Some famous sights and a Broadway show!

Anne and I started Wednesday with a harbour cruise. We thought we would be there in plenty of time but once we got off the Subway we noticed that the park was closed so we couldn't go straight through it they way it said on our instructions. As for the rest of the instructions: "Terminal is located behind so-and-so castle"... - we are both tourists! How are we supposed to know what so-and-so castle looks like or where it is? It didn't say anything about it on the map I had. We did find the terminal in the end though, we were cutting it close so we ran the last hundred meters or so, which is fine, we probably needed the little run after all the holiday food.

The cruise was good. The weather wasn't so good though, it was really cold, I wish I had brought my fleece jacket with me from Norway. I wanted to just sit inside the boat as it was nice and warm there, but to see as much as possible and to get the best pictures, I had to stand outside. On the cruise we saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (unfortunately both were closed), Brooklyn Bridge and of course we also got a wonderful view of New York City.

We needed to warm up after the harbour cruise so we went inside the National Museum of the American Indian. There was so much to see there, beautiful clothes and art. After we had warmed up in the museum we headed over to the Empire State building. Some guy outside it, wearing an orange jumper tried to trick us into buying tickets for over $40, luckily Anne knew that we only had to pay $25 to get up, the over $40 was to get to an ever higher floor (102nd), but we were both happy with the lookout on the 86th floor. I bet the view is great on a clear day, but I though the view was pretty great even though it was cloudy.

You can even see the statue of liberty if you look closely!

The next, and last, stop before heading to Broadway was Flat iron building, it was really cool to see it with my own eyes, I've seen it a lot on pictures and TV but it's a whole other thing to stand in front of it and see it yourself!

Before heading to Broadway we went back to the hotel and got prettied up, then we took the Subway to Times Square to hunt down a place to have dinner before our show. We ended up at a place right across the Majestic called Jekyll and Hyde, both Anne and I had never heard of it before but I wish we had! If we had know what it was all about we would have gotten there earlier to enjoy it more! It was so funny, it was kind of a show in  a scary Gothic setting, it was just loads of fun really! I will have to go there again if I go back to New York! 

The show we went to see at the Majestic, after a rather stressed dinner, was Phantom of the Opera. I saw the movie several years ago and remember I loved it, and I love the music from it. The show was absolutely amazing! We got cheap tickets so we were sat in the back, which was fine, the only annoying thing about it was the people sat in front of me, they kept moving and blocking my view. It would be nice to treat myself to better seats if I go again, but they are SO expensive!

All in all a very successful visit to NYC. It was short but I got to see everything I really wanted to see, it would have been nice to have a day extra to do some window shopping and actual shopping but at least this way we saved money. I shouldn't be shopping too much anyway since I have to pack even more for when I move back to the UK!

Have you been to a Broadway Show? Which one and what did you think?

What makes me smile:

A message from a friend. 
- Be it letter, a post on Facebook, an e-mail or sms. A cheerful message from a friend will always make me smile.

The few songs I have on my phone.
- I don't have much music on my phone, and it hasn't been changed in ages, but most of the music there makes me smile. Everyone else think my taste in music is weird, but they usually smile, dance and sing along to the music. It's what I like to call good mood music.
- I hate the question: what bands are you into? Or: what kind of music do you like? I like anything that puts a smile on my face. It might change from time to time, but as long as it makes me smile I like it.

A picture. 
- It can be a picture of anything almost. A picture of a friend will make me think of happy memories or just how much I like my friend. Funny pictures might make me laugh. Pretty pictures make me smile.

Funny quotes.
- The first time I read the following quote was before work one day and it cheered me up for the whole day:

Laughing babies.
- It's one of the best sounds in the world, how can anyone not smile at that. And their smiles as well of course.

Seeing a friend.
- They are friends for a reason...

Seeing a good-looking person.
- Don't necessarily mean a man that I fancy, but anyone that looks good. It can of course be a man that I fancy, or just a man that I think looks good. Or it can be a woman that looks good and I'm just happy for them because they've obviously found some clothes that enhances their beauty.

The sound of the wind through the trees.
 - I just love sitting inside when it's really windy outside and I can hear the wind through the threes and around the corner of the house. It's one of the things I miss now that I live in Oslo; people here hardly know what wind is.

A pretty sunset or sunrise.
- I just love the beautiful colours. My favourite sunrise so far was at Yulara, looking over at Uluru on ANZAC day. (here)

The kindness of strangers.
- Just a smile from one, or a compliment. Seeing someone help someone thy don't know. Seeing someone pick up something someone's lost and give it back...

