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Category Archives: Europe
Elegy for gentrification. Yes, you read it right.
There are a few words as laden with meanings, almost entirely of negative connotation, as gentrification. Say it and your mind will conjure images of invading toffs, an irresistible volkswanderung of genteel professionals with no fear but for white carbs, descending … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, UK
Tagged Amazon, Britain, Canal, Canal boat, City of London, Decay, Europe, Gentrification, Harry Potter, Houseboat, JK Rowling, Kings Cross, KX, London, Photography, Platform 9 3/4, Pollinator, Punk, Renovation, Review, Skip Garden, Sky, Station, Street photography, Summer, Toffs, Tourism, Train, Travel, UAL, UK, University, Urban decay, Urban photography, Waitrose, Wimbledon
13 Comments
And the bumblebee buzzes by.
There’s a mammoth-sized hydrangea bush sprouting on the street we normally take on our way to the tube; think an explosion of pink and green caught in the moment of deflagration. As we passed it we heard an ominous buzzing, … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, UK
Tagged Bees, Bumblebee, Butterfly, Buzzing, EU, Flower beds, Flowers, Honey Bees, Insects, Lavender, London, Macro photography, Micheal Gove, Neonicotinoids, Oregano, Pesticide, Pollinators, Rosemary, Roses, Save the Honey Bee, UK
8 Comments
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
