We left Spain on another sunny day and travelled by bus to Perpignan in France, where we lugged all our bags around for what seemed like ages until we found the rental car office. Our new car was a Astra Opel and pretty sporty but also quite long and low and easy to stall in first gear (great as your entering a busy roundabout!).We managed to get all our luggage in the boot with a push. Luckily there was a light on the dashboard to let us know the boot wasn’t shut properly!

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I was looking forward to Carcassonne, our first stop, because I knew the house we were staying at was going to be much bigger and grander than our small Barcelona flat. And it certainly was. We all loved it – a lot. The kids had to share a room, but it wasn’t a problem because it was so big, and Amy had a queen size bed to herself (fantastic after having to share a double bed with Daniel in Barcelona!). Carcasonne03 Carcasonne04

Peter was excited to find a solution to me wanting a separate sewing room at home…Carcasonne05

We were staying in the “Bastide” (the town surrounding the castle), right in the middle of the pedestrian streets. The area was humming with activity. We had 3 nights in Carcasonne, giving us only two full days to explore, so we focused on the old city within the castle walls. The kids were really impressed with a “real” castle which we went around – there were ramps to walk around the battlements and information about how the castle was defended, which Daniel particularly enjoyed.

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We went out one night and walked to just outside the castle walls so we could see it all lit up. It looked magical!

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(Week 6B, 28/3/2012 – 31/3/2012)