I got to personally farewell Nehjma, Flossy and Ehouarn the following morning then I headed off to the railway station to catch my train to Barcelona. I really would have liked to have said farewell to Kara also, we got along like a house on fire, but circumstances worked against us seeing each other again. I have since tried to find her on facebook to no avail, I hope she either finds my profile or reads this blog and leaves me a message. Kara was at a crossroad in her life but I know she will be fine.
As the train pulled out I bid farewell to Marseille, the city of beautiful scenery, the worlds best hostel, people that could charm a field full of cobras, bollards and dog poo (one personally endorsed by me).
The trip was uneventful although the things to do before I die list did get horribly long, I do really have to stop looking out of windows. I did get to do a lot of writing and I did get to meet the previously mentioned Patricia Lopez ROK.
I was asked for my passport at the French Spanish border by a group of Police, one of them found out I was from Australia and wanted to talk rugby to which I duly obliged. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was out of bed at an ungodly hour cheering England on only 2 weeks earlier as they defeated France at Twickenham; I think I would have got that body cavity search and a bit of torture if I did.
I changed trains at Figueres Vilifant for the Barcelona leg. That morning Flossy told me that the rail guage in Spain in different from the rest of Europe so the train could not go continuously; sounds like the old problem we had with trains going from Victoria to New South Wales. As mentioned previously the muy guapa Patricia helped me with the handwriting of my new friends from Marseille. When we arrived at Barcelona Sants Patricia very kindly pointed me in the right direction for the metro train to my Hostel.
Trying to buy a train ticket should be easy, deme un billete de tren para Maria Cristina por favor. Unfortunately the reply was at 2 million lilometres per hour and totally unintelligible to me. I now have a very useful phrase in Spanish also, habla mas lenta por favor, please speak more slowly, hopefully that will prove more succesful than parle vous Anglaise ever did. Fortunately for me the printer behind the ticket counter was not working and one staff memeber was looking a little frustrated. One fixed printer later I was given a free ticket and pointed in the right direction by a very grateful staff member; once again I used my power for niceness instead of evil and was duly rewarded.
I had no idea where to go once I got to Maria Christina so I just walked aimlessly until I found a lovely plaza with a nice bar and tables in the sun. After about two hours of talking to the lovely Maite from Bilbao who spoke Spanish, Basque and English we were joined by my new unofficial tour guide Maria, there are a lot of Marias in Spain. Maria basically lived next door to the Hostel and offered to show me where it was. Maria also wrote a list of things to do in Barcelona, some of the nicer towns to visit as I wandered around Spain and a complete guide to vegetarian eating in Spanish. Arise Maria Royal Order of the Koala. My supply of Koalas is running out so I will have to ration them somewhat in future.
Despite arriving in Barcelona at 2.30 pm I did not get into the Hostel until about 9.30 pm, it is a very social place Barcelona. Hostel Pere Trarre's is very clean, quiet the beds comfortable. This time I was on a bottom bunk so no mountain climbing equipment needed. I was the only one in the room but after I had been asleep for an hour someone else checked in but was very quiet and considerate. It was a very good night's sleep and much needed after the festivities of Marseille.
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