would be nice, but you’d have to be responsible for everyone else and if something bad happens, it would be blamed on you)
E) First mate (if the captain gets sick or needs help with something, you would have to take the risks and take over)
F) Second mate (if master needs lots of help or first mate does, you have to know a lot of things that the captain does, but you might not know enough to survive, even though it’s rare)
G) Purser (taking care of all the higher ranked officers in the Cutty Sark would be a lot, you would be more like a maid than a butler)
Please tell me your answer in the comment section bellow so I can know some more info about who you would be on the Cutty Sark. Thank you if you do 😊

Thanks for reading about Cutty Sark, I hope you enjoyed my London post. I do not regret going to that museum. If you go, you will not regret it either. Just remember not to confuse Cutty Sark whisky with the Cutty Sark ship. The cargo ship was first. In fact, Cutty Sark whisky was named after the ship!

Please feel free to leave an answer to the question I asked, a suggestion, or just a note in the comment section below.

On a final note, if you haven’t already, please subscribe and like the post. Also, we have a YouTube channel called ON THE ROAD WITH LJ and you can access the first video that’s called: First Destination. By: On the Road with LJ. You can press the link down below to see it ⬇️
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z4W4HHlPJOI

We will also have a new video and post soon. Hope you had fun sailing with me!
-Jack👌

a few photos from our visit to Cutty Sark in London:

In London, we went to the National Gallery art museum. My sister and I drew a painting by Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) of a fortress on a hill. I hope you like my drawing! (4h pencil and metallic colored pencil)

Hey guys, we visited Paris two years ago so I’ve decided to write about Notre Dame. The main reason I’ve decided to write about it is because its just such an amazing place. But when a fire broke out, I realized that I really wanted to write a report about it. We’re not actually going to Paris this trip, but we went there two years ago and I was really influenced by it, so here I am writing about it now.

History of Notre Dame:

Notre Dame burned partially two months ago. It had took hundreds of years to build.

In 1163, bishop Maurice de Sully ordered Notre dame to be built. Notre Dame was mostly finished almost a century later but continued to have modifications. Over the years, Notre Dame was admired greatly. But in the 1790’s the French Revolution struck out, which caused damage in many of Notre dame’s religious symbols. But Even after the revolution, it still stood proudly. Notre Dame has served not only as a religious symbol in France but also an iconic emblem for the entire world to admire.

Building the cathedral:

Notre Dame is one of the biggest cathedrals in the world. Builders had to think of very unique techniques to build it. The outside is made of stone to make sure Notre Dame is sturdy. Inside, there are chambers filled with historical artifacts. The cathedral was built with an upper spire which towered up at a height of 226 feet. The floor space ( inside area ) is built up at 52,000 square feet. It has towered for centuries as one greatest cathedrals ever created.

Emblem burning:

It fell and the crowds hushed. April 15th, 2019 was one of Notre Dames worst days. Five days after my birthday a fire broke out while it was being worked on. The upper level of Notre Dame is made of wood, not all stone. And sadly, the spire is there. You probably know what I am going to say now. As the fire grew more intense, crowds started to form on the streets. Firefighters were there, but they could not do much to fight a fire this high. But they could hope. That the spire wouldn’t fall. Then it did. Notre Dame was far from being completely destroyed, but still took a heavy amount of damage. The inside area was covered mostly from the fire. Notre Dame will be rebuilt by five years. Though a tragedy happened to it, Notre Dame is still one of my favorite land marks I’ve ever visited.

Thanks for reading NOTRE DAME, THE CATHEDRAL. This was one of my first blog reports, so there may be some flaws throughout it. Please feel free to leave a suggestion or just a note in the comment section below.

On final note, of you haven’t already, please subscribe and like the post. Also, we have a YouTube channel called ON THE ROAD WITH LJ and you access the first video that’s called: First Destination. By: On the Road with LJ. You can press the link down below to see it ⬇️

-Jack

Mini photo timeline:

Hi, I’m Jack and my family is going an an around the world trip. First, we’ve decided to go to London. We have wanted to go on this trip for years. I specifically didn’t want to go because the thought of leaving my friends, school, house and city did not sound fun. I play basketball, soccer, football, and I ski in winter. I do art, play drums piano, some guitar, and I’ve learned various other instruments in school. Eventually (after a whole lot of “I’ll sleep on in”), I realized that the trip would actually be a really fun experience for me. So, here I am on the plane writing this. Let me make one thing clear. It was hard. I didn’t think it would be so hard to pack for eight months or so, but I was pretty much wrong. On the one hand, we had to figure out what to bring, and on the other hand, we (mostly my parents) had to decide where to go. I’m ten years old and my older sister is twelve. Our parents thought that this was the perfect time to leave. They had been thinking about it for a really long time, and we kinda wanted to go last year, but not as much me. Getting six shots and swallowing four pills was not fun. I didn’t think we would get rabies anyway. We needed more time to prepare. When we left to visit our grandparents in Boston before we left, we had way too many bags. It was only me (Jack), my dad (Greg), and my older sister (lily) because my mom (Emily) had left early to visit friends in Florida. We had barely any time to do last minute stuff, so my dad stuffed a bunch of random (not literally random, stuff he considered bringing) stuff into his fold up travel duffel and a bunch of other bags we weren’t thinking of bringing anyway. Once we got through security and everything at the airport, we finally got to the plane. In Boston, some of our friends stayed with us in our grandparents’ house. But after preparing a lot even there, we finally set off to London.

PLACES I WANT TO GO & THINGS I WANT TO DO ON THE TRIP MOST:

> go to Rome

> see the Roman Colosseum

> see lots of ancient ruins and artifacts 

> ride and sleep in an RV 

-Jack 

So that’s basically all for my beginning post, I just wanted to say a little bit about my self and how we prepared for our around the world trip. On final note, of you haven’t already, please subscribe and like the post. Also, we have a YouTube channel called ON THE ROAD WITH LJ but it it not installed yet. Please leave a comment bellow and Thank you for reading my beginning blog.