malenconia, heimwee, morriña, homesickness, saudade, mal du pays...

SUMMER BARCELONA from Pau García Laita on Vimeo.

I have no time to post the promised Portuguese & Mexican pics at the mo. However, I do not want to abandon this space for too long so here is a fab tilt-shift video that nearly made me cry yesterday. That nostalgic yearning sometimes, ei...

wanderlust

Some travel pictures coming up soon. I spent last weekend in Lisbon. Utter ♥.

(Image via here)

the fog has taken over. again.

You cannot see further than a hundred metres in front of you. However, a few weeks ago when it was not so cloudy white, I engaged in some serious countrysiding and fresh airing with some good people. Outside the city (!)

So, basically, in case you had not seen enough pictures of trees, leaves and general autumness going on on the Interwebs... Here you have some more.

fabyssinia 3.0

 

 

Iconic is the word. All "icon" pics taken in Ethiopia this August.

More iconic corner views at fuoriborgo et al.

fabyssinia 2.0

 

Some of the bounty brought back home.
Roar.

fabyssinia

A couple of random unedited shots from the hundreds taken during my hols in Ethiopia.
Wonderful country, wonderful people.

Now back to reality. Bah.

winter in berlin - cv

Ah, winter. Aren't we all over and done with it? Away with the whole slippy mess.

Bye bye slush, ice, slippery streets, glazed frost in the morning. Bye bye being black and blue. Bye bloody bye.

Anyway, a couple of unedited Berlin winter pics. Totally love 'em all.
Does anyone recognise anything at all? Wink. Nudge.

 

 

 

 

Psst. Can you spot the Fernsehturm on pics 4 and 5? European landmarks seem to have been playing hide and seek lately.
Paris, December 2010. Where's top of the Tour Eiffel? That plus more winter pics from da Dam from last month, which could work for cv just as well.

starting the year with a bang (or two)

Weihnachten ist toll :)* says Mathilda.

I am positive it is. What I know for sure is that New Year is definitely fun in Berlin.

We started the new year with a bang (and you will have to excuse the pun, no way to avoid it, really), i.e. in the midst of one of the biggest fireworks extravaganza in Europe, Unter den Linden.

Truth is this ninja does not even enjoy fireworks that much.
Chicken ninja. Cheep cheep.

Bang number two was this morning. Proper beginning of the "real" year.

I read it was verraderlijk glad**. Still got on the bike, cycled carefully but, lo and behold, about twenty minutes later... Bang. On the floor. Bruised knee, embarrassment, metro.
Clumsy ninja. Boo hoo.

It is just a scratch and a bruise and I am perfectly fine. However, that is no way to land (knee first) back into reality. After two great weeks away (Barcelona + Berlin, telepics to follow), there was absolutely no need for that, thank you very much.

Well, hello 2011. Gentler treatment, please. Ta.

* Christmas is nice   ** treacherously slippy

long time no ninja. but hey... holidays. yay.

Long time, no ninja indeed. But here I am. Ta-da.
Tired, sleepy and potentially snow-bound but here. Ta-da (again.)


I have been out and about quite a bit these last few weeks. Home and away. Even though it has all been lovely, I am sort of still catching up with my ninja shadow (which keeps scurrying away from me and being all over the place these days.) All is well, just a bit tired. Good tired, though. "¡Hola!"

Right, I'm supposed to be flying shortly. However, we have been covered in snow here for a couple of days, which somehow messes up with the trains no end. Flights too but I'm more confident on that one (yesterday's massive snow storm is over.) I have checked and nearly all flights to the UK, Ireland, parts of France and Germany have been cancelled. The sun is shining here so I reckon the problem is at their end. Let's cross fingers and toes Barcelona is lovely and sunny and landable. Then again, Spanish air controllers have been on and off strike the last few weeks. One just cannot win, can one? Fingers and toes crossed again. La ninja against the elements (and we are not very good at that, think Spanish Armada) and the pissed-off air controller guild.


This boring weather-related-travelling-paranoia has been triggered by recent experiences. I was in Paris last week for a two-day school trip and we were caught in the worst slushy snow storm in the universe (boots and three pairs of socks wet... that sort of slushy.) Apart from cold, wet and miserable (Eiffel Tower partly closed due to mist, hail, snow, slush, strong wind... you name it), traffic was a nightmare. We managed to pull into Amsterdam at 4:30am on a cold Thursday morning. Lovely.

Two weekends before that, I was in Sheffield visiting friends. I was lucky to only have suffered a couple of hours delay on the way back. However, it was the start of the messy weather, really.
The views from the plane on the way there were really really lovely. It had just started snowing in The Netherlands, but the UK was already under a good blanket of the white stuff.

In between all that, another weekend of suffering cold, wet slushy snow being stuck in the middle of nowhere, while going to visit family in Holland went by. So, last weekend was mostly spent watching films indoors. I watched old stuff (The Big Sleep), lots of Green Wing extravaganza and ate popcorn.Bliss. Indoors. Warm. Pyjamas. Blisssssssss.

Now I'm off to sunnier parts again and have decided to spend New Year's Eve in an even colder city than da Dam. So... Let the travel begin. Again.
Good luck to all of those (potentially) stranded around the Xmas hols. All the best. Keep smiling and stay warm. I am trying. Hard.

Merry everything, ninja readers (whoever and wherever you are, and whichever your reasons to read this stuff and watch these pictures are... Much appreciated, honestly.) Have a good 'un, all of you.