“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
I came across this quote for the first time a few days ago, and at this particular moment in time, I find comfort in knowing that there will be a year that answers - eventually.
Hope you guys are good x
After our night in Helsingborg we drove a bit further south and over THE BRIDGE to Denmark. Did you watch The Bridge when it came out? I just watched the trailer again, and much as I enjoyed it at the time, I don’t think I could watch it now. The world is too intense, and that sort of drama would make me feel worse *.
I haven’t been to Copenhagen as an adult; it’s always been there in the back of my mind as a city worth visiting, but as it’s not as easy to get to by train as Paris/Amsterdam/Lille/Antwerp etc, I haven't. Sadly we had less than 24 hours to spend there, and our timing was a bit off, as it was Copenhagen Design Week, as well as two other citywide festivals.
To say that the place was packed is an understatement, but I just made a pact with myself that I will go back one day, and time it right. I asked a guy in a store if there ever is a less busy time to go, and he told me when that is and I won’t tell anyone.
There’s so much art, design and architecture that I need to check out next time, but I did like the look of these blocks of flats of Papirøen, which was near to where we were staying. Not long after I took this pic me and my sis had our one and only tense moment with each other of the whole week long drive/trip. We were heading towards the centre of town to check out some shops, and she wanted to rent a Lime bike and I didn’t. It was just a ten minute walk, and I had seen the atmosphere of the bike lanes, which looked a bit intense to me, compared to Amsterdam’s. So she got on a bike and I walked, and I didn’t part from her gracefully. We eventually found each other again, and kudos to my sister, she apologised straight away (when it was me who had been the a-hole!), saying that she hadn't ridden a bike in years (she lives in LA after all) and got so excited about the prospect that she felt had to, right there and then. And then we were good again. I wish all disagreements were that easy to resolve.
In the loo at Pompette, a bar we (both) cycled to in Norrebrø, and yep, there will never be a normal selfie of me ever.
Getting away from the crowds and into more residential areas is always my favourite thing to do when I’m in a city. It gives you a flavour of everyday life elsewhere.
My sister’s shadow trying to find our restaurant. We had a lovely dinner and I took no pictures, because you know as well as I do that that is not what I do.
The following morning we queued up for the ferry that would take us to Germany. A rare moment for The Driver ™️ to stretch her legs.
Haha, I’m just remembering where we were heading to in Germany. I think it’s one of the funniest/craziest things we’ve ever done in our lives. Let’s just say it involved a hotel booking that my sis maybe didn’t to read the small print about… To be continued.
* To counter that I must say that I’m thoroughly enjoying the Winter Olympics at the moment, which feels like a much friendlier watch right now. I’ve never watched so much of the WO in my life, and I will miss it when it’s over. I was down with cold last week and spent whole days watching it. Who knew curling was such a great watch?! So much skill involved! And the common thing in all the sports is that it could so easily go wrong, and painfully so at any point, yet these athletes just throw themselves at it, with no fear. Maybe we all need to be a bit more Olympian in life 💪🏽
Ouf. Don’t know how to start again after such a quiet autumn here, but maybe it’s one of those times (again) where I don’t over think it and just jump in. Rather than post part two of the road trip I did with my sister last June, which now feels so long ago now that my memories of it are fading; not the fun and how nice it was to spend that time with my sis, but more where we stopped along the way. Instead I’ll post some of my favourite pictures that I took last year. I very rarely carry a camera with me these days, and it’s not because I take pictures with my phone instead, it’s just that picture taking itself doesn’t feel as important for me at the moment. Ha - how great to still go on with this photo blog of mine then - eh?! Well, I do still take a lot of pictures when I go away, and I usually bring a camera with me to exhibitions by habit, so at least that’s still something. I also, as always, have a mighty big backlog that I can eternally dip into.
Lille, May
MK Gallery, January
Victoria line, February
Haggerston, April
Paris, April
Saint-Luperce, April
Paris, April
Lille, May
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, May
Camden Arts Centre, June
Pougnadoresse, August
Paris, August
Hayward Gallery, August
Hope you’re all doing as well as you can, and managing to look after yourselves in the midst of the absolute effing madness we’re living through right now. It’s just relentless, and so I will vow to continue to make this space a place where we all can get away from it - if only for a moment. Big hugs x
When my godfather died three years ago he left all of his belongings in his will to me, my siblings and my dad - 10 people in total. Initially we had all of his antiques and art valued with the intention of selling, only to realise that we wanted to keep most of his stuff in the family. Fortunately dividing the items up and choosing who got what was remarkably easy, and in January me and my sister A, who lives in LA, went over to Stockholm to start emptying the flat and pack up the stuff that we were keeping. It was right at the time of the LA fires, and A didn’t want to bring any of it there, so she decided that she would go back to Stockholm in the summer, hire a car and drive everything down to her house in the south of France instead. She asked me to join her on a sisters’ road trip, with all the hotels and evening meals booked by her, as an early 50th birthday present for me. I can tell you now that I couldn’t have wished for a better gift! That week that we spent together gave us memories for life and for that I’m eternally grateful. A did the drive in six days, through four countries, all on her own, as it was too expensive to put me down on the insurance as well. The lady is a frickin’ powerhouse I tell you! She’d done most of the planning of the trip, which made a change from how it usually is when I travel with family and friends; I’m the one who does all the research and am in charge of finding where to eat, what to look at and where to sleep.
The majority of the days were taken up by driving, and then not really spending more time in each place than arriving, checking into the hotel, going out for dinner, staying overnight and heading further south the following morning. The longest of all drives was the first one, six hours, from Stockholm to Helsingborg, a city in the south of Sweden, which neither of us had been to before. There was a lovely walkway along the sea that took us to our restaurant that evening, and there were lots of people just hanging out, making the most of all the public seating, and the fine weather. Some people also photo bombed…
Pretty much all the food we had on the whole trip was really good. We had amazing sea food at Sillen & Makrillen, basically on the beach. Awful view, right?
On the way back to the hotel we walked through the older parts of town, as little granny here (me) wanted to check out the local architecture. Someone decided to photo bomb again (her).
Hello, how cute is this house? It was recently for sale, and you can have the tiniest of sneak peeks here.
We ambled along as dusk arrived, and I loved seeing the mix of it all, including this guy.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know, let’s go check it out.”
Turns out Kärnan is a verrrrrry old fortress tower from the 1300’s (although it was most recently restored in the early 1900’s). To get up there you walk up the Terrace Stairs…
… which lets you see Helsingborg from up high. That mass of land in the distance is Denmark.
Even though we were only there for about 15 hours, it was our favourite city of the whole trip - a pleasant surprise, in spite of waking up to a parking ticket in the morning 🤦🏽♀️