6-26-07 I got up at 6:30 so I would have plenty of time to get to the train station for my 15 € ride to Bern, Switzerland from here in Barcelona, which left at 8:45. Everything went very smoothly and I arrived at the train station with about an hour to spare. I decided to go for breakfast and as expected no egg breakfasts anywhere to be found. Consequently, I walked around looking for a grocery store. I found one and almost bought something I thought was milk but the person told me in broken English that it wasn’t. This was not a normal grocery store as they had some fresh fish and large containers of sauces, seasonings and stuff like that. They had no milk only fruit juice so I bought a couple juice boxes ... read more

6-19-07 Slept well last night and woke up in Portugal. I love these night trains. The gentle rocking motion of the train really knocks me out. I got up and stood outside our train sleeping compartment for about an hour trying to get glimpses of the surrounding landscape. The times I did see something out the window there was not much to see. The train arrived about a 1/2 hour late. I talked to a guy from Philadephia that was a construction manager there who told his boss he was taking off for awhile to travel. The boss told him as long as he is back by September he had a job when he got back. He said he did not plan to travel that long. He was about 28 years old I guess and indicated ... read more

6-4-07 I got up around 7, had a quick breakfast and was out the door around 8:00. I walked to the metro station near the hostel, got on the train and was at the train station by 8:30 man things were going smoothly this day. I got in line at the ticket counter and waited a few minutes and then told the agent I wanted to go to Chartres. They told me you have to go to the other Paris Station. Damn what was turning into a very smooth morning, just took a turn in the wrong direction. I got another ticket for the metro and headed to the other station. Fortunately, I was getting pretty good at the subway system in Paris and did not have any problem getting to the other station. At the ... read more

5-25-07 I got up around 7:30 and headed for the desk to type for a few minutes and then left for the bus station. I was excited to be heading for the Cinque Terre. I had heard so much good stuff about it. San Gimignano was cool and the Tuscany hillsides were very pretty, but I did not see any reason to be here any longer. I considered the places beautiful and relaxing but I could not stay there for long periods of time. For relaxation I choose Assisi over the others but really they all work and are great. I got to the bus station and got a ticket at the local coffee shop and waited for the bus. The bus arrived late, which is not surprising. The bus driver was very cool to talk ... read more

5-20-07 I had gotten a pretty bad night's sleep as the road noise was loud and the guy in the bunk above me got in about 1:00 waking me up of course and then some backpackers got in about 2:00. I suspect I had gotten about 2 hours of good quality sleep. Two nights in the row bad sleeping. I suspect in the last 48 hours maybe 5 hours at the most of good quality sleep. I needed to keep this in mind when reacting to things as I know I am going to be a little difficult and impatient as a result. I got up and did some typing and went for breakfast. I usually type for about an hour and then am typically pretty hungry and get some grub. When I first got ... read more