Leaving Nimes the train got tremendously crowded. They had to turn people with bikes away because there was already baggage and passengers in the aisles and they didn't fit. Then they made an announcement in French and most everyone grabbed their bags to get off the train. We were fortunate that a woman took a moment to explain in English to us (we were asking) that they told people they could get to the end of the line faster if they changed trains. It didn't affect us, so we stayed where we were.

When we finally pulled into Carcassonne, we checked into our hotel a few minutes walk from the train . Our "basic room" (read: bed and sink) is in fact so close to the train station that we can hear the announcements for which trains are arriving, etc. And when a train is passing, we have to stop talking and wait. Ah, the joys of budget travel. :)

Neither of us had really eaten lunch, and at this point it was about seven o'clock. (We could have made sandwiches and picnicked on the train like we normally do, but it was so crowded, just getting to our food was pretty much impossible.) So overly warm and low blood-sugared, we walked into the main square in the pedestrian only area, and took a seat at a café that claimed to serve hamburgers and fries for 7€. What we got instead were cheeseburgers. I scraped the two pieces of cheese off of mine and ate it anyway, not wanting either to hurdle the language barrier again or have to wait any longer for a new burger to be cooked. This turned out to be a mistake as I ended up with an allergic reaction. But the cold carafe of water was welcome, and they even brought us ice! We ate our dinner and enjoyed the ambiance .

When we were done, we walked on a bridge over the river and took some pictures of the medieval portion of Carcassonne. It is very impressive! We also watched the ducks swim, and something like a nutria or muskrat. I had seen one in Firenze, but it was too dark to take a picture. Anyway, that was our first night in Carcassonne.

I apologize that this is getting posted late. We were unable to charge our devices due to our adaptor not fitting in the outlet. So we needed to save the power for more important functions, like using the alarm clock, and guide book. Which brings me to say: we have been using our iPhone and iPad on this trip constantly! When we realized that we might not be able to charge them, we had to rethink how we were doing things. It is how we figure out what trains to take, it is how we look up where to go when we get there, we use it to email our confirmations to the hotels... it has just been in constant use because it is so useful! We listen to music and audio guides, upload and edit photos, type and post blogs... It has been great. :)

There was definitely some rethinking in order when we couldn't charge our devices. Certainly the trip would have gone on just fine, but they were just so convenient. The iPad itself weighed probably a tenth of all of the guidebooks that we would have had to carry without it. I certainly didn't miss that weight from my first trip. This was also the only time on the trip Mer really got sick from something that we ate. It was more a consequence of us being tired from a really long day and just famished by the time we sat down. Really though once in 40 days of travel doesn't seem bad and isn't too far off our average at home.