Callejeros en Irlanda - only in Spanish , sorry

Para aquellos que se perdieran el programa de callejeros del canal 4 sobre Irlanda, se puede ver en youtube por partes, mirad la primera a partir del minuto 4 que sale nuestro Amigo Column (algunos lo conoceréis por mis fotos del facebook y otros en persona), relaciones públicas del hotel de U2 "el Clarence" en pleno centro de Dublín en el Temple Bar.



Llevando más de 4 años residiendo en Irlanda me parece muy acertada la visión que se da en callejeros por distintos españoles o irlandesese que residen aquí como yo.

Espero que os guste!

The apprentice final, Ireland 2009

I have been following the Irish apprentice program for the last few months every Monday. 14 candidates started to compete to get the final position for 100,000 euros annually as an apprentice for the Irish millionaire Bill Cullen. Every week different business projects were presented by the contestants and every week one contestant was fired. This program was for business addicts like me that wanted to get an insight of how people work in teams within companies where competition is fierce.

MY favourite contestants were Breffny and Lucinda Kelly. To me Lucinda should have won because she has all the skills and never criticized any of the contestants and always delivered in every task. Breffny is not made for business world, very naif but such a funny guy and a good person.

Bill was very straight forwrd with his criticism regarding the contestants I was sometimes stressed thinking houw would i handle such harsh criticism (i know i´m masochistic..)

I wasn´t fond of any of the finalists but if you make me choose Steve Rayner like BIlla said had much more integrity than Stephen which muscles didn´t let him think from time to time.., he was cold like ice!!

Please even if you are not a fan have a look at the minute 7.55 from this video, something unexpected happened at the lunch of the last project for the finalists

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7isQNht43w

I will miss watching the candidates every week!my husband met the other day Stephen so I hope to be lucky and meet any of the contestants in Dublin one day!

El belén visto desde Cádiz

El belén visto desde el punto de vista de este humorista gaditano, muy bueno jajaja

Dont miss the Worst Album Covers ever - part 2

Dont miss some of the worst cover albums ever!! which one is your favourite??They are all real!!




Millie Jackson from 1983.. , insinuating ,huh? lol



Devastatin' Dave from 1986 (my favourite!don´t you love his shirt and glasses?)

Joyce Drake from 1983 (nice hair style!!!and of course the rose gives it a special touch!)

Viva los 80ies!!! There is nothing like the 80ies!!

Trip recommendation : Munich (Germany)

I should have recommended the city where I was living for more than 3 years and a half, a long time ago because it is a city you get to love and that you miss when you are no longer in there. But never is too late, so here you are!

Some sightseeing tips:

The beautiful Mariemplatz with the Rathaus (city hall) and the Frauenkirche (Women´s cathedral)
Die Viktualienmarkt - > here you can find many stands where you buy fresh food or even have a meal in a Biergarten
Die Oper
Die Hoffbräuhaus -> A living Oktoberfest atmosphere throughout the year!
Maximiliemstrasse - >one of the most exclusive shopping streets in Munich
Karlsplatz
die Universität (LMU - Metro : U6) Hauptgebäude
Odeonsplatz
Die Pinakotheken (alt und neu)
Olympiazentrum and the Olympic tower (if you dont have a vertigo)- the old Olympics city within Munich now turned into a student´s neighbourhood
and of course if the weather allows it , take a stroll around one of the biggest parks in Europe : der Englischen Garten and go in direction to " der Chinesische Turm" (The Chinesse Tower)where you can have a "Bier Mass" and a "Bratwürst" -> traditinal German beer from Bayern and sausage
You can also have a traditional picnic along the river "Isaar" in the summer (beautiful!)
Schwabing -> die Wiese (where the Oktoberfest takes place in late Sept-oct ->the biggest Beer Party in the world!)

if you are going to stay longer than 3 days , you can also go to the:

Nymphenburg Palace of barroquian style with its beautiful gardens.

Neuschweinstain castle, which was the inspiration for the Dysneyland's castle, it's beautiful!! You can buy a Bayern ticket (it's cheaper), you need to travel to Füssen by train (from Munich) and from there you need to get a bus to Schwangau. Oce you are in the little town, you can either walk up the hill or take a horse carriage. I have always walked, it's not suitable for old people (or lazy ones lol) but if you are more or less fit , you will get there.

and if you are a football fan , try to watch a match at the modern Stadium "allianz Arena"

Dont leave Munich without eating a : Brezzel, Wiener Schnitzel,white sausage with sweet moustard or Schweine Braten (if you are a Vegetarian then ,no chance!)

and of course order either a : Helles or a Weiss Bier!

In relation to transportation , Munich is a very well organized city, if you buy a day ticket you should be able to use the bus, underground and trams. Check the zones for the city centre unless you are going to see a lake or a palace that maybe outside the city. The only inconvenience is the machines for the tickets that are mostly displayed in German and can be a bit complicated to understand due to the multiple options so try to buy the tickets for your stay at the train station or Airport where they will speak in English to you.

Best time of the year to go to Bayern in general is either the spring or the summer, where you can have a swim in any of the gorgeous lakes around Bayern, like the Chiemsee or Stanbergersee! Unless you want to enjoy the Xmas markets on the streets with hot wine or if you want to go to the Oktoberfest (not my liking, though.., too crowded and expensive although i love the German guys in leather trousers!).

Navidades sorprendentes! Santa Claus and the 3 wise kings exist!

English version: (Spanish version below)

Again by chance, I found this web page where I could do personalized videos from the 3 wise kings and Santa Claus with my nephews names,age and things they do well and that they need to improve. The final results are magical! You can even upload a picture of the kid you want to address the video to. I hope that my nephews and nieces like them. If I had received a video like that where the 3 wise kings say my name ,age and have a picture of me, I would believe in them forever! again the magic of the internet!

http://www.navidadessorprendentes.com/ (videos can only be personalized in Spanish,sorry, i dont know any English version of it)

Spanish version:

Otra vez por casualidad ,encontré esta página web donde podía personalizar un video de los 3 reyes magos o papa noel con los nombres ,edad, cosas que hacen bien y que deben mejorar de mis sobrinos de manera gratuita. El resultado final es mágico!El video incluso puede incluir una foto del niño al que se quiere dedicar el video. Espero que a mis sobrinos les guste. SI yo hubiera recibido un video como este donde los 3 reyes magos dicen mi nombre,edad e incluso tienen una foto mia, habría creido en ellos para siempre! de nuevo la magia de internet! Si quieres crear un video para alguien especial mira en:

http://www.navidadessorprendentes.com/

The truth bank online! The truth makes life more interesting

I have just discovered by chance how to wind up when i need to tell the truth about something and get some honest opinions from strangers. There is an Irish web page called "the truth bank" where you can tell your truth anonymously and give your opinion on other people´s truth. Imagine how dangeorus could be if the web page´s creators will gather the i.p.s to locate the people who told a truth such as " i hate my job and/or boss" this is the most common post i have seen (none was mine, i promised!because i dont hate my job, yet..lol) I think that nowadays there are so many doors open on the internet to express yourself and have social connections that is such an advantage to our ancestors. I can´t imagine my grandpa writing online " i hate Franco" (the Spanish dictator )this may have lead to an online revolution! so what are you waiting for? go and check other people´s truth and leave yours!

For now check this interesting video from their web page about conceptions of a possible truth, i got a different one from the actual truth shown after the video was played:

http://www.truthbank.ie/videos/view/1?CAKEPHP=959663c1e4cf411f36d93f71d27a9256

My favourite objects part 3

My tabla para cortar verduras del cocina!

