Life...

The summer has finally come to this part of the world I live in... Kinda late but, oh well, water under the bridge :) So I have had my fair share of sunshine, of dinning out with friends and enjoyed a drink on the terrace next to my house (location is everything...). And on Sunday morning I had my coffee on my balcony, a dream coming true, and I kept a big smile on my face thinking that life, oh life (to borrow the words of a beautiful song) is good...

And all this would have been my "better than shoes" subject of this post... Unfortunately life is also unpredictable... On Monday a colleague ended his life by falling out of a window at work... I will not go into details, little importance do they have... A life was lost though and that is what is important... You might say that by the time you finish reading this thousands of people will have died and you will be right, his life is not more important than any other. But also not less important. You might also say that this is not a positive thing to share, certainly not the kind I have promised to share with you from this blog. I will agree with you. 

Life, though, IS better than shoes, and sometime we forget how much better than anything else, we take everything for granted right after we open our eyes in the morning, we breath, we live and we don't even notice it sometimes... Then something happens and it reminds us the value of life, it makes us think again how precious is this gift we have been given. The gift of living and loving and laughing and crying and hurting even... The gift of being... And that needs to be noted. 

I feel exactly that way since Monday. Granted, this is not only what I feel but the rest is really not appropriate for this post, it's pretty grim. So, I make this effort to focus on the bright side, even if only for the sake of this post, to celebrate life, to go back to my Sunday morning feeling of "life is good" and to remind to all of you to live before you die ;) 

the theater...

...is better than shoes! Obviously, from a Greek who has drama written in her DNA and who's been known to be a queen of it herself, you would no expect anything different ;)

I miss the theater! The fact is that I live here in the lower lands for almost 13 years now and I must confess that I do not enjoy the idea of a theater play where actors speak Dutch... My knowledge of the language would allow me to follow the plot (even if not completely) but I do not enjoy the sound of the language... so I avoid it...

Yes, I do miss it and I realize how much when I have the opportunity to watch a play... or a musical... or both ;) As expected, my recent trip to New York provided for this too. I was lucky enough to see "Vanya and Sonia and Macha and Spike" on the day that it actually won this year's Tony Award for Best Play and, boy, was it worth it! Amazing, true, heartfelt, memorable performances, a story parts of which deeply touched my heart and... Sigourney Weaver! I have had a crush on her since the last Alien... ;) And all that with discounted last minute tickets!

But that was not all, I also went to see "The book of Mormon", the best musical I have ever seen, opinion that a lot of people share with me apparently given the 7 Tony Awards it has won! That was something!!! The most controversial, caustic, blasphemous even story, which I found most incredibly smart and amusing, the wonderful production with great music and lyrics (those were some lyrics, I tell you...) and dancing and the beautiful voices and performances of the cast, all that made it an unforgetable experience!! And on my birthday on top of it!!

Now, I am not a theater critic, in fact I have a rather limited knowledge of it and my words fail me when it comes to describing this type of experiences but I know what I like when I see it. And if I like it a lot, but really a lot, then I think of it as "better than shoes" and I share it with you. And I strongly recommend it. Like in this case ;)

a walk in the park...

...well, ok, it was a bit more that just a walk... but then again this is so much more than just a park! It is the Central Park! And it is better than shoes!

This feeling of absolute tranquillity and quiet, the zen of being surrounded by skyscrapers but at the same time finding oneself  in the greenest of the sceneries, is just amazing! I have had the same feeling in Tokyo, in the Rikugi-en garden years ago and it felt so good to relive it... and in a much bigger scale if I may say so! After all, this is US of A, everything there is bigger than anywhere else in the world, right? ;)

The park is huge and pretty and in every corner (and mind you, I think I've been in literally every corner... or at least it felt like it after a good total of about 5 hours of walking...) you might discover something interesting... Get a map, it will help you a lot as eventually you will get lost in it, and choose a sunny but not too warm day to spend there.
If you like spots, plenty of space for it and surely a great place to get to see a softball game and try to figure out the rules if you are not an American; if you like to walk and run or even ride your bike, well, by all means the best place to be; if you like calming views over the water, for sure you have them in abundance; if you like to lay on the grass and just feel the sun, just bring a towel and you are ready; if you like the buzz and the people laughing and being in a great mood, go towards the Boathouse (if you like turtles, look for them in the water); if you want to see a real obelisk, there you go; if you ever wanted to take a horse&carriage tour, go ahead; if you like a piece of modern history and memories, go visit the Strawberry Fields, for sure it will warm up your hear to just... "imagine" ;)

There is something for everyone in the Central Park. I loved it and I am convinced my visit there was worth all the blisters I got on my feet! And if you want to have the complete feeling, grab a hamburger or hot-dog from any street vendor and go have your lunch sitting on a bench, or the grass, in the park... better yet, combine it with a visit to any of the museums on both its sides (east and west) and you are in for a very, very pleasant day! But start early, the city never sleeps and neither should you when you are there ;)