biscuit

disposed film of berlin and some things i saw.

out of the light, into the darkness

shy. subtle. underexposed. 

negatives

i got some of my film (which was housed in a borrowed diana) and disposables developed from my trip. most of the images are from berlin, some from london and amsterdam. see.

ciao

my last few days in rome... well it had to get interesting of course. on sunday julia (my new aussie friend) and i thought it'd be a really cool idea to go to the beach. on the way we thought we may as well check out rome's own pompeii. so we made way into the outskurts of rome and saw the ostia ruins... they were interesting, though i do wish i knew a lotmore about ancient rome. still, its incredible to see remains of civilization from thousands of years ago. so we went around looking and photographing that and THEN.... we made the journey to ostia centro where we were told there was a beach. nobody cared to elaborate. we got there. we were told that it cossts eight euro to go onto the beach. and then you can choose what seat you want, costs varying. what! beach does not equivocate to money. this is a disaster. so we walk further. more beach clubs, each fenced off from the other, charging beach mongrels to enter. no no no. by this stage julia and i are growing increasingly quiet, simmering with disbelief inside. eventually we found a little concrete walkway jutting out towards the sea. we decided to walk along to peer out onto the beaches. well all i can say is those who pay have no idea what the rest of the world's beaches look like and are like because this stretch of coast was totally revolting. the sand was almost browngrey, people basically touching sides, everybody is either dancing (the same routine), playing soccer or chainsmoking. we left. but that wasnt the end. we had to go on the really tacky train back to the station where we'd catch the subway back to where we stayed, respectively. the train was so full of every shape size and SMELL. we had to get off. julia was well into experiencing the pulsing gag reflex. so we waited amongst the creepers of italy's immigrants for the distant train. eventually our lives went back to normal. that was only part of sunday...
today is monday. i went back to my favourite sight in rome, the pantheon, and did some shopping for the family.
tomorrow is tuesday. i fly home. and then... its the end.

italy

because i am EXHAUSTED i am not going to detail my post. in synopsis this is my past week.
rome, where i saw the ancient ruins of times long and far. they are dotted all over the city, from the colosseum to the pantheon to obelysks to marble everythings. beautiful and hot, drenched constantly. ate pizza from naples, and plenty of panini with raw meat and mozzarella. if there is anything anyone should know, italians dont dig fresh fruit or salad. then florence. wow. i am still kicking myself though for not seeing the maginificent statue of david. though i did see the two fakes. i saw countless boticelli and caravaggio at the uffizzi museum as well as beautiful churches and cathedrals which still dominate italy's landscape. there is a place known as san gimignano, a real gem in the tuscan hills. spent half a day there in the walls and amongst the towers. there i ate the worlds best gelato. mmmmmyum. from there i went winetasting in the chianti region. the specific farm is built around a castle and in the dungeon they make the wine.. beautiful! after florence, on my way to venice i stopped in verona and pisa. pisa was fairly boring since its famous for a skew building. but verona was beautiful, alleyways and potplants on windows. i wandered through juliet capulet's house. venice was beautiful and i must admit i was pleasantly suprised. i found the peggy guggenheim collection which is home to many many paintings from the modern art period as well as mobiles made my calder hanging all over. it is housed in her old venetian house. beautiful! jackson pollock, max ernst, kadinskey, dali, yves tangrey, miro, picasso, man ray etcetcetc! very unexpected. now i am back in rome. exhausted, filled with a lot to reflect on and typing on the worst keyboard. i wish i could be more creative so i apologise for my bland posts... when i get home i hope my pictures turn out well and my words return. arrivederci!

