As promised just over a week ago, I did go into hibernation for a short while, but I am back and very pleased to report that my final typography project and my dissertation are all handed in! My dissertation, which I haven’t really mentioned up until now, explored the practice of branding when the organisation in question sits in the nonprofit arts sector.
This, along with the typography project I submitted just this morning, meant that I spent much of the past few weeks in the library, either alone in the silent study area or with everyone else who was also trying to wrap everything up ready for submission. It wasn’t too bad though, with a shop for snacks across the road, and the lovely view from the new Laidlaw library…
Between submitting each project me and Emily took a few hours out to catch the new Beauty and the Beast movie, which I enjoyed a lot more than I expected. The subtle jokes were on point, the music was very catchy and the Be Our Guest scene had my jaw on the floor with the sheer amount of colour and explosive visuals that the guys at Disney had managed to squeeze into a 5 minute sequence! If you’re in the mood for a bit of joviality then be sure to pop the song on.
Anyway, before heading into the cinema we paid Five Guys a sneaky visit, where I loaded myself up on a little too much burger before buying a large popcorn, but you live and learn.
Just this morning I handed in my final typography project, and so this afternoon I am doing a tour of some of my favourite coffee shops in Leeds, including Layne’s Espresso from where I bring you this post. If you’re ever in Leeds be sure to drop by and grab a flat white and salted caramel brownie – you will not be disappointed.
In less work-related and more uplifting news, tomorrow afternoon I fly out to Madrid, from where I’ll be embarking on a four-day tour of Andalucía before returning to Madrid for another four days. Whilst down in the south of Spain I’ll be checking out Cordboa, Sevilla, and Granada, and then I’ll be spending as much time as possible on a comfy sofa with a caña (small beer) in hand whilst in Madrid. I’ll be sure to bring you all the updates once I land back in England next week!
I’m here today with a pretty boring text post just to give you guys a quick update as to what’s going on in my busy world. As the title may suggest the next few weeks are full of deadlines, including my final year dissertation, and so there’s not much fun on the agenda and there’s no time for me to report of anything interesting anyway!
I will hopefully have my new website running before the end of April – maybe I’ll launch it to coincide with my birthday on the 30th, who knows! It may even be that I leave the writing of any new blog posts until then, so you’ll be able to see them in the newer, fancier format.
I should return to the virtual land of the living around the start of April. In my absence why not listen to Lorde’s new song – I love it!
Tonight I write to you all with heavy eyelids and tired feet, as I’ve just returned from a fabulous and overwhelmingly busy weekend of discovery with the rest of the UGRL Scholars. This ‘Cultural Capital’ weekend looked to immerse us in cultural experience that we might not otherwise have the chance to gain access to, and with a timetable for the weekend planned down to the half hour, we were sure to enjoy a whirlwind tour of everything York and the surrounding areas had to offer.
Saturday
We began our weekend bright and early on Saturday morning, where we convened for a briefing and full English breakfast at the Marriot in Leeds at 8am, during which we were split into teams and given GoPro cameras to film bits and bobs throughout our weekend.
From here we boarded a coach which soon had us dropped off at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where we were soon introduced to the open-air gallery, and sent off with clipboards and a bag of clay for a tour around it’s various pieces. After I opted to sketch parodies of each sculpture (in order to make up for my total lack of artistic talent), we were soon entering a strange exhibition in which the artist Roger Hiorns filled an empty flat with copper sulphate, resulting in the complete coverage of every surface in menacing looking royal blue crystals.
After more interactive workshops, including making a sculpture of ourselves using clay and building large-scale pieces representing the relationship between man/nature, we were soon back on the coach and on our way to the National Coal Mining Museum. Once here, we were soon handed a copper chip and suited and booted with a hard hat and miners lamp, and found ourselves in a cage descending over 140m into the abandoned coal mine!
Once in the cool tunnels of the mine, we experienced life as a miner in crawling through excavated coal seams and navigating the endless tunnel network, all whilst learning about the history and conditions mine workers faced – from an ex-miner from that very mine nonetheless! All too soon we resurfaced and, after waiting for the next group to remerge from the dusty depths, jumped back on our trusty coach and headed into York.
As it turned out, we were stopping in the Marriot in York, and so I took the opportunity to have a lovely bath (for which I had come prepared with a Lush bath bomb, naturally), before we all reconvened for a lovely dinner. After this we were picked up by a parade of taxis, who sped us through the city centre to the Grand Opera House where we had tickets to see The Commitments.
After enjoying the rousing performance peppered with soul music classics, we headed back into the cool air of the night and met our guide for what promised to be an experience – a guided ‘ghost tour’ of the ancient city. Our guide then proceeded to walk us along the riverside in the dead of night, telling stories of gory executions, torture, and apparent ghost sightings – but what I found most strange was the eerie abandoned city centre which seemed devoid of any human life except our tour group!
