Getting To Madrid

I woke up this morning on the train from France. It was kind of fun to look around the train and wonder who was Spanish and who was French, and if there were any other total foreigners hiding out in there. It was also funny to note that there were some people in the train who weren’t there when I fell asleep and others who had disappeared, and wondered if I would have managed to wake up if my stop was at, say, 4 in the morning. I vaguely remember being woken at around 6, despite the earplugs that the train provided, by people moving around to attempt getting off at Valladolid. I had considered stopping there, but the city just didn’t seem all that interesting. When I did wake up for good, I took the time to slowly slide the curtain open and peek out the window. In a moment I knew that I was in Spain. The landscape was completely different than any of the other ones that I had seen. It was green like in Holland, but a much crisper green that ironically reminded me of northern forests or mountains (hello? In Spain?). That grassy terrain was permeated with reddish rocks that vaguely reminded me of either Arizona or the surface of Mars, and the overall impression that I got made me think that a mountain goat would feel right at home in this area.
I made it to Madrid and out of the curious landscape at about 9 in the morning and proceeded to look around the train station. It was big, but not as big as the Berlin station. I would say that the Madrid Chamartin train station was about as big as the one in Bordeaux, though I would later find out that there was another station in Madrid called Atocha which was bigger and more important. It is also decorated like a rainforest on the ground level, something that I found appropriate as I began to experience the Spanish weather. I ventured out of the train station to find a giant residential and business district with absolutely nothing that interested me in the least. Feeling defeated, I went back to the train station and finally noticed the Tourist Information Booth, where I asked if there was any youth hostels in the area.
There were four in the city, and the woman who gave me the information about them told me that I should take the subway to almost the center of the city and pointed out on a map where I could find them. Finally with a map in my hands, I realized that I was on the outskirts of town, and that’s why there was nothing interesting. Haha, that would make sense!
I went to the nearest hostel, which was also supposedly the best one, and checked in there for two nights. I considered Madrid one of the most important cities that I would be visiting, so I wanted some time there. I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do first, so I hurried and put all my stuff away in time for the free tour at 11:30. The guy who led me from the hostel to the tour was an American who had been fired from teaching Spanish and had taken up being a tour guide, and I was shocked to learn that he knew someone who had lived in Inverness. It’s a small world I guess. He left after depositing me in a larger group with a guide named Pablo for the general tour, and then the tour commenced.
The first thing that we saw was the Puerta del Sol, the center of the city which was adorned with a statue of the man who had torn down the wall there and expanded the city, but which was often likewise adorned with protests of various sorts. For the past couple years there had been people dressed in bright yellow wandering around offering to buy gold (I don’t know who for) at about 18 Euros per ounce, and given that they were was nothing magnificent, but Pablo strongly recommended going to one of the shows. He said that there were cheap tickets sold at the last minute, but I still doubt I will make it. We moved on to the Royal Palace, which had replaced a military complex that the Hapsburgs had ruled from for centuries. That building wasn’t good enough for the fashionable Bourbons, and it had tragically burned to the ground during a drunken town festival, though on the bright side all the furniture, artwork, and servants had been saved. That tragedy conveniently gave the French rulers a chance to build a much more beautiful palace, and from that point there was an informal rule that no building could outshine it, a rule that explains the dull theater and cathedral.
The cathedral was only a short walk away from the palace, which attests to the relatively good relationship between church and state in Spain throughout history. It was far more ornate on the side facing away from the palace though, careful not to bruise the egos of the royalty. It is also right by the city park, which is bigger than Central Park in New York and a nice place, during the day, to have a picnic or barbeque. At night it become the Spanish Red Light District, but I was not fortunate enough to see it at that time. At one point the city tried closing the park at night to prevent that, but then the people who had been hanging out there went to more central points in the city, like the opera house. The park was secretly reopened a year later.
The other thing during the tour was the museum district, and the highlight there is certainly the Museo del Prado, which I plan to visit on Sunday. After the tour I had lunch with some of the people who were on the tour with me. We had Paella, a mixed dish with rice, prawn, some other seafood, and chicken. That was great, but much more filling than I had expected. Most of the people there were university students, so I felt at home there. One girl was going to a Real Madrid game, and we discussed going to a bullfight with varying enthusiasm. I will definitely go tomorrow.
After the tour I left to get checked into my room thinking that I would go to the Tapas night later, but then I realized that the guide had gotten sick and cancelled the event. That being out of the question, I visited the Reina Sofia museum of modern art. My favorite art there were the works of Salvador Dali, but there was a lot there. Then I went to a restaurant that had been recommended to me. It was called the Botin, and claims to be the oldest restaurant in the world. Their specialty was the roast suckling pig, which was good but in my opinion overpriced. There were many tourists there, mostly American and French though I did hear some British voices in the mix. Tomorrow will be another great day in Madrid, I’m looking forward to seeing what it will bring.

