if you want to destroy my sweater ....

The other day Jason called me and told he got an email from NYU with cheap tickets to to see Weezer, and that the tickets were up front on the side of the stage, so he couldn't pass them up. So we got to add another concert to the list, and had ourselves a very enjoyable evening.

We always have to arrive at the very beggining to see the opening act for the opening act. This time it was Tokoyo Police Club and I have to say, I think we will be seeing more of them in the future. But the real opening act was Angels and Airwaves. I had heard of them and liked what I had heard, so I was excited to see how they sounded live. Well, let's just say I am now in love. My favorite song was "Breathe" (which is playing right now if you have your speakers on) and was actually a very romantic song.

Weezer was great! The lead singer was very entertaining and he even had a little trampoline on stage that he would jump on while singing to the audience. "The Sweater Song" was the best. They even invited the lead singer of Angels and Airwaves to come back on stage to help them out with this one. I'm not very good at identifying artists to a song when I hear it, (this drives Jason crazy) so I was surprised by just how many Weezer songs I knew. I loved this concert, and now I love Weezer and Angels and Airwaves. I'm glad there are so many talented people in this world that enjoy entertaining me!

The lead singer of Angels and Airwaves with Weezer singing "The Sweater Song"


The lead singer


The hot guitar player with his sunglasses


Jumping on the trampoline


Angels and Airwaves



The Drummer


Tokoyo Police Club

esp revisited

Remember back in July when we went to Philly and took a tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary and said that we would definitely be going back to see it as a haunted house? Well last weekend we tagged along with our friends, Bryan and BreAnna (who love scary movies and haunted houses just as much, if not more than us), for a quick trip to the city of brotherly love.

Saturday was a busy day so we weren't able to leave until late afternoon - but as long as we had time to grab a cheese steak before getting scared, we were happy. Luckily the Larson's have a zipcar membership (our next investment) and we were able to find a car last minute. We arrived, stood in the endless line at Jim's Steaks and finally got our cheese steak. I don't know what we were more excited for, the haunted house or the cheese steaks. After we were done devouring our "steaks with wiz" we were off to the ESP.



We pulled up in the trolley and just seeing the prison at night was creepy. They had scary music playing and all the lights in the watchtowers were spinning. I love the excitement of haunted houses, there's just something about knowing that your about to get scared to death, that just makes the adrenaline start to pump. My favorite part was when we were given tiny flashlights that didn't work very well and were told to walk through the cells in the dark. Between the flashlight button not working and the fog in the room it made it very difficult to see what was in store for us ahead. I must say, ESP did a great job at getting us scared and put us in the mood for Halloween. Thanks for a great night, Larson's!

mcknights in manhattan

This post is long overdue but that doesn't mean it's not important.

Over Labor Day weekend Jason and I had the pleasure of entertaining his Uncle Scott and Aunt Alys who flew all the way from Portland to see us. They are HUGE tennis fans so they came to see all their favorites play in the US Open, but more importantly, us. One of our favorite things about living the city is having family and friends come and visit us so we can play tour guides and show them all of our favorite hot spots. Scott and Alys were the perfect visitors and loved (or acted like they loved) every place we took them.

The first night we took them to Po, a little restaurant in the West Village, I know it was no Carmine's but I think they enjoyed it. After dinner we had to take them to Magnolia's bakery so they could try the cupcakes, banana pudding and Scott's favorite - Key Lime cheesecake. I know Magnolia's is known for their cupcakes but they make so many more wonderful goodies then cupcakes. The second night we showed them our apartment and Jason's law buildings and we were hoping to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and take them to Girmaldi's but the line was longer then I have ever seen it, so we headed back across the bridge and settled for Lomardi's.

The next couple of days they hung out at the Open and saw all of the tennis stars. Alys was able to see Federer live and was so excited to see her favorite hunk in action. In fact, they were having so much fun at the Open that they decided to give us their Yankee tickets so they could see more tennis. We sat right behind home plate. It's amazing how much more fun it is when you have good seats (thanks again). We were able to have one last meal (Scott finally got his Carmine's) and a treat with them before they headed back to Portland.




