A Romantic Spring – Cherry Blossom

cherry-blossom

It was a moment
Blue sky was background
Green leaves were subordinate
Your pink blossom stood out

When the wind blew
You fell
I feel pity for all the falling flowers
Because it takes a year to see them
You sacrificed the flowers in Spring
Without you
London is not as pretty as it is

Slowly without notice
Your blossom left no trace in Summer
You are so beautiful, but momentary
It makes that you are so charming
Maybe because you are momentary!

一个浪漫的春天 - 樱花盛开的季节

那是一个瞬间
蓝天白云是你的背景
绿叶是你的配称
粉红的花瓣是万中一红

你牺牲你的漂亮花瓣
换来春天这刹那的点缀
我怜惜你的凋落的花瓣
因为要等一年才盼到你的到来
没你的存在,
伦敦的春天逊色一般

渐渐地,你的所有花瓣随风下落
慢慢地,你静静地消失来迎接夏天
漂亮的东西总是短暂的
或许因你的短暂生命才显得它漂亮

Ingrid Michaelson

ingrid-michaelson

Discovered Ingrid Michaelson while I am listening in last.fm. so I gave it a try, then I became her fans instantly, and like her three of main albums. Her style is like Sia, Feist, and Priscilla Ahn, which is female vocalists, acoustic and indie pop. Moreover, her song called “Little Romance” was also in Sex And The City Volume 2.

Coincidentally, I just saw information in last.fm which states that in September 2008 she supported Jason Mraz during his European tour. Surprisingly, she will perform in Hammersmith Apollo in next Monday 27th April in London, however, I am not sure I can make it. But I do appreciate her music. Here are her main albums names:

  • Girls and Boys
  • Be OK
  • Slow the Rain
  • This is her Myspace, and you can listen her music in last.fm.

    无意中在 last.fm 听歌,在我自己创建的音乐图书馆(只选择我喜欢的歌手)它自动推荐一位纽约女歌手叫 Ingrid Michaelson,然后听了下她所有的专集,越听越喜欢,她自创歌曲,音乐风格象 Sia, Feist, 和 Priscilla Ahn一样,歌曲浪漫中带伤感,是适合春天季节听的歌曲!仔细看它的介绍,巧合中,Ingrid 还和 Jason Mraz 前年9月份一起在欧洲巡回演唱会合唱呢。

    她的歌曲真的不错,27号还在伦敦演唱会,真想去,但现在23号,我觉得买票有点紧,周末去看看。3张专集都超好听:最新张叫:Girls and Boys,然后是 Be OK,我的最爱:Slow the Rain. 她的一首 ‘Little Romance’ 还是电影原声带 Sex And The City 选播之一!这是她的空间 Myspace,你可以在last.fm在线听下你喜不喜她的类型!

    Road Trip – Brighton / Beachy Head

    brighton-and-beachy-head

    Second Day

    The weather was foggy when we arrived Brighton, however, I can imagine it would full of people when it comes to Summer. Brighton is a lively and young city. At first, we went to the Theme park in Brighton Pier and had some fun. Then we visited the famous Royal Pavilion, then we drove to the Beachy Head.

    Beachy Head, from the name you can tell is the pointy cliff of Sussex, as famous as the white cliffs. We stopped there for half and hour and it was really relaxing. You could see a open-space land and the ocean, sheep, cows and farms. Then we drove back and ate in a famous Dimsum restaurant called Drunken Monkey in Liverpool Street. I heard there are many celebrities and cool trendy young people hanging out there, so it must be great to eat and hang out. Food was not bad; price was totally acceptable, but service could be improved. Then we drove back home and had a great fun holiday.

    Third day – Lee Valley

    Last station was Lee Valley – 40 minutes drive outside London, then we had a picnic in the park, and rent 4 bikes and rode for 4 hours, seeing the canal, forest, swans and enjoyed the sun and Spring in England. It was the most amazing place to have a weekend break for cycling. Bike rental is 2 pounds per hour. Super good deal. Here are some more pictures.

