Let me take you to a gay bar, gay bar. or not. it's fine. we can just go to hesburger. no problem (part 3 of 4)

hi readers!

How are you all?

Since my last post, Summer as pretty much ended. Or at least, I started wearing socks to bed, which, in my book, is the definition of Winter.

I'm in Penafiel full time, and very short on interaction with other human beings. I even started refering to other people as human beings, that's how creepy and asocial I'm becoming.

My comic project is building up in the living room wall and my cat will ocasionally roll around the sheets of paper in a desperate call for attention. 
 

I know, it's adorable.

 Apart from that, I started driving again!

After a initial "which one is the break?" moment I'm actually doing well and have droven around town, wearing sweatpants and a pyjama sweater, at the extreme velocity of 30km/h. I'm officially an old lady, now.

One of this days I'll let you in on my the whole trauma with cars and screaming driving instructors, but right now we'll go back to wilder times in Vilnius and I'll write you my review of the third gay bar:

MEN'S FACTORY

Me and Ceren went to Men's Factory for a Drag Queens Night. 

First, we got lost. 

We were in the right street but couldn't find it! After walking back and forth like crazy, we finally tried entering in an area that looked like it was only for industrial warehouses and had a "you're-gonna-get-raped-here" vibe to it.

Turns out it was there.

Men's Factory is one of the oldest gay clubs in the city and it had recently reopened. Someone told me it was built in a soviet bomb shelter, and that's why it's so underground and has tiny claustrophobic stairs. The entrance was an antique looking door protected by a hiron cage and muscly guards.

Past the guards, you come into a little hall where a entrance control system contrasted with vintage mirrors, red curtains and walls, and a big and phallic copper statue. This was a good preview of what you would find inside. Men's factory did feel like a theme park atraction with a pornographic twist. Pirates of Caribean Sex Dungeon or something of that sort. The bartenders dressed as sexy sailors and there were penises everywhere, the lamps, the statues, the coat hangers, the chair feet. Everywhere. It was so odd, so over the top, I loved it.

Even though the place was obviously for men (just in case you didn't notice it in the name..) and even had areas restricted for me, I didn't feel completly unwelcomed, or like I was crashing some gay men's party. The bartenders, the men drinking at the bar and even the guards outside were nice to us (They called us a taxi. With their own phone.)

The Drag show was awfull, but entertaining. I don't think it was supposed to be funny, but I laughed, a lot. One of the drag queens  was too tall for the stage and tried lip-synching while clumpsily dancing and avoiding hitting her head in the stage illumination. It was terrible. 

But that sort of terrible that goes around and gets to be good again.

There were very few people there, but the tiny crowd was in a very drunk and sexy-party-hard mode. As we left, a lady licked salt out of a bartender's belly for a shot of tequila. This is the kind of thing that looks sort of cool if you're surrounded by party people, in a festive setting, and looks super strange if you're the only person in an almost empty bar. Which was the case.

rating ****

It's hard to find, but totally worth seeing. The only drawback for me was that the music was terrible.

Also, as reference, there's a pizza place right in front of it that happens to be the best place to eat pizza in town. I would highly recommend it, too.