Carcassonne again
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
66
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Carcassonne,
France
Friday, June 23, 2006
We spent most of Friday at home. I went out to get a French paper to find out the score of the Brazil game otherwise it was another round of writing, reading and 'rithmetic...Anne is in to Sudoku. I had also taken over the garden. I watered it every day and did some weeding.
SATURDAY, 24th June
Today we were off to Carcassonne again. We took more notice of the towns which we drove through and decided that Caunes Minervois looked interesting and that we must make a special trip stop there.
Temperature was climbing. It was 30° at one stage as indicated by the gauge in the car. Humid too. Walking around outside it was not so bad but it got very humid in the house despite the open windows and the fan. We mustn't mention the fan.
Parked the car in the same place, near the station, and went directly to the British shop to buy books, cheddar and some baked beans. They had a wine and cheese tasting day. We toddled off to the main square to withdraw some money from one of the ATMs. On the way I found a stamp shop. Could not believe my eyes. They had lots of French stamps but all seemed to be pre 1980's. Nobody spoke English so I wrote down the dates I wanted, such as 1990+, but they shrugged their shoulders in an expression of non. For some reason they only had older stamps. I might as well go the post office. [Not the one in Felines. They only opened two hours a day and are probably still using up their allocation of victory stamps from WW II.] That, I couldn't believe. I came out empty handed. That, Anne couldn't believe.
Next stop, information bureau to get a map. Looked at another luggage shop but the cases were in the 150 Euro bracket. I think we will go back to the first shop I saw last time we were here. Window shopping in and out of small streets and another market at the top end of town which seemed to cater to the Arab community. Very cheap but only clothes and household bric-a-brac. Nothing of interest to us. Not a tourist market, this was a genuine market economy.
Back to the main drag. Bought the case...55 Euros. Anne reckoned it to be a good buy. Trundled it back to the car and continued on to our internet café. Email from J told us that her dad D in Kinlochleven had had a minor stroke. I sent an email to Tracey in Ireland regarding our rental over there. Anne sent emails to K in Holland, the W's in Sydney, J in Kinlochleven and V in Ballina. All while I was composing one! Gee, she's quick. Now all she wanted was to phone P but we didn't know how to exit France. It was 00 as we found out later. Same as most other countries except Oz.
I was dragged into McDonalds for lunch. Had to wait a while though. They are not used to salad orders.
Back to car. Drove home the same way we came. Just had to check out the village of Villegly where there were huge banners proclaiming the arrival of a Seniors village and resort. There was nothing there except a sales office. They were selling off plan.
We rang P & D from the phone box up the street when we got back. All seemed to be fine at that moment. It's hot and humid in Rue Marechal (our street) and we spent the night trying to keep cool (don't mention the fan) and entertained. Much reading and writing on my part.
SUNDAY, 25th June
A walk around the town and the mill on the hill.
