Goodbye Spain. Hello France

Our last few stops in Spain were relatively relaxed and hassle free. We spent a few nights in Valencia, which Brit donned "The Adelaide of Spain" namely because there wasn't too much to do, but it was nice enough, and we were able to spend a good deal of our time there drinking extremely cheap (yet very drinkable) wine. From there we returned to Barcelona and checked out the Picasso museum and the modern art museum, both of which were well worth the price of admission. We ate a lot of the free pasta people left behind at the hostel, and a lot of fresh bread from the bakeries, occasionally we did so amidst the jovial atmosphere of the Barcelona beaches, other times we did so in derelict car parks that could have easily been located in Marion (much to Brit's dismay), but on the whole we ate our fill and did so happily and cheaply.
From Barcelona we headed to France, specifically Montpelier. We were nervous about not being able to speak any French, having heard all the stereotypes, so we learnt a couple of phrases that we hoped may help us. Pardon, jé ne parle pas Franés- I'm sorry I cannot speak French, and Parle vou Anglais?- Can you speak English? I'm sure my spelling isn't correct but you get the idea. To our delight, these phrases have been ample especially when delivered apologetically and politely. The French have been very accommodating thus far and most can speak at least a little English and have been happy to help in any way that they could. I can imagine the people they might be less likely to help out, like our American acquaintance from the last blog, demanding "CAN YOU SPEAK ENGLISH, you know EEENNNGLISH?" I wouldn't help here either. I must point out that this isn't my view of all Americans or even the stereotypical American, we've met many lovely ones, however I will never forget our obnoxious American acquaintance, just as I will always remember who the jerks are back home (I'm sure none of you readers are, but there are probably only four of you so I'd be pretty safe to say so.
Regardless, Montpelier was a cute city, and we stayed in a é star hotel that felt like a ( star hotel to us.
And now we are in Avignon, a beautiful old city, that has a fantastic wall around it, which has been present since the 15th century. We have been having a fantastic time just walking around looking at things, trying to keep to budget, and have mostly been successful, save last night when we accidentally spent an exorbitant amount on dinner because we were looking at the lunch prices instead of the dinner prices, it was a good meal though so what can you do?
France is tré expensive though, which doesn't make heaps of sense to me because by and large the people aren't that well off, they only earn about 19000 euros a year which isn't much in comparison to other western european countries, and this is largely due to the fact that they only work 4 days a week, and generally don't start work till 10 which they then follow with an overly long lunch break... I mean the French know how to live, and somehow they do it cheaply as well! Alright I best be off, we're headed to Cannes next then Italy where internet prices are reportedly ridiculous (9 euros an hour apparently) so it may be awhile before I get to Blog again.
Take care all,
Dylan

P.S.
Congratulations to Erin and Mark Seaborn, just married, I regret missing the wedding but maybe we'll bump into you on your honeymoon I hear you're headed this way!
And I should also send a belated happy birthday to Nanna, although I spoke to her on her birthday, I just thought it worth mentioning that she's the kind of 80 year old I want to be one day, active, travelling, and larger than life... of course I'd like to continue to be male.