We are up early shower and breakfast to prepare for our next train journey, to Arles. We ascertained today that if you go to breakfast at 630 am , the bread and croissants are warm and fresh. On the other two mornings, we had breakfast at 8, so only got the cold dregs. Nevertheless, as expected, the train from Carcassonne to Arles is nearly empty. I wonder how many of the handful of people in our carriage had the Eurail Pass reservations that reached the SNFC ...

Our last day in Carcassonne. The freezing winds have finally eased and it is a stunningly sunny and crisp 10 degrees. We walk extensively around and through the new (relatively) city and look at real estate....mmmmm? You can buy an apartment with views to the medieval city for around 70-80000 euro and rent fsimilar for around 650per month. We head back to our accommodation to gather our packed lunch: fresh baguette bread with cheese and meats and some local Prov...

Early rise as we get ready to leave Paris, a city we failed to strongly connect with, in order to head south to Carcassonne. The Paul Kelly song about cities keeps coming into our heads as we walk along the early morning streets of Paris. We have chosen to take an early metro given that we are lugging stupid oversized bags and the metro is so incredibly hectic at peak times. We arrive early at Gare de Lyon and try to locate our train platform. The German rail n...

Today we caught the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, which was commissioned by Napoleon after the Battle of Austerlitz in 1806, when he declared to his soldiers that they would "march home through arches of victory". We climbed the stairs to the top for a 360 degree view over Paris. Unfortunately the pollution today restricted vision. The sculptures on the outside of the arc are impressive and depict battle scenes and other significant scenes to commemorate the s...

Last couple of days in Paris have been much more inspiring. Guess that we allowed the rail situation to tarnish our experience, as well as a few French archetypes. Today, the few people we were in contact with were so much warmer than at the outset.....that really helped to unblock our perceptual filters. Today was predominantly the 'Louvre' day. Can you do it in less than a day? A week? A month? So many artistic delights. Highlights were the Caravaggios, Egypti...