Vegas

29/1

We left Anaheim at 8am, checked in at the airport, Jacinta's luggage, again 3 pounds over, quick re shuffle and we were on the plane. Arrived in Las Vegas at 12:30pm, a beautiful sunny day and an airport complete with poker machines as far as the eye can see, checked into the hotel (huge hotel), first stop New York New York. We'd seen the rollercoaster from the ground and shakily headed for the ride. YAHOOO!! Back for a re-ride!

Now we jumped on a bus and toured the Strip. Checked out a few souvenier shops and headed for the outback steakhouse for tea (as Australian as Americans can get), with sore feet we headed back to the hotel.

30/1

First stop Luxor Hotel for the exhibition of the Bodies, then it was ESPN Zone for lunch, where we ate in reclining leather chairs, drinking jugs of beer (Mum), whilst watching Nadal beat Verdasco, from here we climbed the Eifel Tower, visited Madam Tussauds, rode a gondala up the canals of Venice before heading back to the Excalibur for Tournaments of the Kings.

Bye for now, tomorrow back to LA for Universal Studios.

Oh and Andrew, as you obviously didn't want a pen from Harrods, we found one for you, Las Vegas style

Disneyland

On 26th January we left Modesto at 5am, and set off for Anaheim, 8 hours later we arrived. After ringing to confirm our transfers and finding out they didn’t exist, we set out looking for food and then on to Downtown Disney where we shopped in very expensive Disney stores and ate tea at EPSN Zone.

The next morning we were off for our first day in California Adventure Park and Disneyland. We rode California Screaming and since it was the best, including a loop we had to ride it again. After having lunch on the Pacific Wharf and shopping for a while, and riding the many other rides, we exited and headed for Disneyland. Here we walked down Main Street USA, and rode various rides including Splash Mountain (where we got a little wet). At the end of the night, we watched Fantasmic, a fireworks show about the power of imagination.

On our last day in Anaheim, we explored the rest of the Disneyland, experiencing a virtual Star Wars ride, Finding Nemo, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Matterhorn Mountain Bobsled, and again Splash Mountain, where we got absolutely soaked, plus many more. We met Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Pooh Bear, Tigger & Goofy. We took a ride on the Mark Twain River Boat and again watched the Fantasmic Show before our last trip into Downtown Disney. On the way home we stopped at Captain Kidds for a buffet dinner. Our feet were sore and we were glad to see our beds.

Outlet Shopping

We started today by sending a box load of luggage home, then set off for Tracey, where there are outlet shops, much like Harbour Town, but cheaper. We possibly bought as much as we sent, so not sure if it made much of a difference. Now we will display some of our purchases.

San Francisco- Alcatraz

Set off at 8am, for San Francisco.

An hour and a half later, we arrived in a warm sunny San Francisco, to the tune of Funky Town. Hopped on the ferry and headed for Alcatraz. In the distance it looked quite small, however after climbing the many steps, not so small. We wandered through the cells (tiny cells), were locked in solitary confinement (the hole), pitch black, blacker than you've ever seen (or not seen). We spoke with Joyleen, who lived on the island as a child, as her father was a prison guard. She said life was very normal, crime free. They went to school in San Francisco, and came and went from island as they pleased.

As we left we found a store that sold sunnies, so we all bought a pair, including 2 pairs of shutters.

After this, we completed our tour and then boarded the ferry to head back to San Francisco for lunch. Then it was shopping at the mall, yipee!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISH!!!

Warwicks

Spent the last 2 days in England, in Warwicks. Went to Warwicks Castle, a castle pretty much older than Australia and still in great condition. Climbed the towers, walked through the dungeons. Also went to Kenilworth Castle, Kenilworth is about 10 minutes from Warwick Castle, however, it was bombed during WW2 by the Germans and therefore has not faired so well. After this went shopping, out for tea and bowling. Mum drank pints of Fosters whilst bowling.

Then it was off to the airport to begin our next adventure, and again it was an adventure.

Arrived in LA to a beautiful warm 26C. Cruised through immigration and customs, then headed to checkin for San Francisco, only to be told our cases were to heavy. We could either pay excess, or buy dufel bags to spread the weight. As having come from an international flight we were allowed to have as many bags as we wanted but all had to be under 50 pounds. With this sorted and $50 later, we arrived in San Francisco.

England

Over the last few days we have been through London, we have been to Harrod's the men's wear section look exatly like harris scarfs although it is a lot more expensive, and we walked through the stationary section and saw a pen for 18500 pounds (approx $37000 aust), we also visited the Princess Diana & Diodi memorial on the bottom floor of Harrods. We went to the London Dungeon, where we were lead through different scenario's from old England, these included a maze, a doctors surgery from the time of the plague and a bar and street tormented by Jack the Ripper. We also experienced a free fall, to simulate being hung. We took a boat ridedown the river to the O2 centre (Greenwich) and had ice cream at Haagen Daaz. Before ending thre night with the Lion King musical. It was possibly the most amazing thing we have ever seen.

