EuroTrip - Day 20

Unplanned journeys

Some journeys are better done unplanned. For an Indian who has grown up in a family where all trips are well planned that too well in advance, this seem to be a difficult task. The MBA background does not help either as, in general, we tend to do a lot of thinking before taking even the first step.

The 10 Euro shocker was too much for us to handle in the first leg of our South France trip and we made sure after that we travel by CoRail or TER to save on the reservation money. EuRail is a life-saver indeed.

After spending the day in Monaco and Cannes, we took the night CoRail to Toulouse. Toulouse was meant just as a stopover to move to Carcossone. With EuRail pass, we got a recliner reserved in the night trains for just 1.5 Euro. Cheapest way to spend the night you see. One suggestion, trains in France are air conditioned (not like the other countries in northern europe where they heat the train) and so you might want to keep a blanket or two for night. :D

Toulouse station makes best use of its clocks. Although the station is open 24 hours, the paid toilette there opens only at 6am. The reservation counter opens at 7am and then the left luggage opens at 8am. Imagine pur painful situation. We had to wait desperately for each of these timings. We missed our first train. For the first time in my life, I paid to use a toilette. And we had to pay more for each bag than anywhere we have left our luggage at station counter.

For the first time, we heard the mention of H1N1 too. They make regular announcement about it on Toulouse station. I am still clueless as to why only Toulouse station? They mention about washing hands after coming in contact with some flu affected person and give phone number of a helpline which is not even toll-free. Are we in India too much scared of this flu or is it that they have something of an invisible hand taking care of everything.

Just by chance, we visited two weekend flea markets in the town. Nice local haat bazaars, pretty much like those in any Indian Town. Same old stuff just the currency changed. On our way, we also visited the monastery (Eglise des Jacobian). It has a beautiful structure specially the decorated roof at the one side of the big prayer hall. The mirror on the floor gives a 360 degree view of the work on the inner side of the dome. A nice way to see things :D

The town of Carcassone has rich history revolving around the castle. It was built many a times and restored every time after getting destroyed in attack by some warrior. This French fortress which shared boundaries with Spain in past has seen rise of a new town in the base for the development of business. The fortress itself is very beautiful (so far the best we have seen in Europe). There are couple more places to visit in the town, specially a cathedral. But we skipped them for catching up some rest and fixing a quick lunch. The Canal du midi passes close to the railway station and you can observe the unique way through which they move boats from one section of canal (parking) to another (on journey). It is something similar to what is done in Suez canal, so can be a good watch while soaking the evening sun.

Back to Toulouse and then search for food and shelter. We planned to reach Paris by the night CoRail so that we could do some free sightseeing on the first sunday of October. It's going to be a hectic day tomorrow so let me keep it a short post. Am off to sleep now in my cozy recliner in CoRail.