You do move around a bit.[]
I think you will enjoy Toulouse and Carcassonne.
Any particular reason you are going to Bordeaux before San Sebastian? Are you talking about San Sebastian, Spain? I’ve never been to Bordeaux myself, but people tend to disparage it a bit (though the wine is good.) I just wonder if it might be more enjoyable to hang around Toulouse or thereabouts awhile longer instead.

Why am I going to Bordeaux? Thats a good question – not what I was expecting. I don’t have a particularly good answer, except that it’s on the way between Toulouse and San Sebastian. There’s enough there to keep me occupied for an afternoon and an evening. I have been thinking along your line that I might very well be better off staying in Toulouse a bit longer, but I keep coming back to I’ll never know unless I do check out Bordeaux.

from Amsterdam: you may find you want to leave it, and so a really short trip is 10 minutes west to Haarlem.  The Frans Hals museum and the Corrie ten Boom House are there as well is the big church.  If they still have organ concerts there on tuesdays, you hear sound from a huge mother of an organ. Concerts were free.  I thought Haarlem was a nice change of pace from AMS.

hotels: check out the places on www.eurocheapo.com

carcarsonne. try a hostel bed at the HI hostel in the Cite. you’ll have the place to yourself anyway because it’ll be night and you’re not going in summer

Thanks for the hints. I am planning to get out of Amsterdam as much as possible, so ideas in the rest of theNetherlands are great.
 
Does Carcassone  actually quiten down later in the year? I was still expecting a fair crowd during the day. I don’t think I’d head there if I wasn’t going to stay overnight.

We were in the Carcassonne castle on a freezing February morning and literally had the place to ourselves.[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d132/Capresesalad/IMG_0406.jpg[/image]

one thing you HAVE to do is rent a bike (hopefully for the whole time) you are in Amsterdam

nothing was more fun for me than to get on the bike

its the fastest way of getting around the city

I started with a bike tour – we rode around the city for a bit, rode out to a clog and cheese making place, saw Rembrant’s windmill, and then headed back
discount on the bike rental for the next day.  i went with mike’s bike tours but others are probably similar

I have really been kicking myself for not hitting Carcassonne and Pont du Gard on my last trip. Who the hell knows when the next time I’ll be in the Mediterranean region is [:@]