Dunes and Dungeons

Yesterday on our trek back from Toulouse back to Bordeaux was punctuated by a stop to Carcassonne, which is a fully intact medieval village surrounding a castle. There we took a tour of the castle and explored the town. After lunch we boarded the bus for a miserable 4 hour ride back to Bordeaux. Once we returned, Kevin and I found a laundromat and did some much needed laundry. It was quite an eventful evening though. One of our classmates had not been feeling well for the past couple days. Upon calling a local doctor and describing his "flu-like" symptoms the doctor quickly issued a medical quarantine in fear of the swine flu. Seeing as the hotel was getting ready to be swarmed by the French CDC, most of the guys took it upon themselves to go out on the town a little early and avoid the mass confusion.

Today was a fairly slow day. We hopped on a train to the seaside town of Arcachon, home to Europe's largest sand dune... The Great Dune or Plya. Sam had the genius idea of bringing cardboard pieces to sled down the side. Unfortunately the plan didn't work quite as planned and he ended up blazing along at a snails pace down the hill. I then immediately took on of the remaining carboard pieces and slept all day in the side of the dune. We got back on the train and our last day of class is tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the second leg of my trip... The Long Way Home.

- Ryan