Lots of train time

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I left Barcelona this morning and caught the 8:45 train to Montpierre, one of the first in a series of trains to get to Nice. At the station in Barcelona, we had to take a number for buying tickets. This was a bit foreign to most of us who had been taking trains so there was a continuous flow of wisdom between all the Americans that could not figure out what was going on. As one became enlightened, s/he shared the newfound wisdom with the next confused traveler.

This led to a bunch of us recognizing one another as we all ended up in the same car on our way out of Spain. Interestingly, everyone else was heading to the same station in Nice even though we weren’t even able to get our tickets for that leg of the trip just yet.

Throughout the day, we weren’t inseparable but we all kept seeing each other, with smiles revealing our recognition of something familiar in a very unfamiliar place.

I was actually able to use my train pass throughout the day. I’m hoping this will continue to work. Maybe it won’t have been a total waste if it does.

I had exhausted my book supply the other day so at the stop in Montpellier, I went in a bookstore and found a foreign books section. The first book that caught my eye was Dan Brown’s new release, The Lost Symbol. My mom had already ordered a copy for me at home so I looked around for something else. Nothing appealed to me so I picked up a copy anyway. Maybe I’ll sell this one when I’m done and just keep the one she bought.

The third train of the day put me into Nice last night around 8:30. I unloaded my things at the hostel (a couple minutes from the train station) and walked around town. The main street which heads down to the beach was lined with cafes, restaurants and tourists, along with retail shops of all sorts. Down closer to the beach, more cafes lined a street with smaller vendors filling in the gaps with their bric-a-brac and ice cream stands.

I finally arrived at the beach and was stunned - there’s no sand! It is a stone pebble beach with small sections of imported sand for people to lay on. I thought this place was supposed to have great beaches. Well, maybe I can get a place on the sand tomorrow.

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Photos

Nice beach
A view of the beach's main drive at night.

Nice hill
The hill with Tour Bellanda is lit up at night.