blog d'europe

viana do castelo

2012-01-19T01:43:00.000+01:00

still up in the north of portugal, meg & i decided to do a day trip out to one of porto's neighbouring towns. we'd jotted down about five different places, viano do castelo being one of them. not sure what made us choose this one over the others - must have had something to do with lonely planet's description of it sounding something like: charming, narrow lanes, roccoco palaces & manueline manors...

from porto it took us about two hours to train it up a bit further north to viana do castelo (was such a tongue twister of a name when we first tried to say it...). we set out early, arrived late-morning and, not really knowing anything about the town - we decided to just stroll around and check it out. the quaint little seaside town didn't disappoint. uneven cobbled streets wound their way left, right & every which way you looked...coulerful cast-iron balconies/terraces jutted out from first, second & third floor houses...diy washing lines stretched across these balconies, personalised with portuguese flags, colourful ribbons & we even saw one with cd's strung through the lines.

it was another beautiful summer-esque day of 32° (we've been so lucky with this weather, we have to keep pinching ourselves!), so all the locals had hung out their washing to dry. blue & white sheets and clothes rippled in the warm breeze and gave us some well-appreciated shade from the hot sun.
after a few hours wandering around, snapping photos & asking for directions (the portuguese are such lovely, helpful people....even though after alot of broken english chit-chat, they eventually sent us in the wrong direction...it's the thought that counts, right?), we found ourselves a tiny little cafe that sold ice cream and not much else. perfect! we sat our tired legs down on some tables & chairs under the shade of a biiiiig umbrella and devoured chocolate, caramel & vanilla icecreams - probably our last before we head into colder weather in a few days! our cafe was just next to the big church in town, which happened to have a wedding taking place while we were there. definitely the highlight of my day, seeing the bride & groom (and their procession of a million of family members) being showered in rice & red confetti lovehearts on the church steps.

we eventually managed to pick ourselves up from our comfy cafe posi & see a bit more of viano do castelo. we visited the church just next door, some ancient stone statues & a few of the towns houses that are famous for their architecture. i love the crumbling nature of the buildings here in portugal. i think there's a real beauty in the fading paint, lopsided door frames with doors of all different colours, chipped tiles of varying geometric patterns and buildings that seem to lean in whichever direction they please. beautiful.

towards the end of the afternoon we headed down to the river's edge where we munched on a baguette and a delicious garlic dip that we managed to score at the local supermarket. no better way to finish up our stay in portugal than stretching out in the sun, reading our books & chatting about all the amazing things we'd seen over the past week. will definitely be back!

tchau,

yum!

too cool

porto

2012-01-16T23:54:00.001+01:00

an early morning bus out of lisbon, and five hours later we were in porto. it's the second largest portuguese city (after lisbon) and has so much old-school charm.

the city sits on two hills that slope down to the douro river which divides them. the only way across is via the iron cast dom luis bridge that arcs really high over the water. meg & i wandered through the heart of porto's old town and got thoroughly lost... but we happened to stumble upon a huge cathedral, porto's elaborately blue & white tiled sao benito station, and some london-esque red telephone booths (random) along the way, so it was a pretty successful afternoon after all.

once we found our way down to the douro, we walked along the "ribeira" - a strip of medieval, brightly coloured houses lining the river. cafes, restaurants & shops fan out from the ribeira, whilst market stalls selling portuguese embroidery/lace, jewellery & a tonne of tiny wooden roosters (the lucky charm of portugal) are dotted along the colourful strip. we hiked the million +1 steps up to the very top of the dom luis bridge where we were rewarded with a stunning view out across the old town on the north side of porto. we watched the brightly-coloured houses in pastel pink, blue, yellow, orange & off-white transform with the sunset into vivid reds, blinding yellows & deep blues.

the next day (as if we hadn't climbed enough stairs already) we forced our legs to do the 240 steps up to the top of the torre dos clerigos - the second tallest church tower in portugal. such steep steps to get there - but so worth it when we pushed open the door and were met with a 360° view of porto. a breathtaking look out across the terracotta-tiled rooves that make up the labyrinthine old town, and the douro river sparkling in the sun...definitely worth the soreness to get up there and see it!

to give our poor legs a rest, that afternoon we jumped onto a boat that went along the douro, so we could see what the city looked like from the water... or maybe we just did it so we could hang our legs over the edge and catch the splashes of water as the boat bobbed up and down. who could blame us in this 30° heat!

the south side of porto is home to the original port wine caves (porto is unsurprisingly the birthplace of port wine), so we popped our heads into a few for some tastings. honestly, i'm not a huge fan of port so it didn't do much for me - but sitting on chairs & tables out in the late afternoon sun, sipping on too-sweet wine...there are definitely worse things you could do. ;-)

obrigado porto & adeus,

wrong country?

