Not baskin´ in Basque (revised)

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Cheryl and I made it through the long and relatively sleepless overnighter-train to San Sebastian--but let me tell you a little story about overnight train travel in Spain! Getting down to the train platform, first of all, was like going through airport security with the X-Rays, line-up to show tickets, and the typical flight routine. Boarding the train, you would think at first glance that it was the Hogwarts Express, with the long tight corridor down one side and compartments along the other, but then you look INSIDE the compartments and realize that it´s anything but the Harry Potter image I just painted for you! There were SIX beds (bunk-bed style x 3! vertically, with an "aisle" between the two sets of three, which is actually only wide enough for the skinniest of people to squeeze through--think ladder width, that is no exaggeration)!!! YIKES, I guess you will just have to wait for the pictures to believe me. Well, that IS one reason the trip was sleepless, but also there was the woman who bombarded us sometime after midnight to try and usurp (first) Cheryl´s top-most bunk, then mine ("No, that´s my bed; no, it´s MINE!"-you get the picture). Luckily we had a motherly-type older woman in the compartment who got up for us and dealt with it, probably trying to allow Cheryl and I to rest (note, sleeping was NOT my choice of words!). Soooo, arriving TIRED and very early in the morning today into San Sebastian, the adventure continued by raining on us through the entire day. Naturally, we did not let that stop us from exploring (esp. given that we had only one day here), even when the hardest downpour came while we were on top of a steep overlook mountain and had NOT YET checked into our rooms, taken showers OR changed clothes from the previous day and night. Needless to say, that shower at 4:30 this afternoon never felt better... in fact, we were afraid we might be offending people today while exploring SS, all grungy and wet! But rain or shine, San Sebastian is clearly a beach vacation spot for northern Spaniards, is beautiful and small enough to walk wherever we wanted to go--do-able in one day unless you plan to just sunbathe and really relax. Paella for dinner and then hopefully a great night´s rest. Hasta luego!

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