Christmastime in Carcassonne

On Saturday, December 8th (I know I'm way behind!), Violeta and I went with one of my fantastic teachers, Edith, and her husband Alex out to Carcassonne, a fortified city about 45 minutes away. Edith had made the offer a long time ago, even before Toussaint, so we've been talking about it for a while, and we finally found the time!

In Carcassonne, there's the cité, which is the fortified part (on top of a hill). There's also the lower city, which is the more modern part. We stuck to the cité for our Saturday visit... enjoy the pictures!

Please notice how in all of our pictures, we're so cold we don't really know what to do with our legs.

Violeta, me, & Edith

This path reminds me of Middle Earth. I may just have Hobbits on the brain.

It was such a beautiful day... cold, but sunny for the most part.

The witches hanging in the door are apparently hung in houses for good luck.

I can't remember what kind of candy these were made out of, but if you look closely, you can see they're little animals (ducks in the middle, for example).

me, random girl, and Edith looking in at the toy shop

same window we were looking in

There were people dressed up in medieval costumes who would walk through the streets shouting things... I swore I had videos but I have no idea what happened to them. Weird.

This is inside the same toy shop from earlier.

Look in the bottom right.... Nolie's French cousin, wearing a sweater.

There was an artisans' market full of tents housing, well, artisans and their products.

where the moat used to be, I'm pretty sure

This is the store where I bought my new found friend, Tortue Porte Chance (good luck turtle). He is adorable.

our lunch restaurant: Auberge de Dame Carcas

There's a legend that says that a long time ago, the walled city was surrounded by an army trying to trap them until they had no more food. The army stayed for six years, and the city was running out of food. Dame (Lady) Carcas had the idea to throw the last remaining pig over the wall. The army figured that if they had enough food to throw a pig over the wall, they still had a ton of food, so they should just give up the siege, and they left. Dame Carcas was so excited that she rang all the bells in the city (sonner means "to ring," so Carcas sonne means "(Lady) Carcas rings"). The city isn't really named after this situation; there is actually record of the city being called something like Carcassonne since Roman times. But it's a nice little story.

goat's cheese salad

Cassoulet (beans with duck and sausage) is a traditional food in the Carcassonne - Castelaudary area. It was warm and hearty and great on a cold day! Luckily Edith and Alex knew that this restaurant was really good so our first cassoulet experience was great!

gâteau au chocolat

one of the gates of the city, the Porte Narbonnaise, which is the gate leading to good ol' Narbonne!

Saint Nicholas just hangin' out

kid with sword

I don't know why my camera made this look like tout d'un coup it was all cloudy and stormy and treacherous. But it wasn't in real life, I promise.

Okay, this was hilarious. I always joke about how I don't exist in France, because my name doesn't exist in any form (no Katie or Kate, let alone Katy), and generally French people have a lot of difficulties pronouncing it. (There should be an entire blog post about this at some point.) Anyway, low and behold, what do we find in Carcassonne but a glass with KATY on it. I can't even find Katy stuff in the States! Obviously I bought it, despite my lack of need for a Carcassonne-themed Katy glass. €3 well-spent.

view out my backseat window as we drove back via the route nationale (free backroads/twisty/two-lane highway) as opposed to the autoroute (main highway/toll road)... If you look REALLY closely, you can see wind turbines along the hills on the left-hand side. This region is REALLY windy.

more route nationale views

After Carcassonne, we went over to Edith and Alex's place in one of the villages near Narbonne, where the three of us girls drank tea and watched Love Actually (in French!) and had a lovely Christmasy afternoon. We had a beautiful day, and a great beginning to the Christmas season!

ps: Happy NOT end of the world today. :)