LI

After another train trip we arrived in Carcassonne to blue skies. We soon discovered that, unlike Paris, very few people could speak English and so it was an interesting hunt for transport to our out-of-town hotel (note the lack of an "s" in that word - HOTEL, albeit a budget one). The helpful ladies at the tourism office directed us to the right bus and soon enough we had dumped our bags and were headed back in time to the medieval fortress city. The narrow streets were charming despite being crawling with tourists (who invited them? :p). We managed to walk every inch of the little hilltop town including a circuit of the walls, dodging the occasional shower, and resting in the roman/gothic basilica within the walls.

Timing our visit especially so that we could catch the last bus back we were rather bemused to discover that it terminated 3 stops early. Oh well, there was nothing for it but to walk, however, our friendly bus driver (no English again) dropped us off a little bit closer and managed to mime helpful directions so we made it home in one piece.

To celebrate both this achievement and the occasion of staying in a hotel we stopped off at the supermarket for 'picnic' supplies (cheese, crackers and a Bordeaux Merlot) to go with our pastry. We learnt that we need to share any future bottles with friends as one and a half glasses each was really enough.