Welcome to Weirdoland

I've just spent ten days waking up at 5.30 or 6 am sometimes but rarely later (6.30 or 7) to go on the set of the new film "At the Heart of the Battle" that will be showcased for years to come at the new Napoleonic museum of Belgium. The film, directed by the acclaimed Belgian director Gérard Corbiau, recreates the battle of Waterloo and aims to place, as its title might give away, at the heart of the action, using groundbreaking technology. I had the luck and joy of witnessing the shoot as a member of the press. Other press organisations visited the set during an organised session (I have a couple of hilarious stories about the most ignorant BBC presenter ever, if you're nice I'll tell you a little later). Ten days interviewing interesting people, taking some amazing shots of horse charges, troops marching in the sunset light, a cavalier falling off his horse repeatedly. I must say it was very impressive. Ten days of writing features of different aspects of ...

I have been absent in the last two weeks but this fact can easily be explained by the presence of my mum and grandma who were here for the first time. I tried spending as much time as I could with them, juggling between them and work. I even established my headquarters in the apartment I rented for them. But because I'm nice and all, I present you, in pictures yet, the highlights of my two-week-absence : Three crazy generations... Massada birds If you happen to know what kind of bird this is, please share! A little urbex on the way back from the dead sea The Wailing Wall Ruins from the 2006 bombardment of Haifa. This house has been converted into a stable. Flea market in downtown Haifa. Abra Kadabra! Haifa The liberal mosque of Akko. And its inside. Akko shuq. He can smell it, can you smell it? What? The food!! The old port of Akko. Old Akko. Akko shuq. A mural in Nachlaot, Jerus...

I am probably getting boring going on about Jerusalem in every single post... I shall change the subject soon. This shall be my last post about Jerusalem before I go on to other places such as Masada, Ein Gedi, Yam HaMelakh (The Sea of Salt aka the Dead Sea), Haifa, etc. somewhere near the tomb of King David. Near King David's tomb, I met an old guide, and again, I told him I had no money but he still wanted to show me around eventhough he was a real guide. It was a little late and I already had plans so he told me to meet him at Sha'ar Zion at 10am the next morning. So I went back the next morning and he was late so I sat waiting. Some people obviously working there started asking me who I was waiting for so I described the man. They got all worried when they identified him. "Are you sure?", "did he bother you?" "did he do anything to you?" and so on... I got a little worried when I finally saw him arrive but I made sure we stayed in cro...

!! שבת שלום I met so many people in Jerusalem, from the weird guy selling bread at Sha'ar Iafo to that homeless free spirited religious man who hangs out near the Kotel and the Golden Menorah Replica who invited me for a walk around the old city ramparts before buying me tea. And his friend who lives underneath his shop on Rehov Chabad who gave me a picture of an aerial view of the Old Jerusalem and a large bottle of water for no apparent reason then invited me inside to watch french tv which he did not understand. I am glad I am writing this, in a certain way it allows me to relive things I did not especially wrote down in my diary. At the hostel, I met David who was volunteering there and told me about a Rabbi (of whom I have forgotten the name unfortunately) who welcomes anyone that shows up for Shabbat dinner on Friday night, Saturday at lunch and Saturday night for the Havdallah. And the word is on the street so sometimes the house located in Mea Shearim is too sm...

Where was I? On my way to Jerusalem. Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, one hour by bus. I was never so happy to take a bus. During my trip I kept coming back to this magnificent, so unique city. After just two days, I knew my way around the old city which still had plenty of secrets for me to discover, but at least I knew where to go. This city... it just made me feel like no other city never had. The history behind it, the legends, the atmosphere, everything just attracted me like a very strong magnet. The view from my hostel rooftop. It felt so great. I won't tell you about what there is to see in Jerusalem because that is what travel guides are for and they probably have a better idea, I'm just going to talk about my experience of Jerusalem. A hello here, a hello there as I walked the hundreds of year old steps of the Old City, as sellers were trying to get my attention and eventually my money. I never stopped. I was not there to buy made in china souvenirs, I was t...

