My last words for this time

Walt Disney

Dear Diary

I just had to visit Disney World in Orlando, or its whole name Walt Disney World Resort. It was opened in 1971 and is one of the biggest amusement parks in the whole world. With its 120 km² it is even larger than Asker! I used my time there effective though, so I got to see the most of the park, and to put it in this way; I do not regret going. It was incredible and totally different than our own amusement park back home in Norway, Tusenfryd. There were loads of people and attractions everywhere you turned. It freaked me out a bit that things could be so overwhelming. Walt Disney sure knew his business!

The incredible Disney World

The characters

The next day I decided to do something I never had done before, and guess what I ended up doing!? I took the Orlando Sunrise Hot-Air Balloon Ride! We started our flight from Orlando and got to see a beautiful sunrise view over the city. Afterwards we received champagne toast before we went to the Best Western Lakeside for an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. We even got a Flight of Ascension certificate by our pilot afterwards. What a great way to start my day! Afterwards I just did a little shopping in the city, and it is amazing how cheap everything here is, I just can’t get over it.

By the way, I couldn’t resist going to the sump. So I went to Wakulla Springs State Park where the springs are the largest and the deepest which makes them perfect for snorkeling and swimming. I didn’t dare though. I was too frightened by all the alligators and turtles. But I did go on a safari, and I got to see the Wakulla Springs Park Slide Show too, which was awesome!

The sump

I've never liked crocodiles..

An amazing experience

The Orange County city of Winter Park was also a place that I felt drawn to. It is situated north Orlando and was once considered as a winter resort. However, today the city is filled with art and culture, which really got me interested. Both Rollins College and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of Natural Art lays here, and I truly learned a lot this day.

Later I also joined a couple of other tours, but I won’t bother telling you about everything, because it’ll be too much. I’ll just sum up the most important stuff. I went to the beautiful Panama City, the Sea world in Orlando, Miami (among others Miami Beach and Little Havana), Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale and more.

The shoppingstreets in Las Olas Boulevard is amazing!

The beach in Miami is idyllic and peaceful.

Miami at night is a beutiful view.

It is a big city too

The SeaWorld in Orlando had me entertained!

I’m leaving for New York tomorrow, but this will be my last diary article. In New York (The big Apple) I’ll probably visit the statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building, the St. Patrick Cathedral, the Museum of Modern Art, Wall Street and Central Park, if I’ll have enough time.

-          Hasta la vista!

More to tell..

Dear Diary

I’ll just start telling you about my last days in California, as I’m now in Florida. Since California has got more than 1, 1 miles of coastline, I had to give it a visit and it was truly amazing. The beaches were white and had huge waves cruising through the beautiful blue water. I couldn’t resist trying a surf board, but I had to give it up after a while. It takes a lot of practice to handle them, which I certainly didn’t manage. The beach volleyball suited me more. Additionally there were contests where you were supposed to build the best sandcastle. And the people attending truly knew what they were doing! They sure have an interesting culture her in America. Here are some of the castles:

They're amazing, right?

At the Ritz Carlton spa.

I also got dazzled at The Ritz Carlton’s spa in downtown L A. A full body massages and skin treatments made me feel like a million dollars afterwards. I left the building feeling totally refreshed and new.

A tour bus seemed to be a good idea, and so I followed it. It was a practical and effective way to see the whole city in just a couple of hours, and the city was huge. We even went through Hollywood, and guess who we saw, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt!

I’ve been really lucky with the weather; I haven’t seen any clouds yet! And when the rain finally decided to set its course towards LA, I was already on my way to the Sunshine State, Florida. The trip this time wasn’t as bad, and not nearly as long, but still my whole day went away travelling. I was tired too, so I didn’t bother to find a nice restaurant. Instead I went to get an easy traditional American meal, of the kind you’ll never spend much time looking for here, junk food. A double cheese burger, some fries and a large Pepsi sounded good, and turned out to taste okay as well.

The Florida State Flag

Florida is an American state and is the state laying the most south in USA. It borders to Georgia and Alabama in the north and to the Atlantic Ocean at the rest of its borders, as the coastline is extremely long. The governor of Florida is Charlie Christ and his political party is republican. The largest city is Jacksonville, however the capital is Tallahassee. Florida got its name by the adventurer Juan Ponce de León who went ashore the 2. of April 1513. Despite this fact, people have been living there for thousands of years, like the Indians. Later, the state has been fought over between settlers from Spain, France and England. Florida together with many other southern states declared themselves as independent during the American civil war, however when they lost the war in 1865 they reunited with USA in 1868. Many tourist attractions were built up in Florida during the 20th century and the military also put up many bases. Today Florida has a big population growth, because of immigration from Caribbean countries and people from other states moving there. Florida is the 4th most populous state after California, Texas and Pensacola.

