Trevor placed two cups of coffee on a table in front of a café, la Mie Câline, on the north end of Allées Paul Riquet, then returned to the counter to retrieve his breakfast. As she waited for Trevor to bring the coffee, Chelsea had started into a croissant while watching cars make their way through the traffic circle on their morning commute. With her croissant nearly finished her eyes turned to the small bag in his hand.

"Cuddly Crumb!" Trevor said approached the table.

"What?"

"That's the name of this place. I had to Google Translate it before it drove me nuts," he said as he took a seat to Chelsea's right.

"Oh! Good to know," Chelsea said as she set her eyes on Trevor's breakfast."

"I think we should stop in at that tourism office you found last night," Trevor said as he removed his raisin bun from the bag. "They can probably point us to the must-see things around town. Oh, don't let me forget, I need to call the hotel in Marseille and see if I can change my reservation. Better yet, I'll just try sending them an email right n—"

"What's that?" Chelsea squealed as she randomly pointed to a spot behind Trevor.

"Nice try. Do you need another croissant?"

"That looks good," she said as she gazed at the bun in Trevor's hand.

Trevor returned a couple minutes later with two more raisin buns as Chelsea finished the last bites of his first. She smiled as he took his seat then suggested, "We should probably think about doing laundry when we get to Marseille. I may have packed a little too light so I'm going to run out of stuff to wear by the end of the week."

"It's not ideal, but it wouldn't be the first time I washed my underwear with shampoo. Just don't ever use hand soap, trust me," Trevor replied as he typed the email to the Hotel Alize in Marseille. "I'm probably going to wash socks and underwear tonight. I just hate rummaging through my suitcase with dirty socks and stuff in there. That towel rack in the room looks like it would be good to dry stuff on."

Chelsea looked down at the table and felt embarrassed by the idea of hanging her underwear on the A-frame rack in the bathroom beside Trevor's. Instead, she would probably drape them over the edge of her suitcase in the privacy of the bedroom, out of sight. As she thought about it, she realized there was more than just shyness at play; she felt embarrassed that her under garments were very plain, very beige, very childish. They were a reflection of how she viewed herself.

"Or I'm sure we can find a place to pick up some essentials to get us by 'til we get into a laundromat," Trevor added before he took a bite of a raisin bun. "As we walk around, keep your eyes open for a place we can drop our laundry and not have to hang around and do it ourselves."

"By essentials you mean a new wardrobe for me," Chelsea said after she had taken a sip of coffee.

"Yes! And a bikini. I want to find a beach somewhere and you can't be hanging out in gym shorts and a T-shirt."

After they finished breakfast, they made their way to the tourism office to get brochures and maps, then started down the narrow streets towards the Cathedral Saint Nazaire. Chelsea snapped photo after photo of the tan-grey gothic stone building. The round apse with squared columns and tall arched windows, and a bell tower set back on the right, loomed over the sacristy on the eastern facade. She stood and gazed at the weathered accents and gargoyles that adorn the building before proceeding along the north wall towards the frontside she had seen bathed in sunlight from the train. She stood against a low wall at the top of the embankment overlooking the River Orb and pointed her camera towards the Cathedral.

"I love those kinds of windows," she said as she pointed towards the rosette window high in the center of the west facing front wall.

"Come on," Trevor said as he proceeded to the large wooden doors in a pointed arch below the window.

Chelsea snapped one last photo then lowered her camera to follow Trevor.

"It's locked. Let's try that door we passed on the side, "Trevor said as he started towards the door on the north facing wall of the building.

The side door of the cathedral was open. Trevor looked in before proceeding then Chelsea followed behind. Except for a small army of women, busily cleaning the floor and pews, the cathedral was vacant.

"Maybe we need to come back later," Trevor said as he stepped back towards the door.

One of the ladies welcomed them in then went back to her chores. Chelsea snapped photos as they made their way through and studied the artwork and stained-glass windows. The windows that, when viewed from the outside were dark and lifeless, were brilliant with light and colour.

"In Mr. Mullen's art class, I learned this trick," Chelsea said as she set up her camera on a tripod. "If I can't get the exposure right for the windows and the inside, I can take a picture with the exposure set for the darker inside stuff, then another setup for the bright windows. I can merge the pictures with a photo editor and have both the windows and inside with good exposure."

"I just point my phone and get whatever kind of picture I get," Trevor said. "You had that tripod all this time?"