French Train Efficiency

French Train Efficiency

Today I had a nice morning, slept in, relaxed, showered, had a nice breakfast and lunch, then found my way to the Strasbourg central train station to continue my journey. My plan was to take the next train to Bordeaux and to get there some time before midnight and to enjoy the ride. I knew that I would need to ride with the TGV (Très Grande Velocité which means “Very High Speed”) and that in order to ride in those trains, you need to have a reservation. The impression that I had was that the reservation was really just a formality, something that you can do in the train station minutes before departing, and that there would inevitably be some space left. I asked when the next train would be leaving and got a schedule for the trains that would get me to Bordeaux, then went to a different office to reserve a place.
That’s where I realized it was a little bit more complicated. The first person I went to (where I spoke English) said that there were no seats left whatsoever and that I couldn’t depart today. I came back in a few minutes hoping for better luck, so I went to a different counter and spoke in French. The woman there was much more helpful. She said that she could give me a reservation for the first train tomorrow but that I could very likely get on the next direct train today if I talked to the conductor.
I did that. I first talked to the conductor’s assistant and he directed me to a machine to transfer my ticket. Then I realized that the reason I couldn’t get a reservation had nothing to do with the space left on the train, rather with the fact that I am travelling with Interrail. See, in France they decide to lose less money on the deal by only allowing a certain number of Interrail customers to reserve on each train. Apparently, when I got there the quota was full. Anyway, the conductor decided to do a good deed and undue this example of the French thinking in a profit oriented manner, so he let me on the train anyway, and as I write I am on the way towards my next stop in Bordeaux. After that I will (hopefully!) make it into Spain without any major difficulties, and I have learned my lesson about making reservations, at least within the French hexagon.

Rotterdam

I stayed in the Hague for a few hours, the political nature of the city was clear to me as well as the international feel. Many streets there had parking spots reserved specially for the diplomats from different countries, but there were some old castles and churches that are in most major cities.
After that I returned to the train station and took a train to Rotterdam, a major economic center in Holland and home to Europe's biggest port. It is on the Maas River, and the river actually divides the city into northern and southern sides, a division that has a deeper connotation to the people there. The south is normally considered to be more working class and the north is the more upper class section, and people living in Rotterdam notice the divide clearly. The two sections also have separate soccer teams with a fierce rivalry between them, not unlike the Chicago Cubs and White Sox. Sparta is the team representing the south of Rotterdam, and Feyenoord represents the northern part of the city, and games between them are giant sources of excitement and tension.
I stayed at a hostel tonight, the Room hostel near the Erasmus bridge, one of the dominant pieces of architecture in the city. They gave me a welcome letter with a list of services and rules, and I was happy to find that breakfast was included there. After checking in and locking my stuff in a metal cage that they provided under my bed, I took a walk and went to the Euromast, a 185 meter high tower from which one can see the entire city. I got an audio tour there too, and that is where I learned about the history of the city and some of the things worth seeing. After that I returned to the hostel and saw that most of the other guests in the same room as me (there were 7 other people in the room) were already sleeping, and I then went to sleep myself.
When I woke up I took a walk around the city. I didn't have a chance to go to the famous Boijmans van Beuningens art museum, but I did see the cube houses, actual residential buildings that look like normal houses except that they are tilted and made to look like they are standing on one corner. I will stay in the city a little longer, but I'm hoping to make it to Brussels today so it won't be for too long.
The weather today is wonderful, already in the morning it was warm so I hope it stays like this.

Across the Border

I just started my journey around Europe with the Interrail ticket, leaving yesterday from home and making it through Niedersachsen and across the border into Holland. The sun was just rising as I finally got across the border and made my way to Den Haag, a voyage that took me no longer than 3 hours. I guess I'll have gotten used to the small countries (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg) before suddenly having to commute more than a couple hours to different cities.. but that's alright.
When I got into Holland I noticed several major differences. The first was the trains. Maybe because the Interrail ticket allowed me to upgrade to Intercity trains from regional ones, the trains in Holland have seemed much more comfortable.. almost like the InterCityExpress trains that are the top trains in Germany.
And when I looked out the windows, other things struck me. Like in Germany, there are isolated cities and towns surrounded by countryside, but the nature of the countryside is different. There is water everywhere.. whether in canals, ponds, rivers, or reservoirs, there seems to be no shortage whatsoever of the substance. I guess that happens when a country is below sea level. The water is used to irrigate fields, but not edible plants like I have seen mostly before. I have failed to notice much corn or other crops, instead marveling at the enormous quantity of livestock.. cows, sheep, and horses grazing on the grass, which is carved up by small canals.
I'm heading into the city now, but will certainly return with another post probably tomorrow.