Ams!

Amsterdam, December 2011!

Newbie.

Fashion Week, Paris.
September 2011.

The world goes by.

Champs Elysee, Paris.
Autumn, 2011.

Helpless.

"I have hope"

Helpless.

That's how I feel, that's how I've been feeling for the past two days.

There is nothing I can do, but write.

Nothing I can write will be enough. Nothing I can say will change the facts.

Thousands of miles away from Cairo, it in no way hurts less. It maybe even hurts more. 

I know this is the beginning of the end. I know tomorrow will be better. I know.

But that doesn't make the pain go away. It doesn't stop my heart from aching. It's not good enough. I don't want tomorrow to be better. I want today to be better.

I can't take more people dying. I can't stand hearing more screams. I can't live with feeling helpless. 

I don't want this post to be about politics, because it isn't. It's about young people, twenty-something year olds killed. Twenty five of them. In one day. In a matter of hours. How can that be acceptable? if that doesn't shake the world, if that is not a wake up call for everyone, then what is? 

 How those people sleep at night, knowing that someone lost their son, their father, or the love of their lives because of them, is beyond me. 

I took this photo months ago. I had enough hope to fill a city. I still have hope, but just enough hope to keep me going through the days. 

 I am mourning the loss of some of this country's best. My heart goes out to the families. 

May all our martyrs rest in peace. And let's make sure their blood doesn't go in vain. They died for a cause, so let's keep up the fight, for them. 

Favourite blur.

This photo pretty much sums up fashion week. A blur.
Pretty girls, high heels, short dresses, big hats, and bigger egos and most importantly a big BIG blur.
Ten days of pure blur.
But I can use some blur in my life, it helps me see things clearer.
And fashion week, fashion week is my favourite blur of the year.

Happy colours and pretty bags.

It's so sunny and bright in Paris, people are dressed in colours.
It doesn't happen often so I have to take advantage.
This bag kind of reminds of the bags you can find in Khan El Khalili (Cairo's oldest souk), which makes me happy and nostalgic.
Now, I want the bag. 

Running late!

The weather in Paris is truly surprising, it's hot, and sunny and I am not complaining here, but it makes it harder to stay longer on the streets taking photos when you feel your head is burning and you're about to faint. So, I decided to go home after an hour or so.
And then, she showed up, late and running in her 9 inch heels. 
Good things do come to those who wait.
Leighton Meester, before the Dior show, Paris fashion week.

CooLondon

There is this sense of coolness about London that I very much miss in Paris.

London-Town.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent almost two weeks in London early August, but the lazy person that I am, I never uploaded any of the million photos I took. 
I know, I suck.
But it's all good now, I decided to be a nice person again and share with you a bit of how I saw London.
I thought it was a beautiful city. Neither sad, nor happy. But beautiful nonetheless.

It was sunny ten days out of twelve, which is practically a miracle so I really enjoyed the parks, the shopping and the walking.
I really had a good time, been to some brilliant exhibitions, had a lovely shopping experience, not so great food experience though (except for those AMAZING burgers, thanks to Magali). 

It's been a while.

It's been a while.
I am back in Paris, been back for a while. 
It was sunny, very very sunny, but now it's not. It's rainy and cold.

I have a lot of photos, from Cairo, Nuweiba and London. 

I promise I will post them all, not at once though, but I will.

Let's start with...Cairo.

Doesn't feel right.

I had a lot to say, to tell, about my trip to London. But then everything went wrong, and London was burning.
It felt surreal to watch the news.
I still can't grasp on the fact that this London I am watching on TV, is the same London I left only hours earlier.
I am sad, for that I loved the city.
I have a lot to tell about my trip, a lot of photos to share, but right now it just doesn't feel right.

Thee Cairo resolutions.

For the past month, I've been acting as a tour guide for my friend who came to visit from Paris. 
You know her, Magali, my boss from Cannes.
She came to stay for 12 days, to have some business meetings and visit some pyramids. Well, let's just say she will be leaving tomorrow which marks her 25th day in thee Cairo. 
Haha, yeah. 
Also, in four days I will be leaving for London. Eleven days there then I will be back to Paree.
Two months have passed. How and when and why. I really have no idea.
But when I come to think of it, I've been to new places, met new people, tried new food. I really did have fun. 
But I am excited for London. With my best friends. I've never been to London, so it should be really really fun. I just hope the weather doesn't let us all down. I miss wearing my shorts out and about.

Oh, and I am kind of scared to go back to Paris. For when I come back two of my closest friends there will not be there. I am not sure how to react to that, but I still have some time.

Don't.

Cairo's post-revolution street art sending some pretty strong messages like "Don't shut me up, Don't use me, Don't lose me" and others scattered around Downtown Cairo.
This was found near the Town House Gallery (Hussein El Me'mar street).

Spring Nights.

Spring nights on Pont des Arts with Miss Monika Samoraj will be incredibly missed.

A Cairo that I don't know, yet.

I am coming home.
In five days, I will be home.
Cairo, Egypt.
Everytime I think about going back home, I see photos of Tahrir, it was my last memory of Cairo before leaving, just one day after Mubarak left.
It scares me that it doesn't look like that anymore. It scares me that it doesn't look like anything I know anymore.
It's not the Cairo I grew up in, it's not the Cairo of the revolution. It's a new Cairo. A Cairo that I don't know as well as I wish. A Cairo that I don't know, yet.
I am scared and excited to meet her, this new Cairo. To see if she treats me like an old friend or a new alien. To see how she sees me now, with her newly bought glasses.

Photos above were taken on Friday, 11th of February, 2011 at Tahrir Square.
My last solid memory of Cairo.

Plaids and Stripes!

Barcelona, Spring 2011.

The Peoples of Barcelona.

In Barcelona, you meet a lot of people; 

 The cool oldies

 The Artists

The Tourists

The Posers

And many others.

Alisco!

 Alisco: the coolest kid in the whole of Barcelona, dancing to the tunes of a street musician!

Well, if I ever have a kid, I want him to be as cool as Alisco.

La Barça!

After spending three AMAZING days in Barcelona, I am now in Madrid, and missing la barça already.

I still can't find the words to describe it, so I will try with the photos. These are just the start, I have hundreds, maybe even a thousand of them, oh yeah I really went all the way!

I've never been that inspired in my life.

I know all the photos are in black and white, but really isn't everything just a lot prettier in black and white?

Mother comes to visit.

For the past week, I've been acting as a tour guide/entertainer for the mother. 
My mother, who came to visit from Cairo.
Somewhere between having way too much food, and drenching in the sun, I managed to take some photos.
And yesterday, after an hour long adventure at the CDG airport, where they couldn't find my mother's name on the flight, then 25 long minutes and two airfrance employees' later, finally we found it, and I sent my mother back home, safe and sound.
It was just lovely.

But regardless of the little (or not so little) airport incident, we had a lovely week. The weather was perfect for most of it,  so we took advantage and spent too much time in the sun. Jardin du Luxembourg and Pont des arts still are by far our favourite people watching spots, where I can also get into my stalker-mode easily, take out my camera and stalk away!

I will try and write more detailed posts of mother's visit, because it's just NEVER boring when she's around, from making friends with ship captains(if you count Bateaux Mouches as a ship) to dinner at Ralph's, it's just really never boring.