Journal Entry: Montsegur, Foix and Roquefixade

I am back late! I had a fantastic day. I returned to my room at L’Abbaye to find the cleaning lady had changed out my towels and made my bed! How nice is that? And to think this place had bad reviews on tripadvisor. It is grand for €18 a night!

 

View from Hostel Room

So I went to Le Trouvere for dinner. I had cassoulet. Yum! I had a whole pitcher of wine too, but was not as tipsy (see: drunk) as the other night. I think I drank too fast the other night. I was thirsty I figured out what their [the waiters] shirts said too. I asked Jan what “Pompiers” was because I kept seeing it. The waiters at Le Trouvere had shirts that said “Pompiers: Service Extinction de la Soif.” Which I think means something like, they’re firemen, and will serve you drinks to get rid of your thirst. 

I think wine must have anti-inflammatory properties, because my knees were hurting but not now!

And why were my knees hurting you ask? Because I climbed not only Montségur, but also Foix’s two towers and Roquefixade! 

 

Montségur from the Village

So I got to Montségur early. I went to the bathroom in the village. The Italians have been by. There were no toilet seats. [Hahah!] They didn’t open until 10a but I hiked up to where they sell tickets. I sat down because it’s quite a walk even to there. A few minutes later a German couple came by with a dog. She asked me something in French, about it being closed. I pointed out the obvious and I think she was annoyed by that LOL. [Annoyed that I suck at languages.] So I told her I didn’t know if you could go on up or not. There was no sign saying it was closed. So about a minute later, some Australians came down. They said you could go up without paying if you got there before 10a.

We went on up. The climb was much easier than before. The view amazing. Beautiful. I sat up there for a while contemplating things. (Life. Death. Rebirth. [redacted] Etc. Petty stuff really). That and admiring the scenery.

 

View from the Top

Beautiful!

A series of small walls...

The Memorial at the bottom of the mountain

A closer picture of the memorial

Montségur from the Parking Lot

On the way back down, I stopped at the guard house and paid for a ticket. I didn’t have to, but I want to support the site. 

 

Ticket Office

I then went to the village, and looked around the museum. Didn’t see anything I wanted to buy. I went to a trinket shop and bought two stamps. That was all she had. I used them to mail Andy and Jan a postcard from the village. I also bought a sticker. “OC”

Then I went to Foix. On the way I saw a sign for another chateau, Roquefixade. I thought I might go by there after Foix. 

I climbed both towers that are open to the public.  They were having a contemporary art exhibit in them. It was weird. The oldest tower, I think it may be Roman is not open to the public. It’s probably empty inside, and maybe unstable. I say it’s Roman because in the tour of Carcassonne’s towers, they said the Romans liked to use a layer of bricks to level a wall, and that tower had the same style as the Roman wall at Carcassonne. It’s on a hill by a River, great place to build. 

Towers at Foix

After Foix I was starving, and they, being like the Italians and Spanish, shut down the town in the afternoon, so there was nowhere to eat. So I went to the McDonalds near the highway. I think V. and I must have eaten there, as it looked familiar. 

After eating I was feeling awesome, so instead of going back to Carcassonne, I went to Roquefixade. Amazing drive! Words certainly don’t do it justice. Pictures neither.

I looked at the chateau and thought it didn’t look that high. Heh. About halfway up my knees started hurting and it was hot, with no shade. But finally there was shade. And on the way up, I saw the Germans with the dog from this morning. I said “bonjour” and the man said, I think, “une autre chateau” – another fortress! His dog barked at me. It was cute. 

 

The French don't care if you fall off the mountain

Beautiful!

Part of a wall

More walls

Then I made it up. While I was up there, two German girls with their dog “Baloo” came up. I had asked them if you could drive closer to the bottom [of the fortress while down below]. Baloo reminded me of Buffy. He was running around, about to fall off the cliff. Crazy dog. The chateau is all ruins. A few walls left standing. I thought I could see Montségur from there. Some castle could be seen anyway. Sorta south-east I think. 

Baloo the dog

Which chateau?

I made it back down in one piece. I saw Baloo had hurt his back paw tho. Poor puppy! 