That sounds to be enough for today. Right now I’m just hanging out in my hotel room here in Orlando, ready for bed. I’ll keep you updated!

- G2g (got to go)

An amazing day in LA

Dear Diary

Today I really learned a lot about California. I decided that before I went out exploring, I should gather some facts about the state just to give me a good start. Here are some of the facts I just found:

California (The Golden State) is a state on the west coast of the USA and the capital is Sacramento. However, the largest city is Los Angeles. It borders to Oregon in the north, Mexico in the south, Nevada and Arizona in the East and the Pacific Ocean in the vest. The governor of California is Arnold Schwarzenegger and his political party is republican. California is the state with the best economics in the USA and it is the leading place of computer industry.  The state is divided into 58 counties among Los Angeles which is the county that contains the highest number of inhabitants in the whole USA! California itself contains about 36 million inhabitants. A very interesting fact about the state is that one out of eight citizens in the USA lives in California, although it is only the third biggest state in area. Another funny fact is that their motto is “eureka”.  The climate in California is very much stabile throughout the year. It has mild and warm winters, and hot and dry summers. However, the climate all together in the whole USA is extreme, and it is well-known for its many different weather phenomenon. Tropical hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, huge temperature differences and enormous precipitation create big variation in the climate.

Here is the buiding it all takes place.

I figured that was enough info, and so I went out! My first stop was Madame Tussaud, just to ensure me that I actually saw a couple of famous faces. It is a wax-museum with famous persons made out of wax. The original museum is in London, but it has many branches in other major cities. Some of the cities are Berlin, New York, Dubai and Hong Kong. The newest museum is in Hollywood and was opened the 1^st of July 2009 and the founder was (obviously) Madame Tussaud, whose real name was Marie Tussaud. Marie Tussaud was born the 21^st of December 1761 in Strasburg in France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Phillipe Curtis who was the one to teach Marie the art of wax-modeling.

Double Beyonce, can you tell which one is fake?

I think i see a resemblance...

Michael is doing his dance.

Eddie smiling as always

Leonardo Dicaprio

Woods is focused

Tiger Woods, Eddie Murphy and Leonardo DiCaprio were just a few of many amazing wax-models I saw. And they all actually looked incredibly similar to the original persons. Impressing!

The Ivy

After my trip to Madame Tussaud, I decided to go to a famous and recommended restaurant called The Ivy. The Ivy is one of the most leading celebrity hangouts in the USA and since it is an open, patio restaurant paparazzies often camp outside across the street, hoping for photos of the celebrities. It is Demi Moors favorite restaurant and Beyonce, Lindsey Lohan, Mandy Moore and Christina Aguilera are only some of the celebrities who have been seen eating there. Disappointingly, I didn’t get to see any of them, but the food was great anyway.

And that was my day! I hope that tomorrow will be just as good as today, and I will hopefully find some different places to visit which are interesting too.

By the way, I’ve found myself a nice “Bed & Breakfast”, at some kind people’s place. Their names are June and Harry, and I got a warm welcome. I will only be staying her for a few days, though, as I’m planning to visit Florida and New York as well. I’ll keep you updated!

-          Cuwyl!( Catch up with you later)

The United States of America

Dear Diary

The trip to USA, California was awfully long, and I’m not looking forward to my return trip to Norway. It’s a good thing I’m staying here a while though, so that I may forget a bit about the boring journey, and maybe develop a bit of homesickness. However, since I spent that much time on the plane, I had to find something to do, so I looked at a couple of advertizes about California, to cheer me up and to prepare myself for what I should expect in the large state. Here is what one of them said:

“Who doesn’t want to go to California? It is a sunny and beautiful state and surfing on the beautiful beaches is only one of many funny and wonderful things to do. Not only is there entertaining, there is plenty of education too! You can visit historical events and go sightseeing in many of the biggest cities in the USA. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco among others are really worth visiting, and if you want you can go to the hometown of movie producing and popular culture, Hollywood. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Tom Hanks, Marilyn Monroe, Cameron Diaz, Tiger Woods and Leonardo DiCaprio are only a few of many famous persons growing up in Los Angeles. And who knows? If you get lucky, you might get to see them during your time there.”

This really got me excited. And I especially hope that I will meet some famous persons during my stay. I am now situated in L.A. at a beautiful and exclusive hotel named Four Seasons Los Angeles. Since all the luxury makes it very expensive, I’ll have to find somewhere else to sleep soon. But for now I’ll just relax and enjoy the rest of my evening, and think of what I can do tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated.

-          Seeya!(I’m in with the slang here in USA)

      PS:

 This is the American flag "Stars and Stripes." It consists of 13 stripes, one for each  original 13 colonies that rebelled against the British monarchy and became the first states in the union. The 50 stars represent the 50 states in USA today.