Museum of Flight

Our final day in Seattle turned educational for the boys - a trip to the Museum of flight.  A fantastic display of planes from the two world wars, as well as a collection of more modern aircraft, including walk on access to a British Airways concorde and  Air Force 1 from the 1960s.used by such greats as Kennedy and Nixon!.  Our skills were put to the test landing on the moon and a space walk to fix the hubble telescope.  Of particular note was the motion sickness machine known as the 4D flight simulator in which we tried unsuccesfully to fly a P50 mustang in a dogfight - they won!

Theh day was finished off with a last night out in Seattle to a Jimmy rockets Diner. A malt shop to rival the best of happy days.

Dave

Seattle Days 1 & 2

We arrived in Seattle yesterday afternoon at 3pm after a 5 hour drive from Whistler.  Luckily our 4wd with driver was classified as a commercial vehicle and we were able to go through the fast lane at the border crossing (for other cars the wait was over an hour). 

We explored the city centre last night and today we went to the Pike Place Market, Space Needle and Sci Fi/Rock n roll museum.

Here are some photo's from the last two days.

Love to all

Sharon

Canucks vs Oilers

Yesterday we drove down from Whistler to Vancouver to see the Vancouver Canucks vs Edmonton Oilers in Ice Hockey.  These were the tickets I purchased for David's 50th Birthday present and I have to say it didn't disappoint!  Our seats were brilliant (quite a few times we ducked as a puck came our way but were protected by the perspex that envelopes the rink).  The atmosphere at the game was fantastic, the fans so enthusiastic - it was a lot of fun.  The Canucks ended up winning 3 to 2 and scored the winning goal in the last 30 seconds of the game. 

We also got to spend a night at one of Vancouver's premier hotels, Fairmont Pacific  Rim.  The views from the hotel room were absolutely awesome, you could see north and west vancouver and we were right next to Canada place where the large cruise ships come in.

Here are some of the photo's from last night.

Tonight is our last night in Whistler and we are heading to Seattle tomorrow morning/ 

Love to all

Sharon

Merry Christmas

Today we spent Christmas Day on the slopes at Whistler and tonight we are having a Turkey dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Merry Christmas from the Holdens

Day 3 Vancouver & Day 1 Whistler

Yesterday was our last day in Vancouver until the 31st of December and we went to Gastown and saw the steam operated clock there.  Gastown is also great for Antique shops and we visited one of the best ones.  Downstairs there are large cabinets with drawers and in each drawer are all kinds of interesting bits and pieces.  We also walked down to Canada Place where the big cruise ships dock, it has a wonderful view of the mountains beyond.

Today we got picked up at 10am and driven up to Whistler.  It has snowed all day and according to the weather man it will snow all day tomorrow as well.  We've organised our lift passes, snowboards & ski's so expect to be on the slopes all day tomorrow.  Mum is having an easy day exploring the village and will join us at dinner time.

Here are some pictures of Whistler taken today.  I am on the balcony of our loft room, David and Jack are in the middle of a snowball fight, and both the boys are in the Olympic rings displayed in the village.

Love to all

Sharon

Days 1 & 2 Vancouver

We arrived in Vancouver yesterday afternoon but as we all needed a nap we only made it out for dinner and to the bookshop afterwards.  The shops are open until about 10pm each night which is great.

Today we went to the Vancouver Aquarium and Granville Island (unfortunately I forgot photos at Granville).  The boys really enjoyed the Aquarium especially the otters, beluga whales and pacific white sided dolphins.

Here are some pictures from the Aquarium and our last day in Tokyo.

Love to all

Sharon

Tokyo Day 2

We had a really busy day yesterday as we left for a tour in the morning before 8am and got back to the hotel after 7pm last night.  Some of the places we saw were Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace Garden, Ginza shopping district, Hama-Rikyu Garden & Asakusa Kannon Temple.

Here are some photos from yesterday.



Anyway we are off to Vancouver this afternoon and very shortly we will be checking out of the hotel.  We hope to do some gift shopping between checking out and our limousine bus pick up.

Love to all

Shaz

Day 1 in Tokyo

Well we made it!  All  my worries about getting lost in Tokyo were for nothing.  The flight was uneventful except for a lot of turbulence over Western Australia due to some of the wild weather that Carnarvon and surrounding areas were having and the rest of the flight was very smooth.

Narita airport is very orderly and getting through immigration & customs was extremely fast.  We were able to exchange some currency, store our bigger pieces of luggage and book a place on the Airport Limousine (kind of like a large shuttle) within minutes.  We were on the Limousine within an hour of landing! 

It was a long drive into Tokyo proper and I was amazed at how big it was.  No wonder there are so many provinces!  We are staying at the Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku and amazingly found our way here with no troubles after being dropped at the local train station. 

Here is a photo near where we are staying.

I'll try to post tomorrow night as we are going on a tour that includes a cruise of the harbour which should be great.

Love to All

Sharon