March 2018 Archives

Earlier this month, street artist Fanakapan painted a new mural on the huge wall that is one of the buildings on the entrance at Star Yard. Fanakapan is a street artist based in London, and he paints silver balloons, chrome, and glass items. I've watched his style evolve over the past few years, and more of his work can seen at the bottom of this post. Earlier in the year, he painted a mural on Hanbury Street called "Follow the Leader", and this is still in place at the time of writing.

The new mural depicts glass stars with an astronaut figure as used in the MagnaDonut logo.

Another street artist named Envol, who sometimes paints alongside of Fanakapan, has painted two pieces in Star Yard at the same time. One is in the doorway at the base of the large mural, and the other is in the square itself.

This is a large-scale and stunning piece, but my photographs did not do it any justice as it is a difficult piece to photograph in certain lighting, and every time I have seen it, it has been too bright or too dark.

A little over a week ago, I returned from a couple of days at Disneyland Paris on my second ever visit. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the park, which opened in 1992. I have previously covered aspects of my trip in other posts on this blog, including the 25th Disneyland Paris Illuminations, "Star Wars" at Disneyland Paris, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey and Friends, and the 25th Anniversary Parade at Disneyland Paris. This post covers Disneyland Park and Studios in general and the rides, dining, and other attractions.

First up are the rides. The first visit was to Walt Disney Studios park. This is a smaller park with mainly film-oriented attractions. I've previously been on the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror", which is one of those rides that takes you up and drops you. I'm not a fan of those, so I did not go on it this time. I am not very good with heights. They also had some rides for children here, such as cars that children could drive and the "Ratatouille" ride, which is absolutely amazing. On this ride, which is indoors, visitors are sat into a mouse, and this takes you through different areas of a restaurant where you become a mouse and see everything from a mouse's view. You feel wind, smell smells of the restaurant, and see animations projected onto a larger-than-life screen. It really feels like you are in the film.

The other attraction or "ride" is the Studio Tram Tour, which is a ride that I also previously went on in my last visit. You can see a few props and vehicles from the films and a scene where a truck and oil field is set on fire and put out by rushing water, which really is impressive. The other scene here is a replica of a London underground station.

One of the other attractions at the studios was the motors one. I have previously been to this. It basically takes you through filming an action scene in a car film.

In the main park, there are quite a few rides for children. The "Snow White" and "Peter Pan" rides are for children. The "Snow White" ride may be a little scary for children because of the witch, but I think it depends on the child. There are also cars that children could drive, and many other rides.

I also went on the "Pirates" ride, which is executed very well with the detail of what happens around, but it's more of a ride for children. And of course, "It's a Small World", which I found very disturbing on various levels.

The castle could also be explored with a dragon in the dungeon and the upstairs being the "Sleeping Beauty" castle with stained glass and gargoyles.

I also rode on the carousel. 

There are other attractions in the park to explore, such as the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse from the film of the same name. I loved this film when I was a child, and it was my favourite film for about a year. 

Another was "Davey Jones' Locker", which featured a hillside shaped like a skull and is a cave that can be explored. It's a maze, and there's a few skeletons and the skeleton of Davey Jones hiding with a treasure, which can be viewed from one point.

The "Molly Brown" riverboat can also be ridden on, and this just goes around the island where the Thunder Mountain ride is.

There are three larger rides here that are suitable for older kids and adults, and my favourite of these is "Thunder Mountain". During my last visit, I only got to ride this once as the lines were too long and the person I went with did not want to ride it. The lines were even longer this time, so I only got to ride it twice.

The other ride, which I enjoyed on my last visit but which I felt is too short now, is the "Indiana Jones" ride.

A ride that I've been on close to ten times now is "Hyperspace Mountain", and this ride has now been turned into "Star Wars", which is really cool. I only got to ride on this ride once this time; the lines were just far too long on this visit. The screens and bright colours were replaced with laser and images of "Star Wars" battles and ships. 

I also went to the "Star Tours" next door, which was another space attraction with video and seats that moved. This has also been upgraded to become a "Star Wars" ride.

The X-wing is still there as well.

Visitors can also ride the steam train around the park, but there's no interesting things to look at around the route really. You can see a little bit of the pirate ride and the lake with Thunder Mountain.

