Waiting for the overnight train

This pretty much summarizes how we were feeling when we boarded the train behind a million teenagers



Relaxing on the Mediterranean!!



Apparently even statues do the mountain man pose!

July 23rd
Our train tonight does not leave until 5 so we have some time to burn. Nate and I decided to head towards the beach and also be able to see some sites such as the World Trade Center, the Olympic Village, and the ports. The weather today was great, moving from overcast to sunny, but not too hot. Once we reached the actual beach we decided to spend most of our time here and actually enjoy a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean.
After drip drying for about an hour in the sun (which caused us both to get a sunburn), we decided to head for our train. Unfortunately, the station we were closest to did not offer connecting trains to the one we needed across town. This meant that all of a sudden our pace had to increase. We made it to the station with twenty minutes to spare (which is just fine, but we thought we were going to be an hour early). We had a three hour train ride ahead just to catch our overnight train, but no amount of time on a train could scare us now because we had books to read. We boarded our train from Barcelona to Cerbere, grabbed some “dinner”, and boarded our overnight train to Paris.
We didn’t know what to expect from an overnight train (especially since we couldn’t quite nab tickets on the luxury train). It is a great way to travel, because the tickets count as our transportation and our room for the night. We walked onto the train behind a million French teenagers and thought “oh great.” Thankfully, we roomed with some nice older people. Nate and I nabbed the top bunks (the top two of six in one room). I actually felt much safer on the overnight train than I thought I would since the beds are split up into cabins. I was also able to sleep well because of the rocking of the train and the absolute darkness the cabin offers. The only thing that woke me was the old man in our cabin going next door to yell at the teenagers. LOL. And I know understand why the signs on the trains say “Please don’t use the restrooms while the train is stopped.” I thought it had something to do with keeping track of tickets and paying customers and such, but no. It turns out that when you use the restroom you just let it fly all over the tracks! It’s really quite disagreeable to have someone’s load left all over the tracks right in the middle of a station.
Mo