london was brilliant. the whole central city is made of really old tall beautiful buildings, its wonderful. regent st, where there is most of the shops, was so packed cos of christmas shopping it was like parachute!
we saw tower bridge, the tower of london, the london eye, big ben, buckingham palace etc.
i want to live there, everything was so proper, and efficient!
the tube was also great, way fast than the buses. one time we caught a bus and it took 40 mins, and the same trip took 5mins on the tube...
then we went to oxford, it was almost as good, and would be the funnest place to go to uni!
there are heaps of bikes there it amazing. everyone rides them, they have 'bike car parks'.
i read an information pamphlet and it said 3000 are stolen from there every year!!
its christmas tomorrow :)
merry christmas everyone etc....
Monday, December 24, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
oh my gosh!!!
we were in the chorley town centre, and as we were going back to our car we saw a three wheeled car!!!!!
there was this old couple driving it as if it was normal. i laughed :P
there was this old couple driving it as if it was normal. i laughed :P
england
we flew out of washington dc last thursday. we had originally planned to arrive in washington dc 3 days before, but ended up arriving on wednesday night due to benedicts fractured skull. as we drove into washington we went through the centre of town to see the capitol and the white house etc. luckily the air and space museum hadnt closed yet and so we ran in for half an hour. it was amazing! there was the wright flyer, the spirit of st louis, the apollo 11 command module, the X1 and an X15!!!
then on thursday morning we went to the second air and space museum and saw the blackbird, the space shuttle enterprise, and many more famous planes!
our flight to london was fine. i was sitting by myself ass one of our tickets was separate from the others (i asked to have it). sadly the 'in flight entertainment' system kept failing to work, and so i couldnt watch movies for the first half of the flight. eventually when i got it working, i saw an indian movie about a girl who had live in britain for her whole life, and didnt want to marry a 'nice indian boy'. i chose it cos all the other movies didnt work, but it ended up being quite funny :)
after arriving in london we had to go through customs and immigration, which took ages cos the lady at the desk didnt understand dad. and how he is coming here on sabbatical etc.
we then flew to manchester, and then trained to where we were staying. the house we are staying in is nice, and more importantly its warm, cos outside is freezing!
emily (my sister) arrived this morning, i got up at 5 to go meet her at the airport, and now im insanely tired cos i didnt get to sleep until late...
thats all for now, we might or might not be going to london on thursday, depending on how benedict is feeling :)
then on thursday morning we went to the second air and space museum and saw the blackbird, the space shuttle enterprise, and many more famous planes!
our flight to london was fine. i was sitting by myself ass one of our tickets was separate from the others (i asked to have it). sadly the 'in flight entertainment' system kept failing to work, and so i couldnt watch movies for the first half of the flight. eventually when i got it working, i saw an indian movie about a girl who had live in britain for her whole life, and didnt want to marry a 'nice indian boy'. i chose it cos all the other movies didnt work, but it ended up being quite funny :)
after arriving in london we had to go through customs and immigration, which took ages cos the lady at the desk didnt understand dad. and how he is coming here on sabbatical etc.
we then flew to manchester, and then trained to where we were staying. the house we are staying in is nice, and more importantly its warm, cos outside is freezing!
emily (my sister) arrived this morning, i got up at 5 to go meet her at the airport, and now im insanely tired cos i didnt get to sleep until late...
thats all for now, we might or might not be going to london on thursday, depending on how benedict is feeling :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
miracle child
benedict is a miracle child.
on monday, we were walking into the williamsberg township thing (it has old shops and workhouses, and people in costumes doing blacksmith stuff etc) and benedict was falling behind. i went over picked him up and began running towards mum and dad. then i slipped.
his head hit the concrete. he was unconscious. with 30 seconds mum had awakened him. but he said he was feeling funny, and kept wimpering. we straight away took him to the local emergency clinic. they told us he had to go to the hospital for a cat scan.
when we finnally arrived, he was sent of for his car scan while i had my hand bandaged (it had been badly grazed by the fall). we waited. ages later the doctor came back with the results. he had a fractured skull and some internal bleeding. i had cracked my cute 6yr old brothers head. i felt terrible.
they transfered him to a larger hospital about an hour away (he went in an ambulance). here they took him to intensive care and took more catscans. after hours of waiting (me and dom couldnt see him as he was only allowed 2 guests;mum and dad) we were told he would be moved to the pediatrics intensive care unit. the fall had happened at about 9 in the morning. it was now 7 at night. most of the day was just waiting and praying. probably the worst day of my life.
