Just got to Barcelona

I just arrived in Barcelona this morning.

Last night I took the train from Rome to Milan and spent a couple hours in Milan. Compared to Rome, Milan was far more westernized and quiet. They had a Christmas Market setup near the Piazza Duomo and had an ice rink installed playing Jingle Bells in Italian. I had time to grab a Pizza at Farinella's "Mediterranean Pizza Restaurant" - only the sign was in English - before catching the overnight train to Barcelona.

I thought that the overnight train was going to be comfortable because on my ticket was printed that it was some sort of hotel and that I had to pay a 59 euro supplement for the sleeper car. Boy was I wrong. It was extremely cramped. Imagine 4 grown men seated in a compartment with no space to move sideways and with knees practically touching.

Besides me there were two Morrocans and one Algerian. Other than Arabic, they spoke French so we could communicate.

On the overnight trains that go through borders, you need to surrender your passport to the train attendant. When the attendent came by we found out that one of the Morrocans and the Algerian did not have any papers: they are illegal immigrants looking for work somewhere in Europe. The attendent said that she would have to tell the police when they hit the borders (French and Spain). The Morrocan told me that he had done it a thousand times before. They were talking about hiding on the train during the border crossings and were nervous when we hit both borders - checking through the windows apprehensively as we approached.

For me I was a bit nervous sleeping in a cabin with strangers who were not carrying any identification and were considering hiding somewhere in the cabin (In my bunk ?). On the one hand, they were both friendly and we talked about many things: By law they are allowed up to 4 wives; they make about 3 euros an hour in Europe without papers; and would make about 3 euros a day in Algeria. On the other hand, supposing that one was to to take my bag, there would be little to work from to identify them.

So, I stayed up later than usual reading my book - but in the end I got tired and went asleep - nothing happened. The border crossings were apprehensive, but we passed trouble free.

Right now I am in Barcelona. I have a Hostel that was recommended to me, but I am checking the internet to see if there is something close to the beach. It is warm here at 16 degrees celcius but not too hot. I have only seen one person so far wearing shorts. It is T-Shirt, pants and sunglass weather.