Arcantis Hotel Bristol Carcassonne

... her to eat when she returns. We chatted at the table until it was time to figure out where we were off to next. Conrad worked on printing maps for where we were to go in Barcelona while I worked on yesterday's blog entry to upload later.


We left at noon. I think that both of us wished that we could have stayed another day. That has seemed to be the case at ...

Sunday August 23rd – We arrived at the old town of Carcassone at about 4:30pm and we had a couple of hours to wander around and explore the place. Carcassone is a town within the walls of an old fortress built in the first century BC which was restored in the 1800's and turned into a bustling tourist town.

Our first stop was the toilets as there were a few of us needing to use the amenities. We really wished that we didn’t need to. These were possibly the most ...

My attempts to speak French are poor. I remember a few phrases but then get lost totally when it moves into a discussion.

Old lady takes a seat at the bus stop. She talks to me in French. I indicate I don't know what she is saying. She tries a couple more times and has that expression of "Foreigner!". I eventually catch her saying that I only speak English. I then say that I speak some Spanish. It turns out she is from Girona where I was just a couple of nights earlier ...

... axes of fists ... good times!

The whole time all I could think of was A Knights Tale, hence the title.

Nothing much else to report, still loving it here, it truly has the most amazing relaxed vibe, it will be sad to leave but I am looking forward to traveling with Ian and Rachelle.

Not long to go now!

Holy **** - I love it here! It is so cool and has such a great atmosphere.

Everyone here is so friendly and it becomes like a family even though the guests are only here for a little while. Yesterday we spent the entire afternoon sitting in a river drinking bottles of Champagne which people had just bought from a vineyard next to the river ...

... it is the only thing on the menu without meat. I get the Casoulet because it is a traditional dish of the region. Jennie's lasagna is so weird. For some reason it came on the same plate as a salad and home fries. To add to the her salad has mango and kiwi fruit in it. My dish is even more interesting. It is basically a steaming bowl of huge mushy beans and various animals (definitely had goose, lamb, sausage and foie gras). Besides ...

... turned out to be his first and last attempt at driving as he decided he was happy being 'Roger'. At the supermarket we had stocked up on beer, wine and pastis for the trip so we got started on these that evening. 3rd May - Marseillette to La Redorte A great day weather wise so we spent a lot of time on the top deck together. For lunch we stopped off at Puicheric, it was here that we started the tradition for the boys to have a pastis as an aperitif before lunch and dinner. We got ...

... we sat down there were already three to four thousand people on the bridge. As the evening progressed the bridge was so packed that everyone was standing shoulder to shoulder to see the fireworks. I am not usually a very claustrophobic person, but we very quickly realized that we were trapped on the bridge with a ton of people. Needless to say it was really busy. When we returned I did some research on the event and it was estimated ...

Breakfast at the train station. Bought train tickets to Barcelona. Walked to the old city of Carrcassone. It is a medieval city with blue and red capped castles.It is a UNESCO site. It is an uphill walk. Ate a sandwich and chocolate crepe for lunch. Saw the fortress with audoguide.then the cathedral. Dinner at the retaurant Musee.Ate cassoulet and camembert cheese. Cassoulet is a casserole of white beans,duck,pork sausage that is popular Southwestern France. Walk to the hotel.

... she has a torrid past but you tell yourself it doesn't matter. You will love her like no one has before. All that she is, all that she has, just keeps coming at you and you only want more. She is capricious and frustrating. She won't make sense when she should. She makes you crazy with irritation but then she smiles at you and you love her again. That Occitania; she is a delicious mystery. We are glad to have known her, to have savored ...