Here I Am Again

Arrived back in Seytroux at just after 4.30pm this afternoon after an interesting few days. Carcassonne -old city - is rather amazing with a history dating back 2,500 years. Very cleverly designed from the perspective of defence and of course a number of additions and changes over the years. The cathedral had an interesting plaque referring to it as the place of worship for the Roman Catholic sect. The Christain Carthy influence was strong in this area and predated the Roman Catholics whothey regarded as heretics. Goodness knows what they would have made of Protestants. Not much changes. All believe they are the custodians of the truth regardless of age or etnicity. The town house we stayed in was interesting, 4 storeys with essentially one room on each level and a rooftop terrace which looked out over other roofs with an unbroken view of the castle / medieval city. Absolutely amazing. Daylight saving allowed us to sit out there at night sipping rose and watching as it all lit up.

Yesterday we went to Toulouse the headquarters for the construction of the A380's A really interesting 1 1/2 hours with a very knowledgeable tour guide. They are enormous and expensive - about 350 million each. Theya lso test them here before sale. In the huge building were 3 under construction - 2 for Singapore Airlines & one for Qantas. They employ 16,000 people for the parts they make, the final construction and the testing. various countries are involved in making component parts and they are transported in to Toulouse by various means. Matt was in his element.

On the way back today we stopped to view the Pont du Gard which is also a world acclaimed wonder and the skill of the Romans was amazing - quite an engineering feat.

Have eaten lots of rubbishy food over the last few days as it has been difficult to get healthy stuff. Looking forward to some decent meals. I think we are going for a day trip on Monday to Bern, capital of Switzerland. Should be good.

I would have created a larger Blog last Sunday night except that the power went off. Boy, was it black here! Thankfully I had a torch that I could lay my hands on quickly as Matt and Greg were at the Bar. With no heaters working I was also frozen. Got very little sleep as I couldn't get warm no matter what I did.

We have had 20, 21 degree days in Carcassonne - real meditteranean climate and a chance to thaw out. It was sunny and about 16 degrees when we got back today so I am hopeful it will stay that way or warm up.