A Day in London

London –

Cheerio All,

Today we did London.  We were all over this huge city.  We did not realize how large the city of London actually was.  We started at the Westminster Bridge.  Westminster Bridge is the oldest bridge in London.  It is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London.  The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same color as the leather seats in the House of Commons.  

We went on the London Eye.  It is a gigantic Ferris Wheel that looms over the River Thames. The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, behind the River Severn.

The London Eye is a structure that is 443 ft tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 ft.  It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and is one of the most popular tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually.  The ferris wheel has 32 sealed passenger capsules, that are attached to the external circumference of the wheel and rotated by electric motors.

We went to Big Ben. Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster. The clock tower is now officially called the Elizabeth Tower, and was renamed to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee. The Elizabeth Tower holds the largest four faced chiming clock in the world and is the third tallest free standing clock tower.

I have a message from Erin for her PACT Teacher, Mrs. Vogt.  Erin found another reason why the penny coin should not be eliminated.  Look at this picture and the information about Big Ben and how they use pennies to help set the time.   

We went to Westminster Abbey; The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster.  Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly gothic church.  It is located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster.  It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for monarchs.  It was beautiful.  We took the self-guided tour throughout the entire church.  It was so informative.  Shannon enjoyed it very much.  We spent a while here, just sitting and looking around.  The ceilings, walls, floor and windows are simply beautiful.

We went to Buckingham palace. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch.  It is located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focus for the British people at times of national rejoicing and crisis.

We ended our night out for dinner and dessert.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and had ice cream at Fentons.

We are heading home tomorrow morning.  We had a terrific time in London.  We enjoyed our time and will look forward to coming back. 

This was a terrific trip.  It was a whirlwind between Scotland and England, the dancing and the sightseeing.  Our next trip will be much closer to home.  We are heading to Boston is a few weeks.  The girls are dancing in the ‘Worlds’.  It will be our first time to that great city and are looking forward to it.

Cheerio for now,

Sharon

ONE DIRECTION -- London, England

England ---ONE DIRECTION

HELLO EVERYONE,

I can simply say that our day was all about the hottest new boy band -- ONE DIRECTION!!!!  We headed to London, England to take the girls to the ONE DIRECTION concert. 

Our day began with a train ride from Glasgow, Scotland to Euston Station in London, England.  We took the Virgin rail train.  The trip took four hours.  I highly recommend it, if your travel plans include this kind of transfer across the United Kingdom. 

We arrived in London by two thirty and hopped into a cab to our hotel.  We are staying at the Fraiser Suites by the Canary Wharfs.  It is very close to the O2 Arena where the ONE DIRECTION concert was being held.  We have a great room, with a beautiful view. 

We headed to the O2.  What a fascinating arena!!!!  It is an enormous entertainment center.  It has at least two theatres.  It has a movie cinema complex.  It has a numerous amount of restaurants.  It has activities and events nonstop.  The concert was in the main hall; which held 20,000 people.  We had a yummy dinner at an American café within the O2 that was hosting a ONE DIRECTION theme night.  After that, we headed to the VIP lounge.  Our tickets included this service.  It was a lovely place to relax before the show began. 

The show opened with two other acts and then at around 8 o’clock, ONE DIRECTION came on.  I have to say that they put in a great show --highly energetic, highly entertaining and enjoyable.  The girls had such a terrific and it was so much fun for Michael and myself to watch them sing and dance along to the music. 

I took tons of pictures for the girls and will post some. 

Tomorrow we are going to tour around London.  We are looking forward to it. 

Blog later, Sharon 

Edinburgh

A Day in Edinburgh,

Hello everyone and greetings from lovely Edinburgh.  This is the second largest city in Scotland and it is the nation’s capital.  What a pretty city.  We headed up to Edinburgh this morning on the train. From the Queen’s Street Station in Glasgow to the Edinburgh Waverly Station, it is an easy commute, about 40 minutes, with pretty scenic overlooks.  We traveled with dance friends and the girls had a ball hanging out with them.  

Once in Edinburgh, we went right up to the Royal Mile.  This street is the most popular within the city.  It spans the Queen’s Gallery at one end and the Edinburgh Castle at the other end.  It is a wonderful walk; up and down the street, there are fabulous eateries, terrific shops and amusing and talented street vendors and entertainers.  There was a bagpipe player and Shannon asked him if he knew how to play a ‘reel’ dance?  He said ‘yes’ and began to play and she actually did a dance step right there in the middle of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh!!!!! It was fabulous.  People clapped and gave the bagpiper some change!!  

