I'm of to Barcelon
a today .. going to visit Anna ( The cool Naish Windsurfing chick i met in Leucate). Alex , Lighty and i are leaving Port Saint Louis at 13:00. They are dropping me off at the train station in Arles and are then shooting through to MArseille to drop lighty off at the Airport. Alex has to be back by 14:30 for some meeting! Anyway just been researching a bit bout barcelona, and for thos who dont know im gona add a bit! its realy a cool place...
Barcelona, is the capital of Catalonia and is the second largest city in Spain. It is located on the Mediterranean coast.
It is a major economic centre, with one of Spain's principal Mediterranean ports and its second largest airport. Barcelona is a destination with a rich cultural heritage. The architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner are particularly renowned, and are World Heritage Sites.
The Barri Gòtic ("Gothic Quarter" in Catalan) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from Medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona.
Catalan modernisme architecture (often known as Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. A great number of these builidings are World Heritage Sites.
The famous works of Antoni Gaudí, can be seen throughout the city. His best known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations: as of 2007, completion is planned for 2026. and blah blah blah....
Back to the point....When i started, I mentioned that i was on my way to Barcelona. To be honest, when i made that statement i wasnt yet sure , how, when or why .. i twas a strange feeling to be so determined that its going to work but not have it all organised. I twas weird because i tend to really make sure its all laid out before me before i take a step in that direction. I packed the last of my stuff and Taro, Alex and i hit the car to Arles. The waited for me to buy my ticket, which took a suprisingly short time considering that i couldnt speak french.. .without further ado we said our goodbyes and i was on my own to spend the next 3 hours waiting for my train. I was pretty excited by this fact since it meant that could now read my dear ‘Kitchen Confidential’ in peace. Or so i thought. About an hour into my wait an old man came to sit on the bench next to me. I couldnt speak french, he couldnt speak english, but somehow we had a deep and meaningful conversation, he showed me pictures of his holiday in Paros, Greece and photos of his deceased wife. Eventually another guy came into the picture, he was a school teacher in Arles on his way to Montpellier, and he realised taht we were stuggling to communicate. He offered to help because he could speak both languages. So i found out that the Guy’s name is Bertand , he is 80 years old , used to be one of the head french railway inspectors and his wife passed away 2 years ago, and since then he has been travelling around europe by himself colecting stamps for one of his grandchldren. I had collected stamps for a bit in my younger days in Johannesburg( Please dont laugh) so i had a bit to say. We exchanged postal adresses and he promised to send me some postcards and stamps form around the world and i offered to return some south african ones when i get home from my travels.
Bit of a strange thing. He got up and walked away, vanishing around the corner to never be seen again. It felt like a dream. Was this real ? i sat pondering about it for a while and then continued to real my juicy book. My train came… i jumped on, kit bag and all and that was my first step of a new adventure. It was a freeing feeling. New places, new people. This wandering thing is starting to grow on me…..
The first train trip was only an hour long to Montpellier, there i jumped out of the high tech new train into an old rickety one that was going to barcelona. Everything was creaky and old and brown, but it had massive windows so that you could see evrything. I was in Carriage 12, one infront of the cafeteria carriage. At first i was so blown away by what i was seeing flashing by the windows, vineyards, farmlands, etc etc that i didnt notice the weird and wonderfuls in my carriage. I Myself was one of them, i must have looked pretty funny, my hair in a bushy state with baggy jeans and massive kitebag under my pimp D’Artagnan boots and all my beads and jewllry acting like wind chimes….. (paints quite a picture doesnt it) in front was a hippy dude with dreads, he musta gotten high just before he took the train coz he was sleeping from when it started till when it stopped, next to him was some super athlete or something, fully kitted out in Puma gear and funky cyber yellow sunglasses with chrome frames and silver 50cent chain to match. Next was 8 French mIlatary boys, Brush cuts, army boots and and dog tags to complete the look, and last but not least a really crazy shifty eyed morrocan dude in a business suit who had about 30 coffees during the trip of 6 hours. At first i was just staring at them and trying to make out what these different people were talking about. I was staring blatantly with no shame. This is what got me into the most interesting conversation of my life. I was itting there probably drooling as i was starting at the morroccan dude who was fidegting with anything he could find, scenes of 24 flashed through my mind….. suddenly i looked into a green shirt. I looked up to see who was blocking m y view of an just about to happen nervous breakdown, i twas one of the militarty dudes. It seems he could speak 4 more words of english and was voted to fetch me to join the guys. He gave me an ice cold beer, i got up and stared coldly at the braidy bunch and decided to screw it. I would joint hem. I took with me a pencil and a notepad, because i knew there was going to be some communication difficulties. After ages of playing pictionary to communicate i gathered that they were all between the ages of 20 and 25 and serving the french military, they were boys on a weekend break to BArcelona. And mighty fit i might add. Haha. Eventually i most started doing their own thing, i suppose we were all lost in translation, but 3 guys kept at it.. Eric, Sylvain & Herve.
