Category: Europe

4 Favorite London Spots

Visiting your best friend is always a good idea. Visiting her while she is living in London even better! London offers so many exciting opportunities, it is almost impossible to enjoy all of its delights. Especially when you have just 6 days to fit everything in.

We all know the must see’s in a city like this. If you go sight seeing, for sure you’ve thought about the Big Ben, Kensington Palace, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and so on. Al great to have seen, for sure. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with postcard worthy pictures!

Let’s give you a sneak peak into a more edgy, urban London, the London not all tourist are lucky enough to discover.

Here are my London highlights;

Camden Town

I could’ve literally spend a whole day at the markets in Camden Town; from vintage clothing, to antiques, beautiful jewelry, delicious food, and everything in between at reasonable (often cheap) prices. Or by just watching all the people passing by. Everybody walked around owning their own personality and style.

Camden Town itself offers some real eye-candy; from extraordinary graffiti – including a few Banksy gems – to stores covered in statues of dragons and angels. While you’re at it, visit Cyberdog; not only for its neon selling products but also for the futuristic style the whole shop has been decorated in. It’s like walking into a 22nd century nightclub.

Camden Town is a place like no other and should definitely be visited while in London.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

Although it’s a replica of the original, it’s a great place to see the Shakespeare plays performed as how they were written to be performed. During my visit we’ve seen Hamlet, and I loved how this Danish Tragedy all worked with the Elizabethan Style stage. A Shakespeare classic in only two and a half hours; more than worth it.

Hyde Park

If you’re looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, head to Hyde Park for a break. It’s a wonderful place to get away, enjoy a picnic or to have some drinks with friends. Especially during the summer it’s the perfect spot to obtain some rare strokes of sunshine while laying there and enjoying your perfect day at the park.

If you’re lucky enough there will be a festival hosted and you can even enjoy its music! I was lucky enough to hear the Rolling Stones – unfortunately not see them – but nevertheless a wonderful experience.

East – London

When we got off the tube I thought we were totally lost. But after only one foot into Brick Lane, just one look, I was flabbergasted. Vintage shops as the Blitz, second hand bookstores & people who were wearing the most creative outfits. Besides that there where so many art galleries. Actually everywhere you looked, you saw a piece of art. Almost every single brick created this artistic image. It’s one of the more urban & expressive area’s of London.

Fell in love again with one of the most beautiful cities I ever visited. London has got it’s own style and its own way to inspire people. Gotta love London! ♥

Govent Garden

Ministry of Sound

Picadilly Circus

Art Europe Singer & Songwriter The Netherlands

From beer(s) to performance

Post author By Niekartistiek
Post date May 24, 2017
No Comments on From beer(s) to performance

Ready to serve Rock ‘n Roll

I am in love with the power of music. This experience has been the kick-off of my performing adventures as a – although I did a cover – Singer&Songwriter. Jep, this is a story of my very first unscheduled live performance. EVER.

A crazy night of celebration was what brought us one of the best nights I’ve had so far in Nijmegen (The Netherlands). It started with a great pubcrawl, we had laughs, stories and a lot of “Cheers!” through the whole night. We ended up at this wonderful Rock ‘n Roll bar Dollars. It was crowded, but in the right way.

The live music was terrifically awesome. Some very good choirs (even one from Harvard, you should google them, the Harvard Krokodiloes , Harvards oldes A Capella singing group) and some performances which I really wished to be on my Spotify playlist. Was standing in the front row and had a little chat with one of the singers. Told her I play guitar once in a while and did a little singing. After encouraging peptalks (and lots of beers!) later, I found the courage to answer the one question she asked on stage: “Nikky, would you like to perform on stage?!”

The crowd was yelling, calling my name, and before I even could consider if it even was a good idea (that probably was the beer doing its job) I stepped on stage. This spontaneous action consisted: a random guitar in my hands and go with the flow! It was pretty amazing and definitely awesome to do.

Sang some Norah Jones and Oasis, and the crowd loved it. It gave me the most epic feeling in the world, and an even better feeling afterwards, when some random people said some really nice things about me and what I just did.

Had an incredible experience and an unforgettable night. Reliving this night has already put a smile on my face again. This experience is what made me pursue more of my music dreams, and even got me to perform more often while I was still in The Netherlands.

Every dream starts somewhere.

Europe The Netherlands Travel

Travel & War

Why I love to travel by train

You get the chance to have a quick meeting with other people. Interesting people. That’s what happened to me in the summer of 2013. Jep, a major throwback, but I just had to share this story.

During one of my many train travels in The Netherlands, I’ve met an old man, close to the age of eighty, with a friendly personality and a folding bike. He told me about his grandson, who is studying in Groningen. His granddaughter, who after a year studying Law in Leiden, now has been admitted to the conservatory. However, she was not the only one in the family with a passion for music.

And so it was, that while we passed Ede – Wageningen, he began his story.

His father and grandfather had a music company together. It was in times of war, 1945. He was a young kid, just 13 years old. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Every single detail.

He was helping his father in the music company where he liked to write down the music. How suddenly the sound of flying planes arrived and how quickly he’d to run away, out of the shop. How his dad asked him to stay in the bombshelter. But how curious he was and how excited about seeing the planes. He saw the bomb and its destruction which wiped out the whole music shop. Nothing was left of it. He was a lucky guy, cause he survived.

He stopped for a little while before he continued. He told me about his ride to school, on his bike. How one day changed it all. He heard screaming, shouting. Again his curiosity brought him in a difficult situation. A hard one. He went toward the yelling sound, but before he could see what it was about, he was pulled of his bike. The German soldier put him in a line, with about 15 other man. They had to stand side by side with their backs against the wall. He was surrounded by German soldiers, with their rifles in their hands. He said he couldn’t remember being ever that scared.

The man next to him whispered: “This is bad, this is really bad”. He must have looked really scared, cause one of the soldiers grabbed him. He started yelling at him: “Weg! Weg! Zur Schule!!” and after a pat on the head and a hard push he let him go. He run and run and kept running towards his bike, and the moment he turned around, he saw all the man in line getting killed with loud shattering shots.

Later he learned that the man who had grabbed him out of the line was no other than the highest German officer in his hometown. He was told that the German officer has been attacked at a bar, but wasn’t harmed. Out of pure anger and revenge the German soldiers had gathered all the innocent men they could find and killed them in that specific line.

I noticed that his bright blue eyes turned wet. He added, he still doesn’t know how to feel. Should he feel anger and hate against the officer, for killing all these innocent men? Whether he was grateful, that he is still alive?

97a6v I was speechless. And when the train stopped, it was hard to say goodbye to this kind man, even though I just met him half an hour ago. Strange isn’t it, how a stranger becomes so much more in just a couple of minutes. How a passenger can open your eyes, and not only let you look, but allows you to see.

Even if there are some question marks left, you can still enjoy life and make the best of it. Not everything is good or bad. Right or wrong. Black or white. Sometimes its just the big gray mess in between.