Today (or in Japan already yesterday), was a very sad day for me.
My beloved Takahashi Ai-chan graduated from Morning Musume.
I can't believe the era will be over...
During my first years of fandom in early 2004 (wow, almost 8 years now), she wasn't my favourite all along. She just seemed a little boring and dull, but I guess that was because she was drowning in the mass of girls.
But since 2006, she really started to shine and I've grown to love her voice, her dancing, her manscreams, her overreacting from time to time, her caring for all the members and her crying over each and every single one leaving.
And today it was herself.
I am so sad.
Being leader of group myself, maybe I can feel a little more sympathy with her, or maybe I'm just fooling myself. But sometimes I felt a connection, when I saw her encouraging the girls, trying to protect each and every one of them but sometimes you have to scold them and are misunderstood a lot.
When seeing this, I always felt love for her.
AI BELIEVE, you'll be alright! You're an amazing singer and entertainer and I'll be watching your steps from now on.
I won't stop being a Morning Musume Fan - I don't love them because of graduations and changing members ... I love them despite of it.
So please, even if Ai graduated, don't graduate as a fan!
Support Morning Musume and the new members, they deserve a chance!
I'm getting really tired over all the the Florida stuff and moreover, I've returned from my trip almost two months ago ... it's getting ridiculous. So, I'm going to end with the vacation posts soon, but today I wanted to finally write about something different again.
A week ago my grandparents had anniversary and to celebrate we all went to the apple festival in a nearby village. I don't know why, we don't like apples all that much, but since my grandparents have been married for over 61 years now, I wasn't saying anything and just went with them.
Although my grandma doesn't like my Lolitastyling very much (and by that I mean she's making fun of me), I wanted to go for a Casual outfit in apple colours. And when you think about apples, it has to have a green side ... and a poisenous red side right??
So that was my styling:
Well, strawberries on my skirt ... a what the heck. My coat doesn't fit very well and my shoes doesn't fit AT ALL, so I won't show you, haha.
In the end, we didn't see any apples (oh well) but a bunch of other cuties:
On the same day as Animal Kingdom, we've also been to Epcot Center ... which isn't very funny.
Maybe it's just me, but everything feels very grown up, that's too bad.
Epcot means: Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. SO it's the future, yay!!
...
Well of course it's not, I just wanted to say that.
The landmark is really impressive! It's Spaceship Earth and contains an attraction, where you fly through the society of tomorrow.
Actually, Epcot is a place, where you can learn a lot about environment, technology and more. I think it would be great for a class trip.
They also have this famous World Showcase, with several nations and building from their countries. UNFORTUNATLY my parents thought our ride home would arrive 2 hours earlier than it actually did, so we left the park way to early and had to rush through the World Showcase. I was kinda pissed.
All I got was my Orlando Hello Kitty from Japan and I wish I've had the time to look around more.
This was the German part:
I don't know, why they don't just call it Bavaria...
At the end of the day, we just went to dinner at a nearby Taco Bell and that was it. Really not that interesting, right?
As I've said, we had 3 days for all 4 Disney parks, so we had to decide which two were good enough for one day each and which two could be half. Of course Magic Kingdom needed a whole day! And Hollywood Studios have the Tower of Terror...
So for the first day, we wanted to see Animal Kingdom and Epcot Center! We also wanted to save money in form of parking fees, we decided to use the shuttle idea. Very. stupid. idea. Later I'll explain why.
We started at Animal Kingdom, because our guide said to get there early in order to actually see animals, which usually hide when it's too hot. BUT FIRST we wanted to take the great ride Expedition Everest.
After we convinced my mum, it wasn't a real roller coaster and totally easy (still don't know how we did this) she agreed to come with us. It was a little mean... true, it's not a real coaster, it has no loops, but it actually goes forward, backwards and in the dark. I loved it!
Then, we finally wanted to see some animals:
Wait ... some animals!