Hammans del Andalus - Arabic Baths in Córdoba Trip recommendation

I had the pleasure of enjoying the charm of going back in time in the Arabic Baths located close to the Cordoban Mosque in Andalucia (Spain). From 22.00 pm there is currently a a disocunt f 10% and for a bit more of thirty euros I had a traditional 15 min massage and I could enjoy the hot water,cold water, warm water, hot stone and Turkish bath for 90 minutes, enjoying the Arabic music in the backgorund and having a traditional tea inbetween each bath. Its roof with starsshaped holes where you could see the sky and its quietness, not being a tourist high season, made it much more special. I have to say that I´m not a fan of massages but the one I had with "jazmin" (Andalusian flower) oil did me good and after our Bath session I was 100% relaxed! Of course I bought a bottle of oil in their unique shop of exquisite massage oils and soaps.

If you ever go to my city, go to the Arabic baths. Take into account that it´s not easy to find a booking in high season from May to September, so check the web page first and ask for the best time when there are less people since due to its small size ,if there are many,it may not be so enjoyable.

We were lucky and there were only 7 people (including us 2).

More info can be found under:

http://www.hammamspain.com/cordoba/

Second homemade Video of Darryl Johson

Hi guys, another video of the greater deaf sign language translator interpreting music videos that i have seen on tv. His rythm and personality when interpreting the songs are unique. I dont miss him any morning, even if i dont like the song from the music video. What a professional!

Backstreet "boys "(? )back después de 17 años de carrera!/ BSB at concert after 17 years of music carreer

Dónde? o2 en Dublín
hora? 20.00
día? 13 de Noviembre
Concierto de ... Backstreet "boys" (se deberían llamar backstreet "cuchos"(viejo en colombiano) pero bueno jaj) con Madcon como teloneros.

where? O2 in Dublin (Ireland)
at what time? 20.00
day? 13 th November
Concert of..Backstreet "boys" (should they still be called "boys" or grown-up boys lol) with Madcon as the supporting band.

Review of the concert only in Spanish this time, sorry (you can use the google language bar on my blog to have it translated )

Para mi sorpresa y a pesar de que pocos lo admiten, el 02 estaba llenito de fans que cantaban como yo los grandes éxitos de los BSB de principio a fin. Yo no era consciente de que me sabía casi todas las letras hasta ayer jaja. Todo comenzó con el gran éxito "everybody" los gritos de las fans histéricas de detrás nuestra todas de más de 30 , casi que no me dejaban oir. Pero eso no era todo,al mirar a mi derecha,mi marido que en teoría iba de acompañante..saltaba como loco cantando al mismo tiempo!

El show que llevaban era muy sencillo (yo me esperaba más, en este sentido), sólo con unas 5 bailarinas y un dj (no llevaban ningún tipo de músico) y no habia pantallas gigantes donde les enfocaban y nosotros al estar en las gradas no les veiamos bien las caras :-(. Cuando iban a cambiarse de vestuario nos ponían unos cortos cada uno protagonizado por uno de ellos, en homenaje a películas como Matrix, Fight Club o enchanted. Al terminar cada corto salían de la pantalla a cantar otra canción. A nosotros lo de los cortos nos pareció un poco del lugar, ya que nosotros fuimos a ver un concierto no cortos de cine..pero los cortos estaban muy bien hechos.

Cantaron casi todos sus grandes éxitos (quit playing games with my heart, larger than life,i want it that way, as long as you love me, incomplete etc) y algunas canciones de su nuevo albúm que eran desconocidas para nosotros..como para la mayoría del público que como yo, seguramente fueron para escuchar las viejas canciones.

Para seros honesta no me esperaba una gran melodía o grandes voces e iba más a pasármelo bien pero me equivoqué, cantaron muy afinados e interactuaron con el público, incluso A.j. tomo fotos con polaroid para que nos hagamos un "tag" en facebook jaja.

Sobre todo se oían las voces de A.J. y Nick Carter, los otros dos pasaron un poco más desapercibidos, yo eché de menos a Kevin, al que, por cierto quitaron de algunas fotos antiguas de ellos que ponían de fondo mientras cantaban. Nos quedó la duda de si a veces hacian playback y es algo que no podré confirmar pero bueno yo conseguí mi objetivo después de 17 años: cumplir mi deseo de adolescente de verlos! con unos poco más de años encima y con menos energía y un show más sencillo pero les ví y disfruté mucho!

una serie que merece la pena"malviviendo"

Quería hablaros de una serie creada por 5 jóvenes con sus estudios recién terminados y sin expectativas debido a la crisis, deciden hacer una serie, con un preosupuesto de 40 euros para el primer capítulo. Sorprende gratamente la originalidad, calidad de los actores y guiones de los capitulos que llevan hechos! hasta ellos mismos no conciben éxito que ha tenido su serie creada para entretenerse y distribuirla en internet. No os perdáis la clase de inglés del primer capítulo y las peripecias del negro,el caqui y el zurdo jaja un poco vulgares, a veces por el lenguaje que utilizan pero divertidos! Podéis ver todos los capítulos,blog,fotos e incluso hacer donaciones para futuros capítulos en :

www.malviviendo.com

Hay que apoyar a la juventud creativa y con talento, aquí os dejo el trailer del primer capítulo

Pink concert in the O2 de Dublín 15.10.2009

Spanish version: (English version below)

No podía dejar pasar la oportunidad de escribir sobre uno de los mejores conciertos de música rock-pop en vivo que he visto hasta el momento y es que pink lo tiene todo : personalidad,carisma,belleza,buena voz,estilo y un cuerpo en excelente forma que le deja cantar bocabajo colgada de un par de cuerdas en el aire. La verdad es que no me la esperaba tan buena,me lo pasé buscándole defectos pero no pude! jaja nunca habia visto una artista que se le notara más que disfruta lo que hace, lo vive!

La gira de la pop-rockera americana Pink "funhouse" da honor a su nombre porque nos tuvo entretenidos durante las dos horas que duró el concierto. Está rodeada de músicos y bailarines y dos grandes coristas entre ellos también:una violinista, un bioloncello,un guitarrista magnífico,un batería,el director del grupo al teclado,un bajo y un par de acrobatas que nos deleitaron con danza en el aire al ritmo de la música.

Entre sus canciones más conocidas como "sober" "so what" "dear Mr president (dedicada a la mala presidencia de Bush)" "stupid girls" "funhouse" or "please dont leave me" nos deleitó con "bohemian Rapsody" que todos cantamos a coro recordando a Queen y con el hit "crazy" de Gnarls Barckley. Cada canción iba acompañada de su gran personalidad y se comunicaba mucho con el público entre canción y canción donde recogía la cantidad de regalos que le tiraban al escenario, uno de ellos muy original que le cayó en el brazo "un queso irlandés", Pink recalcó que nunca le habian tirado un queso al escenario jaja estos irlandeses son muy originales!

El concierto terminó con pink en el aire cantando bocabajo, impresionante! qué atlética!

Pink estará de vuelta en Dublín nuevamente en Junio del 2010 para aquellos que no quieran perderse su show!

English version:

I could not pass up the opportunity to write about one of the best live Pop-rock music concerts I've seen so far: the Northamerican singer PINK. She has it all: personality, charisma, beauty, good voice, style and she is so fit that she can sing upside down hanging from a pair of ropes in the air. The truth is that I didnt expect Pink to be so good, I have never seen an artist who loves so much what she does, you can feel it!

