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Travel Back to Paris
Entry 77 of 81 | show all | print this entry |
From Granada to Paris, I decided that a day in Madrid was going to be worth it so that way I could get a good orientation of the city for my next visit.
Train rides are one of my favorite parts of traveling. I try to use the time to sleep, catch up on notes, and to enjoy the scenery. The trip from Granada to Madrid is absolutely the most beautiful scenic landscape I have seen in all of my travels so far. Spain, particularly the Andalucia region is so rich in green shrubs, trees, and fields of crops. Scattered across the plains were countless abandoned farmhouses and storage barracks...beyond the horizon laid the jaw-dropping mountain range of the Sierra Nevada... once again, maybe more beautiful than the Swiss Alps. Spice this up with great weather and an amazing sunset and you have the first portion of my ride covered.
The Spanish trains have something I like-TV's that work. I've been on trains with TV's before, but they never actually play anything. Well, to my surprise, headsets were handed out and us riders were given the privilege to watch the movie "Forgotten" in espanol. Hehe, I feel fortunate to have seen the movie before, because I was able to clear up some of my Spanish vocabulary mysteries by studying the context clues.
When it ended, I took a little power nap and then taste-tested a ham and cheese sandwich they serve in the dining cart. I have become fond of snacking in the dining carts on this trip, thanks to extra funds donated by my parents to enjoy the Italian and Spanish food on this past adventure. It really allowed me to experience two really good food cultures (although I have to rate Italian foods to be more tasteful and healthy overall in comparison to the greasy traditional Spanish foods). This trip was very rich in all aspects, especially the food-thank you Mom and Dad (even though I have said it so many times already)!!!!
Since the train was over 5 hours long, the Spaniards decided to play another movie...this time it was the film with Jessica Biel and Jamie Fox about flying airplanes that eventually try to kill them by developing their own minds. It wasn't that good...but I watched it anyway for the enrichment of my language skills.
The train ran late, and arrived in Madrid around 12 instead of 11. Fortunately I was still able to catch the metro to get to my hostel. There wasn't too many problems finding my hostel; I was just really tired and wanted sleep...
After checking, I ventured off to my room, running into yet another awkward situation. Sometimes I think I should be doing a photo documentary about HOSTELS because each one is so different and the weirdest things seem to happen sometimes. This hostel in particular was impressive because of it's facilities and safeness factor, but the doors were so advanced with automatic reader cards you rub on the lock that they were extremely hard to use.
Being so, I ended up having to knock on the door so a roommate could let me in, which I hated to do since it was nearly 1 in the morning. After a few seconds I heard shuffling, a loud crash, and then silence. I was a little worried-did someone almost kill theirself trying to let me in? Then I heard the doorknob wiggle and was relieved that they were okay; or so I thought.
The door went flying open and what I saw was shocking. The girl who answered the door was butt naked with her hand over her mouth, bubble cheeks, and eyes bulged open to their widest point. What the hell? I was so startled I almost peed my pants!
She went flying past me into the hallway towards the bathroom-still butt naked-and only made it half way before HURLING all over the walls and floor. The girl must have been so wasted because the only thing that came out was clear liquid; no food to be seen (thank god cause the stench would have been horrid).
On top of still being startled, I was now disgusted. I was too tired for this mess. After making sure she was okay, the hostel desk check came upstairs and took care of her-keep in mind that she was still butt naked. Ewwww... I bolted into the room, dropped my pack, and threw myself into bed; I made sure to cover my head to prevent conversation when the girl came back into the room.
When I woke up the next morning, the other girls in the room were still passed out... so I made it a point to leave while it was still dark and have an early breakfast downstairs. No problem getting out fast because I was so tired the night before that I forgot to take off my shoes! I was able to grab my pack and get the hell out of there fast!