ROME

it is hot. people sweat here. it is just the way it is. through the side streets the air blows hot. through the main streets, the air blows hot with the occassional escaping airconditioned restaurant or shop briefly visiting your sweaty skin. the people are proud of their ancient city, their culture, tradition and language. it is a place i can well imagine living in, not rome, but italy. the landscape and weather is similar to the cape and the sea looks as beautiful as any mediterranean coast. when i return to rome midjuly i will find the ocean and plant myself in it. i have 2 more nights here and then move on to florence. i still need to see the ancient ruins of the kingdom rome has been, as well as michelangelo's sistine chapel in the vatican. right now though i am simply seeking 30 minutes of partially airconditioned internet cafe while the sun cooks the city. the buildings here are battered by the heat of summer and the damp of winter, making them a worn red or amber colour with shutters covering every window. sometimes you can catch a glimose of rooftop gardens with small palm tree type plants posing towards to sun. it is not clean here, but it is real. here the people live and they are genuinely nurtured by their families and passions. it doesnt have to be first world efficiency to make a place great. in fact, it reminds me a bit of africa's genuine nature in the way the people have more of a sense of community i comparison to any other city i have visited so far. despite being english and the reluctance of the italians to speak  my language, it is still blatantly obvious of the culture i am touching on. i am really looking forward to seeing the rural parts of italy as i move through the country on my way to florence on sunday. arrivederci!

BERLIN

we flew into berlin late on monday night. after navigating a bit we stumbled into our hostel in the mitte district, the circus. immediately great! sarah stuck around during the evening drinking in the bar waiting for us to arrive, so after we took a MUCH needed and incredible shower, we had a couple of drinks and headed right to bed. the first bed in what seemed like lives. yesterday we rose relatively late, did much needed washing in the most quirkily (sp?) designed laundromat. having done the domestics we meandered around in a nice loop getting an idea of the place we are staying in. the fashion and the people are super trendy, indie kids who totally milk the design lifestyle here. it is really great, but i cannot deny that it is quite intimidating. berlin is in a league of its own with regards to youth, freedom, grunge and design. the street art, as they will probably all tell you, is mad and out of this world. still recovering from complete debilitation of my body i was exhausted but that didnt really make much of an impact on the night that followed. lets just leave it at the fact that the bar downstairs is, well, generous, as are australians and their drinking culture which simulatenousty follows them through everything they do. this morning i woke up early due to the effects of hard liquor and half a panini the night before.
sarah and i wanted to have a jew day so mapped out a small plan. we started off at brandenberg gates which is home to the holocaust memorial about 200m from the actual gate. the place is lined with over 2000 concrete slabs placed in a huge space in the city. the slabs vary in size and magnitude as well as being planted on uneven ground. it is very interesting and moving in the way that the sun catches it, you can so easily get lost and the grid is somewhat eirily uneven. having wandered through that we found ourselves in a museum beneath the memorial. it wasnt part of our plan, since it isnt very well marketed or perhaps it was inadequately named, the information centre. well my god did it share some of the most moving pieces of information. upon entry you move along a timeline of text, explanations and images providing you with rich context and staggering statistics of a genocide still so inconceivable. the next room is dark, with rectangular lights on the floor showing up the text of diary entries found written by jews affected and most likely murdered in the holocaust. that part threw me. the next room tracked about 8 different jewish families in detail simply to emphasise the extent of the impact the regime had on normal, human and traditional ways of life. we moved on to the next room which gave testimonies of the 6million jews that died. overall it takes a certain number of years to get through, but i dont remember the numbers so cannot include it here. still, that was staggering. the last room mapped out all the different camps and ghettos throughout europe and if you wanted you could listen to a few testimonies given by survivors. all i can say is that nobody survives a genocide. and it cannot be allowed to happen again. this is serious and fucked up.
we silently moved on southward to a warehouse made up of about 5 floors where artists can work. the walls are layered with graffiti and stickers and the place smelled like pure urine. but on the top floor i saw some of the most wonderful art i have seen in europe. so unassuming and real.
after that stint we headed eastwards to the eastside gallery which is a 1.3km stretch of the original wall which divided berlin for 28 years. that was quite staggering, though i had different expectations. we walked around the area, sarah and matt drinking beer in the street, because that is legal here so long as you dont make a complete fool of yourself.
tonight we went through to some random bar. tomorrow is my last day which is seriously disappointing, though i am happy to be moving on to italy on friday too. tomorrow we hope to find legoland and i hope to find the dali museum.
photos only on film at this stage........

rock werchter, belgium

for lack of a better description, my life is changed. rock werchter was incredible... though the belgians were rather bland. the first act, warpaint was amazing. from there followed tv on the radio, james blake and more. the fleet foxes, coldplay, the national and tame impala all wonderful. i wont elaborate though, it's not worth it. in brussels now, off to berlin.