Second Day in New York City

Today we walked a lot. We wanted to become more familiar with how New York functioned, and see what it had to offer. We took the number 2 train to the north side and walked down central park from there. Walking down from central park we went all the way down to union square. Underway we went to a lot of shops including a four story Barnes and Noble, with an incredible diversity in books. The Chinese restaurant we ate at had really good noodles, and in my opinion the meat was okay. The doors opened at 7 and the queue was longer than expected as it went around the block. It was really crowd inside, and a lot of people were already there one hour before the opening band for the opening band would even start. The Rooks -a local rock band- started the show with an explosive performance. The vocalist had an amazing voice, and it really shone through that they had something to prove. Next up was Dumbfoundead, a band that apparently had gotten some recognition,  judging by the volume of the audience as they started. The South-Korean rapper was awesome and brought up some deep problems in society as well as he rapped about drugs and other less serious things. It was impressive to experience, how these bands were able to keep us interested in 2 hours before George Watsky arrived. I read a recent review of one of his concerts, which said that Watsky really knew how to party. That was very much true. He played the best of his songs from his new album "Cardboard Castles" and told us that we were the biggest crowd he had ever performed in front of. After the concert I decided to buy a t-shirt from The Rooks to support them.

No taxi will take you to Brooklyn

Seeing the skyline from the window of the Greyhound bus from DC made me all tingly. As seen on TV. Wow! The man from New York kept talking to the passengers behind us, repeating his 15 minutes speech on The wonders of the city. When we finally left the bus, the last thing he said to us was "oh you're staying in BROOKLYN? You should definitely take a cab, don't experience the metro system yet" before he rushed off. As a mother I became a bit anxious, and decided to take a cab.

The taxi line was a mess, but finally we were next. "No, I'm not taking you to Brooklyn" the taxi driver hissed before picking up the passenger behind us. The next taxis just repeated the scene like they were pushing a replay button. I started picturing Brooklyn as a desolate area of crime. The last stance of civilization: The Holiday Inn Express Downtown Brooklyn. The last taxi, covered with bullet holes, standing in front of the hotel, both tourists and taxi driver inside because the NYPD was to afraid to approach the area.

Shaking off the pictures I had to make a last go at it, which was easy since one in three cars is a cab in this city. "But why won't you take us" I shrieked. "I"m off duty at five and it's Friday. No taxi driver is going to take you to Brooklyn."the driver replied. "But what do you advice me to do?" I pushed the sentences out - after all I have a 14 year old to take care of, I can't just give up! "It's easiest to take the metro. If you're comfortable about it. It'll save you a lot of money too. Have a nice day." He picked up the next passenger.

Slowly dragging our suitcases towards certain death we looked at the signs, and after talking to several service people we bought our tickets. Loud sirens from inside the metro system was making a constant noise, making it impossible to think. We entered the subway, stressed  around for a while until realizing that we were not going to understand this by ourselves. "Ask a policeman - they are everywhere", another satisfied customer advised us. So we did. We found a big, heavily armed, NYPD cop. "So you want to go to Brooklyn? And the taxis won't take you. They do that all the time to earn more money. Its illegal to refuse passengers. They won't say no to you when I'm there" he said in a voice maching his uniform. Julius smiled. We are in fuckin' New York City.

Gottaloveit!

What's up with Lincoln?

Visiting the Lincoln Memorial invoked conflicting feelings. On the one hand it's just another pompous Greek temple in the city of DC. On the other Lincoln himself bears powerful nationalistic symbolism which is kind of scary bearing in mind the nations violent history. Then again we share the site with hundreds of people smiling and photographing each other everywhere, thus making it a potential symbol of the global trends of tourism. Reading it's history it is supposed to be a symbol that assembles people.

The Smithsonian museum of American History exhibits the historic process from slavery to liberation of African Americans. They tell heartbreaking stories from centuries ago, and, devastatingly, from our recent past. I found myself tearing up about the tragic stories. As late as in 1963 Dr King and more than 200.000 other protesters filled the memorial and the park all the way to the Washington Monument. What it must have felt to walk on those steps, talk to the hordes of peacefully protesting people, talking about changing the world for their children. "I have a dream"he said, because the american dream did not apply to all. The leaders of the civil rights movement conquered the stance of the American dream in the shape of Abraham Lincoln. Powerful symbolism - isn't it?

