Tuesday, August 12, 2008

5 Cities 4 Days

... And some really tired feet. The toughest leg of my journey is over - weds in Madrid; thurs back in Barcelona; Fri in Paris; Sat in Rome and then Florence. Was it tough? Yes. Lugging heavy suitcases around everywhere. Madrid was just a day trip though. Spanish countryside is very ... arid and desert like with dry brush and sparse bushes. Madrid was the most quiet of all the cities I travelled and had some great graffitti. Things were cheap there too and I wish I bought more things in Madrid. Attitudes there though? Well, attitudes all over Spain - eh, they're funny with Blacks but no evil looks like the one I got here in Florence byu a tourist or two. I'll get to that in a sec. So I did my shopping and got some nice stuff back in Barcelona and then hopped the night train for Paris.

Back in Paris we picked up my younger sis and her friend and did some food hunting. I managed to get caught up in a French discount store and walked out with some cool socks. And soon another night train awaited for us. This little French boy ran by our train cabin door and stared in at us, gawking. Afterwards I said 'Yep, that's exactly how the adults feel but they try to keep it in check, except this kid is just curious and not crazy like his adults.' Maybe I'm harsh, but ah the fuck well. :D So in a six bed cabin I slept in the lowest bed which was a clautrophibic sort of this wedge between the seats like lint in a coach. French countryside is gorgeous. I would like to stay in the country next time.

We arrived in Roma, or Roma, checked our lugage in storage and hopped on a tour bus. My thoughts of Rome - eh. It was cool seeing all the old stuff, Vatican City, churches, but I guess I wasn't that enthuciastic. I saw the Colloseum but didn't go inside. Everything was from the tour bus and there were long lines everywhere. Infact, all of the cities save for Madrid were there long long line and throngs and throngs of tourists. That is very much a turnoff to me. I would rather secluded forgotten old things in hidden glens to these over commercialized tourist attractions. Blergh.

So after five hours we boarded a train for Florence or rather Firenze. This city is straight out of a story book with cobble stone narrow streets, and 15 century style. Lots of art here. and great looking homes. There was a funny bridge covered with these Rennaisance styled homes. I think it's owned by a fashion designer now. On the tour bus we travelled up into the hills, where it was much cooler, and got to see a great view of the city at night whilest the big bus rode around tight scary corners inches away from a steep drop. Okay that makes it sound dramatic. It's not that bad. On the way down, since the top of the tour bus is open air, we got smacked by branches. It was a good laugh though, especially when my grandpa said that the branches hitting us were all in our heads. Well, he got whollopped too. Meh! Served him right!

Today I got a chance to visit some museums. On the way to the first museum, a cinnimin roll-faced badly aged Asian woman gave me the most wicked face I'd ever seen. It was so full of disgust and whatever. SO I regarded her as one does a child or senile old person. I grinned at her and gave her silly faces. Oh that made her so mad. lol. I did the same to an Indian man who looked at me with disgust as if saying 'How dare you be in a place like this as a tourist and look so wealthy as you do!' Well I just smiled and stared at him until he looked away. Yep, didn't expect me to handle you that way. I have no shame! It's the cost of being so unabashedly 'Black' with my fro and all. I'm getting used to the attitudes. A smile is a powerful weapon, so full of mischief and scorn. A sly grin can topple stone.

But the museums were okay. I got to see some pornography ... errr classical art, a few tranny sculptures; Leonardo's David and David's massive cock and balls; lots of balls and boobs; Madonna through the ages as she progressively became more and more bare chested and gaudy. I even got to see baby Jesus grabbing her boob and then later sucking it. My for the son of man to suck a teat! How how ... human! lol. I'm being a punk. I can't appreciate this art. It's been appreciated to much. I would rather the graffitti or a good modern art museum. Old things don't resonate with me unless they are untouched or in an ancinet place. Being in a museum they lose their power and magnificence. It's like looking at a stuffed animal or animal in a zoo vs looking at that animal alive in the wild.

So tomorrow I leave for Venice and Milan. After that it is London and a night in Gatwick before flying home. A few more days now in Europe.

1 comment:

Shel said...

the more i hear about these people staring and gawking at you, the less i think i want to visit europe. at least visiting it like a tourist. i'll take a backpack and a week per city tour over the day in/day out style that you're doing.