The tour of American pop-rocker Pink "Funhouse" brings honor to his name because she had us entertained for the two-hour concert. Surrounded by musicians and dancers and singers among them : a violinist, a bioloncello, a superb guitarist, a drummer, the group's director at the keyboard, a bass and a pair of acrobats who delighted us with dance in the air along the rhythm of the music.

Among his best known songs like "Sober" "so what" "Dear Mr President (dedicated to bad Bush presidency)" "stupid girls" funhouse "or" please dont leave me "delighted us with" Bohemian Rapsody "that all remembering we sing in unison and with the Queen hit "Crazy" by Gnarls Barckley. Each song was accompanied by his great personality and she interacted a lot with her fans between each song. Many fan gifts made it to the stage but a very original one hit one of Pink´s arm : an Irish cheddar cheese! Pink laughed and stressed the fact that it was the first time that a cheese landed on her show stage hahaha these Irish are very original!
The concert ended with pink in the air singing upsidedown, impressive! how athletic!

Pink will be back in Dublin again in June 2010 for those who do not want to miss her show!

The magic of Facebook

I wanted to write some lines about the magic of facebook. I have read many articles attacking the networking web page ,many written by people who are not regular users and dont even know how it works. Well, like everything, you have to know well how it works to make good use of it:set up your security privacy settings,dont accept people you dont know as friends,be careful with links your are sent or ads etc With all its faults and benefits, I think it's great to be able to find after more than 15years your best school mates or good university mates that you lost contact with because you all took different paths. Just yesterday, I found one invitation of an old friend from school and it brought so many good memoirs back. Through her i found most of my school friends linking one to the other. Each of my old friends are split living in different places and i dont think i would have ever found them back if it wouldnt have been for a network web page like facebook! i love technology and i love internet! some people may hate finding again people from school but i dont because my group of friends was a really close one and we shared many good moments together!i cant wait to catch up with them after so many years!thanx facebook!

Lisbon Treaty approved by a wide majority of the Irish Population after a second referendum

I promise I´m going to stop talking and writing about the Lisbon treaty for a while but before I do that I wanted to analyze the resuts.

67% yes - 32 % no

Summary of the yes campaign by the government and oposition parties:

Yes to Europe

Yes to Jobs -> The treaty may nt bring directly jobs to Ireland but it will make Europe works better which is always good for any EU future investment in the country

Yes to common EU climate change policies

No to lies (in relation to the coir group poster about minimum wages)

Summary of the no campaign:

voting again: what the heck?-> To me this was a second chance for the Irish government to inform people better of the content of the treaty

minimun wages of 1.84 -> big lie that didnt help the no side supporters..

EU likes controlling->well EU has also given a lot of budget to Ireland, do you think we will be better without EU?

Bank crisis and recession

the only job the treaty saves is Brian Cowen´s (with a picture of him)

They mentioned the easter rising (1916) and fight for freedom of Irish ancestors for nothing -> it has nothing to do with it¿?!!!

We appreciate EU help and we are European but we say not to the treaty-> a bit contradictory..

Taxation -> Ireland keeps its veto on taxation issues, taxes will increase with or witohut the treaty..

End of the EU democracy -> very dramatic..not all decissions need a referendum which also costs a lot of money to the country..

Military forces

dont be bullied -> ????

On the tv debates , i have to say that the no side were much better prepared than the yes side to defend their views, which actually worried me, specially when I saw Ryanairs CEO talking about the yes side without having a clue about what he was saying (he could have checked the referendum page,at least..). Nowadays thanx to the media and internet,some people like me made their own judgments based on the facts and not on the yes-no supporters views. However, I´d like to mention the great job of "generation yes" ,a group of young Irish educated university students who focused on the content of the treaty and facts and the referendum webpage where difficult concepts such has the votation system within EU,commisioners,parliament and other population concerns were clearly explained (due to the complexity of the treaty).


There is not going to be a magical EU treaty that please everyone but as a proud European, I´m glad to see that we are on the way to have stronger unified EU policies (on freedom of movement/jobs/rights/health/environment/discrimination etc), we have already waited long enough to start taking action!

Thanx Irish people!

Now it´s time for Poland and the Check Republic to sign the treaty, fingers crossed!

Signed by the box,music videos interpreted for deaf people

Happy Sunday, I only wanted to dedicate this short post to Darryl Jackson, a man that interpretes music videos for deaf people every morning in a tv video show called "signed by the box". He has 2 female co-workers but he is the one who actually has the rythm inside him. I´d love to meet him one day since I think his passion is admirable,you can really tell that he is enjoying his job. Being able to interpretate in sign language an Eminem video must be very hard due to the speed of his rap-lyrics and Darryl has actually achieved that. What a pity that the tv show is always at 7.00 a.m.. I dont really get why movies,news or even music videos for deaf people have to be either very early in the morning or very late! Deaf people also should have the right to wake up a bit later and understand what is being displayed on TV/cinema-dont you think?

I introduce you to Darryl Jackson! sorry about the quality of the video of Darryl and Rhyanna

Spanish version: Feliz Domingo, quería dedicarle unas líneas a "Darryl JAckson", un hombre que interpreta videos músicales para sorods,cada mañana en un programa llamado "signed by the box", hay otras dos mújeres interpretes pero él es el que lleva realmente el ritmo dentro de su cuerpo. Me encantaría conocerle algún día ya que creo que su pasión es admirable, se ve claramente que él está disfrutando su trabajo. Ser capaz de interpretar en lenguaje de signos un video de Eminem no es nada fácil y el lo ha conseguido. Que pena que sea siempre a las 7 a.m.. La verdad es que no me parece justo que las películas,noticias o videos para sorods tenga que ser siempre o muy temprano o muy tarde por la noche. Los sordos también deberían tener derecho a levantarse un poco más tarde y entender igualmente las noticias,videos o películas, tú que opinas? bueno,os presento a Darryl Jackson, lamento si la calidad del video no es muy buena!

My favourite objects, part 2

You will have to go to the Roman Baths of Bath in uk to find this original object! who will be these 3 guys?

Can´t wait to watch this movie:The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This movie represents the last project of Heath Ledger before his inminent death. The film was left aside when Heath passed away but in the end, Jonny Deppy, Jude Law and Collin Farrell volunteered to finish Heath´s role. The three well-known actors agreed to donate their salaries to the 2-year-old daughter of Heath : Matilda.
I´ll be the first to go and enjoy it when is released and i´ll let you know!

Yes to Lisbon Treaty

This is my humble contribution to the "Yes vote" to the lisbon treaty dedicated to the 2nd of october referendum in Ireland. There is a hot debate at the moment in the country and I do hope that the misleading "no" campaign with things like "minimun wage of 1.84" or "race to the bottom" or mentioning the bank crisis can´t convince a vast majority of Irish voters. The Lisbon treaty is not reponsible for the global recession! Ireland without EU fundings wouldn´t be where it is now! The No-campaigners state that Germans or French will have more power in decission making if the treaty is approved, well do you think that if you are outside the treaty you are going to have more power within EU? Those who dindt go to vote the first time or those who voted yes, please take part in the 2nd October Referendum! your participation is vital! Europe needs you!! if you don´t support EU decissions, how are you going to be part of EU? we are all one!!

signed by: a proud European with high future hopes!

I have borrowed the picture from a young IRish organization that support the YES vote-

Bath, ciudad romana en Inglaterra - Bath a beautiful Roman city in U.k.

