Europe Ho!

My grand European adventure so far has been thrilling, both in Spain and in France. I am also tping right now in complete darkness, so I can't tell if I'm making any mistakes or not. I would also like to point out how awesome I am for being able to type in complete darkness without making any mistakes, as I am sure I am doing. I would also kindly request that if I am making mistakes, no one take me to task for it. I may be gone, but I will be back in January, and don't think I am not taking names.

So today I took the afternoon train from Marseille to Carcassonne. My afternoon in Marseille was spent looking at the Stade Velodrome, home to Olympique Marseille and the sight of one of the largest roundings up of Jews during the Holocaust before they were deoprted to the death camps of Eastern Europe. That fact, however, is not mentioned. The Veoldrome is named after the bike races that used to occur there. I think bicycle racing is cool, and that we in the United States should have more of it than we do. Especially since we do not have bicycle racing. After the Stade Velodrome, I went to the Parc du Longhamps, a smallish park with a fabulously large Greco-Roman style monument dedicated to the Republic, or Napoleon, or Liberty, or the Enlightenment, or something like that. All statues in France are dedicated to a variation on common themes such as those. It, like most other things in Marseille were in a noticeable state of disrepair. I don't know what it is about Marseille, but it just seems to be dirty and a bit dodgy. (I know exactly why - it's dirt poor and like all cities that aren't Paris, is neglected by the central government).

The train ride to Carcassonne passed without event. I even got to peer out the window at Montpellier while we passed. From the tracks, it was delightful! I will give a ground update later on. The hostel I am staying in is run by a nice British woman named Jan, and is in a little village outside Carcassonne called Perxian. The hostel itself looks more like a person's house (mainly because Jan lives here, too) and is rather nice. I have, for once, met all the people that I am staying with. There is Simon, a Czech Canadian, Dave, an Australian 0 who like all the other Aussie's I've met enjoys skydiving and extreme sports and is in the mining business -, Rose, who is also Australian but as a woman is exempt from the stereotype, and then two Germans, Corina and Sebastian. I had dinner at a little French restuarant with the latter three. It was great. Probably the most fun I've had since Martha left. Granted, that was only two days ago, but it was a lot of fun.

The Germans are extremely funny. Corina tried to fool us into thinking that she was 40, event hough she was born the smae year as Helen, and she told us she has two snakes in her luggage that she uses for botox treatmentm and also to kill any cats she comes across - as she is allergic to cats. Sebastian is a doctor, who studied in Mexico, and while there was put up in a four-star hotel for the duration of his studies, as he was the first German (and probably European) to apply to this particular program. They were very interesting, but unfortunately they are leaving for Bordeaux in the morning. I am glad to have met them. I was also smart enough to get Corina's contact information - something which I have not been mindful of doing with the other people I meet along my journey.

Anyways, it is late(ish) and I am tired(ish) so I will say goodnight now.