Next up is Main Street, the area with all of the shops and some cafes and restaurants. This was decorated like an American town. Visitors could ride in the vintage vehicles. The Main Street runs from the castle to the Disney hotel.

Characters could also be seen around the park, and they always had a line of people waiting to meet them to get photographs with them and autographs. I managed to get a few photographs of some of the characters.

Last, I will cover the dining options. There was one restaurant I did not get to get to, which was the steakhouse. But, I did get to Anette's Diner, Walt's Restaurant, and Chez Remy. You have to book the busy restaurants before you arrive in order to get a seat, so you need to plan your day to some extent.

Chez Remy was probably my favouirte in terms of food because the ratatouille was excellent; it tasted like Campbell's vegetable soup. I loved the chocolate mousse. Chez Remy is a tribute to the "Ratatouille" film, and the seats are giant cards or books with cutlery and plates. It's a mouse-eye-view restaurant.

Annette's Diner was another visit. The food is taken from an American diner, so it's greasy. Unfortunately, the service was very slow here. This restaurant cannot be booked.

Walt's Restaurant was the last restaurant on the visit, and you need to book this one as it gets busy. It is meant to be Walt Disney's favourite meals and good "homestyle" American food. It is the most expensive restaurant at the park. I ordered the turkey, which is described as a Thanksgiving diner. The food was okay but overpriced, but what was really good were the desserts. The ice cream came in a sculpted sugar bowl. I also enjoyed the mocktail cocktail with cotton candy. 

The last visit for food was to get snacks at Cable Car Bake Shop, and this was visited twice. The inside looks like an old style restaurant with booths. They sell baked goods (doughnuts, croissants) and coffee/cold drinks. I was lucky to visit on a couple of times when it was not too busy and needed a drink and to sit down as there's a lot of walking to be done in the park.

If I ever go again, I think it is worth buying VIP because most of the time was spent standing in the lines and this hurt my feet. The park certainly is a lot busier than it was when I first visited it around twelve years ago. Have you been to Disneyland Paris?

One of the major shows at Disneyland Paris is Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey Mouse and friends. This is a dinner show, so you eat while watching the show, and if you wish to attend the show, it is wise to book it in advance as I did. This is one attraction that is mainly in English, which is pretty rare at Disneyland Paris. It features characters that have existed in history, such as Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and Sitting Bull. These characters join Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, and Goofy. 

When entering the event, guests are given a coloured ticket in red, blue, yellow and green. I was given yellow. The coloured ticket signifies the team that you become a part of. The colours then went with a western state in the USA and to a cowboy with that colour. Yellow was gold star and Texas. There was also Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, but I am not sure which colours signified each now.

Before the show started, we could watch and listen to a western band, and then Goofy came on stage to participate in the fun. He was mainly there to get people excited about the show. 

Throughout the show, the Disney characters interacted with the cowboys. Real horses came on stage and participated in most of the tasks, and there were also oxen and buffalo brought on the stage at various times.

For food, there were tortilla chips (corn chips) to start and corn bread. The corn bread was delicious. Drinks were topped up throughout and included beer, water, or Cola. For the main meal, the non-vegetarian option was chilli (an American dish made with kidney beans, tomato sauce with a kick, and ground hamburger), ribs, chicken, and pork served with potatoes. I had the vegetarian option with vegetarian chili, pasta, and vegetables. (I took a photograph of it, but it did not turn out well.)

For dessert, apple crumble was brought out with ice cream shaped like a star. This is another American dish.

Have you ever been to Disneyland Paris's Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show?

Last week, I visited Disneyland Paris. I've previously posted about the "Star Wars" events taking place at the theme park. I also posted about the 25th anniversary parade at Disneyland Paris. This post focuses on the 25th anniversary illuminations. The illuminations showcased some of Disney's popular animations and films, including the "Star Wars" films that they acquired a few years ago. Animations were projected onto the castle, and the fireworks and fountains made the show come to life. They had a 25th anniversary special at the end. On the Sunday, which was St Patrick's Day, they also turned the castle green.

The illuminsations show starts just before closing at 8:00pm. I actually got there almost an hour before to nab a place near the front of the castle, but it was already becoming packed. If you want a good chance to view it in a good place, I suggest at least arriving at least half an hour before to nab a place. Also, it does get busy as a lot of people stay for this before leaving the park.

