The trip to BoundCon and Paris with my friend Krystle was incredible! We met so many nice people, made some great new friends and had a fantastic time. I’d never been to Europe till now but this trip certainly made up for it and threw me completely out of my comfort zone, but in a very good way. The jet lag in Munich was tough the first day but we motored through it and forced ourselves to get onto the new schedule as quickly as we could and in a couple days we were fine. Munich is a very pretty town, smaller than I expected, and everyone was very friendly. Krystle speaks some German, which helped a lot, but I felt like a bit of a jerk because I basically only know “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German” and “Thank you.” It was still surprisingly easy to get by though as so many Germans speak some English and many people are fluent, though they often deny it. Krystle shook her head over the comments of some speakers, “Oh, my English is so bad. How do you say…uh, “multifaceted?” ;-)

After some sightseeing, BoundCon itself was a blast. We made some great new friends, including the very fun Marie Lissandro and the very skilled RopeMasterFrank, with whom I’ve emailed off and on for years and who was a true gentleman. Later we got to hang out with Katja (who has the very large breasts in the pictures below) and Daniela von L (with the red cane below), who were both a lot of fun. We met lots of other people including Mandy from Berlin (black and white and glasses) at the Meet N Greet, Renee the Bondage Crossdresser who was very nice, and a nice photographer named John from the UK, who took a few of the pictures below. Some of these were taken on an iPod and some on a point-and-shoot but John had a full-frame Canon, so the really sharp ones are probably his! Of course, I had to get another picture with the lovely Sandra Silvers – always great to see her at these bondage events. There were also quite a few random ladies walking around tied up and some great stage shows, and our new friend from the Netherlands (I believe) who transforms into an amazing Victorian lady.

Sub Rosa Dictum Official Party at Kesselhaus

My friend Krystle really wanted to go to the official off-site BoundCon party on Saturday night put on by Sub Rosa Dictum, (party photos here). I didn’t really have much expectation either way and just said, “Sure, that’s fine,” but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. This thing was crazy! We have some nice events here in Los Angeles but this was like on another planet! It was so kinky and full of latex and rubber everywhere you looked, a huge crowd of maybe 400 or 500 people and just a crazy decadent vibe, definitely the best party I’ve ever been to. The medical latex performance by fetish model Anna Rose (pictured below from her Twitter feed, photo by Heinrich Schimmer) was incredibly sexy.

Marie Lissandro and Daniela and some other friends hung out with us and Marie turned us onto a fantastic drink popular in Southern Germany and Northern Italy called a Hugo, made with sparking white wine and elderflower syrup. I have no idea what that is but it was like drinking liquid candy and then after a couple of those we were feeling Very Relaxed! At one point I found myself strapped to a cross and being felt up by two complete strangers. The guy in the full latex outfit and hood was fun and creepy in a good way but the other guy was, well, just creepy and became a little too familiar, but it was still okay as my friends were looking out for me and letting it go just to the point of almost too much. Later we met a fun German dominatrix and her female submissive and everyone was very friendly and completely cool with the language differences. I loved Germany and BoundCon and hope to go back again!

Off to Paris

The weekend in Germany flew by and in no time we were on a train to France where we pulled into Paris in the late afternoon. I took several years of French in school but still feel like a rank beginner, especially when Parisians would speak to me and I’d have that deer-in-the-headlights look. But I was able to communicate with the cab drivers and could usually order in restaurants till they finally took pity on me and switched to English, which happened a lot. The nice people at our hotel, in a non-touristy area, didn’t speak much English though so that was great practice forcing me to communicate as best I could.

Paris is definitely more of a bustling city than Munich, with the good and bad that goes with that, an energy and excitement but also occasionally that edge of aggression that you find in big cities, similar to being in New York, or L.A. for that matter. But the people we met were fantastic and very friendly. After our first night enjoying some Couscous and a bottle of wine, we finally met our new friend Christelle with whom I’ve emailed for years. Christelle is lovely and the nicest person you could meet and we had a delightful time, hitting it off right away. She directed us to the perfect tranny neighborhood, a very friendly hotel near the main tranny club and down the street from the Café Marcel where we ate several meals, including dressed up a couple times. It was extremely welcoming, very gay and trans friendly, fantastic food and drinks and although everything was “super” it didn’t break the bank either.

Later Christelle took us out shopping at Angel Modes just down the street, a fun little shop catering to CDs and trans girls and run by a famous seventy-year old “grande dame” who was very kind. Of course, we also had to fit in some bondage back at the hotel, where appropriately some of the scenes from the movie “Taken” were filmed. And that evening Christelle generously arranged for us to be driven around the city along with her friend Monsieur Charly, who was also a total gentleman. It was crazy hopping out and snapping pictures in front of all these famous landmarks. Much later we found ourselves on the famous Champs Élysées where a teenage girl with her boyfriend couldn’t stop laughing her ass off over the two trannies on the avenue. I actually found it a lot of fun blowing her mind, and hey, I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of humiliation anyway as anyone who’s read my stories knows. I think the sight of us was just so outside the norm that she didn’t know how to react, but yes, she was definitely laughing AT us too, which was fine ;-) Christelle was cool headed and got her to come over for a snapshot but sadly her boyfriend took it on his cell phone so I don’t have a copy. Then she hurried off still laughing and carrying on.

Christelle was only with us for one day but we had a truly memorable time and I hope we can do it again. The next day after recovering, Krystle and I took an afternoon trip to see Jim Morrison’s grave at Père Lachaise cemetery. I’ve been a fan for years so it was very moving to make the pilgrimage to see the Lizard King. Then it was time to dress again and go off to the famous Maison du Travesti, which we were able to walk to as it was only a couple blocks from the hotel, and we had a fun evening meeting people and drinking yet more wine. Appropriately it’s located on the Rue des Dames (or “Ladies’ Street”), a small little club but very friendly, and apparently it’s the main CD / trans club in Paris, more a private get-together than a loud nightclub. We did find out that there was a room downstairs for more “private” kinds of play, and I think you could get into quite a bit of trouble down there if you were so inclined. We checked it out but opted to stay upstairs this time, having gotten a little groped within minutes ;-) We were pretty tipsy by the end of the evening and stumbled back to our hotel with the party still going strong…

The trip went by so fast and had so many memories, truly an amazing time. In no time at all we were at the Paris airport and back to the states. Like a fool I timed my return to be right on the same day as the TEASE party. I made it through the night with a bad case of jet lag but it was totally worth it!