Day 7: Train To San Sebastia

Yesterday I went to the train station by myself to get familiar with it and to buy my ticket to San Sebastian. Took me about three hours of waiting for my number to be called. Booking my train to San Sebastian went pretty well. Pretty impressed with myself and how much Spanish I've picked up. Unfortunately my direct to San Sebastian was full so they got me a connect train through Victoria.

I head back to the house meet up with Kristin, who's been waiting two hours for me. We go to some Chinese food and call it a night. My train leaves at eight A.M. and I've got to be up at 5:45.

I awake in the morning, pack my bag and set out for the train station. I board the train on Via 11 (platform 11) and sit next to a mother and her daughter. The train ride was a great taste of the land of Spain. Each stop was completely different from the last. The train ride was about eight hours long. There was mainly a lot of Spanish country side at the beginning. I loved seeing all the Spanish churches and monasteries. They were a perfect illustration of how long these towns have existed and what each one has seen.

The landscape became more mountainous and scenic as we neared San Sebastian. I struck up conversation with the mother and daughter. I didn't catch their names, but the spoke Hebrew and English and were from northern California. They were on their way to Irun to go hiking but first meeting the daughters grandmother in San Sebastian. They asked me questions about the bull run, expressing interest to go watch.

I arrive at San Sebastian train station excited and eager to get to the campsite. I walk around the station a bit then walk outside to find Lynzy and Nicole sitting on a bench. They had been waiting there for a few hours. They lost and/or forgot all their information on what to do when we got to San Sebastian. Luckily I had some maps open on my computer from the Fanatics website. They also were watching the luggage of another man while he went to get his rental car. Apparently they scored us a free ride to the campsite from this man. Lynzy and Nicole are in the process of a move to Italy, but not before doing Paris, the bull run and a few other destinations. They have tons of luggage which I am still at a loss as to how they've been able to navigate themselves in Europe thus far. We've been coordinating a rendezvous for the bull run for a few months now.

A white VW Golf pulls up and out steps this 50 something, tall, grey haired man with coke bottle thick glasses. This is James. He's giving us a free ride to the campsite. We load the car down with all the girls luggage, barely getting the trunk door closed. James has been to San Sebastian once before so he takes us on a little driving tour up Mount Igeldo to view the city and the beach. Everything here in San Sebastian is gorgeous. Completely different from what I've seen in Madrid. The beach here is like a big cul-de-sac. In the middle its filled with anchored boats.

We finally arrive at our campsite with the Fanatics. Fanatics is a UK/Australian based tour company. Our campsite is in the mountains of San Sebastian, just outside the city. James pulls a creeper move and tries to get a camp site for the nigh so he can take us into Pamplona the next day. Luckily you had to make a reservation months prior to this event so James's attempt to hang around failed. We thanked him for his generous ride to the camp site and bid him good wishes on the rest of his travels.

We check in with one of the fanatics staff, get our sleep mats and tent assignments. We drop off our luggage in the tent and head to the bar located conveniently right next to our site! The place is packed full of Aussies. We have a few drinks then head back to the campsite to get our scarves, shirts and "sunnies" (sunglasses), as the Aussie's would say. There are about 30-35 people in our campsite. We meet our camp neighbors and some how they are from Fort Worth as well!! What are the odds? My other camp neighbors are a really friendly Aussie couple named Ben and Sam. I don't have a roommate just yet.

All the campers gather at the bus stop and catch the coach (bus) into town for tapas and to go to a bar called Tastas. The place we went to eat had award winning tapas. We head to Tastas after and its a party in the streets and in the bar. Inside the bar its packed shoulder to shoulder. I discovered a new favorite beer called Carlsberg. The whole bar was pretty much a bunch of Aussies getting drunk and there I am bustin dance moves. I don't remember much of the cab ride home. We return to the campsite. A few of us hang in the main tent before getting broken up by security and have to go back to our tents. Lynzy throws up outside and her tent, then everyone is off to sleep.