Carcassonne!

Yesterday we went to Carcassonne! It's a city/town that's about 45 minutes away from Toulouse. It was first settled in 6th century BC by some crazy Gauls! And then in the 11th, 12th centuries, real people began to live there and it was a major fortress for a long time. And there is some story about when Charlemagne beseiging the town for years, just when the food was about to run out, some townswoman thought to throw the town's last pig out over the walls. Charlemagne's forces were so amazed that the town still had enough food to just casually toss a pig over a wall, they decided to call it a day and end the seige. Maybe that explains why there are pigs everywhere...(including a whole exhibit at the Musee des Beaux-Arts dedicated to pigs!)

So we get to the train station in Carcassonne and hike through the lower town (called "La Bastide St. Louis"), which is basically like the lame counterpart to the awesome medieval city located on the hill. There are just normal shops, and normal streets, and nothing to write home about. But then we get to the Pont Vieux ("Old Bridge", which is odd because every other bridge in France is named Pont Neuf, or "New Bridge", and I think old bridge is much more accurate). So anyway, we see these firemen who have a zipline set up from the bridge down to the river bank. So we think they are doing some sort of training exercise or something, but then when we get up onto the bridge, we see this little girl in a harness and a helmet! So turns out they were having a fundraiser to benefit handicapped children, and for 2 euros you could take a ride down the zipline! Annie and I were soooo in. So we got all strapped in and down we went! Way too much fun. And there were lots of cute firemen who thought we were cute because we are Americans. And we are cute, just in general. So that was super fun!

(Me looking oh-so-graceful going down the zipline!)

So after that fun start to the day, we were off to the walled city. It was cool, lots of old walls and turrets and other castle-y things. We explored the little streets for a while, then we went to the chateau, and walked around the little museum inside there that has history of the town. Then we took a tour (in english, with a tour guide that spoke terribly...always enjoyable!), and during the tour we got to go out on the walls! And it was really windy! And we got some great views of the Pyrenees, and lower Carcassonne. Then we went to a delicious candy shop, and got crepes at a different shop. We ate a lot in Carcassonne. During lunch at this little pizza place, there was an English couple next to us with an adorable baby, and these two little French kids (think ages 3 and 5-ish) kept coming over and being like "french french french french french", and being all cute with the baby, and the British couple had no idea what they were saying! So they just kept saying "yes...baby...umm...bebe....oui" and it was incredibly adorable. And then the baby looked at me and smiled. And I liked it. :-)

So that was our trip to Carcassonne! It's so great that these little historical gems are all over France, and so close that we can easily access them for a day trip! I love it. And I am going home in 13 days and I can't wait! France may have some great things, but home has amazing ones too.