The seasons.
- The colours at autumn.
- Thick white snow at winter. The thicker the blanket the better.
- The new leaves and flowers in spring.
- The flowers and sunshine in the summer.
- Really heavy rain.

Someone giving me a compliment when I have a bad day.

A good film, or even the laughable rubbishness of a bad one.

Seeing a friend or family member happy.

A good book.

Nice decorations.

The kindness of friends and family.

A nice blog post.

The smell of clean clothes that's hung outside to dry on a warm summer day.

Seeing wild animals in the wild.

Going somewhere new, meeting new people and learning about other cultures.

The English language.

Old buildings and ruins
- York! And most other places in England
- Rome!

Thinking about and seeing the reaction of a friend when I hope I've found a suitable gift for them.

Tasty food.

A kind and good-looking man.

Cats.

A man in uniform or suit.

There are many more things that makes me smile, and sometimes new things can be added every day which makes the list endless!

What are some of the things that make you smile? Leave a comment or make your own post and leave a link below.

Share the happiness!

Dublin 29.10.12

I had just started going for a walk around Dublin today when suddenly I noticed a BIG group of people running through the streets, apparently the marathon was on. Some people were dressed up and everything, it was fun to watch. The marathon did make it difficult to cross the street sometimes though.

I had a great walk through the city. I saw the GPO, the Dublin needle, which didn't really show up very well on the picture because of the overcast sky, the garden of Remembrance and the Ha'penny bridge (so called because you had to pay half a penny to cross back in the day). I also saw the Tart with the cart, also known as Molly Malone, something that resulted in me having the song in my head for the next 3 days!

Does anybody know why those padlocks are there? Seems like it's kind of like carving your names into a tree...

After I had been to Merrion Square park and seen the statue of Oscar Wilde I caught the end of the marathon, or rather the beginning of the end, the first few people were crossing the finish line. I wasn't really paying attention until I noticed a guy in a wheelchair. Apparently the disabled people get to start a bit earlier than the rest but I still think it was really impressive that he was amongst the top 20, I think he was amongst the top 20 anyway, like I said I wasn't really paying attention, but I hadn't seen that many people get in  before him.

Trinity College has some of the most beautiful old buildings in Dublin, I got a tour by a guy studying history who knew a lot, we were only taken around a small part of the campus but I learnt a lot and the guide was really knowledgeable, it was almost so I didn't want the tour to end because it was all so interesting, it almost seemed like the guide didn't quite want it to end either, he seemed like there was much more he wanted to tell us. I also bought a ticket for the Book of Kells, but I had to run and meet my friend so I saved the ticket for tomorrow.

When I was in Yulara I met an Irish Girl who I met up with again today. It was really nice to see her again, I hope that since we both live in Europe we can meet up every now and again. IG and I went to the Old Jameson Distillery. I've never been a big fan of whiskey, but I tried it with Ginger Ale, Sprite and Cranberry Juice (not all at the same time of course) and with the first two it was actually quite nice. At Jameson they only did guided tours, it was cool to learn about their history, although they showed a ridiculous movie at the start of the tour, it was funny just because of how bad it was.

After Jameson IG and I went to Temple Bar to a traditional Irish pub where they were playing live traditional Irish music. It was the best ambiance I've ever had in a pub, it was really crowded but not claustrophobic, everybody was just chilling and having a good time.

Saturday

I've never been to Aas before. It's a really small place. If the university wasn't there it would probably be smaller than where I'm from! It's a really pretty place though and only half an hour from Oslo by train, so it's fairly central. You'd think that because it's such a small place it would be cheap to live there, but because of the university and the proximity to Oslo it's apparently quite expensive.

Anyway. It seemed like a nice place. It was raining heavily on Saturday so we didn't really walk around much, we'll save that for another time I go to visit her. We stayed inside and watched a few movies until it was time to head out for the Royksopp concert.

When we were heading toward the place where the concert was held we bumped into some other student that were going to the concert as well, but they were stopping by a house party for a few minutes first, and they dragged us along with them. We only stayed for a short time, but it was really cool. It was a choir of girls and a choir of guys, both dressed in special "uniforms" and singing to each other. It was a lot of fun listening to them and it reminded me of when I was studying music.

There wasn't that many people at the concert when we got there, which was just when it started, but I think a lot of people did like the choirs and had a before-party and then just showed up whenever since the doors didn't close.

