Interrail 2007: 11/25/07

Statistics from the InterRail

I used fully the 31 days of the InterRail ticket. But in the end I was for 6 days 2 hours and 16 minutes inside trains. Interesting to note that 1 day and 16h it the time it took in the two trips from Lisbon to Paris and vice-versa. So leaving Portugal is the hardest :). I will try to fill the distances in the next few days and get a total on that, too.

Trip	Depart	Destiny	Hours	Km
1	Lisboa	Hendaye	15h04m
2	Hendaye	Paris Mont	5h32m
3	Strasbourg	Wien	10h31
4	Wien Sud	Warslawa Cen	8h27m
5	Warszawa Cent	Koluszki	1h40m	111
6	Lodz Kaliska	Poznan Gl	4h22m	251
7	Poznan Gl	Koeln Hbf	11h10m
8	Koln Hbf	Bruxelles-Midi	2h24m
9	Bruxelles-midi	Ottignies	0h39m	33
10	Ottignies	Bruxelles-midi	0h33m	33
11	Bruxelles-midi	Koeln Hbf	2h23m
12	Koeln Hbf	Stuttgart Hbf	2h14m
13	Stuttgart Hbf	Berlin Hbf	5h30m
14	Berlin Hbf	Hamburg Hbf	1h34m
15	Hamburg Hbf	Koebenhavn H	4h38m
19	Koebenhavn H	Malmo C	0h35m	47
17	Malmo C	Stockholm C	6h47	597
18	Stockholm C	Eskilstuna	1h06	115
19	Eskilstuna	Stockholm C	1h06	115
20	Stockholm C	Malmo C	8h27m	597
21	Malmo C	Koebenhavn H	0h35m	47
22	Kobenhavn H	Hamburg Hbf	4h45m
23	Hamburg Hbf	Paris Nord	10h13m
24	Paris g. Lyon	Grenoble	2h57m
25	Grenoble	Lyon	1h03m
26	Lyon part dieu	Grenoble	1h45m
27	Grenoble	Valence TGV	1h00m
28	Valence TGV	Marseille St Char	1h07m
29	Marseille St Cha	Valence Ville	2h30m
30	Valence Ville	Grenoble	1h12m
31	Grenoble	Paris g. Lyon	3h03m
32	Paris Mont	Irun	5h26m
33	Irun	Vilar Formoso	10h05m
34	Vilar Formoso	Lisboa	4h53m
Total	Lisboa	Lisboa	6d 2h 16m

Day 30 and 31. Trip back from Grenoble to Lisbon.

Grenoble - Monday, 26 November

Left in the morning to take the TGV to Paris. Its odd to think that from Grenoble to Hendaye one has to take a TGV to Paris and then another to Hendaye when both cities are in the south of France. But the truth is that the train connections do exist but require many train changes and since the TGV costs me 3€ reservation only it's better to pass by Paris.

The strikes are over and when that's the case the train travels are reliable and comfortable. The travel till Hendaye was without problems. I still had time from 1PM to 3.50 PM to have lunch in Monparnasse TGV train station in Paris after having changed station using the underground.

On the trip from Paris to Hendaye I met a couple of retired Portuguese that had lived for 23 years in France and that came to Paris to meet their daughter. She came with them when she was 6 years old and now she is more French than Portuguese. They spoke about their sorrow of not having her closer to them in Portugal :). I also met another Portuguese that lives for 37 years in Paris. She was going to the Basque region of France to meet her son. A successful 33 years old architect. This person was a true Parisian :) Saying that Paris is the best place on eath to live. Complaining about Marseille when I told her that I had been there in the last week end. And finally getting mad at me when I opposed her fierce critic to the American people saying that her opinion about the Americans was true but only for half of them... there was another half that did not fit her idea about them. I must say her opinions about Americans were not very nice :)

Finally I took the train in Irun, Spain (5 km from Hendaye, France) to Lisbon. I had a full compartment just for me again but I imagined that this would not last forever... at least last time it did not :P and that was again true :). Thanks Max for the shoes. Since Belgium that I have been using them all the time. :)

First I met a couple (she was Mexican and he was from Filipinas) that lived in California and was traveling in Spain and Portugal. He had just been stolen the wallet in Barcelona and was struggling just to get a Visa to be able to be back in US where he lives for 10 years. Tuff !!. They were really friendly and we had nice conversation till late night. Then we slept a bit and they left in Salamanca. I have them advices of places to visit in Portugal since they were going there after.

It always great to arrive to Portugal and Lisbon. The weather was great with temperatures above 16ºC. A wonderful blue sky !

When I started this InterRail trip I though that when back to Portugal it would be almost Christmas. This was really true. While arriving home we had to wait for a bit. The city mayor has already ordered to put all the decorations in place. Lisbon is not like Grenoble where the decorations stay all year long :) Check the video bellow.

From InterRail2007

Day 27 to 29. Marseille

First of all I must say it was a great weekend in Marseille a nd that it removed all the bad feelings from strikes and other less perfect happenings from the week before :P

A had opportunity to add a new town to my personal travel list, was able to meet a few couch surfers and finally was able to be at the sea side and travel by boat. The color of the water and the view of a sunny day near the sea is something that who ever have lived near it feels the need very strongly. It was refreshing.