Comme il faut? (Breda)

Amidst the dizzying variety of tango shoes.

After 4 wonderful days in The Hague, I am back on the road. The weather that has not been much to rave about during my two weeks in The Netherlands has once again turned rainy, and I must admit it is not making this any easier. The cycling itself is effortless enough as I have the wind in my favour, but the constant drizzle is making me wonder, once again, why I must do this.

One big reason for my reluctance to leave was that I felt so relaxed, at home and in peace in The Hague. I was visiting Antonio whom I had met at Tangocamp Sweden a few weeks earlier, and he was doing his utmost to make me feel welcome. He was cooking for me, taking me to all the milongas in the area, sharing his life with me, and I almost felt guilty for the amount of trouble he went through for me.

On Friday, we drove to Amsterdam to take part in the Tango Marathon. It was my first Marathon, and I was really excited to see it. The event would go on the whole weekend, but I knew I could not prolong my departure if I wanted to have time to enjoy the Paris tango scene, barely 470km away.

Before the marathon, though, I could fulfill a dream that most tango dancing females have: I visited the Comme Il Faut tango shoe shop in the Hague. The 'Commies', as they are affectionately called, are on most tangueras' wishlist, as they are truly beautiful, very comfortable, and extremely sexy. What makes them perhaps even more coveted is that as new models come out every month, a specific design will only be available for a short while. This obviously reduces the risk of seeing 'your' model on somebody else's feet. And yes, you guessed right: all this comes at a price. A High price.

As the Hague shop is one of the few places in Europe where the whole range can be seen and tried on, I was prepared for a long and arduous afternoon. However, in the end it was surprisingly easy to choose 'my' model (as ridiculous as it sounds, tangueras feel that their tango shoes actually express their personality). Black, elegant, with a reasonable 8,5cm heel and a perfect fit, they were for me. What surprised me, though, was my second choice: a pair of bright pink and blue shoes, with suede and satin cover.

To see the strangeness of this you must understand that I never owned ANY pink garment in my life, and have always felt that I never will. I think that something quite dramatic happened when I saw those shoes on my feet: all of a sudden, I realised that there is also a 'pink side' to me, a soft, feminine sensuality that just has not found its expression before. May sound a bit crazy, but this is what I felt. Thus, I bought the shoes, although two pairs was well beyond my initial budget.

The marathon itself was not such an amazing experience as I had expected. The floor was slighty uneven and not as smooth as I would have liked, and most of the dancers were either very inexperienced, much younger or much older than me. Later at night the milonga moved indoors and the better dancers started to emerge. However, it was already well past 4 am at this stage, and I was truly sleepy. As we still had an hour's drive to The Hague, we decided to leave at 5am. The marathon would carry on for another hour or two, then the people would sleep a few hours, only to start again at noon...and so on, the whole weekend. It sounds like madness, and I suppose that is what it is. Still, I know that one day pretty soon I will also want to do it.

As a last minute preparation before leavin The Hague yesterday, I booked my return journey from Paris. Although I had wanted to traver by train all the way to Stockholm, this turned out so complicated, expensive and time-consuming that once again, I will be taking the boat from Rostock to Helsinki. That, with a hostel bookin for Paris from Thursday to Sunday, means that I really have to complete this journey in Paris as planned. Fortunately, based on my first searches on the net, the Paris tango scene is fantastic: with 4-5 milongas/practicas to choose from every night, it seems like The Place to try out my new, pink-and-blue Commies, along with the femininity they encourage in me.