Three Things to Love About Yafo

1. Hummus at Abu Hassan

Locals and tourists flock to this place for Israel's staple dish and claim there is no hummus like it. The original local is a hole-in-the-wall near the Yafo flea market but has since expanded to include an Abu Hassan restaurant and casual eatery across the street from each other. 

2. Wall Art in Old Yafo
When admiring the galleries that line the streets of Old Yafo don't forget to look up at the handmade turquoise street signs and house numbers embedded in the limestone.

3. Vintage magnets, postcards, and prints at Farkash Gallery
Also located in Old Yafo, this shop has a large collection of reprinted advertisements and black-and-white photographs promoting Israel, its food, arts, airlines and so on. It's fun to browse the many stacks of prints, and leave with a few three shekel postcards as keepsakes or to send friends back home.

Gay Pride

June in Tel Aviv is Gay Pride Month, celebrated with a colorful lively parade that runs down Bograshov and Ben Yehuda. The event attracts not just the gay community but locals alike dancing on floats, waving flags, spraying water guns, and dressed in anything rainbow.

City Laneways

Melbourne's side streets are the heart of the city and worth an afternoon exploring by foot. While many are lined with cafes and crowded with locals looking for a good meal, others, such as Hosier Lane and Cocker Alley, are a haven for graffiti artists. These are my favorite; the brick walls a canvas for painted works, stenciling, and papering, and pay tribute to graffiti as an essential and innovative art form.

Five Things to Love About Melbourne

Lunch in the Park set of three rings by local designer Victoria Mason

Decadent hot chocolate at Koko Black in Carlton

4,000 local and international titles to choose from at magnation

Decorative box sets at stationary store Zetta Florence in Fitzroy

Black Truffle Salt - perfect for cooking - at Gewurzhaus Herb & Spice Merchants

I could spend weeks walking through the streets of Melbourne and never get bored. The city is populated with the best of Australia's designers, cafes, graffiti, vintage, and coffee, and I loved discovering its many hidden gems, such as Victoria Mason's studio where she creates unique wearable jewelry open only two days a week. And in such neighborhoods like Fitzroy and Carlton a feast of color, energy, and inspiration can be found on every street.

Te Papa

Appreciation of photography is quite a recent addition to my life, which began about a year ago when I enrolled in an International Center of Photography course and invested in a Nikon point-and-shoot camera. Since then I've read up on world-renowned photographers, but I had never heard of Brian Blake nor seen his exquisite photojournalism, which was most often published in Life and National Geographic. He is New Zealand's best known and most successful photographer, and an exhibition of his work, Brian Blake: Lens on the World, was on at the Te Papa museum in Wellington. Blake's work takes you all over - Europe and China, Moscow and the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia - and it was inspiring to see so much of the world through his creative lens.

Ranamok Glass Prize

In its sixteenth year, the Ranamok Glass Prize is a annual award for glass artists who are residents of Australia and New Zealand and display skill, creativity, and innovation through contemporary glass. Many of this years' participants were on exhibit at the Cairns Regional Gallery.

My favorite was Transparent illusions created by Evelyn Dunstan and made with Gaffer crystal glass. Dunstan said of her work:

Masking time through the day with the masquerades we put on and wear – sometimes a conscious choice, but often an unconscious reaction to influence that gives a sneek peek through the eyes to our souls.

 Each individuals reaction and interpretation is also a reflection of our changing emotion and influence. 

SOAP

I went to see a show called SOAP at the Opera House. The best way to describe it is Cirque de Soleil meets bath time. Time Out London called it a "stunning acrobatics and water antics abound in this refreshingly fun, exciting and sexy show…physically breathtaking." The 70-minute performance was pretty jaw dropping, and I can say I saw a show inside Sydney's most iconic building.

Australian Museum

The most amazing exhibition is on at the Australian Museum called Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010. It showcases about 100 images of animals and the wilderness from thousands of competition entries. Having just learned how to use a professional camera, I loved reading about how each picture was shot - some of the photographers returned to a specific location for years before snapping the winning image. The photo above is called Giant Beachcomber taken by Thomas Peschak. He said about the photograph:

‘Tortoises are known to have made sea crossings between islands, and so I was pleased to be able to use the ocean as a backdrop. I lay in her path on the sand, using an extreme wide-angle lens. The moment I took the shot, I had to roll out of her way to avoid her clambering right over me.’