Lou's Year In Review: 2007

[cfc]

Universal Osaka was great--and you haven't experienced Jaws until you've heard it in Japanese.

[twistedmickey]

Great pics! Love the therapy pic with Lucy.

[coastercrazed49]

Great Pictures Lou. Poor elmo with his weight one sip would put him out cold.

Can't wait to see more.

[thrillerman1]

Great update Lou. Interesting to see what took place at Uni while a few of us went over to Expoland for the afternoon.

[RCFreak]

Dear lord woman you look so tan in those pics!

[Louise]

^ LOL, I know!! You know me, I burn and freckle but don't tan too well, but at this point I'd been out in the sun for hours every day for about four weeks, which apparently is like the critical period for my skin to start reacting or something!

[RollercoasterTigger]

Universal looks fantastic - We have only done the 2 parks in Florida but never got to ride Jaws as it was closed. I seem to remember a very wet front row on ICE too, lol

 

Really want to do a TPR trip but we won't be able to for quite sometime yet.

 

Great TR, Lou

[Louise]

Parque España!

 

In typical Lou fashion, I took pictures of nothing useful on this day. In fact, apart from Disney, my pictures from here on out are pretty useless if you have any interest in the parks at all, LOL. However, if you want to see pictures of Chris, Jeff, Richard, and a few others generally looking silly... You're in the right thread.

 

Parque España was another really fun park, and this was yet another REALLY hot day. It's funny how every day has some kind of heat-related memory dedicated to it in my mind. Today's sticking point was that they actually charged admission to the Ice House. The ice houses in the parks had become our safe haven, someplace to go when the heat really did get too much, and being kept at -31 degrees, even a quick walk through could make the heat that much more bearable for a few minutes once you're back outside. Anyway, we were peeved at the upcharge until we realised it was only a few quid, and that it was a handstamp, a one-time admission, and we could return at any time in the day for as long as we wanted. We stopped bitching then.

 

But first things first, we had ERT and filming time on Pyrenees! I'm definitely a B&M invert fangirl, and nothing will ever really beat Nemesis for me, no matter how many times I ride it, but this one came pretty close. Very intense, amazing backseat ride, fun little pop of airtime towards the end... Great ride, I really liked it and was happy with multiple re-rides even though ERT is often a bit much for my ADD-riddled brain.

 

The park also had a great Mack minetrain of some description, which was AWESOME!! What a fun little coaster, we all really liked it, and actually went back for a couple of re-rides. I barely even want to talk about the Bullfight Coaster but I guess I have to seeing as it's like the worst most fudged up coaster ever. The first warning sign: I walk into the station, and the ride op points at my earrings, waggles her finger "nonononono", and holds her hands up to the sides of her head, moving it from side to side, mimicking head slamming. In fact, exactly like this: Great. I took out my earrings. Didn't help. I was still concussed. Though something about being on a coaster, then being in a bullring, then being beaten up by fluorescing capes and swords, is somewhat entertaining.

 

I won't talk about the weird Circus ride, I think that's been covered elsewhere. And sadly, I don't have pictures of the parade with the soldier who winked at me and gestured provocatively, or the dude dressed as a bunch of grapes. But yeah, this park was seriously WTF, in a really awesome way. There was a TON of other great stuff there too, I think this was the place with the awesome pirates rip off... I could go on, but I won't. Basically everybody needs to go there and experience it.

 

 

I forget the full title of this ride, but it was something along the lines of "Sparkling Luminescent Princess Carnival Ride". I kid you not. It had a fairy lights room and a room full of roses... It was Canal Street in amusement park ride format. Jeff and Richard seemed to enjoy.

 

 

Falafel, Jeff and myself document the now famous Electrical Escalator Ride.

 

 

Pretty lights make Lou happy!!

 

 

It's like a Spanish safety video! If you lean forwards, a meteor will explode on your face! Ahhh, Sea Odyssey, how I miss you.

 

 

Speedy Gonzales re-entry stamp for the ice house! With my jewellery, stamp, and the wristbands I was collecting, my right arm was pretty heavy at this point.

 

 

I have heat rash, I'm thirsty, and I'm wearing geeky glasses and being spoken to by creepy drugged up speedfreak fuzzy creatures in Japanese... I'm grumpy.

 

 

Some random silly shots from the ice house... The story behind this is basically that Chris has lived in California his whole life and therefore has no tolerance for the cold. Richard and Jeff and I decided to stay in the ice house for as long as possible just to see how long we could manage. Jeff got bored after about 5 or 6 minutes and went for a smoke, and Richard and I stuck it out for a few minutes more, but then we got bored too. It was heaven in there though!

