Hei hei Trondheim

Last week Chris and I visited Trondheim, Norway, which felt like a leap forward into wintertime! We stepped off the plane and the cold hit us. Of course these aren’t winter temperatures for Norway, but for us it was a 15-degree drop to zero!

We were lucky enough to stay in the very hype area of Bakklandet so that our first view of Norway was very quaint: a cobbled street with multi-coloured wooden houses, home to boutiques, restaurants and cafés. 

View from the Old Bridge (Gamle Bybro)

On the first day, we braved the icy roads and ventured into the city centre of Trondheim. One of the main attractions is the magnificent cathedral – we were told the biggest cathedral north of Notre-Dame in Paris (although my Google search does not seem to confirm this). The only way to get into the cathedral for free was to attend the organ meditation, which was surprisingly fun and definitely relaxing. A clergyman spoke very briefly before the organist played several beautiful pieces. We were actually sitting right behind him, watching him master his instrument with hands and feet!

Near the cathedral was the farmers' market (I think it's there on Saturdays). Many of the stalls had free samples, which was a great insight into Norwegian food! We had doughnuts, salmon, cheese and even moose pie!

Trondheim isn't huge and in the centre everything is walking distance. We ventured up to the harbour on the Trondheim Fjord, where we sought refuge from the cold in a café overlooking the bay. The autumnal colours were just fantastic – there are quite a lot of deciduous trees hiding amongst the pines! Combined with the deep blue of the Fjord, it gives you a great backdrop for your holiday snaps.

The next day, we walked around the forest that stretches across the mountains around Trondheim. Needless to say, autumn may not be the best time to go hiking, as it was pretty wet and our feet were soaked about 15 minutes into the hike – but this could not stop us, and after getting (slightly) lost we made it to one of the cabins where hot drinks and pastries are served.

We stopped for a hot chocolate with a wonderful view 

Trondheim is definitely a great place to visit if you like a quaint town, comfy bars and cafes and being out in nature for hiking in summer and skiing in winter! As you can imagine, Norway is pretty pricey, so I would make sure to get an accommodation, where you can also cook your own food, like airbnb or couchsurfing – or camping if the weather is right!

Exhibition: People in London

Free Exhibition
8th September - 17th October 2014

Richard Slater's book

Last week, I went to a photographic exhibition entitled ‘People in London’ by Richard Slater at the Royal Geographical Society. It showcases photos without pretence about – well – people in London. The photos are straightforward and realistic without any effects, lens flare or the occasional macro. It is just life, fully pixelated life. It’s #nofilter if you speak Instagram.

The name of the exhibition couldn’t be more accurate – because it is like the exhibition, a simple sober description without judgment or categorisation. These aren’t Londoners or People from London. This sober realism is what makes the exhibition so powerful.

Similarly a short note, speaking about the people and places depicted, accompanies each photograph. The style of these descriptions startled me at first. They were bare, purely descriptive, no sense of poetry or use of sophisticated language. Like Slater's pictures they just tell things as they are. It took me a while until I understood that this was how they should be. The pictures and their descriptions don’t pretend, they are real and simple as life. There is no intent to embellish them. I ended up reading every single note, as I grew fascinated and was curious what each and everyone of them had to said.

Richard Slater spent five years recording his view of London, along five categories with a bonus uncategorised ‘London Surprises’ which was my favourite. Also - listen out for the London sounds!

You can definitely feel Slater’s love for the city as he draws a contemporary portrait of the people that make the ever-changing smoggy place that London is.

Disobedient Objects at the V&A - free exhibition

The Victoria and Albert Museum currently hosts a free exhibition called ‘Disobedient Objects’. The exhibition showcases objects that have been used in protests and for social movements; you may ask - what does that have to do with design? A lot, in fact. All the collected objects tell a story of how an object was created, or recycled in many cases, to serve a purpose in a social movement between the 1970s and now. It demonstrates the innovation and creativity of people, how rudimentary elements can be taken to create something so meaningful. The obvious things I thought of before visiting were banners and posters, which are often proof of creativity and wit, but there are so many more things in the exhibition that tell fascinating stories.

What caused one of the biggest disconnects for me, were the textiles created by Chilean women to protest against the dictatorship, sometimes hiding messages in the back of the work. The authorities dismissed it as folk art, oblivious to the daring message. Later in the 90s these techniques were taken up by protests in Ireland against the Iraq war. Indeed, the great connectedness of our time helps social movements to learn from each other. Instructions manuals on how to protest, what to do in case of an arrest and also how to create objects like homemade tear-gas mask were another example of it. A manual that appeared in Egypt 2011, was found translated in the 2013 Ukraine protests.