Before leaving Tel Aviv for Jerusalem, I went to Jaffa. I didn't spend too much time there as everything was closed, I think it was Shabbat and I was leaving first thing the next morning to Jerusalem, but I still got to see many beautiful things that made me want to go back. And I did later during my trip. I must say I really fell in love with Jaffa. When I went back there I stayed at the Old Jaffa Hostel which was great, I enjoyed their rooftop lounge with the open air kitchen, it is a really nice place. Right across my hostel was the nicest little shop,  Hasadna , where I bought many things. They do a lot of art objects with recycled materials, it's very interesting. A little further in the street, I discovered a very good restaurant where, for some strange reason, the waitress offered me a home made cookie and home made iced tea and I know I was the only customer to get that treatment. Puaa it was called, they have a french and english menu but I took the Hebre...

So the first day I was in Tel Aviv I met Igal who owns a luggage shop on Rehov Ben Yehuda (74) . I met him because I had blisters and I had to sit down to put plasters on my feet and on the first bench I sat on, there he was. It is so weird to arrive in a country where you expect to not understand anyone and out of the blue, someone starts talking to you in your own language then of course I told him I speak a little Hebrew and he lost me in a very long discussion that was in fact a monologue. Why was I talking about him ? Ah yes, he expanded my Hebrew vocabulary, not very much but there are at least two words I clearly remember: devek ve'misparaim, glue and scissors, the first two items I remember buying in Israel. And why did I have to urgently buy these on my first day? So I could make the object of this post: my notebook (my preciouuuuuusssss). I must say I hated Tel Aviv at first because it was my first day in a country I didn't know all alone and I had had such a b...

I have finally found the time  to publish parts of my travel notebook. Many of you have not seen it yet as I must admit I have not been seeing a lot of people this past summer. Anyway, I will not publish it all in one go and will certainly not publish it all because firstly there are just waaaaaay too many pages and secondly, some pages are just not worth it. I will also add some pictures I took and I will take the time to write personally to everyone I have met and got their info during this journey. I want to thank everyone that made this trip possible et plus particulierement ma maman who made everything possible to make it happen. Thank you all for having followed me during these six incredible weeks, here's to you:

I don't know whether I have mentionned this in previous posts but in just a few days, I should be leaving for HaEretz HaKaddosh, the Holy Land in Hebrew, Israel. Now, you have to know I have been dreaming about this for a few years now and decided last November I would do this in June which is now coming very soon. I am the most excited girl on earth right now. I am so determined I saved a lot of money (a huuuuuuuuuuge amount) to pay for this trip. I will be leaving on my own for a whole month, travelling by bus with my backpack. Hopefully I will be able to go to Palestine too (shhhh this is a secret) eventhough my grandma told me it was waaaaaaaaaaay too dangerous. But this is what I want to do; travel and see for myself to be able to make my own opinion. It is one of the most important things of my life, I have never really travelled alone (except when I went to Portugal when I was 15 but I stayed at friends') and I am going there to disconnect from the rest of the World ...

Vous connaissez? Aujourd'hui je vous présente Gilad Benari , photographe Israélien né à Haifa, très respecté par la communauté DeviantArt   où il met régulièrement sa galerie à jour. Après une carrière dans le marketing (carrière qu'il a toujours d'ailleurs), il se trouve une passion pour l'écriture. En 2002, à la naissance de son fils Yotam, il décide de s'acheter un Olympus c40 pour la documenter, l'appareil qui va changer sa vie. C'est à ce moment là qu'il découvre sa passion pour la photographie. Au début, il illustrait ses écrits par la photo, puis peu à peu, ses clichés sont devenus populaires, il a commencé à pratiquer la photographie en tant que telle, il n'a cependant pas arrêté d'écrire pour autant. En 2003 il décroche sa première expo qui fût un succès (couverture des médias, excellentes critiques). C'est à ce moment là qu'il s'est promis que dix ans plus tard il ne vivrait que de son art car jusqu'à présent il a c...