After Grenoble, I started to make my way back to Madrid for my flight back home, so I stopped in Valence. There wasn’t anything in particular I wanted to do/ see here.
Valence is small, 62K. It can easily be seen in half a day.
There is a lovely park at the center of town that has an operational kid’s train.
There were also other little charms about the city that were fun and surprising. You can get a bottle of organic wine for less than $10! The lemon tarts here were amazing.
There’s a canal network that runs throughout part of the town.
The best part of my stay was hanging out with Emi, my host, and her roommates. We shared meals and games.
After Lyon, I headed to Grenoble. I met up with Noemi, a friend I had met at a workaway gig, at a sustainable home, 5 years previously. She was 3 hours late to meet me/ respond to my messages. I was close to leaving.
I’m glad I didn’t though, this place is like a hidden gem.
The day that I arrived was the French national day. We went out to see a firework display.
The next morning we headed out to the Drac river which runs by the city. It’s such a luxury to have a clean river nearby to go swimming in. Pity this phenomena is so unusual these day.
That night I headed out to the yearly Cabaret Frappe festival.
The next day I had a bike ride around town. This is a really cool town. They are generous with their bike lanes. On one main street, the centre of the road is reserved for bikes, instead of cars. There is lots of art throughout the city. I came across a park that was hosting public tango lessons. Later I met up with Noemie who showed me the local University, a building made out of mud bricks, and another river.
When I was at the the Cabaret festival the previous evening, I had met a girl from Venezuela named Ari. She invited us to meet some of her friends for brunch and games. That was fun, and the first time I had met someone from the Congo.
The next day Noemi took me to the nearby village of Sassenage. We stopped by a chateau whose grounds had become a public garden. I sat under a tree that was 200 years old.
After we heading into the mountains to look at the waterfalls.
The pictures don’t do these places justice. There is a serenity that pervaded the area.
My bus ride there was met with scenic views of the Alps
I’ve been to Lyon before but it was more than 10 years ago. I remember that I liked it, and I wanted to see if if it would be a likely candidate for me to live in, in the future.
While here I stayed with Xavier and Nicholas. They were great. I think the most striking quality about them was their silence. Its not common to find people who don’t needless fill the space with idle chatter and at the same time don’t feel a sense of awkwardness from the emptiness. It was nice.
They lived in a section of the city that was reputed for its cinematic history. I love that public screenings are so common place around France.
I wouldn’t say anything super eventful happened while here, but it was nice to have a look around.
Below are some pictures of the old town and the Saône river. I love that most of the cities here have rivers that run through them. (and they’re relatively clean!)
I only went to Italy to visit Roberta. After my visit, I was tasked with getting back to France, but how and where were somewhat flexible. I met Matteo at the Sherwood festival in Padua. He invited me to Turino (Italy) which was on my way back to France, so I decided to check it out. I’d never been this far north west in Italy. I really enjoyed it. Perhaps because of its proximity and influence from France, but it had other lovely qualities too. As soon as I arrived, Matteo showed me around the market place. Its open daily and has inexpensive food and clothes. I love these cities that have this kind of scene.
Turino used to be the capital back in the day, so there’s quite a bit to see. There are many plazas. There are old Roman ruins.
That night we met up with Matteo’s friend, Alexis. Later, we went to this live music performance at this …. place. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. It looked like the parking lot of an abandoned building. It was now a bar/ community events place, with what looked like college furniture, the kind you find on the sidewalk and decide to give a 2nd life to. There was a free clothing exchange next to the bathrooms.
After we rode our bikes to this party in the park. I felt like the DJs were amateurs, as the beats were predictable and bit rough, but it was still a novel experience. I asked about the legality of the party. Matteo said they were definitely illegal, but the cops don’t do anything about it. These are regularly occurring parties AND they happen in the parks all over the city! I was/ am truly jealous of this city.
The next day, Matteo took me to the weekly antiques market. Like other places in Italy/ France, there are public drinking fountains set up around the city, but this place had the water coming out of a bull, one of the city’s symbols.
Later I had a walk around the city.
That evening, we took Matteo’s motor bike to a park to watch “Only Lovers Left Alive”.
My last day in Turino, I walked around town again. I went up to the Basilica of Superga, the church in the hills, to get a view of the city. My highlight of the day was watching a guy sing “Take on me” (A-ha) on accordion. He was hitting all the high notes. This guy was living the dream.
