prague 02.

me: 1, laziness: 0.

I've also finally written something for somewhere other than here. Sure, it's just a friend's website but he's done a pretty good job of it so I'm glad he's taken pity on me and put up my 'article' about a couple of things I've been doing lately... Flickerfest-ing and Tropfest-ing!

prague 01.

I spent a couple of freezing days in Prague, with snow lying around everywhere. I think Prague could be magical in the summer, but during the winter it is a bit... dim. Admittedly, I was there alone and while I have absolutely no problems travelling by myself (I LOVED Edinburgh, had a great time in Amsterdam, thought Hamburg was lovely and always felt comfortable in London by myself...) sometimes you just need someone else there to put the spark into your trip. Some more to come tomorrow.

budapest.

In Budapest, we spent our days trawling markets, shopping, in the bath houses and sitting in cafes. We lived above a tea house and everything was cheap. The bath houses were so good, but I couldn't take photos there. The one we went to had a steam room, a sauna, and five different pools all at different temperatures, between 18C and 40C. Given it was around 0C outside, it was bliss.

stella.

Keeping with the French theme, I saw Stella yesterday at the Adelaide Film Festival. It was a very sweet movie, and both Léora Barbara as Stella and Mélissa Rodriguez as Gladys were super-cute. The film, set in the 70s, had an amazing soundtrack and costumes, and followed a young girl from a colourful home-life finding her way at her private school and in the world. It doesn't have a distributor yet for Australia, so unless you're in Adelaide and can catch one of the final screenings, you might not get to see this one.

bordeaux.

I'm so busy at the moment! It's that time of year in Adelaide, and I have so much to share from Europe and so much to share from now! All I can say is GARDEN OF UNEARTHLY DELIGHTS. Brilliant. The rest will follow all in good time!

These are from Bordeaux, France. There was a guy in my class also on exchange from there, and we organised for me to visit on my way home. It is a really lovely city, although it rained the whole time I was there.

I flew to Paris and took the train south, travelling through those picture-postcard French countryside towns which I would really love to go back to!

We drank yummy tea concoctions in a wonderful tea house, went to see a movie in the most beautiful cinema I have ever been in (in English with French subtitles, don't worry! Quite strange to be on the reverse of French subtitling!), went to an art exhibition and considered re-making this video until I got distracted by the Brie range in the supermarché!! THIS WAS ONLY THE BRIE! The cheese aisle was to die for.

I also found out that you can get your baguettes delivered in the morning just like you would your newspaper - in a post box! - and that a weird cocktail of grenadine, beer and lemonade is the drink of choice for many in Bordeaux. How strange but wonderful!

more from london.

These are from Camden Town, a tube station (I think Tottenham Court Road, but I can't remember), Abbey Road and Shoreditch again.

bicycle love.

I spied this bicycle in the window of Chanel in London... it's not quite as nice as the one I had in Denmark though. Well, I like the quilted chain cover, the logoed saddle bag, the shiny handlebars and the crisp paint job, but it's not that nice curvy European girls-style and it doesn't have a basket on the front, like the one I had.

Sure, mine was full of rust, had peeling paint, the chain had a tendency to fall off (causing me to subsequently fall off a couple of times. I ruined some brand new white tights doing that) and the back wheel got stuck every second time I took it out. But it was my own little piece of being Danish, and I managed to master riding it in heels and a dress. I would ride it to Uni, to the shops, to my friends houses, to the train station,to parties. Riding it wearing heels, a dress and holding an umbrella was next on my list, but one fateful day the back wheel got stuck for good, and my poor little bike that I paid only around $60 for sadly got relegated to the shed.

I left a key to my trusty bike lock in my room when I left with a little note for the next person saying that if they wanted a bike, they would just have to get the back wheel fixed and they would be good to go. I hope my wonderful little bike gets to ride again someday.

I would love to have a nice bike here, but where I live it is not flat like Denmark, and besides, drivers in Australia don't quite know how to handle bike riders and the roads aren't really set up properly, although there are plans for a 'Copenhagen-style' bike lane in the city. So maybe one day.

london 01.

I went to London twice while I was away; once for New Years, and once on my way home. This second time I spent a lot of time shopping and just generally wandering around areas that I didn't visit the first time. These pictures are from in and around Shoreditch.

edinburgh 02.

