So... I love Paris. That's all I can really say about it.

BUS-A-BOUT

I began my Bus-A-Bout early Tuesday morning at 8AM. I don’t know what happens with me in the morning… I woke up at 6:45 PLENTY of time to get ready and not rush around like a crazy human. But something happens and I look at the clock (I almost said watch and we all know I don’t own one of those things) and it was 7:45… We were leaving at 7:30 to give us plenty of time to get to the bus… Maria was kind enough to make sure I got there… she even packed me a perfect Catalan sandwich for lunch… delicious. Anyways we made it…. 8:05. Thank goodness I’m not the only one that can’t get it together in the morning.

So a group of us went out in Madrid. Madrid is known for Bullfights, Flamenco, the huge party/clubbing scene (we all know how I love to club), and the hookers that like to congregate on the street, which conveniently was the same street as our hostel. Funny. Bad part of town? Not really. Just the way it is in Madrid. After walking into a couple of clubs, we finally stumbled upon a bar called “Blues Bar”. Nice!! Now if you have never heard Spanish blues I suggest this little watering hole in Madrid. The Spanish language mixed with blues is a very interesting combination.

On to San Sebastian where you lay on the beach all day, drink some sort of wine and coca-cola mixture, and eat….. THE TAPAS!! Mmmmm Yummy! I stayed in a really tiny hostel away from the other Bus-A-Bout. I made friends with three Aussies, two girls from Holland, the tallest guy from Germany, and another American. We all went out to the local festival that was going on by the port. This part of Spain is known as the Basque region, completely different culture… The video is one of their dances. It was so cool to see this… it was like a Spanish square dance mixed with an accordian. Really neat.

Now I am in Paris for five days!! I had a pleasant surprise in Paris. Jennifer Mizenko was in town for two days!! Crazy huh? We spent Friday touring Versailles, which was really amazing. That Louis the XIV was a hoot. But it was a neat experience. A little dance history… ballet actually started in Versailles with Louis. My next adventure will be the bike tour of Paris at night that ends with a nice little wine tasting event… Wish me luck. I’ve never been good on a bike. It could get a little ugly!!

Spain

So, it’s been a while since the last time I updated… but I’ve been a little busy. I finished InterTourdansa last Sunday and headed back to Barcelona. As you can see in the first picture, I am really enjoying the Spanish cuisine. Since Maria works during the day, Marc (Maria’s brother) was kind enough to come into town and show me some of Barcelona. We went to the area called Montjuic. There are plenty of sights to see in this area including the Olympic Stadium, the Castle of Montjuic( which has been made into the military museum), MNAC( Catalonian National Art Museum), and some of the best views of the city. It was a splendid day to say the least. On Thursday I took a day bus tour to Torres( winery), Monsterrat (beautiful mountain town that has a monastery and where the Catalan virgin was discovered), and then on to Sitges, which is a perfect little beach town and also where Maria works. On Friday we headed to St. Llorenc for the weekend. This is an amazing Medieval town where Maria’s cousin’s family has a house. Sevi and I are in the little stream... it was freezing. We spent the nights in this quiet mountain town and during the day we went to Cadaques and Figueres. Cadaques is very close to the town where Dali lived and also to the Cap de Creus, one of the highest points in Spain. As you can tell in the picture it’s extremely windy. We spent Sunday in Figueres exploring the world of Dali, a very interesting soul. My next journey is a Bus-A-Bout for ten days… starts in Barcelona then travels to Madrid, San Sebastian, Paris, Lauterbrunnen, and Nice!!! Yay!!! Jealous? You should be.

interTourdansa

This week I have traveled to smaller towns around Banyoles performing with the interTourdansa group. It has been a really cool experience and we have danced in some amazing spaces. The only bad thing is that we have to wear the same T-shirts and walk around as a group. This restricts my individuality.... Dramatic I know. I would have to say that the best part of this tour is that they feed us two amazing meals per day!!! The food is just so delicious. I have also enjoyed the dancing. It has also been a great opportunity to visit small towns in Spain that I would have overlooked. The first town is Bellacaire D'Emporda, where we danced outside of the castle.I am shaking the hand of a huge puppet... They are so freaky!!! On Friday we were in La Bisbal D'Emporda, where we danced outside of another castle. Saturday we headed to CastellFollit De la Roca. This town was really amazing. We were crossing a huge bridge in the mountains and I look to my left and see a little village sitting on the edge of a cliff. One of the directors of the tour informed me that we would be dancing in the church that sat at the edge of the cliff that evening. This is some of the group in the top of the bell tower. Tomorrow we are heading to Besalu where our tour will end and it's back to Barcelona!!

Banyoles

Here are some recent pictures from our Dance Festival in Banyoles. Where are pictures of us actually dancing?? Well, it is FORBIDDEN to take pictures in class. Silly, I know. This is the lake in Banyoles. It was so nice to be able to see all the way to the bottom of the lake!! This is where we spend most of our time when we are not dancing. It's really tough. Maria informed me that there is a monster in this lake. Her name is Ramona. She also explained that Ramona is not as big as The Lochness Monster. That's comforting. As you can see in one of the pictures, I was searching for Ramona the other night. Some of you may already know that Sunday was a big night in Spain because they played in the final game of the EuroCup and WON!! So we went out to celebrate after watching the game and drank sangria!! We start our touring tomorrow evening. I will be traveling around some of the smaller towns in the Northern part of Spain performing until Sunday!