You're amazing

I think maybe Edinburgh is my favorite city of them all (of those I've visited at least). The climate is familiar to me, the people's accent is adorable, every wall reeks of history, the buildings are beautiful and the people are super friendly.

My sister already made a good resumé of our adventures in Scotland, but I thought I too should share some photos (even though they were taken with my phone and thus hold terrible quality) and highlight moments.

First of all. This is a view of Edinburgh New Town and Calton Hill seen through the battlements of Edinburgh Castle. One of the buildings you see contains our hotel. The Royal British Hotel (the picture on this page shows exactly how our room looked), and I must say that, even though the hotel was somewhat worn down and they were in the middle of renovating, the service was great and we couldn't have asked for a better location.

Next is a picture taken during our visit to Edinburgh Castle. The building is the Royal Palace and contains the Scottish crown jewels. (I've now seen the Scottish and the English/British ones, but not the Norwegian ones. kind of ironic?)

On our way down from the castle we met a nice lady with a vibrant lipstick who wanted to promote a book called Edinburgh Shorts. I thought I'd share this for with the way she told about this book (apparently it's a collection of shorts in different styles that's all centered around Edinburgh, there should be crime, drama, romance and comedy) it sounded really cool. I think I'll put it on my wishlist.

Not far from the castle is this old cathedral which is not used as a church anymore, but it is really pretty and I have eaten lunch inside it. How cool is that? It's called The Hub.

Also. just down the street from The Hub, near St.Giles Cathedral (which we of course visited) we were surprised by some street performers. Walking down Karl Johans gate in Oslo during summertime you will encounter people playing the accordion or playing guitar and singing Wonderwall by Oasis or Knocking on Heavens Door by Bob Dylan (usually they are good and you get in a summery mood, but it's always the same). Or maybe you meet people jumping around their cd-player. I don't know what the traditions on Scottish streets are, but to me this group of musicians was a welcome change from the accordions and cd-players. And they were really good! (it should be said that I love this kind of music.Cheerful strings). The sound quality in my video is horrible, but I hope you get the picture. (And at the very start you'll hear me say "...there's a man in the way though..."

Also! Silly me didn't think of filming this, but every day there was a man, in a kilt, playing the bagpipe at the street outside our hotel. And not just the kilt itself; the whole get-up! (I admit it. I have a thing for kilts).
It was really cool. Even though it resulted in us having bagpipe music stuck in our heads even after we left the country XD

About the superfriendlyness of the Scottish people. They say "thank you" ALL THE TIME. I'm astonished. The waitress even thanked us for letting her clear our table as if we were the ones doing her a favor... (no, thank YOU for bringing us food and cleaning up after us.)
Besides. On Norwegian walls you can find drawings of willies or sentences like "[someone's name] is gay" (that's how childish we are). On Calton Hill you could find stuff like this:

Maybe it's the other way around. Scottish people aren't extraordinarily friendly, Norwegians are just extraordinarily... cold.

Anyways. It was a great trip and I would love to return and see more of Scotland some day. It is a lovely place.
And I leave you with a picture of some doves taken in St.Andrew Square.

(For other dove-pictures, go here XD )

and while am at it. music and blogging and stufffff.

SEPTEMBER JUST CAN't COME FAST ENOUGH.
Amanda Palmer's new album is awesome and I want so much to just hold it in my hands. Who can resist beautiful madness like this?:

Gothamist House Presents: Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra, "Lost" from Gothamist on Vimeo.

*continues to impationally wait for the album-release*.

I like the face you make~

♥

It's spring! And the snow is (almost) gone, and the sun is up warming, and I've got easter holiday and everything is just great :)

And I'll be celebrating easter in Finland this year. I am. It's really happening. I've packed my suitcase and everything.

My mom is really sweet. Every year at Easter eve my siblings and I each receive an easter egg filled with candy after finding it at the end of our own personal set of rebuses and riddles. It's been a tradition for years, and I was slightly sad that I was going to miss it. But I woke up today, got out of bed, opened my door, and there it was! My own pre-easter-rebus! Isn't my mom the coolest?

YaY

A little praise and advertising for Imogen Heap.

Since me, Gacha 1, 3 and 4 is seeing her live next week I figured I could start my fangirling now.

Imogen Heap, ladies and gentlemen, is just fantastic. And you would think, at least I used to think, when you hear her music that this kind of music must be boring live. You would think it was just some playback-music and that the artist would stand still on the stage singing. In that case you are wrong. Imogen Heap brings all her equipment with her on stage and builds up the music, sound by sound, then and there. It's just awesome. Sometimes she uses the audience too and it really makes you feel like you're part of something. And on top of it all her music is just beautiful. I'm really happy that I get to see her again.

Most people have heard her song "Hide and Seek", which is a great song, through tv-series and Jason Derülo's song "Watcha Say", but that song is really just the tip of the iceberg.

Imogen Heap live in Oslo, February this year:

Of course the sound is much better when you're actually there than this camera managed to catch.

And she's so nice! She's got this charming, British sense of humor and cute way of carrying herself. So even between the songs the whole concert got this cozy atmosphere.

The studio-version of "First Train Home" and some other favorites of mine:






Funny thing: I discovered Imogen Heap years ago when some random person used a song from her old band, Frou Frou, in a Kingdom Hearts-amv... Proves that "illegal" streaming of music can actually work for the artist's (and record-companies) benefits.

Hallooooo~

It's snowing!
Me, Mom, Lynnie and Tussi decided to go for a little walk in the snow. And when we came back we decided to walk it once more. It was a teeny tiny one.
But OMG there was some mysterious tracks there, like if someone had been there before us! Whoever could it be?
Teeheehee~

Breath out

I got the best job one can possibly have.
Seriously.

I feel so lucky ^.^

I just sit there, surrounded by thousands of books and with just a few clicks on the computer I can summon almost everything (That exists in Norway mind you) when it comes to books, movies, music etc.

And people get so happy when I manage to help them find what they're looking for.
And some of them are really impressed when I fetch rare stuff from across the country.
It's just fun.
How can this really be work? I don't mind it at all.

Of course, I do my share of mistakes. I'm new, it would be weird if I did everything perfect. And I have a tendency to pounder about my mistakes several days after.
But hey, I'm learning.
And of course, I get tired and it is tiresome to please everyone, especially during rush hours when there's lots of people and everyone have some problem or demands weird stuff that I don't know how to get.
But overall I don't mind being there.

I mean really, I get paid for hanging out in the library all day.

Sometimes at school when I'm tired and stupid and can't figure out my cataloging exercises it feels kinda hopeless. So it's nice to discover that I can actually function in a real library.

Ready-Set-GO

I've been postponing my packing the whole day.
Because it's so boooring.
But now I'm finished I think.

And I hope it's room for the bag in the car 'cause I think it's slightly bigger than I remembered. But I think it'll work out ok. It's not that much bigger.

When I'm traveling, I'm perfectly calm the whole time until the night before departure.
That would be now.
Now I'm stressed out and convinced that I've forgotten something.

But I got my money and my passport, so there's no reason to panic really.

And I'm excited!
I've been wanting to go to Finland for years now, and this year I'm actually going!
YaaaaY

Roadtrip even~
=D

The first butterfly of Summer 2010

Was bright yellow almost white~

^.^