Thursday, August 24, 2006

new blog

i moving my blog to a different address. from now on my blog can be found at http://web.mac.com/andrewshortt/iWeb/Andrews%20Summer/home.html. i think you'll like the new one.

Ch Ch Ch Changes!

Ok so theres some change in the air. I'm gonna postpone the Chicago stuff for a few days. I'm workin on somethin. Watch this space!!!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Day 2

Today has been interesting so far. Last night we went on a cruise around the harbour area on this big yacht. They served dinner and had a band and stuff. We were sitting at the dock for ages while we waited for some late passengers and they served us our starters. By the time our main course was coming we were leaving the dock and heading out to sea (or lake in this case). Thats when it all went pear shaped. The boat started going back and forth, back and forth and all of a sudden, Andrew didn't feel so good. To cut a long story short I spent the next three hours outside because if I sat down something terrible would've happened. I tried to eat the food but even the smell of it didn't help. Despite all that it turned out to a fairly good night. It was great craic and there was an incredible fireworks display around 10 over the water. By the time we got back to the dock I wasn't feeling too bad and we walked back to the hotel.

The amazing thing was even when I got up this morning I still felt really woozy and dizzy. I still am! I went to the Museum of Comtempory Art this morning which is just around the corner from the hotel. It was really cool, although when I stopped to look at a painting, it was always "Is it just me or is that picture moving?". It was me most of the time. There was great exhibits using lights and mirrors. My favourite was 36 oil barrels filled with water with 4 flat screen TVs hanging over them so the picture was reflected by the water. V cool! The other one I really liked was like a story this guy wrote about an insomniac who believed Chicago was being infiltrated by pirates! He had it all illustrated and numerous storylines going on at the sme time. Its kinda hard to explain it properly but thats the basics of it anyway.

Got some lunch after that and headed for the beach to watch the air and water show again. I only got to see some of it yesterday so I caught the rest of it today. They had all the stealth bombers and jets. It was really cool! So i'm just chillin now. Theres a reception thing I have to go to at half 6 and then we'll had out for dinner. Thats about the height of it. Headin to the King Tut exhibition tomorrow. Cant wait.

Lata

Saturday, August 19, 2006

I've arrived

Hey howdy hey! Got into Chicago lastnight around 6 o clock or so. We left Ireland around 11 in the morning so it took us around 12 to 13 hours. We flew through Atlanta even though there is a direct flight from Dublin. Someone (Dad) wanted to use Delta so it took us a while longer.

Haven't done a whole lot yet. Mostly planning the next few days. I've made a list of things I want to see and do and have started buying the tickets etc. Theres a exhibition of Egyption stuff on in one of the museums that includes King Tuts coffin thing and loads of other cool old things. I've been told to go see the Science and Industry Museum which has just opened a Da Vinci Code interactive thing. That should be interesting. The Museum of Modern Art is on the list as well. Our hotel is on Michigan Avenue so itskinda hard to avoid doing some shopping. It'll be tough but i'll do my best!!

We seemed to have come at a good time because beside from all those things, theres a big air and water show on today. We spent a huour or two sitting on the beach watching loads of military jets fly by and do twirlly things. Great fun, especially the old planes that do all the acrobatics like diving and looping and flying straight up and falling back down until he nearly hits the water!! Crazzzy!

Anyway gotta go so i'll post again soon!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Washington DC

We got into Washington DC on Friday night, well it was more Saturday morning really. We left Dublin at 9 in the morning and got to JFK eventually. Then it all went pear shaped. There was bad weather in New York so we were delayed for 6 hours!! Its never easy. We were actually lucky to get out because a lot of flights were cancelled including all the other flights to Washington. But anyway we got there eventually and had a good nights sleep!

Had a good sleep in on Saturday morning and after a great breakfast we went for a walk along the canal that runs beside our hotel. It was really nice and really well kept in comparison to Dublins canals. From there we walked onto M street (such a cool name for a street). There were tonnes of really nice shops all along this street so we stopped and had a look around.



That night we went on a nightime tour of the city. This was a really cool way to see the sity and all the sights when they were lit up. We were taken to most of the memorials like Roosevelts, Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam War and the World War II memorial. The only problem was that it was hard to take good photos at night. Anyway here are the best of the photos.


The Lincoln Memorial


Me and Dad inside the Lincoln Memorial


The Korean Memorial.


The Roosevelt Memorial was a series of waterfalls, fountains and ponds. It was beautiful at night when it was all lit up.


More of the Roosevelt Memorial.


Mum and I at the lake beside the Roosevelt Memorial. It was still about 90F at 10 o clock at night!

So the next day we went for a walk around the city. The White House was a short walk from the hotel so it was a good place to start.




We seen some intersting buildings along the way as well. There were so many big buildings like the Treasury Department etc that I lost track of which was which.




Later that day we went down towards Chinatown and stopped into the International Spy Museum. Unfortunatly I couldn't take photos inside sut it was a really interesting place. It showed all the gadgets and techniques they used during the two World Wars and the Cold War. They also showed the influence espionage had on popular culture in the form of movies and TV shows etc.


On our last day in Washington we took a bus tour to see the city in daylight this time. Our first stop was at my favourite statue. The memorial to the Marines just beside Arlington Cemetary.









When then moved onto Arlington Cemetary and luckily took the shuttle bus tour. 5 people had collapsed during the day from the heat while walking around so we were all for the bus tour!


JFKs Grave






Bobby Kennedy's grave

We were just in time as well for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. I really felt sorry for the guy because it was around 100 degrees and he was in full uniform. the tour guide said the tomb hasn't been unguarded since the 1920s through snow, hurricanes and 365 days a year. Not an easy job!










We then moved onto the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. We had seen these already only at night so we visited the two war memorials again but skipped the Lincoln Memorial.




















Theres an intersting story to this wall. When the memorial was being designed, the creators wanted to have 38 statues of soldiers to represent the 38 degree latitude that marked the border between North and South Korea. However Congress wouldn't give them enough land to build on. So instead they built 19 soldiers and placed them beside the granite wall so when you looked ath the wall you could see the reflection of the statues and therefore there were 38. Genius!

So thats it really. I'm back at work now for the next week and a half or so and then its off to Chicago for a few days. Madness.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Did ya miss me?

Just got back from DC this morning and luckily got the day off work cause i'm wrecked. I've got loads of pictures and videos from Washington but i'll put them all up at one time when I get them. It'll probably be Sunday night when I get back to Castleblayney. It was incredible. I had so much fun and got to see loads of what Washington had to offer.

Anyway Iwont elaborate too much and i'll save it for when I put up the photos.