I had interesting conversations with people i met at the hostel in Nice. you've probably heard it all before but this is the first time i've met and heard about this kind of stories. one was an Argentine photographer who's one month into his three-month travels in Europe. When asked to compare the Argentines and the Spanish, he seemed reluctant a bit before proceeding to explain that his fellow countrymen are "more real" and that he was the "most Spanish" guy in Barcelona, a city full of tourists. (Btw, they don't go out until 3AM in Argentina). i also met a self-professed atheist korean dude who's been traveling literally around the world from thailand to cuba to france for, what has already been one year. at some point, the question of God came up during the conversation and he said he did not believe in god but in Darwinism and the existence of aliens.
Most interesting of all has to be these three kids (spanish, dutch, and lithuanian) who were volunteers for Association Solidarite Jeuneness in Paris which is some kind of youth action group for social justice. the lithuanian girl hitch-hiked from Paris down to south of France to meet up with the other two. all of them in turn hitch-hiked down to Marseille with a drug dealer who drove them to the sketchiest part of Marseille (if u're not familiar with the area, Marseille is already the sketchiest French city). They then decided to spend a night in squats with the homeless who offered them breakfast. Not all of these homeless are French, mind you. They are english, scottish, belgian, and polish! apart of the southern France hospitality, like most people these three hardcore kids didn't have a lot of good things to say about Marseille.
To me, Marseille was surprisingly a pleasant city. Ample sunshine, shimmering sea water at the Old Port, and i had the best French food here, too (www.lesgoutdeschoses.fr) fortunately, i didn't witness any of the city's "reputations." again, it's not exactly a touristy city where there are things for you "to see." But we managed to enjoy ourselves (at least i did). Nice was beautiful albeit the rain..thus another reason to come back. Monaco is meh. beautiful and clean although i'm sure hadn't it been for the rain i would have wanted to explore more. but for now i can just check it off my to do list. Aix-en-Provence is the ultimate best kept secret! a sucker for fine grained streets and squares, i automatically fell in love with the historic city core. supposed to be the second most expensive city after Paris and i can see why.
splurged on magazines. was tempted to splurge when in italy, too. but then i don't read italian so part of the reading experience would be compromised. so this time around i didn't hesitate to pick up whatever struck me as interesting and let me tell know there were a lot of cool french magazines out there.
so i got Wad (updated version of the Brits' Dazed and Confused). Their 10th anniversary issue! the pretentious tagline was [sic]: WE'AR DIFFERENT/A MAGAZINE ABOUT URBAN FASHION & CULTURE.
And next we have IDEAT...kind of Wallpaper* but less flashy. Then, the Polka magazine which is a photojournalism review. Very cool. Last and definitely not least, how can one talk about french journalism without mentioning french Vogue.
Saturated with big, bold photoshoots as always, nestling comfortably in the european fashion magazine family. but still nothing compared to the italian vogue. out there is the best word to describe Vogue Italia. i dare not put up one of their photos. not that they're too risque and daring (make no mistake, they are), but it's more that they're almost anti-fashion, anti-glamor. very refreshing still.
and the Turin
photos are up!
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