  ok,  so i am regretting already leaving carcassone and the dordogne off of the agenda. we will have to have a show of hands on which itinerary to follow-  yet another scenario-  day 1 fly away day 2 arrive barcelona;  stay in neighborhood of gaudi church;
 walking tour of area day 3 barcelona-  picasso and gaudi day 4 drive to carcassonne;  stay in area day 5-  drive to dordogne-  stay in sarlat day 6-  dordogne-
 rocamadour;  cave paintings.  day 7 drive toward spain via bergerac ( it is really on our way.  day 8 st.  sebastian (
in spain)  day 9 bilbao day 10 drive back to barcelona ( about 6 hours)  via roman ruins in tarragona day 11 fly home i would give up madrid to see dordogne;  plus car rental ( no diesels.
 would be less than the combined train tickets. plus, we would get to visit a part of france that is not on the way to anywhere.  one interesting aside-  this area around albi is known as the last hold- out of a christian sect called the albigenians (
sp)  who were sought out as heretics-  they were the original loyal opposition.
