Wednesday, October 2
Okay let's pull the rest of that pin out.
I was successful! I turned off the 4:40 alarm, but i got up with the 5:00 one, even though i wanted to disarm it and wait for the final, 5:25 one. No, i scolded myself, that will eat up all of your padding. Just go.
So i just went.
Marseille was completely dead at that time of the morning. The only people i saw on my 25-minute walk to the train station were street sweepers and the people who pressure wash the sidewalks, which is necessary in a city with pay toilets.
On the walk, i pondered my primary concerns for the day. I was expecting to have two transfers, all pretty tight, so hopefully the trains ran on time today. Water was going to be my main concern, since i can't refill my bottle anywhere on the train, the bathroom sinks are all non-potable. Food might become a concern, if i'm always on a train and don't have any time to spare in the stations. Hopefully at least one train, preferably the middle one, would have a dining car.
I was inside the train station five minutes before 6am, leaving me 26 minutes to find and board that train. I checked the departure board.
It's not there.
Okay, this has happened before, don't panic.
I pulled up the Eurail app to have a look. It's still there. But then i noticed, in a light gray box above the train schedule, the words: "Last timetable update: 26 September 2024."
You fuckers of other people's mothers.
You told me you were going to update the timetables by 5pm two days ago to reflect the strike. I did a full app update several hours after that. Why were these timetables not refreshed??
I checked Google Maps.
It's there, but it doesn't list a platform.
I glanced around at all the track monitors i could see from where i stood. None of them were my train. I could walk down the line until i find it...or i could check this friendly-looking kiosk right next to me and see what it says.
"Yes, i want to buy a ticket," i lied to the machine, pushing its buttons. From Marseille St. Charles station to Montpelier Saint-Roch. It asked a bunch of other questions that i just made stuff up for, and then it hit me with some timetables.
There's my train, 6:21am toward Narbonne, TER76550...
In big, bold, red letters: Train removed.
Fucking shit fuck god damn it.
What do?
Well. I guess i could wait for that 8:23 train that i would've been on if i'd come from Cannes anyway...but now i can't trust that that exists, either, let alone the other two connecting trains i'd need to take. One of those connections was only five minutes anyway, it was always a risk. For all i know, i could end up stranded in Montpellier or Port-Bou.
The Eurail app showed a couple other options, but they all required reservations. The Eurail app has told me before that reservations need to be made at least three hours before the train departs, so that could be a problem. I clicked on the earliest one anyway...and it was sold out. Didn't even matter.
I had walked away in frustration, but i returned to the kiosk. Alright. If i give you some honest information, let's see what you can do for me.
There's a high-speed route i can take, which is only about five hours of travel time, as opposed to the nine i was expecting. It has one transfer in Narbonne with a 26-minute window. It leaves Marseille at 11:22 and gets to Barcelona at 16:31. Arriving later than i thought i would last night, but earlier than i'd been expecting yesterday afternoon.
The seat reservations are €45.
Fuck it. Let's go.
For all the headaches and stress i've had trying to figure out how to get to Barcelona, and with this minute being the absolute peak of all of it, if i can just fork over €45 and be *mostly* guaranteed to get there safely and expediently and not have to think about this anymore? Baller. It's fine. Do it.
Plus this machine will print me a paper ticket, so i don't need to worry about finding a printer with A4 paper to get a physical copy, which i never got asked for the one time i completed that side quest anyway.
With that taken care of, i doubled back to the bakery i had entered the station through. Good gosh golly, it sure smelled marvy.
I grabbed a tourte chèvre courgette, which looked and felt like a quiche, but came from none of the same ingredients. Puff pastry, zucchini, eggplant, goat cheese, another unidentified cheese, and milk cream. It was wonderful.
There was a bottle filling station near there, so i chugged what i had and refilled.
Since the train wouldn't be leaving for another five hours, i could have gone and explored Marseille a bit more, but i truly did not want to. It was still dark out, it seemed unlikely anything would be open for a few hours yet, and even after the sun came up, i don't even have any ideas. I had expected to spend my train time today catching up on my log, since i was almost two days behind, so i just decided to do that. I found a bench with a power outlet, and took a seat. The power outlet didn't work, but i turned out to be fine without it.
That seating area was fucking gross. There was a bit of garbage on some of the benches, and a bit on the floor, too, but where it really became exceptional was the corners behind the seating area. What looked like years of small debris, crumbs, and grime have just built up there badly enough that if you removed all the people from the building and just saw this spot, you'd think the place had been abandoned. I kept thinking i was seeing movement near my feet, but every time i looked, i didn't see anything. I also kept thinking i was hearing the squeaking of rats. Flies kept landing on me. Pigeons would occasionally come in from inside and strut around underfoot. There was a three-inch gap between the window and the wall right at the corner where i was sitting, so outside air was slowly blowing on me; i didn't realize how cold i had gotten until i moved.
