France

After Helsinki, I flew to London, which was the end of my around the world ticket. I was heading to France, but couldn't get it to work out, so had to buy a separate ticket. I was in the airport in London for less than 2 hours, yet still managed to cry as the plane took off leaving London. Not good to have started thinking about how I would be leaving London for good 2 weeks later.



I flew to Barcelona, because my destination in France is in in the very south of France, only 20 miles or so north of the border of Spain. I booked a hostel near the train station, of course managing to make my last hostel room the biggest - 22 beds in one room. I had been to Barcelona before, and didn't do or see anything this time, just got up the next morning and got on the 2.5 hour train to France. But in reality, the train stopped in Port Bou, the Spanish town on the border of France, and I had a two hour wait for the next train - so I made the most of it and had a spanish omelet and sangria, sitting outside looking at the ocean. Oh, and in the sun, much warmer than Helsinki! I made it to Collioure, after 2 more trains, but it was worth the effort.



Picture perfect, gorgeous. Collioure is the perfect little French town - complete with a castle, cobblestone streets, cute little houses painted different colors, lots of artists and ice cream stands.



I spent 10 days in Collioure, relaxing, enjoying the beauty of the town and of the ocean, reading, and thinking. It was nice to have down time to prepare for all the changes happening in my life, and not just worrying about which train to take or what place to visit next.





The weather was ok, some beautiful days, but being right on the sea, there was a lot of wind. There were lots of tourists, mostly all French families, as it was school holidays for the kids. I had some good French meals, good ice cream, and crepes. But my favorite part was breakfast every morning, I had a baguette from the bakery as I sat by the water.



I started to feel like a local after a few days - I sat along the castle wall, every day, and everyday a bit further down the wall, there was a guy who played guitar and past him a guy selling wood carvings. It was great and so relaxing.



I spent my first 5 nights in the cheapest room I could find, a tiny room, shared bathroom across the hallway, on the top floor of an old little hotel. It was fine, but I didn't want to spend much time there. I moved for my last 5 nights to a nicer hotel (still barely Red Roof Inn status), on the opposite side of the town, with great views of the castle and lighthouse. When it got too windy and cold, I could sit in the lobby of the hotel and read or even better in my room that had sliding glass doors to a little patio that faced right out to the Mediterranean Sea. And the accountant in me was able to justify the nicer room, because the 5 nights in the crappy room and the 5 nights with the nice view evened out to be right on budget.