Just getting to Montpelier was a headache. We had to spend an unexpected night in Marseilles (after 4 train changes trying to get to Montpelier) due to train strikes. We were invited to spend the night in the train station instead of paying for an expensive hotel, but it was rainy, we were tired and the station was creepy (plus it was also going to close at 2am?), so we ended up staying the night in a hotel across the street. The next day, we had to catch a new train at 6am, which we successfully did and we made it to Montpelier.
Journeying out of Montpelier to Sevilla also turned out to be an adventure and a half. We had three trains to take that day, but the first ended up being a bus in the back parking lot of the Montpelier train station. And of course, we had a late start and buses are not nearly as fast as trains, so we missed our connecting train. We were in Barcelona at the time and luckily Michelle speaks Spanish, because it was nearly impossible to find someone who spoke English in the Barcelona train station. We got new train tickets, had to wait 4 hours in Barcelona for our new train, finally made it to Sevilla (very late) so the buses had stopped running. We took a taxi to our hostel, checked in and then...
HANNAH!!
Hannah was studying in Sevilla and I hadn't seen her since I left for Japan way back when. I don't think our smiles could be any bigger! We were only missing Coley and then I would have had all my roommates with me. :)
We caught up a little bit that night and ate some churros at a stand nearby. Two other Beloiters were also in Sevilla: Brandon (another friend of mine) and Laurie, who I'd never met until then. It was like a Beloit invasion of Sevilla!
The next morning (April 10th) we ate churros for breakfast, though they were higher grade ones than those from the night before. After we ate, we visited the third largest church in all of Europe, which was pretty damn cool. We also saw the grave of Christopher Colombus (also known as the world's biggest screw up).
We also walked around a connecting garden and went up inside a tower that overlooked all of Sevilla. When we climbed down again, I got to see my first ever orange trees!
We took a short siesta afterwards and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant (eating Chinese food in Spain quickly became a recurring even with Michelle and I). It was nice to use proper chopsticks again! Later we went to a flamenco bar, which was very cool. I loved how they created music just by stomping their feet (though I imagine their ankles must have hurt after awhile).
We spent the entire next day at the beach, which was awesome and just what we all needed (especially Michelle, Brandon and I who had been traveling for so long). It had also been over a year since I had gone swimming, so I really enjoyed finally being able to do so again after so long. Unfortunately the beach was also where my camera stopped working for unknown reasons. It's working fine now that I'm back in England of course, but for the rest of the trip I wasn't able to take any photos! (Lucky for me, Michelle took plenty.)
In the evening, Brandon, Hannah, Michelle and I went to an Italian restaurant which was fab and later had ice cream. It was Brandon's last night in Sevilla, so we said our good byes. Lucky for Michelle and I, we still had two days left before we went to Madrid.
The next day Michelle and I explored Sevilla with Hannah, seeing the sights but mostly catching up. Hannah had class, so Michelle and I walked along the river and just enjoyed the day. Later we reconvened, ate at a tapas bar for dinner, and spent most of the night chatting. It was a lovely day.
And the day after was just as great. Michelle and I slept in, I worked on my dissertation a little bit, and then we met up with Hannah in the afternoon to check out an art museum. I was a little art museum-ed out, so I spent most of the time there reading in one of the pretty courtyards inside the museum. Michelle and I siesta-ed at our hostel (I really grew fond of siestas!), and then we sat on the river with Hannah and watched the sun set.
After that, we went to the Chinese restaurant again, stayed until closing and then walked with Hannah back to her apartment where we said our good byes. It was incredibly sad, but luckily we'll all be seeing each other again in the fall since we'll be living together in a townhouse at Beloit. :)
The next morning, Michelle and I caught our train to Madrid.
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