Breakfast was a really good donut (like Krispy Kreme), juice, and hot chocolate. I was satisfied with that much. Although, my diet for the rest of the day wasn't much better-over the course of the day I indulged in 2 cups of coffee, churros (which aren't as good as the one in the states, can you believe it?), yogurt, a banana, seasame seeds, a grilled cheese sandwhich, and maxi pain au chocolate (pastry FILLED with chocolate). It was a great day for sweets. I also drank close to 2 liters of water-yay!
My first stop in Madrid was to the train station to figure out how to get back to Paris. I found out that the overnight from Madrid was 40 euros...so I ended up being forced to take a longer, cheaper way...which prevented me from spending the day in Madrid. Being that I had to catch a 2pm train and then transfer to an overnight to Paris, I only had enough time to walk around the Plaza de Sol.
The plaza was big and pretty... lots of shopping here. There wasn't really anything to stare at for long in comparison to the piazzas in Rome and Florence. They were REALLY capturing. I was a little sad that I wouldn't get to see the Prado Museum today... but what could I do? Patience is a virtue: I was coming back anyway, so at least now I know how the metro and trains work so I can get around Madrid faster. Next time I come I am going to hit up the 3 best museums and be off. The city is very comfortable for me because it's the Spanish version of Philly and a good cross between Munich and Berlin (it's very metropolitan and busy like Berlin, but has a lot of clean, small brick layered streets like Munich).
The train I was due to take didn't end up pulling into the station on time-it was an hour late. Then, being my luck of course, the train BROKE DOWN before take-off and we were delayed at the station for another 2 hours. Being so, I made sure to clear up the fact that I was due to take an overnight connection to Paris, and originally there was only a half an hour between the predicted arrival and departure. Since I was not the only one in this predicament, the conductor arranged that all of us would get off at an earlier stop and be given approval to take the overnight from a different station. Perfect, no worries.
On this train, we got to watch two movies again-which definitely helped the fact that I was feeling stressed for some reason. We watched "Forgotten" again and "Pleasantville". Toby McGuire has a funny Spanish voice! Not even comparable to Diane Keaton's Italian voice.
I power napped and had a really good grilled cheese for din-din. I arrived at my station around 9pm...the transfer wasn't for another 2.39 hours! What? ARGH. The station was cold and breezy... luckily I found a bar within the TINY, ABANDONED station that I was able to sit in and have my pain au chocolate with coffee. This is were I now am typing this entry... in the bar, waiting for my next train. Haha. I should also write about the fact I met some famous Spanish guy who was being hounded by photographers. He made it a point to approach me and ask if I was okay because I was sleeping on the bench (this is before I found the bar). I think the press is going to write about how he was so willing to help a poor lost soul. It isn't a big deal to me because I still have no idea who he was!
Recounting this experience I remembered that I never wrote about my famous celebrity encounter. This was in Italy, and very exciting. It's a shame I am not a fan of hers, but you can all still be jealous.
I was in Versace looking at the clothes on the first floor when I noticed that there was a show room upstairs, which I had to see (Valentino is my favorite designer, but Versace is so renound!). The 2nd floor was relatively small, and there were mirrors everywhere. Not realizing that I was in the DRESSING ROOM, I ended up bumping into someone being fitted by the employees... I turned around and it was none other but J-Lopez. ARGH. She is not as tall as I thought she was...Spanish people are short. But yes, it was J-Lo. Fab. I was really excited, but I said sorry and ran out of the store fast from embarrassment. Walking around Rome that night, I kept bursting out laughing from the flashbacks of the experience. LOL.
I need some Zzzzzzzs but I must stay awake a little longer so I don't miss my train. I only have another hour until it gets here.
Latest Comments (1)
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J-LO! NO WAY! (reply)
Mar 9, 2006 13:26 EST by tinabean42185
I hate that woman, except when she makes cute movies. Other than that, she needs to BUY my love!
So I also had a fun bump-in encounter! At my museum exhibition opening of Willie Cole, I ended up showing up mucho late because I pretty much mapped north jersey in my car. I entered the large reception room full of people drinking wine and accidently bumped into a large black man with fun dred-... show all
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