Once we’d finished up the tour and made a wish, we found ourselves back at a pub by the hotel, where it was time for a drink before heading to bed ready for the busy schedule which Sunday promised us all…
Sunday
Up bright and early on Sunday morning, and after enjoying another lush breakfast buffet, back onto the coach we clambered to head off to the National Railway Museum to learn a little about the industrial history of England through an exploration of it’s rail network. Having visited many years ago (I think I may have been in primary school), it was very strange to be back in a strangely familiar place, but it was no less enjoyable to explore the amazing collection a second time.
I particularly enjoyed an introductory presentation which taught us how a steam locomotive works, where the four of us who’d banded together were blown away by the consideration which had gone into the design of the surprisingly complex workings of the train. After wandering under a train, snooping through the museum’s archives, and learning about rail related disasters, we headed outside to wander across the city ready for lunch – in the Hilton no less!
After another delicious meal it was time to head across the road to the York Castle Museum, our fifth and final activity for the weekend, where we spent hours exploring the extensive collections ranging from World War II to a celebration of the 1960s – even descending into the cells in which prisoners of the city were once held. Me and Jamie also found this excellent interactive fashion exhibit, where we put on a fabulous performance…
After a coffee and some delicious rocky road, we heaved our now very weary bodies back onto the coach, which set off to drop us all back off in Leeds. From there we had to run (the horror) to catch the train back to Hyde Park and I’m now sat at my desk occupying myself by writing this in order to stop myself from falling asleep, as I don’t want my already questionable sleep routine to be ruined any further.
Overall this weekend has been an absolute blast, with many thanks to be given to the UGRL team for organising such a jam-packed schedule of interesting things to do, see, and eat. I shall now head off and devour the blueberry muffin I just realised I have in my bag leftover from breakfast, with my next blog post probably going to give you all an update on the progress which I’m making on preparing my new site for launch. Exciting!
Since landing back in the UK from Portugal, my time has been pretty much just dedicated to university work, with a multitude of deadlines bunched together, including a draft copy of my dissertation. In between the madness however I have managed to do the odd fun thing, the most important being catching up with Thuy, who I worked with in Spain!
First up Thuy was roaming around the north of the country as part of her new London-based job, and so we were able to meet up in Leeds for a catch up over some Belgrave pizza and a G&T, and go on a shopping and eating tour of Leeds the next day before she had to Leeds. Here we are roaming around Victoria Arcade…
Just last week, and in another flashback to life in Spain, I decided to try my hand at preparing a few small dishes of different types of food for one of my friends who swang by for a movie evening. I managed the spread that you can see below, which is a small miracle given the equally small size of our kitchen!
Just this Wednesday it was time to go and see Thuy again, this time in her new stomping ground, London! Having not been in a while, I boarded the train and killed some time once I arrived by paying a visit to the Design Museum, which was much grander than I expected…
I had a good snoop around all the exhibitions upstairs, taking photos for project inspiration and just enjoying the general public who’d come to learn a bit more about the work of designers – speak of which, I’m very excited for Netflix’s new documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design. I’ll be prompting you all to take a nosey at the Graphic Design episode once it’s released!
Once I’d exhausted myself flicking through books in the gift shop, and payed a customary trip to the Lush shop on Oxford Street, I headed through the very British dismal weather to go and meet Thuy as she finished work.
Soon or later I’d found Thuy’s office, and to my joy I was welcomed in for a quick snoop around – it was lovely! We then set about more important things, namely finding somewhere for a drink and a catch up, and we soon wound up having pizza by Covent Gardens and wandering down the Thames enjoying the nighttime lights of the city.
We finished up our day in a mini pub on a terrace in Covent Gardens, where we continued our chatting way into the evening, or until I had to head back to King’s Cross to catch my pretty much empty train back up to Leeds. It has been so lovely to be able to see Thuy a couple of times after what feels like ages – and now we’ve crossed paths in three cities!
In other news I’m about to head off with the UGRL Scholars for a Cultural Capital Weekend in York, after which I shall be sure to report back once more with anecdotes from the couple of days worth of cultural exploration. I am also continuing work at full tilt for the launch of my new website (including an updated blog design), with my good friend Kevin lending a hand with the Spanish translations for the relaunch of the Spanish site which has just gone down ready for the new one.
Other than that I must bid you all farewell, as I have cake to eat and washing to dry!
So in another one of our January galavants, which last time took us to Copenhagen and Stockholm, me and Izzy once again boarded a plane for a few days in another European capital – this time, Lisbon. Beginning with a decidedly relaxed morning of eating breakfast at Layne’s and heading on a train to Manchester Airport, we were soon aboard the Lisbon Metro, full of croissant and map in hand.
