Outside the language school:
In the stairwell of my apartment building:
It says "Dangerous Bottom", but don't believe everything you read:
In the apartment:
Stayed nude as I left the beach area on a dare:
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Pictures
I'm not as good about taking pictures as the BF, but I have managed to get a couple.
Outside the language school:
In the stairwell of my apartment building:
It says "Dangerous Bottom", but don't believe everything you read:
In the apartment:
Outside the language school:
In the stairwell of my apartment building:It says "Dangerous Bottom", but don't believe everything you read:
In the apartment:
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Week in Review
Picture of the small square/plaza just steps from my apartment.The first friend from back home arrived yesterday about 6 hours after the scheduled time due to weather problems, mechanical issues and just about everything else. He was pretty wiped out. For our first day, we walked around the city quite a bit, ate at a great pizza place (don't say it, I know) that I like and had a drink. Later that evening we went to Punto and Dietrich for drinks where we met a sweet guy named Max. Later Max accompanied us to Arena, where I was supposed to meet up with Jesi, a guy I had met at the beach. We got home at 4am and slept in until 2pm. I'm thinking we'll probably go to the beach today.
Other people I've met in the past few days...
On Sunday I met up with a guy I had met named Jose Luis at Punto. I stayed there we chatted with his group of friends. He insisted on driving me home, probably at an attempt to preserve my purity, but I declined. After an internal debate, I decided to go to Open Mind. I entered and got naked. It wasn't naked night, but nudity is always part of the dress code there. It was a lot more fun that I would've expected for a Sunday night. I met a beautiful, thin Spanish boy as well as a visiting French/Irish/English guy named Hakim. Hakim is gorgeous and fairly kinky. We put on a show at Open Mind and left together. We walked around for a bit looking for some place to get a beer. We didn't find any place, but honestly our search was lack luster since we were really just talking. At the end, we went to his hotel, which was on Avenida de Roma and just a block and a half from my school. It was daylight by the time we went to sleep. When my alarm rang in the morning, I got up to turn it off and got right back into bed missing school. Later, around noon, we left together in search of food. Afterwards he came to my place for another round. He left around 4pm because I desperately had to work. He called later that evening. Since he was leaving the next day, he wanted me to stop by on way to school.
On Tuesday I met a guy named Xavi. Xavi is a tall, good-looking and well-gifted Catalan guy although he didn't grow up in the city. We met a Boyberry, which is a story in itself. Afterwards, we left together and walked the city talking. Then we ate and had a few drinks at a quite outdoor cafe in the gay district. Xavi is full of depressing life stories. I told him that he owes me some happy stories. At the end of the evening he walked me home and stayed the night.
On Wednesday I went to naked night at La Base, which was fun as usual. I had worn my leather football pants that I had bought at IML. As if being black in this city doesn't already make me stand out, you have to imagine me taking the metro and walking the street in these things. I got stopped in the streets twice this night by people trying to pick me up. The first one was a guy named Alberto who felt me up, pinched my nipples and gave me his card. The second approached me as I left La Base at 2 AM. He said he lived across the street and invited me up. I said I shouldn't, but did. His apartment was extremely luxurious and very large. He was an Irishman living and working in Barcelona for the past 10 years.
On Thursday I met Daro. He is an incredibly cute 23 year old medical student from Venezuela. We caught a cab back to my apartment and he stayed the night. When the alarm clock rang the next morning for school, I really wasn't feeling up to it so I missed classes for the second day this week.
Other people I've met in the past few days...
On Sunday I met up with a guy I had met named Jose Luis at Punto. I stayed there we chatted with his group of friends. He insisted on driving me home, probably at an attempt to preserve my purity, but I declined. After an internal debate, I decided to go to Open Mind. I entered and got naked. It wasn't naked night, but nudity is always part of the dress code there. It was a lot more fun that I would've expected for a Sunday night. I met a beautiful, thin Spanish boy as well as a visiting French/Irish/English guy named Hakim. Hakim is gorgeous and fairly kinky. We put on a show at Open Mind and left together. We walked around for a bit looking for some place to get a beer. We didn't find any place, but honestly our search was lack luster since we were really just talking. At the end, we went to his hotel, which was on Avenida de Roma and just a block and a half from my school. It was daylight by the time we went to sleep. When my alarm rang in the morning, I got up to turn it off and got right back into bed missing school. Later, around noon, we left together in search of food. Afterwards he came to my place for another round. He left around 4pm because I desperately had to work. He called later that evening. Since he was leaving the next day, he wanted me to stop by on way to school.