 

 

I think this is a really nice picture of us. Except that we're clearly IQ-challenged and thought the frame of the photo was much lower than it actually was. LOL. Notice I have water on me (and ice crystals on my shoulder in the previous shot)? Chris wanted to see what would happen if he poured half a bottle of water over me in -31 conditions. It pretty much froze.

 

Oh, and per Brian's comment pages and pages and pages ago, THIS was the ice house where I lay down on the ice bed. Stupidly.

 

 

Ugh, Manchester United merchandise follows me everywhere!!!!!

 

 

Back on the coach, Richard tries to prove that he's the anti-Lou and looks good in *any* sunglasses. He fails.

 

 

LOL!! Steve calls this his "Lou Pose"... Quite convincing, don't'cha think?!

 

 

Uncle Dan brings KidTums to the Japanese version of the BOTBC for entertainment. Scary smile here, Dan!

 

 

We were back fairly early, so after some email sending and general mucking around with Richard's brand spanking new video camera (Chris: "If I was Lou, I'd be all *meeerrraaaggghhhhh* *gropes self*"), a few of us headed out to wander Nagoya and find some scran. How embarrassing for Chris and Richard to show up wearing the same outfit!!

 

 

Having acquired a couple more explorers on our way out, we hopped on a train, and ended up here. Don't ask me where, I don't remember, and I have waaaaaay too many train tickets to try and find out.

 

 

So, after a bit of wandering... We ended up at this sodding ferris wheel.

 

 

Now, I personally was getting quite enough of ferris wheels in the park, but some bright spark goes "Yay, let's go ride the wheel!", and so the eight of us troop over there. I was slightly cheered up by the transvestites giving out free Red Bull outside. We split into two groups of four and pay our admission. Here's our car: Me, Adam, Chris, and Mark:

....Only to realise that NONE of the four of us had wanted to ride the damn thing. So we could have just split up and let the other four ride while we window-shopped. Ah well.

 

 

Ferris wheels are the only thing I'm geeky about the structure, I always think they just look so damn cool, the way they're built.

 

 

Not that you can really tell, but that's Bob, Richard, Ryan and Jeff in the other car. They mooned me shortly after this was taken. Sadly my camera didn't manage to capture that.

 

 

This wheel did actually turn out to be pretty cool. It was attached to the side of a multi-storey shopping mall, and there were all these projection screens on the roof, with changing pictures.

 

 

We were confused by the screen that said "GAME!!!! Push the button!!!!", but then we couldn't figure out what the button did.

 

 

Ryan bought Pepsi WITH A TWIST, and we all stood around watching street musicians and trying to decide where to eat... Eventually we decided to just walk... And after about 90 minutes, we finally ate.

 

 

I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to take a picture of here, but the structure on the left is Nagoya's radio/tv(?) tower... I know somebody who was with us knew something about it. Cool part of the skyline.

 

 

LOL.

 

 

Goo, you say?! Let's eat here!

 

 

Something tells me Dave Thomas would have liked to eat here... Or at least watch the cooking!!

 

 

We're finally heading for food! I'm happy now....temporarily! We went to the Outback Steakhouse. It was more than an hour's wait. We left.

 

 

The place we ended up eating was I think slightly pricier than we had planned on, and we couldn't all sit together, but the food was *excellent*, so good in fact that I remember exactly what I ate: fried shrimp with chilli mayonnaise, and "ethnic fried rice". I have no idea what made the rice ethnic, I just know it was the nicest rice I've ever eaten. Really really good. Bob's soup was good too, and the sushi looked great, though I didn't try it. Nice place.

 

 

As usual, when everybody else was sensible enough to go back to the hotel and get some kip, Chris, Richard and I were keen to check out this Irish bar we'd noticed earlier.

 

 

Mona's!

 

 

Although the place was Irish themed, it was also a sort of Brit museum, there were post office signs, a lollipop stick (as in the kind a lollipop lady carries, not the things you suck), road signs, music posters... All kinds of British artefacts on the walls.

 

 

"An Australian, a Brit and an American walk into an Irish bar in Japan...."

 

 

You can't even imagine our excitement when we realised we could write on the wall!!!

 

 

Rollercoaster doodle courtesy of Richard. We thought it appropriate to be next to a poster advertising booze.

 

 

This is about two or three inches above where we signed.... I was amused.

 

 

My vodka was strong, the park was awesome, I just had the best dinner ever, and they gave me a permanent marker and let me graffiti! This was an amazing day!

 

 

Bahahahahaha..... sorry Clint.

 

 

It took way too many attempts to get this damn picture, and it's still crappy.

 

 

This is the awesome barmaid who translated mine and Chris's air-conditioning sign from my camera. She had studied in Oxford and we chatted for a while... Really sweet girl.

 

 

Chris and I look really burned!!! This was such a fun night, thanks a lot guys!!

[Meteornotes]

Something tells me Dave Thomas would have liked to eat here... Or at least watch the cooking!!