steep staircase in the church tower

porto

sunset from the dom luis bridge

the ribeira

meg & her cats

the bridge connecting the north and south parts of porto

port wine caves

our cinema-themed hostel: pulp fiction room

our cinema-themed hostel: psycho bathroom

our cinema-themed hostel: fight club laundry

our amazing open-air terrace at the hostel

goodnight porto

costa da caparica & alfama

2012-01-01T20:11:00.001+01:00

during our five-day stay in lisbon, we got to see all four corners of the city & we also managed to squeeze in two of my favourite pastimes: relaxing by the beach & rummaging through trash/treasure at flea markets.

after chatting to one of the girls who worked at our hostel, she recommended we visit the costa da caparica. it's a long strip of beach about 40 minutes from the centre of lisbon. once again we had glorious blue skies - and as we lay on the peaceful beach (we almost had the place to ourselves), the sun bounced off the ocean, making it sparkle in front of us. unlike the mediterranean sea however, the water was freezing! i've been re-embracing my love for magnum ego's here in portugal - these were the perfect addition to a lazy stroll back to the bus stop in the slowly disappearing late-afternoon sun.

back in lisbon, we heard that there was a flea market hidden away in alfama, lisbon's "old" (old-er, the "new" city has already been around for a few centuries...) city. this pocket of the city sits on a slope leading from the castle of são jorge, down to the ocean. it's made up of narrow, winding streets with tall, skinny houses. we heard from a local that this was to keep the narrow lanes in shade during the day, so that the portuguese can keep out of the sun & heat as much as possible. bit clever, and definitely the most beautiful part of lisbon. reminded me of the dalt vila in ibiza. there's a heap of fado music bars in alfama. "fado" is the traditional music of the portuguese, with string instruments & lots of mournful wailing that tells stories about love & loss. sounds a bit iffy by my description, but (if well performed) is both beautiful & heartbreaking to listen to.

given that the streets are so narrow (and there's so many of them), our map wasn't very reliable when it came to fitting in all the street names. so it's not altogether surprising that we lost any sense of where we were in relation to both the new city and the flea markets. we decided to just go with the flow and see where we ended up. at one point we came out of the labyrinthine streets & onto the most impressive view looking out across the old city. terracotta-tiled roofs of all different heights stood out against the bright blue sky, and we could see the impressive castle of são jorge up on the hill. so beautiful! our map-less walk around meant that we got to see so much more of alfama - with its crumbling white concrete houses & brightly coloured flowers...and we eventually found the flea market, too.

the feira da ladra ("thieve's market") is tucked in behind the santa engracia church. hundreds of market stalls set up camp in the big square, and stay put from dawn to dusk. lots of jewelry stores where we were able to barter down prices, as well as leather bags & wallets, second-hand clothing, stamps, old photographs, fado records - everything you can expect to find at a southern-european flea market. after several hours (practically all afternoon...the markets just seemed to go on and on and on..!) we were beginning to fry in the sun, so we stopped for a break at a café overlooking the market. the café claimed to have the "best homemade lemonade in lisbon". freshly squeezed, ice-cold and deliciously sour... yum!

had the best five days in lisbon, and we couldn't have timed our stay any better. we had unusually hot weather for this time of year - who would've thought it could hover between 30°/33° in october??! no complaints from me, i just hope this warm spell hangs around as we continue on with our travels...

até logo,

how does meg have two shadows??

colourful doors

there are lots of random (usually religious) mosaics on the buildings

more mosaics

lost... again

alfama slopes steadily (or not so steadily) uphill, so there are lots of narrow passages with hundred's of steps

feira da ladra, flea market

fado

a beautiful peacock mosaic in the street

homemade lemonade - the best in lisbon

black & white marble mosaic cobbles

hot almost-summer nights

lisbon

2011-12-31T18:45:00.004+01:00

rise & shine, good morning portugal! our plane landed around 9am and as soon as we walked out of the air-conditioned airport we were thrown into 30 ° heat. so good! the only downer was that we'd worn all our warm coats, jumpers & woolen scarfs to save room in our already-over-stuffed packs...so we worked up a sweat just walking the 10m to the bus stop. keeping in mind that we'd slept at the airport in paris the night before... it's not hard to imagine just how gorgeous we were looking right about then.

we arrived in the centre of lisbon and made our way to our hostel. turned out to be more of a challenge than we thought as lisbon is just one continuous hill (up & down & up..& down...&..up & down...). not helped by the fact the whole city is paved with black & white marble cobble-stones that are well-polished after having centuries of feet walking upon them...and are therefore very slippery. undeniably very beautiful though, and definitely a step up from paris' bluestone cobbles. in one of the squares near our hostel, largo de camões, these cobbles form mosaics of moorish ships.

