Trouble in Paradise

Hey everyone! Rough news from the road to Nice. A number of close calls over the last few days. We will begin with our arrival in Barcelona at our lovely prison cell. We have had outstanding luck with our hotels until this point but unfortunately the well has run dry. As we walked to our room we passed walls that were falling apart, likely associated with the gut wrenching scent of sewage that was worse than any shady Mexican toilet we can imagine. When we opened the door we found six nice little twin beds with unwashed sheets covered in stains and smudges waiting for us! So many to choose from! After a quick confrontation with the front desk man, we were notified that we shouldn’t worry, the room was all ours. Also, the solution provided to us for the smell was to turn the heat on (to heat up rotting sewage?), or open the windows (cell bars?). 

Our "window" looking out into the beautiful hallway

Which one should I choose?!

The other side was even worse

Fortunately the rest of Barcelona was not as frightening as our six bed penthouse. We found it to be a lot like Madrid, just more expensive, touristy, and dirty. However, it is a coastal town with better weather and more natural beauty. There were the same crowded and old alley ways pouring into open squares. 

Typical square

Baby squid tapa - for Kristi

Tapa time

Our explorations in Barcelona took us to La Sagrada Familia which is an enormous church that has been under construction for hundreds of years and won’t be completed for hundreds more. 

Photos don't do it justice

We went to at typical Spanish restaurant for dinner where Hallie ordered beef stew with white rice and I ordered paella (a classic Spanish dish including rice, vegetables and sea creatures). 

Paella and stew with rice

We are classy

After the New Year celebration at midnight (and a few too many cervezas) we found ourselves retiring to our jail cells and contemplating sleeping on the floors. We settled on sleeping on top of the sheets with our coats on. 

We tried to sleep like this at first - didn't work

Luckily the bags were packed and ready to go as we missed our alarm for a train we had to catch at 8:15, so when we woke up and began panicking at 7:35 it was an easy out. We literally ran to the subway station with no idea how to get to the train station, and no idea how to get tickets for the subway. Also, we met a nice man after he grabbed one of my bags (including camera, lenses, computer and everything else valuable with me) and had to chase him down and scream at him (Thanks Hallie!) to get it back. ¡Buenas Dias Barcelona! We made the train with a few minutes to spare. 

As soon as we boarded and took our seats we let out a sigh of relief. That was until we realized we were sitting next to a lady who loves listening to really loud static (a.k.a. French radio) on her phone. For an hour. When she got bored with that, she decided it would be a nice time to start playing the most obnoxious beeps and noises she could find in her phone accompanied with maniacal laughter. Of course, not being able to recover and get any sleep, I joined in her in this fun little game and played every alarm sound my phone can make until Hallie forced me to stop. The next train ride featured a nice little fat French boy screaming as loud as he could with his parents grinning with every chug of the train’s engine. 

Besides some interesting companions, the train rides all day have been scenic through the coast of southern France. Fortunately, we got kicked off one train we weren’t supposed to be on in Montpellier, France. Our next train we needed to take was three hours later so we grabbed lunch and explored. The town seemed quite quaint and very high scale yet it retained the old world charm it was clearly built on. The majority of cafes and shops were closed due to the weather - as it is mainly a local vacation favorite in the summer. 

C’est magnifique! 

Suzy Kohler

Everything is closed :(

We are now on our final train of the day to Nice, France. We have made a new creepy train friend with some French man who continues to speak with us in French. He knows we don’t speak French. As we’ve been occupied writing this current blog post, he has been mumbling and grumbling to himself, in French (Hallie doesn’t recognize any of it). He also just bought a beer from the cart, downed it as if he has been stranded in the desert for weeks, then smashed the can on his forehead. Can’t make this stuff up. 

Plans for tonight/tomorrow include exploring Nice and stopping off for dinner in Monaco on our way to Genoa. Next update will probably be from Italy! Ciao and Happy New Year!