Mickey Mouse followed through with the complete animation sequence. Some of the animations were tributes to the princesses, "The Little Mermaid", "Finding Nemo", "Frozen", "The Lion King", and "Beauty and the Beast".

Have you ever seen the Disneyland Paris illuminations?

As a part of the 25th anniversary year at Disneyland Paris, a special "Season of the Force" ("Star Wars" tribute) also took place and was one of the main reasons that I visited Disneyland Paris. I have always enjoyed the original "Star Wars" films, and Disney bought the rights to the franchise several years ago and have carried on making a new trilogy and spin-off films and animations. This post covers the "Star Wars" special events that took place for a few months until the end of this month.

First of all, one of the special events that could be seen a couple of times during the day were the character entertainment. This consisted of a villans and heroes back-to-back 10-minute show. The different characters came on stage and posed on stage with blaster shots, character impersonations, or maneuvers. The stormtroopers shot guns, and Darth Maul performed some amazing stunts with the double-ended lightsabre. Darth Vader also had a special "meet and greet" session for "Star Wars" fans.

The highlight of the "Star Wars" activities were the illuminations at the Walt Disney Studios Park next door to the main Disneyland Paris park. These illuminations happen right before the others, which signal the closing of the park. Scenes from the original and new films were projected onto the ride "Hollywood Tower Hotel" ("Twilight Zone Terror"). These took us through different scenes (light-hearted and battle) from the films as well as showcased the characters. The Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field, huge Star Destroyer, Death Star battle, Imperial rally with flags, and character interactions on the stage added depth to the event. This was topped off with fireworks. My favourite parts were the original posters of the films that were animated, the Falcon flying through the asteroids, and the larger-than-life Death Star projected onto the building.

This certainly was one of my highlights of the visit. Have you seen the "Star Wars" illuminations or other shows at Disneyland Paris?

On Saturday evening, I returned from a break of a couple of days in Disneyland Paris. This was my second trip to Disneyland Paris after my first ever visit approximately twelve years ago. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the theme park in Europe. And no, I've never been to the ones in the U.S.A., unfortunately. Oh, and I had plans to go and had the dates booked just over ten years ago, but that's another story for another time. 

There's so much to see and do in Disneyland Paris, but this post is about the 25th Anniversary Parade. Of course, there is a daily parade at Disneyland at 5:00 in the afternoon with characters and floats that parade down Main Street. I've watched the parade at both ends of Main Street now. On my first visit, I viewed it on the castle end, and during the 25th anniversary, the characters actually performed a little bit on a stage made here in front of the castle. This year, I watched from the opposite end.

The parade started with a car dressed up with the 25th anniversary theme, and this was followed by some of the traditional and newer characters from the cartoons, films, and television shows.

This was followed by the float with the original Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. These characters are seen all around the park to greet visitors in different places. The characters were dressed in special outfits to commemorate 25 years.

The following floats then came by, and these were primarily newer films such as the Finding Nemo franchise films, Toy Story films, and The Huntsman.

I actually found Jesse and Woody to be a bit creepy -- especially Jesse. 

The Lion King and Peter Pan were additional floats.

One of the most popular parts of the parade were the Disney princesses. Some of them arrived by foot, walking and dancing. The others were pulled in a horse and carriage. If you or your kids are really into Disney princesses, this is probably the best opportunity to see them as I did not see the princesses out giving signatures and greeting guests in the main park. There is a "Princess Pavilion" and special meeting/greeting throughout certain times of the day, but these were nearly always over an hour to wait, and I am sure that the meeting and greeting only lasted a few minutes because of the large number of people.

The last float was dedicated to "Frozen" and had all of the popular characters.

Most of the parade's floats paid tribute to newer Disney animations over the older ones, which is what I have a preference toward. (There are a few of the newer Disney animations that I actually do not care for at all.)

I've included some tips to watch the parade at Disneyland Paris below.

1) Arrive early. The parade starts at 5:00 in the evening, so aim to get to Main Street at least half an hour before to grab a decent viewing point. My favourite viewing point was the roundabout at the castle end. If you are on the roundabouts on either end, make sure you stand in the correct direction in order to see the floats arriving. They approach to the left when looking down Main Street toward the castle, and they approach in the opposite direction (to the right) when looking down Main Street with the castle behind you.

2) After the parade, it seemed like most people aim to go back into the main park, so it may be worth going into the Walt Disney Studios instead as it should be a bit quieter.

