China

 Shortly after we returned from our travels to Italy, Slovenia, and Vatican City, my two youngest had the opportunity to go to Chinese Camp.  All four of my kids have participated in it before, and it is a great way to learn more about Chinese culture, cuisine, and language.  They had a really great time, and I decided we would follow it up by making China our family country of study.

Video List

• Geography Now! China
• Are Hong Kong & Macau Countries?: interesting CGP Grey video that gives a brief overview of the history of these two special areas of China.  Currently it does require a membership to view.
• 12 Things to Know Before you Visit China: a Wolters World video that gives some older but still relevant insights to visiting China
• Top 10 Places to Visit in China

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the fun foods and crafts the boys got to make while they were at camp.  However, I'll put some fun links to additional activities, foods, and resources below:

• Our local Costco has several different kinds of dumplings available that are easy to make, including Chicken and Vegetable Potstickers and Steamed Dumplings.
• There are some fun shows based on Chinese mythology and literature: 
• Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King - The Monkey King is a famous and popular figure from a 16th-century Chinese novel.  This classic animated series was produced in China and can be found on YouTube and various other websites.
• The Monkey King - same figure with a new version of the storyline in an animated Netflix movie
• American Born Chinese - This live-action Disney series assumes some knowledge of Chinese folklore (especially about the Monkey King) in this reimagined modern-day quest.
• Amazon carries some Chinese paper dragon craft kits that are easy to make.
• Liu and the Bird: A Journey in Chinese Calligraphy - This beautiful picture book tells both the story of a little girl and how Chinese pictographs first evolved, helping readers see the meaning in the characters of today.
  
  

Vatican City

 Even though it is the smallest country in the world, Vatican City holds major religious and cultural significance.  Despite having a history spanning many hundreds of years, the Vatican State was not an independent country until 1929 when the signing of the Lateran Treaty brought some measure of peace between the relatively new Italian government (mid-19th century) and the Papacy, since both wanted Rome to be their capital but wanted to be independent from the other.  Not only is it the residence of the Pope, but it also houses hundreds of incalculably valuable works of art.  Some put the valuation of Vatican City (and Catholic Church) assets at $73 billion minimum.

Video List

• Vatican City Explained by CGP Grey
• How to Become Pope by CGP Grey

Normally we like to go to Geography Now! to start off our learning, but since they are going alphabetically, they have not yet reached Vatican City, so we turned to another of our favorite channels: CGP Grey.  We had to get a basic membership to watch one or both of these videos, but it was well worth it as the videos are very informative.

Why did we skip so far ahead in our country list?  It is because we had an opportunity to visit the Vatican while we were in Italy!

We met early in the morning at St. Peter's Square for our tour.

members of the Swiss Guard at the south archway on the side of the Basilica

Fun Fact: all of the artwork in St. Peter's are actually mosaics made of small glass tiles.  There is only one true painting in the Basilica (above Michaelangelo's Pietá).  This is why you can take photographs inside the Basilica: the flash will not harm the mosaics.

a view of Vatican City from the top of the dome on St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Baldacchino - sculpted by Bernini, it stands over the High Altar, which was built over St. Peter's tomb

one of the entrances to the Vatican Museums

The Vatican Museums contain incredible works of art dating from as far back as Ancient Egypt ...

... and Ancient Greece all the way up to modern artists like Matisse.

The symbol of the Papacy (and thus Vatican City) is the Papal crown with two crossed keys underneath, visible here both above the white stone shield and above the red dragon crest (the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII).

And while Vatican City may not have a particular cuisine, we did eat some sandwiches and pizza from a food stand in Vatican City before heading over to the Vatican Museums!

Slovenia

Slovenia was a country that wasn't even on our family's radar until we visited some friends who were stationed in Northern Italy, and they invited us to go on a road trip into Slovenia with them to Lake Bled.  We are so glad they did!  Slovenia is a gorgeous country covered in forests and mountains with 54% of the territory environmentally protected.  It has an incredibly reasonable cost of living and some of the lowest crime rates in the EU.  Every member of our family loved Slovenia and talks about going back!

 Video List

• Geography Now! Slovenia: I'm a little disappointed that this one has some bleeped words and a fuzzed out gesture at the beginning, but other than that it is a great video.
• Geography Now! Flag/Fan Friday Slovenia: correction of a number of small mistakes in the first video and discussion of the flag - switched to fan mail at about 3:25
• Slovenia - What to Know Before You Visit
• Top 10 Places to Visit in Slovenia

Slovenia is one of the most gorgeous countries I have ever been to.  Every little town we drove through or house we went by looked like it belonged on a postcard.  We were lucky enough to see some of the major sights during our three days in the country.

Dating back as far as 1274, Predjama Castle was built into one of the over 14,000 caves in Slovenia.  If you visit here, I highly recommend paying the few extra euros for the audio guide, as otherwise it is hard to know what you are looking at when you walk through the numerous rooms and chambers of the castle.

Just a few kilometers away from the castle is Postojna Cave, home to the olm and an underground train that takes you almost 4 km into the cave where you begin a tour of the enormous chambers that go back for kilometers more.  The cave is quite chilly, so don't forget to bring a jacket or coat like I did!

Lake Bled is a must-see when traveling to Slovenia.  This was the main destination of our road trip and well-worth the visit.  Bled Castle is perched above lake.  You can drive there, but we walked up a trail that goes from the church on the right up the hill - about a 15 minute walk.  Do keep in mind that they stop selling tickets to enter the castle 30 minutes before the castle actually closes.

view of Bled Lake and its island church from Bled Castle

The peacock (seen atop the pedestal) has become a symbol of Bled because of a 6th century brooch found near here that can now be seen in the castle's museum (entrance under the red awning).  There is also a working replica Gutenberg printing press where you can buy prints as souvenirs.

We also took part of a day to visit Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.  It was not crowded, and everyone was quite friendly and most spoke amazing English and helped us navigate the city.  We parked once and did all of our exploring easily on foot.  This is the Dragon Bridge, which spans the Ljubljanica River.

It had been raining the morning we left Lake Bled, but on the way back from Ljubljana it let up, so we went back to Bled and stopped by Triglav National Park to hike Vintgar Gorge.  Since it had been rainy that day, we were lucky to find a parking spot at the gorge entrance near the ticket booth, which usually fills up very fast.  The gorge itself is only about 1.8 miles long and is an amazingly beautiful and easy (though damp) walk along the Radovna River.  However, since COVID, the trail is now one-way only, and once you get to the end of the gorge you have a choice between a couple of trails.  We took the shorter one and still hiked another two miles to get home.  Our trail went sharply uphill to the town of Blejska Dobrava, and then back through the woods along the top of the gorge until you get back to the parking lot.  It took us only about an hour and a half total, but we were hustling because we had to drive back to Venice and turn in our car that evening.  But it was worth every minute!

One of the fun foods we were able to try while we were there was Bled's cream cake.  Very sweet but very tasty!