Lithuanian Cottages

Sandwiches!

The incredible volunteer team from NOW JAPAN festival took me to Trakai, a quaint little town just out of Vilnius, Lithuania so I could explore and photograph these adorable little cottages!

 

Absolutely stunning.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

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IF YOU LOVED READING THIS, THEN YOU'LL ALSO LOVE...

This is Antwerp (Part One)

Sandwiches! I don't even know where to start to review my 'This is Antwerp' Tourism Antwerp trip. Every time I look at the gazillion photos I took I start to tear up with happiness. Such a wonderful and emotional week.

Well, here goes.

I drank a can of Kirin Green Label beer with Mr Y on the train on the way to Haneda airport. I was armed with my pink travel document purse with a printout of a Qatar airways ticket for 'Mrs Bizys' (I was assured it was okay that it didn't say Ms or Miss). It seemed somewhat surreal seeing as I was still pinching myself that someone was flying me across the world to essentially instagram a few shots of their city. I was incredibly excited, but also so utterly exhausted after just handing in the manuscript for my next book (I still have to show you the behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot!) and was, as a result, feeling emotional to be leaving Tokyo. It was the first time I had been to Europe in goodness knows how many years, more than ten, at least. Ever since I first visited Japan 15 years ago, I had been spending all of my holiday leave each year here in Tokyo. Put me on the QF21 or QF22 Qantas flights between Sydney and Tokyo and I could do the inflight announcements in both Japanese and English, but Europe?...Whole. New. Story. At 12:15am, after a glass of overpriced cava with Mr Y at Haneda, my Qatar flight to Doha took off. 

Watching the flight path screen on the inflight entertainment, and counting the 'hours until destination' slowly pass by, it sunk in just how far away Tokyo is. Seriously, I live so far away from the rest of the world over here in my little Tokyo bubble. Two, maybe three movies, and a stopover in Doha later, and I was greeted by the lovely Andrew of Walkie Talkie fame at Brussels airport. No 'Hello Sandwich' sign, just the uber cool Andrew in his bright jacket and smiley face to greet me. Our first stop was coffee while we waited for one of the other international guests (Itay, who would soon become my new best friend on earth) to arrive.

"My name means pain in Japanese", said Itay upon meeting for the first time. I'm pretty sure I'll think of him forever when I say 'itaiiiiiiiiii'.

The first scheduled event of the week was the Urban Squad Kitchen pop-up dinner. The jet lag has left my memories of the evening slightly fuzzy. But, as I recall it, the evening was a wonderful start to an even better week. I was driven, in the rain, to what seemed to be a somewhat hidden away factory which fondly reminded me of warehouses in Sydney's Surry Hills.

"Would you like a glass of cava? We have sweet or dry."

As icing on the cake, I was called 'charismatic' by two lovely girls on my way out. Gosh, if I can pull off the illusion of charisma after 24 hours of travel, I thought, I can do anything! It could have been the 'dry' cava talking.

I pretty much lived on 4 hours sleep per night throughout the week at this gorgeous little B&B, and each morning I'd arrive at ab hostel (which was the base camp for our group and was also where the boys were staying) for breakfast. I miss these mornings. Pouring my orange juice from a giant OJ cask. Soft boiled eggs. And Pants Off (I'll talk more about Pants Off later). I loved those little retro floral plates, too.

The team of 12 creatives was made up of 7 boys and 5 girls. I didn't notice that I somehow ended up tagging along with the guys until I asked my friend back in Tokyo "Did you see my pics of Antwerp?" and he replied, "Oh yeah, but they were mostly just of guys". Hah! Oh gosh, just looking back at these photos I think I could tear up again.

I did try to take some pictures in between all of the scheduled activities. To be honest, I could have been happy just walking around taking photos all week, and in the end I formed a 'Antwerp Fujifilm Club' photo team with two of the best guys on the planet. Again, more of that later, but at this stage, I simply snapped a few buildings on the way to and from scheduled events.

Back in Tokyo, over lunch last week, my friend Martin mentioned that I managed to take 'Hello Sandwich style' photos in Europe, too. He referenced these kinds of corner shopfronts and, in his words, 'Non-touristic' photos. This made me very happy. I always think that you can get a decent view of the true city if you take a trip to the suburbs, and to a supermarket.