Only in Spanish sorry- try to use the google language bar on my blog

Ciudad romana en el Reino Unido "Bath" que toma su nombre por sus famosos baños romanos. Bath en la región de Sommerset se encuentra a 156 kms de Londres y a tan sólo 21 de Bristol. Es una bella ciudad pequeñita de unos casi 90 mil habitantes cuya hermosa arquitectura georgiana de limpia piedra amarillenta la hace un destino a visitar. Mis recomendaciones:

Para llegar lo mejor es volar a Bristol ya que es la ciudad más cercana (los valientes pueden ir con ryanair como hice yo). Desde Bristol salen autobuses públicos con frecuencia a Bath por el módico precio de 6 libras (ida y vuelta) - Se tarda unos 40 minutos en llegar -

Alojamiento: los hoteles en Bath son bastante caros, yo recomiendo alojarse en Bristol que también es una ciudad hermosa y al ser más grande y de ámbito mucho menos turístico , se encuentran hoteles por un precio mucho más al alcance. La cadena de hoteles "Premiere Inn", está bien y tiene dos en el centro de Bristol,nosotros nos hospedamos en la "old city" con el único incoveniente de que estábamos en plena zona de pubs y las peleas de los ingleses nos despertaban a media noche! Os recomiendo mejor "el premiere inn" que hay al lado de la "coach station" que además viene muy bien para ir a coger el bus a Bath - a nosotros nos salió dos noches en el hotel,habitación doble por unos 57 libras al dia - y la calidad de la habitación era muy buena para mi gusto-

Si tenéis tiempo os recomiendo un viaje en barco por el rio Avon, el paisaje es precioso y merece la pena -

Una vez en Bath ,no perderse :

Los baños romanos -
El casco histórico y centríco de la ciudad
El circus
La zona del río Avon con un parque precioso

Es una ciudad pequeña como dije antes y se puede recorrer a pie, se ven en un día de sobra -

Nosotros cunclimos nuestra visita con el Spa de Bath "Thermae Bath Spa" por unos 22 libras por dos horas cada uno - Tienes acceso a tres pisos,dos de agua caliente,baños turcos y duchas a presión. Tengo que decir que la piscina al aire libre del tercer piso con vistas a Bath es increible pero eso sí, habia demasiados turistas y no se permiten hacer fotos - Si vaís al spa que no sea en fin de semana o en temporada alta - nosotros salimos muy relajados pero un poco decepecionados (en la publicidad del spa,no sale a penas gente!)-

Otra excursión que podéis hacer es Bath y Stonhenge - hay excursiones organizadas - yo la primera vez que fui a Bath, así hice y me encantó -

y llegó a Dublín el sistema público de bicicletas a lo largo de la ciudad

Rodeado de polémica se ha introducido en Septiembre de este año el sistema de bicletas público por el que se puede coger una bicicleta en más de 40 puestos y volverla a dejar cuando hayas terminado de usarla. Este sistema ya existe en otras grandes ciudades europeas como Barcelona o París. Por un lado me alegra que se haya introducido esta iniciativa en Dublín lo que la hace más europea , pero por otro como se ha comentado ,sigue haciendo falta un sistema de carril bici continúo al menos en el centro para que sea más seguro ir en bicicleta en una ciudad en la que no están acostumbrados a compartir el asfalto con ciclistas;ciclistas cuya única protección es su cuerpo en caso de que haya una caída.

He visto que hay puestos de bicicletas en lugares como Montjuic square o talbot street, tengo curiosidad de que como afirma el gobierno irlandés,no se van a vandalizar las modernas bicicletas unisex ya que están en puestos estratégicos con cámaras de seguridad. A ver cuanto tarda en aparecer alguna de las bicis de alquiler en el rio Liffey...

Ojalá me equivoque y en un futuro no muy lejano esto parezca Amsterdam y la gente respete más al ciclista!

De todas maneras me quedo con lo positivo de que está ciudad está cambiando y mirando hacia Europa!

a beautiful movie to chill out " 500 days of summer"

I went to see today a movie called " 500 days of summer" because i liked the male leading actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and i wasn´t disappointed, i didnt´expect a "master piece" , i expected a nice romantic comedy that made me laugh and have a nice time after a long working day and I got just what I wanted! Besides the dynamic soundtrack made it even more enjoyable, I personally like the song " Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition”" or The Smiths – “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”
-

To finish i want to write some memorable sentences of the movie:

"i hate this song"!!! and
"get a room!"

if you have seen it ,you will understand why i like those 2 sentences, they both made me laugh in the context of the movie -

So long Patrick Swayze...

Today Patrick S. has passed away after a long fight against cancer. 2 big hits of the 80ies and beginning of the 90ies hollywood movies, "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" will keep him alive! I have watched both movies hundred of times and i dont get tired ! it´s too late and im too tired but i wanted to dedicate these lines to Patrick, i leave you with a nice picture of Dirty Dancing and a quote i like "One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.”- that´s the fascinating side of being an actor,one partf of you remains with the public -

My favourite objects, part 1

isn´t she gorgeous? and friendly? i love her style!!

Chritoph Waltz the best actor in "inglorious basterds" by Tarantino

I just wanted to dedicate a few lines to an incredible actor that i didn´t know of until i watched "inglorious basterds" last Wednesday, Christoph Waltz, from Austrian origin and born in 1956 his level of acting is superb! He plays very well the role of cold,mean SSS agent switching from German, French and into English without any difficulty. To my mind, Tarantino´s movie would not be that good without him on it. Brad Pitt also plays an excellent role (the older he gets, the funnier he gets!)and Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger (he is so hansome!) and many more actors! what? That you haven´t watched it yet?? what are you waiting for? but before going remember it´s Tarantino and blood and violence will be present with a subtle sense of humour and full of simbolism but this time in a multilingual environment.

Festival de las culturas Mundial 2009: "Warsaw Village Band" y ""LES TAMBOURS DE BRAZZA"

Queria escribir unas palabrillas sobre el festival del las culturas mundial de un pueblecito de la costa de Dublín, "Dun Laoghoire". A pesar de los recortes de preosupuesto y siendo dos días de festival en vez de tres como todos los años, ha estado muy bien. Es un festival para compartir con la familia, hay música ,baile y cultura pra todas las edades,nosotros fuimos expresamente para ver una banda polaca "Warsaw village band" tocaron en el escenario principal. Que grupo tan original,consta de tres mujeres y tres hombres, tocan mucha variedad de instrumentos,algo que no has visto nunca. Les faltaba un poco de gracia y sonreir un poco..pero a pesar de eso me gustaron mucho.

http://www.myspace.com/warsawvillageband


Trás la banda polaca de gran renombre internacional,nos dejamos llevar por un grupo de música africana del congo que residen actualmente en Francia: "LES TAMBOURS DE BRAZZA" con un ritmo y alegria indescriptible! hicieron bailar hasta el más viejito!que energia! que ritmo! que vitalidad! intenta escucharlos y quedarte sentado!nosotros no pudimos

Group recommendation alternative rock: Madina Lake

I wanted to recommend you a group i discovered not long ago by chance. They are from illinois and play alternative rock music. A 4-member band Founded in 2005, they released their first album in 2007 "From Them, Through Us, To You ". I think that there is no point in writting more about a music group if you have not listened to them yet, this is my favourite song,enjoy it and judge for yourself!!:

let´s get outta here



I love having such a wide taste in music, i´m able to enjoy so many music styles!

