Today is another day of train travel. We enjoyed breakfast before checking out of Hotel Mignon. We were surprised to learn we had already paid for the first night (as a deposit when we booked from home). That has been so long ago now, it felt like getting a night's stay free! :)

We decided this morning that since it was a train day anyway, we would stop in Arles on our way to Carcassonne . But first we needed to mail Eissa's clothes home to her parents. We took the little bag of things she had given us to the post office and looked for the flat rate international box she had mentioned. We found it, but then were warned by another tourist that we were holding the display and needed to get the box from somewhere else and assemble it ourselves. She said she had made the same mistake only moments before. So we got the things boxed up and waited in line where there was a picture of a package on the sign. When it was our turn, the man handed us a couple of customs-type forms. After filling out about 10 information boxes on each form we gave it back to the man. After a few additions, he literally gave us a stamp of approval, and we were on our way. :)

Now comes the tricky bit. In France, the EuRail Pass works differently than in other countries. For faster trains you have to reserve a ticket, and there is an additional charge. Also, they only let a cetain number of railpass users on these trains. So even if the train is not full, you may not be able to get on using your railpass. We knew about this. But what we didn't really think about is that our trusty DB Navigator app, that we have been relying on so heavily, does not tell us when a train is "sold out" of rail pass users (or even if it is sold out completely). So what happened is we made our plan for the day assuming we would be able to reserve spots on trains that were already full (one way or the other) . Oops!

As we were leaving Avignon, we attempted to reserve our spot for leaving Arles and continuing on to Carcassone. But unless we wanted to buy tickets instead of using the pass (which was very expensive) it wasn't going to work. So we asked about using the slower, regional trains. She basically told us it wouldn't be possible to get to Carcassone today from Arles.

But Bryan was pretty sure we could, based on what he had seen on the app, and the way this gal was searching it. So we went to Arles anyway. We walked along the river and saw two lion sculptures on either side of it, looking like they were all that was left of a very old bridge. We walked around town, on tiny little sidewalks that we occasionally shared with cars trying to squeeze through little streets. We saw the town square with its fountain and Egyption obelisk. We went into the church there. It was gothic style with faded tapistries and colorful stained glass windows. Next we walked into a park (while looking for someplace to buy a bottled drink) and sat for a bit on a shaded bench.

We continued on, past a bajillion cafés to the old Roman stadium and theatre. We walked up to a viewpoint that showed the surrounding town and an abbey off on a hill in the distance. Finally on our way back to the train station we found a large supermarket and were able to buy some cool drinks and snacks . I was so excited to find hummus! I haven't had hummus since leaving the states.

We bought our things and went back to the station. I sat in the waiting room with our backpacks while Bryan braved the ticket line again to see if he could reserve some of our other connections in advance. Having brushed up on a few key French phrases, he was able to communicate better with the woman who had helped us before. Earlier she told us "no" to the question about whether or not she spoke English and then gave us fairly curt service (in English) because she was not very confident with the language. This time, as he did his best in French, she was very pleasant and they were able to reserve us a way out of Carcassone to Colmar for Wednesday morning. We are beginning to think it may have been wise to reserve the longer stretches months ago when planning this trip. Oh well, we didn't know they would fill up.

We waited for our train that was 30 minutes late, and I got out my lunch of rice crackers and hummus. But when I opened it, it smelled wrong. So I passed it over to Bryan to double check the ingredients. Apparently, although I had checked thoroughly for milk, I missed "fromage blanc" (white cheese) as the second ingredient. I explained that I didn't know that word. And then Bryan threw my hummus in the trash. :(

* Fun fact to know about Arles: this is where Van Goff cut off his ear. But we passed on going to the hospital where it happened.

This ended up being a really long day. We were stuck with crowded, slow commuter trains if we wanted to get anywhere for free. The ride to Carcassonne should have been fairly quick, but as our EuRail wasn't getting us there for free we took the scenic route. Fortunately there were two towns nearby enough to be worth visiting while we figured it out. I had not had this experience on my previous trip and apparently France has now pulled out of the EuRail program altogether. It's too bad, as it is such a great way to travel.