San Sebastian, Spain (via France)

Left YVR (Vancouver) at a sane hour (1:30 PM) on Air France direct.  It was a huge fully packed flight.  10 seats to a row.  I think it may very well be the largest plane I've ever been on.

Checking in, in Vancouver was a hassle.  Despite the fact I had checked in on line 24-hours in advance it was a real feat that I managed to print my baggage tag on my own!  I definitely wasn't the only person struggling.  People were ticked off and not happy with the fact there were no personnel to assist us in any way.  Heck, it wasn't even obvious which self-serve machine we were supposed to use to print out baggage tags.  Pretty poor customer service from Air France in that regard but service on the plane was pretty good - no complaints.

It's always nice when you arrive at your destination an hour earlier than scheduled!  The sunrise over France was nice too. 



Charles De Gaul airport in Paris is massive.  Surely we taxied for 15 minutes to get to our landing gate.  I followed the hundreds of passengers as I had no clue where to go.  This was my first time ever flying into Europe and we didn't even have to fill out a customs declaration form.  I thought that was pretty cool.  We approach the Immigration hall and man there had to have been 5,000 people (not kidding!) in there.  I asked a worker where I should go and he asked "What passport do you have?"  I replied "Canada" and he said "well you shouldn't but go in this line", where there literally was NO line at all.  I go in that line and the passport control area lists a few EU passports that are permitted to go through that area.  Oh well, I approach the booth and he looks at my passport, flips through it's pages, looks me in the face then gives me the stamp and I'm on my way.   Again, I just follow people as I have no clue  where I'm supposed to go.  Down a few escalators and I'm at an underground train station.  I ask the guy working there where I go to collect my luggage and he tells me I have to get on the train and go two stops. CDG really is one heck of a massive airport.

I wait about 15 minutes for my bag, long enough to sign on to Wifi and send a couple of messages homeward letting people know I've arrived.

I grab my bag and then make my way outside to the Le Bus stop.  I purchased my bus ticket from home as I didn't want the pressure of figuring out Euros for the bus if I was under time constraints.  As luck would have it, it was easy-peasy.  Found my stop no problem (amazing all the tiniest details you can find on line such as "go out the door and turn right and the bus stop is a 3 minute walk".  Yup, exactly as described.  I waited about 2 minutes and the bus pulled up.  Supposed to be free Wifi on the bus too but no such luck.  I couldn't get it to work.  Need to wait until I'm in Spain to get a SIM card so am reliant on Wifi for the time being.  Anyways, the bus journey from the airport to the train station is just over an hour.... time enough to give me a very brief taste of what Paris looks like.  I was straining my eyes off in the distance trying to spot the Eiffel Tower but never did see it.

The bus only makes two stops:  Gare de Lyon and Gare de Montparnasse.  I need the last stop.  The driver doesn't say a word and there are no announcements on the bus whatsoever.  When we get to the first stop I ask a passenger if we're at Gare de Montparnasse and he tells me it's Lyon.  Grateful for helpful tourists as the bus driver wasn't into the customer service aspect of his job and didn't say a peep.  Eventually we make it to the second stop and I presume this is the stop I need so I double-check with another passenger and sure enough I'm at the train station.  Finding the actual station though wasn't as easy as you would imagine it to be.  The entire building appeared to be under scaffolding.  I asked two men on the street where the station was and they pointed me in the direction.

Months before leaving home, I pre-purchased my non-refundable train ticket for the 3:48 PM train as I was factoring in potential flight delays and lengthy customs waits.  I had read on line to allow five hours from the time your plane lands to the time your train leaves as you never know what kind of wait you're going to have at Customs and Immigration.  Neither occurred.  It's only just after 10:00 AM.  Hmm... I paid 48 Euros for the ticket months ago but want to see how much it will cost to get on an earlier train.  It's quite a long wait to speak to someone in the train office.  After about a half hour, my number is called.  The clerk tells me there's a 11:38 train and it's 104 Euros.  104 Euros!  That's about $155 Cdn. $$.  Hmmmm.... this train will get into Hendaye, France at 4:30 PM.  That sure the heck beats 9:30 PM in the dark which is what I had booked from home.  Let's just call this a rookie mistake in that I should have never pre-purchased a train ticket in advance in an attempt to save $$.  Yah, it was much cheaper buying in advance (48 Euros vs. 104 Euros) but I wouldn't do it again.  Lesson learned.  I swallow the cost of the pre-paid ticket and buy the ticket at twice the price.  Worth it for me to get into San Sebastian in the daylight.

