It's early Monday morning and the 7:15 AM train from Paris to Barcelona pulls out of Gare Lyon.
I proceed to fall asleep until the train arrives in Nîmes. The terrain looks similar to Ohio or Michigan in the agricultural parts... So I don't really any snaps.
The train moves at about 125 to 175 mph. It's as smooth as silk. All I can think of is how terrible the El is at 35mph and the almost billion$ in tax payer money spent to get it to the point where it currently is.
But I digress... The glare of the sun as such make for snaps that have so much reflection to them that they do not do justice to the terrain. Here are a few that don't:
Post-Nîmes
Near Montpellier (think Languedoc- Roussilon region wine drinkers):
Close to Figueres-Villante:
Here is what I can tell you, the south of France is pretty in a Florida mixed with the drier climate of California. I sense the climate is a hybrid, but that is pretty much conjecture.
From the train, the cities appear depressed but when your primary industry is beach tourism, there isn't going to be the just-off-the-train quaintness that other regions have.
More on the first full day in Barça tomorrow... This girl feels the need to participate in the local tradition of siesta. 😴
