Feel free to skip this blog post if you don't mind what I get up to in my spare time when travelling around!
First, there was Paris in March, with photographer Jeremy Howitt:
Books in trees - brilliant! (No idea why; if anyone knows, do tell.)
Dusseldorf in April:
The avenue of weird, spindly trees I walked along about twenty thousand times a day to get anywhere. Some beautiful houses across the road, and green park on the left.
Followed by Holland - mostly Amsterdam:
Pretty train murals (a unicorn! And a German girl I hung out with briefly):
Pulling the bicycles out of the canals... this caused quite a stir!
Tulip museum!
A little courtyard a friendly local stopped me to tell me to go and look at. So I did:
Gorgeous cafe stop in De Negen Straatjes:
A mini medley from some of the excellent art galleries I visited in Amsterdam:
My favourite; the bright white and light just pings out of it!:
A hilariously girly hostel I stayed at for some of my time in Amsterdam - only girls are allowed to stay there! So obviously they installed a hello kitty toilet seat and the Sex and the City film was on in the lounge when I arrived to check in.
Classic windmill scene, courtesy of a photographer who de-toured me there en route to a shoot, and to see the AMAZING tulip fields, below:
The most brilliant museum; Katten Kabinet, celebrating the depiction of cats in art and culture! There was a cat fast asleep on the reception desk, content and adored (largely by me):
(Those tulips I was banging on about...)
Swans on the canal at night!
Wonderful Edinburgh and Fife in May:
I met up with Roswell Ivory, once we discovered we were both in Edinburgh at the same time, and this is her snapshot of us gathering things to try on when shopping! Yes, I bought that disgustingly fluorescent dip-dye handkerchief hemmed sundress, and it is brilliant. Flower garlands galore, too!
Kilts, marching and bagpipes at the castle!
Supposedly a grave that inspired J K Rowling's 'Voldemort' character, Tom Riddle... (Yes, we did the Harry Potter walking tour...)
Complete with wands!
May is pretty impressive blossom-wise, it turned out:
Some interesting remnants of a crazy happening, taken during a woodland shoot in Fife:
Quick stop at Robbie Wraith's exhibition at Messums in London:
Followed by a very quick trip to Ireland:
I took this while out on a jog one morning - pretty!
Eamonn Farrell's kitchen art... (love it; I hadn't seen this take on the classic slogan before!):
Followed by another trip to Paris with Jeremy Howitt:
The scene of a quite marvellous photo, taken during a long wait for the all clear:
At The Crazy Horse:
Getting back on the Eurostar in Paris. Such a nice station:
South of Germany, Black Forest for a couple of days mid-July with Steven Billups:
Pembrokeshire, Wales with Imagesse at the end of July:
This is a three-legged cat who jumped on my lap over breakfast at the B&B. She was very cute and impressively plucky!
Some of Perry's snapshots (including the otter I shared a posing pool with!):
And finally a trip to California in October:
(A few shots made with instagram, before instagram crashed, killed my phone and deleted all my data...)
Road trippin':
Vegas:
LA:
This was scrawled on a bunk in a hostel I stayed at in Santa Monica. Brilliant. I love that the author suggests I 'google' the country. Aaah, South America, I will get to you one day soon.
Just turning on the fire next to the hot tub, as one does:
Santa Monica Pier:
El Mirage:
Look how much it really is a mirage - looks like water near the horizon, does it not? It kept fooling me!
Road trippin' again:
Lycerne Valley:
Back in Hollywood (erm, these must have gotten a bit out of order):
That cracked earth again:
3rd Street, Santa Monica, home of dinosaur hedges, impressive street performers, and excellent spaghetti primavera:
Joshua Tree National Park:
Back at that hot tub:
These Cholla Cacti like to seek people out and kill them, basically. They're pretty though:
Giant creepy Marilyn:
Plane to Vegas:
It hits you immediately; you can gamble upon arrival. (No thanks!)
Route 66:
Hoover Dam:
Informative:
The Grand Canyon! Impossible to do justice, sorry! Amazingly amazing.
Dressed pretty strangely, but we didn't care:
Funny little place we stopped at for snacks, run by a German:
Vegas, land of immorality, neon fakery and interestingly decadent nights out:
Red Rock Canyon:
I found this couple having sex in the middle of the road one evening. They were pretty pleased with themselves. I am proud to say I did my best to pull them out of immediate danger. (Earlier that night the boy had bashfully told me he couldn't possibly express his feelings for me because he hadn't felt that way about anyone before, etc., and later that night he forgot the girl's name. I tried to give him an education about respecting women (and himself)... I do what I can... Vegas, eh? Jamie, if you're reading this, BE GOOD.)
Fancy Dress Shopping!
Getty Museum (much needed after Vegas):
Et voila! You have made it through an insanely long blog post. I'm glad I got it out of my system! Congratulations, and I hope you enjoyed the tour!
