Au Royal Hotel Carcassonne

... was ****in awesome... google it to see what I mean... the craziest part about it is that people still live there...in the city! it is about 3 km around the whole thing, it is super cute inside, there are cafès and shops, a church and many old old buildnig where people still live!<br>We walked back to the hotel later and relaxed, then we went on a hunt for the grocery store, to our surprise, the "casino" across the highway was the store, Casino is just the name for the super ...

... down next to me for 1 second...it was pretty entertaining haha. We asked at the train station where our hotel was but they could only tell us that it was too far to walk. So once it became light out we decided we'd go do some exploring. We were looking at a map and then some nice guy who didn't speak french passed us and ended up saying we should go to Tourist Information where they would be able to help us. Luckily it was only about 20 feet away...but ...

... an ever changing display. So faint, it made me blink to make sure I was focused properly. <br><br>Without a view, the triumph was short lived and we ate a soggy lunch in a drippy shelter. I highly recommend eating breakfast before attempting a climb of that sort in the future. <br><br>The long descent into Foix that I had been anticipating as a great reward for the climb was now dreaded a bit. Cold and wet, wind-chill and ...

Conrad was up at 8:30 am to start the pancakes. I had woken at 6:30 am for my usual bathroom trip, and I noticed how absolutely quiet it was here. It was very nice. I rolled out of bed at 9 am. We all had a pirate pancake breakfast. It was Claude, his wife, one of his daughters, and us. The other daughter had gone to a slumber party the night before. Conrad made a pancake ...

... toilets I have ever seen. There were two 'cubicles&#8217; and they were those ones that clean themselves after every use, I use the term &#8216;clean&#8217; VERY loosely! The cubicle on the right was broken and the cleaning shower was on continuously. The cubicle on the left stunk, had scum all over the seat, bowl and back of the toilet, and there was no toilet paper. The floor was wet and sticky thanks to the cleaning process. I was second to go in our group, armed with tissues ...

... bus office before it closes at 12:30 for lunch. The office which had lots of customers in it is now empty and my bag is in the corner, sticking out. I pretend as though everything is normal. I as k a question then pick up my bag.<br><br>The train station is a 20 minute walk. I have enough time to stop into a lovely, local restaurant. I have some melon with ham then duck. Very nice. <br><br>I take the train to Carcassonne. The trains are pretty nice for the most part ...

... t stopped for a picture. Actually along this road there is no where to stop for a picture.<br><br>The GPS works great and we are soon at the castle. It is huge, and was completely restored in 1853. It has big high walls, turrets in the corners and along each wall. Slits in the wall for guns and cannons to fire out of. It had a moat and another wall which the current city is behind, then there is the castle ...

... with about 10 books. All the other shops where behind customs, boohoo :( . So no book. Elisah is now convinced that she find her way around cities, after having to find her way to and from the airport. We were back on time for dinner and we went on the hunt for a nice restaurant. We entered the Real Square where all the ligths are designed by Gaudi ( I love that man....) We had a great meal. We sat outside, mid ...

... t let him come back because the riders were due. All of a sudden, there he was ... totally saturated &amp; with a little stash of goodies - including a Caisse D'Epargne shirt!!!! I will have to send him off more often! We had a really good view of the riders as they came through, and we left as soon as we could to head for the Alpe d'Huez (the main climb of Stage 17), but we found out later that Simon Gerrans won the stage (go Aussies!)

... NDA : on aurait pu dire que l'amitié la plus forte, avant de partir pour France, était entre Sarah et moi, néanmoins les circonstances ont été assez différentes pendant une bonne partie du voyage jusqu'ici). On blague, on rit, on s'agace, on parle ; dans un certain sens, ce que nous avons vécu récemment nous as peut-être rapprochés, ou du moins a aplani toutes nos divergences de vue des dernières semaines. Je l'adore ma Sarah :)