    第二天 -布朗顿 / 海滩头

    我们开车1个半小时后,到达布朗顿,可惜天气还是有点雾气,海滩上不是很多人,布朗顿是出了名的漂亮和有海滩度假胜地。但可以想象中夏天应该超级多人到这里来晒太阳。给我的感觉它是一个年轻有活力的城市。我们走到海边的‘游乐场’玩了‘鬼屋’ 上下飞船,吓死我了,象海盗船一样,太久没有玩了,功力下降了许多!然后去出名的有印度色彩的-皇宫宫殿,听说以前一个国王旅游到印度,喜欢印度的宫殿建筑就照样子也建了一个,然后我们吃了个简单的炒面就开车去海滩头了。

    海滩头,象它的名字一样,是布朗顿最凸出的陡峭的峭壁,也是以白色峭壁出名,我们走了半个小时,海滩头给人很开阔和休闲的感觉,很自然,看着羊啊牛的,吃着草,广阔的草地,看着海,晒着太阳,感觉朴素中带浪漫,十分享受。大家也累了,开车到伦敦商业街利物浦街吃饭,选了一个听说蛮多名人去蒲的餐厅叫 - 醉猴,吃点心和喝酒的地方。我们点了很多点心和些鸡尾酒。食物还可以,价格也蛮能接受的,但服务要改进下。这样就结束了我们第二天旅游。

    第三天 - Lee Valley

    我们选了伦敦郊外一个公园湖边野餐和骑自行车,放松和运动,户外运动是我们的最爱。单车是两位退休老人家成立的,2磅一个小时,哪里有这么便宜,晚去还没有单车租呢,十分popular啊!值得推荐。这里还有超级多的照片呢!

    Road Trip – Canterbury, Dover, Deal and Sandwich

    day-one

    Day one

    As we planned to travel some cities in the UK with friends during Easter Holidays, so we chose Canterbury, Dover, Deal, Sandwich in the first day. These four places are all located in South East England. First day, John drove us to Canterbury as our first stop to see the famous Canterbury Cathedral. Then had some pizza in Strada for a quick lunch. However, we had planned to have a boat trip in Canterbury, but we ran out time. Canterbury was a small pretty town, peaceful, and people were friendly. I like Canterbury a lot.

    The next stop was Dover – the famous White cliffs. It was peaceful and open, facing the ocean. It supposes that you can see France through Dover, (the funny thing was Ricky received a message from O2 saying – welcome to France, even we were standing in Dover! That’s why you can see they were very close to each other) Unfortunately the weather was a little bit foggy, so we were unable to see France. I like Dover beach and able to see English Channel.

    The last stop was Deal and Sandwich town. They were a small little town, so we just took some pictures and because everyone was tired, so we drove back to rest and ready for the next day. Here some day one pictures.

    第一天路游 - 坎特伯雷 / 多弗和三文治郡

    和朋友们决定放复活节时一起开车去英国几个城市玩。我们选择了第一天先去东南部的坎特伯雷,多弗和三文治郡。开车一个半小时,到了著名的坎特伯雷教堂,本想去乘小船参观的,但我们闲逛教堂太久了,就只能放弃,下次罗。去Strada意大利餐厅吃了超级大的pizza,然后就去下个站。我蛮喜欢坎特伯雷的郡的,漂亮,静静蛮悠闲的小镇,人们也很和蔼。

    多弗最著名就是它的白粉质的峭壁, 好天的时候,你可以站在英国的多弗看到法国。我们到了多弗,面对的广阔的海边,看着英吉利海峡, 感觉很开阔和舒服!可惜优点雾,看不到法国,但好笑的是朋友居然收到电信发来的信息说:欢迎您到法国。多弗很漂亮,好天气的时候,可以周末三五知己对着海,晒着太阳,在海边野餐,蛮休闲惬意的!

    最后一站就是Deal和三文治郡,我们吃的三文治,我听说就是古时候一个君主喜欢赌博,但边赌博时候又饿了,叫人搞个面包中间加点肉,但不知道怎么命名,就索性叫他们的郡的名字。我们的三文治就这样来的,约翰超级喜欢三文治,就说我们要去下,郡很小,我们就开车过了,大家也累了,就结束了我们第一天的旅游。这就是我们第一天的照片

    Jason Mraz in Hammersmith Apollo

    jason-mraz-concert-in-london

    Discovered Jason when he had released his first albumMr. A-Z in 2006, and since then, his music is pleasure to listen to. Friends saw Jason performed in HK last month, and said it was an amazing concert. So we finally arrived Hammersmith Apollo last night, where there were many young fans already standing outside, trying to get the good spots to see Jason. We also lined up before it might get too late.

