The Little, Yellow Duck, Quack, and Her/His Travels

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The Little, Yellow Duck, Quack, and Her/His Travels

We have been carrying a little, yellow, stuffed, toy duck with us on our travels. My daughter-in-law, is working as a nanny to pay for her artist studio. She cares for two children, a boy and a girl. The girl’s teacher gave each student a small, soft duck and asked them to have the duck travel around and come back home in April. As you have probably guessed, I am carrying the duck on my travels. I took it to the John Campbell Folk School in December to my week long class on fusing glass. Quack has now been to Wales, London, and Paris and with us in Florence, Italy.
After taking photos of Quack in lots of interesting places, today I let Quack sleep in and take it easy. After all, touring is exhausting, especially seeing museum after museum. Luckily, Quack could squish in my purse and pop out as needed. We did get a lot of funny looks when we pulled out the little, yellow duck, but you'll see from the photos that he made friends all over the world.
In Wales he made friends with Sarah, Doug, and Alec who are Dai's housemates. He also saw Cardiff Castle and St. Fagan's museum with us. In London, he stayed at the Royal Court Apartments, went to the National Gallery, took a lunch break after shopping at Harrods, the famous and expensive department store. He even saw a musical in a London theatre, "Rent."
In Paris, Quack loved the Louvre and the Quai D'Orsay and the Pompidou and, of course, French coffee "au lait."
He took the overnight train from Paris to Florence, in Tuscany and is now staying at Hotel Ariel, a short bus ride from the center of the city. He's been to the Uffizi--no photos allowed--and shopped in an old flea market and the famous Ponte Vecchio. I'll show you some pictures.

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Photos

Quack and London tube
The subway in London is called the Underground or the Tube. Quack liked to ride it--it's fast and the people are very helpful and friendly.

Welsh Sarah and Quack
Sarah knows how to speak Welsh so she said a few sentences for Quack. Alas, he couldn't respond, not knowing Welsh.

Welsh teacher/docent
This wonderful woman is a guide at the museum at St. Fagan's. She is a retired teacher of the Welsh language. She wrote out the alphabet for Quack to take home.

Quack at National Gallery
Quack ate a good lunch and continued looking at the paintings in this fantastic museum.

Red, London busses
The London busses are bright red and are double-deckers. Most of the young people ride on the top section. Quack had to ride with Susie when she went to see her British friend.

Here is the ticket for "Rent"
I always thought "Rent" the musical was about New York; but we discovered it worked well in London with British accents.

Quack has his ticket for Paris
Quack has his ticket for the Eurostar train for Paris. This train is very modern--shaped like a bullet--and goes under the English Channel in the 'Chunnel' and then overground to Paris.

I love French coffee
"Come to the cafe with me in Paris and let's have cafe au lait."
Quack quickly said, "Yes."

Quack at French Breakfast
Quack loved the French croissants, boiled eggs, coffee, yogurt and juice. Sometimes he had a bagguette.

Quack resting
Sight-seeing is exhausting!

Quack with Uffizi guide
The Uffizi was the office building of the Medicis in Florence. They loved art and in 1591 opened their collection to the public. Two centuries later the museum was opened officially as an organized display along modern terms.

Quack's view of Florence
The large dome is the Duomo. Building began in the 1290's and the dome was completed in 1418. It's an incredible architectural feat. It's built like an Eskimo igloo, layer of stone supporting the next layer going up.

Quack sees a copy of the David
Michelangelo sculpted the David in 1504. Here is the young king with his slingshot over his shoulder and rocks in his hand. He feels God in him, is confident and knows he will kill Goliath, the enemy's giant. Most earlier statues, and many later ones, portrayed David as a very young teenager. This one gives him power.

Comments

[Pattie]

Love Quack
Oh, I just love Quack. I'm so glad he accompanied you on your trip. I may have to take a small stuffed animal on my trip (river cruise through Belgium and the Netherlands) even though I'm not doing it for a child; the photo ops are priceless. Pattie

[Peggy Baughns]

That is TOO CUTE!!
Susan, Quack is TOO cute!!! He looks like a great traveling companion..... Have fun!!!

[howard romaine]

when back to atl?
Hi Susan, when back to ATL?? be well..howard romaine

[Gailey]

That duck gets around! You, too, Susie! Florence looks beautiful, just as I have heard. L, G

[wald]

quack is brilliant
I think Quack is the cutest thing ever. I just came by this site when I was looking on' London Tube'. I was wondering if Quack will visit Holland sometime. I hope Quack will have more adventures coming in the future! greetings from the Netherlands.