"Yeah, it's kind of bulky so I just left it in the hotel in Barcelona. I really want to get some good pictures of this place."

Trevor watched Chelsea as she snapped a photo then adjusted the exposure to take another. He smiled as she moved the tripod to line-up another shot. The girl he had seen in the library that seemed as drab and lifeless as the furniture, was indeed alive. Her bright smile was contagious; he couldn't help but fall victim to it. Once again, he found himself observing her rather than taking in the scenery.

"It doesn't look like there's lots of tourists around so we could probably use that to get some pics together, too," Trevor said as Chelsea stowed the tripod in its carry case. "There's a door on the other side. Let's check what's there."

Chelsea followed Trevor out of the Cathedral and back across the front to the doorway into the cloister on the Southwest corner. She followed him around the covered walkway and used the pillars and arches to frame another series of pictures. Through another doorway they made their way to a garden on the South side of the Cathedral and paused to enjoy the view of the river.

Trevor gazed at the distant scenery for a moment before casting his eyes downward, towards the river. He pointed to the old bridge below the Cathedral and told Chelsea of its significance when it was built in the thirteenth century.

She opened a booklet they received from the tourism office and found a photo of a boat on a bridge crossing the river.

"Look at this! A boat crossing a bridge," Chelsea said as she handed Trevor the brochure.

"That's a tour boat on the aqueduct," Trevor said as he pointed down river. "I think it's the farthest bridge down that way. I don't think you can see it from here, though."

Chelsea aimer her camera and zoomed in, "You're right! There's trees and buildings in the way. I think the last one I can see is the train tracks. We might be able to see it at the top of the stairs in the garden. What's it for? Why not just have the rivers come together?"

"This here is the River Orb," Trevor said as he pointed to the river below them. "The aqueduct is for the canal to cross over the river. What's the name of it? Just a second, I can't remember the name of the canal. They made it, like, hundreds of years ago."

Trevor flipped through the booklet and searched for the name. As he scanned the pages Chelsea snapped a few photos.

"So, it's like a water bridge, over water?" she asked. "And, the canal is man made?

"Yeah... Here it is, Canal Du Midi. Oh! I just remembered; that guy, the statue guy..."

"Paul something?" she said as she turned her attention to Trevor.

"Yeah, Paul Riquet, I looked it up last night before I fell asleep, he built the canal."

For a moment Chelsea was blind to the scenery of the small city that surrounded her. She was once again seeing the enthusiastic version of Trevor in full form. She listened as he recalled details of the research he had done years earlier in preparation for the trip with his father. She let him take her hand and guide her back through to streets of historic Béziers and on to their next touristy destination.

"Do you think we can actually see the aqueduct from somewhere?" she asked. "Or, better yet, can we take one of these tour boats and cross it?"

Before Trevor could reply, his phone chimed to announce a new email. He released Chelsea's hand and read the message. His lips curled up into a smile as he looked towards her.

"The hotel in Marseille says there's no problem changing the reservation, they just need me to confirm the new dates. Guess we need to figure that out. A few extra days here, then how many days in Marseille?" He asked, "We'll have to drop a few places off the tour, like maybe head right up to Paris after Marseille."

"How about we have a look through this booklet while we have lunch, and maybe look at what we want to see in Marseille too, and then decide how much more time we stay here and how many days there."

"Sounds like a better plan than my PLAN," Trevor laughed as they resumed their walk.

The morning disappeared much faster than Trevor or Chelsea would have liked. After a visit to Eglise de la Madeleine, where they read accounts of historic, and tragic events in Béziers, Trevor suggested they find a place to eat lunch.

"How about that place by the tourism office?" Chelsea asked. "The one we saw last night with all the lights."

"Sure, if YOU can figure out how to get there," Trevor replied with a cocky grin.

"No problem, it's this way."

"Are you sure?"

"Ahhh, yeah!" she replied with smirk as she pointed towards the town hall. "The building right there, it's across the street from the tourism office, so its just around this corner. What is that building anyway?"

"Okay, lucky break. After lunch, you're in charge of finding the Roman Amphitheatre ruins," Trevor replied as he inspected the map. "Says here, Mairie de Béziers. One semester of French doesn't help much. I doubt it's named after someone called Mairie of Béziers."

"I bet you can't wait to check it out on Google translate."

Chelsea snapped a picture of the building then happily let her camera hang by the neck strap when Trevor took her hand. She slowed her pace. Her stomach was in a hurry to get to the restaurant, but her heart wanted to take its time.