Thank you for coming and seeing us. We had so much fun chatting and laughing with you and we can't wait for you to come back and see us soon.

celebrity enrichment

Our ward has several small enrichment groups and recently started a new food enrichment where each month we try a different type of cuisine at one of the many restaurants in the city. We have the cutest girl in our ward who is a freelance food critic, as well as an amazing chef, who is in charge of this fun little group. Last night was our first activity and she took us to Merkato 55, an African restaurant in the Meat Packing District.

I was talking to my friend, Laurel, as we were waiting outside of the restaurant for the rest of our group to arrive, and all of a sudden she starts hitting me in the arm and signaling with her eyes that someone is coming. At first I was confused and didn't know what she was doing but as I turned Nigel Barker (the hot judge from ANTM) walked past. I had my back to him but from what I did see - he was looking very good. Laurel, on the other hand, made eye-to-eye contact and couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night.



We had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know some of the new ladies in the ward and I was loving the African cuisine. As I was chowing down on my baba ganoush (my new favorite), Liesel (the food critic) leaned over and asked me if I knew who Rachel Ray was. I replied with a simple ... "of course" and she then told me to look at the table at the end of ours ... and there she was, in all her glory. Trying not to be annoying I quietly passed the news down the table and everyone was so excited to be seeing their second celebrity of the night. Soon after we spotted her she got up to leave and walked right past our table as we all tried not to stare.



I don't know what it is, but for some reason I get so excited when I see a celebrity and I think all of the ladies shared my enthusiasm. We felt so cool to be dinning amongst celebrities and learned that Thursday night in the Meat Packing District - is the place to be. Hopefully next month our celebrity streak will continue.

favorites

I had so much fun writing about each country we visited. I know they were long but in 20 years I will look back and treasure the memories of this wonderful trip. When I got back I was certain that Stockholm was my favorite, but after writing about each country I'm not sure which I liked best. Each had something unique that I will never forget. I enjoyed taking so many pictures and hope you all enjoyed seeing them. I know I posted a lot but sometimes I just couldn't decide which one I liked best, and believe me, there were a lot that didn't make it on the blog.

Several of you have commented on my posts but I also know there are a lot of you out there reading this who don't comment. So, for all you readers - I'm interested to know what your favorite was? Whether it was a country, a landmark, a story, or just a specific picture, I want to know. Don't be shy ... one of my favorite things about blogging is when I get a comment from someone I never knew read my blog or when I hear from a friend that I haven't talk to in awhile.

Here's a recap of all the countries to help you remember your favorites:

- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Tallinn, Estonia
- St. Petersburg, Russia (day 1 & 2)
- Helsinki, Finland
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Berlin, Germany
- Arhus, Denmark

Or just scroll to the very bottom of the page and start reading.

** I took all of the pictures posted but I have to admit that I did photoshop them a little to make the colors look a little brighter.

arhus, denmark

Our final stop of the cruise was the Viking town of Arhus. We boarded the bus for the last time and first headed through the countryside to Silkeborg where we stopped at the Silkeborg Museum. Here we got to see how the Vikings lived, the clothes they wore and even how the ladies styled their hair. However, the highlight of the museum was the famous Tollund Man.

The Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC. He was found in 1950 buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. Such a find is known as a bog body. Tollund Man, and in particular the head and face, was so well-preserved that at the time of discovery he was mistaken for a recently deceased murder victim. However, in 1950 they were only advanced enough to preserve the head so in the museum they have made a replica of the body that was found with the actual head. I know it sounds kind of creepy but it was amazing to be staring at a body that was over 2,000 years old. From the remains that were found in his stomach, archaeologists believe that the man was killed as a sacrifice to the gods.

After seeing a second female bog body, we left the museum and headed for our second stop, Himmelbjerget. Himmelbjerget, also known as Sky Mountain, is set 455 feet above see level and is known for its dynamic scenery and chain of beautiful blue lakes surrounded by lush forests. On our way to and from Sky Mountain we saw several Christmas tree farms and I felt like I was in the North Pole (with out snow, of course) and I also saw my first thatched roof.

It was a beautiful countryside and although our tour was short that day, it was nice to have one last glance at Denmark's beauty. That night we had our last dinner with our friends who were assigned to our table and saw the final performance by the wonderful singers and dancers of the Eurodam.