On Tuesday I met a guy named Xavi. Xavi is a tall, good-looking and well-gifted Catalan guy although he didn't grow up in the city. We met a Boyberry, which is a story in itself. Afterwards, we left together and walked the city talking. Then we ate and had a few drinks at a quite outdoor cafe in the gay district. Xavi is full of depressing life stories. I told him that he owes me some happy stories. At the end of the evening he walked me home and stayed the night.
On Wednesday I went to naked night at La Base, which was fun as usual. I had worn my leather football pants that I had bought at IML. As if being black in this city doesn't already make me stand out, you have to imagine me taking the metro and walking the street in these things. I got stopped in the streets twice this night by people trying to pick me up. The first one was a guy named Alberto who felt me up, pinched my nipples and gave me his card. The second approached me as I left La Base at 2 AM. He said he lived across the street and invited me up. I said I shouldn't, but did. His apartment was extremely luxurious and very large. He was an Irishman living and working in Barcelona for the past 10 years.
On Thursday I met Daro. He is an incredibly cute 23 year old medical student from Venezuela. We caught a cab back to my apartment and he stayed the night. When the alarm clock rang the next morning for school, I really wasn't feeling up to it so I missed classes for the second day this week.
Germany Update: So far I have been able to find cheap tickets to Franfurt, but nothing to Berlin for under 300 Euros.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Germany?
From the beginning of this trip I had envisioned making a detour at somepoint to another European city. My primary choices were Berlin and Amsterdam, although I hadn't made any concrete decisions. After I arrived, a couple that from Germany that we had met in San Fransisco contacted me and urged me to come visit them. At the time I didn't think I had any free time, but I just discovered that my return flight is a day later (Monday) than I had thought. It's all coming together as if it was meant to happen.
Postscript: So blogspot has been activing a little weird lately. First none of the popups were working so I couldn't post any pictures nor would spell check work. Well, I've resolved the popup issue and finally got to run a spell check... but it checks against a Spanish dictionary. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to keep using MS Word as my spell-checker.
Postscript: So blogspot has been activing a little weird lately. First none of the popups were working so I couldn't post any pictures nor would spell check work. Well, I've resolved the popup issue and finally got to run a spell check... but it checks against a Spanish dictionary. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to keep using MS Word as my spell-checker.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tastes of Barcelona
I thought I'd write a post about how Barcelona differs from my hometown and perhaps many other places in the US. So here's a random sampling of the good and bad:
People here put much more emphasis on social activities and less emphasis on work than we do. Here you are expected to go out or at least spend time with friends over dinner and/or drinks. This contributes to a more laid back atmosphere that seems much more common in Europe than in the States. It's always refreshing to remember that we work to live and not the other way around.
- In school today, the teacher referenced as an aside the typical, average work day as being from 9 to 1. This brought a smile to my face. Many businesses here work from 9 til 1, then re-open from 4 to about 7 or 8.
- The architecture is completely different. First there are the older parts of the city including El Barrio Gotico, El Borne, El Cuidad Viejo and El Raval. Then there are the more modern buildings of L'Eixample that somehow remind me of Paris. There are also other styles that can be seen in some places such as other residential areas, Barceloneta an Gracia.
- The culture is hugely open culturally, with a kind of beautifully organized social chaos. People generally do what they want. On the downside this leads to such things as public urination, but on the upside allows the sense of freedom and public authenticity that somehow seems lacking in most (not all) of US cities.
- Part of being open, there is public alcohol consumption everywhere. There are even roving people selling cans of Estrella (the local beer). People drink on the streets, in the plazas, even on the beach. Even as walking home at 5 in the morning you can still see the vendors.
