Celebrating light

The warm signs of January are welcome to make us more awake. When the sun is shining even a little bit through the thin clouds,  I feel like stepping outside and I want to capture the moment.

Contrasts and reflections are making the reality bigger than it is. Like we could watch the streets and the silhouettes in all a way round, 360 degrees. 

I can see the sky on the street, reflecting from the water puddle.

It feels we could jump in there and end inside the Earth. Like the Earth would be just an invisible bubble or a cell that reflects the space. 

But here I am standing on the asphalt, feeling the warmth of the sun and hearing the noice of my shoes when I'm walking. Celebrating the light.

I'm happy this is real,

Celebrating the life.

The light goes through me with a patient speed.

It makes me curious and it makes me dream.

The first Saturday of 2021

So many sunny days to remember from the last year even it was a hard road to walk sometimes.

What I learned? I learned to appreciate the movement of mind and the movement of body. Together these two are making the action possible.

I learned not to wait too long and think too much before taking the action. Because of the still life in society during the pandemic, the limited possibilities, the loss and the fear we read about. It made me realize I have to start doing the things that really support my interests, my happiness and my health. 

Every year I want to start and learn something new.        

*Happy new Year*

January can start

Oh Marseille

I don't know exactly why I wanted to go to Marseille. I only had read an article about this southern French City: those typical travel stories about shopping, eating and sights, written for modern cityhoppers. I did not really know anything about the place. Maybe it was just the name "Marseille", it had been echoing in my head for a while. I love to listen to french language even I do not speak it myself. There was something about the imaginary vision of this place that spoke to my soul. In February we needed a break and it was time for Marseille.

Vieux port pavilion

I was smiling and feeling relieved when we landed at the airport. The sun was shining and I could store my dutch-finnish life and identity for a weekend somewhere between the Netherlands and France, above the clouds to get some early spring light and sun. Meanwhile I could be walking and filling my lungs with the mediterranean air and my mind with surprising details of this Frech harbor town.

The first steps down the hill from the Central Railway Station, towards the hidden see. Light beige buildings everywhere, mostly in bad condition. Thick air, smelling like dust and gas, mostly urban surfaces to see. Nothing was looking green, also because the season. There are hardly any green areas in the centre of Marseille. The blue sea view is giving the feeling of space down by the harbor and in the open areas near the waterfront. It was not love at the first sight, even our first lunch experience (sea food) was everything else than fresh. 

On our way from the airport to Marseille we were passing many suburban areas in bad condition. This city is a gate to Europe, there is a lot of poverty giving a contrast to the glittering surface of the sea. Trendy people having their fabulous lunch on the cool spots near the modern harbor area and at the same time the hard reality hitting the nerves just a few hundred meters away. I could not just stay in my touristic bubble, I felt the deeper tones of mediterranean blue. The best places to visit are the places that make us think and feel unexpected depths. The location of Marseille has made it a cosmopolitan melting pot of different cultures and immigration.

Old harbor, vieux port - the spot where the history of Marseille began.

Les Voyageurs (sculpture by Bruno Catalano)

Old town

Marseille Cathedral

We had only two days time to explore Marseille. It was good to watch to the horizon at the waterfront and get into more relaxed vibe after the winter and the grey months. It is possible to take a bus and visit some beaches too or take a a boat trip/tour to see the beauty of the coastline of Provence. 

Maybe influenced by our short City trip we are going back to France this summer with our friends. This will be fun also for the kids and  my son can practice his french. We have rented a house about 45 minutes drive from Marseille, so I think we will visit this place again. I really enjoyed my visit, even my first impression was not very good. We had two nice dinners and the night lights at the old port area with boats were beautiful.

I checked the life quality index of Marseille and as I suspected the pollution is a problem (pollution index 65.02= high). Sometimes I am disturbed of the air quality in Amsterdam (pollution index 30.28= low), but I wonder how bad the air can be in Marseille during the hot summer months. Sometimes I really miss the fresh air of Finland (Helsinki, pollution index 12.81= very low).

Check the life quality index of Marseille here. You can also find any information about other cities all over the world or compare the life quality between different places.

https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp

Villa Mediterranee by Stefano Boeri

Interesting wall in front of the Musèe Regards de Provence 

Harbor area of Marseille

Marseille is the second largest city of France after Paris and the main city of the historical Provence. Marseille was found circa 600 BC as the Greek colony of Massalia. Marseille is now France's largest city on the Mediterranean coastline and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships.

