Postcards from Amsterdam

It was the first time visiting Amsterdam for me, when Boris and I went in September as he was playing there with Totenwald on the F Word Festival. I've mentioned in a recent post that the festival was the best part of the trip, since I found the city to be way overcrowded and that took away from its charm.
However, I still enjoyed the architecture a lot and some parts were very beautiful.

The two pictures above were taken at Our Lord In The Attic's museum - a catholic church built in the attic of a building from the 17th century! It's made into a museum, so you can go inside the entire building and the attic to see how the people lived back then. If you happen to be in Amsterdam I recommend visiting the museum a lot, it gave us the historic feel we felt slipped away with all the weed and drunken tourists...

I don't think I would like to visit the city again, since my main problem were the tourists - the city itself is tiny, and the amount of people running around with tongues hanging out to get their hands on weed and look at the prostitutes was repelling. Not to mention all the bikes, it's clearly a city more for bikes than people. Seriously, you get bikes and vespas on the bike road, it made me hang on for dear life every time I wanted to cross a street. Urgh...

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? What do you think?

Maria

London 2016

Just came back from a week-trip to London. It was our first time in the city, and the trip was arranged through Boris's parents who have been there few times before and love coming back.

I liked London. Yes, it was posh, but it still felt good. I liked Oxford Street with it's endless shopping experience, I liked how people were dressed with no trend being left out (people were simply pretty); I liked Camden with it's mainstream "alternative" vibe, it was cool as hell despite the ridiculous "gothic" shops lol.

The greatest feeling was to actually be in the city where my favorite music has begun. Punk, post punk and goth have been centered in London and even though it's not 1977 anymore, there was still something in the air...
And that was how we met a guy who once had drinks with Jayne County, visited a second hand shop held by the guitar player of Vibrators and went to Highgate Cemetery where Malcolm Mclaren is buried!

Highgate Cemetery

We also ate everything we could find and drank disappointingly bitter beer and some very nice fresh ciders. We were out of money 2 days before the plane home. Luckily Boris's parents were there to save us. We spent the rest on books which I will share in a separate post.

I didn't think London would touch me as much as it did. It would be so cool to live there some day. That's just my imagination talking, but who knows? It did seem like there's a lot more room for indie and guitar music there than in Berlin. Living there sounds more exciting than visiting as a tourist. So it was not the last trip for sure.

Maria

More 60s Goth

My internship was over last week which now leaves me with a lot of free time and a nice summery mood, so I made more of those "this is my new style now" pics.
It's not really my new style, I don't wear hats ever, but I do need to dig out more of Boris' hippie stuff, like that vest I'm wearing for example.

I have also been inspired by Sonic Youth's weird experimental albums which I kind of like and dislike at the same time. 

And I found this new weird-ass band called The Garden. I hate how goofy they are and their awkward lyrics, then again, this is how they look like:

should I utter another word?
Source.

We're having a gig with our band tomorrow and from what it looks like, we'll have gigs in the following months plus a recording session in July that will hopefully be fruitful. I am happy things are going as planned, and am excited to play live, because that's literally the best thing ever.

Have you got any style inspirations lately?
On a different note: last week Boris and I went to the zoo and saw the biggest rooster of our lives. I would love to visit a chicken contest once.

Maria

Instagram Mashup: Architecture and Statues

Wanted to share some of my Instagram pictures, because it is not enough posting them only on one social media site.
I love taking pictures of beautiful things, and there are quite a few images of buildings, windows, city scapes etc. that I liked editing and posting.

From Copenhagen:

 From Prague:

It´s nice that you can post full size pictures, but the limitation of a square picture is nice as well.

N. Finsternis

We went to Prague!

This past weekend I tagged along Totenwald to Prague, where they played a gig with Horror Vacui during the Prague Gotik Treffen. 

The event was really cool and you could tell some guys have been working their asses off to make things in Prague happen, which was nice to see. It was nice to discover Sanctuary.cz.

I was super excited to visit Prague for the first time! I have been told only positive things about this city, and though the weather was extremely hot we managed to shred our feet by walking everywhere, eating Knedliki and drinking beer. Even though it was so very touristy everything in the city was amazing. 

And if you have not lived in Europe ever, Prague is pretty much every European fantasy come true- beautiful architecture, gothic cathedrals, good beer and the feeling that things have been existing more than 60 years (ehm, Israel...).

