Thursday, December 9, 2010

Barcelona

The trip to Barcelona, Spain's architectural capital, didn't start off on the right foot. We took the 0800 train from Madrid Atocha, which meant we had to get up at about six o'clock the morning of departure. Unfortunately I barely slept that night, for reasons unknown, and woke up feeling like I just lost a battle with a bulldozer. My entire body ached and my stomach felt off (I mean, really off). Luckily we had a subway stop right next to our apartment, which would take us right to the train station. At least I didn't have to feel miserable AND walk in the rain for very long. Carrying my heavy suitcase up and down steps while feeling like car-accident victim I could have done without, however.

Despite being under physical duress we were able to make to Atocha and hop on our train without incident. On a side note, I have to say I was quite impressed with Madrid's principal train station. A shiny and modern facility, fit with moving belts that take passengers down to the platforms. The trains were right on the button as well. Nicely done Madrid, nicely done.

Whenever on travel, I try to make a point of taking a train. I feel this way you have an opportunity to see "the in-between", that is, the life outside of the big city. It is something that I really look forward to, and I have done it in almost every country I have visited. This time, I really just wanted to sleep. Like I mentioned earlier, I had about three hours from the previous night. I did cork off for a good portion of the two-hour trip between Madrid and Barcelona, but I did make a point of looking out the window and catching a glimpse rural Spanish life. It is hard to get a good view from a fast-moving train, but I saw a fair share of old, ramshackle farm-houses and plots of farmland, sometimes complete with the old tractor. I remember thinking to myself, wow, this kind of looks like China. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. Whenever I took a train in China I would spent most of the trip just looking out the window. I found rural China appeared quite charming. Again, this is from the inside of a train. China being China, what I was seeing could have looked okay, but probably stunk of pollution and had cancer rates through the roof.

Arrived into Barcelona-Sants train station at around ten-thirty. Welcome to Catalan country.

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed viewing the Russian countryside on the train trip from St. Petersberg to Invanovo; it's beautiful. And there are lots of charming ramshackle buildings and houses, though the lifestyle is probably pretty rugged.

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