We have also been to Trafalgar Square where we saw frozen fountains, to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, the Natural History Museum, where we saw T-Rex, the Blue Whale and Elephants. We experienced snow on Oxford Street before having lunch at Garfunkle's Restuarant. We ended our day with a trip to the biggest toy store in the UK, Hamley's. We went through all 6 floors, looking at a wide selection of toys, Ben bought a weird flying gizmo, and I bought a Matar toy. However not a Maisy in sight.. No wonder they can fit so amny people in London, half of them spend their days on the Underground.

Arrival in London

Flight was due to leave Dehli at 3:05am, when the announcement came telling us that it was now 4:30am, then 5am. We finally boarded at 4:45 and took off at 6am. Arrived in Frankfurt 8 hours later at 9am where we were greeted by beautiful snow covered fields and a cool fresh tempurature of -8C, our trackies felt like sheets of ice against our legs. Having missed our flight to London, we were told our new flight was at 12:30. When we went to checkin we were told we were booked on the 10:45 flight, however Mum had no ticket. After much confusion, we managed to get seats all over the plane. Arrived at Heathrow at 1.20pm, only to discover that Bibi's and Ben's cases were still in Frankfurt. Having to complete forms for them to deliver the cases we finally got out of the airport at 3:30.

After a 50 minute drive, we arrived at Rachael's house, only to be informed their boiler had broken. Which meant no heating or hot water, no showers!!! So we trudged to Charlies mum's to have showers, after going to Tesco's to buy Ben some new clothes so he didn't have to go to Paris naked.

Up early on the 7th and off to Paris. We got to Paris and at about 12pm and were driven to our hotel. But as Mum had no vouchers for anything in Paris we didn't know anything about our arranged tour. So after a short wait we set off looking for food and on our own tour of Paris. We jumped on a bus, where as Ben wasn't feeling well he vomited in his hat(luckily he'd just bought a new one) and headed off, past the Arc de Triomphe, to the Eiffle Tower where we walked under the tower and through a snow filled park, on the hunt for a toilet. We had photo's in our Port gear. Then it was off to Musee du Louvre where the fountains were frozen and we saw the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. We also saw medieval times Louvre and Roman Statues. Before leaving we bought souveniers. As we were short of time, we didn't get to get off at Notre Damn, however, we took photo's as we went past. As I was taking photo's on the roof of the open air bus, I gave some advice to another lady who was also taking photos, she thanked me whilst also criticising me about being a Port supporter, turns out she was an Essendon supporter.

We went to a fancy french restaurant for tea and tried snails, they tasted like garlicy snot, Mum liked them. Mum had her champagne in Paris, at a great expense. Then as Ben wasn't well it was back to the hotel for bed.

This morning we left the hotel at 9am only to find Paris doesn't actually wake until about 10:30, and there is no such thing as crepes for breakfast. We finally settled for pastries, then headed out for last minute souveniers. Finally we discovered a restaurant that served crepes and hot chocolate, whilst having breakfast Ben accidently deleted all our photos of Paris, at that point Mum was ready to head back to London without him. We quietly got up and headed back to our hotel for our pick up.

When we arrived back in London, Charlie managed to recover some of our photos, Ben was allowed to live another day.

Now we are looking at what we will be doing over the next few days.

5th January

On the 1st of January, Massi, Preet and Jassi returned to England and we went to Mum’s home town, Bilga, to stay for a couple of nights. Whilst there, we learnt all about Mum’s peculiar childhood habits. She would go to others farms and offer to help people pick potatoes, only if she could take some home, and then would be seen walking back into town with her pants rolled up to her knees, the sack of potatoes on her back and sucking on a sugar cane.

We were also told by another neighbour about mum catching mice in small containers. The same neighbour who used to sell dhal in the bazaar where mum would go and help herself. During this visit there were also many references made to Mum’s turban wearing days.

We had mendhi done professionally and Mum also had a facial, whilst Ben was riding around town on a motorbike. We went for a walk to the farm, and visited where Papa was cremated. Along with meeting more family. On the way home, we visited the local jail/police station. Bibi asked if they could lock Ben in a cell but the policeman thought he may get frightened.

We have made many visits to the bazaar today, for last minute things, including, to collect Ben’s full size flag. Now we sit by the fire reflecting on the fun we have had here.

Our last day in India, an early start. A sad farewell at 9am, and promises of returning in a couple of years. 3 hours later, we arrived in Amritsar, with a packed lunch of rhoti and mango pickle. As we entered the car park, the military checked our car for weapons (if we had any they would take them and return them to us when we left the car park). We cleared customs, which was heavily manned by the Indian army, only to discover our flight had been delayed. Scheduled time of departure was 2:40pm, we finally take to the air at 4pm.

We arrive at Indra Ghandi International Airport, at about 5:15pm. Where Mum and I tormented Ben with comments about how many Air India planes there were on the tarmac (see 18th December-Singapore). On our trip from the Domestic terminal to the International terminal we saw signs of the high military presence in Dehli. We passed one particular point just outside the International terminal where the army stood with their rifles mounted and ready to fire. Even on our bus was a soldier with his rifle. Now we sit for 6 hours awaiting check in, at 12am. Mum had her first coffee, since Singapore. Ben spent his 6 hours moaning and wandering back and forth to the food village.

Bye from India, next stop Europe.