I made it back to Carcassonne fine too. I’m tired. Bed. I need to pack in the morning. And get gas in the rental car too. Good night!

Journal Entry: Bath Backpackers

The hostel is okay, cleaner than I remember it I think. Though the water pressure sucks, and the lights timed out and went off before I was finished showering. I had to get dressed in the dark, and then when I stepped out the sensor finally realized I was there and they came back on. Other than that, it’s okay.

I had “authentic Italian gelato” which was nothing like the gelato in Italy. It looked like it in the case, but didn’t taste as good. It was good, just not Italian good.

I also took a tour of the Tower at Bath Abbey for £5. It was really cool. They just started offering them last August. There was only one other girl in the tour which was kinda cool. 220 steps in all.

Tower Tour - Bath Abbey

Then I had some Bulmer’s Pear Cider, which was quite tasty, along with some chips at The Huntsman Inn. I then went on the Bizarre Bath tour. I remember being in a bad mood when I went on it in 2002 and not liking it. I decided to give it another try and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So apparently I like to say “I” a lot as there are now a bunch in a row. Silly me.

Bizarre Bath Tour

I’m going to eat breakfast at Sally Lunn’s in the morning. A couple of girls here keep coughing. Sucking a zinc lozenge. I ain’t getting sick now!

Journal Entry: London Day One

It’s late. I found the hostel with no problem. I checked in, dropped my bag in the room and went out. I headed to the National Gallery first. Third time’s the charm. I finally got to see “Avenue at Middelharnis” by Meindert Hobbema. It was lovely. 

Then I decided to try to find the Templar church. I thought it was near Temple Tube station, but silly me didn’t have a map, so I wandered around until I got tired.

I gave up and decided to head to the Tower of London. I stopped in a McDonald’s and got an ice cold diet coke. At least the British have ice, and they don’t even need it much. I wandered around the Tower area for a while, trying to find a pub that served dinner, to no avail. Finally I settled on a fish n’ chips place near the Tower. £5 for fish, chips and a rink. Did I mention that the soda is cheaper here too?

I took the food and sat down on the steps facing the tower. They had a mangonel set up in the moat, I suppose for a show. 

When I was about through eating, a girl sat down near me. She had asked me to take her picture in front of Big Ben some hours previous. I said “hi” and we got to talking and it turns out that she’s from Galveston! We traded business cards and I told her how beautiful the Pyrenees are and she said she might go. I showed her some pictures of Carcassonne, and Peyrepertuse. She seemed interested. I told her if she went she should rent a car, as there was no other way to get to the remote places.

After a while she left and I wandered over to Tower Bridge. Then back to the Tube station to wait for the London Walks Jack the Ripper Tour. I was 45 minutes early, but on a day of serendipity, it was a good thing. A man announced a Jack the Ripper Walk. He was a beefeater by day, and I would come to find out, a freemason too. I decided to go on his tour instead. He said we’d pay after. He led us about three miles all around East End, and finally back to Tower Station. We passed about five or six other Jack the Ripper walks. I really liked this one because he was a great guide. The tour cost £7 but he said if we didn’t like it we didn’t have to pay. I gave him £10, told him to keep the rest. I told him how my grandfather was a freemason too. We chatted a bit about that until we got back to the tube station. Then it was about thirty minutes back to the hostel. It wasn’t even dark when I got back. I called Jan and Andy to let them know I was back at the hostel, and I swear my phone bill is going to be $200. Oh well, I gotta talk to them.

Amazing Jack-the-Ripper walk tour guide

I was going to use the internet but didn’t realize you had to sign up for it. I ate my last Pain au Chocolat from Paris, that I had brought with me, and was about to go take a shower when this Italian guy asked me to watch his back for a second. We wound up talking about travel for a while. He said he was from Genoa, and that he might repeat himself because he’d had a few drinks. He asked me about the States, and asked me if there were really religious fundamentalists there. I was like, “yes.” I told him how they handle snakes and drink strychnine down near where I’m from. He mentioned the crazies out of Kansas, and I told him that the fundamentalists I knew from home were quite sane compared to them.

Then I saw it was getting late so I had a shower. It got kinda hot in it, because it was enclosed. Not to self, cooler water tomorrow night. Now it is late, and time for bed.