(written May 6th around 7:00 am)
Monton Harbor
Location: Train to Paris
Hours of Travel: 58
Cleanliness scale (out of ten): 2
Comments:
- Wow. So much has changed and happened since last I wrote.
- Our last half day in Barcelona was spent running to Corte De Ingles (like a Spanish Sears) to return a new converter that we figured out we didn't need. Who knew those large blocks in cellphone, camera, and laptop computers were actually converter. Trent was very happy to get the 13 euros back which we could spend on food that day.
- By 11:30 we were at the beloved train station (our current home) were we road to Montpellier, FR. We had just one connecting train were we met some lovely Canadian honeymooners.
view outside the train to Montpellier...not even close to the beauty of Nice and Monton
- At the Montpellier airport we ate our first French croissant. After splitting 1, I bought 3 more only for myself (the chocolate filled kind). In this train "layover" before Nice, we were SUPPOSED to connect with our friend, Boualem, who was SUPPOSED to let us stay at his house. Unfortunately, none of the pay phones accepted coins and I could not figure out a collect call. It was at this moment we wished Kristen C, Christian W, Jeremy B, Alex V, or Jessica M were with us to help us find a working French phone!!!
- On the plus side, we met a great friend named Ien from Mexico city who was touring Europe for six months! Trent and I were amazed at his bravery. He told us he was going to sleep at the Nice station before his 5 am train to Rome. Trent and I felt this would be...kind of safe but only if the station was in a safe area and stayed open 24/7.
our new Mexican friend, Ien eating a delicious turkish Kebab next to the station
- We arrived at Nice at 11:30. Boualem was not coming and the station closed in one hour (plus the people at the station looked like they would kill us). LUCKILY we ran into a lovely frenchman named Ludovic who told us we was going to take the train to Monton. Ien, Trent, and I decided to take the same train at 1:30 arriving at Monton (a very safe area) at 2:20. Ludovic showed us around the quiet town and by 5am (Ien left to go to Rome and...) we took a train back to Nice, back to Monton, back to Nice, AND back to Monton so we could finally sleep.
our lifesaver, Ludovic!
- At nine we went to a great and cheap cafe and ate our first ham sandwich. Notice the creamy insides? That's butter :)
- After the sandwich we walked the beach and found a good private area where we slept for another 2 hours.
tired at the beach
- We woke up from this even more sunburned than our bike ride (and we put sunscreen on this time),
- We decided it was time to experience Nice. As we walked to the bus stop who would we run into but LUDOVIC! This proud frenchman showed us his city including the super-cheap supermarket so we could get food for our next overnight train. He also showed us the most popular tourist areas of town and the best ice cream in all of France, Finoccio's. Like I've said before, I'm definitely not losing any weight on this trip.
happy couple at Finoccio's
-We got on this Paris overnight train at 8pm. We tried to sneak into one of the bed cabins but the guard caught us. Never doing that again. Anyway, we were so tired from the day before that we slept like cat on a sunny day.
Things that we are thinking: will things work out better with Jean Pierre and Catherine when we are in Paris? Should/can we take a day trip to Mont St Michel? What will we prioritize in Paris (except eating and shopping; those are #1)?
Au Revoir for now!
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