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184
Monday, July 2, 1928

Monday, Aug. 4.  Gavarnie

Very early the charabanc started and soon afterward an old darling bearded and lance German professor came with us.  At 9 we arrived at Gavarnie and mother, after making it impossible for us to ride on a mule, started walking with us to the Cirque.  The Cirque was a semi-circle of purple-gray rocks, snow covered, from the center of which came a lovely waterfall.  Leaving mother half-way I went on to the top alone and lay down on the grass looking at the sky and the mountains and at the spray of the cascade as the sun turned it into a fantasy of rainbow color.  I thought about how really good it was to be alive – about Bob – about Dat Krusdal and about me – and life and love and Reed and Placid – and on and on.  The professor turned out to be a dear....  The rest of the ride was dangerous and boring and (except the [[?wan]] blasting) swelteringly hot in the sun and then freezingly cold in the rain.  We arrived at Loudon to meet the frightful Mrs. Buider!!!!


Tuesday, Aug. 5

A rainy day in our rooms.  A walk thru the streets which was rather fun.  The [[?]] – "Danton" which was excellent.  Packing.  Bed.  Escape from Mrs. Buider with the help of Chateau Yehem.


185
Tuesday, July 3, 1928

Wednesday, Aug. 6

Rode to Toulouse and made a dashing trip around the place sightseeing.  The things I saw, with the exception of some lovely [[?Reneuoseure]] mansions and a cathedral, are all mixed in my mind.  Toulouse, however, was the most super-fertile of beaver [[strikethrough]] land [[/strikethrough]] territory and I won 3 sets, with 2 pts.  [[?ha]] for the post-man.  Then Carcassonne.  The approach was perfect.  The sky was the gray of twilight after the sun has gone down and the massively beautiful walls and parapets stood in silhuette.

Supper – the Clarks – the Levensons – Bed.

Thursday Aug. 7th

Visit to the charming church at Carcassonne, where nave is Romanesque and whose [[?alcove]] is Early Gothic and of which each part is the best of its type.  The result is a graceful, well proportioned building.  The glass is beautiful, one window especially even rivalling Chartres the [[?rurubs]].....  Then a tour of the ramparts – impressive –.  The chateau.  The two gates full of romance and beauty and the old draw-bridge.  The whole place, however, was so complete and so perfect and so lovely one felt it was a stage-set – or that one was living really in a medieval story.