*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* - From Spain to Space Mountain - Part 5

[fly4free2]

I started writing down what I need to pack today...I have NO idea how i'm going to pack all this stuff!! I did get a really cool carry-on today:

I wanted a backpack so that I don't have to leave anything at left luggage in London and can just get off my plane, head through customs, and head to the Heathrow Express so that I can do my bus tour since I only have like 9 hours there.

I'm so slacking on the FE front too...usually by now I would have everything done, but I just can't figure out what I want to do this time...

This looks really cool. I like a backpack sometimes too.

 

[Chirpee]

Wow, we are experiencing very hot weather at the moment - feels like you are in a sauna as soon as you step outdoors! They are forecasting an air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius (96.8F) for tomorrow, but with the humidity factored in it will feel like 47C (116.6F). Not bad for a city where in the winter we can get temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22F)! I do feel bad though for people who don't have air conditioning

 

[Chris&Jeremy]

US-Based Cruisers: Have You Ordered Your Pub Crawl T-Shirt(s)?

Just a reminder that orders for the pub crawl T-shirts close Friday night at midnight.

If you have not ordered yours and still wish to do so, please go to the following site:

Pub Crawl T-Shirt Order Form

Next week I'll be contacting each of you that ordered a shirt(s) to secure payment via Paypal and confirm your shipping address. I'll then place the order with CustomInk.

PM me with questions - thanks!

- Chris

 

[PFlamingo]

Here's my UNESCO list:

U.S.:

Mammoth Caves NP
Great Smoky Mountains NP

U.K.:

Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
City of Bath
Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall)
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
Tower of London
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Maritime Greenwich

Korea:

Jongmyo Shrine


I think it's funny that I've been to more U.K. sites than U.S. sites. Of course, the UK is a bit more compact than the States. And you have better public transportation there.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

This is my list:

Europe
Historic Centre of Vienna
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn
Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
Wachau Cultural Landscape
Old City of Dubrovnik
Palace and Park of Versailles
Vézelay, Church and Hill
Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments
Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes 9
Paris, Banks of the Seine
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Squar
Cologne Cathedral
Upper Middle Rhine Valley
Acropolis, Athens
Archaeological Site of Olympia
Old Town of Corfu
Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter & Andrássy Avenue
Historic Centre of Rome
Venice and its Lagoon
Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
Historic Centre of Siena
Historic Centre of the City of Pienza
Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)
Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata
Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites
Works of Antoni Gaudí
Historic City of Toledo

Mexico & Caribbean
Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza
Morne Trois Pitons National Park
Pitons Management Area

USA
Everglades National Park
Statue of Liberty
Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek # * 32
Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville

Joe's is longer b/c he's done a lot more Mexico travel than I have. I want to get some South American and Asian sites on there one of these days. Hmmm, the USA list is kind of embarassing...we really should set about seeing some of these sites here in the States.....

I think you are right there. We were GTY for one cruise and it did make a difference. Plus it was a very exciting few days when the rooms were allocated.

Any day now!

I went to see the movie this past Sat. I thought it was great! It's amazing how fast 2 hrs can go! Sad to know the movies are at an end, but I thought this movie was wa-a-a-a-a-ay better than the last one. They went out with a bang (of course....I still wish Harry had ended up with Hermoine, and Ron with.....well......not his sister Jenny! lol)

Deb, That's good to know. I was a little underwhelmed at Part 1 but couldn't tell if it was just b/c it didn't have a true ending or what.

Did you read that the actress that plays Hermione is going to be Belle for a Beauty & the Beast movie? My husband told me this today (with much displeasure b/c he does NOT think Hermione is pretty enough to be Belle!)

 

[giraffe104]

Josh, you are on the same flight as us

How awesome is that?! Small world.

 

[Rikersmom]

Liz, I also thought Deadly Hallows Part 1 was just okay. I thought Part 2 was better, but I was a bit disappointed. I know that it's a dark story, but I had hoped for a bit more fun. It was sad to think that the story has ended. I read all the books and have seen all the movies. Maybe someday there will be a "Next Generation" storyline.

 

[karentan]

Karen Tan do you sell this bag at your Disney store, it seems to only be available in the UK. I'm considering using it as a camera bag for my SLR and I need to know if the bag is made out of a strong enough fabric. All my research hasn't discovered whether it is fabric or some kind of plastic. Thanks for any help you can offer

We don't but if you ask Claire, she got the exact same bag in a recent disboards exchange!