The concert was okay. I'm not really a bit Royksopp fan or anything, but it was fun to do something other than just hang out and watch a movie, which is what my friend M and I usually do. But part of me wish I had just saved the money and hung out with M during the day and gone back home Saturday evening. I think if I go to a concert again it will have to be someone that I actually like performing. I'm not good with crowds, and after a while we moved a bit closer to the stage and people were practically standing on top of me. I didn't like it. I don't really like people touching me, especially strangers so when I have to stand so close to someone that we're touching I get really uncomfortable. Oh well, all part of the concert experience I guess.

I need to learn to not pack a handbag, it's usually just in the way in events like this, no matter how small it is. Another problem was my shoes. I was wearing winter boots because it's getting quite cold, but they are a size too big for me so I was a bit uncomfortable.

After the concert we went to a different part of the student community where there was like 20 small bars. It was quite cool, all the bars had different themes and some had different music (depending on how far away from each other the bars were). It was fun but after an hour or so I'd had enough and we went back to my friend's and went to bed. It was still about 2am by the time we left though, which is the latest I've been out in AGES!

It was an okay weekend, but I'm glad I went back to Oslo early today so that I can chill out and spend some time alone.

Röyksopp!!

I'm actually doing something this weekend! 

I'm going to visit a friend in Aas. I've not seen her in a while so I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. I've felt like a crappy friend for not visiting her sooner as it only takes half an hour on the train to get there.

There is a festival in Aas this month, and a guy at work, that also lives in Aas, told me that Röyksopp is performing there today and that I should go to the concert. I wasn't sure I wanted to go at first, I'm not a huge Röyksopp fan or anything (I'm not sure I've actually listened to anything by them) and I want to save my money for my holiday, but then I had a look online and the tickets were fairly cheap, so I called my friend to ask if she wanted to go with me. Luckily she could afford it even though she went to a concert last weekend (CC Cowboys) and is going to another one next Saturday (Timbuktu). It's something to do together and also I've never really been to a proper concert, so I'm really looking forward to it. Not that this is going to be a proper concert, apparently it's a DJ-set, I'm still looking forward to it though.

I've also never been to Aas, so I'm looking forward to seeing a new place.

Eple - one of the few Röyksopp songs that I've actually heard and know is Röyksopp and I quite like it. It's from 2003 so it's fairly old.

Almost party time!

I feel like I have no life lately... I don't really do anything after work or have anyone to hang out with after work. It's my own fault of course, I should find something to do outside work, I'm just too lazy. After work all I feel like doing is just plonk down on the sofa and watch some telly, same with weekends. I actually feel like a really crappy friend as I have one friend fairly close by and I've not been to visit her yet since I moved to Oslo. I will try to see her next weekend.

I did get two free concert tickets from my dad for Friday, not for someone I'm actually a fan of or anything, but if I had had someone to go with it would have probably been a nice night out regardless of who was singing. Unfortunately one of the people I wanted to invite was away and two others that it would have been nice to go with was working late. So I just told my dad to give the tickets to someone else at his work. He got them at work in the first place, and before you say that I could have gone with my dad; we don't really have that kind of relationship so it would have had to be a concert with someone at least one of us really liked for us to go together.

All of the above is just making me look even more forward to my holiday. Only two more weeks now and I'm going. It will be nice to see friends again, and to actually DO something! That was the nice part of moving around so much for the last few months in Australia, I got to do lots because I just had to since I was in each place for such short amount of time! It will be the same now. I'm going to 4 different places in two weeks so of course there won't be heaps of time in each place.

I am just finished arranging two events for when I'm in Chesterfield. Going out to dinner and drinks with my friends there. I am REALLY looking forward to it. Even just going for a proper night out again will be nice.

I will also visit the family I au paired for there, it will be nice to see the girls I looked after again. I've not seen them for nearly two years! I wonder if they'll remember me.

A new favourite song

I was reading a post on Su's blog "The Journal of a Girl who Loves to Cook" today and she had posted a song by Jason Mraz that I'd never heard before called I won't give up. 

I've never heard it before, but I really liked it. The version on Su's blog was one with lyrics, and I liked it. Espcially since sometimes when you listen to a song you don't always get what all the words are, they can get a bit blurred or they're sung too quickly. Anyway. I loved the lyrics and I loved the video they made with the lyrics. I also looked up the official music video on YouTube afterwards, I liked that one as well, I'm not sure which one is my favourite.

First the Official music video....

Here's the Lyrics video...

Which one is your favourite? Have you heard the song before?