So - what to feel about it all? Well, it has been cool being where it all happened. And I am glad that the civil rights movement accomplished what they set out to do. And the monument itself? I'm not able to shake off the ambivalence....

Washington DC

DC is not very hot in Spring. It's windy, cold and to get from one museum to another you have to walk for a while. Also, if you plan to go to The Mall, eating a solid breakfast is a good idea. There are very few cafes in the area, and the few ones that are in the museums are overly expensive. I bought a pizza slice for $6.50. It tasted like bread.
Walking around in DC is an astonishing experience, even when it is windy, and far between each attraction. We managed to go all the way up to the back of Capitol, and to the Supreme Court.
Outside people demonstrated against DOMA, but it seemed we had arrived a little late for the party. It was still a cool thing to see. It also seemed like there were not only supporters of Gay marriage there, as some older men came with sarcastic and evil comments not suitable on print.

Peacefully outside The Supreme Court

10 things I didn't know about Washington DC

1: The city's real name is District of Columbia.
2: DC is federal and not part of any state.
3: Bones is not filmed in DC (disappointed!), but National Treasure is.
4: DC has the ugliest subway known to man, making you feel that you are in an apocalyptic movie.
5: Pentagon has a subway station.
6: "The Mall" in DC is not for shopping,
7: If you look slightly confused people will ask if you need help (1.hand knowledge).
8: "Amish chicken soup" may resemble hot water.
9: You can do a lot of walking without finding food.
10: The arcitects REALLY liked Greeks and Romans

Not so fun fact from DC

The day of our arrival the Supreme Court was hearing the case of prohibition law against gay marriages in California today. California was the 10th US state to legalize gay marriages, but after 18 000 marriages a voters referendum decided against, which resulted in a law forbidding same sex marriage. Strangely a non-religious state can decide that religious feelings trump rights to legally secure your family and publicly confirm your love if you are gay. It is expected that the supreme court will confirm that a state can not "take back" the rights given to people thus re-instating the right of gay marriages in California. Meanwhile the debate runs with high temperature in the papers.

Hardcore Arcade Gaming and

Waking up early Monday morning, we waited a couple of hours before the sun rose, and headed straight out to Disney Quest. This turned out to be a bad idea in several ways. First of all, it was not possible to buy tickets for Disney Quest on the hotel, and they didn't really know what the prices were. Second of all, we were so tired and drowsy that we didn't realize at the moment, that we were being tricked by a taxi driver claiming that the trip to downtown Disney was going to cost $30 and that it would be a 20 minute long trip. He turned out to be a nice guy, and I at least felt comfortable around him. When we arrived at downtown Disney, we realized that the place wouldn't actually open in at least two hours, and that we would probably just have to either find some place to eat or go shopping. It was windy outside, so we first went to the big Lego shop at the other end of downtown Disney. Whilst waiting we also checked out the closest Disney shop, to see if we could find a gift for the little princess at home. The shop proved to be overwhelmingly big, and finding the right gift was hard.

Tickets for Disney Quest were easy to get, and waiting outside the arcade for more than 10 minutes wasn't necessary at all, as there were only another about 20 people in the queue. The place was huge! Disney Quest is a 5 story tall arcade with games ranging from Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers, to Tekken 5 and Guitar Hero 3.  Because the arcade is something extremely big, I thought I'd just review the best surprises and the worst disappointments. Pirates Of The Caribbean and CYBERSPACE mountain are the two rides that are actually worth waiting in line for. The pirates of the Caribbean ride isn't actually based on regarding movies, but is rather a 3D interactive adventure, in which your goal is to shoot down enemy ships to get their gold. You work as a team, and I guess the team can have 7members maximum considering there being 6 canons and 1 steering wheel on each boat. In cyberspace mountain you make your own rollercoaster.  After you have made your rollercoaster, you get to drive it, within a machine that sort of looks like a barrel. The graphics of the on-screen ride were underwhelming, but it was still a lot of fun. What you should absolutely not wait in line for however, is the Virtual Reality game Ride The Comix. The graphics are poor, the controls are inaccurate and unresponsive, and the helmet you have on York head is extremely heavy. It feels tired and outdated, and the other Virtual Reality game there is not much better. In the Magic Carpet ride, all you do is fly a magic carpet to find Genie hidden somewhere in the palace, and stop the evil Jafar. The controls here are a bit more responsive, and the few square centimeters of screen that you could actually see, seemed to have okay graphics. Whatever you do, don't try any of these two rides: you are better of playing on your Wii. Most Retro arcade games were fun to try out, but the games that really stood out were the racing games, and the shotgun-dinosaur game. Need For Speed Carbon was as good as made for the arcade with a wheel, two pedals and a boost button. There was also a NASCAR game there, with 20 seats for one game. This was a fun experience, but compared to modern games it showed off it's age with insane physics and cars flying around the track in a matter of seconds. Overall the arcade was extremely much fun, even though it needs an overhaul. The nice taxi driver picked us up at 5 and brought us home.

