Aminals by Baths

You have to listen to this song with headphones on. It's incredible when you pick up all of the little bits and pieces that are going on in there! It reminds me so much of my sister and the time I spent with her over Easter weekend...

Between Bears...

What a cool piece of animation...

My Diana Mini...

So whilst in Milano I was seriously inspired by all that was going on over there. Maybe it was because I was staying with Paul and surrounded by all the creativity of him and his design friends, but Milano opened my eyes to a cosmopolitan lifestyle which I can't say I've seen anywhere else in Italy on my travels so far. That city buzzes!

I've always wanted one of these cameras, and after visiting the official Lomography shop in Milano I was sold. Diana cameras used to be popular back in the day, and what became a social underground movement in the early 90's has now exploded into a worldwide craze. It takes a regular 35mm film, but it shoots square photos. So once developed on regular jumbo size photos, the blank edges are cut of and you have a square photograph. Pretty old school! It can also shoot half frames, so you can basically sneak in 72 photos on a 36 roll film. I love that film photography is making a come back. Digital has it's blessings, but film gives you such an authentic feel. So what if you mess up, or you can't review the photo you just took? Isn't half the fun waiting to see what you end up with at the end? I've already taken my first couple of shots, and I'm planning on shooting away whilst over here for the rest of the year and only developing the spools when I get home in December...

MiPhoto, Milano, Italy

This was a very cool photography store that Paul took me to in Milano. They had amazing literature on different types of photography here.

Elvis, Milano, Italy

Milano, Italy

I have just spent the last three days in Milano with an old friend from school, Paul Rabinowitz, and was pretty blown away with the place. Milano is an incredible city, and seeing it with Paul, who has been there for about 9 months now, was a real treat. There is a young and vibey feel to the place, and I met some brilliant people who Paul studies design with there. I am really looking forward to going back to visit him after his holidays in September.

The Galleria

The Duomo

The Duomo at night

Blues Festival, Mazzurega, Italia

Another sneaky little music festival. Europe in the summer is amazing. The people here really celebrate the sunlight, and every weekend there is bound to be some sort of ridiculous festa, sagra or manifestazione taking place...

My Graziella...

On my recent trip to Milano I fell in love with this little bicycle. So I bought the thing...

Mantova, Lombardia, Italia

What an amazing weekend I have just had... Alma had two friends visiting her in Soave, and so she had planned a trip down to Tuscany to go to a festival in a town called Certaldo, which I was lucky enough to tag along for. On the way down we stopped to spend the afternoon in Mantova, in Lombardia region. What a beautiful old town. It is completely surrounded by lakes on either side, and although it is not particularly big, was an incredible place to stroll around and see. The architecture is particularly diverse here when compared to a lot of the places I have already seen in Italy. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating panini under the big trees next to the lake, before cracking on to Certaldo in Tuscany.

The Gypsy Festival called Mercantia, Certaldo, Italia

I need to say first up, that nothing that I am about to write will ever completely explain how mind blowing this festival was...

Certaldo is an old medieval walled city on top of a hill overlooking the glorious Tuscan countryside, and once every year the narrow cobbled streets of the city are flooded with people who come to attend Mercantia, a gypsy festival that takes place here. We arrived in the early evening and walked around looking at the different stalls and shows. The town is very much like one would see recreated in movies of medieval Europe, with the little apartments one on top each other, identical green shutters and old walls built of crude stone. We watched the sunset from one of the parapets of the castle with cold beers.

At about ten o'clock there was an entire transformation of the place. Suddenly we were shoulder to shoulder with people, and a balkan band with drums, trumpets, trombones and saxophones appeared and began playing the most entertaining music I've ever heard. They led a procession through the streets and people followed like the children of the Pied Piper, waving their hands and bouncing along in this euphoric state, simply spurred on by the music.

There were contortionists and magic shows, incredible leather crafts and ceramic artwork, and food and wine as far as the eye could see. At one stage, the entire street was a blaring red colour as masked drummers and dancers came marching down on stilts, wearing hats and outrageously coloured clothing. The crowd tossed a massive white balloon through the narrow corridors and there was just happiness everywhere. Simply a once in a lifetime experience...

Gallo Nero, the symbol of Chianti Classico, a great story which I must explain in a post

Francesco, Marike, Alma and I

The Balkan Band

Francesco's Kitchen, Certaldo, Italia

Francesco's Winery, Certaldo, Italia

Whilst in Certaldo we stayed with one of Alma's good friends, Francesco. Francesco's family own a winery in Chianti, and so they produce a lot of wine using Sangiovese. We were treated to a tasting at the cellar and shown around by Francesco himself. It was great to be taken through a proper tasting of a Chianti wine by the winemaker himself, as well as taste some pretty amazing Vin Santo, a popular sweet wine of the region. I also really loved his Cabernet Sauvignon, which although packed a punch on the palate, was a wonderful wine which I think has a lot of potential to develop over a couple of years.

Me, Alma and Francesco

Francesco at work

The winery

Sienna, Tuscany, Italia

On Saturday we had an incredible barbecue at Francesco's house, cooking the traditional fiorentina steak. That is also something I love about Italy, the cuisine changes so much as you move from region to region. Tuscan's tend to eat a lot more meat, especially game such as wild boar. The hunting season starts pretty soon (end of September if I'm correct) and so I want to try see if it is possible to go out for a little hunting stint with someone. But back to the fiorentina. The Tuscans pride themselves on the quality of their meat, and so the steaks here are always amazing quality. But they don't mess around in the size department either. I don't know if the photos will actually do it justice. It was enormous!

After lunch we headed off to Sienna. Sienna is the other major city in Tuscany next to Florence, and the two towns have been fiercely competitive since their inception when it comes to just about anything. I wasn't really sure what to expect when we headed off, but it was beautiful. Sienna's duomo is magnificent, and the late afternoon sunlight that hit the main piazza was also magnificent. They have just recently run the Palio in Sienna, which is an ancient horse race which takes place in the town itself. Incredibly dangerous but a massive tradition. Saturday night we attended a birthday celebration in the winelands of Chianti Classico. I'm pretty sure that night I was speaking fluent Italian, as it tends to happen after pints of red wine.

Main piazza in Sienna

Sienna's Duomo

Typical Tuscan cypress

Another Tuscan sunset