Jenga a perfect game to know if you are sober

I got to know this mentally skilled wooden game : Jenga, through my cousin, Inma in Fuengirola. We started playing in a pub and after it, we actually bought one four ourselves. "Jenga" come from the swahili and means "to build" , this game was created by LEslie Scott in the 70ies and it can be played from 1 to 5 people. I´m still learning how not to destroy the wooden tower after a few tries , it´s all a matter of seeing what piece will not destroy the balance of the tower you have built (of course , this is the perfect alcohol test, it should be used on the roads!!). Only one hand can be used. If you want to discover more.. you will need to come to my place and i´ll show it to you!!or you can look for my cousin in Southern Spain!! lol


and remember you can only use some fingers of one hand! no cheating!

4 weddings -> living tv show

This reality tv show is great to see how people really behave at weedings and how bitchy guests can be when judging it. 4 weddings are rated by 4 brides : venue,location,food ,dress and atmosphere. In the end, the wedding with the highest score wins a wonderful honey-moon. At first, when I saw the show advertised, i thought it was stupid but then I watched it once on living tv on Mondays at 21.00 and I got addicted to it lol. It´s not a very intellectual show but ideal to relax after a long working day. Every time i watch it i think..uhm what would my guests have said about my wedding..uhm..i guess i´ll never know..even good friends can get very critical..

you can get a glimpse of it here:

Cocó avant chanel

Quería describiros brevemente una película muy estética e interesante que vi ayer "cocó vanta chanel". Película dirigida por Anne Fontaine se centra en los duros comienzos de la famosa diseñadora de Modas "Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel " hasta que abriera su primera tienda de éxito. Cocó revolucionó el mundo de la moda con su toque masculino,introduciendo las chaquetas y faldas a media pierna para las mujeres y sus originales sombreros.

No os quiero contar la película entera pero cuando la veáis ver si estáis de acuerdo conmigo en la belleza de la historia de amor entre Cocó y el amigo inglés de gran clase del millonario Balsán, llamado Arthut"Boy" Capel (ambos personajes representados maravillosamente por la actriz:Audrey Tautou y el actor: Alessandro Nivola). Una de las maravillas del cine es poder retratar en tan solo unos minutos, la importancia de uno de los personajes más influyentes en la moda del siglo 20.



Un dato importante: intentad ver está película en francés con subtítulos sino puede perder calidad!

a bit of humour..Michael was not so famous after all

The other day I received this joke taken from the web page printed on the image and I wanted to share it with you

chica ye-ye

she loves you ye,ye,ye,ye

Little Miss uk, parents imposing their frustrated dreams on their kids?

Yesterday on channel 4 I watched an interesting documentary on the first beauty contest for little girls in UK, U.s. Style.

I still have on my mind little aged nine Madison whose mother forced her to play part in the contest. She was actually very beautiful but you could tell that she was not enjoying it at all, her mother used her to satisfy her own amibitions. When the little Madison didn´t win her older sister,Lea, started crying with despair but not because of Madison but because she taught her her dance coreography and wanted to get some personal reward out of it all, as well,what a family!!. Poor little Madison who tried to let her mother know that she didn´t like to have so much make-up on (unnutural for a 9 year old, she looked like a little prostitue to me) and that horrible pink princess-like dress. Madison in the rehearsal didnt smile and her mother shouted at her "smile,smile" . On the day of the contest, Madison smiled all the way through ,she actually looked like a psycho kid due to her forced fake smile!!

I dont have kids but if had them i wouldn´t put them under so much stress ,what kind of values are those beauty contest kids going to acquire? that you have to be beautiful ,have fake tan,wear make-up and smile to make money and be happy? those kind of contests present beauty as a talent but who said being beuatiful is actually a talent?

Annie, musical

Ayer tuve el placer de ver el musical de annie que me trajo muchos recuerdos de niña cuando veia el musical original de 1977 en la tele. Una de mis partes favoritas era cuando todas las huerfánas cantaban "what a hardknock life (no aguanto más ) " mientras limpiaban el suelo del orfanato.

La historia de la huerfána peliroja annie se desarolla en la depresión de los 70 en Nueva York,incluso ella llega a conocer al presdiente Rusbell.

El teatro estaba lleno de niños y familias y la verdad es que habia veces que se oía más al público que el musical en sí. Del reparto he de destacar la profesionalidad y calidad de voz de las 7 niñas que protagonizaban el musical y la simpatía de la cuidadora del horfanato "Miss Hannigan". La alegría y musicalidad de las canciones hace que una vez más la magía del espectáculo le haga a uno relajarse y pasar un buen rato. El argumento de la historia original está adapatado para un público infantil ya que modificaron la parte donde los padres impostores consiguen llevarse a Annie.

Me quedo con el buen sabor de boca de la canción "tomorrow" (mañana) que cantamos todos junto con el reparto del musical.

Aquí os dejo con un video de mi parte favorita como comentaba antes:

The Script Announce Irish Tour

source: MTV UK

Ireland’s second favourite band reveals the details to MTV News at Oxegen…

"Momentos Tenientes" canciones en otros idiomas con mensaje secreto en Español

Ayer en una reunión de amigos en nuestro apartamento nos echamos unas risas viendo un recopilatorio de momentos tenientes de el programa del canal cuatro de Pablo motos "el hormiguero". Lo que ellos denomnan "momento teniente (teniente -> una persona que no oye bien) es cuando oyes una canción en otro idioma y te parece escuchar una frase en español claramente. La simpatía y carisma de Pablo hace inevitable el no pasar un buen rato.

Espero que lo disfrutéis tanto como yo :



por cierto, gracias Luisa por introducirme al mundo de los momentos tenientes! jajaja ahora soy mucho más feliz los domingos por las mañanas!! mi faovrito es el de las banda sonoras de moulin rouge " ana que te has fumao" jajaj lo veréis en el video de arriba! enjoy!

Ne-yo concert, O2 in Dublin 7.07.09

English version

Tuesday evening at around 20.30 , Ne-yo appears with a black hat,dressed in a white jacket and in black trousers singing, he mentioned Michael Jackson, a flash-back of him came when I saw him on stage. You could see Michael´s influence on Ne-yo throughout the concert, the way he danced and the way he sang had many of Michael´s touches. The first song of the night " because of you", agitated teens, groups of single girls ,mothers with their daughters and some couples like us. Fans screamed loudly aclaming their idol, us in the middle dancing and feeling a bit old,i have to admit, i would have loved to see a grandma there lol. Ne-yo didn´t dissapoint me , he has such a rhythm, the way he moves his body is very appealing and sexy. He knows he is hot and some of the female fans threw their bras at him and he responded with a smile, you could tell that most of his songs have been inspired by women and to some extent the concert was very much dedicated to us "women"!!. The band that Ne-yo had consisted of 6 musicians playing different instruments, they played an in important part at the concert, around 4 female dancers and 2 male ones accompanied Ne-yo. In one of the songs, Ne-yo sang it with a black well-built dancer and it reminded me of Michael Jackson´s video where he walks along with a girl on the street and he followed her "the way you make me feel". Ne-yo´s elegance and friendliness talking to the audience conquered us and the O2 acoustics made it sound like a cd, I couldn´t tell the difference ! not any bad note coming from Ne-yo. After 2 hours of good music and rhythm, the concert ended with one of my favourite songs "closer". Ne-yo´s music made me forget about the stress and routine, it´s unbeliavable the power that a good concert can have,don´t you think? that´s what I love about music..it takes you to another level. The melody was broken by the shouting street merchants trying to sell counterfeit merchandise outside the o2,of course they had many clients since a ne-yo t-shirt costs 30 euros! i finish this humble review with a short video of us enjoying the concert


