We had a little bit of a problem reserving the ticket for Perpignan to Barcelona, because the SNCF reservation system itself seemed to be having some kind of technical problem. We were advised to talk to the controller on the train, which we did, but all he suggested was that we ought to sit on the train and that he would come back to us later. He never did. The train was almost full, and we couldn't sit next to each other. The only person who came to inspect our tickets was someone from the Spanish staff; he shook his head when we told him about the SNCF system problem, and he never returned to us either. So, because of bad organisation on both sides, we didn't have to pay a supplement! Not that we minded!

The train passed over the Franco-Spanish border, and we stopped for a few minutes while the wheels were changed on the train; the Spanish railways have a different railway gauge to France so the position of the wheels needed to be changed. Our first views of Spain were of mountains shrouded in mist, it looked quite picturesque.

We arrived in Barcelona, in the nice and clean station of Barcelona Sants. Once again we had problems reserving tickets, although it was a bit more serious this time: the overnight train we wanted to catch to Orense in the west of Spain was full. We then tried to get to Madrid, and again all the trains were full. We kind of forgot it was the Easter week-end, hm, next time we will book in advance! We began to worry, but to think and eat a little we went outside and sat down at this fast food restaurant, "Pan & Cie" (think McDonald's with baguettes), where Laure had her first Spanish freshly squeezed orange juice, which she found simply wonderful!

Ian decides he'd rather read a travel guide than pose for the camera. The world is grateful!

The weather was hot and sunny, and very windy, plastic cups were flying everywhere. We went back to the station and decides to take a regional train (no reservation or supplement) to Zaragoza, a couple of hours hence. This gave us an hour or so to spend in the town centre, so we took the efficient metro to the "La Ramblas" area, and had a wander round the stalls, saw a lot of touristy things for sale, flowers, jewellery, people making caricatures, etc...

We returned to the station and got on the relatively empty train to Zaragoza, hoping to find accommodation when we got there. The journey took four and a half hours and stopped practically everywhere, but we did go through the particularly scenic Ebro valley, with its olive trees and vineyards, and no cows, we noticed!

We came to Zaragoza at 8.45pm. In the station, which was quite modern and stylish, we once again attempted to get the night train, but we failed, so we walked into the town to try to find some accommodation. The guidebook we had said that the hotels are rarely full, and indeed the first hostel we tried ("Hostal Zaragoza", at the end of a side-street) had a room for an average price, with TV and shower. Our room was just behind what amounted to a living room; it seemed to really be someone's house with a few extra rooms hired out! The people there didn't speak anything but Spanish, but we managed to communicate (just!).

After settling in a bit we wandered out to the town centre to look for food. We did eventually found a cafeteria in the centre, which was quite nice. Again there was some language trouble but it turned out all right in the end! We both had mushroom/salmon omelette, then Laure had three chicken breasts with Roquefort sauce and chips, Ian had an entrecote with chips. Laure finished with banana flambée with brandy, Ian with a lemon sorbet. The menus included 3/8 of wine. Before the starters arrived another waiter asked us if we wanted to drink, we said that we had already ordered tinto (which we thought was rosé) He served us a bottle anyway, so during the whole meal we wondered if we were going to be charged for the whole bottle, and would we still pay the price of the fixed menu if we didn't have the normal quantity of wine, it only occurred to us in the end, when the bill came with just the price of the two menus, that a bottle of wine is 75cl, i.e. twice 3/8 of a litre!! We spent a couple of hours eating in total, and there was Spanish football on a TV in the background, and by the time we left it was after midnight. We wandered back to the hotel and went to sleep.