Ola! I'm on the train so stay tuned!!

...



My last night sleep in Paris was restless. I woke up several times throughout the night and had difficulties getting to sleep again.



I ate breakfast, packed my bags and a bagette sandwich that I made last night. I made my way to the train station early, just in case there were delays. I had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to validate my Eurorail pass. Then another 40 minutes for them to announce the platform number.



As soon as they provided that information, I made my way to the platform. Confused with what car number to get on, I asked one of the conductors. He was EXTREMELY rude, turned his head, almost as if he never heard me inquiring. Of course I persisted. He spoke very quickly and said some thing along the line that it was at the other end. This made no sense to me because I was on a first class seat and they were at the front of the train. So, I turned back and asked another conductor, who fortunately was very helpful. The first class cars continued on at the end if the train, go figure!



I was nervous that the train would leave without me, and the cars seemed to go on forever. Finally, the last car was the one I was suppose to be on. I set my bags in the baggage compartment, found my seat and began to sit and relax. What a relief!



My first train is heading to Irun, Spain. I have to switch trains there to catch the one to Madrid.



The train is quite fast. My ears popped like they would if I was on a plane. Most of the people around me are much older, retired or business travellers. I must admit, the seats are larger and quite comfortable.



I have over 12 hours of travel today. I'm sure I will have plenty of time to update this blog. At the moment, I don't have internet access and I'm using my iPod to update it. It is labour intensive, especially for my thumb. I am creating a draft email then plan to send it to myself, afterwards copy and paste it into my blog once I have a computer to access. So, if you have spotted spelling mistakes, cut me some slack, it's time consuming to write all this with an iPod. The iPod does not have a copy and paste feature yet but it will in the next version.



The scenery from the train was beautiful. There were so many things to look at. The architecture, rolling hills, mountains and water. I tried to take a few pictures from the train but they aren´t the best pictures.



I arrived in Madrid, caught a taxi to the hotel and got settled for the night. It´s been a long day of travel! Time for bed!