Emerging from the decidedly deep tunnels of the subterranean railway, we were quickly in our hostel room and ready for a good night’s sleep before the tour planned for the next morning at 10am – but as luck would have it the tour began right outside our hostel, and so the following morning we rolled out of bed to have breakfast and head to the meeting point as late as we could.
We were soon traversing the centre of the Portuguese capital, learning about invaders, explorers and the earthquake which changed the landscape of the city forever. Above you can see a portion of one of the few central buildings which survived the quake, an old church, but we were soon exploring some of the streets rebuilt after the disaster.
Soon we were ushered onto the plaza of what seemed like it was a restaurant, but was actually the entrance to an elevador, a raised platform with views overlooking the city. This metal structure, previously used to haul goods up the steep sloping ruas of the city, was a lovely spot to take a photo of the city’s topography.
A little further down the street we stopped for more information on the history of Lisbon, and were presented with an amazing view of the winding street and city beyond into which we were about to descend, from where we then got a view of the platform we’d just been up on – it was surprising how quickly we’d descended so far!
This may be one of my favourite views in Lisbon; it left me well and truly enamoured with the city.
From here we moved through the gridded and relatively recent centre of the city, rebuilt on quake proof foundations by one single architect, and to the Praça do Comércio, a square on the waterfront which sits by the governmental buildings.
Here the story of how the Portuguese people rose up and overthrew their dictator without a single life being lost was told, a movement which centred around a march on the square, and a movement which was started by the public radio transmission of a song previously banned for years – a song which it turns out is beautiful and you should give it a listen.
This square was also where the tour ended, but we had plenty more in mind which we wanted to do, so from here we moved west to a food market and then hopped on a train to explore something we had read about before leaving…
From the market, and with a stomach full of delicious croquets and freshly fried crisps, we headed to a train station to head even further east to the big San Francisco-esque suspension bridge called the Ponte 25 de Abril. Carless, we weren’t interested in crossing the huge structure, but rather an abandoned factory complex just by it which has been converted into a lovely collection of artists studios, cafés, bookstores and all other things creative.
Once inside the LX Factory, as the complex is called, we began our explorations. We nipped in and out of various little shops, before winding our way into a book shop where we browsed for a while until we found a huge printing press, where we were approached by a man asking us if we spoke English…
Having ascertained our mother tongue, the old man took us on a whirlwind tour of a huge set of crazy moving machines that he has spent his life making, from a miniature model of the printing press to oversized insects made of umbrellas and bits of desk chairs. The guy’s passion and the intricacy of the models was impressive – I don’t know if anything like that will ever happen to me again!
After explaining how he liked to make useless things, and that the most useless fan-type machine he ever made he christened “love”, we moved on as the sun began to set, exploring the last few shops in LX Factory before we left. Amongst them we found proof that Adam and Steve were a thing, and were mooned by a delinquent piece of acrylic climbing the wall of the building, all before heading back to the train station.
Waiting for the train in the setting sun made for some great lighting for a cheeky selfie and a photo looking back to the centre of Lisbon, upon arrival to which we headed out to a tiny local restaurant. Here the menu was brought to our table on a huge chalkboard, and the plates were all as delicious as each other as they were delivered one by one to our table – however we were too busy munching to take any photos. Damnit.
The next day we were once again up bright and early, this time to head out solo to the west of the city in search of the oldest part of the city, Alfama, which survived the 1755 quake due to it’s position on a separate rock of land. After a wander down the front we soon found Alfama’s winding narrow streets and precariously steep steps, but the climbing and stumbling was worth it for the views and character of the old town.
As we climbed further up Alfama we began to be able to peek out over the area, with spectacular views from plateaus along the route. We soon levelled out and decided to find a spot to get a fresh lemonade and a bite to eat, and wound up having some fresh bruschetta and basil-infused lemonade with views over a huge church that we didn’t even realise existed until we turned a corner and it presented itself to us!
We then began to circle said big church to try and find the entrance, which we pretty much had to do a full circle for, but as we discovered that there was an entry fee and our budget was tight, we decided to give it a miss and head on up the hill to a spot where we’d been told we’d find the best views over the city.
Soon we were walking up yet another steep Lisbon street, even though I didn’t think there was chance we could rise any further. The exhaustion was worth it though, for at the top we were greeted with near 360° views over the city.
What goes up however must come down, and so soon we were hugging the railing for dear life as we stumbled down a sheer flight of stairs, but the slipping and sliding was worth it for yet another stunning view of the urban scene below.
The steep ruas of the city did no favours for me and my bad balance.