we stayed in bairro alto, the bar district of lisbon. lots of cafés, restaurants, shops & (unsurprisingly) bars line the criss-crossing streets that make up this part of the city. every night the streets came to life, with every possible genre of music floating out into the streets. bairro alto stays wide awake until the early hours of the morning, regardless of whether its a weekday/weekend. was so good to be in this cultural heart of lisbon, even if it was on the top of a hill (bairro alto = "higher ground"). definitely worth the climb, as you get beautiful views out across the city from up there - we saw some amazing sunsets during our time in lisbon.

we spent our days wandering around lisbon in the sun. stopping for cold drinks & fresh fruit at street-side cafés. a highlight was asking for a peach and getting it with a knife & fork - apparently these guys eat their fruit with cutlery!? we thought we'd been given complementary olives & bread... but after thinking that the portuguese were very friendly & generous - we then had to pay for the food we hadn't even ordered. awesome. in all honesty though, the portuguese people are some of the friendliest bunch i've come across during my travels this year. always prepared to help you, give you directions & have a laugh with you.

we had been told by several locals that we had to get out to belém and sample "the most famous portuguese cakes". belém is a small town just outside lisbon, home to pastéis de belém - the cake shop renowned for its custard/cinnamon tart/cake/pastry. as you can probably tell, i still don't really know what the cake was...but it was so tasty. the shop was full of people, and there was a bustling line leading out of the door - all the people lining up to get these famous cakes. i can't believe we only had one each...so restrained!

adeus,

beautiful sunsets over lisbon

our hostel

praça do comércio

lisbon taxis

tiled building walls

random mosaics between two buildings

huge apple the size of my face

looking out over the old city of lisbon, alfama

jesus street

bright yellow lisbon trams

care for some pig's ear salad? otherwise there's always one of our snail dishes...

the non-complimentary olives...

eating fruit with a knife & fork

they made us pay for the bread, so we wrapped up what was left and took it with us

"living statues"

busy queues waiting for cakes

so excited for my portuguese cake!

sprinkled with icing sugar and cinnamon...

au revoir paris

2011-11-30T19:42:00.000+01:00

inevitably, the day finally rolled around - my last day of living in paris. what, already!? can't believe that these five months are about to come to an end. although, when looking back it's hard to believe how much i've managed to squeeze into this time. trips away to amsterdam, venice, deauville, ibiza, berlin... a brief stint of a french language course (after a month of this i chose sleep ins & extra euros in my wallet - over conditional tenses, past participles & indirect objects...) & five months of looking after two of paris' most gorgeous boys - noah & liam.

my last day saw meg and i wandering down to anvers metro stop. meg arrived back in paris a few days ago, and has come to spend some time in paris before we both head off travelling together.

we had planned to meet up with one of my primary school friends, angeline, but when our metro broke down somewhere near réaumur sébastopol - we then had to walk the remaining few blocks to the square in front of notre dame.

together with meg & angeline, i hiked up the 387-step spiral staircase to the top of notre dame's towers. the view out over paris was breathtaking, being able to see the eiffel tower in one direction, the montmartre hill in another (with the blindingly white sacre coeur perched on its top) & the seine - sparkling in the sunlight - snaking its way through the city. we were also able to get a close up view of notre dame's many gruesome & grizzly gargoyles, as well as the 3,000kg cloche d'emmanuel - sitting in the bell tower. sadly, no hunchbanks in sight...

given the weather was so nice, i decided to get all my incredible parisian friends together for a final picnic of wine, cheese, baguettes, pain au chocolat's, cider & cheap rosé. we sat in the parc de la villette, up in the 19th arrondissement, swapping stories from the past half-year & getting more than a little sunburnt in the afternoon sun...

meg & i headed back to my apartment to get a start on packing my bag. yes, i put it off until the last possible minute...what can i say, i didn't want to face the fact that i would be leaving paris. several hours later, i had a backpack with the zipper just managing to squeeze closed ...& another bag (roughly the same size), full of things that i would leave with frida in paris. typical. oh well, i'll face that problem when i'm back in paris in a few months...

after a million +1 hugs & bisous with liam & noah, my au pair boys (going to miss them both so much) & a very emotional goodbye with cedrine & cedrick, we headed back out the door & down the hill. then it was onto the metro & up to hôtel de ville, where the nuit blanche celebrations were starting up.

la nuit blanche ("white night" in english) is an annual event in paris - where museums, galleries & other public spaces stay open all night, with free exhibitions pouring out into paris' cobbled streets. we walked along to the centre pompidou (where music parades made their way loudly through the streets), then further up into le marais where we saw an incredible neon blue light installation. we ended up back up in montmartre around 1am, where contagious happy spirits were in the air - i couldn't think of a better way to say goodbye to paris. sadly though, meg & i had to take our leave at this point - our goal being to catch the last metro to the airport.

back at the apartment, we grabbed our heavy packs and (with some difficulty) waddled down to the metro. only to find we'd missed the last train. shit, how annoying. we managed to find our way to the bus stop, catch an hour-long bus to charles de gaulle airport & consequently arrive around 3am. then it was just a two hour wait until we were able to check-in, drop our bags and let our travel adventure really begin...

au revoir paris, you will be dearly missed!

