There were two bands playing that night, the first one with was a guy playing different a instrument for almost every song with his band. This was a bit more traditional I guess and then there were Jamie and his friends playing a bit more upbeat with a drummer and guitar. I really enjoyed the music, it reminded me of my days back in high school when the folk festival was in town there.
I shot a video of the first song they played; Exotic Snowball. The sound in the video is not good so if you want to hear what it really sounds like go to their myspace profile and hear the song there.
After Easter and all it’s celebrations were over Ann and I took a 3 day mini vacation to the neighboring island of Gozo. The weather when we went up there was pretty bad as you can see in the film above.
Gozo is more slow paced, greener and more rural than the main island of Malta. Life in Malta can be pretty hectic and for the week of Easter we did a lot of things so it was nice to spend some time alone with Ann before my parents came.
We also went to Gozo when I was in Malta last year. One of her aunt’s have an apartment in the fishing village turned resort of Marsalforn which was really quiet while we were there because it is still out of season. Here’s a view of the village as we walked back to the apartment after having had dinner.
On our second day there we went for a long walk. All along the northwest coast of Gozo you see these types of salt pans. The salt pans are filled with sea water over winter by the waves hitting the coast. Then over the summer the water evaporates and the salt can be collected. Some of the salt pans has been in use since the Roman times and is still used today.
We left the coast and turned uphill towards the village of Zebbug where we came across a street mirror where you can sort of see the road going down the hill from where we came.
There was a great view of the green island from Zebbug. However what I found most interesting was that on the spot in the village with the best view over the Mediterranean you were met by this truck with the ironic “I ♥ my truck” written on the back-end.
We continued on and was met with a great view of the UNESCO protected Cittadella fort at the center of Gozo. We followed the road and caught a bus back to the apartment from Victoria.
The day we left Gozo we had great weather so we shot a bit more film as we were leaving.
Last weekend I decided to shoot some video while helping my friends Michael and Sarah move to Freiberg in Germany. This is that weekend condensed into 6 minutes;
I just came across this 20 year old INXS music video from Prague. Its shot in and around the streets of Stare Mesto and on Charles Bridge. It was shot the year before the Velvet Revolution and shows Prague on a gloomy, yet romantic, winter day before the masses arrived in Prague. I dont think I have seen this few people on the bridge apart from if you cross it at 4am.
Two other videos of INXS was shot in Prague during the same visit. New Sensation filmed at the art nouveau Municipal House and Guns in The Sky filmed in a hallway – somewhere in Prague? All three music videos are directed by Richard Lowenstein.
Last year i made a Prague Christmas video where I also make my way across Charles Bridge and into Old Town Square.
Update: Terri in the comments below asked for the where in Prague the video was shot so I looked trough the scenes and plotted them on the map here;
There is a Danish (or rather Scandinavian) tradition of making a TV show that runs every day of December until the 24th and the night of Christmas. For the past couple of years some of the Danish bloggers have made a similar thing with videos.
This year Emme has made her own show called Sweet Christmas with a story of a cookie called Mr. Nom Nom and his troubles. Here is episode 1:
(I just got home from a trip to London, but I have a couple of blog posts I want to get written before to catch up so come back soon.)
I had booked my tickets for the wedding in Scotland so I would have a couple of days before going back. I didnt plan much but asked Jamie – a Scottish friend in Prague – for ideas of where to go and what to see.
First leg of my trip was from the place of the wedding in Dunfermline. I was thinking of hitchhiking but it was raining so instead I got a lift with the newlywed couple on their way to their honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands. As we were driving north the landscape changed from flat scenery similar to Denmark to higher hills, less civilization and more sheep. They set me off in Aviemore a cosy little town at the beginning of the highlands. They have Scotlands highest funicular by Avimore but I didnt have time to make my way out to it. Instead I saw the town and jumped on a bus.
Early in the evening I arrived in Inverness where I found a bed for the night at a hostel. In the evening I went out to Hootananny where they have live music every night. I saw a cool Scottish band (didnt get their name tho).
The next day I had a beautiful walk out of town along River Ness.
At the end of the city I arrived at a spot I thought would be good but saw that there was another hitcher. So I sat down with my book behind some trees. A few minutes later the other guy had apparently been lucky and I stepped up to the spot. The third vehicle that passed me was a truck with a very long trailer. He slammed his breaks and I jumped in and I was rolling. The easiest ride I have ever had I think 🙂 Here we are driving by the castle at Loch Ness as the driver talks of the difficulties driving on the roads by Glen Coe.