But back to the tour, where I was whisked off to the morning after I arrived. At 9am we were sent off on a Cyclant bike tour around Antwerp.

I don't think I'd completely adjusted to the timezone in Antwerp just yet, so again, these memories might be a little fuzzy.

Looking back now, after only just one dinner with these 11 other creatives, it's hard to believe just how well we all got along even on the first day together.

That day I rode all over Antwerp's bumpy streets and chatted to Adrian from Madrid about photography. I felt inspired beyond words. The kind of inspired where you catch yourself smiling and squealing under your breath in public places.

Standing in Grote Markt, I briefly snuck away from the bike tour for a moment to take this photo. I wished that I was half the height of these buildings so they'd be straight. "You can fix that later with SKWRT", Adrian replied. I was so thrilled to be travelling with such brilliant photographers. It was incredibly reassuring to travel with a group of people who took just as many photos as me, and who would happily wait for one another while they crouched down in the middle of a busy street just to get the right shot. These were my kind of people.

I stopped here to take a picture during the bike tour, but when I tried to follow the group around that corner, they were nowhere in sight!

Luckily there was one other keen photographer who lingered just as much as me, and we ended up finding the group together. Here is a shot of the group outside the MAS art museum.

One of the longest underground tunnels I've been in. And certainly the longest tunnel I've ridden along.

You can take your bike on the escalators in Antwerp! Amazing, no? There's Itay, from Tel Aviv, checking his phone on the escalators. That was another brilliant thing about this trip, which may sound pathetic, but because we were all there to promote the city through our social media outlets, it was completely acceptable to be sitting at lunch on our iphones all day. I mean, THESE are my people!

Here we were, a group of 12 strangers, and a videographer, a photographer, a representative from Tourism Antwerp and from the PR company...together all day every day. Completely comfortable in silence on our iphones at lunch. In Antwerp. We often joked about what our combined instagram following would be if we added up all of our followers.

I could have spent the week alone taking photos like this. I would have loved to. That, and spending time looking at packaging in supermarkets. Don't you love doing that in different countries?

But the time spent wandering with these other 11 creatives was, for me, absolutely life changing. The PR company, Walkie Talkie, did SUCH a freaking incredible job curating this group. It shouldn't have worked so well, I mean, I don't know how it did, but it was mind blowingly fantastic.

Pre-dinner Belgian beers, and errrr, more cava for Sandwich.

The first full day together in Antwerp ended with another special dinner at Felixpakhuis. At this stage I'm still not sure that it had all sunk in just yet. Sitting at my little chair on Antwerp cobblestones. Chatting away to new friends. Eating more delicious food and sipping nice wine. Oh, such a special time.

Over the next little while I'll go through more shots from the week and share them with you. I hope you might enjoy the pictures.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

The back streets of Kurashiki

I recently went to beautiful Kurashiki.

Kurashiki has a beautiful traditional area which looks like the photos above. I guess this might be the most beautiful part of the town but for me, I really can't resist the back streets. Below are some photos from my walks off the beaten track.














































If you have the chance, please visit beautiful Kurashiki.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Enoshima Island

On our day trip to Enoshima Beach we also walked across to Enoshima Island. It was so lovely walking through the historic streets up to the shrine, keeping cool under the giant trees and taking a rest at the lookout. They even have a giant escalator if the walk up is too much for you. The island is worth a little visit if you're at Enoshima Beach.

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

Enoshima Beach

We took the Odakyu-sen to Enoshima Beach today. Such fun!

Asahi and Enoshima Beer on the beach.
Pop-up summer beach restaurants.
Tatami restaurants on the beach.
Edamame at tatami beach restaurants.
Cute shell necklaces for ¥250.
Boys with hairdryers on the beach.
Girls drawing in their eyebrows on the beach.
Water pistols.
Dance stages on the beach.
Rental deck chairs.
Film crews.
Volleyball on brown sand.
Taco restaurants with a beach view.
Kakigouri.
Earthquake and Tsunami warning signs everywhere.