After Marseille I headed to Montebelluna, outside Venice, to see Roberta, an old friend. I seem to find myself here for some duration in all my travels to Europe.
I headed to Padua on one evening with Roberta’s boyfriend and friend Mattia, to find a party. We winded up at the Annual Sherwood Festival. It was surprisingly fun. Normally the electronic music scene out in this area is a bit lagging, but it was actually ok this time. We met up with Mattia’s friend, Matteo.
The next day we headed to the mountains at Pian Cansiglio. We went to a restaurant where the main dish were 4 pieces of gnocci. Roberta asked if I was still hungry, maintaining a straight face, I said, “I could eat more”. The second dish was a piece of fried cheese. I could’ve had something else, but it was the best sounding out of the other options, “pig” or “pig in milk.” (Roberta is a good translator.)
After lunch we started our “hike,” which kind of consisted of driving to different parking spots and walking in the close vicinity to those spots. There seemed to be some tension among my hosts surrounding the issue of planning, but I was quite content to sit/ lay anywhere as I was dragging from the all the dancing into the wee hours from the previous night. On the way back home, we stopped in Vittorio Veneto to have a drink.
While in Montebelluna, I like to frequent this one ice cream shop, Ducale. They make a special vegan ice cream made out of the Lupini bean. I’ve only ever seen this at this one shop. I met owner, Francesco, the last time I was here. This time he offered to show me how to make ice cream. One evening he invited me to have dinner with him and his partner.
The nature surrounding Montebelluna is pretty.
I spent my 40th birthday here. The day before was like some kind of existential groundless limbo, with all powerful emotions existing at once at various parts of the day. My actual birthday was more grounded. I did have one epiphany, thanks to help from Roberta, about a subconscious anger I hold toward a loved one concerning the matter of listening. I feel like what makes a good listener is someone who takes into consideration the other person’s perspective. Sometimes a person’s communication can be overbearing and can involve talking in such a way that ignores important information from past encounters. I was able to recognize and acknowledge this relationship, which was an important first step in working to improve it. Roberta and I also spoke on the matter of death at length. I feel like turning 40 is some kind of milestone that brings up a sense of what life has amounted to up until that point. I don’t think we can properly talk about living fully without taking death into consideration. Death is so rich. It calls to mind subjects of renunciation, impermanence, and urgency. I once heard from some unmemorable source that the reason things have value is because they end/die. Contemplating this, I felt a surge of energy that evening to celebrate life.
My stay in Marseille was short, just 3 days. I came to this seaside city to catch a plane to Venice. Again my expectations were low, but I found some pretty cool things.
Upon arriving, I met with my couchsurfing host Jean-Alain. Jean is a personal trainer originally from the Caribbean. We met up with some of his friends and went to dinner. The dinner was overpriced and underwhelming but there was some interesting art in the area.
After we went to this “Old School Hip Hop” party. I would never go to a party like this of my own accord, but being the first night with a CS host, I felt obliged to express interest in his musical taste and venue preference. I felt like this was a good practice in loosening up and getting out of my music cocoon. As far as music goes, my preferences are pretty narrowly exclusive to the newest varieties of the ever evolving electronic music scene. There was a sense of letting go underlined by an atmosphere of pressure to have a good time under predictably upbeat tedious beats. I left the party with a sense of not knowing who I was. Refreshing.
There is a story I once read ” The well of madness”. It talks about a king whose subjects all went mad from drinking poisoned water. He tried to rectify the problem but was hindered by all the crazy people. Finally he gave in and drank the water too.
The next day I had a walk around town. I went to the Palais de Justice.
The city center is next to the water front. They have this mirror installation thing that acts as a shade.
Part of the old city is on hills. That evening, Jean took me the Marseille ballet company performance in the park. I love France. Where else would you find this? We met up with some of his friends and had a picnic. The performances started with kids and progressed into adults. There were themes of androgyny, domestic abuse, sexuality, aggression in the dance studio, and unicorns.
The next day, Jean couldn’t host me, so I found a hostel. I headed up to the Notre Dame Cathedral that overlooks the city. Later, I met my roommates, Luca, Romanian, and Kheli, Parisian. Kheli and I walked around the center in evening. She’s fun! I had to wake up early the next day to catch a flight, but she insisted we drink wine and walk the evening streets. We found this spontaneous party by the waterfront. I can only guess it was some kind of Arabic pop. Marseille is a big immigrant entry point.
