Quality spent time in Liverpool

One afternoon in Liverpool

Sorry it took me so long, I'm an awful blogger! So last month a day after I visited Manchester I have decided to visit Liverpool on the way back to London.

I didn't expect much, every time I googled Liverpool pictures it looked quite ugly, the images had terrible quality and I couldn't find any cool instagramers that would help me to get around nice places. 

On the train to Liverpool I realised that Liverpool is actually close to the sea! I got this idea about heading to the beach but asking locals about the beach I only got the strangest looks. Like beach? In november? Near Liverpool? Are you crazy? Plus it was slightly raining.....

I only had 7 hours in Liverpool in total so the closest beach was the option. I jumped on the bus to Crosby beach that took good 45 minutes. The beach was such a surprise... There are around 1000 iron men statues alongside the whole coast! Tall and mascular human statues in different distance from the sea, some of them buried in the sand, the weirdest surprise ever! So when I walked to the beach I though that it's full of people and after a while realised that it's actually quite empty and all these people are just iron statues... STRANGE!

After a little walk and realising that the weather isn't very beachy I headed back to the city centre.

I walked up the main shopping street, passed an amazing Oxfam full of cool vintage clothes and headed to the Vegan café called Egg Café. Thanks Chris for the recommendation! The café is located on the top floor just on the left of Oxfam, portions are massive, food tasty and prices LOW. I didn't want to come back to London after this experience...

After stuffing my belly with hummus and warm soup I headed more up the street and found a cool coffee called Bold street Café, definitely a must on your visit.

After lovely flat white, the cathedral was the next thing on the list. And it's massive! Built early in 20th century and the biggest in the UK! It's enormous, actually 5th biggest in Europe. It's also on the top of the hill so you can imagine the view... It was only £5 to go on top with the lift and so worth it. The view was great, seeing the structure of the city, parks, the river and the buildings!

But the biggest surprise of the trip was about to come. On the way back to the centre from the cathedral I walked through Chinatown with a massive dragon gate, there is a pic attached. I didn't go for Chinese though. Further down the street I finally saw the docks and I was shocked, everything looked so good, new and different from what I expected. Also the sunset that day was beautiful so the whole sky was pinky! I was walking alongside the river coast, there was different museums, including The Beatles museum, Tate museum, the only Tate outside London, my next a must on the next trip to Liverpool. 

I did some reading after the visit and found out that Liverpool used to be the biggest industrial city after London at the beginning of 20th century and that explained the massive historical buildings in the centre that reminded me of New York. The history is mixed with the brand new buildings that create a special view from the docks. I was seriously amazed and told probably everyone already. Go to Liverpool. You'll love it.

Crosby Beach

Bold Street coffee

yes, I treated myself

Dragon Gate in Chinatown 

The Docks

my only pic from Liverpool. Great.

Liverpool is so cool

The view from the top of the cathedral

I love sunsets ok...

Hiking in Beskydy

When I was back home last month I took these pics when I went hiking with my mum to Kozubova in Beskydy. It's so beautiful back home. I haven't really appreciated that before I moved to England. Now overtime I come back home I JUST WANT TO GO TO THE MOUNTAINS. 

I was literally so blown away by this pic that I posted it on my instagram(that never happens, I only post iPhone pics on that)

One day in Manchester

After trying to persuade literally everyone to travel with me to Manchester and Liverpool I have decided to book the trains and go alone. Trainline does pretty good deals time to time! I managed to book trains for £15 each way and it takes only 2 hours from London (Euston), fantastic.

I always try to find some cool instagrammers before travelling. With Manchester it was a tricky one, seems like no one is really into instagram over there. It's all about football. But luckily I found this amazing Kiwi living in Manchester @theginger_snap who proved me that Manchester has also some cool places to offer. I also made sure there is a gig I can go to when spending  a night in Manchester  and guess who was playing. The amazing Lykke Li, supported by Elliot Sumner, the ex I Blame Coco. 

One Day in Manchester

I arrived to Manchester around 11am and the first thought was-I NEED COFFEE. I knew about this fantastic café inspired by Iceland I read about in a magazine, café TAKK close to the railway station. There was a table full of cool bearded blonde guys sipping on Square Mile roast and I though this is the perfect place... Later on I found out these hot guys were not locals but the band from Lykke Li. Oh well! Good start.