Signs and symbols are also part of the exhibition, explaining the story of the SILENCE=DEATH banner used in early AIDS protests, as well as re-use of symbols across protests. On one side of the exhibition room, you can see giant inflatable cobblestones hanging from the ceiling, which were used in protests in Berlin, reusing this symbol of protest, which for me very much evokes the French Revolution. Make sure to watch the short film on the big screen to see a policeman struggle to deflate the giant cobblestone.

These are just a few examples that stood out for me and I hope will give you a taste of what the exhibition is about, to go and discover it for yourself!

I would recommend going at a time when it isn’t that busy – the V&A is open until 10pm on Fridays, which for me was the best time!

Let me know how you find it!

My London Diaries

I have recently moved to London - and I feel that I could not give London any justice by writing one or two blogposts. Therefore I decided to write a different category of posts called 'London Diaries', in order to share some of the things, places and happenings I discover in the capital!

I have another motivation to start this series of posts: I was having a really tough time adapting to London - I moved here for the 'dream job' and work is definitely an incredible opportunity, yet my partner, who I lived with, is now two hours away on the train; while I also have a hard time to accept the overcrowdedness, the pollution, the time it takes to get anywhere and of course the exorbitant prices.

I think by recording my good experiences in London it will give you some information about what there is to do in London, but it will also help me like - maybe even fall in love with - this city!

So, London, this one's for you, because I think you deserve a second chance!

Morocco - A few thoughts

When I sat down to write about my recent trip to Morocco. I had no words. I had too much yet too little to write. The trip had been full of experiences, sights and people, that I didn’t know where to start. Yet, I felt that I would simply repeat all the stories that have already been told about Morocco: the hustle and bustle of Marrakech, the hassling in the street, the beautiful things sold in the souqs made by local artisans, the difficulties experienced by tourists when trying to cross the road, the more relaxed atmosphere at the coast. There, this is Morocco. Or not.

Essaouira - the beach

So here are just two little thoughts  I wanted to share with you:

Seeing the country

If you are planning to go to Morocco, plan in some time for travelling around. The country is incredibly diverse and we encountered very different atmospheres. Travelling can be relatively cheap. There are more comfortable buses that drive you pretty much everywhere and there are local buses. At the bus station in Marrakech we got done. Never pay more than a euro for luggage, probably 5 dirham is the most common amount.

Marrakech was incredibly hectic, and that’s its charm. You walk through the souqs were the narrow roads all seem to look the same. You get approached in English, French, German, Spanish – depending on where a vendor guesses you are from! 

Essaouira

Then we went to Essaouira, which for us seemed to be a place for the wealthier tourists. Very nice food, a more relaxed atmosphere with a huge beach with kitesurfers amazing you with their tricks. We also felt that souvenirs (scarves, dishes, jewellery etc) were cheaper as fewer vendors were open for haggling.

Finally we also stayed just outside Taghazout, just 200m from a great surfing spot. It didn’t really feel like Morocco during the day when the beach was invaded by long-haired surfers speaking German or English. In the evening, however, couples from the village came to watch the sunset, many of the women wearing niqabs or hijabs. Quite the contrast from the bikinis we had seen during the day!

So definitely travel around and discover different parts of this wonderful country!

Ourika

Moroccan Food

One thing that definitely attracts visitors to Morocco is food. Without a doubt you will be served delicious couscous and tagine within the first few days – who am I kidding the first few hours! 

There are a few things I would definitely recommend. For drinks there is verbena with milk, which I found strangely delicious, as well as all sorts of milk-based and orange based drinks, even some sort of almond milk, which seemed to be some mixture of chopped almonds and milk (and possibly something else?). Lastly try the tea sold at night on Jamaa el Fna in Marrakech. Each stall has there own specific mixture of tea including cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. The tea is really strong and burns like strong liquor. You should definitely try it!

Food-wise, we found great dishes such as saffa and pastille, which involve a lot of cinnamon and taste more like desserts. Desserts with chicken that is. They were particularly good in Essaouira. We were less smitten with the sardine balls – which was a bit like Bolognese but sardine instead of beef. But hey, it’s all part of the discovery! 