S.

dawn over montmartre

noah and his "ga-gateau"

3,000kg bell, la cloche d'emmanuel

derniers jours

2011-11-25T03:43:00.000+01:00

time keeps ticking on & i can now count my last days in paris on one hand. i never thought this time would come, ahh! despite still working this week i've been out & about whenever i'm free. paris seems to be loving me back at the moment, because it's been day after day of blue skies & sunshine - making it perfect for roaming the cobbled streets in pursuit of things i haven't seen yet (although there's not much, let me tell you...).

we began my last sunny sunday with a picnic on the riverbank of the seine, watching boats & birds drift past. next stop was berthillon's...without a doubt the most incredible place to land your hands on ice-cream/sorbet in paris. no seriously, this place is famous & always has a long cue of customers trailing out into the street. it's on île saint-louis, the smaller of paris' two islands and it boasts the most delicious flavours such as dark/white chocolate, grapefruit, cherry, peach...omnomnom!

we devoured our ice-creams on the steps leading down to the water, together with several handfuls of other people who had had the same idea. happy days! continued on through le marais, another one of my favourite quartiers of paris - one word: shoooopping! we made a pit-stop at a boulangerie to pick up a handful of pain au chocolat's (because we hadn't eaten enough yet...), before poking around in a tonne of second-hand/vintage boutiques that i haven't come across before. what i love most is that the pricing isn't ridiculously expensive...win win win.

the downside: i've begun attempting to pack up all my things in paris (very, very sad process...) and as it stands i have about three backpacks worth of clothes, shoes (thirteen pairs..where did they all come from!?) and general stuff to fit inside one, single backpack. disaster waiting to happen, & one that doesn't need extra clothes added to the mix...

from pont marie we watched the sun beginning to set over the city. this is definitely the best way to watch a parisian sunset, as you get the stunning reflections bouncing off the seine, as well as dramatic shadows cast by the riverside buildings... going to miss these very, very much.

we walked through rue du chat qui pêche (street of the fishing cat), paris' narrowest "street" - about the width of an arm span, before heading down the metro.

we made our way to saint-germain-des-près, the wealthy, bourgeois quarter in the 6th arondissement of paris. it used to be the philosphical & cultural epicentre of paris and was the fav chill space for existentialists simone de beauvoir and jean-paul sartre. both now have streets/squares named after them here in saint-germain-des-près. we wandered around for a bit, saw the church & some artists selling/exhibiting their paintings nearby - but once it became dark we decided to get comfy at one of the many hundreds of cafés in the area. a few beers, hot chocolates, wines & crêpes later we made our way back to the metro and over to la tour eiffel - to see it twinkle for the last time (for a few months, anyway...).

no matter how many times we've sat there and watched the tower come to life every hour, on the hour...we still 'ooh' & 'aah' when it happens... just one of those things.

a busy day doing nothing, yet looking back now & it feels like we did more than we realised. i'm glad we took advantage of the sunshine, because from here on out it's just going to get colder...and colder...and colder...

salut salut,

hôtel de ville - "place du peuple" (place of the people)

quadrouple scoup? that's a bit keen

hmm, which flavours to take...

chillers by the seine

noo, it's almost finished!

pont marie

rue du chat qui pêche (street of the fishing cat)

"neither beggars, nor rulers"

metro excitement

middled-aged woman riding a scooter home from work

église saint-sulpice

cobblestones ♥

nicolas flamel street. best!

"life is worth nothing, but nothing beats life"

"the world is a poem"

les deux magots, one of paris' most famous cafés

♥

crêpe butterfly

café de flore, another of paris' famous cafés

la tour eiffel, la nuit

la bellevilloise

2011-11-24T22:41:00.000+01:00

with the name a bit of a give-away - la bellevilloise can be found just off rue de ménilmontant in (you guessed it) belleville. i've been discovering the hidden treasures of belleville (eastern paris) over the past few weeks and this place is definitely one of them.

it's a cultural hub where café/restaurant meets art gallery, meets beer garden, meets live music venue. la bellevilloise has been growing & changing since it was reopened in 2005. we climbed up the stairs to the terrace to kick back on colourful ironware tables & chairs and catch up over a few beers. from up here you get a really impressive view out across eastern paris - tiled rooftops of varying heights, ceramic chimney pots & old meets new with splashes of graffiti.

there's such a relaxed feel about the place...and its vibe & atmosphere reminds me of the abbotsford convent in melbourne. i'd love to come back here to see some acoustic shows, or some of the temporary art exhibitions that are held inside.

