Mia and her (past) travels and other various interests of hers.

The French train people have decided to strike from tomorrow 6pm til whenever they decide. This may cause some problems for me because:

a) I use the trains to get…uh…everywhere

b) I am using the trains a fair bit in the next week

So I don’t know exactly what’s going on yet but all I know is that services are going to be cancelled and those that aren’t cancelled are going to be very very full and I need to be in Lyon by 8:30pm Sunday for the Cat Empire concert. Fingers crossed.

In other news:

I took a little trip west last week to visit Carcasson (try pronouncing it with a French accent…Seriously, it’s fun) and Toulouse. The trip was fairly uneventful but pleasant nonetheless.

There is some seriously good food in Toulouse. When I arrived it was lunch time so I went in search of a restaurant that does local cuisine (tourist brochures can be good for this). I had myself a gastronomic feast of marinated mussels, fresh pasta with smoked salmon and dark chocolate mousse. It was as good as it sounds.

Toulouse was also my first Hotel stay for my entire trip. I had one night in a two star, basic but comfortable and clean room. Privacy! My god, I’d almost forgotten what the word meant.

Well I forgot that word pretty quickly when the next night I was back in a backpackers in Carcasson.

Carcasson is a walled medieval village reconstructed in the 1800s. There are two parts to Carcasson in fact, there is the main town which was created as the business centre and just up the hill is the walled village which was restored and in it’s time was one of a strongest fortresses in France.

Now the village consists of souvenir stores and overpriced restaurants. However the castle is still there and you can do a tour through it. It has an immense amount of history, most of which I’ve forgotten.

Cobble stones in Carcasson mean I trip over 112% more than usual!

The Youth Hostel is actually inside the medieval village which is pretty cool but it is institutionalized (Hostelling International), the staff are rude (maybe that’s just the French though) and the beds creeeaaaakk at the slightest movement.

I have kind of a sour view of this particular hostel. The fact that I got 2 hours sleep in total in it doesn’t help either. This hostel was my first experience of being in a room with a snorer.

It all started when I was talking to a lovely old (slightly overexcited) lady from Sydney when we realised we were in the same room. “Oh it’s nice to know the people that I’m in a room with” I thought. I’d met the other person earlier that evening, an over-inquisitive German Biochemical engineer (female).

Bed time came and no sooner had I almost fallen asleep did it start. It started as a “I fell asleep on my back and my throat isn’t quite what it used to be” kind of snore but after a while turned into “My god is she trying to start up a lawn mower? Really really loudly? Over and over? ALL NIGHT?”

I woke her up about three times during the night but every time she got that lawn mower out again. When she finally got up at 7am I managed to get 2 hours sleep before lock out at 10am.

Next time, I take earplugs.

Photos! (all Carcasson)