The train station is huge.  I ask a worker for help in finding my train.  He tells me to look at the TV screen and that it will eventually show which track my train will be on (1 thru 9).  I buy a baguette sandwich of chicken and tomatoes for a relatively reasonable price.  It was so fresh and delicious.  Not what I was expecting for train station food that's for sure.  The trains are sooo quiet that you don't even hear them pulling into the station despite my being only a handful of feet away from them.   My train pulls in on track 2 and everyone starts scrambling quickly to that track.  I'm in coach #18.  I walk swiftly and walk and walk and walk.  It ends up that my coach is the very last car on the train.  I swear it's a half-mile down the track... so far down the track that it's not even under the roof of the train station.

I easily find a spot for my luggage.  Pleasantly surprised to realize I don't have to lift it up high as there's a dedicated spot for luggage.  My suitcase is the second one on.  A young woman has her luggage there already.  She speaks to me in French but I don't have a clue what she's saying.  She makes motions asking me to help her in lifting the suitcase up the little flight of stairs to the 2nd level of the train.  I don't know what she was saying but she definitely understood me when I said "No, I can't help you lift that".  She glared at me and gave me a dirty look then proceeded to drag her suitcase with both hands up the stairs.   I was thinking "I'll be damned if I'm going to put my back out on the first day of vacation!"

I have a window seat and am immediately in awe.  France is gorgeous!  Until  this day, if I had never seen any of France it wouldn't have mattered to me.  I was so mistaken.  What I've seen of it thus far is gorgeous.  Little hamlets of villages separated by slight rolling hills, plenty of colour, corn stalks turning golden in the fields, old stone houses and churches.   Just absolute beauty.




Southern France

Southern France

The cigarette smokers in this part of the world are prolific.  At every stop the train made, the smokers would have the cigarette in hand and the second that train stopped and the doors opened they would hop out on to the platform to smoke.  The train would give about a 15 second warning to indicate the doors were going to close and they'd hop back on and into their seats.

There's free Wifi on the SNCF train from Paris.  It works like a charm too.  The A/C was a bit cool though so I had to put on a sweater.  I am dead tired as I only dozed for less than an hour on the flight over.  I fall asleep for about an hour and then wonder what scenery I missed during that time.

The train makes stops in Bordeaux and Burgundy (obviously I think of the wine).  We travel through the lightly forested areas of Landes and then what appears to be the very popular tourist destination of  Biarritz.  Last stop is Hendaye, France right on the border of Spain.

I hustle it out of the station as I see a few others running to the next train station which is just across the road.  Again, I knew exactly what to do and where to look because someone had posted a photo of the Eukostren station on line.  I am the third person to get to the station but I had to buy a ticket... meanwhile the train departs the station right on time and I now have to wait 30 minutes for the next train.  The two people that were in front of me were lucky to get on the just departed train.

The train from Hendaye, France to San Sebastian, Spain is very similar to a local commuter train.  Quiet... that's what I've noticed about the trains thus far, is just how quiet they are.  Why on earth Vancouver had to purchase trains that grate steel-on-steel the entire trip is beyond me.  The trip takes about a half hour and costs 2.55 Euros.  It stops in quite few towns on the way to San Sebastian.  It's so very interesting that there's an immediate change in the architecture between France and Spain  (not to mention languages) despite there being no obvious sign that you've crossed a country's border.


Train station @ Hendaye, France

I depart the train station in San Sebastian and really have no clue where I'm supposed to go to catch a bus. My directions say to go east upon departing the station but how the hell am I supposed to know which direction is east?  I follow in the direction of everyone else but soon lose sight of everyone and I'm pretty much alone trying to find a bus stop.  After asking a few people to no avail I ask two men and one of them points me across the street.  I have to wait 30 minutes for my bus.  It's hot!  I only have to go three stops (and now that I've been here three full days I realize I could've walked it in about 20 minutes but my sense of direction sucks at the best of times so I would rather rely on transportation initially than haul my luggage to and fro in the wrong direction.

For the first time in my life I am staying at a hostel.  Not sure what to expect.  Am a bit skeptical... I like things clean and the thought of sharing a bathroom with 5 other women kinda grosses me out.  Once I decided on Spain and started planning I was shocked at how pricey it is.  There is no way I can afford to stay in hotels as a solo traveler in this country.  Thanks to friends who have hosteled around the world and given me good tips I think it might be okay.