At 11:00, with two out of my four planned entries to finish up today done and posted, i packed my things and abandoned the spot. I went straight back to the bottle filling station to replenish, then stopped into a convenience store for a little caffeine. I was planning to grab a bit more food at one of the restaurants, but i realized i'd somehow already used up ten minutes in those last two sentences, so i just pulled a premade sandwich out of the cooler with the soda, which got me a combo deal, and on complete impulse a bag of peanut M&Ms at the counter. I shoved the items into my vest pockets, and headed for platform G.
I keep meaning to make a note of it, but since i left Milan, no one has checked my ticket on any of the trains i've taken, which seems odd. But this one had a scanner with a turnstile before i could even enter the platform. There were three of those, each manned by an employee. I first tried to scan my Eurail pass, but i had the paper ticket in hand in case, and the guy told me to scan that one. First time for this, every other time i've had a seat reservation, i've tried to give the conductor that QR code, and they've always told me they need the Eurail one instead.
The platform opened up to the outside. It felt so nice to be in the sun, getting warm again.
My assigned seat was in car number 1, all the way at the front of the train. I found my assigned seat, number 76, the number of my Boy Scout troop so it's easy to remember. I was happy to see i'd been assigned a single seat, with no neighbor next to or across from me. Yeah, i showered, but i still haven't had a chance to do laundry, i've been wearing dirty clothes for days. Really hoping to fix this once i get to Barcelona.
However.
I don't really have much of a window, just about the back eight inches of the one belonging to the seat in front of me.
It's a tradeoff, i guess.
And that, my friends, enemies, rodeo clowns, assorted weirdos and goatherds, finally brings me up to the current moment. I've caught up on my log. It's 13:37, i've been on this train for two hours, and i'll be in Narbonne for my connection in under half an hour. We just made the last stop before mine, about 7 minutes behind schedule, but that's still within my window.
I should probably book a hostel in Barcelona.
---
Nothing much to report so far! It's been about two hours since i wrote last, the transfer at Narbonne went swimmingly, i even had time to slip into the station and grab a lil snack: an extremely French-looking bag of pesto and mozzarella-flavored chips called Brets. I also, as per usual, got a Coke Zero, and with it, the clerk handed me an enamel pin with the Coca-Cola and Olympics logos on it, as well as a strange-looking stick figure. It's not the Snoop Dogg smoking a blunt Olympic pin i'd hoped to take home from France, as did the rest of the world, but it's something.
We passed through a wide-open area which seemed to be wetland, although i'm not sure if it's supposed to be or if it's a little flooded, but i saw pink flamingos in some of the lakes. Perhaps they are not entirely alien to southern Europe.
Since my log was up-to-date, i've been trying to do a little data management, just getting the last week's worth of photos and videos off my phone, since it's full again. The train's power has cut out randomly on me several times, ejecting my hard drive improperly. It's difficult to verify the data transfer between an Android and a Macbook, because of course they don't play entirely nicely together, and i'm a little frustrated with the way this is going! But if that's all i've got to complain about right now, then things are going pretty well. Considering the start to the day.
I still haven't booked a hostel in Spain. I've got about an hour. I guess i better do that.
I mostly just wanted to report the flamingos, and the weird chips. They were alright. The internet had cut out when i was in a tunnel and i got bored.
---
I spent the last half hour of the ride trying to get the damn hostel to book. I had already picked one i was pretty sure i was going with early in the trip; why i didn't actually press the button, i don't know. Maybe i thought i was gonna browse more options yet. I didn't.
The internet got so spotty for that last half hour. I couldn't get the Hostelworld web page or app to load properly. My laptop on the train's wifi and my phone on my mobile data connection were duking it out to see who would get there first, but then every time it looked like the booking would go through, we'd hit a tunnel, and the Internet would poop out on both. I was about ready to hulk smash everything to bits.
The announcement came over the train's PA that we were about to pull into Barcelona within the next few minutes.
Right at that moment, the booking went through. I'm set.
