Sunday night arrived and I was dying for companionship… I spent hours roaming around in the blistering heat in my new town looking for a place to eat and a friendly face to talk to.  I wound up eating piss poor ratatouille and talking a bit to a pretty nice Italian guy for the first hour or two of my Sevillan adventure.  About 8PM my two flatmates arrived (this is so Real World).  At any rate the two girls were beat as well from their travels and upon first impression I was not sure what to make of them.  I am sure they thought the same of me.  I am a bit the opposite of most normal human beings, I like to have all my cylinders running at one – I only crash and burn quarterly. 

As luck would have it, the girls from Inglaterra have been heaven sent and quite a blessing to have around the house and in the course.  I might be the loose screw in the bunch, but every house has to have its quirks and we get along very well.  I will miss the two of them when all is said and done.

Posted: July 8th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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Arriving in Sevilla on a Sunday at 2PM with a hangover is a very rude awakening.

Southern Spain does not function on Sundays in general, nor does it open its doors during siestas which depending on what day you have could be anywhere between 2PM until 8PM. On a side note, everyone takes their holiday in August and therefore nothing is open during that month regardless of what time it is.

Spanish life, as I have found is one of the more relaxing and although it has taken me a bit of time to adjust (I think I am still adjusting), it is making me a better, more patient person. It has also made me drink more wine on a regular basis, but that is the Spanish way of life and frankly there is no real avoiding it.

For the Southern part of Spain a typical summer day is to awake about 8 or 9 in the morning and head out to the cafe for a shot of espresso (cafe) and pan con jamon or tomate (bread with ham and/or tomato). The Spanish love their ham. At about 11AM it is off to the cafe for round two. Either more cafe or a cerveza. Lunch is at 2 or 3PM and it also begins sietsa. If you have to return to work, you might do so at 6ish and if not you might just head to the bars where you will remain until you feel like going home. Could be early, could be the following morning. One never knows.

Everyone here works to live and nothing more. No one here is all that stressed, most are peaceful and content. It is a great way of living and one of the reasons I love it here. I am headed to Madrid tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing how the other half lives. In Sevilla there is a lack of things to do unless you want to throw yourself into the tourist traps. I have been living among them the last three months and have pretty much tapped that resource. I look forward to city life again. So we shall see…..

Posted: July 8th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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Saturday morning and off to the French countryside for the second half of Nugents wedding… this means one more day of endless courses of food, wine and a long night of dancing!

The French countryside was spectacular. Everything one might envision. Endless fields of cream colored grains (of corn or wheat, I am not sure which), cobblestone houses, and iron gates. The wedding itself was held in a little chateau used as a bed and breakfast. The estate was decorated with subtle orange backdrops and little artistic flares that complimented the landscape. Nugent herself looked absolutely breathtaking and her smile told a very happy story, one that little girls dream of.

The wedding began at four and it was the second ceremony I was involved in. I was the French equivalent to the bridesmaid and had to sign the legal documents at both the civil and legal ceremonies. Once the ceremony was complete, the festivities really began and did not come to a close until 4 or 5 in the morning. I can not be to sure, because I believe I drank during every course of the evening and then some. What I do recall is having to get out of the chateau at 7AM to drive to Orly which was an hour away. I was due to fly into Sevilla that morning and did not want to risk missing my flight.

Fortunately I had a partner in crime, Margaret. We both were on the same playing field. Each had too much to drink and we each spent the night dancing the entire night with unmentionables. We at least had something to laugh about on our way to the airport despite the excruciating pain in our heads from the mass quantity of wine and champagne from the night before…..

Posted: July 7th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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After days of consuming mass quantities of wine in all varieties, I decided to head out into the city of Paris for a tour of the dead. I began by taking a train into the city and making my first stop at the catacombs of Paris. A view of underground labyrinths layered with the bones and skulls of thousands of people dating back from the 18th century. Millions of bones and rotting corpses were transported from the unsanitary city cemetery in 1785 to to this place. It is unusually beautiful and grotesque, and above all an amazing place to be able to view.

