Sitting around @ Street Delivery

I went to the Street Delivery event on Arthur Verona St. for a second time yesterday afternoon to take some pictures, as I had forgotten my camery the day before. And guess what? I had almost no battery left... I had been thinking of going there to take pictures for almost 24 hours - HOW could I forget to check if I had enough battery?! Some things just slip our minds I guess... Luckily my camera decided it wanted to go to sleep just as I had finished making the tour once, so I didn't miss almost anything. This will be a very important lesson for the future!

Here are some pictures of the different places where people sat around:

Photographers' reunion @ the red couch

"Barefoot on the grass" - the jazz place

Chillin' on the carpet

Bike stop

Public library I

Recyclable furniture @ Cafe Verona

Public library II

Street Delivery @ Pictor Verona

As some of the people who live in Bucharest already know, these days Carturesti library and the Romanian Architects' Guild have been organizing this strange but beautiful event called Street Delivery on Arthur Verona St.

You'll probably ask yourself why strange... well because it's so great that one can barly judge something like this possible in Bucharest! The event stretches on 3 days and its main goal is to show people how it would be like if we had more streets transformed into pedestrian areas. But that's not all it is to it - they have organized a huge event around this idea with street performers, musicians, different organizations that present their work (usually related to protecting the environment or architecture and urbanism) and look for volunteers, they even have lonely pets and pets they rescued from the street to give away for free!

It will all be unfortunately over this evening, but hey! everybody's already waiting for next years' Street Delivery!

As I missed the other Street Deliveries the past 3 years, I said to myself that this year I had to be there, despite the excruciating heat! Lucky for you... I forgot my camera... but I'm going there again this evening to take as many shots as possible. Hopefully I'll find the same gorgeous crowd I saw there last night!

My Top 5 attractions:

1. The magic act and the mentalist - two great guys putting up a great show on the street, getting all the attention they need from the avid crowd. Plus they're raising money for a children's hospital. I'll tell you all about it in another post, I thought I was delusional by the end of it!

2. The grass garden - where you can sit on chairs or pillows with your bare feet in the cold grass while listening to some guy playing a soft jazzy music on the piano. Just awesome!

3. The music, especially the "Modulab" where they organize great jam sessions all day long. I thought it was very interesting when I saw 2 little gipsy kids playing the drums with the professionals! These kids really are quick learners!

4. All the different workshops for kids - pottery, painting pottery, making stickers and others. They seemed to have a lot of fun!

5. Al the vintage clothing shops... bags... sunglasses... dresses... shoes.... they were incredible!!!

And then there was of course the graffiti they were doing... on a whole house - like a trademark of the festival that is allowed to remain on the building until next year's Street Delivery when it will be replaced by the new one. How cool a tradition is that?

I'll get back with fresh pictures and maybe new stories!

PS: For those of you who want to check out the programme of the festival or any information related to the different organizations or shops present there, you can find it online under www.streetdelivery.ro/bucuresti/

Rainy day

Looking at the sun and the heat outside, I find myself longing for a breath of fresh air... rain immediately comes to mind - what could be more wonderful than a rainy day in the city of waters, Venice?

Walking through the streets and over the bridges of Venice is always great, but in May it's just wonderful! There are even more tourists than in August (I really don't understand that!), but they don't get up that early in the morning. So if you want the whole town to yourself you have to rush in the morning. I took these shots at about 7 - 7.30 in the morning and everything was absolutely gorgeous. The city was full of life, real life - men and women rushing to work, all going in different directions with colourful umbrellas, on foot or on their boats.

Venice really is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy and one of the few cities that manages to impress me every time I go there. There really is something special about this city, I don't know what it is, maybe it's the sumptuous houses emerging from the depths of the emerald waters of the laguna or maybe it's the idea of an entire city like a museum.

Sunset

I've been to Italy since the last time I posted something, but today's post is not going to be about Italy, but about this beautiful sunset I saw on the way over lake Balaton in Hungary.

I was travelling by train, so don't let the pictures fool you, it was really hard getting these shots! Trees were coming out of nowhere exactly in between my shots, my lenses or the sun reflected on the window of the compartment... it was really hard, but it was worth it, because I got some spectacular shots of the sun setting over the lake.

I'll be soon trying to do the same on lake Herastrau here in Bucharest, so be sure to check for those pictures in the following week!