KAMIJO 20th Anniversary Best @ The Garage, London

Hey folks!
Today I'm writing about something that has occurred recently, actually! It's only been a day since I went to see KAMIJO in London for his 20th anniversary tour and I'm still not fully over it. Seeing him again after such a long time made me fall in love all over again...
But now, on to the pictures:

This was my look for the live. I went for a more elegant princely look with overknee boots, black trousers, a white shirt and my lovely ASOS blazer. I also wore a rose headband but unfortunately you can't see it in the picture.
At around 9 am, I left my room to head towards the station. I quickly grabbed some snacks and water, then had breakfast and waited for my train while listening to Versailles, KAMIJO and Lareine in order to prepare for the night.

Excited Shou at the station! It was quite chilly in the morning so I was wearing my thick winter coat. At around 1 pm, I arrived in London King's Cross. I hurried out of the station to find my hotel, then quickly checked in and started to explore the city a bit more.

Near St Pancras Station. The building was so beautiful! I almost went inside the British Library but then I figured I needed more time to go there, so I ditched the idea and headed to the venue instead. The funny thing was, The Garage was located in Islington- the exact quarter of the city where the family in my former English book at school used to live. Oh, the nostalgia...
I quickly got my VIP number from the people waiting at the venue, then headed to a nearby supermarket to get some food and a bouquet of white flowers for KAMIJO. If I had known how well they would match his costume...
The waiting time passed quite quickly because I met some nice people in the queue- hello, fellow Northerners!- and we spent the time chatting away. At around 6 pm-ish we finally got inside for the meet & greet. I was so nervous but at the same time strangely calm... but when I finally stood in front of KAMIJO himself and handed him the flowers, I thought I would pass out any second. He was really polite and sweet, though!

The concert itself was absolutely amazing. KAMIJO did his best to put on a great show and to create a good atmosphere. The setlist was a good mix of old Lareine classics (Fuyu Tokyo, Bara wa utsukushiku chiru, etc.),  popular songs from Versailles (Masquerade, Ascendead Master and more) but also some of his solo material (Adagio of the Full Moon, Louis, Dying-Table, Death Parade and so on). I could sing along to almost every single song which made me really happy.
Concerning merch, there was a good selection of different things: I got a T-shirt, the armband & sticker set + pin. Way to go, just blew 60 GBP on merch! Well at least the money was spent on stuff I actually love...
After the live I quickly headed back to my hotel. On the way, I grabbed some 'dinner' (if you can call scones and chocolate bars actual dinner) and then shamelessly stuffed my face with it once I was in my room.

All the delicious stuff! I actually enjoyed the dark chocolate KitKat the most, it was just otherworldly good...
So then today at around 5:30 I headed to King's Cross station again to catch my train back to York.

I do approve of the architecture! Especially when there's nobody around to disturb you while you're snapping away..

Well, as you probably could've guessed, my day way wonderful! I'm happy to have come all the way down to London to see Kamijo, it was definitely worth all my time and money. I wish lots of fun to everyone else who is going to see him on this tour!

You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible.

Hey folks!

With today's dramatic caption I want to introduce my current 'hometown' to you. My description boldly states that I'm currently living in the UK so I thought why not provide you with some pictures of the beautiful historic city that is York? (Also, what better way is there to procrastinate than to blog?) 

 First of all, a picture of me and some of my precious flatmates- I love you so much guys, you can't even imagine... (stolen from Stephanie's facebook, sorry!)

 Next up is a slightly surreal photo of our very own campus lake. These days it's either frozen or looks like a brown puddle, so this is definitely more beautiful.

 Strolling through The Shambles with my flatmates. Some houses there are from the 14th century and they look as if they've been taken right out of the set of Harry Potter. It is also said that J.K. Rowling got the inspiration for the Diagon Alley from this site.

 Would you expect that this regal entrance houses the best place for hot chocolate in York? I definitely didn't but I was proved wrong after I stepped over the treshold. When you're in York, definitely go to the "York Cocoa House" and try their "Quite Dark" chocolate, it's glorious.