They could speak some english, which putt hem in a league of their own,Eric was short, dark tanned and looked like smeagol, Sylvain had pitch black hair and blue eyes that just kinda…… umm i dont know…. , he didnt say much, Herve was white or rather pink and had this punch me expression, everytime he said something everyone looked like they were gona punch him on the nose, so it wasnt just me who felt this way. They were funny and nice. No hassles there. Just before we reached barcelona i went to get a coffee and met this other guy in the cafeteria, he had a massive asian tatto on his neck. For interest sake i asked him what it meant…. ‘The only constant in life is change’…’Appreciate what you have no matter how little it is, take value in your journey and never take things for granted because it can always get worse than its ever been before’ was the sentense that followed in perfect englishe.. he paid fro my coffee and disapeared…… once again Weird… am i dreaming ?? no i have coffee and i dint pay for it and took a photo to prove it…… Mr No NAme philosopher……….
Bit of a strange thing. He got up and walked away, vanishing around the corner to never be seen again. It felt like a dream. Was this real ? i sat pondering about it for a while and then continued to real my juicy book. My train came… i jumped on, kit bag and all and that was my first step of a new adventure. It was a freeing feeling. New places, new people. This wandering thing is starting to grow on me…..
The first train trip was only an hour long to Montpellier, there i jumped out of the high tech new train into an old rickety one that was going to barcelona. Everything was creaky and old and brown, but it had massive windows so that you could see evrything. I was in Carriage 12, one infront of the cafeteria carriage. At first i was so blown away by what i was seeing flashing by the windows, vineyards, farmlands, etc etc that i didnt notice the weird and wonderfuls in my carriage. I Myself was one of them, i must have looked pretty funny, my hair in a bushy state with baggy jeans and massive kitebag under my pimp D’Artagnan boots and all my beads and jewllry acting like wind chimes….. (paints quite a picture doesnt it) in front was a hippy dude with dreads, he musta gotten high just before he took the train coz he was sleeping from when it started till when it stopped, next to him was some super athlete or something, fully kitted out in Puma gear and funky cyber yellow sunglasses with chrome frames and silver 50cent chain to match. Next was 8 French mIlatary boys, Brush cuts, army boots and and dog tags to complete the look, and last but not least a really crazy shifty eyed morrocan dude in a business suit who had about 30 coffees during the trip of 6 hours. At first i was just staring at them and trying to make out what these different people were talking about. I was staring blatantly with no shame. This is what got me into the most interesting conversation of my life. I was itting there probably drooling as i was starting at the morroccan dude who was fidegting with anything he could find, scenes of 24 flashed through my mind….. suddenly i looked into a green shirt. I looked up to see who was blocking m y view of an just about to happen nervous breakdown, i twas one of the militarty dudes. It seems he could speak 4 more words of english and was voted to fetch me to join the guys. He gave me an ice cold beer, i got up and stared coldly at the braidy bunch and decided to screw it. I would joint hem. I took with me a pencil and a notepad, because i knew there was going to be some communication difficulties. After ages of playing pictionary to communicate i gathered that they were all between the ages of 20 and 25 and serving the french military, they were boys on a weekend break to BArcelona. And mighty fit i might add. Haha. Eventually i most started doing their own thing, i suppose we were all lost in translation, but 3 guys kept at it.. Eric, Sylvain & Herve.