The famous bridge to Museum of European and Mediterranen civilizations.

Visiting historical locations is giving perspective and building bridges from the past to this day. The story of humanity is continuing and making me think every story matters and we can choose meaningful paths to improve our life.

Reflection of us

Inspired by FOAM

I took some time for myself one day this week and did the things that I really like. First I went sweating to a local pilates & dance studio and did the essentrix workout. After stretching, following the choreography and working out I felt like a new person, full of energy. This type of exercise wakes up my blood circulation and I feel energetic the whole day afterwards. Maybe I was too sweaty and my outfit was not so suitable for a museum visit, but I really wanted to go to the Foam-museum, which is the right place to see the works made by old and new, well known or not so well known photographers. After focusing sport in the morning I was ready to feed my visual hunger. 

This time I concentrated more on the photo collection and the story behind the great french photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue(1894-1986). His colourful photos (Life in Colour) made me happy. He is also very well known from his black and white photography. Lartique started to take more colour pictures in 1950's when the new technology made it finally possible. His beloved wife "Florette" is the main character in most of the pictures. The clothing, the scenes and the captured moments are documenting beautifully the almost surreal looking life of this couple and painting the picture of the elegant past.

I took few photo's with my mobile at the museum (sorry about the quality), but visit the website above for more information and inspiration. This is a lovely, small museum to visit in Amsterdam. Really a must! 

Actually I was so interested of the life story of this great photographer, that I went shortly back to the museumshop today and bought the book about Lartique. 

People are often capable to much more than we think and every person has something special...something that doesn't come necessarily very easily out to be seen for others. I like that the vulnerability and the sensitive part in people is sometimes more visible in that short moment, which is captured by a good photographer or by a painter. 

There was also very interesting photos taken by Franceca Woodman (1958-1981)to be seen at the museum. She was an american photographer, who committed suicide at the age of 22. She herself was a subject in most of her photos, even she also used some other models to express her feelings. The naked body, sometimes partly covered or partly hidden behind the objects or breaking through from a big piece of paper. You can see the pain behind these photos. The contrast between the happy photos from Lartique and these somehow raw, vulnerable, violent and still beautiful pictures was huge. Hard to look at, but she wanted to be seen with her pain. There seemed to be a lot of chaos in her mind, but I guess she tried to work on her issues by making these photos and videos.

I walked along the Amstel river on my way to a tram stop. I was admiring the grey and cold winter scenery. It is good to see the beauty in dark colours too. We need contrasts, but the balance is important to find. Greetings from the river!

The Magere bridge on the back.

Soft Sunday

I had the best and sweetest company on sunday. I was walking at the park with my daughter and I let her take some photos out there. It was a good motivator, because she was complaining that she did not want to walk  anymore. I saw from her face, that she was really enjoying taking the photos and hearing the sound of the Camera everytime she pushed the button. I was patiently waiting for her...she stopped every two meters to take a photo. She was fascinated about the small details on our way and in the end said, that she wants her own Camera! 

She made a photo of her shoes

...and she memorised the bench

She went to bushes to have a closer look at the plants.

The weather was soft and quiet today. There was no breeze of wind in a misty landscape. It felt almost like being in a turkish Sauna without the heat. It was moist, but not rainy. The air felt like a finest beauty treatment on my skin, like a body lotion. The dutch winter can be mild and mysterious.(When it is not raining all the time). It looks like a very thin, soft material covering the view and giving some protection. The hard winter is somewhere else. I read about the snow, freezing cold and storms from the news every day. 

It was a good, slow and spontaneous sunday. I spent some special time with a special person and we had many good moments. It is funny when you think it afterwards, it is a long list of small things we did today together. I hope she will remember later some of those things. I think we gave a lot of inspiration to each other and I hope we will have many days like this now, in the near future and later in our lives.

The last two photos are from my walk alone. The big advertisement of Cola just above the sport Club. I guess they are making some sort of renovation in the building and this picture is hiding the mess. In the evening light it looked good and I love the colours and how the whole absurd beauty made a beautiful reflections on the surface of the canal. Soft end for a soft Sunday.