Oslo

My first day in Oslo, I went to the Nobel Peace Center.  They had on display pictures and bios of all the Nobel Peace Prize winners.  It was very interesting..

Then I visited the Norwegian Resistance Museum.  It was closed, but I walked around the grounds.

The second day, I wanted to go to the Henrik Ibsen Museum.  I had tried to go here last time I visited Oslo, which was about 10 years ago.  I don't remember what happened, if we ran out of time or couldn't find it, but I never went.  So this time, I definitely wanted to find it.  There are lines from Ibsen's plays on the sidewalks throughout the city.  

When I finally found it, it was closed.  

This made me laugh because when I was traveling with Esther throughout Norway, she learned a few Norwegian words -- "Is" (ice cream), "treng peng" (I need money) and "stengt" (closed), because so many things were closed when we got there.  

This is the Palace.  There was a group of people waiting in front of the palace and I didn't know what was going on.  Then a car went by and the king was in the car and we all waved.  I have now seen the king three times!  

Near the palace is this art museum named after Queen Sonja. 

Chicago

Over Memorial Day, I went to Chicago to visit a friend.   

First stop was the Chicago Art Institute.  I am not usually very impressed with an art museum, since we have the best in NYC.  But this one was amazing and we didn't get close to seeing it all.

 

 

Then we went to Millennium Park to see "The Bean."

 

 

Then there is this weird thing, that has water running down all the time, and then spews out water like this once an hour.

 

 

The next day, we went on an architecture river cruise

 

 

Then walked through the city

 

 

Here's the skyline with a tribute for Memorial Day.  

 

The last day, we went to a part of town called Andersonville. 

Complete with a Swedish flag painted on a water tower.  They also had a Swedish bakery, but it was closed when we got there. 

 

 

 

It was a fun time and I'll be back!

 

 

OnStage

My niece was in a play -- she played the part of Dexter in Singin' in the Rain.  I flew to Ohio to see her stage debut.  She was great!

And here's how she decompresses after a  lot of work!

Frozen on Broadway

I took my niece to her first Broadway show during spring break.  Here she is, waiting for the train.

Trying to keep her busy for the long train ride.

First stop was Central Park

Turns out, Crocs are not good for climbing on rocks.

Action shot!

At the theater...

Before the show

I tried to take a picture of her during the intermission.  I don't know if this was blurry because of the lighting or because an usher yelled at me to sit down, so I took it quickly.  Anyway, you can kind of see the set and kind of see the Elsa doll that I told myself I wouldn't buy for her and when she asked, I said, "One Elsa doll please!"  It's my fault, she didn't even see the souvenir stand.  But we got there so early, I told her to look at what they had.  

Posing in Times Square (she wasn't so impressed with it).  

My fancy sister

I went to Jill's over the weekend and she made these little fancy desserts--mini lemon pies.  I thought they were so cute, I had to take a picture.  They were delicious, too.

getting his nails done

He looks relaxed, but he wasn't.  

Christmas 2018

Playing around on Christmas Eve

Enjoying her presents (a garbage bag of wrapping paper as a pillow)