The beaches here are so so different to Australian beaches! I could not stop saying 'omoshiroi!' and I took a million photos!

If you come to Tokyo in summer pop on down to Enoshima beach. If you take the number 12 bus to Zushi you can find a less crowded beach ;)

Wa - Tokyo is so much fun!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xoxo

P.S. I took so many photos that I have to split this post into two (>_<) Tomorrow I will post some pictures from Enoshima Island which you can see in the background of one of the photos above.

Kichijoji and Koenji

Kichijoji and Koenji are two quaint little Western-Tokyo suburbs just 10 minutes apart from each other by train. Spend the afternoon wondering through their little alleyways, sipping your vending machine hot green tea as you go along (and a sneaky Pocky or two!), and enjoy discovering charming little shops tucked deep within each little lane. Koenji is great for second hand and vintage clothing stores, live music venues and thrift stores, and Kichijoji is a homewares + zakka-lovers haven. Miyazaki fans will not want to miss the Studio Ghibli museum tucked in the west garden of Inokashira Park in Kichijoji. Both suburbs are packed with kawaii cafes and cheap and cheerful restaurant options so it's super easy to make a day (and night) out of it.























All images above: Hattifnatt Cafe

HATTIFNATT CAFE
2-18-10 Koenji kita, Suginami-ku

Duck as you enter through the teeny tiny kids size door into this tree-house-themed cafe in Koenji. Hattifnatt cafe is sure to bring out your inner child with it's hand painted forest wall murals and loft style tree house dining area. Adorable too, are the hand crocheted stool covers and blanket stitched fabric menu. My advice? Try the Avocado Taco Rice.





TOO TICKI
2-18-11 Koenji kita, Suginami-ku

Next door to Hattifnatt cafe, and ran by the same clever team, is a sweet little craft shop called Too Ticki. Here you can pick up treasures such as patchwork pencil cases, hand carved stamps, button hair clips and hand printed cards handmade from all around the world. Shop layout...think cubby holes!










IL CAFE
2-8-2-3F Honcho, Musashino-shi, Kichijoji

An afternoon Baileys coffee at Il Cafe? Onegaishimasu~! Also pop on down to the 2F for a peek in the mini zakka shop and sister cafe Il Cappetit. You will love their very Japanese hand-illustrated menu and menu board!







Also worth visiting: Karel Capek Teatime Shop, Cafe Apartment (a cute cafe based on a 1DK Japanese apartment) and Wickie homewares + zakka shop. More information about these will be in the Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide which will be launched at the MCA Zine Fair this May!




Thank you so much for your interest in the Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide everyone! I can't wait to show you!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xxx

Nakameguro

Nakameguro, located on the Tokyu Toyoko Line or the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, is one of my favourite Tokyo suburbs. Here you can stroll along the cherry blossom lined canal, flick through art books (in English!), buy vintage clothes by weight (more about these places in Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide coming soon) and eat organic food from Kyoto at Aoya. Potentially Tokyo's hippest suburb, Nakameguro is super popular with designers, artists, musicians and all round creative types and is, perhaps, the best suburb to ride around on your (rented?) Mamachari.






BONILL CAFE
1-15-8 Aobadai, Nakameguro-ku, Tokyo

Bonill is a clothing select shop by day and quaint little cafe+bar by night. Definitely worth popping in.






Photograph courtesy of Martin Evamy


Photograph courtesy of Martin Evamy

AOYA
1-15-10 Aobadai, Nakameguro, Tokyo.

Aoya is a charming little cafe located in a Showa-era house tucked deep into Nakameguro's backstreets. Although it can be a little tricky to find (look out for the lantern just down the road from Bonill), you won't want to miss the 1200yen lunch set. The five grain rice here is to die for!






PASSE COMPOSE
1-1-52 Naka-Meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

Pop into Passe Compose if you are in the market for some sweet French homewares and home accessories. Well, you can never have too many polka dot tea pots right?


More Tokyo tips like this will be in my Hello Sandwich Tokyo Guide coming soon! The Hello Sandwich guide will come complete with maps to make it much easier to get about! Phew!

Love Love
Hello Sando
xxx