Bordeaux, trains, train stations and finally Barcelona

Ola,

Finally I managed to get my ass in Barcelona. Took some time but i thin it s gonna worth it. As I wrote in the last post, I was about to decide where to go in France before leaving for Spain. I chose Bordeaux. After missing my train as usual, I arrived in Bordeaux but a "a little late"

Bordeaux:
- I was expecting to meet my friend from college who s been there for a couple of weeks. But he did not bother to tell me that he s not staying in the city but a village 1 hour away from it by train. And he forgot to mention that the trains to the village stop at 6 pm. Considering that I arrived at 10pm and learned all these after my arrival, my Bordeaux trip started really bad.
- After learning that there is absolutely no way for me to get out of Bordeaux and deciding it s impossible to find a place to stay, I went for the 5 star accomodation for the second time in my trip: train station floor
- I slept on top of my mat for about 5 hours before the guys woke us up to clear the waiting room. My back is still sore from that night.
- After leaving my backpack to the left luggage office (pay attention here to the times) which is open between 0700 and 2230, I left for the city.
- No need to say that I did not call my friend this time I guess. I shall be alone during day trips , remember?
- The city is really great. I m very surprised to see such a beautiful city. The buildings are really old and the gothic mood is all around the town -a mood which is enhanced by the 4 huge gothic cathedrals in the city.
- The city has a river flowing by (bok rengi) and the coast is a very social area. Among all the cool parks and builduings and cathadrals my favorite place in the town was the "Water Mirror". Right in front of two huge old buildings next to the coast they built a 100x25 meter long "thing". It fills up with 2 cm high of water then after 5 minutes or so, it drowns and this time water vapor is sprkinled thorough the holes in the bottom. Towards the night you can see the perfect reflection of those 2 bulding on the water mirror. Other than that it s place where tourists and kids walk on bare foot. Really cool.
- The wine there rocks! I drank 2 bottles of some time gold medal awarded wines; one for 4 € and the other for 7€. A regular bottle of wine does not cost more than 2 euros. Great place for wine lovers :) Memet abi bi gidip kafa cekelim orda nasipse; cok pis kayyo sarap.
- After a huge city tour and a cool drinking session with 3 turkish girls i ran into, I got back to the station for my night train to first Montpellier then to Barcelona leaving 0008. I got back at the station 2350, totally forgetting about the closing time of the luggage office. I was just about to start to cry but I went and asked the French railways night guys and they simply said no problem and gave my backpack to me. This brings me to the next point:

French People
- I wasnt expecting to be saying this but I m incredibly pleased and surprised by the good attitude and countles amoount of help I got from the French. Every single one of them was kind and tried to help even if they did not speak a word of English.
- Especially the railways guys. Yes they are very slow, but they were very helpful. And French trains are so good.

Trains:
- I spent around 20 hours of my past 48 hours in trains and 6 in the stations. So trains are good frineds nowadyas.
- And dont you dare to make fun of me for spkeaking to much about trains. Keep in mind that I bascially live in trains.
- I d like to dedicate one of my favorite songs by Porcupine Tree to my huge, heavy, fast in France slow in Spain, shitty, shaky, noisy, loud and uncomfortable friends- Trains that is:

Train set and match spied under the blind
Shiny and contoured the railway winds
And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed
The hiss of the train at the railway head

Always the summers are slipping away

A 60 ton angel falls to the earth
A pile of old metal, a radiant blur
Scars in the country, the summer and her
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkEPk9ibX8)

After officially becoming the first human being to be friends with trains and dedicate a song to them, I d like to move on with my other experiences during my short time in France. (4-5 days almost, not that short actually)

My French
- This is funny. My French sucks and sometimes it does not suck at all.
- Sometimes I can say a ratherly complicated sentence then I cant remember the simplest thing. how to say where I come from; for example.
- My French is a unique lingual thingy. It is a weird hybrid of English, French and Swedish. Yes, sometimes when I was trying to remember the words, I used the Swedish word instead.
- I decided to work on first my Swedish and my French but then I thought I m too lazy to go to a course or something. So we ll see what happens in the future.

Barcelona Day 1:
- Today after arriving at my hostel, I went out right away to do some walking and sightseeing.
- I just tooka quick tour without going in to the museums and Gaudi s weird houses but I went to just look at Sagrada Familia. This is an awesome and weird as hell building. Tomorrow I m digging into it among other buildings by Gaudi.
- I m also giong to pilgramage to Camp Nou and FC Barcelona museum.
- I ll stay with my best friend from high school whom I havent seen in years for 2 nights.
- I m going to spent 3 days in total here then I m going to Cordoba to start my Andalucian trip which will last 7 days.
- Anna -or anyone with expeirnce in Andalucia- you said Malaga is boring and not worth a full day right?

I ll write my Barcelona experiences in total in my next post. Till that time; take care. Thanks again for the comments, sorry for not addressing them one by one, but keep them coming :)