Day 15_Nice to Barcelona

Long and arduous.  My trip is definitely adventurous, but not at all relaxing.  Take today.  My apartment in Nice had one light for the large room which burned out on Friday.  This morning I had to pack and clean the apartment basically in the dark...Met my landlord at 7:15am to get the okay and headed to the train station to pick up the rental car.  It was a beautiful new car which comfortably fit the five of us and we headed southwest to Barcelona.  (As you probably know, France and Spain touch at the Mediterranean Sea and this was our route.)  The drive was about 7 hours with the best part being the "aire"s or truck stops along the toll road/highway.  These stops have everything a girl could need:  a free bathroom (often French bathrooms have a charge); food and water; gas and other assortments like books, and even a restaurant---with this scenario repeated about every 15 miles.  There is no excuse for being hungry or out of gas along this route.  We did have about $40 in toll fees for the drive.  The exit of these 20 odd lanes is always a free for all to find a driving lane within about 500 yards, checking over your shoulder both ways, multiple times.

As you near Perpignan which is near the border of Spain, you can see the snow capped Pyrenees in front of you and the turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea on your left.  The border between the two countries is a swift language change with the toll operator boujouring you, and all the signs in Spanish within about 5 minutes.  Many of the students have been happily waiting for this part of the trip as they felt like fish out of water not knowing French.  I, on the other hand, feel the same way as them now as my Spanish knowledge is a)  1 - 20 from Sesame Street, b)  ordering Mexican food, and c)  working in the field with Spanish speaking laborers to install landscapes.

Since we had the car, we decided to take the dump truck load of student baggage to their apartment.  Mine was dropped a few blocks away as we are staying on the same main drag called Gran Via Corts Catalanes.  Not to be missed, was the attempt to return the rental car to the airport which  required a rock/paper/scissors win (or maybe that was a loss?) to have one of the 4 students join me so I didn't have to return on the bus alone.  The asking for help needed a bit of arm twisting despite the fact that I had reserved the car on my credit card, paid the tolls, stopped for bathroom and food breaks, driven the whole distance and dropped them at their apartment door while they slept for the entire trip....Hmm... In spite of the French train strike, all 13 of us are here safe and sound by either car or bus. 

A few more looks back at France: