Train and castles in France

(Robert and Colette cooperative post)

We just left the city of Girona, north of Barcelona, where we spent 3 nights in a rental home. It seemed to be the weekday house of a family with 2 girls who left lots of toys for Lenny and Hanna to play with! They were especially delighted by the rope swing in the kitchen and trapeze in the kids bedroom. I think we may need to redesign our house when we get home...

During our time in Girona we rented bikes and did 2 days of biking. We ended up buying a clip on bike for Lenny in the US and flying it here because they couldn't guarantee rental availability. Sounds a little crazy but only weighs 24lbs and then we will have it to use at home as well. So Lenny and I biked as a tandem team and Robert pulled Hanna in a trailer. The kids did amazingly with the long active days, and we even went out to nice restaurants in the evening and let them watch their iPad movies with headphones while we tried all the local dishes. 

This morning, we took the TGV from Girona (Spain) to Perpignan (France), rented a ridiculously large minivan, and set off to the Cathar county of Corbieres. The theme of the day was ruins of thousand year old castles, specifically Queribus:

And Peyerepertuse:

And yes, the latrine offers a view of Queribus:

The castle blends in to the rocks:

The kids were pretty tired by the long days of tourism and passed out in the car:

For the next few days, we are staying in a B&B run by a British couple in the village of Antugnac, which is so small that it is not is the road atlas of France. The most exciting part of the stay is Toby the dog: