Week 2 – Thursday 10th July – Carcassonne

Back up to the present and a late start today, with us not getting to breakfast until 9:45. We’ve spent the day around Carcassonne, both in the Medieval and the “new” parts of the city. Again it’s been very hot, so after a couple of hours walking the streets, we settled down for a coke in the town square and to watch the locals enjoying lunch and packing up the local market.

France is very much the kissing nation, with everybody kissing each other on each cheek whenever they greet, sometimes the waiters even greeted their customers with the two cheek kiss, which is completely different to Spain. Also unlike Spain, the locals do not wear shorts at all and the only people who were wearing shorts were the tourists. It might seem very sophisticated to wear long pants all the time, but when the temperature is in the high 30’s, it must also be quite unbearable at times.

The wind has been getting up a wee bit today, which is a pleasant relief, although it did catch the locals out as a couple of umbrellas sent a table full of glasses smashing to the ground. Retrieving and putting right the umbrellas involved smashing another table full of glasses as the man rectifying the umbrella lost control of it in another gust of wind. Along with a further tray of glasses that got broken when a waiter dropped them, it wasn’t a good day to be a glass in Carcassonne.

Bad news on the hot police front. Anne has seen the French version and they just don’t rate the way the Spanish Police do. Like the Spanish Police, they carry an impressive array of hardware on their belts, but within those belts are nylon track pants and polo shirts, with no evidence of hats of any sort. It was a sad let down for her and although she tried her best to conceal her disappointment, the little down turned mouth and pouty lips gave away the grief that she was feeling inside – but I jest.

Tomorrow is laundry day – not usually a highlight, except that last time had some dramas and I forgot to mention that we had bought some detergent from the supermarket the day before we went to the Laundromat. Well we thought we had bought some detergent. It wasn’t until we got back to the hotel room and got out our phrase books that we discovered that what we had bought was a packet of decalcifying tablets. I swear to you, that to Anne and I it looked just like a packet of Persil, and I’m sure the things around it were laundry detergent. Anyway, Anne said to me today as we walked past a supermarket “shall I go in and buy some laundry detergent for tomorrow”. My look was enough to tell her that the packets that are dispensed at the Laundromat will be just fine.

On the money for nothing front, we had been getting free internet in the hotels since Barcelona, although here in Carcassonne, we have had to pay 10 Euros for 3 non-continuous hours. I noticed today as we walked past that McDonalds has Free and unlimited WiFi in Carcassonne, so I’ll keep my eye out to see if that is standard at all their restaurants. Parking has been the big ticket money for nothing item, with us paying 24 Euros per day in Tossa and then 17 Euros per day in Girona – it’s back to being free in Carcassonne, so it seems you either get one or the other for nothing.

We’ve just got back from Dinner (I wrote everything before this in the bar at the hotel) and had another fabulous meal in the restaurant right next door to the one from last night – it’s a quiet part of town. Anne had the Foie Gras, the duck confit and a Paris Brest , while I had Goat’s cheese salad with strips of cured duck, duck confit and a Crème Brule.

We’re really pleased with the hotel we are staying in, which is about 200m from the old city. It’s not a huge room, but has a very nice bathroom and the dining room, bar and gardens are great. It’s also very quiet, as it’s on a back street away from all the traffic around the old town.

That’s it for the moment. Tomorrow is our last day in France, before we head back into Spain. We are staying in Hondarribia, which is just over the border and right beside Biarritz. We’ll give another update from there.