Barcelona - Geneva

Big mistake with montpellier. Thinking the hotel was one or two stops away on the tram it turned out to be more than 10, plus another 15 minute walk in the baking heat. The hotel turned out to be situated in a business park miles away from anywhere. I was ready to kill the hotel manager for false advertising but when she insisted she didn't have a word of English I just gave up. We took a day trip to Avignon the next day. Seat of the pope during the battle of the pope's (that's 1309 - some other time) I was hoping to see the real deal castle wise. And we did. What didn't help was the sweltering heat and prohibitive entry fees. We walked around a lot and then colapsed in the shade for a few hours. The train back to montpellier was really nice. Practically empty and with the sun setting the scenery was really something. Got the train to Geneva the next day. It has a certain faded plastic 70'S glamour, like the exotic set of a Roger Moore bond flick. By some fluke the hotel is far and away the nicest place we've stayed in and they gave us free passes to public transport. But after a quick tour and given the limited amount of cash our budget has let us change into swiss francs, we decided to stay in, flicking through the Arabic movie channels provided.