The next morning we were up early so that we could listen for them to call our number. We said our last goodbyes to our stateroom and headed to the airport. It was a zoo when we arrived at the airport. Just imagine 300 country bumpkins trying to find their way around a Danish airport.

We finally found the check-in line and after about 40 minutes of standing in line we made it to the front. I checked my bags and was ready for home but the lady said that my mom was not ticketed for the flight, therefore she could not assign her a seat. Apparently, the ticket my mom gave her (the one the travel agency gave my mom) was only an itinerary and she couldn't find her in the system without a ticket number. Immediately I started freaking out and frantically ran around the entire airport looking for one of the three travel agents to come and help my mom. They were no where to be found and I was so upset that I started crying because I'll I could think about was my poor mother being stranded in Copenhagen while the rest of us boarded the plane. Meanwhile, my mother waited patiently by the ticket office hoping that I would come to her rescue. When I couldn't find any one to help I asked the women in the ticket office if there was anything she could do. She said that my mother could buy another ticket to get her home and then get reimbursed for her other ticket later, or I could go stand in another line and try talking to someone else. I was not going to have my mom buying another ticket when I knew she already had one and I was determined to get her on the plane with me, so I went and stood in the other line. After a few minutes I finally got a helpful women that figured out the problem and located my mom's ticket number in less then 5 minutes. She was confused as to why the other women wasn't able to find it but at this point I didn't care. My mom got her ticket and she wasn't seated next to me but that was the least of our worries. We boarded the plane and the nice man sitting next to my mom graciously gave up his seat and TOGETHER we flew to Newark.

We landed and went back through customs and sadly parted ways. I caught a cab, and was never happier to see my tiny apartment. About 3 hours later I received a phone call from my mom who was still in New York. Had we known her flight would be leaving 5 hours late, I would have invited her to come to my place so that she could rest. She finally made it home at 2 in the morning and this time her luggage made it too.

It was so nice for it to be just me and my mom. I learned things about my mom that I never knew before and it was so nice for us to just chat face to face for awhile instead of over the phone. This trip was a once in a life time opportunity. I saw things I know I never would have if it weren't for this cruise. And while it was really busy and I sometimes felt like they were trying to cram way to much in, I am glad that they did. I loved traveling abroad and hope that this trip was the first of many trips out of the country. Sadly, Jason was not home when I got home and I had to wait 3 more days to see him, making it a total of 17 days apart. This was not easy for us and hopefully we won't ever have to be apart for that long again.

The Tullund Man


Sky Mountain



Thatched Roof

berlin, germany

Europa Center - Philharmonie - New National Galerie - Jewish Museum - Checkpoint Charlie - Remains of the wall - Prussian Parlament - Potsdamer Platz - Friedrichstreet - Gendarmenmarkt - German and French Cathedral - Konzert Haus - Nikolai Quarter - Berlin Town Hall - TV Tower - Alexander Place - Museum Island - Berliner Dom/Cathedral - Lustgarten - Old Nationalglarie - Crown Prince Palace Unter den Linden - Brandenburger Tor (Gate)- Reichstag (Parliament Building) - Bundeskanzleramt - Palace Bellvue - Victory Column - Kudamm



As you can see from the list above we saw a LOT in Berlin. Half the stuff I can't remember but maybe some of you will recognize some of the names and be able to relate to what we were seeing.

Germany was a beautiful country. That morning we docked in Warnemunde and took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride into Berlin. I am embarrassed to say that before our trip I didn't really know much about the history of Berlin. I knew of the wall and had heard Reagan's famous words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall", I vaguely knew of Checkpoint Charlie and what it was, but other then that I was clueless. I'm sure it was my fault for not paying attention in history but I was sad that I didn't read up on it more before visiting this amazing city.

Our other ports were beautiful and full of lovely sites but Berlin was more of a history tour and we had the best tour guide to teach us. My mother and I loved to sit at the front of the bus so that we could get the best shots of the city as we drove and so that we could pay attention to the tour guide. Stephen, was our tour guide for the day and it felt like he was speaking directly to my mom and I throughout the entire tour. Stephen was born in East Berlin and was very open about sharing his struggles and experiences and what it was like growing up with the wall and the division between East and West Berlin.