3) Keep clear of the pavements during the parade. There are staff to ensure that the areas are kept clear so that no one gets hurt.

4) Make sure you have your camera ready and that it is charged and ready to go. This is certainly one of the events that you do not want to miss and that you want to take photographs of.

5) Remember to have fun.

I have recently discovered the name of the artist responsible for several small mask and character face figures pasted up on east London's streets over the past year. The little figures were not accompanied with an artist name, but I have discovered the artist behind them from the power of the Internet. There were several more of these masks around, so please let me know in the comments where they are located. The artist behind the figures is known as J.Ace.

For more of the artist's work, please see his Instagram page here: https://www.instagram.com/j.ace_street/

5kyh1gh (or SkyHigh) is a group of grafitti-artist and street artists in London. In addition to grafitti-style tags around the city, the group also paint animals or birds. In January, this colourful kingfisher bird appeared off Rivington Street in Shoreditch on a doorway that needed an update.

Street artist Dan Kitchener, who is one of London's most popular street artists as his work features often in the city, recently painted the Kinkao wall on Pedley Street just off Brick Lane. The work was actually finished earlier this week. This comes after a previous work on Clifton Street near Liverpool Street that was painted in January. Dan Kitchener's trademark style is to paint night scenes of cities with cars or people and a lot of neon lights. He also paints female portraits to accompany his work at times, and I've watched his style grow and evolve over the past few years.

The new mural is called "Future Tokyo", and it was completed in one day. It shows Dan Kitchener's trademark damp night scene of Tokyo with crowds carrying umbrellas and neon lights. In addition, a portrait of a futuristic-faced lady is included next to a robotic figure. (Dan Kitchener often paints female portraits with the cityscape in the background.)

The mural on Clifton Street is called "Tokyo Ghosts" and features a portrait of an Asian girl and a backdrop of a line of cars and Taxis with colourful neon lights.

Previous posts featuring Dan Kitchener's (DANK's) street art in this blog are located below:

Dank "London Rush"
Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More
Street Art: Dan Kitchener
"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener
Goswell Road

Italian street artist Hunto, who is known for his abstract Picasso-esque portraits, has collaborated with fellow Italian street artist Mister Thoms (THOMS) on a new mural on the sides of a building in Shoreditch near Great Eastern Street. The new work is called "ConnectivityMatters", and THOMS uses his style of interlocking items and figures to represent connection while Hunto uses a cluster of his figures appearing to interact (which is his typical style as his figures always interact in some manner). This collaboration has just been finished.

Hunto's work is in the centre of the building with THOMS' figures connecting into it.

On the sides of the building, THOMS' work is more prominent.

I have previous covered work by both artists on this blog, so please see the below links for more information:

Mr. Thoms paints Village Underground wall

Street Art: Hunto
Hunto "Get Kissed Here"
Hunto Paints Wall off Brick Lane
Hunto on Sclater Street and Other Work

Today's post features street art by Ben Jay Crossman, who is currently in the UK. Ben Jay Crossman is an artist whose parents lived in South Africa after moving from the UK, but they never sorted out their child's citizenship. Crossman had gone to the states for a show but was deported, and instead of being sent back to his home (as he never did live in the UK), he was deported to the UK where his original citizenship was held. As a result of the citizenship problems, Ben Jay has used that to inspire his work. Ben Jay Crossman's street art is grafitti-style spray painting portraits, pets, and fantasy illustrations. He also paints his tags with alien flying saucers along with his work, which tribute to his "illegal alien" status. The street artist painted one of the high-profile walls on Hanbury Street with a giant somo wrestler, and the piece is titled "Guardian Angel".

Well, America's loss is London's gain in this respect. Hopefully the artist will be able to continue painting some fab pieces in the city.

Street artist Woskerski has been painting street art since 1997, and he has contributed a lot to London's streets in the past couple of years. I've really only just discovered his work since then. He paints realistic-looking teddy bears with a strange twist (such as adding a mohawk hairstyle) and portraits of people. His style can be realistic, or he often adds a twist such as highlighting the angle of the subject of the portrait. Two new murals by Woskerski appeared off Brick Lane in the last few weeks. Both highlight his style pretty well, and they are certainly eye-catching with their bright colours and heightened angles of the subjects.

