The Slow Road
Two Women Wandering the World
The 13th-century Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse
The church and its 14th-century cloister are built of brick
The church is famous for its palm tree roof design
A shop in Toulouse called "American Clutter"
Entrance to the Basilica of Sant Sernin
The basilica, built mainly in the 1100s, is the largest surviving Romanesque building in Europe
The terracotta bricks used throughout Toulouse earned it the nickname The Pink City
80 km east of Toulouse is the medieval fortress of Carcassone
In the 13th century, the castle was a stronghold of Cathar heretics and was besieged by crusaders
The castle has nearly 2 miles of double walls and 52 towers
The castle was built on the walls of an ancient Roman settlement
The town of Carcassone inside the walls is a major tourist attraction
The house on a family farrm where Melissa volunteered, near the village of Saint Antonin Noble Val west of Toulouse
This section of the house dates to the Middle Ages
The section on the right is a large covered balcony
Lodgings for the farm volunteers (the trailer on the left was Melissa's)
The garden that Melissa worked in
Pretty rolling farmland
Ruins of an abandoned hamlet near the farm
Melissa's fellow volunteers stroll through the village of Saint Antonin Noble Val
Kayaking in Sant Antonin