Country 10: Spain

Next stop was Madrid. We had hoped to take the night train from Biarritz but were told when trying to reserve our tickets that you needed to be in Spain to reserve places on spanish trains; we were in France. So we hopped on the next train and took it to the end, which was a small Spanish town just across the border called Irun. There we could reserve a place on the night train.

In Spain, communicating became alittle difficult. Earlier in the trip I had relied on Micke, in Paris both Krista and I had some background in French and could stumble by...but neither of us had any experience in Spanish- and it seemed that the Spanish locals had slim to none knowledge of English. But somehow we managed to communicate- through visual aids and hand movements.

We were late in reserving the night train and so were stuck with the chairs. We managed to trade spots with a couple in the sleeper section wanting chairs. We had a nice sleep in a bed, although things were rather crowed when having to share the small six man room. I was really surprised with the toilets when I sat down, only to feel a draft comming up from above- I looked down only to see the tracks below me. I didn't think they did that anymore- yuck.

Madrid seemed to be much calmer than Paris. Paris had the air of chaos to it. Madrid also seemed cleaner and the metro system was in better condition: the trains were fairly new and airconditioned, which was wonderful: to be able to escape the 35 degree weather, if only for a moment...

While in Madrid we visited the modern museum with a Picasso and Dali exhibit. I don't know much about art or artists except for their famous pieces that you see in everyday advertising and so I was really surprised when looking at the Picasso exhibition: It was full of death and unpleasantness. It seemed one of his favourite subjects was a mother holding her dead infant because it was a recurring theme in many paintings. As for the Dali exhibit, none of his more famous paintings were there, which was disappointing.

Valencia was fabulous. It had an old feeling to it, which is what I like: the old buildings and architecture, cobblestone alleyways that run in any direction, colourful buildings. We spent 2 days in Valencia, one soaking up the sun on the beach and another sightseeing. Paella was experienced (fried rice), red wine and sparkling white wine sangria, as well as tapas bars with their seafood appetizers. Fantastic.

Barcelona was more modern than Valencia. By the time we got there, both Krista and I were tired and did minimal sightseeing. But we did include the "thing to see" in Barcelona: le temple de le familia Sangreda by Gaudi. Construction was started in 1908 and is still not finished today. Las Ramblas (the main drag) was fantastic- browsing through the street vendors, watching the human sculptures and working our way through the chaos of toursits. We shopped, beached, walked, ate, drank and had a merry time all round.