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Category Archives: Europe
The night raid to Billingsgate.
Shopping for food in the UK is often not, for yours truly, a joyous experience, and this is due to the utter lack of variety. Honest, there’s more individuality in a pool of cloned cells than in UK’s supermarkets. Even … Continue reading
Posted in All things food, Europe, London, UK
Tagged Billingsgate, Billingsgate Market, Blitz, Canada Square, Canary Wharf, Chip shop, City of London constabulary, Cockney, Del Boy, Docklands, East End, Eels, England, Fish, Fish Market, Green Park, India, Kent, Lent, Lobster, London, Luftwaffe, Market, Night, Night Tube, Salmon, Sea Bass, Snapper, Thames, Tilapia, Trout, Tube, Tuna, UK
23 Comments
Fireworks, mountains and sleeping elephants. Wrapping up 2017, in pictures.
The last trip of the year has just ended; the rucksack’s been duly unpacked and its contents unceremoniously thrown into the washing-up pile, hoping for some merciful hands to put them into the washing machine without the whites turning pink … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Europe, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, London, Overlooked locations, Piemonte, Random memories, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, UK
Tagged 2017, 2017 Fireworks, 2017 in photos, 2017 London Fireworks Photos, Alps, Aqespe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, Asia, Asian elephant, Bactrian camels, Camel, Central Asia, Colombo Fort, Disappearance of Aral sea, Elephant, Fireworks Pictures, Italia, Italy, Jin Mao Tower, Jing Mao tower, Kyrgyzstan, Land Cruiser, London, London Mayor, Mountains, Murghab, National park, New Year's Eve Fireworks, North Aral Sea, NYE, NYE Fireworks, Pamir, Pamir Gap, Pamir Highway, Shanghai, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Sleeping elephant, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan railways, Tajikistan, Train, Train travel, Udawalawe
19 Comments
Goodbye for now, Italy!
As with most good things (and luckily a fair few bad ones), it all must come to an end. On a nice day in September, the sky akin to Microsoft’s Windows 98 screen saver, we gave the car back to … Continue reading
Posted in Emilia Romagna, Europe, Italy, Toscana, Veneto
Tagged Contrada, Europe, Ferrara, Fleetwood Mac, Grand Tour, Hills, Italia, Italy, Marco Pantani, Middle Age, Milan, Montalcino, Palio, Papa, Pienza, Pope, Popery, San Marco, San Quirico, Siena, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia, Veneto, Venezia, Venice
19 Comments
Chaos theory applied to abbeys.
Sometimes you don’t make it, sometimes you break it. Ian Malcom explained it in Jurassic Park, circa 1993. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. A single valley, two abbeys, … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Toscana
Tagged 1348 Plague, Abbey, Black Death, Chaos Theory, Christianity, Cistercian, Faith, Galgano, Italia, Italy, Jurassic Park, Knights, Middle Ages, Monks, Nunnery, San Galgano, Sant'Antimo, Sword in stone, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia
14 Comments
Of the intrinsic beauty and harmonious forms of Tuscan hills.
I come from a region where the land is alternatively very flat – filled with rice paddies, corn fields and factories – or very mountainous. There’s really not much of an alternative; it’s either flat as a ruler or climbs … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Toscana
Tagged Cappella di Vitaleta, Chapel of vitaleta, Corn, Europa, Europe, Hills, Italia, Italy, San Quirico d'Orcia, September, Siena, Summer, Toscana, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia, Vineyard, Wine
13 Comments
Venezia people watching.
I came to Venezia expecting it to be a slightly less polished version of EuroDisney, a Hogwarts-styled theme park caught in a flood, inhabited only by visitors brandishing iPhones and Instagram accounts named “Eat-Pray-Love89”. As it turned out, that wasn’t to be … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Veneto
Tagged ACTV, Burano, Canal Grande, Dog, Football, Giudecca, Gondola, Il Milione, Lagoon, Marco Polo, Murano, Photography, Speedboat, Street photography, Swearing, Vaporetto, Veneto, Venezia, Venice
7 Comments
Delirious Venezia.
Thirty-one years, all of which in possess of a passport marked “Repubblica Italiana”, and I had never been to Venezia. I visited Hanoi, Dušanbe and Charlotte, North Carolina, but never made it to the city at the end of the Veneto … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Veneto
Tagged America, Boat, Calle, Canal, Canals, Church, Communism, Cruise ship, Dorsoduro, Europe, Ghetto, Ghetto Nuovo, Hammer and sickle, Italia, Italy, Jew, Maserati, No Grandi Navi, Pollution, Religion, Rialto, San Marco, Sant'Elena, Sticker, Street art, Tourism, Venezia, Venice, Vicenza
27 Comments
The years of commuting dangerously. Excerpts of life in Transport for London’s hands.
Like everyone else, I use social media to share utter gibberish (think penguins slapping each other, Russian drivers’ antics, Economist articles) and moan. My social media of choice is Facebook and the primary objective of my tirades, the exclusive subjective … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, London, Odd ones out, Public Transportation, Random memories, UK
Tagged Britain, Commuting, Disruption, Facebook, Piccadilly Line, Signal Failure, Strike, TfL, Transport for London, Tube, UK
14 Comments
Wine, London and fireworks.
A few years ago I tried, together with some friends, to head downtown to see the fireworks. In a word, it was awful. Pissing with rain, the centre was a mess of angry people, mounted police who’d clearly lost their … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, UK
Tagged 2017, 2017 Fireworks, 2017 London Fireworks Photos, Acton, Big Ben, Canary Wharf, City of London, Fireworks, Fireworks Pictures, Houses of parliament, London, London Eye, London Fireworks, London Mayor, London night views, London skyline, New Year's Eve Fireworks, NYE, NYE Fireworks, Olympus, Sadiq Khan, Shard, UK, United Kingdom
17 Comments
