Marseille day 1

We all woke up and began to drive in the direction of Madrid. While in the car I looked at hostelworld & Google maps to see where I should go next. I didn't get very far though because Boaty gave me a riddle which occupied my mind.

I said my goodbyes to the Spaniards when they dropped me off at Lleida. At this point I was pretty devastated that 1) it might be at least another 2 years until I see pablo and Africa again and 2) my world trip was almost over. While I was in line for a train ticket I made an impulsive 'mid life crisis like' decision to go to Italy.

The train took me past Barcelona with a 2 hour layover. This turned out to be perfect timing because it meant I could try Paella and beer! I went to a cheapish looking resteraunt and didn't ask for a menu. The waiter tried so desperately to communicate to me in broken English that the serving size was for 3 people, but I tried equally as hard to convince him that I didn't care.

Sadly it was a 24 hour trip by train with a 6 hour layer in Marseille, so I decided to stay a night in Marseille and head to Milan the next day.  

I walked from st. Charles station to the nearest hostel. It was getting very dark and there were drunk soccer hooligans everywhere. With my giant backpack, phone and innocent confused travelers expression on my face i was the perfect target for a mugging. At one point my GPS started walking me down an ally containing a few loitering black men - I'm not racist, I was just really scared because the men were naturally camouflaged.

I arrived at the hostel stabless and breathing. I instantly made friends with the receptionist and an American girl and a Brazilian guy. We all sat in a group on the balcony drinking bottles of wine from the bottle. Even at midnight you can still buy good wine for €2 - good on ya, France. Everyone had really cool stories to tell. The south African receptionist was an ex military special forces anti highjacking mercinary who (supposedly) had killed over 100 people. The Brazilian guy was a French sounding, musicially talented stonner. And the girl from Washington DC was teaching English to French kids in Paris for 9 months.