I make it to my hostel at about 6:30 PM.  The receptionist says they are expecting me as I am the last guest to check in today.  Geez... and I was about 5 hours ahead of schedule!   So glad I forked out 104 Euros for the train ticket to get me in, in the daylight hours.

My room is a 6 female dorm.  3 sets of bunk beds.  Upon my request, I am assigned a bottom bunk which makes me happy.  I'm given a sheet and pillow case and have to make my own bed.  The bottom sheet is already on the mattress as is the comforter.  My locker # matches my bunk #.  I immediately make my bed and lock up my valuables, have a shower and then head out to find something for dinner.

Playa de la Zurriola.  Just a few blocks from my hostel

I've heard all about Pinxtos... well here they are and this is how they are displayed.  Just walk into any pinxto bar and they're all laid out on the bar.  Ask for a plate and pick what appeals to you.  The price is per piece and priced according to what it is.  Regular pinxtos are usually 2 or 2.50 Euros each and seafood pinxtos are about 3.50 Euros







I wander the streets a bit, eat some pinxtos and have a cider.  The cider isn't like our cider back home.  It's more tart but it's tasty.  It's served in a short glass and I guess it's perhaps 6 oz. at best.


An old-fashioned carousel - there are many in San Sebastian

After I've eaten and wandered a bit, I go back to the hostel, put in my earplugs, and cover the earplugs with my Bose noise cancelling headphones, put on some Spotify and sleep right through til morning and don't hear a peep from any of my other roomies.

Breakfast is included in the price of my room.  It's nothing fancy.  Cold cereal, something that is trying to pass as muesli, fresh fruit, lots of bread, ham and cheese.  I settle with 2 pieces of toast and a nectarine.  The best part about breakfast is the coffee machine.  Fresh beans ground with every cup you drink.


My hostel is in a very convenient area.  Literally anything I could possibly need or want to do in this city is within a 15 minute walk of my hostel.  It looks fairly new and is clean and welcoming.

My roomies are Maddie from Sydney, Australia - a young traveler just ending a 5 week solo trip before flying to London for a 5 month practicum as a nutritionist and Amy from Maryland, USA, and two South Koreans who are none too friendly.

Sunday morning my goal is to get a SIM card. Never dreamed that everything in Spain would be closed on a Sunday but that is indeed the case.  I now have to rely on Wifi as there is no hope in hell of getting a SIM card today.

I decide to just go exploring.  I walk 5 blocks straight down to the nearest beach Playa de la Zurriola.  This is the surfer beach in San Sebastian.  Then I proceed through what I have now come to know as Old Town (everything is closed up tight) except for a small street market with various artisans.  I enjoy looking at all the original handiworks of the craftsmen and have my eye on a leather purse but being as this is just my first stop on a one month journey I decide against it and file "leather purse" away in my mind for future shopping in some other city.  I walk as far down the lovely paved pathways as far as I can go.  It takes me past La Concha beach and the beach is jam-packed.  One thing that strikes me is the nudity:  topless women, fully naked kids.  Yah, this definitely isn't North America.


La Concha Beach


Much needed shade from the sun on La Concha beach.

Playa de Ondarreta is further past and it's busy too but it's obvious that La Concha is the "go to" beach in San Sebastian. 


Playa de Ondaretta beach

I walk to the very end as far as you can go which takes me about two hours because I dawdle, stop and take photos along the way and people watch.


Taken from the far end of the seawall with San Sebastian as far back as you can see




Thankfully there happened to be a restaurant at the very end of the walk.  I see people with drinks and pinxtos sitting on the rock wall by the ocean.  Hmmm... that looks like a plan.  I go inside, select some pinxtos and take my plate out to the rock wall and enjoy my lunch with a lovely view.  I was half-fast expecting a restaurant employee to try to stop me from crossing the boardwalk with my food but no one seemed to care at all.




On my way back I take the high road instead of the beach boardwalk.  I am so impressed with the parks with tons of benches that it's never a real issue finding a place to sit. I go up to the grounds of the Queen's summer palace.  The grass is so inviting that I lay down for several minutes and gaze at the clouds.