More. Mr Wood's Fossils looks like something out of a story book.

edinburgh 01.

Edinburgh was beautiful.

bloc party.

Back to my travels, the reason why I was in Glasgow was because I was seeing Bloc Party! My original plan was to visit Glasgow instead of Edinburgh and go to the concert, but tickets sold out too quickly so I decided to go to Edinburgh instead. But the day before I left for Edinburgh I found that there WERE still some tickets left, and that Glasgow was only an hours train ride away! So off I went. The concert was brilliant, despite the fact that I got lost getting there. I had more trouble understanding Scots speak English than Danes speaking Danish, so asking for directions was useless :) I ended up taking a black cab instead.

laneway festival.

Wow, it's a posting bonanza!

Laneway Festival happened on Saturday, and while I wasn't desperate to see anyone in particular, I was still quite pleased with the performances of Port O'Brien and Mountains in the Sky. Architecture in Helsinki are always fun, as were Still Flyin', who I hadn't really heard before.

The thing I love about Laneway is the intimacy. It's not overcrowded like other festivals, and you are just as likely to be standing next to the lead singer of Born Ruffians (check) as your best friend (check. It's not her scene, but she did make an appearance! So pleased.) Everyone is just so chilled and happy, and the artists are quite accessible.

Two other super-awesome things happened at/after Laneway, the first being me having my photo taken for some sort of fashion thing! It was right during No Age. Super, I love street-style blogs and features.

The second happened when we were walking home. This cool looking guy came up to us, and I noticed his 'artist' lanyard straight away, but couldn't figure out what band he was in. Anyway he was slightly drunk and lost in little old Adelaide, and was looking for his hotel. The boy picked him as the drummer from Port O'Brien (he's good like that), and we all had a good old chat as we worked out where his hotel was for him and walked him some of the way. Port O'Brien were probably my favourites for the day, so it was a bit awkward when he asked us who we had enjoyed... aargh the dilemma - be honest and sound like a suck up, or lie and say another band. I wish I was a quicker thinker on my feet, I just ended up saying nothing and agreeing with everyone else's choices.

That's all for now. But there is plenty more to come from my travels!

presents 03.

This picture makes me so happy.

Firstly, the Diana F+ was my birthday present from the boy. We picked it out in Denmark and he brought it home for me to begin using when I ran out of my last batch of Polaroid film (which may not happen now!). I picked up the two plates on a recent op-shopping adventure. I've been doing quite well since I got back, bags and dresses and skirts and jumpers galore! Even Gumby on video tape! Finally, I bought the badges from The Red Door Gallery. They're by Kate Sutton and Kate Seaward (I Like Pens).

presents 02.

I also fell in love with the entire Red Door Gallery which stocked the lovely Amy's sweet badges! I bought these two cards, the typewriter by Claire Lynch and the 'hi there' by Alison Hardcastle.

The weather has finally cooled down here, and being outside is quite pleasant! It's nice to be in the sun again. When I was taking these my dog, Kira, started nosing around. She's a silly thing.

Our poor grass is looking a bit worse for wear too! Everything needs water, so badly. I can't see it happening any time soon though.

presents 01.

Oh goodness. I know I promised sharing 'tomorrow', but with work and Laneway Festival and op-shopping and going to band practise these things kind of slip by... so I'm making up for it with a collection of mini-posts, as opposed to one giant one!

I was in absolute heaven in Edinburgh's Analogue Books, where I bought the fantastic 'If You Could Print Series 2008', with lovely screen prints by the likes of HelloVon, Rob Ryan and Kate Gibb; Milk Teeth by Julie Morstad, with the most beautiful, whimsical illustrations; and some beautiful owl and penguin screen prints by Suzy Q and the Owls.

Ai, that was link heavy!

birthday.

I officially turned 20 years old on a train somewhere between Glasgow and Edinburgh (I'll explain why later), and the majority of my birthday was spent in airports and on planes, making my way home. I did, however, have time to treat myself to a yummy breakfast, snap some photos and go on a mini happy-birthday/happy-end-of-six-months-in-Europe shopping spree at some wonderful stores in Edinburgh, all on sunny yet brisk Monday morning. I'll share what I bought tomorrow.