the following day they took another catscan, and when the results came through, they thought it would be ok to move him out of the intensive care unit, into the normal pediatric unit. he was talking fine and smiling and just watched catroons all day. then this morning we got a call from the hospital from mum who was staying with him. the doctors had look at him and the internal bleeding was completely gone!! this was a miracle, because it meant we could keep our flight on thursday to england. (if he had internal bleeding he couldnt fly, and we were about to delay the flight until monday).
the doctor said it was extremely unusual for all the blood to have been absorbed by now as it usually takes up to two weeks. his was gone in two days.
the doctors say he will be completely fine and the fractured skull will take about 10-12 weeks to heal.
thanks to everyone who prayed (especially to my hardcore catholic sister :P)
on monday, we were walking into the williamsberg township thing (it has old shops and workhouses, and people in costumes doing blacksmith stuff etc) and benedict was falling behind. i went over picked him up and began running towards mum and dad. then i slipped.
his head hit the concrete. he was unconscious. with 30 seconds mum had awakened him. but he said he was feeling funny, and kept wimpering. we straight away took him to the local emergency clinic. they told us he had to go to the hospital for a cat scan.
when we finnally arrived, he was sent of for his car scan while i had my hand bandaged (it had been badly grazed by the fall). we waited. ages later the doctor came back with the results. he had a fractured skull and some internal bleeding. i had cracked my cute 6yr old brothers head. i felt terrible.
they transfered him to a larger hospital about an hour away (he went in an ambulance). here they took him to intensive care and took more catscans. after hours of waiting (me and dom couldnt see him as he was only allowed 2 guests;mum and dad) we were told he would be moved to the pediatrics intensive care unit. the fall had happened at about 9 in the morning. it was now 7 at night. most of the day was just waiting and praying. probably the worst day of my life.
the following day they took another catscan, and when the results came through, they thought it would be ok to move him out of the intensive care unit, into the normal pediatric unit. he was talking fine and smiling and just watched catroons all day. then this morning we got a call from the hospital from mum who was staying with him. the doctors had look at him and the internal bleeding was completely gone!! this was a miracle, because it meant we could keep our flight on thursday to england. (if he had internal bleeding he couldnt fly, and we were about to delay the flight until monday).
the doctor said it was extremely unusual for all the blood to have been absorbed by now as it usually takes up to two weeks. his was gone in two days.
the doctors say he will be completely fine and the fractured skull will take about 10-12 weeks to heal.
thanks to everyone who prayed (especially to my hardcore catholic sister :P)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
more
yesterday we went to kennedy space centre, which is at cape cannaveral. its where all the space shuttles are launched, and all the american rockets have been launched in the passed (including the apollo missions to the moon in the 60s). we arrived at about 9:30 and went straight to the bus tour of the complex. the place is gigantic, because it is not just a museum etc, but actually where the rockets are assembled, where the astronauts train, and everything is controlled from! the tour took us to the saturn v hanger, which is where they house an unused saturn v rocket. the saturn v is the largest type of rocket ever flown and when u see it, it looks even bigger. it is on its side, and the engines at the base are about 4 stories high!!! its incredibly long and is separated into its different stages so u can see it better.
when we left here we went to the international space station building where there was a short movie and a mock up of the space station. that was ok, but the best bit here was seeing the creation (through large windows) of actual sections of the space stations!
then the tour went back to where we started. we went on a shuttle launch experience ride which wasnt that great, and saw an imax movie about the moon.
oh yeah, and they postponed the shuttle launch so we didnt see it :(
as u have probably noticed im a bit of a space geek...
today we left early from our hotel and drove for 5 hours up north to charlston. this is a really old city which has lots of small streets and tightly packed buildings (in the historic district). its hundreds of years old and really beautiful. they have 'horse and carts' driving up and down through here. so far this is the nicest part of america ive seen; if i were to live in the usa, it would be here. the houses are big and many are on the beach :)
tomorrow we are driving further north to williamsberg which was originally the capital city. this is another long car drive, before reaching washington dc the following day :D
still no pictures as im too tired to attempt loading them now...
when we left here we went to the international space station building where there was a short movie and a mock up of the space station. that was ok, but the best bit here was seeing the creation (through large windows) of actual sections of the space stations!
then the tour went back to where we started. we went on a shuttle launch experience ride which wasnt that great, and saw an imax movie about the moon.
oh yeah, and they postponed the shuttle launch so we didnt see it :(
as u have probably noticed im a bit of a space geek...
today we left early from our hotel and drove for 5 hours up north to charlston. this is a really old city which has lots of small streets and tightly packed buildings (in the historic district). its hundreds of years old and really beautiful. they have 'horse and carts' driving up and down through here. so far this is the nicest part of america ive seen; if i were to live in the usa, it would be here. the houses are big and many are on the beach :)
tomorrow we are driving further north to williamsberg which was originally the capital city. this is another long car drive, before reaching washington dc the following day :D
still no pictures as im too tired to attempt loading them now...