I headed to Montpellier because I decided to take a plane from Marseille to Venice to visit a friend, so it just happened to be on the way. I’m not a beach person, so my expectations were pretty low.
They have cool, open air bus/train station.
There is a big open plaza in the center of the city. The buildings are close together, so even during the mid afternoon hours, you can still walk through and be cool.
I went to visit the city aqueduct and the park next to it. The park towers above the city.
During the equinox, the whole country celebrates Fete de la Musique. Throughout the cities there are musicians of various kinds performing.
There are people dancing in the streets into the wee hours. This festival is so great.
While in Montpellier, I stayed with Djulian, his roommates, Nicole and Francois, and Nicole’s guests, Idehi and Alice. We went to the beach one day. After, we stopped by a supermarket. There was an entire aisle dedicated to just tuna.
Idehi has a unique instrument, there is only one of its kind. His friend made it for him.
I had a good time here, largely due to some genuine interactions with Nicole and Alice.
Before I left Toulouse, I stayed with another host in the countryside. His name was Herve. He was a circus teacher. He lived in a rotatable round house. He had 5 cats.
This was a pretty unique experience. I’ve had an aerial silk for a while now, but I’ve never had formal instruction, so I was very excited to come across Herve.
The day after I arrived, he received another guest, Lea, from Germany. She was sweet, mild mannered, and wore a discreet necklace of a vagina. She was the yin to Herve’s yang energy.
Lea and I walked the area and discovered an Abbey and a cute town centre with a baguette vending machine.
During the days I was there, this region was experiencing a heatwave. The norm in many areas in Europe is to close all the shutters in the house after around 9 a.m. in order to keep in the cool air, as many homes don’t have air conditioning. I sometimes experienced a sense of claustrophobia during the hot afternoon hours.
The day before I left, we rotated the house. I guess it was for temperature reasons. Herve did this twice a year.
After Madrid, I headed over to Toulouse. It’s called the Pink City because of the colour that shines from the setting sun on the red bricks on many of the old buildings. I had a suspicion that I would find something beautiful here.
The subway is one of the cleanest I’ve seen.
The town is lovely. It’s about 200,000 in population.
You can drink the tap water here! There are fountains set up throughout the city, however finding a public restroom can be difficult as in many other European cities.
There are old time carousels near the center of the city!
The Garonne river cuts through Toulouse. There are lovely river walks on either side. I love that people actually come out and hang out in the parks all the time, eating, smoking, drinking wine, reading. Some people even look you in the eye and say hello and good day.
My first couchsurfing host was John-Paul. I always like staying with locals when I travel. During my time there I explored the city. I visited the various gardens near the centre.
I visited this one cafe called Ash. They ran out if the gluten free option so I got the vegetable pie instead. Everything on the plate broke some kind of dietary restriction I was on but I ate it anyway. Two bites into the pie, I was savoring this beautiful moment. It represented an allowance of some kind. Memories of my recent past, dealing with my dietary intolerances and the frustration/isolation/sadness that came with it, came flooding into my body, mind, eyes, and throat. It was a reflection of the debilitation I lived with. A picture of my aunt Hopie, who suffers from a major physical debilitation, flashed in my mind. I was getting choked up. I felt like a baseball was in my throat, the sensation you might get when you are at the peak of some emotional turmoil that desperately needs to be voiced. But the only other people around were the French speaking waitress and the couple at the next table. I suppose I could have yelped out in my teary eyed state, “This pie is so good” but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been anything the waitress hadn’t already heard. The sensation past. I was genuinely happy to be alive.
I’m happy to report that I didn’t have any negative repercussions due to that meal! The following days, I was having on average one pastry a day without consequences. It was like a miracle. One day I got particularly ambitious and had a Nutella crepe, that was pushing the boundary a bit.
One day I went to a contact improv jam. It’s been ages since I’ve been to one. I miss physical dialogues. I met Dominique there. After, we ate by the river and he showed me some places in town. There was a musical event happening by the river.
The next day I got a new host, Georges, from Lebanon. I introduced him to Dominique and we went to a Shambhala meditation meet up. It was nice to be amongst the Sangha again.
I’ve been in Madrid for almost 2 weeks now. My luggage didn’t arrive with my plane. I was without my luggage for 6 days. I was just thankful that Iberia actually found it and delivered it.
