I was up at 7:40am. It must have rained again last night, but the sun was out and it looked like it would be a nice day. I was packed and out by 8am. I needed to get to Macdonalds to steal their wifi and then to the supermarket to get food as it was to be a full day of traveling.
The train left Nice at 10am and was due to arrive in Montpellier at 2:30pm where I had to change trains to arive in Barcelona at 8pm. The train route was all coastel and the views were stunning. I can think of worse places to take the train through.
I left the Fins at the Hotel. They were also going to Barcelona, but they had different trains. I was quite nervous about that because their train left 30 minutes before mine and they had 2 changes rather than my 1. It seamed like I had the better deal so just chose to ignore it. We did however have the same last train to Barcelona. All quite random.
On the first train I was sat opposite a family from the philopenes. They were very friendly and spoke good English so we could converse well. They thought I was Scottish. Probabily because I didn't sound like I was from London and they had a supplier (of what I don't know) in Glasgow.
- I have no idea what the girl is doing in this photo, maybe mid stretch, but it made me laugh so I posted it -
The journey was made quite uncomfortable at first due to the fact that the instep of my left foot was fat and bruised. I think the problem is that I have the flatest feet in the world and I changed from my flip-flops, to my walking trainers last nigh to go to the casino and they have quite a large arch support. It really was quite painful.
I tried some little physio tricks that I had picked up over the years of playing sports. These include; punchng it, flicking it, pulling my foot up violently and shouting at it. Surprisingly these techniques didn't help. Infact, I think they could have made it worse.
I remembered I had brought some high strength pain killers with me in my first aid kit so I took a couple.
I hadn't brought the box with me but I remembered that they were basically hangover tablets, so they were super strength, but also came with a super strengh dose of caffine. I hadn't had many stimulents on my trip. It hit me hard. I couldn't sit still. I was even close to trying a round-house kick in the philopeno family, just to vent some energy.
After a while it died down, but I couldn't help thinking that buying a 1 letre yogurt drink for such a long journey was a bad choice. It was soon warm and I'm pretty sure it was setting as cheese in my stomach. Like the time I ate a yogurt in the bath and then later shat a cheese-string. Although it could have been worse. It could have been a full wheel of Camembert.
There was supposed to be a 30 minutes between my trains to transfur. For some reason we must have got delayed and the time to my Barcelona train was getting closer and closer. 15mins, 10mins, 5mins, I was starting to get nervous. I had four minutes to get from one train to the other. I just made it. So had the Fins. Turns out they were on the same train as me. For some reason they had got an earlier train to get to the station my first train was going through. All a bit random, but at least we all made the train, even If only just. I was also glad they made it because once again I didn't have a hostel planned and was going to try and get a bed in theirs.
I sat with the Fins on the train even though my ticket was for another part. I also found out there real names because I saw them written down. Sami, Ludvig and Marie.
Once my heart had stop pounding from the run to the train I had some food and settled down for a nap.
I got a bit of sleep but not much. I kept getting woken for ticket checks, then 3 passport check. 2 by the french and 1 by the Spanish. Also Someone was taken off the train in Spain (that rhymes)
We got got off the train at 8:15 and got a cab to the Fins hostel, which infact was an apartment. There wasn't any room for me but the guy running it was french and he sympathised with me because of the football so gave me a number to another hostel. I had to take the metro. A good point is that I found a ticket so didn't have to pay. The bad point was I found the hostel. It's not great, but I have somewhere to stay at least. It's sort of a cross between the film hostel and the shining. Here's my cell.
I'm going to go for a walk and try to get back to the station so I can get to Paris a day early. Not because I'm so scared of this place, but because I've just realised that tomorrow is the last day I can use it if I want to get a night train.
Try to imagion a pair or twin girls in blue matching pinifore dresses holding hands in the next picture.
I think I can actually hear them asking me to go play with them........ Forever............. And ever............. And ever.
I was actually trying to be a bit clever and funny then, but I've actually scared myself, so I'm leaving and going for a walk.
Bye.
