Wednesday 31st July
I mentioned on Monday that we were due to visit Carcassonne, one of the most popular tourist attractions in France. There are two parts of the city, the more modern half which is quite a pleasant French town where we had an excellent dinner and over the river on a hill the medieval city (pictured above) which is very photogenic and what all the tourists come to see in their thousands.
The narrow streets are full of opportunities to buy medieval t-shirts and plastic swords. The 11th century church had some impressive stained glass windows but the main Chateau, which is a large gatehouse built as the last line of defence, was going to cost us €9 each to go round but worst, probably an hours queuing, so we did not bother.
The picture left shows the "New City" where clearly they are expecting rain and below is the town square which is full of good restaurants two of which we have sampled.

Mondays picture showed yours truly clutching a bottle of wine on the way back from buying essential supplies. We walked along the quayside towards the boat where there was a cafe selling ice lollies. Being the generous chap I offered to buy one for Mrs Lucas, an offer she accepted unfortunately. Each lolly cost €3.50, the bottle of wine I was carrying cost €3.40 and gave rather more enjoyment to two old people.  It seems the French still do their best to fleece tourists.

We are now near a town called Bran, perhaps the only French town without a restaurant (it has a pizza take away and a Chiense but they don't count) but it does have an interesting archeological museum which entertained us this afternoon.