Sunday, June 28 Narbonne France

Sunday a day off rest, and I did just that; I canceled my own plans to spend the day visiting more gothic cathedrals. They are just too much farther than I thought they would be, or they seemed to be by a casual glance at a map. I had always planned on two nights here in Narbonne, traveling today and returning here tonight, I've just skipped the traveling and rested. Tomorrow I'll travel on down to Barcelona, to see Sagrada Familia on Tuesday, my birthday.
So today was just walking around the old city: it goes back to Roman times. There was a bazaar on the plaza, which I'm finding is pretty typical. Instead of going to church to worship the living God, people worship this world's secular god - materialism.
I did spend more time in the cathedral. It is actually a very exquisite gothic construction, unfortunately, only the choir, the area around the altar, was ever built. The crossing and nave were never built, they just built a wall to end the building. Many have said it was the pride of the medieval church to attempt to build such massive structures, and its failure. A place like Bouvais, attempting to build the very highest cathedral, reached too far, and failed. There again is only the choir, and now that has to be propped with ugly iron beams to keep from collapsing. Such are the problems with cathedral building.
Actually it is quite hot here, not like the cool mountain air of Aiguines. Guess I forget I'm on the Mediterranean, and traveling south. This room is great - with air conditioning! Just found it on the Internet.
Miss you all. Anxious to be home, see you soon.