Thursday, December 6, 2007
better
so after resting for a day, i felt good enough to continue my exploration of disneyworld, which is so perfect it seems unreal. today we went to epcot, which is a park made up of two parts. the first is 'future world' which doesnt really reflect the attractions. here there is the 'cool club' where u can test many different soft drinks from around the world. also there is the energy tour which is guided by a recording of ellen degeneres, but sadly i missed this as it was a 45min ride. there is also the test track ride, where u sit in a 'test car' as the car is put through fake tests (such as driving fast lol). the other part of the park is the 'world showcase' where they have recreated many famous iconic buildings from around the world. its incredible, although most of the buildings are much smaller than the real ones, they look great. yeah its amazing, (having morning tea by the eiffel tower lol)
tonight we are going to see the fireworks at epcot, where they have 6000 different fireworks!!!
tonight we are going to see the fireworks at epcot, where they have 6000 different fireworks!!!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
good times and bad times
we left the following morning to go look at camera shops, unfortunately all the close shops were closed. so we drove to international drive, which is a long street covered with shops and museums. we found a camera/electronics shop advertised in a tourist guide we had. we went in and the guy was really pushy and kept dropping the price of the cameras "just for us". eventually he offered me a fujifilm finepix F480 for $199. he had told us that it was worth between $400 and $500, but was originally selling it at an already reduced price of $250. it looked nice enough, was black, reasonably slim (not that small tho...) had 8.2 megapixels, and a 2.7 inch screen. i bought it thinking i had a really good deal.
after this we went home, put the camera on a charger and went off to disneys animal kingdom.
the animal kingdom was amazing, it was a mix of a theme park, a zoo, a safari, and a movie set. there were not many theme park rides, but what there was, was amazing. the everest rollercoaster took u to the top of a massive manmade mountain, then dropped u backwards into the dark! then after a few sharp turns, and "almost loops' it then let u out into the light, down a massive drop!! it was awesome!
the only other good rides was a whitewater rafting thing which absolutely soaks u, and smaller rollercoaster. the zoo part was nice, it was really well shaded, which was nice, and they had gorillas :)
the safari part was a ride through a massive piece of africa. its the biggest (size) ride in all the disney parks. it was great too, benedict loved it even though he was sick, and had been throwing up. apart from these all the walkways and shops had been built to replicate parts of the world. the best was asia, which looked incredibly realistic
after a great day here, we went back to the hotel. when we arrived I began watching tv, when I heard dad talking on the phone. he had been on the internet and checked other prices of the camera I had bought that morning, the RRP was $179, not $400 to $500. he asked if we could take it back, but it said on the docket that there were no refunds or replacements. it turns out there was nothing we could do. I was angry that night, but am over it now. the camera is reasonable, and I wasnt planning on using it for proper photography so it will still suit my needsthat night dad, dom, and I went out to downtown disney. its a lakeside covered in shops. it was really cool, and took my mind off the camera ordeal
the following day we went to disney/mgm studios. this is a disney park based on movies. this is where the tower of terror is and the rockin' rollercoaster starring areosmith. both were incredible. the tower of terror is a tower which lits u up then repeatedly drops u, while the areosmith ride is a rollercoaster through the dark, with loops and corkscrews. it accelerates from 0-60mph (100km/h) in 2.8sec
after this we went home, put the camera on a charger and went off to disneys animal kingdom.
the animal kingdom was amazing, it was a mix of a theme park, a zoo, a safari, and a movie set. there were not many theme park rides, but what there was, was amazing. the everest rollercoaster took u to the top of a massive manmade mountain, then dropped u backwards into the dark! then after a few sharp turns, and "almost loops' it then let u out into the light, down a massive drop!! it was awesome!