This first picture is a line of the people who had misconnections. I felt bad for them because it was an extremely slow (Spain 🙄) moving line and misconnections often inspire a sense of urgency for action. At one point, an impatient customer started clapping and got most the rest of the line to start clapping as well, to signal to the front of the line to move it along. It seemed as though the customer service representatives did not have the tools they needed in order to solve many of the problems they were brought, as they turned away many dissatisfied customers.
Those first 6 days were definitely a test for me. I felt unable to start on the agenda items I wanted to do in Madrid. I felt bound without stuff, stuck in my clothes. It calls to mind the teachings on groundlessness.
“… Mahavipashyana experience can also lead to celebration. It depends on your attitude. If your attitude is that the world is playing a trick on you, you will complain to everybody or at least try to find a source of complaint, so that your ground will be solid and your ideas will be appreciated. However, if you don’t have that attitude of competitiveness, then realizing that there is no ground becomes a source of celebration and joy. At this stage, the experience that you have nothing to hold on to is continual. And that experience will go on, until at a certain level of vajrayana takes a different form, with further sophistication. However, in this case it is just a simple experience that you exist, but at the same time you do not have any ground. You have no ground because awareness is constant, and the characteristic of awareness is emptiness. Awareness does not have a portrait, a reflection, or identification. So a positive feeling of nothingness becomes very real at the stage of teshin mikpa, or Mahavipashyana experience. In mahavipashyana, it is as though you have been released. It is like catching a fly and throwing it out the window so that the fly flies away rather than being squashed on the table. The idea of release or Liberation in Mahavipashyana discipline is to have a glimpse of groundlessness. The basic idea is that The closer you are to enlighten mind, the more your development takes you in that direction, the more groundless you are.” -CTR The Path of Individual Liberation
I was hosted in Madrid by my good friend Alejandro. I am thankful to have such a gracious and generous host. We shared many good conversations, meals, and walks around his neighborhood. I met his friend Mayo who stayed over for a few nights.
On one evening, Alejandro had a friend come and visit, Pilar. We all had a mutual friend named Javi, who recently passed away due to carbon monoxide poisoning from having put some hot coals in his air-tight sealed accommodations in Armenia. Pilar was his travel companion on the trip. She felt that his soul was still lingering around, unable to find peace, unable to believe the reality that he had died in his sleep, and move on. I suggested we do a ceremony to call him to us in order to explain to him what had happened and advise him on the next steps that he should take. Although his family and friends did have a burial ceremony for him, this was different, as this ceremony was more about instructing him on how to move on and what had happened. I believe it brought some closure to uneasy minds.
My baggage came the day after this. I had money missing. It wasn’t a lot, but I was still upset. I decided not to put in a claim after being on hold for the first 10 minutes, getting tired of trying to process/ translate the Spanish instructions of the Iberia customer hotline, and then realizing the absurdity of trying to get help from Iberia . There is a theme of letting go that came up constantly in these past 2 weeks. Some battles are just not worth fighting. I was ready to go out and do something.
Pilar had mentioned that she had recently gone to this alternative healing location just outside of Madrid. Alejandro and Mayo were both interested so we went to visit. The place was called Foro Ciencias Espirituales y Therapias Naturales. It was a little healing retreat about 45 minutes outside of Madrid. There was a big garden area with different animals. There was a little school for children. They advocated and served macrobiotic food. This was very interesting, as this was the first time I’ve come across this philosophy of nutrition in such detail. It made sense to me, and since the visit, I have been modifying my diet accordingly. The founder was named Consuelo Lopez. She practices Jin Shin Jyutsu, another first encounter for me. This therapy is like a cross between reiki and acupressure. The practitioner lays their hands on various points of the body depending on the ailments. The hands remain there for a few minutes before moving on to the next set of points. During my session, she told me that she was touching the points that would release old stagnant energy. During the next moments, I felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh. It was as though some dark ethereal blanket over me had been removed. I fell asleep during the session. I woke up feeling as though I had a long restful deep sleep. My inner felt peace was strong and unable to be interrupted. I felt this way for a day and a half after the session.
A few days later, I headed over to the city center and then to Retiro park to do some busking. I used to do this for a living back when I was traveling. I wanted to relive the sensation of being able to perform in public without the fear of state persecution and with the ambiance of general public acceptance. It’s an indescribable sensation to be able to express/perform your art in public and to be able to get tipped for it. It certainly brought up a lot for me; insecurity, bravery, fear, joy, exhaustion. At the end of the evening I made it back home with very tired legs. I was happy to have done it and happy to not need to do that as a living anymore. It was a good experience that I don’t think I will have to repeat for a long time. Another experience of letting go.
