Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Coca Cola Ads From The 50's and 60's
Friday, 17 February 2012
Athens - Riots and Graffiti - The Darker Side of the City
During our stay in Athens, there were scheduled protests against the proposed cuts in Greece. We were having our traditional Greek taverna meal to the background noise of petrol bombs being thrown at riot police and had the faint haze of tear gas in the air... how romantic!
We made our way through the masses of people who took to the streets we arrived back to our hotel and was able to then watch the protests unfold from our balcony. There was an impromptu rally right beneath us as a group broke away from the main march to chant their disdain for the proposed budget cuts.
There was a heavy police presence...
A small section of the protest march as it filed past our hotel. As the people were pushed back from Syntagma Square outside the parliament building and then subsequently from Omonia square and the smell of tear gas in the air and smoke from the burning buildings became stronger as more people came past. We had to cover our mouths to stop our throat and noses burning...
Some of the aftermath the next morning... almost every bank along the protest march routes had been vandalised, smashed and/or burned...
Some shops were also targeted by more extreme protestors...
Overall the clean-up was swift though, by midday most shops were cleaned out and were having new windows installed. We visited the parliament building and Syntagma square in the afternoon and, apart from the police milling about, you would never have known that it was the scene of violence only hours before.
Something that was incredibly striking was the sheer amount of graffiti in Athens. It was rare to see a building without a piece of graffiti on it somewhere. Some of the graffiti I would class as art, including the amazing hands painted on the side of a building directly outside our hotel in the Psirri area of the city.
Some of the graffiti had a political undercurrent, and was clearly a comment on the current troubles happening in the city...
Outside the Flea Market in Monistiraki
Friday, 17 June 2011
Out and About in The Gambia!
While we were in The Gambia doing charity work in the school we jumped at the chance to see a bit of the country and local community as well. We spent the weekends on excursions and exploring The Gambia! We visited the Crocodile Pool - where there were no boundaries between you and the crocs! You were allowed to touch them as well, but we arrived just after they'd been fed and they were less than cooperative and wanted to laze around in the sun rather than come over and meet us!
We posed in a huge silk cotton tree! While in Africa I saw some of the largest trees I have ever seen, some must have been hundreds and hundreds of years old!
We also visited a Batik Factory and were given a demonstration of the traditional techniques of batiking and were able to have a go ourselves! I bought myself a few pieces of artwork - I thought they'd make great resources for school!
The fishing village - now this was an experience! There were unbelievable amounts of people, fish, boats and gulls on the beach, it was quite overwhelming (as was the aroma of drying and smoking fish). The men bring the fish up from the boats in buckets and wheelbarrows and the women lay out the catch at the top of the beach for locals to buy.
We visited several craft markets (all of which made a considerable dent in my bank balance!) I bought enough African musical instruments to create my own Gambian orchestra! I bought a drum, balaphone, two kora's, six different types of shakers, rattles... all of which would be fabulous for an African music lesson!
The Monkey park was brilliant. There were thousands of monkeys scattered around the nature park and the trees and surroundings were beautiful. There were so many adorable baby monkeys! I saw this little family group cuddling and stroking the newly born baby monkey in the centre of their huddle... so cute!
Here's me, our guide Lamin and a huge termite mound in the nature park
Our guide, Lamin, very generously invited us back to his compound to meet his family and to enjoy a traditional Gambian meal. Above is Lamin and his elder daughter cooking the food ready for us to eat!
They served up Barracuda Benachin - a spiced and tomato flavoured rice dish, as I cannot eat fish I could only try some of the rice - but what I did try was absolutely delish!
The next course was Goat Domoda and rice - my favourite! The locals call this dish "peanut soup" and it is a very rich peanut sate-like sauce
The meal was followed by the most delicious fresh mango and bananas! They were the best bananas and mangoes I have ever eaten! As most Gambians do not have electricity and therefore lack refrigerators, the women and children shop for food at local markets every day and the ingredients are fresh and it shows in the flavour of the food.
Towards the end of our two weeks we went down the river Gambia on a little boatride through the mangroves. It was lovely!
The Gambia Girls!Sunday, 8 May 2011
15 Things That Make Me Smile
I love the internet, it is a world of endless amusement and things that make me smile! Here is a little snippet of some of the things that I have stumbled across that have put a smile on my face...
1. Book lovers - this is like me and Danny: I have at least ten books for every one of his! My front room will soon look a bit like this!
1. Book lovers - this is like me and Danny: I have at least ten books for every one of his! My front room will soon look a bit like this!
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