Once again I was embarrassed that this was all recent history and I knew nothing about the hardships and struggles that took place, the separation between families and how, to this day, many Easterners have been brain washed and still believe that they are separate from the West. Luckily they are slowly becoming unified but our tour guide believes it will be several more years before they are truly one again.

We drove past many sites and made our first stop at the Brandenburg Gate which is the site where both President Kennedy and Reagan made their famous speeches. It was one of the few remaining structures after WWII and was used as a symbol to the Nazis. Next to the Brandenburg Gate is Hotel Adlon, the famous site where Michael Jackson flung is hooded baby over the balcony for all of the fans to see. Isn't it sad? We are in Berlin where so much history took place and the tourists are wanting to see the hotel where Michael Jackson made a fool of himself.

After listening to the stories of the events leading up to the destruction of the wall we walked down the street to the Holocaust Memorial. The Holocaust Memorial consists of a 4.7 acre site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs (that vary in height and size) arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. According to Eisenman's project text (the architect), the slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. The Foundation for the Memorials official English tourist pamphlet, however, states that the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. Nowhere inside the memorial, or around it, does it say what it commemorates. Some think that this is a deliberate attempt to encourage visitors to reach their own conclusions. At first I thought they could have built a more honorable memorial for the victims of the Holocaust but after walking around it for a while I began to appreciate the architects design and loved that he left so much to the imagination.

Next we boarded the buses and saw the government buildings in Berlin along with several Churches, Cathedrals and embassy buildings. Our tour guide wanted to show us the difference between the neighborhoods of East and West Berlin. While the West side was very modern and new, the East side was older with a lot of Russian influence. We also drove past a portion of the wall the is still standing so that we could see what it actually looked like. Several sections have been divided and artists have depicted scenes of unity to help reunite East and West. In one of the waterways that divides East and West Berlin is a very large statue of three men coming together, to symbolize the reunification of Berlin. We were shown where the walls stood and the section between the walls known as the "death strip" (isn't that an awful name?) where Russian soldiers were instructed to shoot anyone that set foot in that section.

Before our stop at Checkpoint Charlie we stopped for a traditional German lunch of different kinds of meats and sauerkraut at the Sony Center. Once again not very much German beer was consumed in our group. I have never dared to try sauerkraut but I have to say that this sauerkraut was very good.

Our last stop of the day was at Checkpoint Charlie, were we saw a replica of the original checkpoint. Along the streets we were able to view a storyboard of pictures that captured the building and destruction of the wall, the passage between the east and west at the checkpoints and how some tried to creatively escape East Berlin. Above the checkpoint a picture of an American and Russian soldier is displayed to signify the reunification. The American soldier faces East Berlin welcoming them to the West and a Russian soldier faces the West side, welcoming them to the East. Unfortunately, our time was short and we didn't get to read and see all that was there but I am so glad that we decided to make the trek to Berlin so that I could learn of the history behind the Cold War and all that took place in Berlin.

We said goodbye to our fun little guide and headed back to the ship. Before we got back we had a little scare with our crazy German bus driver. He couldn't speak English and none of us could speak German so it became a problem when we had no AC and couldn't communicate to him that we were dying. After getting a little frustrated and speeding along the Autobahn and pulling off to the side of the road, the bus driver finally got it figured out and we were able to enjoy the rest of our ride in comfort. I will say as we were driving we saw several cars fly by going faster then I've ever seen a car go on a regular highway.

Brandenburg Gate


The Hotel where Michael Jackson pulled the crazy balcony stunt


A famous statue in the lobby of one of the local banks


Holocaust Memorial






The Wall




The Unity Statue


Checkpoint Charlie (I don't know the people in the picture)


The American soldier facing the East


The Russian soldier facing the West


A quote from JFK inside Checkpoint Charlie


Some of the photos on the storyboard




A German police car (my mom thought they were cool)

stockholm, sweden

Stockholm is a city of 14 islands linked by boats and graceful bridges. It is widely acknowledged as one of the world's most beautiful cities and is often called the Venice of Scandinavia. It is also as famous for being the home of the Nobel Prize.