- The cars are smaller, the garbage trucks are tiny even delivery trucks are smaller than our mid-sized vans. Apartments are generally smaller as are washing machines and almost everything else. They seem to put a higher value on effective us whereas we tend to live by the "more/bigger is better" motto.
- Similarly, it amazes me how energy conscious they are here. For example, lights in the lobbies of most apartment buildings turn off automatically. There are buttons throughout that will turn them on for a few minutes after which time the halls will again go mostly dark. Even many power outlets have switches designed to stop the small flow of energy that escapes even when a device is turned off. Lights are fastidiously turned off at every opportunity. Curiously however, I'm amazed at how much water they use. Their shower heads, faucets and toilets seemingly use much more water than we consume in the US. Go figure.
- Owning car or even having a license to drive one is not nearly as common and public transportation is great. Also, there are bicycles and motor scooters everywhere. There's even a "zip car" -like service called "bicing" where any member can just pick up a bike almost anywhere in the city, ride it to their destination and leave it there. I've seen similar racks in DC and think they're going to try the system there too, but wonder if our mindset is quite the same. Perhaps it's a case of "if you build it, they will come".
- The nightlife is incredibly thriving. It's common for people to arrive at a club at 2:30am or even later and party until 6am. For those wishing to continue, there are after-hour places that keep the partying going through the morning.
- The atmosphere is filled with a feeling of open sexiness that I believe comes from the liberalness and openness. There are bars where you can go nude (at least gay bars anyway). Half of the gay bars and clubs have back rooms (cuartos oscuro), where play is not on allowed, but expected. A few bars are nothing but one big back room.
- People generally live a little more simply. For example, I have yet to see a Bluetooth headset on anyone. They don't even know what a TiVo is. The technologies that most people have include a modern cell phone, iPod and a computer. Many people even forgo the computer and visit Internet Cafes, which are everywhere in this city.
- Generally, people tend to dress a little more fashionably, although there are a few places in the US that I think would compare.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Barcelona Day 7
Everything has been quite perfect so far. Classes are going well. I'm learning a lot, but probably not studying (or working for that matter) as much as I should. There are just so many distractions here. Not that I'm complaining mind you.
Yesterday was another intentionally easy day for me. I had an invitation to go the beach, but didn't go. In the end all I did was do walked around the city a bit. I toured the Borne area a bit more and made my first trip over to las Ramblas. Later I spent a couple of hours with a very cute guy I had met. At around 11:30pm, I went to La Base, which is the first public place I ever took my clothes off. La Base is how I originally got into nudism in the first place. Nudists/naturists wouldn't really consider this a nudist club/bar since it is definitely sexually oriented. I left La Base sometime around 3am.
Today I was little tired for morning classes, but greatly appreciated that the school pushed the morning classes back one hour to 9 AM since I had last been there. After school, I worked for a good 5 hours, which was much needed and afterwards took a nap since I had planned to go out later that night. Late in the evening I went to Open Mind because they were having their weekly naked night. I finally left around 4AM. On the way home, a 24 y/o -looking guy (very cute), was standing in the street with his friends outside of Atame (a gay night club). We talked for about a 1/2 hour and he was very sweet and affectionate. I didn't take him home though.
Yesterday was another intentionally easy day for me. I had an invitation to go the beach, but didn't go. In the end all I did was do walked around the city a bit. I toured the Borne area a bit more and made my first trip over to las Ramblas. Later I spent a couple of hours with a very cute guy I had met. At around 11:30pm, I went to La Base, which is the first public place I ever took my clothes off. La Base is how I originally got into nudism in the first place. Nudists/naturists wouldn't really consider this a nudist club/bar since it is definitely sexually oriented. I left La Base sometime around 3am.