 

[auntlynne]

Wow, we are experiencing very hot weather at the moment - feels like you are in a sauna as soon as you step outdoors! They are forecasting an air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius (96.8F) for tomorrow, but with the humidity factored in it will feel like 47C (116.6F). Not bad for a city where in the winter we can get temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22F)! I do feel bad though for people who don't have air conditioning

Okay, you could be living in Alabama with those numbers - and air conditioning is very common.

World Heritage Sites ....

Sydney Opera House
Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena - Colombia
Old Town of Corfu
Venice and its Lagoon
Costiera Amalfitana
Historic Area of Willemstad, Inner City and Harbour, Curaçao
Works of Antoni Gaudí
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd - Wales
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

Here's my UNESCO list:

U.S.:

Mammoth Caves NP


U.K.:

Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall)
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Maritime Greenwich

Korea:

Jongmyo Shrine

This is my list:

Europe
Historic Centre of Vienna
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn
Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
Wachau Cultural Landscape
Old City of Dubrovnik
Palace and Park of Versailles
Vézelay, Church and Hill
Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments
Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)
Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Squar
Cologne Cathedral
Upper Middle Rhine Valley
Acropolis, Athens
Archaeological Site of Olympia
Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter & Andrássy Avenue
Historic Centre of Rome
Historic Centre of Siena
Historic Centre of the City of Pienza
Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)
Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites
Historic City of Toledo

Mexico & Caribbean

Morne Trois Pitons National Park
Pitons Management Area

USA

Kluane / Wrangell-St Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek # * 32

That makes 75 different sites among us. (I deleted those on each list which duplicated one already listed). Only 861 to go and we will have seen all those currently listed.

 

[middleofamerica]

I, too, was inspired to look up how many UNESCO sites we've visited. Here's our list:

Europe:

1. Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
2. Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn
3. Historic Centre of Vienna
4. La Grand-Place, Brussels
5. Historic Centre of Brugge
6. Historic Centre of Prague
7. Palace and Park of Versailles
8. The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes
9. Paris, Banks of the Seine
10. Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
11. Upper Middle Rhine Valley
12. Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen
13. Vatican City
14. Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue
15. Historic Centre of Rome
16. Historic Centre of Florence
17. Piazza del Duomo, Pisa
18. Venice and its Lagoon
19. Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht
20. Old City of Berne
21. Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
22. Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
23. City of Bath
24. Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
25. Tower of London
26. Frontiers of the Roman Empire

US/Canada:

1. Mesa Verde National Park
2. Grand Canyon National Park
3. Independence Hall
4. Mammoth Cave National Park
5. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
6. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
7. Statue of Liberty
8. Yosemite National Park
9. Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
10. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
11. Historic District of Old Québec

So that put us at 37...that semester in Vienna really added up! We'll be up to 38 after seeing the Gaudi sites. Could have been 39, but I didn't feel like seeing the Puebla de Taos when we went skiing there. The skiing was too good to go "sightseeing"!

 

[auntlynne]

...I want to get some South American and Asian sites on there one of these days. ...

I want to do South America and Antartica just to finish off the 7 continents (this has been my wish for the last few years, so I imagine I will be working on making it happen). That's the way it usually goes - so if that's the case, does that mean I never really wanted to get married, cause it never happened.

 

[middleofamerica]

Wow, we are experiencing very hot weather at the moment - feels like you are in a sauna as soon as you step outdoors! They are forecasting an air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius (96.8F) for tomorrow, but with the humidity factored in it will feel like 47C (116.6F). Not bad for a city where in the winter we can get temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22F)! I do feel bad though for people who don't have air conditioning

Sorry, but I think we sent it up your way. Of course, it's still here, too. We were 104 today, but only 109 heat index. Last week our heat index was up as high as 118. I report the weather here and I think people are getting sick of me with the not-so-great forecast. Oh what we'd give to have a cold front. Why is that Canadians only share their cold fronts with us in the winter months? We'd much rather have them in July!

 

[auntlynne]

I, too, was inspired to look up how many UNESCO sites we've visited. ...

So that put us at 37...that semester in Vienna really added up! We'll be up to 38 after seeing the Gaudi sites. Could have been 39, but I didn't feel like seeing the Puebla de Taos when we went skiing there. The skiing was too good to go "sightseeing"!