we also visited la miroiterie, just around the corner from la bellevilloise. it has a similar purpose, but is less established, more edgy & has more of a focus on live music & graffiti art. statement art lines the entrance walls & a hodge-bodge selection of armchairs, couches and stools are set around for people to sit, chat & soak up the culture.

we lost track of time in belleville, and by the time we metro'd back to my apartment it was already dark. on the walk up to montmartre, there was a really heavy fog that was beginning to settle over the hill. this cast sacré coeur in a really beautiful light, illuminating it against the deep blue-grey evening sky...

i love montmartre. i love paris.

bises,

very happy motorbike...

beautiful montmartre

techno parade de paris

2011-11-24T00:31:00.000+01:00

craaazy weekend in paris, as thousands met at place de la république to kick off the annual "techno parade" (cue heavy french accent). it's been happening for the past thirteen years and is a huge event that parisians looove to celebrate. we had no idea it was even happening until the night before when the words david guetta, bob sinclar and free (!!) were shouted around...

we joined the crowds - walking, dancing, jumping, singing & laughing behind dozens of huge bus-floats that were blasting techno, electronic, dubstep and drum & bass out onto the street. such a crazy vibe with everyone dressed up, people not only on the ground - but also dancing on top of bus stops or climbing up traffic light poles. confetti, streamers & flares brought some of paris' oldest roads to life for the festival.

the parade made its way through place de la bastille, where we saw hundreds of people sitting, dancing & climbing all over the colonne de juillet - the huge statue in the middle of the square. was so strange to see the place buzzing with so much life. i wonder if the people who inaugurated the column 170 years ago ever envisaged hundreds of people raving on it...was an awesome sight to see - unforgettable!

after the parade we made a beeline for the creperie, where we all ordered the best possible crêpe combination: nutella-banane. yum! i dread to think how many of these badboys i've consumed over the past five months... you only live once, right??? the same goes for baguettes, pain au chocolat's, cheese...

another day of new memories to lock away in my paris safe,

a+,

♥

jeu de paume

2011-11-10T10:24:00.001+01:00

another one of the hundred's of galleries paris has to offer, jeu de paume sits in a somewhat overlooked corner of the jardin des tuileries. the building (although completely renovated on the inside) is the former home of the indoor tennis courts of the royal palace - hence the name 'jeu de paume'.

we went along to check out what is now a contemporary art museum with a focus on photographic expositions. however, typical us - we didn't bother to check up opening times before we got there. on discovering that we still had an hour before we could enter, we had to think of something to kill the time. what a dilemma: being stuck in the centre of paris with nothing to do for an hour. hard life, i know.

we wandered off to rue de rivoli, on the north side of the jardin des tuileries. one of my favourite streets (for good reason! 59 rivoli, one of my fav places in paris, as well as endless shopping opportunities...) and also conveniently home to the unofficial best hot chocolate of paris....angelina's! imagine a little pot of mouthwatering hot chocolate, made by actually melting hunks of delicious dark chocolate. all this in a room that resembles something out of a dining room on the titanic...suffice to say that only at angelina's would i pay 8€ for a hot chocolate. worth every cent and apparently a perfect way to while away the time...

midday rolled over all too quickly, so we made our short way back to jeu de paume to check out two expositions: claude cahun's series of autobiographical photographs that questioned gender & identity; and santu mofokeng's photographic journey through africa, continental europe & the middle east. the first was strange, with alot of experimental photography; the second very eye-opening and the photos tempted to me to go to africa..

a day of hot chocolates & gallery visits is becoming all to familiar to me, here in paris. i still need to pinch myself now & then - after five months of living here, i still can't quite believe all of this is really happening!

à la prochaine,

59 rivoli

2011-09-28T19:32:00.001+02:00

i don't know how many times i'd walked past #59 rue de rivoli throughout my five months here in paris - either to shop, to eat, or just to wander. i can't believe it took me so long to discover this building. must've had my eyes on the ground & my head in the clouds...

59 rivoli is an artist's after squat that began some time in 1999, when three frenchies bought the abandoned 6-story building and decided to put it to good use - transforming the space into somewhere for artists to create, exhibit, live & enrich paris' art scene.

you first walk in after being directed by "visite obligatoire" (visit mandatory) signs & arrows, walk across a doormat made out of 1c & 2c pieces, before heading on up the spiral staircases of 59 rivoli...
everyone i talked to here was so friendly & so happy to take time out of painting/sketching/sculpting to have a chat. there's around thirty artists at 59 rivoli - some of them share studios, create group artworks or just do their own thing.

they all got together and redecorated the place because naturally, when they first moved in - the place was a total dump. one of the artists who's been there since the beginning described to me how their was rubble everywhere, disused office furniture, dead animals, crumbling & collapsing walls, etc. nowadays, every wall surface is splashed with colour - from photos to sketches, graffiti tags to hanging strips of material, from the hundreds of painted '59's to my favourite - a continuous painting of a dragon that follows you up the spiral staircase, right up to the 6th floor.

next door to 59 rivoli (but still part of the same brainchild) is the official exhibition space, where both french & international artists display their works.
59 rivoli (technically pronounced 'cinquante-neuf rivoli', not fifty-nine) reminded me alot of tacheles, the artist's squat in berlin - except that the parisian version is much younger, has a broader variety of artwork & is alot 'lighter' both in its physical appearance and its demeanour.

so passes another day, another place, another experience...another reason to love paris.

bises,

pedestrians: mandatory change of route

1c, 2c...