Two days later, I wanted to relive the Spanish club experience. Having been to parties all around the world, I can tell you that Spanish clubs are amongst the best. Over the years I have missed being able to go to that kind of venue dearly. On Friday night I headed out to Chueca, the gay/ clubbing district in Madrid. I arrived at around 10:30 p.m., much too early to really see anything happening. Madrid is notorious for starting their evenings late. I checked out a few different clubs, but I couldn’t find music that I resonated with. A bouncer told me about this one club that was about a 20-minute walk away. As I walked in that direction, I crossed a couple of other neighborhoods. I was surprised but also not so surprised, that people were out and about socializing, eating, and drinking everywhere, not just in Chueca. It was already past midnight at this point. I got to my new location only to find that the club had been closed down. I decided to go to another club that was about another 20 minute walk further away from the center. I got there to find a lovely big venue that was empty and playing reggaetón music. I decided to leave and call it a night. By the time I got home it was around 3am. The scene had changed! It used to be effortless to find a great party here.
The next day I decided to do some research. I bought I ticket to this DJ event that was to take place at a “secret location.” After purchasing the ticket, I had Alejandro called the hotline that was emailed to me in order to get the address. It was outside the center of Madrid.
It was in this industrial warehouse area next to some neighborhood. It reminded me of the parties I used to go to in Brooklyn. I wandered down this dark deserted street looking for the place. It was around 12:30 a.m. Luckily there was a cafe nearby full of people. I asked for directions. They pointed me in the direction of where I had just came. I saw one guy come out of a taxi and go up to a locked gate. He was approached by a man on the opposite side of the gate. He unlocked it and let him in. I approached the gate. The man approach as well and asked me what I wanted. I asked him if this was the location of the party. He let me in and locked the gate behind me. I felt as though I should be extra attentive. The man pointed me to a door in a dark corner of the courtyard. As I approached, the door opened up and I found a club. It was a small venue. I was the first one there, other than the staff and the dj. I was relieved to have found the party and to be alive. Within 20 minutes more people started to arrive. The party was relatively good. I experienced many things. I actually made a list during the night.
Self conscious Elation Low grade headache Paranoia Apathy Bliss from an external source Want to get out Brave Breaking the mold Tired legs Am I sexy I am sexy Strong I am loved and appreciated Smoke in my eyes Strings of light Staying in my body This is what I’ve been missing… ! ..? … Repeat Alone Jiving Hungry Irritated eyes Tired legs Cruising Grasping Happy I can let go Burning eyes Ready to go Hungry Let go of cruising Great, 2nd peak Still hungry.. but not so bad Cleared of obstacles The roller coaster goes up and down constantly Go after him He’s already walked away.. not interested Grasping resurfacing I crave touch Want to capture the moment Fitting in …. This is my lost alien tribe.. where did I go?
Near the end of the party, I met this pretty girl, Clo. We exchange numbers and I headed home.
I ended up getting home at around 9:30 a.m. completely exhausted and reeking of secondhand smoke.
Similar to the busking experience, something had changed. I’m glad that I did it because now it paves the way to letting go of needing to experience this all the time. Perhaps it’s because I sensationalized a memory, or perhaps it was because I have changed, or the music has changed, or maybe it was all of the above. In any case, there is a big psychological burden that was lifted because now I feel that the Spanish club party isn’t something that I have to have to keep working to pursue. The memory of the ecstasy of dancing out in the clubs, the feeling of the music penetrating my essence, didn’t exactly match up to what I experienced on this particular evening. For the letting go of this particular sense attachment, I am grateful and much lighter. On my way back home, I walked past this cool space of land that was being used as a garden that looked like it would have otherwise been unutilized.
I just want to mention how much I love all of the fresh bread in the supermarkets here, although I can’t have any of it. I also have to make mention of Alejandro’s yard as it seems to have its own persona. Alejandro is the process of excavating the yard of this home he inherited. During the construction, all the trash was dumped in the back and covered with dirt. Now Alejandro has the vision to convert this space into a harmonious garden with a waterway. He is digging 1.5 meters into the ground to pull up all of the waste! He is creating a solid foundation for healthy soil. So important and admirable. I’ve no doubt this will be a lush fertile garden.
bodymovin.net 