Day 5, Carcasonne

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Day 5, Carcasonne
Only 2 things on the schedule today but they were two outstanding events. First of all we left Barcelona and stopped in northern Spain at a great museum. Salvador Dali was born in a little town in northern Spain and before he died he renovated an old theater in his birth town of Figueres into a very unique museum. I think everyone enjoyed his very different type of art.

Next we drove into France and stopped at the medieval city of Carcassonne. This walled city is a very well preserved and restored medieval experience. It is not a very large place so we turned everyone loose for lunch and exploring. There was a main castle building that some of the kids went into, a cathedral that had a very nice singing group preforming and selling their CDs, and the entire city has a wall around it that you can explore. Everyone enjoyed the various shops and restaurants and many of the students did what all kids should do in an old city, organized a game of tag. Many enjoyed their first Crepe and as a group we did a good job to support the local economy buying things at the various gift stores. Overall we had a great day enjoying the fantastic city of Carcassonne.

Day 6, Albi
The day started with a drive over a small mountain range up to the city of Castres. There we stopped for lunch and experienced a nice local market. We were all wishing we had a house in the city so we could buy all the fresh food and take it home and make lunch. We then continued on to Albi. In Albi we had a nice lunch break then met our local guide Camille to give us a tour of Albi. Camille was a bit boring for most of the kids, and at times hard to hear, but she gave us a great tour of the old city and shared a ton of great facts and history about the town of Albi. She also took us into the main cathedral and gave us some info about that. We were all blown away with the colors and stone carvings in the church. After our tour we went to the art museum of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was a very fine artist that led a very interesting and short life. They were remodeling the museum and I am afraid that many of the kids left the museum before they found all his most famous works. Oh well, that is how it goes sometimes. We then had several hours to explore the city. I led a nice group of kids (see photos) and a trek across the Tarn river in search of good photo back to the city. It turned into quite a walk but was well worth it when we found the view we were looking for. The kids also loved watching the constant flow of brides into the various churches of the city, and Nate and Alex practiced their french pick-up lines on a few local French girls. They didn't have any luck, the fact that they were reading out of a book and had a pack of kids behind them watching and videoing the attempts probably didn't help, but it was rather funny to watch. Overall another great day in France.

Day 7, Cahors, Saint-Cirq Lapopie, and Rocamadour
WOW, what a day of amazing cities. The day started with a short drive to Cahors. In Cahors we went directly to the main attraction, the medieval bridge that crosses the Lot river. We walked and climbed on the bridge, then on the other side climbed a hillside to get an amazing view of the bridge and the city. We then continued on to Saint-Cirq Lapopie. This is a little town build on the edge of a cliff that is often overlook by tourists of the region and I am pretty sure we were the first student group ever to visit the city. The bus dropped us off at the top of the city and we then had almost three hours to explore the city. There are no major individual sights in this city, but the city it's self is a sigh all on it's own. Amazing place. I could try and describe it and I will post some photos, but none of that will really give you an adequate idea of what this place was like. I guess it is best described as a place that almost every girl on the tour has decided she will get married in this little city. so parents save up I think I just made your wedding expenses a bit more expensive. We sadly had to leave and head to our next city. This is where the adventure began. Jose, our bus driver is a former truck driver that is new to student tours. he is a great driver, but has a tendency to rely a little to heavily on his GPS and at times it gets us turned around. It has been a bit of a running joke on the bus because we seem to always get a bit lost but this time, while most of the kids slept on the bus, we took an hour long unplanned tour of the nearby national park looking for a route to Rocamadour. We finally got headed in the right direction and at the next rest stop, I bought Jose a detailed map of France, so hopefully that is the last of our detours.
When we arrived in Rocamadour it was lightly raining and many of the kids didn't want to get of the bus and pay the 2 euros to ride the little tram deal down to the city. in the end everyone decided to go for it and when we got down to the city it rained for a solid hour till we all got back up and on the bus. The city is another amazing city built literally into the side of a cliff. However, the rain became the major story of the stop and we all got back on the bus rather soaked. We are now in our hotel out in the county side, and we enjoyed a great dinner here and the kids have spent most of the evening swimming in the little pool here at the hotel. Overall a fantastic day of exploring some of the most picturesque towns in France. The one bad thing is that will all the rain the area has received the last few weeks, all the rivers are running at capacity so they won't rent us canoes. One of the things I was looking forward to the most it looks like we will not be able to do. Major Bummer, but we will still plan a great day for tomorrow.

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Photos

Rocamadour
View from a distance. Amazing place but it rained the entire time we were there.

Comments

[Raymond Pensari]

Nick
Hey buddy, still looks like your having a great time. Great pics. keep them coming. just thinking of you. Be safe luv ya uncle Ray

[Jon Poesch]

Good looking group of course I am partial to the third from the left. Hope she has a great time. Grandpa