Much Belated First Post from an Adventurous Winter Vacation

I meant for this post to go up yesterday but, in what has been the latest in a series of technological crises, my computer became indisposed and is now languishing in an inert state until I am able to get it to a repair shop.  This was doubly inconvenient, not only because it happened on a Saturday afternoon, just in time for the shops to be shut for 36 hours, but because I am now in Spain, where I am not only abroad, but I do not even speak the language.  I am now reduced to internet café usage, at least for the next day or two, and since I only have 10 minutes remaining of my paid time slot, this post will not even be able to begin to cover my travels over the last week.

One of the nice things about working for the government of a socialized state (and there are benefits, a fact I sometimes forget when I am dealing with all the bureaucracy), is that I get a serious amount of vacation time.  I am currently in the middle of my two week winter vacation (not to be confused with spring or Christmas vacations).  I have been using my time to go south, where it is warmer and there are at least hints that spring is coming.  My traveling companion and I have been making a tour of south-western French towns--a day in Montpellier, a day in Nîmes, a day in Carcassone, a day in Perpignan.  Each one has been more Mediterranean-feeling than the last, and I am starting to believe all of the 19th-century travelogue clichés about the heart opening up in the south where there is more warmth and sunlight.

Most of our sightseeing has focused on ruins and historic buildings--the Roman arena in Nîmes and the fairy-tale medieval citadel of Carcassone.  I was in the middle of organizing my (or rather Miriam´s) photos for display when my computer failed me yesterday, so a visible component of my report will have to wait for a later posting.