Narbonne-Madrid via Barcelona

A few hours to kill in Barcelona before going to Madrid. We jump on the subway and head to a bar to quench our thirst with cañas and fill up our bellies with basque tapas. Walking around our old neighborhood, el Born, passing by our favorite around-the-corner bars: Taller de Tapas for its sangria, la Taverna vasca Irati for its cidra and La Vinya del Senyor across Santa Maria del Mar church for its wines.
And then there was the mandatory stop by my favorite candy store: Papabubble where you can stand and watch confections being made for as long as you want.

It's good to see the older spanish ladies again, with their big shoulder pads and hairdos that seem to have gone through decades without any kind of alterations. Loving the typical blue or green eye shadow covering most of the eyelids, like a monochromatic rainbow across the face.

One of my favorite landscape stretches between Barcelona and Madrid: endless miles of a red and ochre rocky barren land, a dust bowl reminiscent of spaghetti westerns in the heart of Spain.

Retouching fashion photographs (part II)

Chromatic (part IV)

Chromatic (part III)

Chromatic (part II)

Paris—BHV (Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville)

Trapped in an elevator. Chess and I are on the 5th floor of the BHV and decide to go downstairs in the elevator. The doors open, we get in, it stinks. There's a sweaty overweight guy who is standing near the door and who, thank god, gets off at the top floor. Then a massive amount of people get in and the two of us find ourselves sort of squished against the back of the elevator. And then the unimaginable happens: someone breaks wind! It might've stank earlier but this time it smelled like someone sold their ass to the devil. Halfway between the fifth and the fourth floor I said to Chess, out loud, "we are getting off at the next floor!" As I tried to wade through the crowd I said "ce n'est pas gentil!"(that's not nice). The old lady I passed by said "il faut savoir supporter" (one has to bear it). mmmmhhm... HELL NO, I ain't inhaling no fart! I ain't sharing no old lady's "good manners"!

Paris—France

I have no word to describe how beautiful Paris is. Mind-blowingly stunning. Breath-takingly gorgeous. Strolling with loved ones along the Seine, on a street that is closed off to traffic for most of the day on weekends, and passing underneath a succession of bridges that all tell a different story while the light casts its golden glow over the city, leaves me with one word only, JOY.

Saturday. There was a bunch of us, brother, girlfriend, cousins and friends, walking across the city, trying to wade our way through an uninterrupted flow of people and traffic, stopping here and there in different neighborhoods for a drink or two and enjoying each other's company in a city like no other. The springlike weather made us feel like the world belonged to us. Too late in the evening to find seats in the neighborhood's Japanese restaurants, we ended up sipping a few bottles of Billecart Salmon champagne at the Hotel Costes before satiating our hunger with cheesburgers and fries(really good ones) down the street at Cafe RUC at one in the morning. And when the metro no longer runs we have the Velib to take us home.
We'll save Kai restaurant for another night (Sushi Ran, i miss you so).

Paris—a wolf in the city

So here we were, walking down the street in the Marais; we got close to two guys and a dog. Chess told me it was a wolf. Yeah right, no way Josey. She insisted it was a wolf so i decided to ask its owner. Chess said he was on the phone and i told her i'd wait until he gets off it or go ask the guy walking by his side. So i asked and it turned out my girl was right. Again. The guy told me it was a Czech wolf and the wolf owner pulled his cell phone away from his ear to tell me it was 65% wolf. Chess informed me that wolves were illegal in the states. I asked if it was legal, he answered that he had all the papers to prove it. Tonight i saw a white wolfdog walking down the streets of Paris, it looked really quiet and mellow, and was held by a broad metal chain.
Wait, so this whole time i've been slaloming between dog shit i might have also been dodging wolf excrement!

Chromatic (part I)

Super "duper" tuesday

Ten things I like about France

-Some really unsophisticated t.v commercials that are so bad they are good (a baby's arm sticking out of its mother's belly, flipping her the bird, and looking like some alien erection...!?)-i mean bad.

-The 30 year old (cute)guy who gets his afternoon pain au chocolat (kid)snack when buying his evening baguette. I see the child in him.

-More than a decade after i left home, i can still see naked women on yogurt/shampoo commercials. Some things never change — home sweet home!

-Dog owners have started picking up after their pets, albeit not enough.

-Velib

-Smoke-free bars, cafés and clubs (apparently clubbers have been complaining about body odors since the cigarette ban!)

-Good wines under 10€

-TGV

-Securité Sociale

-Profusion of boulangeries/patisseries/chocolatiers

When color photography takes my breath away

The whole Yangtze river series is amazing!

Paris—book exchange

Circul'Livre is a book exchange activity that was started in 2004 by one of Paris' neighborhoods. Started with the idea of promoting reading, and bringing back some vitality to neighborhood life, it consists in people gathering in order to exchange books and then bringing them back into circulation once read. It's totally free and open to anyone interested in reading and sharing books.

Sarkozy-Bruni tie the knot

The two are now married. I hope Sarkozy's into the idea of having more than one partner since Carla seems to be into polygamy/polyandry. I'm sure he wouldn't mind another woman at his side, but what if Carla brings another man at home...?
Sarkozy on Saturdays, Sundays and Monday nights, X on Tuesdays, Y Wednesdays and Thursdays, Z on Fridays. Nice. "Alternance" at the Elysée Palace (the official residence of the president of France)-not in the bipartisanship sense!