"follow the dragon"

"where do we come from? what are we doing? where are we going?"

"become what you seek, and it shall find you..."

"walls & whispers"

view from the top floor out across paris. ceramic chimney pots in the back.

view from above...

...& view from below

"i'm a lucky charm"

les passages de paris

2011-09-28T17:23:00.001+02:00

throughout paris, covered passageways are tucked away between both main & small streets alike. i've been taking the time recently to walk through these architectural beauties and soak up (even more) parisian history. these laneways reminded me so much of the block & royal arcade's in melbourne. a little bit of nostalgia & for once i can happily say that these arcades in melbourne appeared at the same time as they did in paris - end of the 19th century. melbourne isn't so young after all...

here's just a few of the ones i visited, mostly found in & around the 2nd & 4th arrondissements...

PASSAGE DES PANORAMAS

this was the first passageway that i came across. it turns right off boulevard de montmartre, one of the streets that form les grand boulevards - the 1920s equivalent of the champs-élysées. its most striking features were its mosaic-esque tiled floors, iron & tiled-glass roof and orange/gold lighting. this arcade was full of café's, restaurants & crêperies & so had music and chatter floating through its narrow laneway. what struck me as bizarre was that there were just as many stamp collector shops as their were cafés. i guess that stamps are the specialty of this passage. cute.

bonne dégustation

"thankyou for touching with your eyes" - the loveliest literal translation i've ever made

beautiful tiled floors

GALERIE VIVIENNE

the galerie vivienne was probably my favourite of all the arcades i walked through. came across lots of boutiques and second-hand bookstores (there were even books in english, yes!) throughout the dog-leg covered passageway. i wandered within its walls at early evening, so the many lights that lit up the galerie had come to life. there was something about the combination of fading natural light & warm artificial ones that reminded me of european winter - imagine ducking inside one of these arcades at the height of winter to escape the cold & wind; sipping on hot chocolates, surrounded by warm heaters...oh!

reminds me of winter!

the man himself

PASSAGE JOUFFROY

passage jouffroy had an architecturally stunning curved glass roof with oooold, brass lamps hanging from the ceiling. tiled floors in grey, black & white met with rich oak wood bookshelves where hundreds of books sat, waiting to be picked up and read. i'm not sure whether this operated as a library or a bookshop - sometimes it's a combination of the two. this passageway especially was so peaceful, both in the sense that there weren't many people & also because noises from 'the outside world' didn't find their way into the arcade. lovely.

PASSAGE VERDEAU

almost a continuation of passage jouffroy, this arcade is separated form it by a narrow road. this passageway is home to a collection of galleries, selling both prints of well-known works & originals from other artists who worked on a smaller scale. i saw alot of people in the act of painting/drawing/sculpting, so i think the spaces above the shops might be used as art studios...but that's just an observation. again there was the glass ceiling that seems to be a key feature of these gorgeous arcades. most of the covered passageways of paris were built in the second half of the 19th century, so i guess they reflect that era's architecture & shopping culture. love them!

gros bisous,

belleville

2011-09-28T14:21:00.001+02:00

the quartier known as belleville (literally translates as 'beautiful town') sits in eastern paris - a kind of melange of the 19th, 20th, 10th & 11th arrondissements. during the 80s, belleville was a working class region of paris where rent was cheap. this attracted immigrants, so this quartier has a strong multi-ethnic culture & is home to paris' second largest chinatown (the other is in the 13th arrondissement).

these days though, the area is being recognised for its modern, funky appeal and so the bobo (bourgeois/bohemian) parisian's are shifting from saint-germain-des-près (rive gauche) up to belleville. this means the area is becoming more expensive, with multitudes of small galleries & artist squats popping up left, right & centre- as well as a thriving restaurant & café culture.

in my opinion, this is a positive change for belleville - because let's face it, belleville used to be creepy & generally not a safe place to walk around by yourself. this reminded me of the changes western melbourne (where i live back home) have gone through over the past 10 years.

