I entered a photo competition with these three picts. It’s my first time! Most of all, it will be a good chance to test the quality of my picts. I was looking forward something like that after a couple of years uploading picts on my blog. Although, I really hope  to win! If it happens I will get a good amount of money to keep paying my studies in Barcelona and make an interesting trip soon.

“Recreo”     Dakar, Sénégal ‘09

“Mejor juntos”    Kafountine, Sénégal ‘09

“La atlante”    Île Karabane, Sénegal ‘09

I change city. I change way of life. I come back to my country (mmm or not). I’m back to studies…

I ll settle down for a bit, but I promise I ll still be an Universal Traveler in the meantime. You will see!

It’s time to think, to learn, to plan, to evolve but, especially, it’s a necessary break to just keep living my life in the way I want.

I ll be getting a master in Cultural Management at the University of Barcelona. Which means that I ll be living in BCN for around a year. A lot more than what I have consecutively lived in a same place during the last years. It just scares me.

As I told you, the blog will also change a bit too. My mission is to public less but better. More quality than quantity. We will see what happens…

There is a place in the world with the conveniences of a north European country and the well-being of the Mediterranean sea. Seriously! Unfortunately, anything will work as well as in Escandinavia and the sun will never shine like it does in Italy. Perfect for those who just love the balance. French people can be proud to live in one of the most balanced places in the world, but definitely not in the best one. 

Without a doubt, it’s maybe the best European country to live in. I hope to come back soon!!

Things are gonna change a lot in this blog during my new “stage” in… Barcelona!

Well, my “stage” in France is coming to its end… I finished it with a nice two-days trip in Normandie, a region situated on the north coast of France. This province is famous for its medival fights against the british, the landing in WW2, Camembert cheese, apple cider and Mont Saint Michel (a french icon with the Tour Eiffel). Nevertheless, I would stress the beauty of its landscapes, always crowned with tall churches and wonderful striped houses.

Mont Saint Michel

American Memorial in Omaha Beach

France is not just Paris. It’s not even all about Bretagne, Normandie or Provence… There a lot more places “à découvrir” and it’s always time to visit them, specially if you were invited!!

This time I had the chance to visit the Picardie. It’s a region situated at the north of Paris, east of Normandy and west of Belgium. When I took the train to Amiens, its capital, I didn’t know exactly what I was gonna find there, however I started feeling a relaxing sensation as I was leaving Paris behind and just entering the countryside. I kinda needed to disconnect a bit from civiization and breathe some “pseudo-fresh” air.

Well, we spent the first day in Amiens. A cozy city where JulesVerne found inspiration to write most of his books. It was actually the kind of city I use to dislike but… this time it didn’t boder me to walk during the whole day along its streets. I am pretty much sure that it was because of the company of the friends I was visiting. That made me think about all the elements or circumstances that can make you like/detest a place and how difficult it’s to be objective when talking about trip.

During the second day we had the luxe to explore the region by car.  This zone of France have witnessed some of the cruelest battles of World War I. Thousand of people died here and there are several cemeteries and memorials that remind it to all the visitors. In fact, each country that participated in the battles has its own memorial. In one fo the picts below you can see the tombs of the South African soldiers killed in combat.

However, the best thing was just being in the countryside. Scape in its landscapes. Enjoy the simplicity of its shapes. And… feeling good to be in an original and somehow alternative place. Empty of turists even in august (the holidays month) and even in France (the most turisty country in the world).

Countryside in Picardie

World War I’s South African Memorial

River Somme

Amiens Cathedral

A magical weekend in Southern England, as close as just few hours by car from Paris and with no need to take a boat to cross the channel. The main goal of this trip was to spend some time with some old friends I have met all over the world and visit London again, the city where I lived some years ago. It was as nice as this kind of trips usually are. A lot of fun, laughs, beer and some sweet melancholy when visiting certain places. Moreover, this visit to London also made me compare this city with current city. It made me think a lot about the development in the so-called first world and the differences between western countries. I finally concluded that England is wealthier and somehow more developed than France; in the same way that France is more than Spain and Spain more than Morocco… As you can see, everything is relative. It is incredible how the wealth of countries is sometimes more related to the weather and geography than to natural resources or historical facts… I think that a country is what natural factors let people make of it. It seems that the trick is to find the right balance between the hundred of factors that make up a place.

It was also time to keep discovering and visit some new places in the southwest. The best thing of this trip was: Bristol. It just exceeded my expectations! I found a city with the best of London, but without its stress and rancid classicism. A city with so many things to say. One of the better places to live in northern Europe nowadays. Moreover, we put the icing on the cake visiting the exhibition of one of my favourite artists: Banksy. A unique experience! I have no words to describe it!

Finally, I finished my trip with a visit to Oxford. It was during a sunday that filled this little city with thousand of turists. That didn’t help me a lot to like it. In any case, I thought that it’s that kind of city whose past glory makes it too lazy to create new things… do you know what I mean?

London

Bristol

Oxford

Under my opinion, cities are like coins. They have two faces: the classic and the modern. One face would be all the classic culture that remain in the current city and the other one would be the present culture in large terms.

There are some cities like Rome where the classic elements absorb modernity. In contrast, there are cities such as New York City where we can say that it’s all about modernity. Luckily, Paris has a balanced harmony between the two, something really hard to find in a city nowadays. It’s a city with a strong and life cultural presence in the present (remember Pompidou and Marais in older posts) and a considerable historical influence.

In this post I just wanted to show you a representative sample of one of the coin faces.

By the way, this has been the post number 100 in the blog!! Something to celebrate again!!

I don’t want this blog to be neither a personal diary of my life nor a turist guide of the places I visit. However, sometimes I can help it and it seems to be one thing or the other. I think it’s somehow normal since it’s not a mono-thematic blog, rather a “free style” one. I just try to mix personal thoughts and objective information to get something new and nice. An original way to show what my eyes see and what my brain thinks.

This time I don’t feel like mixing anything at all and I feel more like just giving you a turist advice and sharing a personal though:

The advice: Visit Natural History museums while you can, specially in large cities. They are special and its astmosphere is just matchless.

The thought: If I had to believe in a religion it would be Science.

“It’s evolution, baby”

A flood area  in the past, it is now one of the “chic-est” district in the city. I think it is almost the only place where you can always bump into an over-fashioned gay and an old-fashioned rabbi in the same street. Does not matter if it is midday or 4 AM, there will be always life and things going on here.

Voilà le luxe et les arts volés aux riches et mis à la disposition du peuple!!

I hate luxury!! but I kinda understand that it is necessary to a certain extent in our society. Everybody likes to enjoy Art or good cooking! Right? In fact, their success has depended and depends most of the times on huge amounts of money and rich people’s whims. Nervertheless, I think it could work in a different way. 

Well, it is nice to see that sometimes this luxe exists to be delighted by everybody: the poor and the rich.

Even so, I cannot stand people expending millions in restaurants/hotels, cars, stupid jewels or clothes when there are so many people suffering and dying because of poverty in our world. Ain’t unfair??