SHERATON GRAND SEATTLE to NORWEGIAN ENCORE

'Twas a simple day yesterday. Only went to Din Tai Fung for an early dinner. Have written about this Taiwanese restaurant many times here. First one started in Taipei in 1958, and the 181 restaurants worldwide today are still mostly fast food pick-up places. However, the one that opened in New York City this summer sits 450. The Seattle chain I went to is huge. Showed up around 3:30PM and had to wait 15 minutes to get in. It specializes in Shanghai Soup Dumplings, or Xiao Long Bao.

Very large restaurant.

Beef and pork noodles, plus pork/shrimp dumplings.

Shanghai Soup Dumplings.

With Johnny Walker Black and ginger/vinegar sauce.

Saw two great NCAA football games yesterday:

Oregon edged Ohio State.
LSU never led until the end, and beat Mississippi in overtime. I every two years particularly identify with this match because my Chemical Engineering Department is adjacent to Death Valley. If you too watched the game, you would have noticed that there were 102,000 in attendance. Only students/faculty and those who got seats through inheritance get tickets. In my days, men wore sport coats and women, gowns.

We soon leave the Sheraton Grand to board the Norwegian Encore, a cruise ship with a max capacity of 4000 passengers that will take us from Seattle to Miami. We stay on this ship and then will reach our final destination, Southampton, England. Well, not final final, for we then fly to Amsterdam to join a Viking Christmas River Cruise to Budapest. After a two-day stop in Zurich, be back home on Honolulu on December 7.

Comments

DAY 1 on the DIAMOND PRINCESS

But first, Sheraton Yokohama Bay highlights of our Sheraton Club eats/drinks and breakfasts. Breakfast stations. Then taxi off to the Diamond Princess. Fall colors. Approaching from the rear of the Diamond Princess. Departure of Diamond Princess from Yokohama, Departure snack of lamb, beef, penne pasta, Johnny Walker Gold and champagne. Leaving Yokohama. We then went to Kai Sushi for dinner, Sushi and sake dinner, Then, off to Fun Dance Class. That followed by karaoke. The night continued into some old time disco. Finally, after midnight, back to our stateroom. Walked 4127 steps today. -

DAY 4 IN SEOUL: Most popular Korean Songs from the 1950's to the Present

Korean music was almost totally missing, growing up in Hawaii. The exception was Arirang . Today, BTS and BLACKPINK resonate around the world. In addition to the 600 year-old Arirang, what is the all-time #1? My favorites are: Baby Shark , released by Pinkfong in 2016. For one, it is the most-viewed You Tube video ever, hitting 7 billion views and surpassing Despacito in 2022. Is now up to 16.47 billion views, with Despacito at 9 billion. Top 10 music videos, based on data from Kworb and Wikipedia : Note that most are nursery songs. "Baby Shark Dance" – Pinkfong Kids' Songs & Stories (16.47 billion) "Despacito" – Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee (8.91 billion) "Wheels on the Bus" – Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes (8.29 billion) "Bath Song" – Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes (7.31 billion) "Johny Johny Yes Papa" – LooLoo Kids (7.13 billion) "See You Again" –...

THE VERY BEST MOVIE MUSICALS

Two weeks ago I featured the best dance films. Many of them are repeated here because where there is dance, there is also music. An excellent best musical list from IndieWire : #1 Singin' in the Rain (1954) #2 All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979) #3 West Side Story (1961) #4 Dancer in the Dark (2000), featuring Björk #5 Mary Poppins (1964), nominated for 13 Oscars #6 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) #7 The Wizard of Oz (1939) #8 Nashville (1975) #9 Cabaret (1972) #10 Moulin Rouge (2001) #11 The Sound of Music (1965) #12 La La Land (2016) #13 Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) #14 My Fair Lady (1964) #15 Fiddler on the Roof (1971) #16 The Red Shoes (1948) #17 A Star is Born (1954), there was another in 1937, then 1976, and finally 2018. The 1954 version starred Judy Garland and James Mason. #18 The...

Search This Blog