    It started at 7: 30, and surprisingly, Jason came out and introduced the warm-up bands, one was Priscilla Ahn, who also sang with Jason for the song called “Lucky” later on. I like Priscilla’s music and her voice was pretty good.

    After 8: 30, the whole concert was full. When Jason came out, fans started getting so crazy to welcome him. He basically sang his latest album – We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. When he and Priscilla were singing “Lucky”, then “I’m Yours”, all the fans were singing together and it was a fantastic atmosphere!

    Overall, Jason performed very well, and he gave fans many surprises. We did enjoy his concert and look forwards his new album soon. (Jason cover picture is from Flicker.com)

    在2006年发掘Jason出第一专集Mr.A-Z 的时候就喜欢上他的音乐,他的音乐让人感到十分阳光和放松,很有California, 沙滩,享受生活的味道。朋友们都去看他在香港演出,说他的表演超级棒呢。终于等到他在伦敦演出拉,昨晚,很多歌迷6点还没到就在排队,要抢最好的位子看Jason.伦敦演唱会都是一个价钱,只是你选择要站还是要做。所以歌迷都纷纷要提前排队,抢个头位。 我们7点也就排上队,等着开场。

    7点半就准时开场,惊奇的事,Jason亲自出来介绍‘热身’队 - 一个叫Priscilla Ahn的吉他女歌手,声音和歌曲都不错。到了8点半,全场的坐位都爆满,当Jason出场时,歌迷尖叫声不断。当他和Priscilla唱 “Lucky” 和 “I’m Yours” 的时候,全场歌迷都纷纷和他一起唱,气氛超好!他主要唱他的最新专集,虽然没有唱很多首我的最爱,但他的表演功和调动歌迷的气氛十分棒。疯狂的歌迷被他的声线迷倒了。我们都期待他另一张新专集。

    Russian Party

    russian-party

    Olesya from Russia invited us to join her house party on Saturday night. Actually I am not really familiar with Russian culture, either with the food. Even though Russia is close by the Northern China, it feels so far away from the Southern China where I grew up. But I am glad that I have met Olesya and she showed me a lot of real Russian food and culture. With all the hard work preparation for the party, she had woken up 6 am and home-made all food with her closest friend Anastasia. The food looked professional as well as tasting delicious.

    After few bottles of wine and vodka, everyone started dancing, talking, laughing and enjoying themselves. When we tried to leave, Olesya and Anastasia didn’t want us to leave, then gave us a lot of hugging and kisses – not sure it was the alcohol effect or the Russian culture that they look tough and cold outside, but after being friends with them, they are very warm and passionate inside.

    I guess one thing I learn about Russian culture from Olesya is that everything needs to be perfect and she is a very discipline girl. (I am sure there are some exceptional people like her) It was a fantastic party and we enjoyed a lot, also experienced another type of culture in the UK. Here some of the pictures.

    俄罗斯派对

    俄罗斯来的澳丽莎周六邀请我们参加她在她家开的的派对,说实在话,我不是很熟悉俄罗斯文化和食物,虽说俄罗斯和北部的中国是近邻,历史或政治上也很多‘关系’,但俄罗斯对在南方长大的我,实在太遥远太陌生了。 但我十分高兴认识澳丽莎,她让我认识了很多俄罗斯文化和食物。她说她早上6点和她老友安娜就起来准备食物。派对食物看起来十分专业及好吃。

    过了一会,几瓶红酒和伏特加之后,大家纷纷跳舞,开始变得疯狂 - 不知道是酒精的效应还是这就是俄罗斯的文化,虽然他们有时候看起来十分强壮和严肃,但和他们认识之后,才发掘其实他们内心很温暖及热情。我在澳丽莎身上学到俄罗斯文化的一点就是他们的严禁纪律性和一切都要整齐完美,不能有瑕疵。当然也可能有很多不同的例子。我们12点先走人,她们不让我们走,老亲亲抱抱我们说不要走,他们继续派对到4点。我十分享受这个特别的‘俄罗斯派对’,对我来说,又体验了一个不同国籍的文化是一件极开心和特别的体验。这里有些照片和大家分享。