Return to the UK: Brief Urbex around Kent Pt. I

I left the beautiful (and at times grimey) Paris for a few days for the rather grey, wet and cold Canterbury. The trip was primarily for graduation, and because I feel I deserve bragging rights for my feat I'm going inform you all- I got a distinction in my MA, yeahhhh. I did it. Despite the distractions of living in Paris. Anyways, I couldn't not go back without breaking out the cameras, boots and thick jumpers, and calling up a mate or two to go do some exploring. The latter was only figuratively, I can't call anyone up in England since my phone has decided not to accept any calls whilst I am in the UK and only occasionally lets me receive texts. Joys of technology. But here are some snaps.

I don't know why I like this one so much, but I do. This place had a lot of (sometimes idiotic) words on it. Look at my instagram feed for some of the more dumb phrases I found. These willl be gradually posted.

These stairs were a tad mysterious I feel.

"Stay Down Stairs!" Ehhh, no? Instead we carried on, hopped the wall and got on the roof. 

Peekaboo!

Jelly fish?

"Come Live with Me" ? Not entirely sure. Looks like "Line" to me but that makes little sense. But nor does it make sense to leave threats to stay downstairs followed by something that amounts to "stay here with me".

"Hail Discordia

Just some outbuilding I wanted to peek in.

Some more interior shots.

We went on some more missions in Kent that day before the sun ran away, but I will save them for another post, so stay tuned....

The Day After the All-Nighter in the Catas: La Petite Ceinture

So because I have absolutely no respect for my legs when they wake up and say "Nope,  not today. Not after you spent all night crawling in the Catas, you can't surely expect to be able to walk four hours down la petite ceinture". Well apparently I do. And we did. After not very much sleep we set off to knock another chunk off the map, and I am so glad we did. Maybe this is one of my favourite sections, it was certainly the most interesting, and worth pushing past the achy-ness for. Even if I did get stuck on top of a fence when my legs TOTALLY gave up on me.

This seemed like an appropriate photo to start with, because I really can't get away from the LPC...!

Some close up details of the sides of the station (pictured further down).

 The station, now La Flech d'Or, a music venue.

My companion for the weekend (who agreed to join me on his only spare day in Paris trekking down the tracks!),

Another close up.

I found the way this part had been decorated really interesting, and as a result took way too many pictures! However, moving on to the next station...

This bit was full of people practicing street art, so we didn't hang around long. My appalling French is not up to par with engaging in conversations about such things.

This guy had a pretty spiffing hat, shame he moved so fast I wasn't able to get a decent shot.

We then seemed to hit a section full of pandas, and love and clovers. And "Rain is Pink". I am not too sure what they were on when they wrote that.!

I leave you with one such panda: Be Lucky he says.

Paris Street Art: In Situ at Fort d'Aubervillers

On what turned out to be an extremely hot day (even for my Italian accomplice, it wasn't just my mainly British-conditioning) and the final day of In Situ, I went to go check it out before it was closed. And I am mighty glad we braved the heat because it was well worth a visit. 

One of the first few pieces.

The entrance gate to Fort d'Aubervillers.

This was one of my favorites, though a little unnerving with all the eyeballs, I loved the contrast of textures between the slightly rusty corrugated iron at the back and Victorian-esque angel perching among the rocks and eyes.

Ram-skull..? I am sold. I have a minor (major?) fascination with these...!

What really struck me about the exhibit was location combined with the colors. Though it felt a little like we were attending an exhibition in the desert at times (the foliage in these pictures are deceiving as most of the land was barren- owing to the concrete), the sheer brightness and power of the art in a somewhat neglected grey space was very effective. Also put me in any abandoned place that has been reclaimed by humans and I am happy...

My friend that came with me also commented (and I agree) that more ugly warehouse type buildings ought to be spruced up like this. Like William Morris said, 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or beautiful', or in this case, outside..!

This one below was a tribute to the punks that occupied the space after it ceased to be of use to the military.

Several burnt out cars had also been reclaimed as an unconventional canvas, I recognized the handiwork of the one below from some art in the 13 arrondissement of Paris.

 And this one reminded me of the picture I saw in Strasbourg, I think its the same artist.

 This was one of my favorite areas, where the artists were each assigned an alcove to fill.

Gagged chicken, just 'cuz.

Catacombs anyone??

 I adored this one, with all the butterflies, it deff struck a cord- books can indeed inspire dreams.

This one below is just stunning, "Open your Eyes".

 A WIP.

And finally, I leave you with Superman.