The trend of stumbling across steep ruas which seem to slope down beautifully lined streets was common as we continued to traverse Lisboa, and after stopping for some famous pastel de nata (sweet custard tarts) and then a glass of wine and a sandwich, we found plenty more.
From here we had decided to try and grab one of the infamous Lisbon trams, but seeing as all the information was in Portuguese and we’d had a glass of wine, we thought it best just to wander our way back down to the hostel before heading back out for some food for the evening. This worked in our favour, however, as we found a gorgeous plaza with views over the other side of the city, just as the sun had set enough to cast a lovely light over the scene.
Whilst up here we stopped at a little kiosk to try the locally-recommended ginjinha, a Portuguese liquor made with alcohol, cherries and sugar – all served in a mini chocolate cup. It is as delicious as it sounds and I just had to pick myself a bottle of it up from duty free! Anyway, back on with the trip…
That evening we headed for another lovely meal down in the south of the city, just a few streets from the water, and once again tucked into a plate of perfectly seasoned fish. We then had to climb one of the steep streets I had christened “the hill of death” back up to the hostel for the night, after which we began the next day back on a train – this time east towards Belém.
As we arrived in Belém we couldn’t really see all that much except a car museum, but we soon found our way towards the centre. It turns out that Belém is the birthplace of the iconic custard tarts that we were snacking on all over the place, with the oldest operating bakery enjoying lines spilling out of the door – all for the small sweet treat. We decided to skip the queue and instead head further into the district, where beautiful buildings and gardens greeted us.
Traversing these, we were ambushed by some ducks (not really, but they were not perturbed by us at all), and then found our way to the huge monument to the Portuguese explorers, an impressive monolith hanging over the water’s edge. By this we were also treated to stunning views across the bay, the impressive bridge and a miniature version of the Christ The Redeemer statue that the Portuguese have built to watch over Lisbon.
From here we headed to settle in the sun, which by this point was quite warm, and so with custard tarts and coffees in hand we popped ourself down on a patch of grass under a tree and soaked up some of the warmth from the sun. I haven’t mentioned this thus far but Lisbon in January is cold – despite how lovely it may look!
Once we’d warmed up like a couple of cold-blooded lizards arching into the sun, we did a bit of Google exploration and discovered that a local museum had a free exhibition with a tonne of 20th century peices from some of the biggest names, and so we wandered back down the waterfront and headed inside the Museu Coleção Berardo.
Once inside we were in for a treat, as we found pieces from big names like Andy Warhol to personal favourites of mine like Dan Flavin, whose work I saw in London a few years ago. Here’s a couple of image highlights…
Self-described and self-defined, Joseph Kosuth, 1945Collection of 60 Drawings, Allan McCollum, 1990
After this we headed to a funnily named café called Pão Pão Queijo Queijo, literally “Bread Bread Cheese Cheese”, where we wound up stuffed after a couple of huge sandwiches, and we headed back to the hostel on the train ready for a night visiting the bars of Barrio Alto, an evening district just north of our hostel.
On our last day we spent the morning checking out of our hostel, but had some hours to kill so we headed into the city, where we descended whilst munching custard tarts with fresh orange juice, and then when it came time to head back uphill, we finally resolved to give one of the trams a try. We opted for a type called an elevador, as we couldn’t get lost on it – these trams go forwards and backwards up and down the same hill all day.
This took us to the same plaza where we’d enjoyed evening views of the city just two days before, but instead of stopping for more ginjinha we opted for a coffee and a snack to keep us going – we were wearing tired of the city’s hills!
On the way to the hostel, however, we stumbled upon an absolute gem of a museum, the MUDE, or Museu Do Design E Da Moda – The Design & Fashion Museum. What we’d found though was everything I love rolled up into one exhibition – graphic design, lighting and typography – an exhibition on the signage of Lisbon – including a look at the neon signs of bygone years.
The collection was absolutely amazing, and we were shocked when we learned that the entry was free. We had such a wonderful time exploring this unexpected find, which is deserving of and will get its own blog post at some point. Sooner or later though, we’d started at the flickering neon as much as we could, and grabbed one last custard tart and coffee before heading back to check out of the hostel and bundle our weary bodies back onto the Metro. Cut to ten hours later and we’d be on a train from Manchester Airport to Leeds too tired to speak, but we both had an amazing time!
Looking back over our four days I feel we spent just the right amount of time to enjoy a bit of everything that Lisbon has to offer – the food, the nightlife, the exhibitions, and the countless hours spent wandering the streets looking for snacks and little shops. I’d definitely recommend anyone thinking of going do so as soon as possible, it really is an amazing city – just pass on this one if you’re not a fan of custard tarts or you’ve not got very resilient calf muscles…
