Journal Entries
California holiday planning
Posted Jul 8, 2009
3 friends and I are planning a fly drive tour to California in late August/early September. We were going to go on a set itinerary from a tour operator but have come around to the idea of organising it ourselves, not least because we have done enough research to realise we can do it more cheaply.
This is our suggested itinerary:
Day 1 - Fly to LA. Stay overnight in airport motel.
Day 2 - LA. Pick up car, do whatever.
Day 3 - Drive up coast. Stay overnight Santa Barbara.
Day 4 - Drive up coast. Stay in Monterey or Carmel.
Day 5 - Drive to San Francisco.
Day 6 - Day in San Francisco.
Day 7 - Day in San Francisco.
Day 8 - Drive to Yosemite. Stay overnight (Yosemite Village?)
Day 9 - Day in Yosemite. Hiking, riding etc.
Day 10 - Drive - stop overnight somewhere (Furnace Creek?)
Day 11 - Drive to Las Vegas.
Day 12 - Bus tour to Grand Canyon.
Day 13 - Day in Las Vegas.
Day 14 - Drive to LA.
Day 15 - Fly back.
Possible extra day.
So my question is - does anyone have any tips (budget conscious?) What must we see in these places? Should we do a South Rim tour or a West Rim tour at the Grand Canyon (we definitely want to do a helicopter flight). What should we do in Vegas?
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Latest reply: Jul 8, 2009
Woot Canaw
Posted Jun 19, 2009
I had to go to the dentist today as a few days ago I noticed an odd swelling on the right hand side of my jaw, the size of a small marble, and a flatter but bigger swelling under my nostrils. I've had this before and it's been an infection (though only under the nose, not in my jaw), so I was hoping that's what it was this time.
It is. Apparently the jaw swelling is an infection caused by bacteria getting in where my wisdom tooth has been breaking through the gum, and the nose swelling is from where my two front teeth got broken in an unfortunate accident involving me, my friend Kiz and a swinging tennis racket when I was about 14. She tells me the tooth is dead and recommends me to eventually get root canal. 
I'm supposed to talk to my usual dentist about it at my check-up in September.
The title of this thread comes from this scene in The West Wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojhg1zTOef8, which was running through my head the entire time.
Does anyone know enough about dentists to know why my dentist was called "Dr XXXX"? She seemed too young to have done a dentistry degree and a PhD or a medical degree then converted. 
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Latest reply: Jun 19, 2009
A quick explanation
Posted Nov 12, 2008
Hi all,
You may (orm may not 
) have noticed I've been largely absent from the site for the last few weeks - our wireless router is broken so we're having to use an old wired one. Only one computer, therefore, can access it, and it's not my laptop.
Hopefully things will be sorted soon.
Hope things are going well with everyone!
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Latest reply: Nov 12, 2008
Venice
Posted Oct 18, 2008
I wrote a long journal entry on this subject yesterday, copied it in case something went wrong, and posted it. Except it took so long it didn't post, and it had gone from my clipboard too. 
So this will probably be a somewhat shorter version.
Last week, I headed off to Venice for a few days with my parents. This was my first holiday since the summer I started uni 3 years ago.
Sunday - arrived late afternoon and caught the waterbus (there are no cars in the main parts of Venice, public transport is all by water) to St Mark's Square. After dinner we walked around the square. It's lit up at night and the musicians that play at the cafes there (so they can charge ridiculous prices) keep playing until late in the evening.
Monday - went to the Doge's Palace including a walk to the prisons across the Bridge of Sighs, the Rialto bridge and the Basilica of St Mark's. It's built in a very Byzantine style and the ceilings are govered in stunning golden mosaics.
Tuesday - we went to San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island with a large church and monastery. We looked around the church then caught the lift up the belltower which provides fantastic views of the city and the lagoon. We walked through some of Dorsoduro, San Polo and Santa Croce, three of the six sestiere or areas of Venice. We bought masks as a souvenir (I wanted a full size on but the only one I could find that I liked enough was about four inches long) and had a quick wander around the Jewish ghetto. This is the world's first ghetto and the one from which the name originates - it comes from a Venetian dialect word meaning 'foundry'. We caught a waterbus down the Grand Canal to admire all the pallazzi and then went around the Amerigo Vespucci, a half sail, half steam ship that the Italian navy uses to train cadets.
Italian sailors... 
...ahem.
Wednesday - we wanted to go to Murano, an island in the lagoon where the famous Venetian glass is made, but looking in the guidebook before we headed out revealed that the glass museum was closed. Instead, we went the naval museum (astonishing value, €1.55 for four floors worth of exhibits) and walked down to the old gateway entrance to Arsenale, the shipyard where the powerful fleet of the Venetian navy was built. It is still an Italian naval compund, so you can't go inside, but they were hosting a symposium of Black Sea and Meditteranean naval powers so there were even more sailors and the military police.
Then we headed to Ca Rezzonico, an old pallazzi decorated to look as it might have done in the eighteenth century.
Thursday - we went to the Museo Correr (history of the Venetian Republic), and had a quick look at the Archeaological Museum and the Biblioteca Marciana which join on to it. Then we had to head back to the airport.
All in all, it was a great trip. Anyone interested in photos can find some of the best ones on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/elentari86/ (feel free to add me as a friend if you like) and those of you who are my friends on facebook will find rather more pictures on there.
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Latest reply: Oct 18, 2008
6th hootoo birthday
Posted Sep 13, 2008
Today is my 6th *proper* hootoo birthday. It's hard to believe I've been here that long. My life has changed a lot in that time, but I don't really feel any different. I've gone from being a 15 year old still in school to a nearly 22 year old graduate with a proper job. It's quite weird to think of it like that. 
Anyway, this calls for a celebration! 
Drink, anyone? 
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Latest reply: Sep 13, 2008
Elentari
Researcher U202814
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