Actually, I found speaking Spanish when I couldn't think of the Italian worked pretty well. My accent in both languages is so terrible they probably figured I was trying to speak Italian anyway. But the words are so similar you can "crosstalk"--I would speak in Spanish, the person would answer in Italian and we would both understand each other enough.

Hi

A gite is just a French way of saying cottage really. It can be very small and simple or large and with a pool attached. There is something to suit every budget on the Gites De France website. Thanks for all your replies.

cmt I loved the part about the Alzheimer's. I've always had a tendencey to write convoluted things no one understood! In the b&b where we stayed near Carcassone the owner and I spoke a mixture of French, Spanish and English. My husband was a bit bug-eyed at it.

Hopingtotravel, here's an article about the Alzheimers study: http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache...nces&hl=en

Replace the smiley face with a colon immediately followed by a capital letter p.

: P but with no space

Further explanation of what "agriturismo" is (definitely not the same as a "gite"): http://www.turismoverde.it/cosagri.htm