Au Revoir...

... to France and the car. The drive back to Barcelona (technically El Prat de Llobregat: no, really) was so much easier than the drive away. I had gotten used to the car, the roads and the right hand side thing, and I got back in very good order.

Hopefully I can now put this extra bit in that I've been trying to do for the last couple of days - the internet connection at the otherwise fantastic (as it should be at that price) Ciutat del Prat hotel was abysmal, and I have witnesses. Anyway, I wanted you to be able to see the area where I had been staying in France.

Some of those windmills that NZers seem to find so repulsive.

Vineyards by dusk

More of the same


Just for a change I got the colours I wanted!

I am now at Dusseldorf airport and all is well. My Moscow plans are well in hand, although I have yet to begin my Chinese ones. I figure that by the time I get to Beijing, I'd better have sorted myself out, but until then, I have an awful lot to enjoy. And I do intend to do soime savouring.

I'll not comment on Air Berlin at this stage for fear of jinxing. So I've probably done it already. Bugger.

By the way - there were supposed to be pictures below, but looking this morning, they didn't appear to be there - I've stuck them in now and I think they are worth it...

Too Lazy/Thick

Mandarin is tough. I've not made enough time to stay on top of it and now look at me. We shall have to see how I get on. Today became a driving day. I really wanted to do a couple of things in the South of France and today I did them - the Cirque de Navacelles (a geological anomaly or somesuch) and the bridge at Millau. The first was not really worth the monster journey it required, but doing both made the day a success.





As you can see, the weather is just about holding up. It is colder and windier than it might look there though.

Did these pictures not come through before?

O-O-O

Erudite gag for you there. That's chess notation for castling (Queen's side to be precise) which is what I have been doing today. Admittedly I had to look that up.

Two castles, both Cathar, both taken fairly brutally by a Catholic crusade.
Queribus from below...

The view from the top

And what it looks like inside (well, a bit of it).


Peyrpetuse from the valley below:

From the other side (it really is terribly impressive isn't it?)

And from within.


And to think I was actually considering not going to these places to save time for other things. I'm nearly an idiot for a change, rather than my usual self.

Driving round the area was also an experience, taking me through valleys and passes that were quite splendid. Most impressive was the gorge. There was a wall there, partly to stop cars driving off, but also, an dpossibly more importantly, to stop people from looking: the gorge goes straight up (with many overhangs above the narrow road) and goes straight down too. The scale is impressive, as is the wee ledge that the road is built on. The region generally is so beautiful, but the gorges and castles take it to another level. What a privilege to have been here.