Today I was little tired for morning classes, but greatly appreciated that the school pushed the morning classes back one hour to 9 AM since I had last been there. After school, I worked for a good 5 hours, which was much needed and afterwards took a nap since I had planned to go out later that night. Late in the evening I went to Open Mind because they were having their weekly naked night. I finally left around 4AM. On the way home, a 24 y/o -looking guy (very cute), was standing in the street with his friends outside of Atame (a gay night club). We talked for about a 1/2 hour and he was very sweet and affectionate. I didn't take him home though.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
CEO Compensation
Sorry back to policitics/world issues. I've stated previously that I completely understand the outcry over CEO compensation, but am dead set against any kind of Government limits. Here is a perspective that kind of gets to the why:
At the heart of is a profit-based calculation, and business exist to make profit. Intervention by the Government can be counter-productive so any intervention should be focused on (and we really need this) ensuring that there is fairness and transparency and not on setting some arbitrary salary cap. Using the current banking crisis as an example, if we set a cap for bankers receiving federal bailout money, no qualified person would ever take the job when they could make 10X that amount being CEO of a company in some other industry.
I picked the median company on the most recent Fortune 500 (i.e., number 250), Smith International. It has about $11 billion in sales and $1.6 billion in operating income. A 1% swing in $1.6 billion is $16 million. As context the median Fortune 500 CEO recently had total annual comp of about $6 million. So as a shareholder of Smith International going into the market to hire a CEO, the question I would ask myself if presented with the choice of paying $6 million per year or, say, doubling this to $12 million per year, is not "Will the CEO I get for $12 million fundamentally transform my business?" or whatever; instead, I'd rationally ask myself, "Can the $12 million
dollar CEO drive about 0.6% more operating profit than the person I would hire at $6 million?".
At the heart of is a profit-based calculation, and business exist to make profit. Intervention by the Government can be counter-productive so any intervention should be focused on (and we really need this) ensuring that there is fairness and transparency and not on setting some arbitrary salary cap. Using the current banking crisis as an example, if we set a cap for bankers receiving federal bailout money, no qualified person would ever take the job when they could make 10X that amount being CEO of a company in some other industry.
Black, Gay and Visiting Barcelona
So I thought that I'd take a minute to discuss the topic of the title of this post for anyone out there reading this that might be black and considering visiting Barcelona. I wholly recommend it, however I want to take a minute to give you my perspective. Am I an expert on the topic? No. My total of 6 weeks in this city, between my 2 visits here, hardly qualify me as an expert. But nonetheless, I am an expert of my own opinion.
First, there are very few black people here. I'm not sure what the census says, but I'm guessing somewhere around 5% give or take, which is far less than the 20% (even higher in cities) that we have in the states. Secondly, the black people that are here are almost exclusively African immigrants. For cultural reasons, almost none of the African immigrants are openly gay. So the thriving gay scene is almost completely composed of whites or latinos.
This doesn't bother me and never has as I feel equally comfortable in a room full or whites, asians, latinos or blacks. Furthermore, if you haven't figured it out by now, a guy that's willing to walk through downtown city streets isn't bowed by standing out a little. In fact, perhaps I relish it.
I will say this though, I have never had a problem meeting people in this city (caveat: speaking Spanish doesn't hurt in this area). I realize that I'm somewhat of a rarity in this city and surely that attracts people, but such things don't even slightly bother me.
I guess what I'm saying is if you can walk into a bar full of people of a different race and feel comfortable, and you stand a little scrutiny because you stand out like a sore thumb then perhaps you'll love Barcelona just as much as I do.
First, there are very few black people here. I'm not sure what the census says, but I'm guessing somewhere around 5% give or take, which is far less than the 20% (even higher in cities) that we have in the states. Secondly, the black people that are here are almost exclusively African immigrants. For cultural reasons, almost none of the African immigrants are openly gay. So the thriving gay scene is almost completely composed of whites or latinos.
This doesn't bother me and never has as I feel equally comfortable in a room full or whites, asians, latinos or blacks. Furthermore, if you haven't figured it out by now, a guy that's willing to walk through downtown city streets isn't bowed by standing out a little. In fact, perhaps I relish it.
I will say this though, I have never had a problem meeting people in this city (caveat: speaking Spanish doesn't hurt in this area). I realize that I'm somewhat of a rarity in this city and surely that attracts people, but such things don't even slightly bother me.
