Visit to Perpignan

June 15^th –

Since this was our second morning at the hotel in Carcassonne, we were able to get a free breakfast at a restaurant right across from us. I was pretty happy about that because it had been a while since we’ve been able to actually eat breakfast. It was buffet style, so I filled up with a waffle, ham, croissant, fruit, and a little bit of scrambled eggs. We then left the hotel to head to Perpignan, where Katia’s mom, Michelle, and her husband, Patrick, live.

It was an hour and a half drive over there. We had met Patrick at the airport near their house, and we followed him home from there. They have a dog, which was some kind of poodle mix I think, and a cat, which of course I was very happy to see and pet. It was actually a friendly cat for the most part. It made me miss my three kitties at home. No, seeing the dog did not make me miss the ones at my house… What can I say? I’m a cat person.

We had some snacks and drinks before lunch was served, and I just stuck with Coca-Cola. Once again, this meal amazed me with how much food was brought out. I was told that they usually don’t eat this much food at every meal, but are serving all of it because we are guests. Almost every meal starts off with a platter of meats, and this was no different. After that came the main course and side dishes. We ate duck (I’ve had my fair share of duck on this trip, and am ready to take a break from it once I’m back home), potatoes, and tomatoes. I was so full by the end of that (I couldn’t even finish the duck), but they brought out even more food for us. Next came the salad, but Will and I had to pass on it, as well as the cheese that followed. We did manage to eat some of the little cakes that were brought out later, though. Finally, the meal was over and I could barely move from how much food was inside of me.

Patrick wanted to take us to see his boat. We went in his car, and he took us down to the docks. I was pretty tired by this time, and I was glad that we weren’t going out for a ride on the boat. I guess the water was too choppy to take it out, anyways. We did climb aboard the little boat, though, and he let the engine run for a little while. We also walked to the shore to look out on the Mediterranean Sea. From the shore, Patrick pointed out that the mountains we could see down the coast was actually part of Spain. If only we had time to explore a new country (well, new for me anyways)…

We went back to the house where we had another drink out in their garden, and then we headed back to Carcassonne. Will and I went out to dinner alone, and we shared a vegetarian pizza at the restaurant we ate at the first night in town. Before our food arrived, the man and woman next to us decided to strike up a conversation, noticing that we were speaking English. “Oh, you guys are speaking English. Where are you from?” We told her we were from California, to which she responded, “Are you guys on your honeymoon?” HAHAHA! It was tempting to make up some elaborate story about our “honeymoon”, but decided it was best to just tell her no. It did make us chuckle, though. Hey, the hotel did have an envelope in our room with “Mr. and Mrs. Maynard” written on the front. Maybe there’s something we’re not telling anybody? ;)