Thanks to @theginger_snap I knew that Northern Quarter was the place to go in Manchester. The streets full of red brick buildings, possibly factories back in '50 and graffiti sprayed walls were full of arty people on Saturday afternoon. Another lovely coffee place worth checking out is The Fig and Sparrow, little design shop (one of these where you wish to own every single piece but you already know that you'll never have enough money for) with a café inside serving Climpson & Sons. 

Honestly I was a bit disappointed that it's so hard these days to stumble upon a coffee company I've never heard about (especially if you live in London). 

The Northern Quarter is full of slightly over priced retro shops  (Shoreditch vibe kind of) but also at least three vinyl shops can be found there.

After that I felt like I should hang around some places with more history so I walked around Castlefield and found this amazing basin. Canals in manchester are so beautiful! All the red bricks buildings reflect in the water and it's just so pretty. Only if the weather wasn't shit.

Then I obviously got hungry so I met up with my friend Wex who I stayed with and we headed to Chinatown for lunch. I wanted something healthy (sorry Chinese cuisine) and we found this Vietnamese place, the only one in Chinatown, lucky! It was alright.  

It was a Saturday evening and the city was buzzing! I headed for Lykke Li quite early as she started at 9 and Elliot Sumner was playing before that and I already saw so many drunk people! I wish I got a bit drunk but when you head for a gig alone it's a bit, erm weird.

Ahhhh the Albert Hall where Lykke Li was playing was just so beautiful! It was like an old church with a round shape with all this beautifully painted windows and the great acoustic. If you'll be around Manchester, definitely check if there is any gig you fancy. Well worth that!
Lykke Li as fantastic as always, but THE STEAM! It felt like magic when she sang whole covered in steam with the red crazy lights. Really good!

The morning after I was craving for breakfast! I had a list of places I want to visit and eat at and my train to Liverpool was at 10 so I headed out after 8 am and it is just impossible to find a place open before 11am in Manchester on sunday. Very disappointing! But the weather was SUNNY so I was just walking around skyping with my mum and it was nice.

It was a great fun, check out the pictures x

basin around Castlefield

Oldham street, the best street for tourist shots 

Northern Quarter

Oldham Street the following morning

Tereza in her city 

Hey Prague + I'm managing this great band called Tomorrow Honey you should listen to

Oh hey!

I've just come back to London from a lovely week back home in the Czech Republic. It was a blast. Whenever I'm back home I try to make the most of my time there, seeing all my friends, who annoyingly live at least two hours drive from each other(hey Andrew and Nikol), go to the mountains for a hike or see a movie because it's bloody expensive in London.

Let's get back to the topic.

The true reason why I travelled to Prague was to support a great indie band I'm managing in London- Tomorrow Honey. 

It was a good fun to watch the band members- Andrew Elly and Mikel visiting Prague for the first time, behaving like real tourists, ordering traditional Czech food, wondering how everything was really cheap and drinking absinth every night!  

The band toured to Kladno, Prague and Pardubice with  Prague based indie band Mono Love.

You can listen to our songs on soundcloud and support us on FACEBOOK! 

The next shows the band plays in London are at the Lock Tavern on 26th November (HEY IT'S MY BIRTHDAY) with Netil and BOYS and we are also preparing a special show at Old Blue Last on 21st December, stay tuned for details.

there are few pics from yashica I took during two days with the band in Prague x

(I was supposed to go to Pardubice on friday but I was too hungover to move so the only thing I needed and wanted was my mum and went to bed at 8:45pm on Halloween night, so rock'n'roll xxx)

ah! also special thanks to my lovely friends who came to see us in Prague to Chapeau Rouge, you're seriously the best x (Andy, Antonie, J Kruta and his drunk mate, Eliska)

One more thank you to Adam Hencze who took some brilliant promo shots for us during the gig xxx

fried cheese! 

