Day 7: Barcelona, Spain to Provence, France

Day 7 (July 6, 2004) Barcelona, Spain -- Provence, France
We got up early and prepared to make a 9:30 bus trip back to France. Unfortunately, there was a big delay as the bus didn't show up on time. Part of the problem was that our Italian bus driver got lost in Barcelona. We left an hour and a half later and started towards France.

The bus was pretty quiet as people slept, read, or listened to music. We stopped to eat just before the French frontier and bought stuff like sandwiches, chips, and drinks. We traveled some more for a few hours before arriving at Carcassone to visit the castle. We spent a few hours looking at the castle that was also mixed with shoppes, hotels, and restaurants. We toured, looked around for an hour and a half and got on the bus to head for Orange.

Ann Newell at the entrance to the castle at Carcassone

	Riding the ponies outside Carcassone

We arrived at our place around 8:00 and got our room. We hurried to eat after that. The accommodations were more basic than my group was use to and so there was a lot of talk. The meal was salad, a pea/rice combination, cordon bleu, and French fries. For dessert, we had a cup of Flam again (the pudding with burnt sugar topping). The kids didn't last long at the table. Afterwards though, they went to a McDonalds restaurant which was a walk to the downtown.

I walked to the center of town to deliver my postcards and tried to call home. That was a disadvantage that the phone was so far away from the hotel. The smells in the city have been outstanding, as the scents of different plants along the route made a real difference. I came back to the hotel and helped some of the others with their phone cards since we were back to French. Afterwards, the kids played cards in their room while the adults sat outside and chatted.