Carcassonne

This weekend we went on another little day trip to Carcassonne, a fortified city about an hour and a half (by train) away from Montpellier.

Wikipedia, go:

"Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century, though the Romans had fortified the settlement earlier. Thefortress, which was thoroughly restored in 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, was added to theUNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997."

I remember doing a project on the city for French class in high school, when French was my least favorite class and I couldn't wait to graduate so I could stop taking it. Then three years later...

Ironic.

I would be lying if I said it was as awesome as Sète. It was nice and all, but the inside of the city was just dripping with touristy nonsense, cliché shops selling useless knickknacks with pictures of knights. Thankfully there was a more historical area where we could actually go inside, learn a few things, see some nice views.

After that we weren't quite sure what to do with ourselves for the four hours that remained, so we wandered around shops a bit, then bought two containers of ice cream because we couldn't decide on a flavor and ate them both while talking about emperors and the game "I have never" and Locke.

After that we walked along a really pretty path near a river close to the train station. This is a sad reflection on my tastes, but I think this was my favorite part. I didn't even realize how much I missed nature-ey things until yesterday. At home, I'm 30 seconds away from a pipeline, 15 minutes away from a 30-mile (I think) trail, it's green all over, I can bike everywhere, gorgeous hikes, apple trees everywhere. Cela me manque. I wish we could have walked more, but there was a train to be caught, so we went back.

Overall I can't complain, another successful trip in France. Next week (I hope) : Toulouse!

We ran into a Saturday market. I got some really cheap grapes

Do we eat you, or are you just an egg-laying chicken?

This picture re-inspired a topic that has come up quite often in the last couple weeks: Starbucks, and we miss normal sized coffee, and the closest one is in the airport in Marseilles, and perhaps it's worth the 40 euro day trip there just for that. 

First glimpse of the walled city

We must have stopped every 30 seconds for a five-minute photo-shoot

view...

Aaaand cliché nonsense... (how to become a princess/knight)

Church inside the city. 

And then we went inside, from which the view was pretty amazing

GOATS!!!

And then we walked along this thing. Baby ducks!

Too much mud to cross in nice shoes? Adam's got you covered. Proof that chivalry is not dead. 

My camera sucks at night, so just trust me when I say it was a great view