Here are your "unique" visits:

Europe

Historic Centre of Brugge
Historic Centre of Prague
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen
Vatican City
Historic Centre of Florence
Venice and its Lagoon
Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht
Old City of Berne
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch

US/Canada
Mesa Verde National Park
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Yosemite National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Historic District of Old Québec

That's 90 distinct places. Makes us quite the worldly heritage travelers.

 

[auntlynne]

I just got bummed out - found out that New Zealand is not of the Australian continent, that it is actually on a different continental shelf. So now I need to go to Australia to have that continent on my list. My bucket list just grew.

COUNTRIES VISITED

Asia

China

Europe

Belgium
France
Italy
Malta
Portugal
Spain
UK - England
UK - Wales

Africa

Tunisia
Zambia
Zimbabwe

North America

Belize
Canada
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
USA

Regional Places
(Islands not a part of a continent - Caribbean, for example)

New Zealand
The Bahamas

I don't count countries where I've just been in the airport (the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Kenya, El Salvador).

 

[Pinky166]

Karen Tan do you sell this bag at your Disney store, it seems to only be available in the UK. I'm considering using it as a camera bag for my SLR and I need to know if the bag is made out of a strong enough fabric. All my research hasn't discovered whether it is fabric or some kind of plastic. Thanks for any help you can offer

Hi Karen,

I have this bag. It is not made of fabric it's like a thin canvas type of material. Although I really like the bag personally I wouldn't use it for a camera bag, my SLR is too precious. I think the camera would get knocked about and scratched by everything else in the bag.

It's more of a hand luggage type bag or an overnight bag.

Hope that helps.

 

[squitty]

Morning all

Can't believe my countdown is going to say 49 days in a couple of hours. How fast is it going

Well yesterday I managed to find some masks for Villains night, so I can start decorating them - when I find some things to decorate them with

Would've loved to come to the meet down South, but just a little bit too far for us. Hope you have a great time though

 

[Pinky166]

Here's my rather pitiful list......I am ashamed at the UK section!



Australia
1. Great Barrier Reef
2. Ulura-kata Tjuta National Park
3. Greater Blue Mountains Area
4. Sydney Opera House


Italy
5. Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See
6. Vatican City



Mauritius
7. Le Morne Cultural Landscape


Tanzania
8. Ngorongoro Conservation Area
9. Serengeti National Park
10. Kilimanjaro National Park


UK
11. Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
12. Tower of London


USA
13. Grand Canyon National Park
14. Statue of Liberty

 

[Tod&Copper]

That sounds perfect.

So mental note to me, champagne under the stars at Gibraltar - full moon - lovely

There are quite a few " White noise" apps for I- devices, just check search "White Noise" in the app shop.

I have several free ones, rainstorms, waterfalls, wind chimes.......

Most have a in built timer that turns them off automatically after a set time.

Some of the Paid apps allow you create your own noise by recording it and then playing it back on a loop, so if you miss your neighbours dog howling while you are away on the cruise, now you can take it with you...

The howling sound, not the actual dog

SW

Thanks Warren, I got a fab little free white noise app


UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES

After looking at all your lists, I thought I would check out where I have been:-

UK

1 Tower of London
2 Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret’s Church
3 Old & New Towns of Edinburgh
4 Maritime Greenwich
5 New Lanark
6 Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City

Sweden

7 Royal Domain of Drottningholm

France

8 Cathedral of Notre Dame, Reims
9 Paris, Banks of the Seinne
10 The Loire Valley, between Sully sur Loire and Chalonnes

Greece

11 Medieval City of Rhodes
12 Old Town Corfu

Italy

13 Historic Centre of Rome
14 Vatican City
15 Historic Centre of Florence
16 Historic Centre of Naples
17 Pompei and Herculaneum
18 Assisi

Malta

19 City of Valletta

Poland

20 Historic Centre of Krakow
21 Wieliczka Salt Mine
22 Auschwitz Birkenau

Portugal

23 Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belem, Lisbon

San Marino

24 San Marino Historic Centre

Spain

25 Works of Antoni Gaudi


Hopefully this will add a few more to our total list of sites visited between us all

 

[Pinky166]

So mental note to me, champagne under the stars at Gibraltar - full moon - lovely

Most definitely!!!!

 

[auntlynne]

...Can someone tell me what brands/varieties of draft beer they have on the ship? I prefer draft to cans or bottles when available.

I know you asked about draft; here's what they were selling at the Pirate Buffet on the first Med cruise in 2010 (they still would have had stock brought over from the US).