As seems to be the case in July in Europe, I had some train issues trying to get from Madrid to Nice. All of the trains were full. I decided just to wing it on hop on a train to Barcelona, thinking it may be easier to get to France from there. I arrive in Barcelona, and immediately go to the ticket counter where I stood in line forever (or at least it seemed that way with the backpack). I reserved a ticket that said: Barceona to Montpellier arrives at 21:09. Well, what else was I going to do. I hopped on the six hour train to Montpellier thinking I would sleep or read the whole time, I wish.
On the train I sat across from two Brazilian guys who were on winter break (i was amused). We sat there watching as the two Norwegians and the French guy sitting next to us started going through beer like it was water. The more they drank the louder they got, naturally, and the next thing you know we were part of the conversation. After a while a few other people in the coach came up to join us figuring if they couldn't get us to shut up, they might as well enjoy the noise. One of the guys, Ashwin, had the name of a hostel in Montpellier which was great since I had nowhere to stay.
We got in to Montpellier and headed out to find the hostel. We found out that it was really far away and the tram going in that direction was down because of street work. We headed over to the nearest hotel hoping for a vacancy and a decently priced room. We walked up to one and looked at the price list when a voice behind us said, they're empty. We turned around and introduced ourselves to the girls who turned out to be in the same predicament. One of the girls was from Lithuania and the other from Germany who luckily spoke French. The four of us walked around hoping to find a hotel that would give us a decent deal for one night. We walked into a hotel about 5 min. walk from the train station and the German girl began negotiating with the hotel owner in French (its much easier to get things in France if you can speak French). Just as we were about to make a deal, two Finnish girls walk in (no, this is not the start of some really bad joke), looking for a safe place to hang for the night before their train in the morning. Sounds familiar. The hotel owner looks at the six of us and decides to give us two three person rooms for the price of two doubles meaning that each of us would pay 15 euro for a safe place to sleep for the night. Perfect.
After dropping off our bags and showering we headed out to find some cheap eats and maybe a drink (or two). We found some 3 euro sandwiches (a lifesaver all over Europe) and chatted as we ate. Then, we headed over to a bar that looked pretty popular. We ordered a round of Mojitos for a bargain of 6 euro (don't buy drinks in bars in Europe) and decided not to do that again. Instead we ordered a special of 2.5 L of beer which was served in its own tap that they brought to the table. Nifty huh?
We went back to the room and attempted a round of card games which didn't work because the rules for BS are apparently different in different parts of the world. I was so tired that I still don't understand what on Earth I was supposed to be doing.
The next morning I woke up, packed, and headed out for the train station hoping that the next train to Nice would not be full. I get to the ticket counter and ask the man if he speaks English. No. Fine, I switch to Spanish (which was such a lifesaver) and manage to book a ticket that leaves from Montpellier to Marseilles and then Marseilles to Nice. Fun stuff. I finally arrived in Nice around 2:00.
Next up: Nice
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