I didn't book for my entire time in Barcelona; i have a few other options out there i'd like to explore, for one thing, but for another, i don't know if it's a Hostelworld thing, or if literally every hostel in Barcelona just has the same rules, but i was not able to find a property that would book for more than 10 consecutive days. So i don't know if i'll have to move hostels anyway, if 10 days is the max, or if i'll just have to extend my stay if i decide to remain where i am. Either way, i just booked a few nights, so i can try this hostel out, and if i don't like it, i can move on. There's an airbnb that's pretty cheap and is pretty close to Sitges, but on the opposite side, so it's further from Barcelona. So it's a tradeoff.
Also, even this late in the game, i STILL haven't decided if i'm staying put for the entire film festival, or if i'm gonna take a day or two to go see Portugal and/or Morocco.
I guess we'll see.
I'm about to get off the train, we're pulling in right on time. It's raining in Barcelona, though, so it's gonna suck to walk to the hostel. Maybe i should look for public transportation.
---
It was not raining when i exited the train station, but the dark gray clouds still loomed over everything, threatening. I was looking at a 45 minute walk. I kinda knew i couldn't beat the rain, but dammit, i was gonna try.
Sprinkles started hitting me at about 0.8 miles. By 1.6, it was full on raining. I still had another two thirds of a mile to go. I hurried as much as i could. I saw a bottle filling station, and i stopped for it, though. How strange to be filling a bottle in the rain.
At various points, i also saw some weird statues, a bunch of skateboarders, and a poster for a 90s throwback music festival, headlined by Haddaway, Jenny from Ace of Base, Robin S, and La Bouche. There are 49 other artists on that poster, and i did not recognize any of them. Based on the headliners, probably eurodance groups that never made it across the Atlantic. I think the big takeaway here though, is, Haddaway is still around??
Also, yeah, despite having released new music under her real name, Jenny Berggren is actually touring as "Jenny from Ace of Base."
Another cool thing i saw on the way, there was a street with about a dozen stands set up along the sidewalk. You'd think they would be food stands, but no. Each and every one of them, a bookstore. And even in the rain, they all had patrons.
Checking in at the hostel was a bit odd. There's no reception desk as you'd expect it. I rang the doorbell, the door unlocked without a word or sound, and i entered. There were a couple staircases and a door with the hostel's logo on it, so i chose that one. I found myself in what looked like the living room of a small house, where two teenage or early twenties women were sitting on the floor at a coffee table.
I may not have mentioned that this is technically a youth hostel.
I'm finding that most "youth hostels" around Europe have a much looser definition of "youth" than they did last time around. The cutoff at the ones we stayed at in 2013 was 30; we were 27 and 28, so we just barely squeaked by on those, and felt like awkward old people every time. So far i've stayed at one with a cutoff of 40, one that said "anyone young at heart," and this one says "anyone young at heart, from 18 to 48."
To the right of this living room was a door that led into a more formal-looking office, with a professional desk and a woman in business attire seated behind it. She asked me to come in, and have a seat at one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. I was soaking wet but i still felt like i was in a job interview.
She made me download an app to access the hostel, which i recognized as the same app i had refused to install at ClinkNoord in Amsterdam. It uses bluetooth to unlock the doors, which i hate. It gives you PIN codes you can use "in case your phone dies," which is what i used the whole time i was at ClinkNoord. I've already got the damn app on my phone, though, and it's already got its grubby little fingers all up in my permissions, so i guess i'll leave it for now. Also, there's a button right on the home screen to request an extension on your stay, so that seems like a simple way to handle that if i do end up remaining here.
We'll see how that commute feels tomorrow. If i don't want to keep doing an hour each way every day, i might still head over to one of those AirBNBs i was looking at in Vilanova. They're further from Barcelona, but only five minutes from Sitges by train.
Kicking and screaming into the future, etc etc.
The staircase is terrifying. It's thin metal, completely out of place with the rest of the building, and looks like it was originally meant to be temporary.
At the top of the stairs, there's a door leading to a little rooftop garden, which is cute, i like it. Didn't go out there, because of the rain, but, you know. I'll have to at some point.
After putting my things away and hanging my vest up to dry, i went back downstairs to check with the boss if there was a laundry facility here. I didn't think there was, but i couldn't remember for sure.
She was not in the office, so i asked the two women sitting at the coffee table. They responded with heavy British accents that, no, they didn't think so, but they weren't sure either. They just got here. Better to ask. But they thought they saw a laundromat just down the street.
I went outside. A guy came out the door just behind me. I asked if he knew if there was laundry facilities, he said no, but pointed out where the laundromat was. It turned out he was an employee, too; he was coming to the door to let a new arrival in.
I was looking for food, first and foremost, so i walked ten meters and then stood under an overhang, searching for nearby restaurants. I didn't want to walk too far in the rain, so i was willing to accept whatever was closest. There were plenty of options in the area. Italian, Chinese, sushi, ramen...nothing uniquely Spanish, though. But there was a Mexican place directly across the street.
