Travel day. We awoke fairly early, walked to the tram stop, and then rode the tram to the train station. I watched the bags while the others grabbed some food for the train, and then we took the train to Carcassone, about a two hour trip.

At Carcassone, we decided to walk to our hotel. We were going to take the bus, but the information I got from the tourist center was either wrong or confusing, so we were never able to find the bus we needed. The walk was pretty long, made worse by very narrow, bumpy sidewalks and traffic. The hotel itself turned out to be just fine, though. Not close to the train station, but quite close to the castle and old town, which is the main thing we were there to see.

We headed up the hill to the castle. The walls surrounding the entire town have been preserved, and the whole area looks great. Inside were mostly tourist shops, but the streets and buildings all seemed to be preserved from hundreds of years ago.

We had lunch at a stand, burgers and fries and Amber had a crepe. Then we walked through the town for a bit, strolling through stores, and then walked down to the old bridge for a view of the castle and surrounding countryside  Eventually, we returned to the hotel and took the girls for a swim in the hotel’s indoor pool.

I then went out to a bakery by the hotel to buy a couple of pizzas for the girls and Judy, and then Phyllis and I went out on our own for dinner at a pasta place inside the old town. It was lovely, but started to get chilly after the sun set, so I took Phyllis back to the hotel and then went back out on my own. I crossed through the old town again and then went down by the river for a walk. I made a loop of about a mile and a half, going by a campground, a vineyard, and then through a sort of farming area next to the river.  It was dark when I returned to the castle area, which was lit up brightly. I circled the walls and then strolled through the streets for a while before returning for the evening. I was sorry the others had missed it but I resolved to try to take them back out tomorrow night.