And they were all so busy sleeping! But actually you can watch more animals in every smaller zoo... At that point I noticed something. Is it possible, that a lot of Animal Kingdom's employees are disabled?? I'm not so sure, but it seemed like it.
We then took a ride for Dinoland:
But a big part of it was closed! Therefore, we took the Dinosaur ride two times, which was really fun.
We had lunch:
My second corndog ever. I've had one before in Tokyo, but it was really gross! So this time I wanted an authentic one. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! Too bad they don't sell this stuff in Germany.
Finally, let me tell you something about the emblem of Animal Kingdom: The Tree of Life.
It's a huge tree, which first seems really wrinkly.
But when you get closer, you can see dozens of animals in it!
Obviously noone cares, that the "Tree of Life" is made out of plastics and cement... oh well.
Orlando was the last and longest stop on our Florida tour. We spend 4 days there. It was my idea to put it last, because it's proven that you remember the last days of your vacation best, so you should do fun things there.
I'll split this in 4 entries (1 day each) because there are SO many pictures.
The first day, we actually wanted to take easy because there are 4 Disney Parks and we had 4 days. You do the maths.
But then I've read of the new (well, 2010 is quite new) Harry Potter part at Universal Studios and decided, we had to go there too. Of course that meant squeezing two Disney parks into one day, but who cares about organization, right?
So we stood up really early that day, had a big lunch (it had to fill for the hole day... food in amusement parks is crazy expensive!):
Drove all the way from St. Petersburg to our Orlando hotel, then drove to a ticket place (yeah, we still haven't gotten them yet...) and then drive to Universal. But luckily, we're quick, so we got there around 1pm, plenty of time left.
First, we went to Harry Potter, of course. Since I've grown up with the books and always loved them immensly, I can't tell you how happy I was! They really did a great job with the looks of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the attractions. It's a little weird though, that they show us the winterly Hogsmeade in a super hot Florida...
I really wanted to check out the shops, but I knew I would have bought too much, so we went for an attraction first: a small roller coaster called "Flight of the Hippogriff."
I'm a roller coast person, I really love them! The speed, the wind, the loops (this one had none though), the ups and downs, I just love the thrill! Can you believe I don't like a motorbikes?
Finally we went for a little shopping! I really had to hink about my money, because I head Disney ahead of me. I skipped Ollivander's (the line was really long, somebody has to tell me, what's going on in there, you couldn't see at all through the windows!) and took a quick glance at Zonko's
I directly went to Honedukes. They really have a lot of great stuff, but it was way to crowded. Altough I wanted to buy so much, I just got this:
The chocolate frog was really gross ... but it had a card and you get the box, which is both really cool. I got Rowena Rawenclaw. Also this:
Butterbeer! It was so disgusting ... I don't know what it was ... maybe creamsoda with marshmallow fluff on top? I don't know, it was just really yak! But I wanted the mug and now it's sitting on my shelf.
I also wanted some other candy, but in the end I didn't want to spend that much money and also I would have had to eat it!! I found an ebay shop, selling all the stuff you can get there, so maybe I'll get some later.
Finally, we wanted to take the Hogwarts ride.
The ride is great! You're sitting in a sort of controlled bench and are then flying around in the castle ... but it looks like outside the castle! Got it? Well, I guess you have to see it, but it's really cool!
You can watch a video here:
Finally, we also wanted to check out the rest of the park and take some other ride - they have a big roller coaster I wanted to experience!
This is The Lost Continent. It's about Sindbad and Poseidon and stuff ... wasn't really interesting, but the setting is very impressive.
We then went to Jurassic Park:
and Toon Lagoon:
This area was so cute!! Everything looks like from a cartoon and very colorful. But this ride (Rip Saw) was probably one of my worst ideas ever... We really should have look at the other guests first. It's a log flume and you get so very soaking wet, it's not funny anymore. There was no dry spot on my body after this ride and we had the half day ahead! Even if it's warm, you shouldn't walk around in wet underwear, you can get sick! And it's not the water that splashes at you ... it's the water that sloshes in the boat when it's stopping.
