CITY THOUGHTS...

BARCELONA.Such a "friendly" (can't think of more suitable adjective) city this is. Pity I got to stay there only 2 and a half days. And still you get off the plane and you just feel so warmly welcomed.One day I will just pack my bag, go there and never leave...





Ok, let me explain. I read that somewhere recently: “Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and, in this, hasn't changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman.”

And I just thought "Hm. Interesting" or just "Hm". My last landlord in Paris (with the cold water and broken heating) was a 50 year old lady (but looked like 35) and her boyfriend was 28...SO apparently Paris IS a boy in love with an older women. Paris is also so snobby in some parts and vulgar and dirty in others.But it is also true that an artist has no other home in Europe except Paris. Not that I have this problem..I'm just saying for those who think of themselves as such, they better go there...

London is a teenage boy or girl, c'est vrai. And for me personally London is like an overcrowded town. Not really a city. It is cool but I get slightly antropophobic there. I feel observed and get the feeling that no matter where I am about to go- there will be 15 000 other people going to the same place, and 10 000 others just coming back from there...So, huge crowds in both directions and everybody crossing the street on red light, which I think is cool.(I like TESCO EXPRESS too)

Haven't been to New York but I guess there is worse with the crowds. I mean worse in a cool way, of course. Erm I mean cool.

Even in Tokyo, with it's 12 million or so you have more space around you than in London. If you stay away of Ginza and Shibuya, it feels like you are in a Samurai village from the Middle age...or whenever there were samurai...DID THEY ACTUALLY LIVE IN VILLAGES...Ok, a geisha village then...Whatever...you got the idea...

I don't know if Hamburg is a boy or a girl, but it's gray. And it is so proud of being Hamburg, die schönste Stadt der Welt, that at some point you could actually believe it. Despite of the rain. And despite of being so boring.

My home "by birth", Sofia, is a girl of course. Poor little girl. She wants to be like a real city, beautiful and proud, but she can't. One thing she has to learn is that beauty, comes from inside, from the spirit. And if there is no spirit, no art, no ideas...than you are just empty.

Look, Italy for example. Every city is beautiful (I suppose, I've been only to a few) because of the culture that has been building upon centuries, not because of the pizza. I was said, that it is not so cool as it looks to live in Italy, but only to visit. And as much as I would like to, I couldn't live there because of the risk of obesity, or in other words- too much too good food.

Well anyway. Back to Barcelona. There I could live. It's just so "FRIENDLY".

-shopping friendly (shop till you drop, or at least until 9.30pm)
-tourist friendly (I could barely hear any Spanish or Catalan, don't even know what that sounds like. But all other languages were present. Except for Japanse, but considering the excitement they were talking about their famous cherry blossom I guess no single Japanese would leave the country between April and May. LOL)
-"food friendly"



-"beach friendly"

-"sun friendly"

-"art friendly"


-"chaos friendly"
-"being-late-friendly"
-"romantic friendly"...

And it smells nice too.(not the case with Paris and London...)
What is there more to ask from a city!?

I can think of one thing I don't like- the traffic is horrible. You don't wanna be in an ambulance in Barcelona. Chances, that you will make it to the hospital before it's too late, are bad. But, well, if you get lucky you might never need an ambulance in your life. So, the risk is worth it.

Oh, and the people are friendly too. See, here I can say "friendly" and it won't sound weird.