aidee (one of my best friends here in paris) & i explored belleville on a gorgeous sunny day. we walked through rue dénoyez - a mostly pedestrian street that's famous for its colourful explosions of graffiti that cover its brick walls. here we found café tables spilling out along the street & op-shops where you choose how much you want to pay - amazing concept. there was a tonne of public street art & we met some people who told us about gallery openings & music events that are held in the street from time to time. i loved this street because it almost felt as though i'd left paris for an hour - it had a completely different ambiance too it that i can't quite explain...

before starting her uni course here, aidee was working for a couple who owned one of the many galleries in belleville - the cosmic galerie. such a cool concept, they transformed & created the space themselves from an old garage. the gallery was exhibiting a contemporary french artist named julio le parc who produced an incredible body of works during the 60s.

belleville is also known as being the birthplace of the famous french chanteuse edith piaf, back in 1915. there is some disagreement of whether she was born under a lampost at 72, rue de belleville - or whether it was in a hospital nearby... personally i prefer the dramatic version, it makes for a good story.

i'm so happy i made it out to belleville during my time here in paris. i hadn't thought much of it before talking to aidee (who knows the area well), but it was definitely worth the time i spent wandering its streets over the past week. definitely a breath of fresh air compared to the more historic parts of paris where i live & work.

a++,

rue dénoyez

poetic mosaïc's embedded into the walls

à l'école, étais-tu déguisé en enfant?

plaque marking the disputed birthplace of edith piaf:
"on the steps of this house, born 19 december 1915, in a state of utter destitution - edith piaf whose voice would later take the world by storm"

"beware of words", public art on rue de belleville

view from parc de belleville, paris' second highest hill after montmartre

outside of the cosmic galerie (an old garage, hence the name garage de l'équerre)

exhibiting artist at the cosmic galerie, julio le parc

les puces de saint-ouen

2011-09-26T01:09:00.001+02:00

back in paris, where early sunday morning found frida & i rummaging through stalls at the largest fleamarket in europe. it's known formally as le marché aux puces de saint-ouen, or more fondly as les puces (the fleas).

the markets are right up on the northern fringe of paris (just beyond the périphérique, the border of paris) at mº porte de clignancourt. this area has had some form of market life since the middle ages, and is most famous for its hundreds of antique shops. les puces are made up of about a dozen fleamarkets, and each part of the market district sells different things. the antiques market district still thrives today, in the many winding, narrow lanes that featured in woody allen's latest film 'midnight in paris'...

altogether there's something like 2,500 stalls that spider-web their way across the district, literally selling everything under the sun.

a really gorgeous part of the market is called marché dauphine. it's an art nouveau tiered-warehouse building in brick & green iron. this was a welcome place to have a roof over our heads as we were hit with a sudden downpour of huge, wet raindrops. in the marché dauphine we found a whole level of vintage clothing that was a real mix of original haute couture (on the more expensive side of life - we saw a vintage chanel blazer for 300€) and your everyday second-hand friperie fun. we got lost in & amongst the hundred's of fur coats - got me so excited for european winter!

everywhere we looked we saw shops selling old vinyls, yellowing photographs, prints, books, magazines & collectibles (sooo many editions of tintin - they love him over here!).

i was so happy to lay my eyes on a vintage soft leather bag in olive green. the best thing about it is that i managed to barter the price down from 60€ to 30€. yes! frida found funky vintage sunglasses, and after falling in love with several old photographs of paris - she also bought chunky silver bracelets from one of the many silver dealers.

so easy to lose track of time here, not to mention literally losing yourself in & amongst the seemingly endless number of stalls. before you know it you've whiled away five hours here...

and so ends yet another sunday aux puces. wasn't the first time ...& definitely won't be the last.

xo,

vintage chanel shop

sachsenhausen

2011-09-25T02:37:00.000+02:00

today wasn't like any of our other days in berlin. we took a train an hour north of berlin to visit what used to be sachsenhausen concentration camp. the first thing you see as you enter the nazi camp are wrought iron gates bearing the words "arbeit macht frei" - words that, since world war II, form a well-known german phrase that roughly translates as "work liberates".

the nazi camp was opened in 1936, intended as a model camp for the hundreds of others that would pop up across german-occupied europe between 1933-1945. of the 200,00 people who were imprisoned at sachsenhausen during world war II, the majority were political prisoners. others included jews, homosexuals, sinti (gypsies) and criminals. every individual was identified as per a number and coloured triangle stitched to their striped prison uniform. the triangle colour was determined by status: communists & political prisoners sported red triangles, jews wore yellow, homosexuals - pink, etc. this concept of stripping a person of their individuality and personality didn't sit at all well with me, and is just another reflection of the abuse of power the nazi's showed towards prisoners whose crime (for the vast majority) was simply being themselves. eeueh.

sachsenhausen was originally only intended as a "work camp" - but then in 1942, gas chambers and cremation ovens were constructed in a section of the camp that the nazi's ironically named "station z", as it would be last "station" or "stop" in the prisoner's life. section z was incredibly disturbing to see.

