Castle City

Instead of driving 7 1/2 hours straight home, we decided to break up the trip and stop at a city recommended by our friends the Atchleys: Carcassonne, France (picture above courtesy of Wikipedia). It is a fortified city in Southern France, complete with a castle inside the city and a cathedral. For those of you who are movie buffs, parts of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was filmed in and around Carcassonne. We stayed in a hotel which was a short 5 minute walk to the city walls and had a great day exploring the city. We topped it off with dinner which included a regional dish called cassoulet. Click on the link and you will see why Pete was the only one brave enough to try it!

Walking to the fortified city

Ruby, Alex and Henry just outside the city walls

These aren't castle walls, these are walls around the entire city. The castle is a separate fortress inside the city.

Ruby and Alex (2 little specs) on the drawbridge into the city

Christmas wishes in French...

...and English

Heading up to do the ramparts walk around the city to the castle

The kids on the ramparts

A view of the castle from the ramparts

Inside the city there are restaurants, hotels, stores and cute little houses where people still live

Pete and the kids inside the castle courtyard

One amazing wall of the castle

Pete and Ruby

A shot of the city and the cathedral from the castle ramparts

Those 2 tiny specs are...

...Alex and Pete exiting the castle

This charming but expensive hotel across from the cathedral has been around as long as the city, but obviously was not always a hotel. Supposedly the likes of Walt Disney and Johnny Depp have stayed here. You can check out their cool website here.

Christina and Ruby on the streets of Carcassonne

Outside of the walls there is a lovely old carousel.
Henry chose the rotating "teacup".

Ruby

Alex

Christina preferred not to lose her lunch

The streets of Carcassonne lit up at night