Also, to come back to Marrakech, there are loads of stalls that pop up in the early evening on Jamaa El Fna. Loads of men will definitely try to convince you to eat at a specific stall – they are all numbered and there are tables around each stall. We ate twice at the stalls at Jemaa El Fna. The first time round we went to a more touristy stall that sold tagine and couscous. We had quite a nice meal for 100 dirhams. However, on a subsequent night, we decided to join the locals. Some stalls were really busy, but the signs were mostly in Arabic and nobody was employed to get you to eat there. Clearly the reputation of the stall spoke for itself. We had some delicious fish and calamari, which tasted a lot more genuine, especially as we were surrounded by locals, families, couples, friends, some men sitting on their own. I would definitely recommend it!

Jamaa El Fna

As for final thoughts, Morocco is definitely a country that should appear on your 'to visit' list. It's great for a budget holiday, but you can also find some luxurious spas and hotels if that's what you are after. There is plenty to see and we actually met a lot of people who had come to Morocco for the second or third time, just to see more of the place! So, book your flights and go visit Morocco! 

5 reasons you still underestimate Norwich

1. You still believe in the ‘Normal for Norfolk’ story

Every person from Norwich who has ventured out of the county will have been faced with the oh-so-hilarious jokes about webbed fingers, 6-fingered or 6-toed individuals and any kind of generic inbreeding/ incest joke that any person devoid of humour can come up with. I have tried to find any kind of evidence of where this may have come from, but Google (and even Google Scholar) offered me nothing. All seems to go back to doctors describing patients as N.F.N. (Normal for Norfolk), if they appeared intellectually-challenged. If anybody has any kind of better historical source on that, please leave a comment! I want to know!

And - please - stop these jokes. We have all stopped laughing politely two decades ago.

2. You think that independent food places are a thing of the past

Is going to an independent coffee shop for you synonym to cramming yourself amongst all the hipsters typing away some dreadful new book/play/song on their MacbookAir?

Well, here it just means going to a coffee shop. If you want a chain retailer, you can get them of course – but there is also plenty of different choice! Just a couple of examples:

The Bicycle Shop, The Birdcage, No 33 Cafe

3. You think that Norwich is a village

I know Norwich still likes to remind us of its reputation of once having been England’s second biggest city (ok, that was before the Industrial Revolution), but it’s big enough to have all you need. In fact, being the only reasonably sized city in East Anglia, you get lots of artists gigging in Norwich, which wouldn’t come to equally-sized Walsall. For everything artsy, literature, visual arts, music, come to Norwich!

4. You’ve been to Great Yarmouth once and made up your mind about Norfolk

Ok, arcades may have been cool when you were a kid but there is much more to Norfolk than that. While Great Yarmouth has its tackiness, it also has some cool stuff going for it – e.g. International Festival of Street Arts and Circus. Plus, the rest of the Norfolk coast is very different and diverse – you can visit the seals at Blakeney Point, walk along the majestic cliffs of Hunstanton or the long beaches of Holkham.

All I can say is, come back for a second impression!

5. We don’t actually want you to come here

This is a pure conspiracy theory: I think that people living here like the place so much, they don’t actually want to share it with anyone. Imagine hordes of tourists walking down the Lanes – what a horrifying thought (surely Londonders you know what it’s like!). We are happy in our little place, not having to queue for tickets, not having to book every restaurant table in advance and actually getting a seat in a bar!

So, maybe don’t bother coming- it’s too nice!

Cromer after the flood

Cromer is a lovely little seaside town on the North Norfolk coast. It’s just a 40-minute train journey from Norwich and very popular amongst newly arrived exchange students as well as anybody in Norfolk owning a dog – it seems.

I could tell you about the seaside nostalgia you get as you walk down the the small cobbled streets of Cromer. Indeed it seems that the town has been mostly spared by arcades and amusements. Cromer takes its charm from the impressive seafront, its distinctive pier with a lifeboat station at its far end, quaint beach huts and the rough cliffs on either side.

However, at the moment there is something else to see in Cromer. December 2013 was a disastrous time for the Norfolk coast, as a storm surge attacked seafronts, destroyed cliffs and the houses that found themselves too near the water.

Here is a BBC report from right after the floods.

Six weeks after storm surge, the consequences are still visible. Here are some of the pictures that give you an idea of the destructive force of the sea, that has in some way been more clement to this coast than it has been to the South of England in the past week!

The worst part is that this isn't the end - Can we talk about Climate Change now?