 

Joe with an actual restaurant would be quality entertainment. But I'm not sure anyone would be able to live through a meal, other than Joe, as I think only his internal system is genetically able to process the stuff he cooks.

 

These are great pictures. And it's funny, as almost the first thing I think of when you post a new set is how hot it was that particular day. And I, for some reason, never wandered into an ice house. I'll have to do that next time.

 

dt

[Scaparri]

Lou, I love how even when it is hot as balls outside, you still wear pants. When will you learn? Great TR though! Even though the best part was probably 50 pages ago.

[Louise]

^ "Hot as balls"!??!? Best phrase ever!!! I've discovered that if I wear shorts, I'm still just as hot and sweaty, only I'm also self-conscious and cranky. Better to be happy and confident whilst dying of heat stroke.

 

^^ Dave, you MUST do the ice houses next time, I seriously think they were what saved me! In Spain, Jon and Kyle stopped me from getting skin cancer, and in Japan, the ice houses stopped me from dropping dead from heat-related illness!!

[RaptorBoyASU]

Lou..........have you put on sunscreen lately?

[Louise]

^ It's below zero here. I don't find you amusing.

 

You need to call me while I'm on the Europe trip this summer, just on the off-chance that Jon forgets to remind me to apply.

[coaster05]

Great pictures Lou although the fox Soccer Channel has led me to discover the joy that is Manchester United. I watched them destroy Arsenal about 3 days ago.

[Louise]

^ We are no longer friends!!!!!!

[coaster05]

I would think the fact that I am probably the only american born TPR travel friend of your who watches football should always keep me on the top of the friend list. Who do you like Lou since I have definately not settled on a favorite team.

[DenDen]

OK, best line in this entire series of reports thus far...

 

"An Australian, a Brit and an American walk into an Irish bar in Japan...."

 

LMAO!

[RIP Psyclone]

The picture of Chris looking like a child in awe on the ferris wheel is funny.

[RCFreak]

Ferris wheels are the only thing I'm geeky about the structure, I always think they just look so damn cool, the way they're built.

 

 

I know there's a long line, but will you marry me!?

[the sound]

Ahhh, Sea Odyssey, how I miss you.

 

LMAO! Best safety video evar!!!

[Moose]

You need to call me while I'm on the Europe trip this summer, just on the off-chance that Jon forgets to remind me to apply.

 

That's probably a good idea since I am quite the scatterbrain. Though the fact that sunscreen is one of the only things I carry with me usually helps me remember to reapply.

 

I hate that my skin has let the Polish side beat out the Portuguese as of late.

 

Great report as always. I so wish I had gone

[Team Thriller]

That sign should now be a National Landmark after having TPR's name on it.

[Louise]

Oof, many responses, thanks guys!!

 

I would think the fact that I am probably the only american born TPR travel friend of your who watches football should always keep me on the top of the friend list. Who do you like Lou since I have definately not settled on a favorite team.

 

I was brought up a United supported but I've drifted these past years. The only team I follow at all is my local team but they aren't even worth mentioning. It's okay, you're back on the friend list, your use of "football" instead of "soccer" gained back the points.

 

 

OK, best line in this entire series of reports thus far...

 

Quote:

"An Australian, a Brit and an American walk into an Irish bar in Japan...."

 

 

LMAO!

 

Glad somebody enjoyed that. I kept saying everywhere we went that the three of us were like a bad joke, and then the addition of the Irish bar made us actually become one.

 

 

Louise wrote:

Ferris wheels are the only thing I'm geeky about the structure, I always think they just look so damn cool, the way they're built.

 

 

 

I know there's a long line, but will you marry me!?

 

I've told you a thousand times, YES! Bear in mind though that there's no intelligence to my statement, I basically just think they're pretty from the inside out!

 

 

 

Jon, you have Polish blood?! Did I know that?! Yeah, I really need to start carrying sunscreen. In Spain, I don't think it even left my case, I just used Kyle's and everybody else's all the time (thank you all for that, by the way ), in California I left my bottle in Jon LoCoco's car and then didn't see him again, so I bought a fresh one the night before we flew to Japan, and then ended up not even opening it but lost the can somewhere along the way! Failure.

[Moose]

I basically just think they're pretty from the inside out!

 

That is a bad pick up line waiting to happen. Baby, you're like a ferris wheel, pretty from the inside out.

 

I like the one with cables for spokes because i think it's so cool that they are compression rings. But I'm a geek.

 

Yup, I'm a quarter Pollack, though I doubt I would have had reason to tell you. That's how I have blue eyes. **bats eyelashes**

[gisco]

Geat pictures Lou. I love all the people pictures. We had a lot of great times in Japan. I would also like to point out that I was not one of the ones to "Moon" you in the ferris wheel.