Avignon is very hot

We are in Avignon now, and it is terribly hot. I am thinking of abandoning our plans to visit Spain, and instead returning to Holland where the temperatures were bearable. Also the train to Barcelona is 12 hours or so. Possibly we can take an overnight, then get a hi speed train to Madrid. Of course we would then be very far from Holland, and it will be quite hot. But Gus really wants to go to Spain, so what can I do?

I was just trying to find a place to stay this weekend in Perpignon, but it does not seem that there is any availability. Perhaps another website will reveal something.

Bought a laptop in Brussels, thought I would use it on the train, but so far have not done much with it. Got a code for free wifi starting tomorrow, for a week, we shall see how it works. Is available in the hotel, but tomorrow night is our last here. It should eliminate the frustration of dealing with my digital pictures at internet cafes.

I had not realized how much interesting stuff there is in Brussels. Perhaps I spend too much time reading the Economist, because I thought of just as a source of unreadable regulations to strangle the European economy. Thus I was expecting blocks of glass towers full of Eurocrats. In reality there are a lot of old and pretty buildings, little squares to walk around in, places to get waffles and frites and omelettes and so on.

Had a hard time finding a small Vaio (I wanted a very small laptop with a cd burner). Ended up with the last one from one shop. Had thought of getting one during our Paris layover, but was worried about finding a computer shop in the short time we would be there. It turns out that if you walk straight out of the Gare d'Lyon (where we stowed our baggage as it was our point of departure for Avignon) and go left at the main street, you will see nothing but computer stores. Rather funny. Could not resist checking one to see if they had a better deal. As it turned out, they did not seem to carry the model I got. One Asian shopkeeper did not even understand what I was asking for.

I did manage to find an optical shop to get my old destroyed rimless glasses remade. It was much much more reasonable than the price I was quoted in Berlin, and they will be ready well before we are in Paris again. Not that I really need another pair of glasses, but I thought it would be cool to have rimless photogray glasses.

We are doing laundry at a laundromat. I think our stuff should be about dry now. Also have to go get a card to reactivate my cell phone. And we have to visit the train station to see about onward bookings. But I really don't want to leave this computer since it is in an Salle Climatisee ...