The Queen's Summer Palace



Wedding photos on the Bay of Biscaye with Mt. Urgull in the background

  
From my spot on the lawn of the Queen's summer palace, I see a couple getting their wedding photos taken. They look so young.  Which reminds me, so very many babies and young families with three or four children in Spain.



These recycling bins are for the entire street.  Individual buildings don't each have their own bins as we do here in Canada.  Instead, the residents have to walk down the street to recycle and dump their garbage.
Once I finish walking through the grounds of the Queen's Palace, I find myself walking on the sidewalks of the streets of San Sebastian.  This area is residential with nary a shop or restaurant to be seen.  

In the evening the American roomie (Amy) and I decide to go out for Pinxtos together.  Thankfully her T-Mobile phone plan gives her free worldwide roaming for $50/month.  YES, you read that right.  $50/month for everything including roaming and my home phone plan has the audacity to charge  $12/day!  What a rip-off we Canadians have to tolerate.  Neither Amy nor I have a clue where we are going but her phone leads us in the direction of "Old Town".  We eat at three different Pinxto bars and thanks to Maddie's hot tip I order Tinto de limon which is red wine mixed with some sort of a juice.  It's very tasty.  Maddie says a bartender told her that Sangria is for tourists and the locals drink tinto de limon or tinto de verano (red wine with soda water).

By fluke, Amy and I happen upon a Sunday night street party in old town.  It was really exciting to witness this.  I didn't get any video of when they were waving the huge flags but this video is pretty fun to watch and be sure to turn up your volume because that makes it even better.  Sunday Night Vibe in San Sebastian

I'm in bed by 10:30 PM, put in my ear plugs, and then my bose headphones over my ears and put on some spotify.  I sleep like a baby and don't hear any of my other (now 5 of them) roomies come in.


Not sure what I want to do today so decide to visit the fishing village of Hondarribia which came recommended by Mirabel's Guide. Firstly though I need to get a SIM card.  For 20 Euros (aprox. $33 Cdn). I get an "Orange Card" which gives me 10 GB for a month.

It's a scorcher today.  It's 32 C. and feels much hotter than that.  I venture out to try to find the bus I need.  I don't find the stop for the direct bus but after walking to and fro for another 20 minutes or so I finally find a bus that will eventually get me to Hondarribia with a bunch of stops along the way.  I hop on and pay 2.55 Euros.  The bus does indeed make an awful lot of stops and I enjoy taking in all the sights of suburbia.

The bus is spacious, new and spotlessly clean.  This and previous vacations where I've ridden public transit makes me realize that we in North America are disrespectful pigs in a lot of ways.  The litter and filthiness of our transit is and should be an embarrassment.

In less than an hour, the driver announces that we have arrived in Hondarribia.  Everyone departs the bus in front of a large fountain (wish I had taken a photo at that time as when I returned to the stop to go back to San Sebastian it wasn't turned on).

Hondarriba is a small town (population 17,000) which sits on the Spain/France border.  It's really quaint and very beautiful.   Upon first sight, I knew I would like this town.

What I presume is the "main drag" in Hondarribia




I walk along the seawall bordering the ocean and come across a teeny-tiny beach.  There are a bunch of older people chest deep in the water having a chit-chat so I think it would be nice to wade in the water but damn it's flipping freezing cold.  I wasn't expecting that at all what with all the people in the water.


The little beach in Hondarribia



I take a stroll along the seawall and am blown away to see these fish just right there by the shoreline.  Do you think the flat-snouted one below is a shark?  Geez Louise!  There's schools of them so easily visible and there are people swimming within eyesight.



It's scorching hot and the heat is perturbing me.   Every shady bench that I come across is occupied  so I keep on walking.  Eventually I find one.  What the hell!  There's a man's very thick wallet laying on the bench.  I look around and don't see anyone.  I pick it up and look inside.  It's loaded with plastic.  I look at a piece of ID and the guy is from some place in Europe (don't recall which country).  I didn't look any further into any of its compartments.  I walk into the nearest shop where two old ladies are chatting it up.  They don't speak English so I put it on the counter and try to gesture and speak sufficiently to tell them that it was laying on the bench.  I type into Google Translate "found on bench". They both look inside the wallet and one lady takes the wallet in hand and crosses the street.  I return to the bench and eventually see her return to the shop with wallet in hand.  Moments later a frantic young couple approach and in accented English ask if I saw a wallet. I take them into the shop and try to convey to the old ladies that they are looking for the wallet.  The young couple thanks me profusely and then they are on their way to enjoy the rest of their vacation.  Good deed done for the day.  I'm glad that I found it and that the owner came back for it while I was still sitting there.