Never again!
Finally we went to Marvel Super Hero Island, which has the big Hulk Coaster.
So we were standing in the line ... and next would have been us ... but check the sky! They closed the ride just when it was our turn, because of an upcooming storm. We were so pissed!
But I guess it was better because two seconds after we left the ride it started raining like hell. For two hours. We spend them in a restaurant nearby to be the first when the ride would open up again. But it wouldn't...
Our last visit was here:
Dr. Seuss isn't famous in Germany and all I know about is the Grinch and Horton ... but the only ride, that was open was The Cat In The Hat, which is indoor. We had no idea what it was about, but it was so cute!! I really regret I didn't buy a Thing One or Thing Two T-Shirt!
After that, we wanted to leave, it was late. BUT on our way out my dad saw that the Hulk Coaster was working again and so we ran there and YAY could take the ride. Yokatta ne~
Haa, this was a long entry and I'm sure you skipped all the boring information and just checked the pics. Never mind!
I really want to get this over with and St. Petersburg -oh sorry, it's now St.Petes (Seriously? It sounds like a bar! What's wrong with you guys? oo) wasn't THAT interesting.
We didn't know what to do the whole day, so we went for the aquarium, since I really love them.
It actually wasn't that big of a deal... Some things were quite cool though. They had these birds walking around like everywhere ... I'm not so sure if I really like this idea. I hope, they can't fly at all otherwise it means, they've cut their wings and I hate things like this.
They also had some new sharks and I've learned a new thing. Usually sharks can't breath, when they don't swim, but that doesn't go for every shark. Some can't breath without swimming ... or moving at all ... I didn't know that!
What else? Oh, right, we went here:
What do you think?? It's the Salvatore Dali museum!! It's so spooky, isn't it?? Like a jail...
I'm not a big fan of his works (Mustache guy ... had weird thoughts...) but my mom wanted to see it.
So after we went to the aquarium for me, and the museum fro me, we had to do something my dad wanted. He wished to go for an all you can eat restaurant (we still don't know why, we have those in Germany as well...) but all we got was a Chinese buffet. We have thos in Germany very often!
But it was good. I had tapioca pudding for the first time and I'll try to make it myself.
Yay, another entry today. Geez, I'm really working this Sunday...
Soo, I just went to our harvest fair for a short stop and it was really cute. I roe the Ferris weel and had chocolate coated grapes like Marguerite Gautier has them every day. They were good.
I didn't take many pictures and I also want my Florida posts to be over before I blog about anything else. I have some new Lolita clothes and news to share, but first I want to end my vacation story. It's almost the end!! Only St. Petes and Orlando left.
Today is Fort Myers.I don't remember much of this town. I just know, we've been there to see the Edison / Fort Museum.
Did you know Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were good friends and even lived next to each other?? Me neither! I just love history. I hope I can learn something about American history in college as well, not only European.
I was really excited about this museum, becaus it is Edison's old house with a huge park surrounding it.
You could also learn lots of things about him ... like at the end of his life, he was almost completely deaf but still enjoyed music very much and he had a big company! He holds over 1000 patentrights!
And he did not only invent things like the lightbulb or the phonograph, he also brought electrical devices like toasters or waffle irons to everybody's home (just not mine, because my parents don't want to buy one...)
So, here are the pics:
Such a beautiful interior design!! I really love this style... I hope I can have a home like this later.
This is Henry Ford.
Oh right. And because it's me, here the picture of our dinner:
Just chicken. We wanted to save some money, so we just got some fried chicken and white bread. It was really interesting but I don't need to have it again. So greasy! I should have known better, I also don't like KFC.
On our way to the Everglades Nationalpark and Fort Myers we took a stop at Key Largo (largest of the keys), because the whole way north would have been too long.