This door of yet another cathedral was really awesome, the symbol above it looked somewhat mysterious.

Now for Autumn to come at last. Have a wonderful week everyone!

N. Finsternis

The Magic Of Mobile Phone Photography

Just thought to share some beautiful Instagram creations, since after receiving my new Samsung Galaxy 3 from my parents as a birthday present I have been taking photos of nature non stop! Especially now that Autumn is in its glory, the surroundings is breathtaking!

Boris´ parents came to visit last week and we have been hanging out with them in the city. We´ve also had a lovely trip to Potsdam which is just half a hour away from Berlin. The weather was on our side and it was sunny for the most part. Luckily they came during the first week of university when things are yet to get stressful.

Fun Fact: I used to take pictures of nature on my mobile phone before it was cool to post it online. Back when I had my Sony Ericson I loved the camera so much I used to take pictures of trees all the time and even printed out some. It was during my high school years, and made me forever cherish the power of a mobile phone camera, as the colors and editing programs sometimes surpassed my digital cam! It is also much more convenient to carry with you. I still believe that you don´t need expensive equipment to take beautiful photos.

So since receiving a killer phone I have been inspired to bring that hobby back and enjoy making small but charming photos. I am having loads of fun with Instagram, more of their filters rather than the whole sharing experience. It brings me back to being in high school and being very inspired taking pictures of everything around me. I think that loving our surroundings is a feeling we
shouldn´t lose.

 I´ve deleted a number of selfies from my Instagram and decided to make it only nature-themed because of the reason above. I dedicate a respectful amount of time (and screen) to my own face here on this blog, and since I personally love browsing nature Instagrams more than the usual "goffik face of the day" ones.

A link to my Instagram can be found in the right column. I hope you´ve all been doing well and enjoying this beautiful Autumn!

N. Finsternis

Dark Photography - a trip to Potsdam

Last week Boris and I decided to visit Potsdam, a small city south west to Berlin. We haven´t visited other places in Germany but Berlin yet, and it was nice to discover a very old city an hour away from where we live!
Potsdam looks nothing like the urban Berlin. The old city was made of baroque houses only which was so beautiful, and the castles and the park of sanssouci were enchanting.
The weather was amazing: warm but fresh, bright but cloudy. If only all summer was like that!

I finally managed to take some photos after a very long brake from photography due to lack of time. I was so happy to be inspired from everything, I´ve missed this feeling so much!

I´ve realized that I am greatly inspired by old architecture and the most cheesy church and garden monuments (and cemetery monuments of course). Something in the way they turn out on camera is just so magical, and the statues as if coming to life and shining with so much personality! I can take pictures of statues forever...

This is my most favorite picture taken that day!

We were walking all day and eventually got tired, and just then we saw another piece of cathedral ruins not far away from where we were, but it was sunset already (I dislike taking pictures in the sunset sun) and we were exhausted so we have decided to come back to Potsdam in October again when Boris´ parents would come to visit. I am sure they would love to see it and I would be eager on taking pictures of those unexplored ruins.

 N. Finsternis

The Wings Of Desire + Gruftschlampen concert

I had a pretty busy week, and completely forgot to share here the photos from last weekend.
Boris had another concert with The Wings Of Desire, this time with our lovely friends Brita and Kokel of the Gruftschlampen.
The night was just great, both bands played very well, the music was awesome but most importantly- the atmosphere was very personal and warm, thanks to the people of course :)
Unlike my previous dismay from society mention after the first The Wings Of Desire gig, this concert was very positive, kicking and powerful. I literary wanted more after the bands finished playing.
I also put my small share in decorating the place using wool to make it look like spiderwebs. The organizer of the event was so stoked about it he helped me a lot, what made it look perfect :)

Here are some pics:

The batcave spiderweb! Wasn't too seen in other photos since it was too dark.

Gruftschlampen:

The Wings Of Desire:

 

Boris only decided to post a few pictures for now, and save the most for later on.

I've also made a video of one of his songs! It was unfortunately too dark to have a descent video recording, so I've edited it a bit so one could actually see more than just a black screen:

Please do check the bands on Facebook! Your support is what makes us alive :)

Other fun photos and outfit of that night will follow!

Have a calm weekend everyone!

N. Finsternis