I guess what I'm saying is if you can walk into a bar full of people of a different race and feel comfortable, and you stand a little scrutiny because you stand out like a sore thumb then perhaps you'll love Barcelona just as much as I do.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Barcelona Day 4
Today was the first day of classes. To my surprise one of the instructors recognized me from when I attended classes a year ago. By the end of the day I had seen 3 of my prior teachers. The new building is definitely a lot nicer that the old one and, thank god, the air conditioning works much better.
After classes I returned to my room to work for a while. I should've worked more, but I quit after just about an hour and a half. I guess I made up for it though since I did work a few hours on Sunday. Afterwards, I headed back to the beach where I laid out naked and met a French immigrant named Nico. We talked for about two hours.
Amongst other things, he asked me who I think was responsible for 9/11. He said he thinks it was the CIA or perhaps the FBI. What I found curious is that I can recall exactly 4 conversations with people who firmly believed this and 3 of them were in BCN. One of them had been born and raised in Brooklyn, whom I met on my last trip. I guess my point isn't so much about what is or isn't true, but rather the differences in perspective based upon where one lives. Towards the end of our conversation the wind changed and it got a little chilly. As I left, he told me, "you're very powerful when naked". I'm not sure exactly what he meant, but thought it was a weird/interesting comment.
I still haven't heard anything from the World Naked Bike Ride people, however I did find a place from which I could rent a bike. I also determined that in past years the ride started at La Placa Universitat. I still have no idea if this is the official meet up place or of the time.
After classes I returned to my room to work for a while. I should've worked more, but I quit after just about an hour and a half. I guess I made up for it though since I did work a few hours on Sunday. Afterwards, I headed back to the beach where I laid out naked and met a French immigrant named Nico. We talked for about two hours.
Amongst other things, he asked me who I think was responsible for 9/11. He said he thinks it was the CIA or perhaps the FBI. What I found curious is that I can recall exactly 4 conversations with people who firmly believed this and 3 of them were in BCN. One of them had been born and raised in Brooklyn, whom I met on my last trip. I guess my point isn't so much about what is or isn't true, but rather the differences in perspective based upon where one lives. Towards the end of our conversation the wind changed and it got a little chilly. As I left, he told me, "you're very powerful when naked". I'm not sure exactly what he meant, but thought it was a weird/interesting comment.
I still haven't heard anything from the World Naked Bike Ride people, however I did find a place from which I could rent a bike. I also determined that in past years the ride started at La Placa Universitat. I still have no idea if this is the official meet up place or of the time.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Barcelona Day 2
Today I took it easy. I woke up around 2pm and was out by 3. I had nowhere in particular to go. That's part of the charm of these vacations. I figured I'd explore the area of Borne near my apartment. Afterwards I figured I'd either walk over to Las Ramblas (not my favorite part of town) or down to the beach. I stumbled upon a festival for Borne and watched the live music for a while, then decided for the beach.
I walked to the beach. First I just walked up beach on the sand. Toward the end of the beach was the nude section as I had been told. I disputed either buying a towel and laying out in the sun or leaving and returning another day. Well I'm the "do" kinda guy so I returned to the entrance and bought a towel, which I needed anyway since I hadn't brought one with me from DC. As I walked back towards the nude section a guy was staring at me. I had noticed that he had stared at me coming and going when I had first walked the beach. We exchanged "hi"s and I set my towel next to his. His name was Jesse (Jesi) and he's an immigrant from Columbia. He didn't know any English so we conversed in Spanish. I immediately dropped my shorts and got naked before I even remembered that I had not yet reached the nude part of the beach. Oh well. We stayed there and talked for about an hour and a half before returning. We shared a bus and decided we'd go to the beach again on Monday.
Once again I was completely exhausted by 9pm so I took a nap. Perhaps I haven't quite yet fully adjusted to the time difference. I awoke at 11:30pm. I tried to decide to go either to Dietrich, where I had gone numerous times on my prior trip or to New Chaps, where I've never been. Since it was late by the time I left, I decided on Dietrich and afterwards to a club called Martins (most dance clubs don't even open until 3am). I had a couple of drinks on Dietrich before walking the 1/4 block to Punto. At Punto I met Luis. We talked (in Spanish) until closing time, which was 3am. He was supposed to meet up with friends at the club Metro, which I had gone to various times before and really liked. In the end we didn't go to Martins nor Metro but forged our own agenda. He wants to meet me again on Wednesday for happy hour at Punto.
