A taxi took us from Carcassonne station to the Notre Dame Abbey where we would be staying. Transitioning to French after over a week of speaking Spanish was hard, especially because my French is so bad to begin with. Luckily the taxi driver understood my variation of L’Abbye and dropped us at the gate. With lots of gesturing and a few words of my meager French (I managed to figure out douche because it is so close to Spanish duchar) we checked into our simple, but adequate rooms.
Cité de Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a huge, nearly fully intact medieval walled city, with 58 towers and 2 defensive walls. We passed through the Narbonnaise gate, with its double draw bridge, and walked between the walls to the second gate. Here, we entered the city proper and passed into the small town. Most of the buildings and businesses are restaurants now (there are only about 200 people who actually live full-time within the walls). We ducked into Hotel de la Cite, and explored the gardens, which have one of the best views of the city walls. After exploring the city, we walked out to Porte de Aude, the most picturesque gate, and spent the sunset here taking pictures.
Before it turned completely dark, we found a restaurant called Adelaide, near the chateau. They offered a 3-course meal which was a very good value compared to the other open restaurants. We had cassoulet, which is the local specialty. We opted to sit outside, even though it was a little chilly, so that we could take in the views of the castle as the last of the light leaked from the sky. Soon, we had the whole plaza to ourselves since even the waiters went inside. I felt a little like royalty then, sipping wine and dining on Mousse Chocolate.
A dozen Italian children spilled out of the restaurant across from us and began to play freeze tag in the courtyard between the restaurants. They ran around the cars, through the bushes, and between our tables until one of them crashed into a planter, then they ran a bit more carefully. The youngest girl was named Bianca and the older kids did a good job of including her in the game, even though she was much smaller. Parents occasionally popped out of the restaurant to set some rules - stay in the plaza, put your jackets on, someone has to stay with Bianca (red-headed Simon took that job)...
The waiter and his friend were feasting on a fat steak when we went inside to pay. Then, dodging the children, we walked the city walls again, which were now beautifully lit by lights. Down by the canal, it was easy to imagine that the glow came from flickering torches.
Cathédrale
Because our train from Carcassonne was leaving so early, we had to skip the Keep, and just visit the cathedral in the morning. The cathedral was surprisingly pretty considering its rather plain exteriror. The interior was beautifully backlit by the morning sun shining through the stain-glass windows. The light from the windows was the only illumination. The pews glowed as rainbows of color danced along the columns.
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