Night Train

Some people I met on the night train.

Took the night train to Madrid after an amazing stay in Barcelona. I don't think that I have ever been this tan. Sure it was incredibly hot, with no A/C, but it was nice in the shade and at night. Barcelona isn't loaded with monuments, like Paris is, so we were able to spend a good portion of every day at the beach. Then go out and sight-see around 4pm. I think it's safe to say the the Parc Guell is my favorite place in Europe so far. It is a very large park in the middle of the city, encompassing a very large hill. Thus the views of the city and the Mediterranean are amazing.

I have now traveled on 2 night trains and I got a total of maybe 2 hours of sleep, on the first one. The one I took last night offered no sleep at all. What boggled my mind was the superiority of coach over 1st class. I had a first class ticket because the second class reservations were sold out, and first class was only 25€. Lauren rode second class and got plenty of sleep, because she had a simple recliner in a setup that is similar to a plane. Rows of people along the length of the car. First class was arrange in a very silly way, in my opinion. I was in a cabin of 6 couchettes that extend out into beds. The problem in that they are arranged with 3 on each wall, facing each other. The effect is that there is someone sitting across from you, with only a foot between each others' knees. Therefore, you can't fold out your chair unless you are willing to get very cosy with the person across from you. The only sense that I can make of the situation is if they only sold 3 of the 6 seats in the cabin, then everyone would get 2 chairs to make a bed. But this train sold all of the seats, so I was left wishing I could sit in coach and actually get some sleep.

But all wasn't miserable. I met 4 interesting German students, who were in the cabin with me for a portion of the trip. They had to leave around midnight because they sat in the wrong cabin, hoping they could sit together instead of apart. I did get to talk to them for a few hours about many things, mainly the differences between Germany and America. They only have to pay 300€ per semester for college! Everyone. They say the schools are mainly state funded.

I think that of all the different food I have tried in Europe, Spanish food has been the most mundane. Nothing about it really stands out to me. They are most famous for tapas and paellas. The tapas and paellas that I tried were good, some were amazing, but there wasn't really anything I couldn't get anywhere else fairly easily.