I love the artist's style and humour used in these murals, so I hope to see more of his work appear in east London. To see more of his work, please visit:

Recent Spring 2018 Woskerski Street Art

I have previously covered the street art by Ketones6000 on this blog, and this is one street artist who has made a big impact in the past few months. Ketones6000 is London-based but originally from Australia. Last summer, the artist painted striking and realistic murals of bees around Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Road featuring bees. I recently discovered his new mural just off Bethnal Green Road on St. Matthews' Row. The new mural was painted in January. It depicts a homeless man, which is one of the favourite subjects of the artist in order to raise awareness of the issue. He's also got more work in the pipeline throughout the year.

Previous posts with work by Ketones6000 include the following:

Street Art: Ketones6000
Street Art (different artists)

Last Tuesday night, the United Kingdom got hit by a snowstorm dubbed "Beast from the East". I'd planned to go into work in Chiswick (west London) in order to get things sorted for an office move (to only to a couple of buildings away), on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the tubes were a mess, and there's no way that I could have gotten in. The trains remained a mess all day, and the snow got worse each day until Friday. I'd actually planned to go out to central London in order to get some photographs of the snow on Saturday, but when I woke up in the morning, the snow had largely melted. So, my photograph below is an old one from five years ago when I visited the Peak District in January. I may have expected such weather in January, but not so much at the beginning of March when I've been seeing the early spring flowers begin to make appearances.

My busy workload continues, and I am spending nearly all of my waking hours (and some of my sleeping hours) working in order to meet deadlines. As a result, my blog has taken a back seat in my life for the past two and a half months. I do have some great events planned this year, so keep checking back. I've also promised myself before the end of last year that I would take more breaks and not work so hard, so I am hoping that things quiet down when the project I am on goes live in late May.

Although I have been to Stirling Castle and past Stirling a few times, I never actually visited the Wallace Monument until last December. The Wallace Monument is a monument to Scottish Nationalism and William Wallace, a Scottish hero who fought the English, in particular. The monument is built on the top of a crag in Stirling, Scotland. This was the spot where William Wallace is said to have overlooked the English army before the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. The monument itself is not that old and was actually built in the mid-1800s. It can be seen from miles away.

The tour started at the bottom of the hill where there is a small gift shop and restaurant. Tickets can be bought here, and a bus leaves here to the top of the hill, or visits can walk up the hill via a couple of different trails through the woods. 

We got the bus up to the top. Once at the monument, visitors can walk up 246 stairs to the viewing gallery on the top of the moument. The views are breath-taking and covered the valley and the village of Stirling as well as the castle.

On the way up the stairs (or down, as it is the same staircase), three different rooms could be stopped off at. One was the Hall of Arms, which mainly contained historical information about William Wallace and the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The second room was the Hall of Heroes, containing several busts of Scottish heroes. This included Robert the Bruce, Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and many others; it has also been announced that a couple of Scottish heroines will be added to the hall. 

This room also contains the Wallace Sword, which belonged to the Scottish hero William Wallace himself. The sword is 1.67 meters (about 5'5") tall. William Wallace must have been a very tall guy to have been able to carry and swing that sword. It apparently weights 3kilos and is taller than some of the adult visitors that were in the room with me at the time. The sword is in an upright glass case with rock from the crag that the moument was built from, but I could not get a decent photograph of it as the glass is reflective. 

After visiting the Wallace Monument on a chilly but sunny early December morning, we walked back down the hill via the trail. There are a couple of trails, which are actually not well-signposted unless you have a map. The most direct trail down is called "Wallace Way" and contains many wood carvings. The wood carvings document historical items and events, including a replica of the Wallace Monument made out of wood. Many of these are designed to be interactive to encourage photographs.

Street artist Alice Pasquini hails from Rome, Italy. She's painted in London a few times before, and her work represents small portraits of people, although she has painted the odd large-scale piece in the city. The last time that she visited London was early in 2016. One of these pieces remain, and a new one was painted next to it on Quaker Street. Bethnal Green Road and off Commercial Road are two other locations that I was able to capture, but I have seen that she also visited Camden and Penge and left additional artwork that I have not yet seen. She visited London in January ahead of her solo show "The Unchanging World" in Rome.

Street artist Alice Pasquini has been covered on this blog in the past, and additional blog posts with her work can be seen here:

Street Art: Alice Pasquini
Alice Pasquini - New Portraits of Young Women