CARCASSONE

After leaving Biarritz we travelled eastwards away from the Atlantic Coast and eventually came across a town called Carcassone. This was one of the highlights of France, the town had a medieval walled village that was first constructed back in the 12th Century, over 800 years ago. The village has been kept in excellent condition and all the old buildings within the wall are shops, restaurants, cafes and some accommodations. The authorities have made sure that all the traders within the walls authenticate their business to ensure it retains the heritage of this amazing place. I guess some could say that commercialism and capitalism shouldn't be allowed in such old and historical sites, but on the other hand it is probably needed to fund the continual maintenance required to preserve such an old site, and it actaully creates an really good atmosphere.

We tried to avoid the expressways as much as possible because they are expensive to travel on, all the expressways in France appear to be privately owned and you have to pay a toll, on average about 8-10 Euros.

On leaving Carcassone we headed further east towards the coast as we wanted to spend the night in another coastal village. We drove to a village on the Mediterranean coast called Gruissan, we drove around for ages in this rather small place trying to find accommodation but couldn't find anything. We pulled into one motel on the water to see of they had any rooms available, the parking lot was quite full but we thought we would give it a go anyway, there seemed to be a flurry of activity in the car park of minibuses and people walking about. Matt got out of the car to go the the reception. I recall taking this opportunity to further study the layout of the controls and instrumentation of the left-hand drive car that we had hired. I next looked up to observe a station wagon reversing at high speed towards me and before I had the opportunity to do anything, even honk the horn at the rapidly approaching vehicle, it had no sooner reversed straight into the left rear side of our hire car. I got out of the car and the driver of the other car which was a Peugeot station wagon also exited his car, he was very apologetic. The guy's name was Jacques, and he smelled as if he had one or two Vin rouges (red wines), he was very helpful and we sat down and sorted out all of the insurance paperwork. Remarkably his Peugeot diesel station wagon had sustained no damage at all, and he didn't seem at all worried about the occurrence and handled it all as if it has happened to him before. As soon as we finished the insurance paperwork, we bidded each other farewell and he rapidly zoomed off in a cloud of diesel smoke, probably to meet up with some pretty french girl, leaving Matt and I pondering over the imminent 600 Euro insurance excess with the hire car company.

The photos are of Carcassone, and Matt acting like a foreign tourist!

Bordeaux for Biarritz

We hired a car from Bordeaux and decided to spend the next few days driving through the French countryside. We didn't make any prior plans for where we wanted to go or where to stay. Our first night was at a coastal town on the Bay of Biscay near the Spanish Border called Biarritz. We had an amazing dinner at a restaurant and it was the best food and service we experienced in France. A quirky thing about the French is that they love their dogs and everywhere in France is dog friendly, they take their dogs into restaurants, cafes and motels and most streets are littered with dog poop, it is something you just have to accept whilst being a visitor to France. We had a good jog along the coastline at Biarritz until it started raining heavily.

Leaving Paris for Bordeaux

We caught the TGV train from Paris to Bordeaux. We travelled first class for 75 Euros. It is an excellent way to travel and I must say, far better than travelling by air on short trips. It is far more comfortable and interesting and there is no check-in or security and screening.

Matt and I really liked Bordeaux, it is a provincial city that had this amazing bustling energy, the city square had such an energetic atmosphere as it was filled with skateboarders weaving and zigzagging between pedestrians, cyclists, trams and cars, their pretty French girlfriends watching them as they fool around on their boards and have the occasional stack. Urban rap-dancers, taking turns, displaying their moves to all the passers-by. We hired a car at Bordeaux and from here we will start our journey through the French countryside.

Photo details:
The barge on the Rhone River is transporting Airbus A380 fuselage sections that are built at a Airbus Industrie Plant in Germany, they are on their way to be assembled at the Airbus Plant at Toulouse, which is further south along the Rhone river from Bordeaux.

The statue photos are of a statue and memorial in memory if the Gironde's which were part of the french nobility which were murdered and executed during the French Revolution.

Other photos are of typical laneways in Bordeaux and a fountain in the villa square.

Arc De Triomphe

The Arc De Triomphe was commissioned by Napolean in 1806 to commemorate his victories. It stands in the centre of the worlds largest roundabout to which the Boulevarde Champ’s de Elysees leads to.

Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise

We visited the cemetary on a cold rainy day. Many famous composers and artists are buried there, Moliere, Balzac, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and also Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the doors who died in Paris, in 1982. We only managed to see the graves of Jim Morrison and Frederic Chopin; it was raining constantly and quite cold. Despite having a map of the ciemitierre it is quite difficult locating the gravestones.

Sacre Coeur

We stumbled across another magnificent cathedral called the Sacré-Cœur, or Sacred Heart. We came across this when visiting the arty area of Paris called Montmartre.

Subway Experience

The Paris Metro is great to get around on. I noticed something quite different about the passengers on the Paris Metro than the passengers on the New York subway or London underground, or even Sydney suburban trains, the Paris metro carriages are filled with chattering commuters, the majority of passengers are all engaged in some form of conversation, whilst New Yorkers, Londoners and Aussie commuters seem to sit blank faced, silent and guarding their personal space.