I have a couple of dining recommendations but both places are closed! Poor luck.  I'm starving but every restaurant patio along the main street is absolutely packed.  I stop in to a place for pinxtos yet again.  For only 2 Euro I have potato & egg torta.  It was quite tasty.  Potato and egg torta is very popular in Spain and I like it.


Potato and egg torta




Really no clue what any of these menu items were


There's not much else to do here and the heat is killing me.  I want to get back on an air conditioned bus (no establishment in Hondarribia had the a/c turned on).

I return to San Sebastian on the fast bus which takes the freeway route.  In 30 minutes I'm back in the city.  I'm beat so walk back to my hostel & take a half hour nap & wake up feeling refreshed once again.

Well I'm really out of practice blogging.  I don't know what happened but here I am now on October 1st and I see that about half of this very first blog is missing and there are no photos.  It seems I never actually "Published" it so it's been sitting as a draft.  Definitely ticks me off as I put a lot of time into my blogs and then to not have them work out as I thought they would and then  trying to regurgitate the work more than 10 days after the fact is hard to do.


I don't know where to go to eat this evening so I Google and get some suggestions. I venture out past Old Town and hang a left heading towards the direction of the train station I came in on.  My phone is acting up.  Actually it's my data plan that is acting up.  I shut the phone off but now in order to activate the data plan I have to plug in a pin #.  Damn it!  All the paperwork for the Sim card it back at the hostel.  I am not comfortable walking further without my phone and maps working.  Geez Louise!  I decide I'd best turn back and walk back towards my hostel - I'm about 20 minutes away.  It's now getting late so I decide just to pop into the pinxto bar a few doors down from my hostel.  The food was passable but nothing to write home about.  I return to the hostel and decide to call it  a night.





Huge meringues





This morning I want to walk up to the top of Monte Urgull (basically it's a small "mountain") and it's visible from any of the beach areas of San Sebastian.  At night time it's really nice as they have a huge 24 metre high statue of Christ all lit up.  It really is a nice sight at night time.  It's supposed to take me 35 minutes to walk from my hotel to the top where the statue is.


San Sebastian's version of "Hop-on, Hop-off".

On the wall on the way up to Mount Urgull

Views from the walk up Mount Urgull








This is a passage-way.  The ceiling is only about 6' high.










I spend about 30 minutes or so up on top of the mountain taking photos of the sights of San Sebastian down below and across the water.  It really is a lovely inviting view point and so very accessible from the city.  

I start my descent down the mountain and it's so much easier than climbing up albeit going up wasn't a horrendous hike and I think any fitness level could do it so long as you pace yourself appropriately.





Instead of going back into town the exact way I initially came, I decide to follow some people who, instead of going right, go left.  Good call!  This cuts about 20 minutes off the walk and in only a few feet I can hear school kids playing.





Something I have totally taken for granted living in Canada is that I didn't realize there are school kids who actually don't have a grass or dirt playground to play on.  This is a two-level playground on the rooftops of the school, all fenced and netted in.  Nice view over the city, however.




Until this morning, I had completely forgotten that I had a lunch reservation for 1:30 PM today.  On the recommendation of a co-worker, I reserved a Michelin Star restaurant.  I couldn't afford dinner but lunch was doable.  San Sebastian has about 16 Michelin Star restaurants and I booked this restaurant almost six months in advance.  As pure luck would have it, as I walked down the steps beside the school playground, I look up and low and behold, the restaurant I was to dine at was just right there in front of my face.  I couldn't have planned it any better had I tried.

I was a bit early so I sat on the steps across from an old church and watched the comings and goings for a half hour or so.




Some of the detail on the outside of the Church






As you can see, the Michelin Star is unobtrusive.  I wouldn't be surprised if I walked right past several of them over the days and was none the wiser.


The restaurant was smaller than I could have imagined.  I don't think you could seat more than 40 guests at the most.  I think there was about 10 tables in total.


Choice of two menus for lunch:  the Market Menu or the Tasting Menu.  I chose the Tasting Menu.