We ran into a very ambitious and motivated group of Rugby supports.  The Scottish team plays tomorrow and these young men wanted everyone to know about it!!

We had a delicious Scottish lunch at The Royal McGregor and again, when you come over here; you have to get the soup of the day.  It is always terrific!!  We toured the Queen’s Gallery, where the Queen stays when she is in Scotland and the Edinburgh Castle.  It was a great day.  Highly recommended!!

Check out this picture of Michael.  He loved it!!  FREE BEER.  But look very closely. . .  It actually says, FREE wifi and awesome BEER.  It’s just that the FREE BEER words are huge and the wifi and awesome words are tiny. 

Tomorrow we leave Scotland.  We are heading to England.  We are traveling by train.  We leave in the morning.  We are taking the girls to the ONE DIRECTION concert.  They are playing at the O2 Arena in London.  The girls are super excited!!

Here are some more pictures of our day.   Hope you enjoy them. 

Sharon 

All-Scotlands 2013

Hello Everyone,

As I write this blog it is midnight on Friday going into Saturday.  It is 7:00 p.m. in New Jersey.  We have been up since 5 o’clock this morning.  Today was DANCE DAY!!!

For those of you who are familiar with us, then you know that these days are crazy busy.  To make it even more fabulously fun – lol, both girls danced on the same day.  Usually we get a split and they dance on back to back days, however, lately, we have had the same dance day for both girls.  It is crazy, busy, but it is fun. 

Erin started of the day at 7:00 a.m. and danced first in her group at 8:oo a.m. She danced again at 10:00 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m.   Shannon danced at 4:00 p.m. and danced late in her group.  She danced again at 6:00 p.m. and into the night.  What a long day!!

In the end, it was fabulous!  Erin place 4^th in her age group!  She received round medals in both her hard and soft shoe dances.  Erin was the top ranking American dancer in her age category.  Shannon placed 49^th in her group! She received round medals as well.  Shannon was the 4th highest American dancer in her category.  

We spent our entire day at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.  What a beautiful facility.  The competition was so well done, it ran smoothly and on time, and the organizers couldn’t have been more helpful.  The concert hall is home to all of Glasgow’s entertainment and would be a fabulous place to see a show or to see their orchestra perform. 

Tomorrow we start the next part of our trip.  We are heading to Edinburgh.  I am very excited to see this part of Scotland.  People say it is beautiful. 

Hear are some pictures of the dance day.

Stay well,

Sharon

Glasgow, Scotland

Greetings from Glasgow Scotland,

Hello everyone,

We arrived in Glasgow this morning after a great flight out of Newark Liberty International Airport.  It was chilly in Glasgow, but no colder than back in New Jersey.  We went straight to our hotel.  We are staying in the Grand Central Hotel.  It is fabulous.  It is right in the center of Center City Glasgow.  We took a quick little refresher nap and got right out to do some sight seeing.  We had lunch and walked all over the ‘Style Mile’.  The ‘Style Mile’ is an area in Glasgow that has premier shopping.  We also walked to the Royal Concert Hall.  This is the venue that the girls will be dancing at.  It is gigantic and beautiful.  We had a yummy dinner at an Italian restaurant called ‘Bardo Grille’.  We ended our night very early.  Both girls dance tomorrow and it will be an early and long day.  All the best to the girls.

The girls want to say 'Hello' to everyone back home.

Shannon says a great big 'Hello' to everyone at Villa Walsh Academy.  Her 7th grade friends, her teachers and staff.

Erin sends a huge 'Hi' to Bee Meadow School.  Mrs. Diamante's 4th grade class, Mrs. Vogt and all of her friends and teachers.  

Orlando 2013

Greetings from sunny Orlando,

I wanted to share that our family went down to Florida this past weekend.  The girls were eligible to dance in the North American Feis Championships.  It is also known as ‘The Belt’.  It is called the belt because the winner of the senior competition, ages 17 and over gets a ‘belt’ as one of the prizes.  A dancer has to qualify for this competition.  A dancer must win first place in a competition during the calendar year, in order to be able to dance ‘the belt’.  Both Shannon and Erin qualified this year.  We thought it would be a wonderful experience for them.  They competed together; against each other; in the under 13 Minor ‘Belt’ Championship.  The competition is a ‘winner take all’ competition.  It was a terrific weekend and the girls had a ball in Orlando with their friends.