the only other good rides was a whitewater rafting thing which absolutely soaks u, and smaller rollercoaster. the zoo part was nice, it was really well shaded, which was nice, and they had gorillas :)
the safari part was a ride through a massive piece of africa. its the biggest (size) ride in all the disney parks. it was great too, benedict loved it even though he was sick, and had been throwing up. apart from these all the walkways and shops had been built to replicate parts of the world. the best was asia, which looked incredibly realistic
after a great day here, we went back to the hotel. when we arrived I began watching tv, when I heard dad talking on the phone. he had been on the internet and checked other prices of the camera I had bought that morning, the RRP was $179, not $400 to $500. he asked if we could take it back, but it said on the docket that there were no refunds or replacements. it turns out there was nothing we could do. I was angry that night, but am over it now. the camera is reasonable, and I wasnt planning on using it for proper photography so it will still suit my needsthat night dad, dom, and I went out to downtown disney. its a lakeside covered in shops. it was really cool, and took my mind off the camera ordeal
the following day we went to disney/mgm studios. this is a disney park based on movies. this is where the tower of terror is and the rockin' rollercoaster starring areosmith. both were incredible. the tower of terror is a tower which lits u up then repeatedly drops u, while the areosmith ride is a rollercoaster through the dark, with loops and corkscrews. it accelerates from 0-60mph (100km/h) in 2.8sec
at this park was also the backlot tour and the great movie ride. apart from the rides there are large shows put on. we saw the indiana jones stunt show, and lights motors action. this is a show involving lots of fast cars, motorbikes and fire
it was great
because benedict was still sick, he only arrived with mum at 5oclock. we saw the dancing light show, which is where a street covered in lights, flashes in time to music
last night both dad and I, got sick with some stomach bug. we think it was from a curry we had at disney/mgm studios. because of that, and because bendict is still sick we decided to take a day off
thats why im able to write this blog
even though I now have a camera, we have had troubles getting the photos onto the computer, so I will post them when we have figured this out
all the formatting seems to have screwed up so im sorry if there are random fullstops etc
Sunday, December 2, 2007
we arrived at the airport about 5 hours early because we had arranged to meet up with the english people who were coming to live in our house, and their flight came in then. after meeting them we had to wait around until our flight which wasnt secuduled to come until 7:30. when we checked in they then told us that it was delayed. we didnt leave until after 9. and after the first hour the airport was incredibly boring, luckily they gave us meal coupons for dinner.
the flight to LA was fine, we had TVs in all the seats so we could watch movies, and listen to music. when we arrived in LA 12 hours later, we collected the car we had hired, and went our hotel. after moving our bags in, we went and got starbucks, which was soon followed by dinner. we had been planning on driving around LA and seeing beverly hills, the hollywood sign, venice beach etc, but didnt have time because of the delay on the flight.
we left early the next morning, to catch our flight to orlando. this was ok, but the plane only had small tvs which were shared between about 20 people. then again i didnt really feel the need to watch the grinch anyway. after arriving in orlando we picked up our new car, and went to our new hotel. for dinner that night we went to an italien 'family resturant' which turned out to be much better than what i expected. (it wasnt like dennys after the afterball...).
today we finally went to disneyworld!
we went to 'the magic kingdom' which is similar to the disneyland in LA. it was amazing. splash mountain and space mountain were definitely the best, but pirates of the caribbean was also great! (capt jack is now in it!!!)
ps sorry for no pictures yet, i havnt bought a camera yet (hopefully will tomorrow).
the flight to LA was fine, we had TVs in all the seats so we could watch movies, and listen to music. when we arrived in LA 12 hours later, we collected the car we had hired, and went our hotel. after moving our bags in, we went and got starbucks, which was soon followed by dinner. we had been planning on driving around LA and seeing beverly hills, the hollywood sign, venice beach etc, but didnt have time because of the delay on the flight.
we left early the next morning, to catch our flight to orlando. this was ok, but the plane only had small tvs which were shared between about 20 people. then again i didnt really feel the need to watch the grinch anyway. after arriving in orlando we picked up our new car, and went to our new hotel. for dinner that night we went to an italien 'family resturant' which turned out to be much better than what i expected. (it wasnt like dennys after the afterball...).
today we finally went to disneyworld!
we went to 'the magic kingdom' which is similar to the disneyland in LA. it was amazing. splash mountain and space mountain were definitely the best, but pirates of the caribbean was also great! (capt jack is now in it!!!)
ps sorry for no pictures yet, i havnt bought a camera yet (hopefully will tomorrow).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)