TORNADOES 4/29/2011

We were just saddened and shocked to see all the devastation and destruction from the tornadoes down here.  We were just in Mississippi and Alabama recently.  They are such beautiful states.  My heart goes out to all the people who have lost so much.  Please remember them in your prayers and we will do the same.  So far we have been fine.  There was just one night where the winds got pretty strong but that has been all the bad weather we have experienced.

WORLD SHOWCASE AT EPCOT 4/22/2011

 Below are pictures from the rest of our day at Epcot Center.  There are 11 countries represented.  The buildings and architecture were great.  Each country gave you a feel as if you were in that country.  Some of lands had Circle-Vision films with a 180-360 degree screen.  The films were great.  A few of the countries had rides.  They all had gift shops with merchandize from those countries.  Each country had restaurants with food, of course, from that country.  A lot of the workers were actually from those countries too.   It was interesting to talk to some of them.  This first picture is from the country of Canada.  This brought back so many memories for us of Canada of when we were actually there this summer.  It made us want to go back.  We saw a film here on one of the big screens narrated by Martin Short.  Yes!  He is Canadian.

 They even had a replica of the Butchart Gardens.

Next we came to the country of England.  We loved going through the castle and seeing the other sites.

 We enjoyed listening to this group.  They sang some great songs like "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road" and "Yellow Submarine" to name a few.

 This is one of the buildings in France.  I really enjoyed the film they had on their country.  They have so many beautiful castles and breath-taking countryside.

 This is one of the marketplaces in the country of Morocco.  This was a beautiful and fascinating country.

This is quite an interesting violin type instrument that was used by this man during their performance.

 It was hard to decide what country we wanted to eat in.  I chose to eat in Morocco since I haven't eaten their food before.  It was delicious.  I almost got their lamb and chicken dish but I chose their vegetable plate instead because it looked so interesting.  It was very, very good.  Wayne got a vegetarian wrap which also had some of the same things I had.  His food was good too.

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Next we came to Japan.  I'll tell you, we are fast travelers!  There were many beautiful buildings here too.  They had a fascinating museum that we went through.  In the second picture you can see the Epcot ball in between.

 Well me made it back to America!  In this building we watched an inspirational show about America and the people who have done great things for her.  It was very good.  The animatronics are so much more advanced than when we were children!

 We came upon some very familiar music.  It was the music of Ricky Nelson.  We sat and were really enjoying the show.  It took us awhile to realized that these were his twin sons playing his music.  It was really exciting for me to be able to see them perform.  He was in a TV show back in the 60's.  He was the heartthrob of many a young girl back then, including me.

 

 Well, we decided to go traveling again.  This is in the country of Mexico. 

This is a closer view of one of the motifs on the temple.  There was a ride here we would have liked to go on but we had to leave to make it to a different show.  With so much to see we never made it back to the ride.  Oh well!

This is one of the buildings in the country of Norway.  There was also a fun little boat ride with Vikings to watch out for!

 This is in Italy.  This is one of the garden sculptures.  They were just beautifully amazing. 

This is a replica of a famous statue in Italy and two very famous people.  Do you know who they are?

 We came to the land of some of my ancestors, Germany.  This part of the World Showcase reminded Wayne and I of the town of Leavenworth in Washington.  The whole town of Leavenworth is centered around a German theme.  The buildings in this country were so quaint.

 There was a clock shop in Germany.  I just love cuckoo clocks.

 This was in the country of Africa.  I love Rafiki and Simba.

This man carved a lot of the things that were in this shop, very talented.

 In China we enjoyed another one of the films on a Circle-Vision screen.  China is beautiful.  The girl presenting the film was very graceful in her mannerisms.

  To finish off the night they had a spectacular light and fireworks show.  The globe would light up in different countries with different pictures on them.

  It was a fun, fascinating, beautiful and educational place.

THE BEAUTIFUL GARDEN SCULPTURES & OTHER BEAUTIFUL THINGS AT EPCOT 4/22/2011

I was just amazed at the beautiful sculpted Disney Characters  and other beautiful things of nature throughout Epcot.   Just a few pictures below of some of the things I enjoyed.

 We just loved this fountain.  It also supplied a nice mist as we walked by which was greatly enjoyed in the heat of the day.

 They had a butterfly garden as well.  This reminded us of the one we went to with Luke, Bethany and their 3 girls.

 These are the cocoons.  They had boxes set up for the cocoons to incubate in.

 One of their meandering, peaceful rivers.

A little village that was even equipped with it's own train.

More sculpted Disney Characters and gardens.  Enjoy.

 

Someone has a lot of talent!!  I loved all the beautiful things.