Train Ride Through Northern Spain

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7/8/06 4.12pm Hills of Spain on a Train. I’m on the train from Madrid to Pamplona rolling along at a brisk, rather luxurious pace, through the hills and small commercial towns and countryside towards Basque country. The flight was tight, and as Marcus commented as the sun roared through the windows at what was officially 3.30am Tampa time, which was about 8am on Spain time, it was like some kid was playing with the thermostat, hot and cold, hot and cold. The good part of the flight was they had 10 video channels and audio channels on demand and I realized I’m missing a good show, the medical drama “House”. I will be watching for it when I get back to the land of suntans. The summary of the flight is this - neither Marcus nor I got more than ½ sleep which is what I’m feeling right now as I write this - there I sand in my eyes (you know that feeling when you haven’t slept enough) but overall we are in excellent spirits and are making friends and enjoying ourselves.

We landed at Madrid and went to customs, waited (that is the word for the vacation so far) cleared customs, and explored the very clean and surprisingly quiet, almost pristine, metro rail system here. We’re both running on adrenaline alone after being up for over 24 hours now but we manage to navigate our way to the main train station to catch our train to Pamplona. We are acting a bit goofy (sleep deprivation, basically) but have agreed to tell people we’re from Montreal and I joke that I’ll be a white slave trader and Marcus will be a drug dealer. It sounded funny at the time. Pleasant occupations for a pleasant morning jaunt through the bowels of Madrid. We end up meeting some English speaking blokes who are also going over to run with the bulls. The highlight of the morning is the café con leche, large and in-charge, that we each have while we’re waiting to pick up our tickets which we have already paid for. Over an hour later we realize we are in the wrong location because nobody, and I mean nobody, is at the assistance counter or speaks English. We find the right one, navigate up to the train departing platform (beautiful area), have 3 beers and make the mistake of taking them out into the station which prompts very polite security to herd us back into the bar like misfit kids stealing their first beer. There are not nearly as many police, I'd say about 1/3, of the police in America and they are not constantly watching and waiting for a chance to harass you here either. Spain is Gestapo-light you could say, compared to the US.

We catch the right train, settle in and are immediately grateful that we sprung for the Preferente class vs. the Tourista class car. Wide open spaces with seats more comfortable than the 767 we spent the night in, and as we glide from south to north, I fall asleep almost immediately and am awakened like a thunderbolt by the food cart - Comida!! The meal that comes is a blessing, plain and simple (I'm not religious but I know most of my readers are..hahaha). It was so magical I took a picture of it! Beef in gravy with basil and other herbs, fresh veggies, a full salad with tomatoes and mozzarella, fresh fruit, bread, and for starters cold garpazzio soup. Best meal of the trip so far and the airline food wasn’t bad! I went to sleep staring out the window at huge bright white propellers whirling at an easy pace as we went through wind farms and horse ranches, mixed in tundra and rock walls that perhaps are several hundred years old, or older I presume.

It’s not glorious countryside, I would compare it to southern Italy, or Arizona, but like having the video to lull me into a daze on the plane because my body simply would not get comfortable enough to sleep, and the more than satisfying meal I just finished, or the splendid café con leche at the metro center, it’s the little things on the trip that are making the difference. Next stop will be Pamplona and the revelry and debauchery will begin!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

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Photos

Spanish countryside...
Lots of tundra, ranches, very old beautiful buildings, and wind farms!

A meal from heaven!
Eating is one of my fav things! This meal included garpazzio soup, two real forks, olive oil in a separate bottle, fresh veggies, and all the wine I cared to drink. I didn't want to get off the train!

Chicas!
We get this look alot throughout the trip. Disdain? Curiosity? Malevolence? Disgust? Attraction?...we never did figure it out because they wouldn't tell us! hahaha..