Barcelona

I left Italy at 12:22 yesterday and arrived in Barcelona today at 10:15am…five train changes and 3 languages later!

As it turns out, it is really hard to get into Spain from Italy and vice versa. It’s a lot further apart than it looks on the map and there are no direct high speed trains. You end up spending a lot of time changing trains and waiting in train stations. I actually intended to stay in Nice, France for the night, spend today suntanning there then catch a night train to Barcelona to split it up a little....but when I arrived in Nice at 8pm and walked to the hostel I wanted to stay at they told me they are full and so is every other respectable/affordable hotel in town due to a geology convention. So, I walked back to the train station and asked if there was a night train directly to Barcelona and luckily there was one leaving at 10:30pm getting into Port Bou at 6:15am with a sleeper car and a train change in Port Bou to Barcelona.
I got a couchette for 14 euros and about 5-6hours of sleep, thank god!

Well, 22 hours later I’m here!
I’m all ready to bask on the beach and sleep but sadly the weather gods are not on my side…it’s the first time so far on this trip so I can’t really complain BUT it is 10C with a cold wind today…yuck. I guess yesterday was 25C and blue skies. I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow, in 2 days I leave for Paris so this is my last opportunity for a beach.

I am staying at a pretty nice hostel right on the beach, it’s a little noisy (thin walls and immature loud kids). If I am lucky enough to get some good weather over the next couple days then the location will be worth the noise….besides, the showers are good and the breakfast and internet are free. I am so tired I am just forcing myself to stay awake until a reasonable hour.

Today I just wandered around town for a bit on a quest for soap, contact lens solution (I left the lid off mine and it spilled in my bag) and dinner. My feet were sore from carrying my heavy back pack around for so long and I had a “not enough sleep” headache so I just came back to the hostel where I have been reading for the last 3 hours and feel much better. Tomorrow I am going on a 5 hour bike tour of Barcelona which looks like a lot of fun…weather permitting!