Hopefully - Fast Train Edition

 Spain has trains, indeed Spain has fast trains.  Naturally the fast trains are best suited to flatter terrain.  Indeed one could say the trains in Spain run mainly on the plains.  Thank you, I’m here all week.

But back to the trains.  Despite the previous statement a fast train was waiting for us at Santiago de Compostela station to hurtle us towards Madrid at the sort of speed normally associated with road runners and transport officials trying to justify another toll road.  Once we had our baggage scanned and the unacceptable members of our crew hurled to the outer darkness we were graciously permitted to board a sleek fast train.  You could tell it was a fast train because it had a pointy nose.  I elbowed a fellow traveler in the head in order to claim the window seat and then had to endure his mocking chuckles as I wound up staring at a blank wall.  Seats fore and aft had windows but my seat was apparently where they had soldered the carriage together and as such was window deficient.  By twisting around or craning my neck I could get glimpses of the Spanish countryside flashing by at the cost of intensive treatment of from an osteopath on arrival in Madrid.  Fortunately I caught enough glimpses to assure you eager readers that the scenery between Santiago de Compostela and Madrid strongly resembles the inside of tunnels.

Our train slid out of Santiago in a sleek pointy nosed way, traveled about a kilometre and then stopped.  Nobody explained the stoppage but after sitting around for several minutes the train eventually started to crawl forward .  Finally the driver pushed the special button and the train leapt forward along the tracks and didn’t stop again until the driver did a handbrake park to deliver us to a station in Madrid.  Struggling off this super train we descended to the Madrid metro whereafter it took another forty five minutes to reach our hotel in different part of Madrid.

The next day I was taking another super train to Barcelona.  Since I had booked this one myself the train company had gone all out and given me an aisle seat next to a blank wall.  If I wanted to see out the window I had to stand on a box and lean on another passenger’s head.  Eventually the train staff asked me to take my seat.  At least I assumed that’s what they said because when I did it they removed the handcuffs and stopped brandishing the taser in my face.

The trains nose was pointed at Barcelona, at least the trains nose was pointed and that’s the bit that hit Barcelona first so I think I’m safe in my assertion.  The train left Madrid as close to on time as makes no difference and swiftly worked up to nearly but not quite 300km/hour.  As for what the countryside between Madrid and Barcelona looks like, your guess is as good as mine.  Once in Barcelona I decided to eschew the metro experience for a taxi to my hotel.

Probably not the metro’s latest model