Jim's travels

Berlin day 4

Sep 2, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

A different sort of day today, and the main reason I came to Berlin, I was away to the Olympic Stadium volunteering at the ISTAF athletics event being held there. The stadium was extremely interesting and architecture is stunning, there are panels all around telling the story of how it was built and of Some of the events held there in the past, it made for fascinating reading.

Again I met some really nice people and I enjoyed my time there and would more than likely do it again next year. The athletics were also very good. By the time I returned to it city it was time for dinner so I popped back to Friedrichstrasse andthe Berliner Republik and Brokers Beirorse,the food, beer and atmosphere just suited my mood.

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Berlin Day 3

Sep 2, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Street Art, Travel

An interesting day today, in the morning I took a 3-hour bike tour of the city, led by a Londoner called Rhys, he was very knowledgable about the city and its past. Starting from Alexanderplaz we visited May popular sites, I will go into more detail later in ‘My TripsAway’ section. When I finished the tour, I was a a loose end until I stumbled into another street art walking tour, his time led by David, a guy from Aberdeen, I tagged along and had a really interesting and enjoyable tour with him, visiting loads more places and sites of street art, I was quite pleased to find a piece by Vhils on my travels,

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again I will into more detail later.

Berlin Day 2

Aug 31, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art, Travel

I had a leisurely stroll into town for breakfast before heading to the meeting place for the street art walking tour I was going on, on the way I decided to go on one of the bike tours of the city, so I booked a 3hr one for Saturday morning. The street art tour was very good and the workshop which followed was great fun, we got a chance to create our own stencil then used a few different techniques to create our own piece of ‘art’, our guide Alex was very knowledgeable and entertaining. In the evening I visited the East Side Gallery where there is a graffiti painted stretch of the wall, usual I took a great many photographs, these and more details of my day will be found on the relevant sections later.

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Berlin Day 1

Aug 30, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Up at sparrows fart this morning to get me to the airport for 6 am to catch a flight to Berlin, everything went well and I arrived in the city in plenty of time to take a wander and get my bearings before checking in to my accommodation. During my walk I didn’t get to see much street art but I have a walking tour arranged fo tomorrow so I’m hopeful of seeing plenty.

Today was mainly about getting my bearings and going to places like the Brandenburg Gate, The Reichtag, Tiergarten, Siegessaule, and Alexanderplatz which is very near where I am staying.

In the evening I took a train along Friedrichstrasse o have dinner in the Berliner Republik and Brokers Beirorse, this was an interesting place, the food and beer was very good and the beer prices were displayed on large brokerage screens wth the prices rising or following dependant on demand. I took a slow stroll back to a ell deserved early night, all in all it was a very good day and I’m sure ill enjoy the rest of my time in Berlin.

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At the Crossroads

Aug 28, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I’ve just come back from a visit to the Barn at The Crossroads in Abbotsford Place in the Gorbals, I went primarily to see a new mural by, what appears to be their artist in residence, EJEK. Ably supported and assisted by some of the youths who attend the centre, Danny has created a great mural which reflects the organisations’ aims and objectives, that “everyone should have the right to live gloriously”. Nick, one of the Youth Workers, also displayed a talent with the can by adding some mission statements on a nearby wall.

Ejek & the Kids

Suntrans great bike rack/planters

Nick’s work

The Barn is a wonderful space in the Gorbals and Laurieston area of the city, originally built by Crossroads Youth & Community Association, and the local people as a response to the lack of facilities and opportunities for young people in what was one of Glasgow’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

The dedicated staff and volunteers at the centre work hard to deliver a vibrant, fun, and effective programme of youth work aimed at developing a range of competencies and capabilities to help young people be successful members of their community.

As I had photographed and documented, the many murals, also created by Danny and the young people around the centre and the surrounding area, in a previous posting on the site (My Mural Trail #4), it was good to see this new piece, sponsored by Sustrans, the cycling charity, I really liked the fabby bike rack/planters in front of the mural. The Barn is becoming the place to visit to see really good street art and murals in the South Side of the city, some of you may remember the wonderful tribute to Marvel’s Stan Lee EJEK created there last year, all of the art is outdoors and visible to the passing public.

Busy Week Gone Past

Aug 18, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art, Travel

I’ve had a busy few days recently, I took a trip to Edinburgh with my mate Jim, for a change of scene. We watched some Fringe performers, had lunch and a couple of beers and took some photographs of the Oor Willie sculptures dotted around the city, we even popped down to the Ocean Terminal at Leith. Our visit to Leith reminded me that I promised to post some street art pictures I had taken there last year, they can be seen here.

Royal Yacht Britannia

Fringe Festival

Oor Jim & the Proclaimers

This weekend I was volunteering at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow Green, this is an event I enjoyed visiting in the past as a spectator so having the opportunity to be involved was much appreciated. I really enjoyed the weekend immensely, hearing some good music, met some great people and heard many tales of how some bands were formed, especially Malaysia’s Sri Dasmesh Sikh pipe band who won the Grade 4B championship in addition to the best for overall and drumming as well as displaying best parade, I had a chance to have a conversation with them and they were all a really nice bunch of guys and the story of how the band was formed was very interesting (their story). The premier award of World Champions of 2019 went to Inveraray and District Pipe Band.

Back in the city

Aug 7, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

Back in Glasgow after my recent travels, I noticed a couple of new pieces, 3 good looking portraits by James Klinge in Midland Street, a nice little piece in my favourite pub, The Raven by EJEK and a couple of Giant Pandas loose in the city, one on Sauchiehall Street and another on the hoarding next to the Safe Hands Barbers on Miller Street.

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Street Art in Scandinavia

Aug 6, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Street Art

Now that things have quietened down a bit for me, I’ve been able to get my blog and site updated, I have now added sections for the Street Art I discovered whilst in Sweden and Denmark, the photographs can be seen here.

My Scandi Travels

Aug 5, 2019Aug 5, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting much recently, I was away volunteering at some athletics championships in Sweden and combined that with some touristy bits while I was there. You can read all about my travels here.

While I was in Sweden and Denmark I found a great deal of street art, I will add some photographs in the relevant sections later.

On the Town

Jul 7, 2019 by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Music, Street Art

I had a bit of a pub crawl on Friday, I had arranged to meet my son Graeme for lunch starting off with a pint in Brewdog’s Doghouse on Hutcheson St. Looking for something different for lunch we went round to Mikaku, Glasgow’s new Japanese Izakaya-style restaurant on Queen St. Lunch there was brilliant, the Ramen and Yaki Gyoza’s were excellent, all washed down with a nice pint of Asahi. The large Blade Runner styled mural by Rogue One along the main wall made it more enjoyable for me.

Graeme had to collect some records from Mono in King St., where I bumped into Nick, a friend from the Barn in the Gorbals, so we stayed a while for a beer with him. We were joined later by some of Nicks mates, including Conzo & Globel, (which reminded me that I hadn’t posted my wide angle shot of their Yardworks piece, you can see it above).

A good few pints later we decided to move onto the Scotia Bar on Stockwell St, this turned out to be a great choice, the beer was very good and we happened to be sitting next to a guy called Danny, Danny, a visiting American music teacher, who had his fiddle with him, was desperate to play some of his traditional music in Glasgow, we eventually convinced the staff there to let him play, we, and the punters in the pub, really enjoyed his playing and he was asked for more and more tunes. After a few too many beers and eventually after getting Danny on a train to Edinburgh, I drifted home after a really great day out with Graeme, I certainly felt a wee bit fragile in the morning.