I ordered a burrito, of course. The waitress asked if i wanted any extras, which all had additional costs. We make our little jokes about how Chipotle charges extra for guacamole in America, but like. This place gets kind of absurd with it. She explained that the base burrito comes only with the rice, meat, and salsa. So i went ahead and added cheese, at least. Guacamole would have been an additional €4.50, which seems like a lot. The burrito was €9. To add all the ingredients would have been an additional €10.50.
Friends, there was no way that even all of those ingredients could have made this burrito worth $22. It was extremely basic. And it was served with exactly three (3) corn chips.
This is also the first time i have ever been served rum and coke separately. They brought me a wide wine glass with a little ice and a substantial amount of rum in it, and an unopened can of Coca-Cola on the side.
It was listed as a cocktail on the menu, so my expectation was that it would already be mixed. Although, the menu also called it a "Ron and Cola," so maybe this is a regional presentation that i was previously unaware of.
I'm not unhappy about the amount of rum and coke i got here. The drink was actually a pretty good value, compared to sizes and prices i've paid across Europe.
Ugh i'm complaining about how much things cost again, aren't i? I said i wasn't gonna do this. Well. It's typed now, and i have no delete key.
I do also want to compliment the atmosphere of the place, though. Very homey dining area upstairs. I sat on a firm couch-like object, which was custom-built to match the strange geometry of the room. Not so comfortable that you'd want to snuggle in and read a book, but cozy enough to relax like you're not in public. Firm enough that you don't sink so low that reaching food on the table becomes a challenge.
I went back to the hostel, grabbed my laundry and my laptop, and went to the laundromat.
The machines include the detergent and the softener, no need or ability to add your own. Alright, i guess. I probably wasn't going to use up all of this detergent before i left the continent anyway.
I finally got to work on getting my Sitges schedule together.
I was so concerned about getting my tickets for Berlin Fantasy and Paris L'Étranger as soon as they went on sale, and then i got everything i wanted from those festivals... and then when it came to Sitges, the most important one, i've just...slept on this for two weeks.
I had really hoped to get that Auditori pass, to gain admission to all of the screenings, but i wasn't able to. After that, once i realized i was going to have to à la carte the whole thing and actually figure out where and when i need to be and buy those tickets...it became pretty overwhelming. Berlin had one screen, the movies were one after the other, for eight days, and i was missing the first four. Paris had multiple screens, yes, but all in the same cinema, and there were few choices i could actually make, largely due to the language barrier.
Sitges has 505 screenings across 11 days in multiple cinemas and hotels across the city. It's a lot to process. Especially as i've been dealing with the other trip logistics that hadn't coalesced in a timely manner.
This is gonna get expensive, but i knew that already. I guess i'm just getting that sticker shock again. The Auditori pass would have been a large sum upfront, but would have saved me quite a bit of money over the course of the festival. Unfortunately, they're limited, and they stick with legacy attendees until someone gives one up.
Alright, here's what i'm looking at tomorrow!
12:15: Presence (new Steven Soderbergh film) - with special guests
14:45: The Damned - with special guests
16:45: Estela - with special guests
19:00: Sitges Film Festival opening ceremonies & gala
21:00: Desert Road
22:58: Last train back to Barcelona, DO NOT MISS IT.
I prioritized getting screenings with special guests, and was largely successful for day 1. "Special Guests" usually means people associated with the production, often the director or producers, sometimes the stars, occasionally other crew members. So i'm really hoping that Steven Soderbergh himself will appear at the screening, that would be a dream come true.
Waiting this long to buy tickets has definitely negatively impacted me, though. I think i mentioned before that i had hoped to catch The Substance at Sitges, since i missed the screenings at both Berlin and Paris. It's out in wide release already, though, so it's no longer necessary to see it at a festival, but there were, of course, screenings here with Special Guests. Which would have been awesome.
Man i really wish they would tell you in the listings who the special guests actually are.
The other one i'm a little upset about is Timestalker. I had the opportunity to see it in Paris, and i chose not to, because i knew one of the Special Guests at the Sitges screening would be Nick Frost. That screening is, of course, sold out. The only other screening of Timestalker is at 8:30am tomorrow, and there's no possible way i'm gonna make that. I would need to leave the hostel by like 6:45. Since that screening doesn't even have Special Guests, i may as well wait for the wide release.
Alright! I made it to Barcelona, i have clean clothes for the first time in days, i have tickets to the first day of the festival squared away. My. body. is. ready.
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