Reprinted here from emails to friends and family from our European holiday July 2024.
Yesterday we travelled to our first stop in France, Carcassonne. Today we stay one night in Toulouse, and tomorrow we are off to Bayonne to stay with Marianna for a few days.
France has very little English outside the publicly provided signage, which does show Spanish and English versions in addition to French. Communication has been made possible using Google Translate in many instances, but I am making an effort and have even started a Duo Lingo trial.
Here’s some photos!
Carcassonne has a medieval citadel which is listed as a world heritage area. It really is the quintessential medieval city. It was great fun to explore, and we didn’t even need a ticket! It was perfectly sunny all afternoon so we got quite hot but not sunburned.
Nicole searched out a highly recommended restaurant, and I had the chef’s special duck casserole, which was yum. Nicole had the spaghetti and afterward told me she is not having pasta again until we get to Italy. It is not that it was bad but because of the gigantic portions.
Our Air BnB in Carcassonne had a little balcony (very French). Probably about 20 square metres by Nicole’s reckons but it has a kitchen and we have it all to ourselves. We went for a walk to look at the river which has a very old bridge.
Next update will be from near Bayonne at Marianna’s!
Actually the updates were via video conference and so these are just some photos from Bayonne. Great to see the old big part of the city and the new small part of the city, and cycling with kids too.
One thing we definitely got to appreciate staying with Marianna and Jeremy was the French love for cuisine, gastronomy and especially cheeses. There was an extremely stinky store dedicated to cheese where we bought many different types of cheeses to try.
Close to Bayonne is the beach town of Biarritz. It has a real tourist vibe unlike Bayonne and you get the impression people like to holiday here.
Saint Jean is a fishing town nearby where we tried the local specialty which was sardines in sauce. This photo I took of the bridge at sunset turned out well.
We’ve arrived safely in Paris, after a one-night stop in Bordeaux. We are here for a few days and tomorrow are booked for the Louvre. Will write again in a couple days.
Here’s some photos from Paris before we leave for London tomorrow morning.
Yesterday we visited the Eiffel tower, the bill on my card says ‘Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel’ and the entry fee of 35 euro each and 8 euro coffees certainly feels like exploitation alright. On the good side the 5 euro eclair was worth it.
After the Eiffel tower we went to the Louvre, which was very busy. This shot is of the foyer before you go in.
I really like this photo of the room with the Mona Lisa, sums up the scrum to get a view quite well. Poor Nicole isn’t tall enough to see it properly but says she doesn’t care to see it anyway as she already knows what it looks like.
Today we went to Montmartre, a suburb in Paris famous for being home to artists like Picasso and Monet. This is us outside the Basilica. The town square is full of artists who will paint or sketch you live, or from a photograph for 20-50 euros.
There’s a lovely little park around the corner from the cathedral where we stopped for lunch. This is me on the hill enjoying the summer sun.
Notre Dame was still undergoing restoration and you can see the cranes in the photo, so we only got to see it from outside at a distance, although I have been there before in 2007.
On the way home we stopped for beer and pizza at a little Italian place by the Pont Neuf mentioned last time. Hope you’re well! Will update again in a few days from London.