I'm sure Key Largo is a lovely place with lots of great sights ... but we only had half a day left, we were going to leave the next day and our guide didn't say anything about good sights, except one, which was actually right next to our hotel! (Holiday Inn)
It's the boat African Queen from the movie Key Largo (1948) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I guess it's not the very same boat, but a rebuilt, but no one cares. Actually the island had a different name first, but then Hollywood came, shot this great movie, which had worldwide success and the people thought: "Why don't we name our island like the movie, so many tourists will come?" AND BAM! Key Largo it was.
Great story, isn't it?
But other to that, we had nothing to do in Key Largo, so we spend rest of the day here:
Sadly, pools aren't big refreshment, because water temperature = outside temperature. It's like walking into a tube. But you can arrange better with the heat inside water.
The next day, we got up early to drive to Fort Myers and make a stop at Everglades to see some alligators.
My mum and I wanted to take a guided tour instead of just walking and because we're very convincing (and annoying) my dad finally agreed. Lucky him - the tour was for free and started just at our arrival, so we didn't even had to wait.
Sun was really cooking that day, there was no shade at all and we forgot suncream, so we kinda rushed it. But we did see alligators!
A lot.
Just to make sure. It's not the same one!
They also have lots of other animals like turtles and birds and frogs ... and mosquitos! Damn it, I hate them!!
But something I've learned! I've you're afraid of mosquito bites, just hang in the sun! Mosqitos dry out in the sun and that's why they only "live" in the shades.
We bought the anti mosquito spray 'Off', which must be the most deadly chemical cosh ... it really keeps them away.
German sprays DON'T HELP HERE!
I wasn't going to let so much time pass during the entries, but hey. It happens, right?
So my second day in Key West was really great.
First, we drove to the town (of course) and walked down to the southernmost point of the US. I have to say, this place is really nice!
Trees, houses, everything is just beautiful. I'd love to live in a place like this, but sadly I'm living in a not so pretty part of Berlin.
So here's me 90 miles away from Cuba. This spot is closer to Cuba than it is to Miami! Underneath the berries is my mum.
We also found this cute thing nearby. I've always just seen them on TV and I never thought thing like this actually existed nowadays. My mum forgot to hide her arm though...
After this we went home to have "lunch." You know, the Keys are very famous for their Lime Cake. And although it sounds disgusting, we had to buy some. Of course!
So we headed to the hotel to eat some cake ... an because I know myself (I don't like most cakes ... I'm the fried food type) I got myself some sushi from the supermarket. Well it sure was good ... but I didn't check the label and ended with spicy sushi. WHO ON EARTH PUTS CHILI SAUCE IN SUSHI?!?! IT'S NOT DELICOUS! SPICY TUNA MAKI ARE MADE A DIFFERENT WAY!
Eh ... well ... it was quite alright.
The cake was not. I can't even describe it ... I ate a small piece and that was it. Just not my taste.
Afterwards we decided to go for Hemingway's house. I have to say ... that guy knew how to live.
We wanted to see his favourite bar, too (good stories), but it was crowded!
So we went here for dinner:
Which was a great decision!! Probably the best food during our whole trip. We just went there, because we had coupons for drinks from our hotel but it was great!
Very big cocktails - the only ones during this two weeks (talking 'bout expensive...)
Ribs for my dad:
I don't know what they did with the fries, but they were so delicious, I could have eaten two servings of them alone!
My mums Italian sandwich:
My tuna avocado sandwhich:
This was so good, I'm going to make one like this at home. You should try it out as well... SO GOOD!
So this was pretty much the Key West part of our trip. Some more interesting pictures:
I've taken these pictures, because we don't have these M&Ms flavours in Germany and I've never seen them before. I've tried the pretzel ones (German, hello?) and they're weird ... chocolaty, sweet, crispy, dry and salty. Really weird.
I remember, they sold this stuff in Germany, when I was in elementary. Nowadays you can't buy it anymore. I tried this to remember and it was just as chemical as I thought! I don't think there was any ham in this ham ... I think we have a law against stuff like this in Germany.