Para leer mi artículo en español sobre el mismo concierto lo podéis ver en el blog de mi amigo Matteo:

http://networkedblogs.com/p7232021

a great rock band from Dublin "the script"

For those of you who still do not know this successful rock band from Dublin, i wanted to introduce you to the talented "the script", a trio band that stated that as kids instead of leading a trouble life they decided to focus on music. THeir debut single "we cry" was released in april 2008 and from them on their success didn´t stop them. I discovered them at a very famous cd shop in Dublin "hmv" i heard one f their songs "the man who can´t be moved" and since them i have become a fan as well! Ireland has given birth to great bands, there is live music in every corner and this is one of the things i like most from this country. If you want to see them live your next opportunity could be at the festival "oxygen " or at the U2 concert in Dublin this summer.

you can listen to their first hit :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7fv5dlozk8

our visit their web page:

http://www.thescriptmusic.com/gb/home/

By the way if you lok at their cd cover closely, you will see the typicl chimeneys from Dublin! they are really proud of their Irish origins!

a pop legend is gone

YOu may be or not be a big fan of Michael Jackson but what is undeniable is that leaving aside his private and controversial life,being white or black, Michael was a great artist. He was an icon and inspiration for many musicians , he created style with his dance moves ,hats and clothing. I grew up with his scary and unforgettable video thriller, my older sister used to play very loud his music when i was very little. Then I grew up and I bought for myself my first record " bad" ,i loved it from beginning to end! It´s a pity that pop legends like him vanished from our world and people who can´t nor sing nor dance are considered kings or queens of pop nowadays...

To remember Michael with smile you may want ot see this imitation video of Bad that was very famous at that time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqz1ojIQTBk

This my small tribute Michael, i hope you read it wherever you are!

Michael died on the 26th of June 2009

Realia

Hi bloggers I want to introduce you to the Italian rock group whose one of the members used to be my flatmate, Roberto Conti in Dublin 7, in a neighbourhood called phisborough. He even burned a couple of songs from their cd in our laptop and this is their first video, i love this song "al di lá dil celo" and I wish you Roberto and your group the best of luck! you deserve it!

your biggest fans: Belén and Andrés



if you want to know more about the group ,you can find them under:

http://www.realia.name/

A great video of the way the people look like in the Metro

A good friend of mine,Tati sent me this video that reminds me of my times in Munich when I used to take the underground ( U-bahn) and it was in silence, no talking and people looked very serious. I used to smile on my first days in the metro but then after years living there,in the end you look serious, as well!! and i you talk to your friend people look at you because in a way you broke the silence and quietness. The worst thing is to get used to that silence, as we did, because then you travel around the world and it´s very hard to find such a civilized and silence community!

This video is very original and shows what happens when someone breaks the normality on a metro trip! dont miss it!

Terminator 4 " Salvation"

A bit violent, video game-like movie but I have to say that I was gladly surprised (i thought it was gonna be much worse lol). Spite of being the 4th movie of the terminator series, the movie keeps you entertained and Christian Bale played an excellent role along with Sam Worthington (they are both very hot, as well by the way!). The special effects are unbeliavable if you compare them with the first 2 movies of the series! There is even also a short scene with Arnold Schwarzeneger in it lol , to me that was the best part. Terminators fans do not miss this movie even though some critics didn´t give it a good score, ignore them!! for the rest if you are not into very violent and action movies..do not go!and if you are, go to the cinema and watch it there,if you watch it from your laptop it´s not gonna be the same!

Some songs that bring me some memories from England in the 90ies

The Tamperer feat. Maya - Feel it

This 90'ies dance song reminds me of my frist summers in England 11 years ago where I was learning English, starting to taking planes and I haven´t stopped since then! This song may not be good for some but it brings memories back to me and I like it!



This song from Mouse T also brings me memories from England ,specially because I sang it loud without knowing the meaning of "horny" and I was on the streets from Poole (little town in the South coast of England) singing "i´m horny,horny,horny tonight"!


As I only knew the songs from the radio or the discos, I had to sing any song I liked to the music shop assistant , that was the only way to try to get the right single in the old tapes and take it home with me!

The last example of the single tape I took with me from England to Córdoba is this song by Tina Cousins "misterious times"

Air france flight, it could have been us..

I wanted to share with you what happened to us on our 11-hour flight from Bogotá to Paris with the company air-france. I have to say that I found translantic flights with air-france very comfi with a excellent service, a wide range of movies,games and tv shows to see on your private screen (each passanger has one) and you can always have a good French wine or anything to eat if you are hungry throughout the flight. This was my good and fair opinion of it until last time.., as you know i´m not very fond of flying specially since i became fan of the discovery channel reportage series: "air-crash investigation". Mea culpa,anyway (you learn a lot with them though!).

Well, on our flight back on the 25th of MAy 2009 we had to wait for one hour and a half until we finally took off. First, we had to wait until all passengers took their seats ,fair enough, but then, when we had our seatbealts on and the plane was moving very slowly (still on earth) the pilot said " there are some technichal issues and that we have to go back to our rest-point". At that time I thought, o.k.,they will fix whatever and then we will leave. Time started to pass vey slowly and i couldn´t be seated for longer. The black obese woman on my left-handside hardly left me space for my skinny left arm and leg. She was actually very nice and I dont have anything against obese people,dont get my wrong. The woman started to be nervous and noticed that I wasn´t feeling well either, she looked at me and said: "Hey, I´m claustrofobic and i dont like flying and now this.., are you scared? i know how you feel,if you want you can have some drops,they are very good" she said.I looked at her with a worrying look and I said "no, thank you,you are very kind". I stood up to get close to the stweardess to try to find out what was going on and I did..to some extent. The stweardess was looking through the emergency window and said to another passenger that it seemed that there were some problems with the petrol ,he went on and said that the pilot should have seen something going on before taking off since pilots calculate exactly the amout of petrol needed for the journey. At that point, I asked for water to try to digest what I heard. I explained to my husband the situation. Then, the stweardess went on and confirmed that he had not seen something like that in a very long time ..,he was supposed to calm the tripulation down but i was getting anxious. At that moment, I decided to go back to my seat with my claustrophobic neighbour and remain ignorant of what was happening,after all ignorant people suffer less in some situations. After a long time without any news, the pilot talked and said that in 20 mins we will be taking off so i tried to fall asleep with no luck,of course. The 20 minutes passed and then the security instructions were given and we fasten our seatbealts again. The plane was going very slowly to take off so i knew they were testing something..that wasn´t normal, the speed was not increasing. Once again, i was right and the pilot said that we couldn´t take off yet and further security checks would be needed. Then, passengers started to call their families to communicate that there were some tech issues etc and I thought to myself " In Spain it´s 1 a.m., i can´t even say bye to my family if i´m gonna die! ". My claustrophobic neighbour fall asleep with the magical drops (i still dont know the content of them ,i didn´t want to ask lol but she slept all the way!) finally,after 90 minutes inside that airbus we managed to take off. It was the worst flight i have ever been on because i knew that if we ran out of petrol, there was only the ocean to land for miles and miles. There was a small storm and mild turbulence throughout the flight..oh God, I hardly slept thinking of the worse could happen. We got to Paris alive! yes! and guess what? one of the plane´s doors was out of order and we couldn´t get out of it up to 15 minutes had passed.

