In October of last year Kim was signed up to take an intensive Tax Preparation class. He has since graduated and has started his new SacTaxPro business and even signed on a few clients already! I'm proud of him for finally getting away from programming (even though tax work is not all that different) and finding a new direction that appeals to him.
Well right in the midst of his scheduled class was a seminar that I was intrigued by. It was on how to live and invest overseas-in particular, in France! I found a super cheap flight and went off without him mid October on my first ever adult solo travel trip for 11 days.
My flight was to Barcelona, which is one of my favorite cities in Europe. Only problem was the timing. It was right during the demonstrations and talks of Catalan independence. I made contact with Jane through my friend Sarah and with her insider info, as a resident of Barcelona, I kept to my plan. I even rang her from my layover in Zurich to be sure it was ok to catch my connection.
Once I arrived I bussed from the airport directly to the Thurs night welcome dance. I had managed by pure luck to be in Barcelona on the biggest blues dance weekend event of their year, 'Drag the Blues!' I stashed my luggage in a pile of other bags and danced until they closed! While there I met up with Deirdre, my roomie for the weekend. We'd connected online beforehand and arranged an airB&B. Luckily for me she'd checked us in and got me a key earlier in the evening. She introduced me to Neil from Bristol and after about 10 minutes I didn't feel at all out of place..add dance and voila new friends!
We left that studio and moved over to the late night venue which was even nicer! Upstairs from a bar/restaurant with a beautiful wood floor and more room to move than before. Yup we closed that one down too and then headed to our B&B.
Since none of us were taking lessons, just going to the evening dances, we had the day free to sightsee. As the one who had been to Barcelona most in the past I ended up as an impromptu tour guide. I walked us past all the Gaudi buildings in the area and down Las Ramblas to the water. When they decided to hit the beach I opted for a nap back in my room to prep for the nights dancing. The evening events were held in a huge marble floored ballroom downstairs in the Hotel Catalan. My air B&B was only a couple blocks away which was nice.
Amy, Neil, Dierdre and I
The event had live music with upbeat blues bands (6 bands I think over Fri Sat&Sun)that played until well after I had the energy to stay up.
Within the first 15 minutes of being at the dance I ran into three dancers I knew from back home. Granted one was Damon from SF who was teaching during the days, but the others were a SF dancer and a Sacramento dancer who has recently moved to Spain.
I relaxed for much of Saturday. Jane texted me to let me know about some demonstration in Place de Catalunya and a march that were scheduled. I thanked her for the heads up as it was supposed to be only about 2 blocks from my B&B and suggested that perhaps I'd be best to come take her out over at her end of town away from the action. I knew that as a friend of Sarah's I'd enjoy her company and I was not wrong at all..we met up at 4ish to have a soda and ended up talking and going to dinner through to nearly 9pm. I learned so much about what its like to be an expat living in Europe and some of the pros and cons of living in Spain and the EU. When I was heading for the bus to meet her I saw groups of people wearing flags and carrying/banging pots and pans. The atmosphere was jovial and parade-like. When we sat to dinner Jane texted her husband to find out if the event or demonstration had been changed. We expected all the marchers to be in the Placa to hear the Presidents speech and yet they were passing our restaurant going in a totally different direction. Turns out there was a football game at the same time, hence the party vibe.
With the seminar starting bright and early Monday morning I had booked myself to fly into Paris on Sunday. I was actually surprised that there were no early morning commuter flights that could get someone into Paris from Barcelona in time for a morning meeting. Once I settled in to my hotel I contacted Amy from LA. We had met in Barcelona and planned to get dinner or go dance together once I got to Paris. Well, the dance I found on the internet was cancelled but the organizers invited us to join them at a restaurant around the corner so we did. They were all so excited about the Swingdance workshop they had taken over the weekend 'Wonderfollow' which was only for follows. We had a lovely meal and got all kinds of great information on where to go dance for the rest of our time in Paris.
Monday: Live & Invest Overseas: Paris conference 8-5.
I wish I could say mostly positive things about the conference but there were lots of useless superficial talks with a few good guest speakers. However, the real important stuff, like an immigration law expert or a tax consultant, was missing. (evidently they cancelled or retired and the organizers didn't have time to replace them so they gave talks that were more general info vs detailed specific and up to date)
After the conference welcome cocktail hour I met up with Amy again at a swing dance on the Siene river. Bal de la Marine is held on a boat on the Seine River every Monday night.right under the beautiful lights of the Eiffel tower!!
Tues more conference..learned a bunch about France's health care system (awesome and cheap) and some about real estate (silly expensive in Paris but reasonable everywhere else compared to California).
That night Amy and I ventured over to the student quarter and ate at Cafe des Artes before dancing at Le Caveau de Huchette to a fantastic live swing band.
Wednesday was the wrap up of the conference. I found it extremely helpful in one super important way. I had gone with excitement and to scout out what we might do if we were to relocate sometime. What conclusion I came to was that the 'Dream' the 'goal' and the desire to move to Europe was one from my past...not one from my current present. Back when we were living in Colfax and spending lots of time looking at the trees and watching tv and not really having any kind of social life...it would have been a great time to up and expatriate. Now that we live in such a cool house in a vibrant city with oodles of dancing, season tickets to 2 theaters, McKinley park 3 blocks away, an entire group of friends, clients and a beloved 'dance-family', uprooting has much less appeal.
I guess I can finally put closure on 'the dream that was'. Heck, the grass might actually be greener over on my side already!
Since Amy had left for her home in LA I was on my own but still tracked down a small neighborhood dance held in a small restaurant with the tables pushed outside. Soirée swing dj Café des Vendanges.
Over my last 4 nights of my trip I managed to dance every night, 3 blues and 1 more swing dance on another boat on the Seine in Paris!
I also made it to the Grand Palais and because the Gaugin exhibition I was there for was unexpectedly closed I saw a great photography exhibition by Irving Penn of Vogue magazine fame.
Traveling solo turned out to be somewhat fun and a little bit lonely as well. I found it empowering and exciting at the same time that I longed for my Kim to share it all with!
No comments:
Post a Comment