 Another must-see when you're in York is the beautiful Gothic Minster. It's actually the second largest cathedral in Europe and I can well see why- it's huge. The whole complex also houses a garden and a beautiful ancient library. 

 Another characteristic feature of York's architecture are the numerous  city gates and little gatehouses. In some parts of the city you can actually walk on the old city walls which is fun and exciting, plus it gives you a nice view.

 This, however, is by far my favourite place in the city- the ruins of St Mary's Abbey. I go there every so often, even if it's just to drink coffee and stroll around the majestic remains of the church. There's a certain atmosphere lingering around the whole site which draws me in every time...

 Also, for those interested in archeology there is a large excavation site showing how the buildings were disposed when they were still there. 

 Not only is York the home of numerous lovely buildings and streets, it's also situated in the middle of a breath-taking landscape. Can you imagine that this meadow is right behind campus? 

 Moving away from serene architecture and landscape, let's take a look at my humble residence. This was from my flatmate Aileen's and my birthday party, in the background you see me trying to open a bottle of champagne without injuring anyone. In the end, the cork flew right out of the window so I'm glad we took safety precautions. 

 Another shot from my birthday party- casually showing off my tattoo while holding a bottle of wine. Probably I liked the design? 

 The party crowd-it was a fun night with lots of food, drinks and shenanigans. 

 From the more secular aspects of life, back to the ethereal beauty of architecture. Often when you're just casually strolling through the city, suddenly a church you've never seen before pops up in front of you. This is paradise for an architecture lover like me, I tell you...

 Now on to something more spooky- apparently there are quite a few restless souls roaming around York, hence the numerous ghost tours. This picture was taken in the most haunted pub in the city which also has the best pub food around. It's called "The Golden Fleece" and there are more-or-less friendly skeletons all over the place.

 Remember when I talked about walking on the city walls? Here we go! 

 One would maybe not expect it, but the walls are really high! I felt slightly nauseous looking down from all the way up there, but the view was definitely worth it. 

 Casual pre-Christmas outing with my flatmates (almost all of them). There's a lovely pub called "The Charles" near our college, so we often go there for dinner and to catch up on each other's lives.

 Here's the campus lake at night- truly magical, isn't it?

 However, York is not only about studying, partying and living la vida loca. The university has a lot of cultural events, mostly organised by students, as this wonderful exhibition which was curated by one of my coursemates and friends. I was clearly fascinated by it, as you can see.

 Adding to the cultural part of life, York also has a really exciting history! It was first established as a Roman city, then conquered by Vikings and then finally by the English. Currently there's a Viking festival taking place and yesterday I went there with one of my flatmates.

 We had the chance to see an epic battle re-enactment completely with weapons and armour from the Viking period and we got really into the spirit of a fierce Viking battle.

"For there can be only one with glorious hair!"

I hope this post was entertaining at all. See ya next time!

Augustissima Venetorum urbs quae una hodie libertatis ac pacis, et iustititiae domus est...

Hey folks!

Today I'm going to show you some long overdue pictures from my journey to Venice last year in August. For those who read Latin, I hope you recognised the hymn on Venice by Petrarch where I nicked the title of this post from. That being said, I think that he's well right in expressing his fascination for the lagoon city- once you've been there, it's not a place you'll easily forget. I'm still impressed with the magical beauty that floats around in the city, it's just not from this world... But enough with the rambling, on to the pictures now!

 View of the city from the Canal Grande

 Strolling around on St Mark's Square

 Impressive sculptures at Arsenale

 A view of Murano

The Ducal Palace

View of a canal 

 Casually matching the flowers near the Università Ca Foscari

A little shrine for the Virgin Mary on the wall of a house 

The gorgeous interior of the Basilica di San Marco 

 Having fun at the beach in Lido

An amazing glass sculpture in Murano, next to a belltower 

A small street with private houses 

Modern installation by Heinz Mack near the church of San Giorgio Maggiore 

"The sky over nine columns" installation by Heinz Mack, architecture biennial 2014

Now I'm asking you: Are you feeling the magic?