Directly after leaving the catacombs I headed to the Montparnasse Cemetery to ogle the gorgeous statues and shrines that have stood there for hundreds of years. It was about at this time the batteries in my camera began to die. Sadly the cameras I own are dying and belong in the cemetery with the dead… it will prove to be a problem for me later in my travels.

To end my day, I finished up at the oldest taxidermy shop in Paris, Deyrolle. This famous taxidermy shop has been in operation since the mid-19th century and has an unbelievable natural collection that you can purchase. It is a shop that I will return to the next time I am in Paris.

Posted: July 6th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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My feet are frozen. I did not bring anything to keep myself warm; no socks, no sweaters, nothing for unanticipated, cold as hell climate.  Who would have thought, that Paris in summer would be pissing rain and freezing? Global warming is a fact ladies and gentleman. The polar ice caps are in fact melting, and parts of Europe will eventually be thrown into another ice age! I say, lets just keep destroying the world – If we continue ignoring the problem it will just go away right?

So I am stuck inside for the day – wasting away on the dreaded, evil computer! I am in the vicinity of Paris for a wedding, and thought perhaps I was going to travel into the city for some fun.  Instead, I received word that I would not be doing a damn thing until it was mid afternoon and now, I am reduced to staying indoors to wait until we all head into Paris as a group. Sorta sucks and I am sort of shitty about it, but that is what happens when you have to rely on others to get you by. Disappointments.  In all fairness, I am here for a wedding, so I do understand – I just wish  that the decision to not do anything  was made earlier, so that I could have ventured out and took advantage of the day.

Since I have been in Europe, I have found that nobody really does a whole lot. Everyone just sorta sits around and drags ass – something I am not accustomed to what so ever. About the only time I can drag ass is when I am basking in the sun and spending the day at the beach. I am too far north for that! I have spent more time on the computer or in front of the television since I have been overseas than I care to admit. I look forward to moving onto Sevilla where I will be on my own time. No one else is involved but ME ME ME and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want!

Posted: July 5th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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An oxymoron of sorts. Although, in certain parts of the European Union I am sure being a vegan would not be a problem, France is not the friendliest vegan country out there. I miss the Southern California lifestyle in which raw food is plentiful and abundant! I am afraid my days of eating at Au Lac and 118 degrees are just fading memories in my past! In the past week, my diet has been thrown one curve ball after another and frankly, I just have not been able to maintain. I have been able to sustain a vegan diet, although my will power has been amply tested here in France.  Fucking fromage everywhere you turn!!!

As far as being raw, I am sticking to as much fruit and raw produce during the day. Personally I find the salads here not particularly delicious. For instance, I had a vegetarian salad which consisted of three pieces of butter lettuce, two tomatoes and cooked corn, green beans, potatoes and beets all which appeared to come from a can. I have succumbed to eating cooked food, not much, but I have been reduced to eating cooked veggies and tabouli salad. To be quite honest, I think that the tabouli salad was the best I have ever eaten! I am not feeling too guilty being on this side of the Mediterranean.

Sadly, proper rabbit food is just not available on this side of the pond and a girl just has to make due with what is available!

Ho Hum.

Posted: July 5th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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¡Hola! Greetings, and salutations… well as usual I am off to a late start and I am blogging backwards in hopes to get all you knuckleheads caught up in my virtual oddesy. Let me apologize right off by saying that I am succumbing to using European keyboards and it is challenging. Eventually I will get used to having the Q where the A should be and having to use the shift key every time I need to use a period. Silly EU keys!

Currently in Lille France. Arrived here yesterday via train. Lille is a beautiful city although I have not seen too much of it so far. I have been tied up so to speak! I came to Lille to do a series of Shibari photographs with Philippe BoXis.

I have spent the last two days being tied, suspended, untied and tied again. What started as fun has left me spent, bruised and covered in rope marks – not that I am bitching, actually it has been entirely worth it. I am hoping the photos are successful for all of us, Philippe in particular. He has been an extraordinary host, has taken me into town, invited me to other S & M events and even brought me to the zoo today so I could get my fill of monkeys!

Philippes work can be found at  www.french-shibari.com

Posted: July 5th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
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