post world war II, sachsenhausen (renamed "special camp no. 7") was used by the soviet union as a prison for their undesirables. again political prisoners, this time it was those who were anti-communist or who were not following the imposed communist regime who were imprisoned. it's ironic to note that during this time, nazi's who had once controlled sachsenhausen were now prisoners of special camp no. 7. what goes around comes around?

it's difficult to explain the emotions that ran through me during my visit at sachsenhausen. despite an attempt to prepare myself mentally for what would be waiting within the barbed-wire walls, the experience was very chilling. it felt all too surreal to be walking on the same ground as hundred's of thousands of prisoners, and there was a definite incomprehensible emptiness when thinking about all the unspeakable horrors that occurred right there, a mere seventy years prior.

however, it was a very awakening experience, and by the end i was able to piece together all the fractions of world war II history that i've learnt over the years. in my opinion, it takes an experience like this to really comprehend what happened - it's one thing to read about it, but to actually be there where it all happened is something completely different.

it wasn't a fun day, but it was definitely one i will never forget.

auf wiedersehen,

extermination pit, where prisoner's were shot & hanged

station z

original ovens

nazi propaganda - "this war is a jewish war"

the site of three mass graves

tacheles

2011-09-24T01:46:00.001+02:00

today we spent a few hours wandering through one of my favourite places in berlin -an abandoned 6-storey warehouse factory on oranienburger straße. originally a department store pre-world war II, then served as a nazi prison - then when the berlin wall came down in 1989, artists moved into the partly demolished building and renamed it 'kunsthaus tacheles' (art house tacheles)...

the walls are covered floor to ceiling in bold & brightly-coloured graffiti, old banknotes & posters. even the staircases are covered in writing, blocks of colour & spraypaint sketches. each of the diff levels has a different purpose - from artist's studios, to public art expositions, to a commercial gallery selling collage prints, to exhibitions containing 100's of works, to a dj playing dubstep & techno on the top floor. i had a chat to her, and she told me about some of the other stuff that happens around tacheles - film screenings, openings, parties, etc. she also gave me a looooong list of music to take home with me. german people are so friendly!

tacheles had a really laid back vibe (could have something to do with the constant weed-cloud that hung in the air), and one of the greatest things about it is that it's not your typical tourist destination - so we weren't being bustled around amongst hundred's of others. one of those places that may not be as impressive or famous as the brandenburg gate, but an unforgettable place all the same. another one of those unique places that make me want to come back to berlin again..and again...and ...again.

tschhuuuuuus!

u-bahn ♥

enter without hurts

♥

east side gallery

2011-09-23T18:42:00.000+02:00

the longest remaining strip of the old berlin wall is near the centre of berlin, and is known as the east side gallery.

before i came to berlin, i really knew anything about the berlin wall (berliner mauer)- except that it split berlin in two. so here's a 90% reliable summary of what i learnt while in berlin... after world war II, the soviets occupied the officially communist state of east germany, while west germany was co-occupied by the us, uk & france. this was simple enough, however berlin was also devided into east berlin & west berlin. and so the wall was built at the beginning of the 60s to isolate west berlin from the surrounding east germany & east berlin. under this regime, people living in west germany could temporarily leave to visit family/friends in east berlin...however east berlin inhabitants were not permitted to cross over into west germany.

the wall on the west side was bright, colourful & covered in graffiti - whilst the east side had a "death strip" leading out some 20m from the wall. this "strip" was as serious in practise as its name suggests. in 1989 the soviet state decided to let people from the eastern bloc visit the west, thus the wall was knocked down on the 9th of november 1989. the whole thing ended up with the unification of east & west germany in 1990.

today, hardly any of the original wall is still standing. there are tiny segments dotted across the city, but otherwise the border where the wall used to stand is now marked by a double-brick paved line embedded into the roads and pathways. it was strange to think we could walk across this line so easily, whereas a mere twenty years ago there were strict rules that governed whether you could or not, and severe punishments for those who tried without permission...

the part of the wall known as the east side gallery is the original wall as it stood from 1961-1989. it's a 1.3km long memorial (the largest open-air, public gallery in the world) with hundreds of murals by different artists - all depicting different aspects of freedom. all the paintings are on the east side of the berlin wall - hence the name east side gallery.

there's a point along the wall where you can go to get your passport stamped with the old border control stamp...i didn't have my passport on me, but i bought a print of the mural by russian artist dmitri vrubel, depicting the two kissing communist leaders leonid brezhnev and erich honecker - titled "mein gott, hilf mir diese tödliche liebe zu überleben" (my god, help me survive this deadly love). then i got the stamp on the reverse side.

i've chucked in a few photos of the freedom murals i passed along the way. loved them!

border control stamp

♥