Day 43 Carcassonne

Carcassonne

Barb was really keen to visit Carcassonne, so John dutifully booked train tickets for the journey. We thought it would be easier than driving the very long distance there and back, especially not knowing what the parking situation would be.  We booked on the 0706 (that's am, not pm!) train and were there in plenty of time. John had been unable to get us seats together and in fact Barb was in first class while John languished in second. 

This caused some hilarity for the ticket inspectors when they came through the train checking tickets. They asked to see my ID. I explained in French that I was Australian and that my husband was also travelling on the same train, but back in carriage seven - second class. They roared with laughter .... I think they thought I must be a bit of a princess travelling first class with my prince back in cattle class. Very perceptive of them!

All comfy in the plush velvet seats of first class!

We had arranged to meet on the platform at Carcassonne Station. It's actually fairly small so we couldn't easily lose each other. We headed out in search of the Cité de Carcassonne - the ancient fortress - only to find it's actually it's quite a way from the station. We'd need transport. The nice lady at the ticket office tried to point us in the direction of the local bus. It never came (not quite accurate, we couldn't find the right bus stop!). Then we found a taxi rank .... but no taxis. John rang the number given and managed to convey in French where we were and where we wanted to go. The taxi driver found us and we whizzed through the city and up the hill to the old Cité where the walled castle stands.

First views of the castle were a definite WOW!!! It looks like a Disney fairytale castle complete with towers and turrets. In we go!

Oh yes! This is a castle!

Barb is tiggering inside

Across the drawbridge and through where
a portcullis should be ... but wasn't

Dry moats surround

Moat on the other side

We're here very early and there's hardly any crowds just yet

We wander round to pick a cafe that's open for breakfast

A petit dejeuner arrives and Barb is happy

The bathroom facilities are a bit basic, not to say eccentric - there's
a foot pedal on the right of the basin to get water

John is more interested in his coffee fix .... ah that's better!

We're off to explore now

Barb gets sucked into the first bijoux store
she sees and comes out with a purchase

We spot the cathedral ... okay it's hard to miss

The doors are closed, so we don't get to peek inside

Even the gargoyle is shocked and stunned

This classy hotel is right on site

Barb loves the old buildings and narrow paved streets

These cobblestones are a bit hard to walk on

The streets get rougher and rougher

The views from the ramparts are quite spectacular!!

The city is bigger than we anticipated

Rapunzel .... let down your hair....

We need some of these tessellated ramparts round our house

We decline to visit the torture rooms

Give me flowers and butterflies anyday

Lots of tourist tat for sale ..... some of it good

The grand kids would like this game

They're probably a bit big for the costumes

You could go wild in this lolly store

Barb did go wild in this one ...

We are both starting to wilt .... there's only
so much castling you can do in a day

We start to think about lunch and maybe a quick look around town before we catch our return train. We ask at the Office de Tourisme for directions as to where and how to catch the bus. She even gave us a map and marked the place with a circle. Very helpful. However when we emerged and tried to locate the appointed spot it was not at all clear! 

It was right on a blind corner where the traffic comes up the hill. There was no bus stop signage or seating anywhere near. She'd given us a time, though, so we wandered over to the cemetery (which at least had seats outside it in the shade) to see if we could spot a bus queue forming, or indeed a bus.

The cemetery

We saw a Noddy train chugging up the hill. That's not the local bus!

These Noddy trains are great for exploring cities

Eventually we spotted another foreign couple worriedly consulting their map and standing in the place where the non-existant bus stop was. We joined them to make a queue of four. Soon we see the bus coming up the hill and the lady bus driver waves to us indicating she'll turn the bus around and pick us up. We were exactly in the right spot, right on the pedestrian crossing! We didn't know how much to pay. She refused the 20 Euro note we offered. Also refused the card we offered instead. No. Two euros please. Just one euro each. Wow! Beats the taxi fare up which was four times as much.

Bck in the more modern town we have a look around 

It seems very pleasant. Plenty of fountains and statues.

John likes that the Canal du Midi runs right beside the town.
He brought a yacht through the canal in 1980-ish, on the way to Greece.

The locks have an interesting shape - ovoid, the original straight
sided locks tended to collapse. The canal was built in the late 1600s.

We chose a cafe for lunch at random and hope it's good.

It's good! John's cassoulet is a hit

Barb tries moules frites and gives it a big thumbs up!

Back at the train station we await the train ...

... and we wait and we wait .... the train is late...

When the train finally arrives it's about ten to fifteen minutes late. It only stops at the station for a very short time. Barb leaps onboard at carriage four and has to walk through the carriages of the moving train to find her seat in carriage one. Phew! Hey! Quit moaning! It was first class!

Then she started to fret about getting off at Montpellier. Would there be enough time to get out of the train. She waits for the last fifteen minutes of the journey at the door, poised to alight (I think she means leap for her life - she doubts the train will really stop!). Another elderly couple behind her seemed equally worried. These trains are quite difficult to get out of. Steps and a gap. Barb gets out first then turns to assist the elderly couple get safely off. They thank her profusely in rapid French. Good deed done.

We get back to our apartment on a jam-packed tram. It's peak hour. And the excitement for the night doesn't end there. We had one emergency vehicle attend the apartment across the road. This appeared to be the fire brigade, but barely five minjutes later a paediatric ambulance attended the apartment block next to us. We don't know if the two incidents were related. 

The fire brigade take a crying woman away in their vehicle

Three paediatric paramedics jump into their ambulance.