I got a ride with the trucker for the length of Loch Ness, the biggest of Scotlands lochs or lakes. The weather was great and I had a couple of great hours talking about Loch Ness monsters (he gave it a 50/50 chance of being real), Scottish culture and politics and life on the road. My driver was toothless (or missed at least a bunch of teeth) and was very talkative but after we had been quite for a few minutes he would start making fart-whistling noises with his gums funny guy. The roads in these parts of the country are very narrow and not built for big trucks (and busses as you will later see). There were a couple of times where we were very close to the oncoming traffic but I made it to Fort William in one piece and said goodbye to the driver. I had a lunch break in Fort William and a pint of hand pumped beer at a pub with an outdoor patio with a nice view. Here is a picture from the church in Fort William.
Then I continued on in a bus to Glen Coe. I made it to Glencoe Village late in the afternoon and walked a couple of miles out of the village to find the hostel and a bed for the night. Before the sun set I went for a walk in the beautiful scenery.
Next day I tried to hitchhike southwards but there was hardly any traffic so I ended up taking a bus instead. This was the view from my hitchhiking spot by Glen Coe not the worst place to spend an hour.
Riding in trucks and buses is actually really great in this part of Scotland because you really get to enjoy the vastness of the nature in big panorama windows. However for the drivers its another story. As our big bus was speeding through the bends along Loch Lomond there was a truck coming from the other side. The drivers avoided collision but our bus ended up scrapping the stone wall along the whole side of the bus.
The result was that all the luggage compartment locks broke and the bus driver was not allowed to continue before that was fixed. So we ended up being stuck for a good hour until a replacement bus arrived.
Later I finally arrived in Glasgow. Jamie had said I could stay at his parents house in Glasgow which I was really grateful for. I found their house and talked a bit Scottish history with his mum. All I knew of Scottish history before I went was Braveheart and the story of William Wallace. The rest of Scotlands history is just as interesting and sad with events like the The Highland Clearance.
In the evening I went to explore Glasgow on foot. I was expecting something out of Trainspotting but found a very warm and friendly city.
Scotland in three days is definitely nothing more than an appetizer and I feel I was rushing when I could easily spend a full day or three in all the places I stopped. It is a country I would love to go back to. I think it would be great to go to an area like Glen Coe for a couple of days pull the plug out and just enjoy the wonders of nature.
Thanks to Jamie for his suggestions and help. Jamie Smith is a folk musician and has just moved back to London. I will definitely go see him play next time Im in London. So should you 🙂
Three weeks ago Femi and I went to Munich for Oktoberfest. Boy was that a fun weekend – Stefan, who we met in Ostrava, hosted us and showed us around the city of Munich and Theresienwiesen were oktoberfest takes place.
So its been a week since I got back to Prague so its about time I start to tell something about Hawaii. Here is a video from our hike on the Kalalau Trail read more below.
The highlight of the three weeks was without a doubt the four days we spend in the island of Kauai. Kauai is the oldest islands of Hawaii and also known as the Garden Isle because of the flourishing nature found here. Its one of the wettest spots in the world and the massive amounts of water has shaped the rock into what is called pali in Hawaiian. On this picture you can see the palis:
Fernando had gotten hold of permits for us to hike the Kalalau Trail. The trail follows the the massive windswept Na Pali coastline overlooking lush green valleys and towering rocky cliffs that rises almost 1200 meters to the deep blue pacific below. The trail is 11 miles (18km) long and winds it way along the cliffs in a very varied landscape with rain forest, desert and rocky cliffs. The trail is almost never straight but moves up and down, in and out. The view is spectacular and around each corner awaits new wonders.
It was hot and humid to do the hike so we drank a lot of water. Luckily there are plenty of streams and creeks on the trail so we could refill our bottles.
Also there were plenty of guava trees and a few mango trees so we could get some fresh fruit as we walked.
It took us 8 and a half hour to walk in and the reward was amazing. I was very busted and enjoyed just chilling on the beach for the rest of the day.
We had our camp in shade of trees close to the waterfall were we got fresh water and showers when it got to hot to sit in the sun.
And the beach was of course beautiful.
We spend a day on the beach and the hiked back the next day. Here was what we looked like after having walked back to civilization.