Deal, escapes from London

I really enjoy escaping London time to time (like every two weeks actually). There is so much to explore in England! Only if the trains weren't so expensive. (return ticket to Deal was £38 :( and it took more than 2 hours)

So my friends have decided to take train to Deal. I was absolutely up for that as it has sea and two castles!! (I love castles) 

The city looked quite chilled (read boring) but the colour of the sea was amazing. Check out the pictures. The castles were not that cool as one of them was the size of our house and the other one was closed when we got there (points down). The beach was fantastic though. Really sweet city for a day out of London or when you're more than 80.

Sivu, Something On High

I finally saw Sivu in Oslo, Hackney on 14th October! It was a gig I was waiting for and looking forward to for so long, especially after releasing the fantastic Can't Stop Now EP earlier this year. The Oslo gig was a day after the release of the debut album, Something On High (itunes link HERE )

It was the first time I heard the new songs and my feelings were slightly mixed as I didn't know what to expect- if the debut album will be more energetic as Can't Stop Now, or more relaxed and calm as Miracle. Sivu is such a wonderful and humble person and it shows in his live shows!

My favorite tracks on the album are Bodies, Can't Stop Now, Miracle and Sleep.

Buy it buy it buy it x


Sivu at Oslo

Sivu has also very educated fans like this guys who was reading a book at the front row before the start.

Cheap place to develop film in London

I've been trying to google this stuff for ages, found nothing, except for overpriced Snappy Snap! I was wondering how come I pay every time I go to Snappy Snap in Dalston, Highbury or Angel different price for developing, and I finally found out, it's a franchise and every shop is owned by different people, pricing stuff however they like. And it's a lot, usually around £8 per film/cd. 

I knew there must be something cheaper and more affordable and I found this little pharmacy/photo lab at Stamford Hill called Kodak express (well it takes them 2 days to develop so would not talk about 'express'). It's only £1,99 per film develop and £2,99 per cd! If you want your pics printed it's only £6,99 per 36 pictures. That's amazing!

I hope this helps, if you know any other cheap&cheerful places to develop film, let me know! 

my pretty friend Abby at SGP 2014 

Random black&white

You know when you pay a horrendous amount of money for something that's not worth it? 

.....................

Oh well, at least you know, never again. 

So I tried this b&w film I found in our flat, took 36 pictures and developed them. Took them week at Snappy Snap in Angel to develop and when I was about to pay the price as usually they told me it's twice as much because it's black&white. 

Thanks for telling me guys.

......................

Anna&underground 

There is a new cafe in Dalston called Subtitles and it's owned by a guy from the Czech Republic. They are planning to host various events there like Czech movie sceening and other stuff! 

Hampton Court Palace is great for a day out of London, plus you don't have to touch your Oyster when you're getting out/in of the station, but don't tell anyone. 

You'll find Emma every saturday morning eating pancakes at vegan cafe, The Black Cat in Hackney. Every. Saturday, Morning. 

Random laundry in Hoxton

On the way back from some party I took a shot of this laundry on Hoxton street. I saw this exhibition of laundries around the US somewhere in London. I don't remember where.

I mean who does their laundry in laundry rooms anyway? In England? What's the point?

Deers need more love

Ok, now you all need to know this great band from Madrid, Spain. 

DEERS

I just checked Deers on their facebook and they have only around 6 000 fans! What are you doing Spain, if you're not liking Deers? 

Their music is described as "Foot-stomping garage pop melodies driven by pure attitude and energy"  and it's great. 


so go, listen to them, like them and see them live.

If you're still not convinced I should say that they just played two brilliant shows with THE LIBERTINES in Paris&Belgium.

THEY ARE PLAYING IN LONDON SOON! 

Catch them at 1st November (Laundry) or 24th November in Lexington. I'll be there fangirling like there is no tomorrow. And hey you never know, Doherty might show up!

Random London views

I love views of London. I love views in general. 

On top of the Netil house.

One of my favorites, Royal Observatory, Greenwich

From the top of Frank's café, an old car park with a bar on top during the summer in Peckham

Iceland in pictures

Reykjavik 

Random scenery/east of Iceland 

Anna tasting Sykr, Icelandic yogurt 

Westfjords 

The sweetest horses 

Architecture in Akureyri 

Akureyri weather

When you realize how small you are

cracks

black beaches