Disney Quest and Universals Potter

The two days in Orlando was meant for entertainment and adventure - Julius' choice.

Day one was spent on Universals Wizarding world, and besides the excitement of being in a storm, it was everything I hoped for. The forbidden journey was by far the best ride ever.

Disney Quest of day 2 did not correspond well with the weather. The sun was shining and I was not too happy spending the day inside. Sunshine & 26degrees C screamed beach, but what can you do. Once there (brought by an overpriced taxiride but a nice driver) we strolled nearly two hours in Downtown Disney, not spending more than 10$! (Still in shock from the taxifare...) We were almost first in line when it opened 11.30am, and stalked a party that knew their way around the quest, straight for the "Pirates of the Caribbean". After that Julius was forgiven for dragging me indoors on a sunny day. The Disney Quest brought out the child in me. Thank you Julius (but next time we go to the beach, OK?)

Magical Potterland And Some Rain

Our first day in Orlando was brilliant! We decided to go to the Islands of Adventure, to see the main attraction; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We had a look around in the different small shops there which all had unique items from the Harry Potter world , ranging from wands and chocolate frogs to inflatable tongues and sneakoscopes. The main ride in the park was awesome and a very unique experience. It was well worth the 60-90 minute long wait you should expect. When we felt like we had gotten enough of the Harry Potter experience, we headed for Jurassic Park and Room Lagoon to get some food. The Burger and chips at Wimpy's, were okay, and mum swore it was better than at McDonald's in Norway. After rafting we were soaking wet, but thought we were going to spare the five dollars they wanted us to pay for the
"People Dryer". We wanted to get something to eat, but changed our minds and went for the other ride with-a-guarantee-of-getting-soaked, before heading for the dryer. This turned out to be both a good idea, and a very bad one at the same time. At the positive side, it started pouring down, there was a thunderstorm above our heads, and we stood in line for the ride. On the not-so-positive-side, we were about as far away from the exit of the park as possible, all the rides had been suspended, our bags were locked in a locker with a timer on, my luggage was lost possibly somewhere in Europe and we were stuck in a room with annoying music from a cartoon neither me nor mother had ever heard about. We had absolutely no idea what was going on, and it was thanks to a nice lady and her daughter that we got updated news on the weather outside. A couple of formal questions turned into an informal talk between us four about education, Florida and video games. Turns out, big surprise, the one girl I actually ended up talking with wanted to create video games. We ended off discussion with me giving them my mail address, and them running out into what we thought was going to be mild rain. Unnecessary to say, it was a tad bit more than mild rain. We got out after a while, but after the "mild rain", I was completely soaked, and with no clothes. Ironically, the weather completely changed, when we headed out to buy something dry clothes, and became comparable to a hot sunny summer day in Bergen. We got home with no clothes, but an ice cream and some snacks, and watched rush hour,  and fell sweep at 5 Pm.

Flying Lufthansa

Traveling Oslo-Orlando (Drammen-International Drive) was en 26,5 hour experience. The trans-atlantic flight went like a dream - wonderful crew and lots of opportunities to be entertained. Even the Captain was funny, telling us that the reason for a ground round-trip ending back to the gate was due to the collection of "some important stuff". Well,I thought it was funny. All but Julius' suitcase evetually caught the 17.35 (19.00) flight Charlotte-Orlando, making some of us resenting not staying with our luggage. It was a humpty dumpty trip, which didn't get more comfortable by the flight attendant yelling to the passengers. Relieved to still be alive we didn't make a big fuss about the lost suitcase.

Mother and Son Going To East Coast USA