I still haven't heard anything regarding the details for the World Naked Bike Ride that's supposed to be taking place here next week. I guess I'll keep trying.
I walked to the beach. First I just walked up beach on the sand. Toward the end of the beach was the nude section as I had been told. I disputed either buying a towel and laying out in the sun or leaving and returning another day. Well I'm the "do" kinda guy so I returned to the entrance and bought a towel, which I needed anyway since I hadn't brought one with me from DC. As I walked back towards the nude section a guy was staring at me. I had noticed that he had stared at me coming and going when I had first walked the beach. We exchanged "hi"s and I set my towel next to his. His name was Jesse (Jesi) and he's an immigrant from Columbia. He didn't know any English so we conversed in Spanish. I immediately dropped my shorts and got naked before I even remembered that I had not yet reached the nude part of the beach. Oh well. We stayed there and talked for about an hour and a half before returning. We shared a bus and decided we'd go to the beach again on Monday.
Once again I was completely exhausted by 9pm so I took a nap. Perhaps I haven't quite yet fully adjusted to the time difference. I awoke at 11:30pm. I tried to decide to go either to Dietrich, where I had gone numerous times on my prior trip or to New Chaps, where I've never been. Since it was late by the time I left, I decided on Dietrich and afterwards to a club called Martins (most dance clubs don't even open until 3am). I had a couple of drinks on Dietrich before walking the 1/4 block to Punto. At Punto I met Luis. We talked (in Spanish) until closing time, which was 3am. He was supposed to meet up with friends at the club Metro, which I had gone to various times before and really liked. In the end we didn't go to Martins nor Metro but forged our own agenda. He wants to meet me again on Wednesday for happy hour at Punto.
I still haven't heard anything regarding the details for the World Naked Bike Ride that's supposed to be taking place here next week. I guess I'll keep trying.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Barcelona Day 1
So I've been in Barcelona for all of a day and already it has tired me out... but totally in a good way.
I arrived an hour early and went to the agency that provided my apartment. Things went smoothly as we signed all of the paperwork. So far my experience with the company (barcelona-home.com) has been good and I'd recommend them. I'm paying just under $40/day for an efficiency, which includes my own kitchen and bathroom. Oh yeah, did I say that it includes Internet?
After getting helped to the apartment by the cutest guy you've ever seen (from Arizona), I took to settling in. Over the next few hours I unpacked, bought a SIM card for my phone and some groceries, and walked around town a bit.
I decided this day I would visit two new sleazy bars that didn't exist last time I was here. So at 6PM I went to Berlin Dark. They have a weekday naked/underwear thing from 5 to 9. Finding it was nearly impossible. Although I wore a jockstrap, I decided not to wear it and went nude inside. There I met several people including an Italian, Canadian and a native of Catalan. The Italian (Enrique, go figure) is here on business and wants to meet up when he's back in town in a few weeks. We talked in Spanish. The Canadian was so glad to talk to me. He had been here for 2 weeks and was a little desperate for English-speaking company. This kind of made me realize that my experiences of BCN would probably be better if I wasn't conversant in Spanish. I also met several others in less "formal" ways.
Afterwards I was tired as hell and went back to the apartment to grab a nap. By this time it was already 9pm. I guess I hadn't gotten enough sleep on the red-eye flight after all. I awoke at 11:30 and seriously considered just going back to sleep. So I took the metro to Open Minds. This place was both bigger and more crowded than the prior and got busier as the night wore on. Again I brought a jockstrap which went unused. I did wear my new boots that I acquired at IML though. The place spanned two floors and included not-quite-so-private cabins, slings, lots of common spaces and a bar. I left at 4am totally and completely exhausted. I was actually spent at 3am, but decided to "look around" one more time. I'm sure you can guess how that went.