Bread sticks with a warm dipping sauce

Peas Mamia with Salmon

Lobster with green gazpacho and watermelon foam

Mollusks, seawater foam and lemon grass



Stingray and Ramen Egg
Much to my surprise, this was my favourite dish of the entire array

Sweetbread, corn and truffle

Red Shrimp, beetroot rice and seaweed

Fish of the day, avocado, daikon radish and lime


Suckling lamb, figs toffee and baby leeks

Litchi, grapefruit and compari


Crispy licorice, mango, passion fruit and chocolate crumble

Petits Fours

By the time I finish dessert, I've been sitting for three (3) hours!  OMG... that was the longest meal of my life!

Notice how the serving dishes matched the food that was being served?  As each dish was placed before me, the waiter would describe in detail every item on the plate.  He also provided advice on what item on the plate I should eat first.  As I finished each dish, he would ask me my opinion on what I just ate.  Then he'd leave me to sit alone with my thoughts for a good five minutes or so before he'd bring the next course.

The service was absolutely impeccable.  I watched another table where a couple was dining.  That table had two waiters dedicated to that one table.  The wait staff spoke to one another with their eyes and then as if to say "Now", the waiters would set the plate of food down in front of each diner with such precision.  It was really something to watch the finesse they brought to their job.

Was it worth the $$.  Yes!  Would I do it again given the chance?  Yes!

It's 4:30 PM by the time I exit the restaurant.  Really, just the end of afternoon siesta time so the streets are not that lively.




I want to find the train station because apparently it's walkable from my hostel.  I hate trying to find a place in a strange city and always prefer scouting out the location beforehand.   I do find the train station no problem and time how long it takes me to get back to my hostel - only 15 minutes.

I wander for a little bit and then decide to head back towards my hostel.  I'm leaving San Sebastian in the morning so decide to repack my suitcase and stuff so it's all ready for morning.  I have to get up very early and walk to the train station for it's departure at 7:00 AM.


It's hot here in San Sebastian but the stores are getting ready for winter. 
I wonder how cold does it actually get here in the winter months.  
I never managed to figure out if these apartments were for rent or for sale.  

 At some point tonight I have to go out and eat again.  I think I'll head back into Old Town and try to find some of the pinxto places that my roomie Maddie told me about.  Well the plan sounded better than the execution.  I went to the area of Old Town she told me to go to but it was jam-packed.  Like you could barely move in any of the most "famous" pinxto places.  I suspect they are "famous" for tourists and not necessarily for locals.  Well forget that plan!  I wander to a less busy street and find a few pinxtos that will tide me over til morning.

My alarm goes off at 5:30 AM.  One thing I learned about hosteling is to get all your stuff for morning gathered up the night before lest you need to turn on a light and you don't want to awaken your roomies.  I do have a shower and I'm out of the room in less than 25 minutes from the time I awoke.

I'm actually ready too early so I sit in the lobby of the hostel for a good bit before I leave to walk to the train station.

San Sebastian train station

The train station is basically "closed".  All but one door is locked.  I go to the ticket counter to purchase my ticket but the employee completely ignores me.  Apparently he isn't on shift yet and he points me to a ticket machine to purchase my ticket.  Geez Louise!  I can't read Spanish!  I look at the entire row of ticket machines and find one that has some English on it.  I manage to figure out how to buy my ticket to Barcelona.  I don't even know where the hell to go to catch my train so I do what sheep do, I go and stand near all the other people waiting at a door that is locked.  There are only about 5 chairs to sit on so standing is the only option.  The sandwich stand is open though so I buy a sandwich, a pastry and coffee.

The door is being unlocked so we all jostle to form a line.  It's almost like an Immigration line.  My passport is checked along with my train ticket.  Once on the platform, it's only about a 15 minute wait until the train pulls into the station.  I find my car and my seat.  My train car isn't that busy at all.  There is an older Aussie couple sitting in front of me.  I listen in on their conversation with the other Aussie couple sitting in front of them.  About 30 minutes into the journey the woman takes out her nail polish and proceeds to polish her nails.  I kid you not!  Man am I pissed off!  I can't stand the smell.  I sooooo want to say something snide to her about the stench and how rude it is of her but instead I bite my tongue and move several seats in front of them and to the opposite side of the car.  Eventually the train conductor comes along to check tickets.  He looks at my ticket and my seat number and I explain to him that the smell of the nail polish is irritating me and that if someone comes along for this seat I will move back to my original seat.  He lets me stay there and he doesn't tell the woman to stop painting her nails!

Anyways, it's a 6-hour + journey to Barcelona.  Sit back and relax!






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