I decided to sleep in this morning and skip the early train to France. I would have had to wake up at 6 am and catch the train at 7:55 am. I almost wish I had woken up now, but the sleep was nice. Instead, I took the 11:25 train from Barcelona to Cerbere and barely made that one! I got to Sants Estacio at 11:05 and there was a huge line. Somehow the line went fast and I bought my ticket five minutes before the train was to depart. phew!
This morning I had also reserved a ticket from Cerbere to Narbonne on the internet, but couldn’t reserve tickets for the rest of the journey to Toulouse. I didn’t know why until I got to Cerbere … the train I needed from Narbonne to Toulouse was full! Alas, there was one more train today to Toulouse from Narbonne. But, it gets to Toulouse after 11 pm and I’m already tired, and there’s no point in me getting to an unknown city at that hour. Funny thing about the trains today - no one checked tickets on either the train from Barcelona to Cerbere, or from Cerbere to Narbonne.
I found a room down the street from the train station called Hôtel de la Gare, which I think basically means hotel of the station. Whooppee. It’s cheap, 22.50 euros. Not bad for a single room close to the station. However, it’s on the verge of being a dive … well, maybe it is a dive (a plonger in French?) - the sheets smell clean, but I found a couple (dead, thankfully) bugs when I pulled back the sheets. Best of all, though, there’s an open wifi spot! he he haaa! the little things that make me happy! I can check train schedules, skype call my wwoof hosts and let them know what’s going on, and generally waste time on the internet. I’ll get out and see a little of Narbonne, too, after it stops raining and I get hungry …
The language … heh! Yeah. Can’t understand much of it at all. That will change after I hear it more, but now, jeez. I’m fucked! Part of the reason I chose this hotel is the proprietor is a sweet old lady that did nothing but smile and understand when I looked at her and didn’t have a clue. I understood “un chambre” (pronounced ong shom-bray), meaning a room … and I said “we we, s’il vous plaîs.” She knows a teeny tiny bit of English, and it is good to see things are totally hopeless for me. It’s my only hope that more people are as understanding.
So, I’m just gonna chill. Take a little walk, find the city square, the river, the catedral maybe. It has stopped raining now and is looking pretty nice. Au revoir!