Since the metro was closed and was still an hour away from re-opening, I decided to walk home even though it is a good distance. Just past the Plaza Cataluña I passed two guys looking like they're getting on a scooter, which are so common there. One of them stares at me as I approached. My first thoughts were that they were stares of aggression. But after exchanging the 4th glance I figured there was something else happening. I passed them. The one that stared at me drove the bike a half block, parked and walked in my direction. We talked for a while. As the saying goes, I had already given at the office, but I couldn't resist when he asked if we could go either my place or his. In spite of his very slender but muscular frame, he definitely had a much larger than average member. We took turns and finished exhausted. By the time we were done, dawn had already broken. It was 6:30 by the time I arrived home.
I arrived an hour early and went to the agency that provided my apartment. Things went smoothly as we signed all of the paperwork. So far my experience with the company (barcelona-home.com) has been good and I'd recommend them. I'm paying just under $40/day for an efficiency, which includes my own kitchen and bathroom. Oh yeah, did I say that it includes Internet?
After getting helped to the apartment by the cutest guy you've ever seen (from Arizona), I took to settling in. Over the next few hours I unpacked, bought a SIM card for my phone and some groceries, and walked around town a bit.
I decided this day I would visit two new sleazy bars that didn't exist last time I was here. So at 6PM I went to Berlin Dark. They have a weekday naked/underwear thing from 5 to 9. Finding it was nearly impossible. Although I wore a jockstrap, I decided not to wear it and went nude inside. There I met several people including an Italian, Canadian and a native of Catalan. The Italian (Enrique, go figure) is here on business and wants to meet up when he's back in town in a few weeks. We talked in Spanish. The Canadian was so glad to talk to me. He had been here for 2 weeks and was a little desperate for English-speaking company. This kind of made me realize that my experiences of BCN would probably be better if I wasn't conversant in Spanish. I also met several others in less "formal" ways.
Afterwards I was tired as hell and went back to the apartment to grab a nap. By this time it was already 9pm. I guess I hadn't gotten enough sleep on the red-eye flight after all. I awoke at 11:30 and seriously considered just going back to sleep. So I took the metro to Open Minds. This place was both bigger and more crowded than the prior and got busier as the night wore on. Again I brought a jockstrap which went unused. I did wear my new boots that I acquired at IML though. The place spanned two floors and included not-quite-so-private cabins, slings, lots of common spaces and a bar. I left at 4am totally and completely exhausted. I was actually spent at 3am, but decided to "look around" one more time. I'm sure you can guess how that went.
Since the metro was closed and was still an hour away from re-opening, I decided to walk home even though it is a good distance. Just past the Plaza Cataluña I passed two guys looking like they're getting on a scooter, which are so common there. One of them stares at me as I approached. My first thoughts were that they were stares of aggression. But after exchanging the 4th glance I figured there was something else happening. I passed them. The one that stared at me drove the bike a half block, parked and walked in my direction. We talked for a while. As the saying goes, I had already given at the office, but I couldn't resist when he asked if we could go either my place or his. In spite of his very slender but muscular frame, he definitely had a much larger than average member. We took turns and finished exhausted. By the time we were done, dawn had already broken. It was 6:30 by the time I arrived home.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Barcelona Begins
I am writing this from JFK airport en route to Barcelona. Although I've been looking forward to this trip for quite a while, I don't think I quite had the level of anticipation that I thought I would have. Mainly I think was caused by the fact that I had so many other things going on that I think I just never had enough time to let it hit me. Well this past week that all changed and I have REALLY, REALLY been looking forward this.
I've spent the last week trying to attend to all the details. I've made sure everything was covered at work, double checked the apartment reservation, paid the remaining balance for the language school, and researched new places that have opened there since I was there a year and a half ago. I've found a couple of places that look absolutely, positively sleazy, which I definitely will have to check out.
I'm slightly concerned about the size of the apartment (pics). I know its fine for me, but I have 4 people visiting while I'll be there albeit not all at the same time. I told each of them that it was a small efficiency of only 25 meters square with only 1 bed, so hopefully they understand. I re-read the website and the apartment does come with an optional cot, so I'll try to get one if I can.
I planned this trip to take partly alone and partly with the BF (he doesn't need the language training). Once I had the apartment I told some friends of mine that I'll be there, already have the apartment and that they are welcome to come if they'd like to. The fact that they took me up on the offer is kind of a case study on how people really do want to travel if they have the opportunity. There's also a 5th friend from Orlando that we met while in Key West last year who's coming to visit too, however he won't be staying with me because there are already people with me when he'll be there.