As we were arriving in Stockholm early that morning my mother noticed that the waterway we were sailing through was lined with lush islands covered with cute little quaint Swedish homes. She was up earlier then I was and sat out on the veranda and watched as we passed all the beautiful homes and I woke up just in time to see the ship pull into the port. Everything was so beautiful and we got a taste of what was yet to come.

Our first stop of the day was the Vasa Museum. The museum was built around the 17th century warship "Vasa", the oldest, fully-preserved ship in the world which has the distinction of sinking on its maiden voyage in sight of the King in Stockholm's harbor. The King was a stubborn man who wanted to build the world's most magnificent and powerful battleship as a sign of his power and wealth and demanded that it be built longer and taller then the average warship. He was advised against his decision but ignored the warnings and told them to build it. As it was setting sail a gust of wind caused the "top-heavy" ship to swing too far and began to fill with water. 15 minutes after it set sail it slowly began to sink in the harbor as the King, and the rest of Stockholm, watched.

After examining the massive ship that was restored in 1961, we learned that the ship was buried in silt for most of those 333 years, preserving wood that should have rotted long ago. They also found several remains of the sailors that drowned with the ship and have restored their faces to what they would have looked like in 1628. As you can see in the picture below, they were a little creepy. When thinking of the Swedish people and how they take such pride in the Vasa one question was raised, "What kind of country puts so much work into celebrating and showing off their biggest folly?"

After the Vasa we drove through several of the islands as we passed the medieval Old Town, the Royal Palace, the Parliament building, the National Museum, the famous parade row (one of the streets along the water lined with magnificent buildings that lead to the Royal Palace) and then we made a stop at Fjallgatan where we were able to view 8 of the 14 islands of Stockholm. The view was amazing. I hate that my camera doesn't do it justice but after seeing this site I think Sweden became my favorite of all of our destinations.

After checking out the sites we were given the choice to go back to the ship or stay in the city for 3 more hours and then catch a bus back to the ship. Of course, we weren't going to waste the rest of our day doing nothing on the ship, so we jumped off and did some exploring of our own. We walked through the fashion district but we weren't in the mood for clothes shopping, so we crossed one of the many bridges and shopped on all the little cobblestone streets surrounding the Royal Palace.

This afternoon was my favorite time on our trip. My mom and I were finally able to go off on our own and find the local shops we had been looking for. My mom bought some beautiful pictures of Stockholm and some souvenirs for Shae. One of our finds was a jam made from a rare berry that can only be found in the forests of Scandinavia called a Cloudberry. The cute girl in the shop told us it was amazing on top of ice cream but I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't tried it yet so I don't know if she was telling the truth.

Next we ventured over to the royal palace to see the changing of the guards. It was fun to see the strict guards as they did their little routine and traded places. My mom said it wasn't near as big as the one at Buckingham Palace but it was fun to see how much pride they took in defending their Royal family. After the guards we made our way down one of the cute little cobblestone streets where we found a little cafe for lunch. We weren't starving but we noticed a common item on several menus was a baked potato with any topping you could think of. My mom and I decided to try the seafood salad on ours and it was delicious. I don't know if it was all the dill they put in their salad or just the combination of the potato with the salad but we loved it and it was the perfect lunch in such a cute little city.

Our time was up so we crossed the bridge and waited a really long time for the bus to pick us up and then it was back to the ship. Typically we would spend our nights on the ship eating a nice dinner, watching the performance for the evening and then going to the movie theater to watch the newest movie they were playing (I know, we're boring) but this night we were anxious to get back to our room after dinner so that we could sit out on the veranda and watch as we passed the beautiful islands and homes as we left Sweden. Call me old, but I loved this. My mom and I wrapped up in blankets and sat out on the balcony until it got too dark to see. My mom, of course, had her video camera out and would zoom in on all the beautiful homes as we imagined what their lives were like and secretly wished that we could come back with our families and stay in one. My mom has traveled a lot and she always talks about how much she loved Switzerland but the best part of the night was listening to my mom talk to the video camera as she continued to refer to Sweden as Switzerland, "Now here we are in Switzerland ... I mean Sweden ...".

The next day was spent relaxing at sea before our big day in Berlin.

The Vasa


A replica of the ship


One of the creepy sailors


Sites of Stockholm







Shops in Stockholm



Changing of the Guards






The islands as we left Stockholm