High Speed Train through Spain

The next destination of our trip was Madrid.  It was kind of rainy in France and I wanted to move on and find good weather.  So the next day we went down to the train station to figure out when we should go.  There was a train leaving in an hour that would connect me to the high speed Renfe train in Spain at the border.  


The high speed train cost the same as a plane ticket!  But I was excited to get there and decided I didn't care about the cost... 100+ euros... 

Expensive Fancy Fast Renfe Train... with a movie in Spanish, thanks for the free headphones I guess?

Nicole on the other hand, was not going to cave on the price and decided to wait in France for the super cheap overnight train.  


I raced back to the hotel, grabbed my backpack and ran back to the train station to board my train.  It was a regular train to the Spain border, then I transferred to a regular Spanish train and then in Barcelona I went through airport level security and boarded the high speed train.  


At this point, I probably should have stayed in Barcelona for a couple days.  But Nicole was flying out of Madrid in three days, and I wanted to spend the last few nights together.  What I didn't know was that Nicole would be sick the last two days and would stay in most of the time.

Mediterranean view from Spanish train

But it turns out Madrid is not a bad spot to spend a week.  I arrived at the Madrid train station around sunset.  I had a reservation at a hostel near the Puerta del Sol and I decided to walk since the weather was so nice.  But it was a Sunday, and the closer I got to my hostel, the more and more crowded the sidewalks became.  Turns out, Spanish families walk around the shopping districts on Sunday evenings.  And particularly this week was very busy, because it was a week full of holidays for them.  

Pretty Circle outside Madrid train station

Eventually, at a snails pace I made it to my hostel, where I was put in a five person dorm by myself!  Sweet!  I got settled and headed out for tapas and sangria!  The streets were super packed, but I was super hungry and 20 pounds lighter without my backpack, so I quickly zigged and zagged until I found an empty shrimp shop. 

Puerta Del Sol Christmas Tree

I walked in and they had a pretty menu written on a wall of mirrors.  One of the guys spoke english and he kindly walked me through my options.  I went for a full plate of prawns and multiple glasses of the sweet house red wine.  


Within minutes of chugging my first wine, while waiting for my prawns, the shop filled up with hungry groups of people.  I was watching the people at the bar, peeling their shrimp and throwing the shells into a little gutter along the foot of the bar.  It reminded me of the olive pit spitoons in Venice.  

Prawns and Wine at my cute standing table.

I was utterly stuffed after my plate of prawns, but I wandered on to find a glass of sangria.  I found another empty bar and sat down near a girl that was also by herself.  She said hello in English and asked if I spoke English.


I was excited as always to find someone who spoke English and we sat together and chatted.  She was a doctorate student from England and she said she spends a lot of time in Spain for whatever her thesis was.  We chatted for a while until I explained I was tired and said good night.  


I went back to my nice solo room and enjoyed my bed next to the radiator.  

Flashback Post: Honduras - Day trip to the water front in San Lorenzo

 Note:  This is an old post copied from my Travelpod page.  August 4, 2008

Beautiful San Lorenzo, Honduras

 We woke up early at Nicole's apartment in Nacaome.  We got ready with a backpack to share and headed down the street to the market, where we could grab breakfast and catch the bus.  We ate some black bean and egg burritos and jumped on the San Lorenzo bus.  We also bought some lychees on the bus.  Yummy!

We got to San Lorenzo about an hour later.  It was very hot and we had a good 8-10 blocks to walk to get to the water front.  Nicole was able to get a hold of her friend that lived in this town with her cell phone.  So we stopped by her house and I was able to see how other Corp kids live.  She agreed to come have lunch by the water with us, so we headed out. 

Lunch on the water

On the way, we stopped at an ATM, which was inside a little room with Air Conditioning!  OMG, it was amazing!  So we lingered in there for a minute, before we finished our walk to the water.  Throughout the town there are cute statues of sea creatures, like Shrimp and Sea Horses.  

We ate at a cute restaurant on the water, sitting on the dock hiding under the shade of a palm leaf umbrella.  We ate shrimp and fish and they filled me in on the town gossip and goings ons.  The food was amazing by the way! 

After lunch we walked back towards the highway to catch the bus back to Nacaome.  The bus stop was very dirty, like everywhere else, but we were tired, so we sat on the curb anyways, surrounded by corn cobs, empty water bags, lychee shells, and various other articles of garbage.  

We got back to Nacaome with a bit of sunlight left, but headed back to Nicole's to make dinner.   We ate and drank wine and listened to the rain on the tin roof, and passed out!