BARCELONA
The following morning we took the train back to France, and shared our
compartment with a pretty young woman from Seville and her two children,
a fat-cheeked baby, who filled our car with its waitings, and a little
girl holding a big doll in her arms, whom her mother stuffed with cakes
to make her keep quiet. Both delightful children responded to her
coaxings with piercing shrieks. Such a journey was not one to put you
into good spirits!
We arrived towards evening at Barcelona and put up for the night at
the “Hôtel des quatre Nations,” situated on the “Rambla,” the finest
and gayest street of Barcelona. This town can easily rival Madrid. The
streets are broad and beautifully lighted with electricity and the shops
are splendid.
Feeling too tired to appear at table-d’hôte, I went immediately to bed,
whilst Sergy made gastronomic purchases at the nearest grocery-shop. He
came home laden with parcels, having converted himself into a temporary
hanging-stand; from every part of him suspended a loose parcel containing
butter, cheese, sausages, etc., and under his arm he brought bravely a
bottle of Malaga wine, which he added to his stock in order not to be
taken by the shopman for a famished wretch.
Early in the morning we continued our journey to Nice. The country is not
picturesque, and the roads are very rough and badly kept. Towards sunset
we approached the French frontier _Portou-Cerbère_ and soon perceived a
corner of the Mediterranean, lighted by a silver moon. It was very cold
in our compartment, and the foot-warmers had to be changed several times
during the night. We did not stop at Marseilles and went straight on to
Nice, having decided to spend a few days on the Riviera. There were two
Frenchmen in our compartment going to gamble at Monte Carlo, who studied
systems on a little roulette board. One of them descended at a station to
buy a newspaper, whilst his friend slept on peacefully, nodding his head,
in a corner of the carriage, and didn’t come back when the train had
started. I was watching wickedly the awakening of our fellow-passenger,
to see the expression of his face when he would find out that his friend
was not there. Suddenly waking out of his nap he opened his eyes very
wide and fixed them upon us suspiciously. Did he think perhaps that we
had pitched his companion out of the window? At the next stoppage both
friends were reunited. The belated passenger, as it appears, had just
time to jump in the next carriage when the train was moving.