I was recently looking at some pictures on flickr of people going nude in Barcelona, and I don't mean just at the beaches. It is actually legal there to be nude in ANY public space. I am so determined to do this. I'd love to just walk down the street in the middle of the day buck naked. I'm not sure how I'll do it though. If I do it while I'm there alone, getting pictures to remember it would be difficult. I could wait until some of my friends arrive an co opt them to do it. Or maybe all of the above.
Saturday morning I woke up and realized that I'll be there during the traditional World Naked Bike Ride. Last year I planned to participate in Washington DC until it turned out to be the World (not so) Naked Bike Ride. But given Barcelona's nudity laws, they tend to have a nice turnout and yes... it's naked! So I've found their website and sent them an email requesting information on how to participate. I already know the date, but not the time and meet up place. I'll also need to find out where I can rent a bike so there are still a few details to take care of before next Saturday.
I've spent the last week trying to attend to all the details. I've made sure everything was covered at work, double checked the apartment reservation, paid the remaining balance for the language school, and researched new places that have opened there since I was there a year and a half ago. I've found a couple of places that look absolutely, positively sleazy, which I definitely will have to check out.
I'm slightly concerned about the size of the apartment (pics). I know its fine for me, but I have 4 people visiting while I'll be there albeit not all at the same time. I told each of them that it was a small efficiency of only 25 meters square with only 1 bed, so hopefully they understand. I re-read the website and the apartment does come with an optional cot, so I'll try to get one if I can.
I planned this trip to take partly alone and partly with the BF (he doesn't need the language training). Once I had the apartment I told some friends of mine that I'll be there, already have the apartment and that they are welcome to come if they'd like to. The fact that they took me up on the offer is kind of a case study on how people really do want to travel if they have the opportunity. There's also a 5th friend from Orlando that we met while in Key West last year who's coming to visit too, however he won't be staying with me because there are already people with me when he'll be there.
I was recently looking at some pictures on flickr of people going nude in Barcelona, and I don't mean just at the beaches. It is actually legal there to be nude in ANY public space. I am so determined to do this. I'd love to just walk down the street in the middle of the day buck naked. I'm not sure how I'll do it though. If I do it while I'm there alone, getting pictures to remember it would be difficult. I could wait until some of my friends arrive an co opt them to do it. Or maybe all of the above.
Saturday morning I woke up and realized that I'll be there during the traditional World Naked Bike Ride. Last year I planned to participate in Washington DC until it turned out to be the World (not so) Naked Bike Ride. But given Barcelona's nudity laws, they tend to have a nice turnout and yes... it's naked! So I've found their website and sent them an email requesting information on how to participate. I already know the date, but not the time and meet up place. I'll also need to find out where I can rent a bike so there are still a few details to take care of before next Saturday.
IML
I haven't posted in a while and wanted to give an update.
The BF and I attended our first IML over Memorial Day Weekend. Just a week before we left, a Latino friend found tickets and decided to come along. Since he was on a different flight, he got there and left earlier than we did. I loved the event. Since the event takes over the whole hotel, everyone is free to (un)dress and walk around freely. I definitely enjoyed going through my leather outfits as well as combining ridiculously exposing outfits with leather accessories. I was mostly a good boy this weekend. But I guess that's a very relative term. The Latino friend and I visited Steamworks on Sunday night, which was packed. All I'll say is that place was crazy packed and even crazier fun.
The BF and I attended our first IML over Memorial Day Weekend. Just a week before we left, a Latino friend found tickets and decided to come along. Since he was on a different flight, he got there and left earlier than we did. I loved the event. Since the event takes over the whole hotel, everyone is free to (un)dress and walk around freely. I definitely enjoyed going through my leather outfits as well as combining ridiculously exposing outfits with leather accessories. I was mostly a good boy this weekend. But I guess that's a very relative term. The Latino friend and I visited Steamworks on Sunday night, which was packed. All I'll say is that place was crazy packed and even crazier fun.
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