Barcelona a Paris- Tres Mohammads

After a "tiring night of fun", we decided we can't act like this throught the whole break. We are old, but we didn't come to waste our time. We woke with an agenda... sort of. After checked out of the hostel and set off to store our bags in the train station. Upon arrival at the station we found that there was a movie being shot. We were forced to go through tight security and only allowed to use half of the station. It was very odd, but we cooperated.

We left the station and ate breakfast outside under a cafe's canopy. The sandwiches were really nice. It seemed as if there was a music festival about to start, but while we were around they were doing mic checks. It would have been nice to have live music while we ate. However, as we walked to the first square, there was a young percussion studio that began to play. We think they may have been the opening act for the festival because they marched right up to the stage. We didn't stick around because we wanted to get some things out of the way.

We decided to go to the beach. But, we didn't exactly know where to go. We strolled down the wrong coast for about 20min before we decided to ask someone. Then we turned around and walked to nearly the end of the earth, but we found it. It was nice to be able to talk and goof around all of that time. We sat on a warf for some time and just felt the cool ocean breeze. It was relaxing for all three of us to be in our world.

After leaving the beach, we realized that we had more time than we actually desired. Aisha and I were hungry, and also wanted a cocktail. I also had to try paella. The first restraunt we sat at did not have cocktails, so we only ordered simple drinks (and Aisha had a beer). We found a place directly across from the train station. We sat down and the atmosphere was rather nice. We decided to order sangria. "We're in Spain... drink sangria!" This place had the worst sangria I have ever tasted. Ya'll know me... well it was so bad that I had to ask the waiter to take it away. We were afraid they were going to spit in our food because they seemed a bit offended (so I felt bad). I simply could not stomach the taste. But, they made up for it because the paella was magnificent. Aisha and I shared but I swear I ate more then she. Spanish food can fill you up really easily because we were stuffed...once again. Perfecto!

After the meal, we still had time to kill so we walked a bit more. On our jouney we came across a Great Arch. I dunno why it was there, but I took a picture of it. What was funnier was this boy riding his bike in the square leading to the arch. He seemed be enjoying himself a great deal- riding up and down the same slanted walkway. "Weeee!" We stopped by an internet cafe and checked messages for about 30 min. I can't remember what we talked about, but it was a relaxing walk. After getting so far, we decided it was best to head back to the station. As we walked, we stumbled upon an organized outdoor soccer game. It was nice to sit with this community and feel like part of it as they cheered on the players. The best part, was the environment in which they were playing. If you look at the panoramic, you will notice that the central apartments in the background have no facade. It was a true section of the building. Amazing!

When we arrived at the train, there was a photography display in one of the waiting areas. After looking, we found that the line for security had gotten extremely long. I guess everyone in Barcelona waits for the last minute to catch their train. They had to let a few people skip in line because there was no way for them to catch their train if they waited. We made it to our train on time.

Of all train trips, I must say this one was the most interesting and active. When I got to my couchette there it was empty. I figured my roomates simply had not arrived. I went to check on Jason and two of his roomates had already settled in. They were both older gentlemen, but he said they seemed nice. We decided to check on Aisha. When we found her room, we were in shock. She was surrounded by three young guys. She was smiling and saying how she felt safe with them. I didn't care, there was NO WAY I was letting her sleep in that room. We met the guy and two of them (the two that were friends) we name Mohammad. We thought that was weird. The third guy didn't know them, but he was of Arabic decent as well. Collectively, they spoke Hindi, Spanish, French and English. It was quite a feat to get everything translated. The ticket lady, did not have the best attitude and was very curt with us while we tried to get things figured out. She made Jason and I go back to our rooms. Upon arrival to my room, I found my roommates had returned. On top of this, they were women. Apparently, Aisha and I had accidently switched tickets and I had the ticket for her room. Once got it figured out, I had no problem switching rooms. Aisha kept trying to get me to get their contact info so that she could keep in touch. I wouldn't do it, but on the way to the dining car, I found that she had already taken care of the situation. One less thing for me to worry about. In the dining car, we found that the two Mohammads had another friend. As it turns out, his name was Mohammad as well. In other words, there were a total of three guys named Mohammad... hence the name Tres Mohammads. They stayed up in our car all night singing and one of them had a serious cigarette depencency. It was a bit annoying, but I managed to make it through the night.