But this is not the end of it, when We got to DUblin, My husband told a work colleague our troubled flight and guess what? she came on a flight from Bogotá the week before on another air-france flight and they also had technical issues before taking off although they were not waiting for such a long time.

This morning at work, I have read that there was one airfrance airbus flight gone from the radar with around 228 passengers,they were going to Brazil. Another transanlatic flight.., would it be the same plane on which we were?I got goose pimple! I´m ver thankful to be here today and I´m really sorry for all the passengers on the crashed air-france flight , i do hope that they have not suffered so much.. my thoughts are with the families..

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ed0588a4-4e98-11de-8c10-00144feabdc0.html

Festival de los hombre semi-desnudos en Japón

Ayer vi un documental en la BBC sobre uno de los festivales mundiales que más me han impactado, el festival de los hombres semi-desnudos en Japón. Miles de hombres vestidos tan sólo con una especie de pañal de tela blanca, como los sumos, llamada fundoshis. Los hombres semidesnudos se reunen para liberarse de la mala fortuna acumulada. Para ello al principio de cada año se elige a un "Shin-otoko" u hombre desnudo que será honrado con dicho rol esperitual unos dias antes del festival a través de rituales purificadores. Al día siguiente a eso del medio dia, una docena de hombres semidesnudos con sus fundoshis van recorriendo la ciudad con un palo de bambú de unos 10 metros de altura donde van atando en las hojas trozos de tela con deseos de cada hombre,van recorriendo la ciudad y por el camino la gente le va dejando deseos atados y se van uniendo más y más hombres semidesnudos. Los hombres van hasta arriba de sake y se les ve muy emocionados en la carrera. Su fin será encontrar al "Shin-otoko" (hombre desnudo elegido el dia anterior) y tocarle la cabeza afeitada para poder librarse de su mala suerte. El Shi-otoko deberá llegar al templo con vida y para ello un grupo de 4 hombres intentan protegerle de la multitud. Es impresionante ver como sale la gente con cardenales,ojos morados o hasta inclusos algunos pierden la vida en la multitud descontrolada. El inglés periodista que se metió en el festival con los hombres semi-desnudos estaba muy impresionado y con síntomas de sofoco y rojeces de el contacto y golpes de los otros hombres semidesnudos.

Aquí tenéis un video para que veáis una pequeña parte:

Isla coralina de San Andres, Colombia

La isla colombiana de San Andres junto con Providencia y Santa Catalina fue declarado por las Naciones Unidas reserva mundial de la Biosfera. Isla considerada com puerto libre ideal para comprar a más bajo precio ya que las tiendas de la isla son "duty free",no puedes dejar la isla sin comprarte tu perfume favorito (cuidado con las imitaciones,también!)! A tan sólo 1 hora y 30 minutos de Bogotá en Avión se puede llegar a la isla.

La simpátia y hospitalidad de los nativos de la isla,la hacen todavia un sitio más agradable. Acogen al turista con los brazos abiertos y le hacen sentir a uno como en su casa.

Sus playas de arena blanca debido a los corales,la transparecia y los 7 colores del mar del caribe y la cálida temperatura del agua,invita a disfrutar la isla. Se ofrecen clases de buceo,snorkel,vela,motos aquáticas,windsurf,canoas,excursiones en barcas submarinaspara explorar la variedad marina de la isla etc hacen que uno se mantenga entretenido durante sus vacaciones.

La isla ofrece un contraste de la parte más turística con complejos hoteleros donde se puede tener todo incluido en el precio: alojamiento,pensión completa y cocktails durante todo el dia (un poco fastidioso la pulserita que te ponen al entrar al hotel que se debe llevar puesta todos los dias de la estancia )hasta alojamientos más humildes donde se puede compartir la forma de vida de los nativos de la isla.

En temporada alta ,El número de días de la estancia en la isla está controlada debido al pequeño tamaño de la misma y a la cantidad de turistas que la visitan que debe ser controlado al sólo tener 12 km de largo y un ancho máximo de 3 kms. Una vez en la isla se puede alquilar un cochecito llamado : boogie y con él se puede recorrer San Andrés por un módico precio (todo dependerá de tu habilidad al regatear!).

Cosas a tener en cuenta:

Hay que cuidarse de los mosquitos y llevar siempre un buen protector solar anti insectos, sobre todo cuando empieza a bajar más el sol que es cuando más pueden picar.

El agua de la isla no es potable y se debe beber siempre agua mineral,tampoco se debe lavar uno los dientes con agua del grifo y hay que tener mucho cuidado con lo que se come en los bares o cafeterias de la isla,sobre todo si son más humildes,debido al agua que utilicen ya que puede causar diahrrea o el denominado "mal del viajero". Nosotros ,la verdad es que al tenerlo todo incluido en el hotel no comiamos fuera,ni siquiera un helado (ya que se hacen con agua) y no tuvimos ningún problema.

San Andrés es una isla muy segura con escasa o nula delicuencia nuestra experiencia fue muy positiva y quedé enamorada de la isla y de sus gentes.

Era curioso ver como la gente pobre vivia en casitas justo en la orilla de la playa, gente que se sentaban en las puertas de sus casa a conversar y ver gente. Una actitud muy isleña,sin ningún tipo de estrés. La mayoria de los isleños se trasladan por la isla en moto,a veces hasta 4 personas van montados!

A movie not to be missed: "Let the right one in"

This is the first Swedish movie I have ever seen in my life and I was positively surprised. The filmmaker Thomas Alfredson takes you through a story mixed with true feelings such us: being rejected by society, being bullied, tenderness viewed through the eyes of 2 kids. One being a 12-year old vampire girl,Eli and the other, Oskar being a common kid that starts a magic relationship with his new and lonely neighbour: Eli who only comes out at nights in a very cold suburb in Stocklohm.

I´m not going to tell you more of the story but even the violent bits of it that reflects Elis´need of eating blood are made in such a way that you really understand the necessity of it. This is not a movie for everybody, though. My husband and I loved it and I found it very aesthetic. We loved the ending, it was great to get a break from the predictable American movies and see something different.

I truly recommend it if you are not scared of seeing some blood combined with the feelings I have described above. We even had some fun reading the subtitles and trying to learn some Swedish! "ah" means yes! (that´s the only thing we could get really lol. Run to the cinemas since it´s not a very commercial movie and I dont´ know how much longer it will last!

the trailer can be seen at:

http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/

My favourite cities: Viena

I was in Viena last year with my mother for 4 days and we really enjoyed the city´s cultural life. We took the city bus tour departing from the Opera but to be honest, i don´t recommend it because you lose a lot of time (one you get off the bus you have to wait for a long time to get a new one) and Viena has good means of transport : tram, bus and underground and you can get to all places easily.

My recommendations:

Dont miss the Museumsquartier, it´s a square full of different museums and each museum has a beautiful cafeteria.

Try to see as many paintings from Klimt as possible, his paintings are in different museums around the city. Our firs visit was to Leopold Museum where you can also see interesting paintings from an Austrian artists called Schiele, a bit tetric but we liked it. You can spend one day in the quartier if you are a museum´s lover.

The most famous klimt´s painting: "the kiss" can be found at the glorious Belvedere Palace in the "oberessaal" , it is one of the most beautiful paintings I have seen. The palace is huge but we only went to see the room where Klimmt´s paintings were as you can also spend one day only inside the palace! To go to the palace you need time since it´s a bit far from the city centre, we went by underground and then we had to walk for aorund 15 minutes.

