5 posts tagged “travel”
Yesterday I was talking with someone about how busy life has been lately when I realized just how busy it's actually been: I've been to 5 countries in the last 6 months, and some time in between that, work and life in general, I may have bought a house. I'll know for sure in a couple of hours. lol
Spain...I'm not sure where to begin. I took almost 400 photos in the few days I wasn't on a train and pulled a few dozen out to post here. My Flickr account is expired for the time being so I'll post the whole mess of them up there once I renew it. Spain was an amazing place, full of color, style, brilliant food and art-laden culture that you could practically trip over (and one or two people did). Wine was cheaper than soft drinks and sangria was consumed more often than water.
I may come back and write up the whole experience when I have more time, but for now a few pictures will really have to be worth a few thousand words. :) I'll try to keep them in some kind of order.
or at least I hope it does. :)
Vaya con Dios, mis amigos.
It's been a month since I returned from Paris, something of a crazy whirlwind month and yet it somehow seems like another lifetime ago. So much has changed (including me) and it's been so busy that I haven't really had time to reflect on it all, and really I've barely written about it, mush less the month in between.
Part of that is just life: a lot of time with new friends, dinners and drinks for this occasion or that, work and all the mundane stuff that comes up every day, and a lot of time with Liz, which has been really good. I met her sister and spent some time in her classroom with the kids, worked around her house and hit the Farmer's Market. Last weekend we went to one of the school's basketball games where a few of the girls from her class were playing, which might have been the cutest thing ever. They try so hard and some of them are really good already. They adore her and it was great to just be there and be a part of it. It really is the little things...cooking together, breakfast at Sun in my Belly and just hanging out...just normal life. :)
The other part of that is I've been as sick as a dog for the past 10 days. I had a little sore throat when I got home that turned sinusy but I seemed to get over that within a few days, but then it returned with a vengeance in the form of a sinus and upper respiratory infection. I finally broke down and went to the doctor and got prescriptions for a heavy antibiotic and a steroid to boost my immune system, along with a few things to clear me out. It's worked amazingly fast so far and after a couple of days off work (my first sick days I think) I'm finally on the mend. Liz has been sick too with the flu and strep, probably the least fun combination of over the counter illnesses you can contract together but she seems to be on the down slope of it, as well. So it's been busy.
Earlier today though someone said something that reminded me of it all and it kind of hit me. A little over a month ago I was walking the streets of Paris, taking photos and living this surreal life. I ate in little cafes and spoke with people on the street. I took photos for tourists, partied with the masses and just walked for miles and miles. From Moulin Rouge to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs to the gardens and the Louvre, I walked. I rode the mtro, got lost, found my way and lived. I did something I have wanted to do my entire life and I did it the way I wanted to do it. I'd almost lost that glow in the midst of simply living but then there it was again at a moment's notice, a small light still burning within, etching a smile across my face without warning.
I think I understand what people mean now when they say "I'll always have Paris."
I will always have Paris.
You know those movies where the smoochy couple get smoochier by the second and they gaze into eachother's eyes and she says, Take me to Paris!" and the next thing you know it's a day later and they're in Paris and smooching under some Parisian thing looking all...well, like people who actually managed to get from point A to point B where point B is some place in France?
Well, what the fuck ever. If knowing is half the battle than getting there is the War of the Worlds. LOL
And it's not like I'm trying to say...book an underground railroad trip from Atlanta to Venus with an overnight stay in Hell or anything. You know? It's a simple plan:
- Get the hell out of Atlanta
- Land in Paris, or a reasonable facimile thereof
- Stay there, see stuff, take photos, eat food, drink wine, tour things
- Take a really freaking fast train under the channel to London
- Stay there, see stuff, take photos, eat food, drink a pint, tour things
- Take a really freaking fast train under the channel to Paris
- Repeat step 3
- Fly back
I don't know...this so does not sound like that much to ask.
I think the worst part is that I'm totally capable of handling doing this. I just get so frustrated dealing with customer service agents and travel adivsors who know less about their site than I do so I get to a point where I'll just pay whatever to get it done and not have to deal with the, anymore. Maybe I'm just frustrated in general. lol
I just want to see Paris.
Le sigh.
I made a little trip out to the High Museum over the weekend, it's still one of my favorite places in Atlanta. I'm not sure if it's because it was really the first "place" I went when I arrived here a few years ago or if it's just that it reminds me so much of the Getty Museum in Southern California on a sort of petite scale. Not that The High lacks grandeur in any way, it's really quite impressive actually. Some might scoff at me for comparing the two, however, but I guess you have to understand that sometimes how something "feels" to me leaves a far more lasting memory than structure or decor. Walking into either place gives me a true sense of "art" if that makes any sense. People say things like "I know art when I see it." When you walk into The High or The Getty, if you don't see it you should check your pulse.
So on Saturday night I went to see the film adaptation of one of my favorite author's books, Walter Moseley's Devil in a Blue Dress. Denzil Washington is a perfect Easy Rawlins, and Don Cheadle is Mouse, through and through, and for a book to film adaptation it works really well. I think this is mostly because Moseley spends a lot of time and effort describing what he wants us to see through the culture and actions of his protagonist. It doesn't require a complicated set or scene to get the exact feel of the scene just so long as the characters believe it. Washington and Cheadle clearly do.
The film experience itself is something I enjoyed. No Digital Theater Sound, no popcorn or candy - just an old style auditorium with those barely padded seats and a 35mm film projector. There was just something right about watching a post-WWII period film about a man's life in Los Angeles in a theater that had none of the bells and whistles of the modern life. Sometimes, simplicity is perfection.
I walked around the building after and took a few shots on the street, some of the odd concoction that makes up the blend of modern theatre-goers, some of the buildings and street. I just wanted to shoot.
After the show I headed home and left the processing for Sunday. Father's Day is one of those awful days for me when I feel like a failure and everything seems to make a grand effort to remind me of that. It passes but it stings in the moment. I kept busy, processed photos and ended up going for a run, something I've missed. It felt pretty good and I've decided to try to keep it up.
Later that night I thought about things I would like to do, and places I'd like to go. I thought a bit about the Getty on its secluded mountainside, solid travertine walls and floor, its ornate gardens and otherworldy vistas and thought maybe I should consider going home to California for a bit and maybe see it.
Today I got promoted to grand king of all things intelligent and spatial (but not at the same time, methinks) and decided that there was another museum I would really like to see and decided I would go see it.
It's time to go see the Louvre. :-)
