Last day in Chicago

I leave Chicago pouring with rain and storming (assuming I do leave Chicago given the weather).
Its been a busy couple of days. I have been on an architecture tour of the river, to a few more museums, seen a hiphop version of Shakespeare (hilarious), been to one of Chicago's best cocktail lounges and seen a ball game.

More photos of Chicago

Chicago

Goodmorning.

Having a great time in Chicago.
Jody, Luke and I did the L.A.T.E. bike ride at 2:00am on Sunday morning with 10,000 other people. It was crazy.

Going to hit the museums today!

Bye
Megan

Hi All
I'm in Chicago after a whirlwind few days in NY.
It's very pretty in Chicago, I went to the beach this morning and had a swim in Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, the lifeguards don't like you swimming where you can't touch and chased me in a row boat and was very annoyed when he caught up (Americans are very officious).
Here are some photos of Norfolk.

And here is central park NY.



Bye

Megan

Hello

Travelled to Norfolk from Manchester today. Had a good time in Manchester.

Went to an old country estate that was built in the 1300's.

Alot of work had gone into making it look realistic (perhaps too much).

Anyway here are some more pics of Manchester.

And this ones for Shane


Bye

Megan

Hello from London

I'm staying at Jaime's place. Did a bit of sight seeing yesterday (a bit in awe of the architecture). Heading up to Manchester today.

Here are some pics

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Tokyo

Hi again

We're in Tokyo now and still having a good time. Since we last posted we have visited Kinkakuji temple in Kyoto, before we headed out into the Kiso Valley, we're we stayed in Tsumago. From there we walked along the Nasakendo trail to Magome.

Both towns are really pretty to walk around, looking much as they would have a hundred years or so ago. During the day, they become small tourist towns, with busloads of Japanese tourists and schoolchildren going around a small number of shops and restaurants and then by 4:30\5pm everything is shut again and we were virtually the only people walking around.

While we were there we stayed in a Ryokan and ate "traditional" Japanese food, mostly unreconisable to us, except for the crickets, which were crunchy and tasty!!

Now we are in Tokyo and spent yesterday and last night walking around the bright lights and we'll have a look at a few other things today.

Bye for now.

Shane and Megan

Kyoto

ohaiyo

Having a great time in Japan. We visited mountains near Tokyo called Hakone. Its a tourist mecca for Japanese, but was fairly quiet when we were there due to the unrelenting torrential rain. Turns out June is the wet season here. As you can imagine, a little bit of torrential rain did not stop us going hiking to see the volcanic gas vents that are around that area.

We are currently in Kyoto where there are temples everywhere. Temples do not get in the way of shopping malls however, they just build around them.

The Japanese have an electronic solution for everything. The toilet seats are something to behold, they warm up for you, wash your bottom, and even play running water sounds to help you along. You can also get almost anything in vending machines (see pic).

Bye

Love Megan and Shane

Going to Japan

Ok - so we're not in Vietnam anymore, but I don't know how to change the heading . . .

Anyway - here's our itinerary for Japan.

21 June 2008 - Arrive Tokyo and travel to Hakone
22 June 2008 - Explore Hakone and travel to Kyoto
23 and 24 June 2008 - Explore Kyoto and day trip to Nara
25 and 26 June 2008 - Travel to Tsumago and possibly walk to Magome
27 and 28 June 2008 - Back in Tokyo
29 June 2008 - Depart for London or Canberra

Hope to provide more along the way!

Shane

Birthday