July 26

We trained from Sarlat to Carcasonne arriving late in the day. It remained blazing hot and the train station was approximately one billion miles from our hotel on the other side of town so we started our hike with full packs. We wandered through the part of town that wasn't completely touristy and found a couple of really nice dresses for Amy.

Our hotel was right outside the walls of the medieval city and decent enough. We dropped our gear and headed into the city which was magnificently well preserved. Although a bit targeted at the tourist there were cool shops and a great restaurant where we ate under a canopy of leaves and white Christmas lights. Heck, even the house red was tasty. We headed back down the hill outside the fortress to see the monument from the outside which was spectacular, all lit up for our delight.

What? That's it for Carcasonne? Almost. We had only a single night scheduled here, but we did spend part of the next day here before heading for Spain.