They could speak some english, which putt hem in a league of their own,Eric was short, dark tanned and looked like smeagol, Sylvain had pitch black hair and blue eyes that just kinda…… umm i dont know…. , he didnt say much, Herve was white or rather pink and had this punch me expression, everytime he said something everyone looked like they were gona punch him on the nose, so it wasnt just me who felt this way. They were funny and nice. No hassles there. Just before we reached barcelona i went to get a coffee and met this other guy in the cafeteria, he had a massive asian tatto on his neck. For interest sake i asked him what it meant…. ‘The only constant in life is change’…’Appreciate what you have no matter how little it is, take value in your journey and never take things for granted because it can always get worse than its ever been before’ was the sentense that followed in perfect englishe.. he paid fro my coffee and disapeared…… once again Weird… am i dreaming ?? no i have coffee and i dint pay for it and took a photo to prove it…… Mr No NAme philosopher……….
We arrived at 22 :00 at Estancio de Franca in the middle o fthe city. I said my goodbyes to my milatary buddies and we all agreed that if by chance we bumped into eachotehr again we go for a drink. I walked out. I twas differnet here. Somthing about it felt familiar, but what i loved instantly is that everyone here was smiling, genuinely , not uptight or fake…..also Catalan, is different to spanish and its much more sing song, roll off your tongue … plus everyone is lauging so much while the talk it ends up being a very funny affair. I love it.
Taxi’s were everywhere but we had to stand in line for one. I was on my way to anna’s place. I was pretty much at the end of the line. Then a really short taxi driver tapped on my shoulder and said :’Taxi ?’ i was stoked, it was getting late and i wanted to get rid of the kitebag that was breaking my arm off. Yes indeed ! We loaded me stuff and set off to find anna’s house. The taxi drive turned out to be a bilingual genius. Spoke english probably better than i can and knows everything about kiteboarding and windsurfing, he even had a car rental company in Tenerife for 10 years. We found anna’s place no problem. I said my thanks and finally breathed and looked around. BArcelona was beautiful. A thousand lights surrounded me, some good music was coming from somewhere and i had navigated myself safely from Port Saint Louis to the middle of BArcelona. Damn right i was impressed with my progress. Anna dragegd me to the fourth floor. Her family live in a a massive fourth level flat. The style is full on modern Spanish. Wow. Is the best i can say. Im speechless. The views are amazing. Time now 23 :00. Time for dinner. We have mediteranean Crayfish and various shelfish with a glass of red wine folowed by cookies and dipped in hot hot bitter dark chocolate. I was counting my blessing that night. What did i do to deserve this ? I couldnt think of anything, so i made it my mission to pay back my credit to karma in the next while. I droped my stuff and washed my face. It was almost midnight.....
Taxi’s were everywhere but we had to stand in line for one. I was on my way to anna’s place. I was pretty much at the end of the line. Then a really short taxi driver tapped on my shoulder and said :’Taxi ?’ i was stoked, it was getting late and i wanted to get rid of the kitebag that was breaking my arm off. Yes indeed ! We loaded me stuff and set off to find anna’s house. The taxi drive turned out to be a bilingual genius. Spoke english probably better than i can and knows everything about kiteboarding and windsurfing, he even had a car rental company in Tenerife for 10 years. We found anna’s place no problem. I said my thanks and finally breathed and looked around. BArcelona was beautiful. A thousand lights surrounded me, some good music was coming from somewhere and i had navigated myself safely from Port Saint Louis to the middle of BArcelona. Damn right i was impressed with my progress. Anna dragegd me to the fourth floor. Her family live in a a massive fourth level flat. The style is full on modern Spanish. Wow. Is the best i can say. Im speechless. The views are amazing. Time now 23 :00. Time for dinner. We have mediteranean Crayfish and various shelfish with a glass of red wine folowed by cookies and dipped in hot hot bitter dark chocolate. I was counting my blessing that night. What did i do to deserve this ? I couldnt think of anything, so i made it my mission to pay back my credit to karma in the next while. I droped my stuff and washed my face. It was almost midnight.....
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