The Even Greater Tokyo Region

I was going to first post a small video montage of the holiday I've just come back from, but due to technical difficulties and technology-rage, that will have to come at a later date. Also, this will come as a spoiler alert, because it concerns the holiday and the fact that I was in Spain.

Update... It is an end-of-year miracle, and the video is up. Have a look, or not. It is mainly photos of the sights, and not of the many museums we went to. (It was winter, not really the best time of the year to hit the beach-clubs.)



Basically, in my last few weeks of being in Ho-Land, I would spend most of it in Spain, while the rest of Europe was buried under snow. Not a bad trade-off really. And even though you might think that it was a waste of my last moments in Holland, one of the best things about Holland is its close proximity to other countries. Yeah, that's a back-handed compliment (like dating a girl because her mother is hot), but also kind of true.

(The song used for the video was "Me Gustas Tú by French/Spanish aritist Manu Chao. The song may be familiar from the brilliant soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico.)


Stupid Observation:

So, we were situated in a small seaside town called Vilanova which is between Barcelona and a small town called Sitges. I was unfamiliar with Sitges so I googled it. This was the screen-cap:

Hmm... My suspicion was a little (a) roused.

Then I wikipedia'd it, and in the second paragraph I came across this sentence:

"Nowadays it is a popular destination for gay and lesbian travellers, as it has become one of the most gay-friendly places in the world."

Now, I've been living in Holland, which I've been told is gay-friendly. But then, people in Holland don't seem particularly friendlier than other countries. Maybe I don't seem gay enough, which is good because it's the kind of the impression I try to give off. But a town that is 'one of the most gay-friendly places in the world'? I was a little afraid to go there. But since Vilanova is manwiched between Barca and Sitges, we divided our time between the two. Why choose just one? You never know, you might like it.

It was a very pretty town, like many other Spanish towns, and not much about it seemed particularly gay to me. keep in mind that I have a finely-tuned gaydar from 5 years of all-boys eduacation.

Here are the only real clues I got to the gayness of Sitges:

• The unusually high ratio of shoe stores. If Will and Grace has taught me anything (and I sincerely hope that it hasn't), it's that the gays love their shoes.
• There is a street called "Calle de San Francisco."
  
• Many of the people walking past in the street spoke French.
  
• The quiet bar we entered had guys ordering cocktails.
• The bar, which had only one (male) bartender, played a Cindi Lauper song.

But that's pretty much all I can think of. Of course, being winter, it wasn't exactly great weather for assless chaps and rollerskating in lycra. But for a place that the Wikipedia gods deemed to be 'one of the gay friendliest places in the world' I was, frankly, a little disappointed. It was a nice city, but not as fabulous as I was misled to believe. Nobody saying "yoohoo". Nobody partying as if WWII ended the day after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed. Nobody trying to blow me - I mean, not that I wanted to be blown by a dude, but it would have been nice to have been asked.

Anyway, that was honestly a tiny part of the holiday. A great way to spend the waning parts of the year. I hope that 2010 was a great year for all of you, and I hope that 2011 is extremely friendly to you, no matter what the preferred orientation of your genitals happens to be.

I'll leave you with a ponderance that came across me during this above holiday:

What is a holiday, but time,
Time that you try to enjoy
More than you usually do?

Be safe, be happy, be the best you can possibly be. If you can't do that, just try to copy me.