La Garderie

In a popular neighborhood in the city of lights, a sweet and gentle soul opens his humble abode to the traveler who wants to experience Paris through the vibrancy of its youth. Meet Solen, my new friend and my host. His cool blue eyes and warm smile as he shook my hand for the first time reflected the place he considered as home away from home. 

You'll know from the moment you step at his place that it was unlike any apartment. Written on the walls are personal messages by people he welcomed and shared his city life with. Ladies and gentlemen, you have entered Solen's garderie of friends. 

Coming from a culture which is known for its incredible hospitality, it was indeed a surprise to meet someone whose openness and trust surpassed mine. Evidently, he had allowed several people to sleep on his couch,  cook in his kitchen, eat on his table, wash their laundry and so on. "Why do you do this?", I asked. Wearing a smile he answered, "It is one of the best ways to meet people from around the world and learn from them."

Soon, he was asking me about Philippines, about my home and my people. As an artist, he began to take interest with the music and the art of my country hence when we ate and talked about Filipino food, original Pinoy music played in the background and broke the language barrier between us. It was subtle and I realized that I was lost in the charm of a seasoned host.

So seasoned that he makes it his advocacy to host artists to perform in Paris through squatting places for them to share their talent and their music with an audience craving for the fresh and the unconventional. One night, he tagged me and some of our friends along to see the different side of Paris where art plays a great role in the community. Never had I seen so much passion in a man as Solen meticulously explained each work of art along Belleville.

As I said my farewell, I knew that this young man would always leave a message marked on my heart. Everything all around us is beautiful and the most beautiful fact about life is the connection we have with each other.

Merci, Solen! 

Getting In and Around Europe

Being in a strange country for the first time opened up a lot of windows for learning for me literally and figuratively. As an audio-visual person, the moment I stepped in Europe, all the sights and sounds engulfed my senses. I couldn't help but feel the familiar prick and kick that signaled a heady learning experience that awaited me. Coming from a third world country with its conservative culture, Europe was like an  electric shock that brings wave after wave of jolting experiences. 

For someone who travels a lot domestically, I was used to riding buses, motorcycles, pedicab, jeepneys and boats. But nothing prepared me for the train, tram and ferry rides that made up the European transportation system. 

After landing at Schipol airport in Amsterdam, the firsts began. I was shuttled to Amsterdam Centraal by train and from there I rushed to catch the bus to where I was hosted. Everything was on time and I was amazed to find the train and the bus to be very clean and wide with spaces for elderly, people with disabilities, and those with grocery and toddler carts as well as travel luggage. It was a breath of fresh air since I was used to jam-packed and uncomfortable transportation at home. I would observe the same with the trams in Brussels when I visited later but with a touch of culture as I had the chance to hear a man play his guitar and sang for spare change from commuters.

But when I was in Paris on my way to a youth camp and was carrying a large backpack and toting a tent, it was really a nightmare to be in. The train was mostly packed with tourists who according to my friend, Chloe reaches to a number of at least 20,000 people per day for the city alone. 

In order to address the dense transient and migrant population who came to European cities for tourism, work, studies and even stay for a long period of time, additional modes of transportation was worked out. In cities where there are canals like Amsterdam, and Rotterdam in Netherlands and Venice in Italy which I have also visited, ferries and boats were a convenient way to go from one place to another and to avoid the hustle and bustle of the city. Tourists also use ferries for canal tours. This was of course, expensive so I opted to see the city from the canals through free public ferry rides in Amsterdam.

Another way to decongest traffic is riding a bike. Bikes! Bikes! Bikes! They were everywhere and the best season to get them out and show your tanned and well-exercised legs is summer. Lucky for me, my July-August sojourn was the perfect time to pedal and explore and enjoy the warmth of the sun. I took care to follow the bike lanes and be on the right side of the lane as many bikers were out and about and believe me, they took biking very seriously. They rode fast as if they were on a race and this made me panicked from time to time. 

Moving on, I had my first taste of the Mediterranean mode of transportation when I crossed from Venice, Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece in the first week of August to join a young peoples' camp. And though I was born in the coast and riding a boat, however big it may be was common, the sights around the historical ports of Italy and Greece blew me away. 

Since we had at least 3 hours before boarding the ship that would take us to Greece, we spent some of it roaming around the famous city of masquerades and gondolas. The colorful buildings, the traffic of boats along the countless canals, the quaint restaurants, cafes, pizzeria and gelateria, the laguna, the charming Italian accents, and the old churches surrounding the port was just too much to take in one setting. I felt like I was off to meet my Casanova as I walk through its streets, drowning in all the romance that seemed to blanket every little thing that city has. 

But soon, I was on a deck of a passenger ship bound to Greece and all the magic of Venice left as I got lost in translation. French, Italian, Middle Eastern and other languages I don't know filled the air and left me with nothing to do. Amidst the lively conversations around me, the sway of the ship as it broke its way through the Mediterranean lulled me to sleep. 

But if there was one thing I love about that trip was the chance to see the sun set into the horizon with my feet set on the deck of the ship. As Helios slowly faded into the other side of the world, I wished for it to come shining back more beautifully in the morning when we arrive in Greece.

And he didn't fail. He came back to reveal the blue-lined white boats of the Greeks as they raced towards the dock where I could see the ivory stone houses along the coastline as well as those built on the hills fronting the sea. And as our ship approached the dock, I felt like Helen of Troy off to meet her fate. But that fate turned out to be a learning journey that I would never ever forget. 

At the end of the day, getting in and around Europe was about all that I have experienced and learned along the way. Europeans treasure their history and their way of life. They invest in transportation so that these are not lost. As long as there are airplanes, trains, trams, buses, bikes, boats and ships, connecting peoples and cultures and the collection of knowledge and the development of sensitivity and understanding will remain and grow continuously.