GATEWAY OF DEATH

When I went on a bike ride with my mum to Casa de Campo in Madrid, we came across a sign that said Pasarela de la Muerte (Gateway of Death). It said that there used to be a bridge here that was built at the end of the Spanish Civil War by the Francoists who were winning the war.

It was called that because the river Manzanares was guarded by the Republicans who said "They Shall Not Pass", meaning Franco's forces with the Morrocan, Italian and German allies of Franco and their tanks.

There was a three year seige in Madrid and many bridges were built over the river. But they were very dangerous to cross and were called the gateway of death because they were always in a direct line of fire.

Then the Francoists began building a cement one at the end of the war that you can still see a bit of today, (the top bit) which I think is really interesting. It was called the Generalisimo Bridge - as in VERY General Bridge!

 This is the top part of the bridge that you can still see.

In the below photo you can see what it used to look like and at the end of the bridge you can see the bit that's still there.

THE STORY OF THE WORLD AND A SHADUF

 

 I am a member of a history club and we are all reading STORY OF THE WORLD by Susan Wise Bauer. We read a few chapters and present to the group a part of the book.

My first presentation was about the first farmers and how they used the shaduf.

First I made a simple one to see how it worked.  

 Then I made another one from sticks and a leather bucket.

For the presentation I was an archaelogist explaining to a group how the shaduf worked by dipping the bucket into a river and using the stone as a weight, they swung the beam around to water the crops. I think it's a really cool machine.

 

A MUSEUM AND A CELTIBERIAN VILLAGE

In Soria, we went to a museum in Garray where there is a lot of local Celtiberian and Roman history.

In this photo you can see a battering ram they used to knock down fortress doors. 

This is a Roman military camp.

 

These figures are cute. 

 Then we went to Numancia where there is a village of Celtiberian origins. The Celtiberians fought against the Romans for 20 years before the Romans finally took the village. Then they built their own houses on top of the other one.

 This is a circular rainwater cistern for public use.

 These are hand querns used for milling the grain. They made beer from fermented wheat.

 This one is a Roman house. It has a roof of rye sheaves.

 These are looms for weaving cloth.

 These photos are of a Celtiberian house with a Celtic symbol on the door and the kitchen.

VIKINGS

This is a lapbook about Vikings. I did all the research myself and found pictures on the Internet.

I love the way they eat their chicken!

 

TITANIC

I did a project on the TITANIC because I am a fan and it was its 100th anniversary. It is a very cool boat. I used an old picture book with holes to make it look like the portholes on a boat.

 

A CHINESE LAPBOOK

When I started Chinese language classes with some friends, I also learned a little bit about the country and its history.

Then I made a lapbook in the shape of the Great Wall and put in stuff like the Dynasties, inventions, the 1st Chinese Emperor, a bit about the Wall, geography and martial arts, etc.

It was fun trying to do some calligraphy of the Chinese characters. I think they're really nice to draw.

JURASSIC FOSSILS OF SORIA

There are fossils in Soria in Spain because about 65-170 million years ago, Spain was covered in tropical seas. Now there is a lot of shelly limestone around and if you're lucky, you can find bits of shells and other sea creature remains.

I have a big collection of some really cool fossils.

 Can you see the bits of shells in this limestone?

 This one looks exactly like the original shell but it's now stone A neighbour gave it to me.