“You ask him.” “No, you ask him.” “But you know more French then I do.” “What? Because I spent 10 minutes playing a learn French game on the iPhone?” We stared at the French train conductor from our seats…neither of us wanting to ask about the next train stop.
Exploring France was a bit difficult for us, due in large part to our language barrier. Getting off the train in Carcassonne, our first stop in France, we both felt completely alone in a strange town.
For both of us, the highlight of France was exploring The Medieval City of Carcassonne. Parts of this restored walled city were built over 1000 years ago and it is truly an impressive sight. The whole time we were wondering around the ramparts and towers my imagination ran wild with images of princesses courting knights on their steeds (as well as Belle being chased around by Beast while Gaston sings in the distance)
Castle planking
A local specialty, Cassoulet, white bean stew with pork sausage & duck. This was served sizzling and was spectacular.
Narbonne was our next stop in France. We only got to spend a few hours here. But we enjoyed some delicious pastries, gelato and discovering old buildings and unique streets.
Heading to Montpellier
While in France, Brett decided that I needed to try crème brûlée. So we checked out the menu of every restaurant we passed and didn’t see it offered on a single one (although, we may have missed it, since we weren’t able to translate much of what we read while in France). The only place we we found this delicious dessert on sale was at a local grocery store. So we purchased a couple of these confections which were served in cute little glass dishes.
But of course everyone knows that the best part of crème brûlée is the caramelized sugar crust on top. So once we got back to the hotel we had another delay in enjoying our treats as we tried to track down a broiler we could use. The short game of charades we played with our hotel owner only yielded a microwave, which he assured us would not be sufficient for our needs. So we retired to our room with our non-burnt deserts and enjoyed them immensely despite not finding a brûlée torch (or proper silverware for that matter, see image below) 
Heading to Marseille
Cliff Planking at Les Calanques de Cassis à Marseille
We found some fellow plankers around lunch time.
For those interested in seeing more photos of France: Carcassonne, Narbonne, Montpellier, and Marseille
The train keeps heading east from here. Next stop Italia!…
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