WestEd Mall and Hobbiton

...in that order! The last part of my christmas present was a ticket for The Hobbit in Imax 3D, although the real present was actually watching it with the entire family :D So on sunday, we drove into Edmonton to have lunche at the food court (or rather one of the food courts...) in the Mall and then see the movie in the Scotiabank theater. Now, here's the thing about WestEd Mall: that thing is GIGANTIC. I mean, not just "yeah, it's North America so it's bigger than in Germany" kind of big but actually even for American standards still really big! Wanna know how big? Well, here are a couple of things you can find INSIDE WestEd Mall:

More or less underneath the movie theater (complete with IMAX theater and a number of "normal" theaters) is a pirate ship :) A full size pirate ship that can be used for events and such.....

this time with christmas decoration!

On the other side of the ship in the same pool is a submarine that you can actually go into as well as a seal show. That's right, a live seal show... twice a day!

that picture is from 2011, actually

There's an amusement park for little children called Galaxyland.

And then a second amusementpark for older children - complete with rollercoasters (yep, plural) and a free fall tower....

also from 2011

Also, there is an entire hotel inside the Mall. And the hotel (and thus the mall) has a water park... with a bunch of different slides and a wave-pool thingy....

And then there's the movie theater itself with its fire-spitting dragon. Yep, real fire, a couple of times a day, just for fun....

it's a "she" by the way :)

Don't believe me? Go ahead, google it, check it out yourself :) I wouldn't believe me either if I hadn't seen it... Oh yeah, there are a couple of shops in the mall too..... ;)

So, yeah, WestEd, always fun :) Especially if the actual reason for the visit is watching The Hobbit - in 3D - and IMAX - and including a prolongued preview of the new Star Trek Movie *yay* :D It was awesome! A little loud but awesome :) Needless to say, we were very happy! Who's we? The family of course! 

*Excitement!* 

.... and maybe a little confusion... :)

I had so much fun! I couldn't have asked for a better present! 

And it goes to show they really are my family :) Because they were just as excited as I was! *nerds, everywhere!* :D Barbie was like "wish it was May already" and I couldn't agree more. But what really got me was realizing that I will soon be there, in Hobbiton. At least for a day ;) *yay* can't wait!

Muttart Conservatory

I'm already in Cali by now, but I need to add a couple of things to Canada before I can move on to the next destination :) Part of my christmas present was spending an afternoon at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton with Carolyn and Lavern. Brian and Gary came along, too, and we used the climate pyramids to warm up in :) I didn't really get to do any touristy things the last time I was in Edmonton, so it was very cool to go out and do stuff this time around! The Conservatory is one of Edmonton's top sights, but it was actually pretty empty when we were there. However, that might actually have been a good thing, so no complaints here :) It's basically a big conservatory with different climate zones and the various plants growning in those respective zones. So I'll just upload a couple of pictures so you get the idea:

Didn't know Banana trees had such beautiful flowers... 

I love Orchids....

Yeah, some of them had really funny names....

....see what I mean?

....yep, well, this one actually made me thing of someone... *hihi*

my favorite orchids: black and purple!

And this was the "grand price", a century plant that is currently in bloom! Best part was we almost kinda missed it... :D