Don´t miss: The city centre with the opera,walk along the "Käntnerstrasse" (commercial street)get to the the Cathedral, the parliament, the Rathaus,a very beautiful "Votvitkirche","Hofburg", the university, the "Stadt park", Albertina´s museum,"Hundertwasser Haus" (modernist neighbourhood where you can find some small interesting shops) the Donau Insel it´s great to walk along if it´s sunny and of course dont leave Vienna without going to:

the Sissi´s palace : "Schönbrunn Schloss" its garden´s are huge and you need many hours to walk along them. We went there to attend a concert and see some Bals dancing. You can book this on the internet and then you collect the tickets once you are in Vienna. It´s beautiful because they play the most known balls and they also dance.

Viena is full of cafeterias with delicious cakes and it also have many good restaurants where you should order a " wiener Schnitzel". A good place to have lunch or dinner is the market " linke wienzeile" ,it´s full of different places to have a good meal according to your taste. By the way,just in front of the opera you can have a typcial "wiener Frühstuck ( breakfast from Viena)" for only 5 euros! we went there every day!

The hotel where we stayed was : http://www.austria-trend.at/hotel-ananas/en/ it was very clean and close to the centre, very expensive to have lunch or breakfast there so we found a good place just close to the opera.

If you are going to be for 3 days at least, i´d recommend you to buy the ticket for 72 hours where you can use all transports and form the airport you can use the CAT train that it´s quick and takes you straight to the city.

I found Viena a very romantic city, full of art,beautiful buildings many with "cariatides", with great restaurants and cafeterias! There are many more beutiful sights to see in Viena, I only put the most important ones

To me Viena is one of the most European beautiful cities and I´d recommend you to go if you haven´t been there yet! I was very happy to have been able to bring my mother to such a beautiful city and as she is a fan of classical music ,Viena was the perfect city!

Las bragas más horteras que he visto en mi vida!The tackiest knickers I have ever seen!

Spanish version:
Está claro que mi blog es un cocktail de pensamientos y opiniones, este "post" no va a ser muy profundo porque sólo es para mostraros las bragas más horteras y fosforescentes que se han fabricado jamás!!¿véis lo que brillan?!! sólo podían estar en el pennys!! la tienda favorita de todo turista que se precie y no por las bragas en sí,sino por los precios!

English version:

It´s a fact that my blog is a cocktail of thoughts and opinions. This post is not going to be very "deep" because I only wanted to show you the tackiest knickers ever produced! Can you see how shinny they are? They could only be sold at the shop pennys! The favourite shop of every tourist but not due to the knickers but to the prices!(only locals could actually wear those knickers lol)

Paddington Bear

The most international bear " paddington bear", a dark immigrant bear originally from Perú that arrived in London in 1956 with his iconic suitcase and hat. I felt very close to this cute little bear who was sent by her peruvian aunt, Lucy to the Paddignton train station in London with a sign " please look after this bear, thank you"! Our train got to that old ,classic station in London. The name of the renowed station rang a bell to me but I did not realize it was linked to the famous bear until I saw souvenirs of him everywhere!Paddy, bear whose favourite meal is sandwiches with marmalades. After so many years he is still part of the children British literature, having his books being transalated into around 30 languages. What does this bear have that so many people around the world like him? If you have kids and want them to get to know him ,he has a official page with free activities for them!he even has a cookery corner!

http://www.paddingtonbear.co.uk/en/1/home.mxs

you see , i also have a sweet kid inside me and of course i brought with me a little paddington bear from London and im´taking care of him!

Consejos para no agobiarse en el Hilton de una curranta en tiempos de crisis

1 - Ir con pasta para llamar al servicio de habitaciones (lo tienen 24 horas!)

2 - Cuidado con: a.)El descuento del desayuno que te ofrecen nada más llegar,( en caso de que no lo tuvieras incluido), especialmente si es en libras porque 11.90 por persona puede no parecer tan caro si te lo comparan con las 20 libras q vale normalmente...Timo! No os rindáis a los encantos del recepcionista! saben como vender y el desayuno es un buffet normal y corriente y no tiene nutela!!!

b) La Televisión !!! nada más llegar aparece tu nombre en la pantalla y creéme, son técnicas para que te den ganas de ver alguna película que vale 10 libras cada una! Cuidado con el mando a distancia y poner el código de la habitación, como casi hace uno que yo me sé...jejej

c) El Mini Bar con el frigorífico terrorífico (scary fridge!). Ni os ocurra levantar ningún artículo del mini bar si venís muertos de hambre a las tantas a no ser que cumplas con el punto 1 arriba mencionado. Qué por qué? porque si juegas con los cacahuetes o quieres ver que tipo de botellitas tan monas tienen, se cargará automáticamente en tu factura! El frigorífico está computerizado y cada artículo del mini bar que tocas queda registrado! que tios! lo sabian exactamente: dos paquetes de cacahuetes y un botéllín de whisky que solo levantamos pero que nunca consumimos! (3 libras 75 cada paquete y 7.50 la botellita!). Eso sí, en favor del Hilton tengo que decir que una vez que te llega la factura, si la miras bien y ves cargos que no corresponden, son bastante amables y te los descuentan.

3 - Si quieres ir al gimnasio del hotel, tranquilos, es "gratis"! No intentéis echar la puerta abajo si no se abre, como hicimos nosotros, sólo hay que ir a recepción a rellenar un formulario diciendo que no te va a dar un ataque al corazón y luego puedes entrar!

Lo mejor del Hilton :

1. La máquina de hielos del pasillo, espectacular para hacer botellón o meter una botella de champán pirata! Puedes usar los hielos y las copas del hotel (eso sí luego lavarlo todo y dejarlo como nuevo. Ah! la botella vacía tirarla fuera que sino lo mismo cobran!)

2. El servicio y personal del hotel, muy atentos y eficientes.

3. La King bed del cuarto super cómoda!las toallas! los geles y la crema hidratante! el secador y la habitación en general bien.

4. La plancha y la calentadora de agua con bolsitas de té del twings y galletas escocesas (esto era gratis aunque cuando nos llegó la factura y vimos tanto cargo dejamos de tomar té, por si acaso!yo a lo escocés agarrá,agarrá!!)

5. Muy bien situado en pleno "City of London", justo al lado del tamésis y del Towerbdridge (mi puente favorito!)

6. Las vistas de la habitación y la terraza !

Lo peor:

El estrés de no tocar nada por si cobran jaja

Conclusión:

Ahora entiendo porque la Paris tiene tanta pasta!

We will rock you Musical

The most modern,entertaining and best developed musical I have seen so far, where around 32 Queen hits are featured by very professional singers. "We will rock you" has been the musical that has stayed longer in the Dominion theatre in London (over 3 years now!), we were lucky to get tickets to enjoy such a wonderful show. It portrays a view of the future in 2300 where instruments will be forbidden and the music will become computerized and controlled by a single online company. A gaga planet full of boy and girl bands with user ids instead of names. Those called the bohemians are the ones who tried to get back the rock through Queen hits and they are chased by the gaga police since they are considered a threat to the computerized tunes. The musical has a great show behind with lights, computer effects in the background and very well designed scenarios with a big budget. There was a live band that played all hits which could be heard in all theatre with great quality. Freddy Mercury gets back to life at the night of the show, specially the female singers paid him a well-deserved tribute with their strong voices. I can´t stop singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' song that gave me the goose gimples when I heard it and when they all sang "we are the champions" and the whole theater rose their hands in the air and sang along. I truly recommend you to go and see this musical before it´s too late, even if you are not a fan of the fantastic Queen, you will enjoy it! it´s full of surprises!